[cover: 24 Books of Esoteric Philosophy by Alice Bailey.]
[The content of this article was extracted from Alice Bailey's books after atomatically searching the text “light in the head”.]
<39> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. I, pp. 713-715.)
"... Stage I. Little Chelaship.
This stage is so definitely exoteric that many people have left it far behind. The first indication that a man has reached that stage (from the angle of the Master) comes when the "light flashes out" in some one life; thereby the attention of the Master is attracted to the person. It might be said that the preface to the Master's interest falls into four parts and it is only when all four are found present together and simultaneously that this happens:
1. The aspirational intent of the man upon the physical plane suddenly succeeds in enabling him to make a soul contact. The moment that that takes place the light in the head is momentarily intensified.
2. The karmic agitation of the man's life becomes greatly increased and—apart from his own individual karma—he, for the first time, consciously takes part in and shoulders a part of the karma of his group. This dual karmic undertaking sets up a veritable vortex of force in the group aura. This attracts hierarchical attention.
3. The next point is not so easy to explain or grasp. You have been told that the soul is in deep meditation for the greater part of the cycle of lives of any one individual, and that it is only when a fair measure of personality integration is set up that the soul's attention is drawn away from its own interior considerations and egoic affairs to those of its shadow. When this happens, the egoic group is definitely affected and the Master (upon the same ray as that of the soul concerned) becomes aware of what is esoterically called "a downward gazing soul." On the Path of Discipleship, the ego is all the time consciously aware of the striving personality and there comes a stage when (towards the end of the Path of Evolution) the soul recapitulates the evolutionary processes of involution and evolution. Soul energy descends and personality force ascends and this takes place through a process of conscious descents and ascents. I refer here to the process which is undertaken by the soul under hierarchical impulse, and not to that in which the personality invokes the soul under the desperate need brought about in the lower consciousness by the gradual cessation of desire.
4. Gradually the antahkarana is built and in this way the "greater Light and the lesser light" are consciously related. A path of light and energy is established or created between these two divine aspects. As time goes on, there appears in the egoic group what is technically known as the "linking light" or the "bridging radiance." This is the Path referred to in The Old Testament as "the path of the just is as a shining light which shineth more and more until the day be with us." In the esoteric books it is referred to in the following terms: "Before a man can tread the path, he must become that path himself." ..."
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<40> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. I, pp. 4-5.)
"... Intuition, therefore, brings with its appearance three qualities:
Illumination. By illumination I do not mean the light in the head. That is incidental and phenomenal, and many truly intuitive people are entirely unaware of this light. The light to which I refer is that which irradiates the Way. It is "the light of the intellect," which really means that which illumines the mind and which can reflect itself in that mental apparatus which is held "steady in the light." This is the "Light of the World," a Reality which is eternally existent, but which can be discovered only when the individual interior light is recognised as such. This is the "Light of the Ages," which shineth ever more until the Day be with us. The intuition is therefore the recognition in oneself, not theoretically but as a fact in one's experience, of one's complete identification with the Universal Mind, of one's constituting a part of the great World Life, and of one's participation in the eternal persisting Existence.
Understanding. This must be appreciated in its literal sense as that which "stands under" the totality of forms. It connotes the power of recession or the capacity to withdraw from one's agelong identification with form life. I would like to point out that this withdrawal is comparatively easy for those who have much of the first ray quality in them. The problem is to withdraw in the esoteric sense, but to avoid at the same time the sense of separateness, of isolation and of superiority. It is easy for first ray people to resist the tendency to identify themselves with others. To have true understanding involves an increased ability to love all beings and yet, at the same time, to preserve personality detachment. This detachment can be so easily founded on an inability to love, in a selfish concern for one's own comfort—physical, mental or spiritual, and above all, emotional. First ray people dread emotion and despise it, but sometimes they have to swing into an emotional condition before they can use emotional sensitivity in the right manner.
Understanding involves contact with life as an integrated personality, plus egoic reaction to the group purposes and plans. It connotes personality-soul unification, wide experience, and a rapid activity of the indwelling Christ principle. Intuitional understanding is always spontaneous. Where the reasoning to an understanding enters, it is not the activity of the intuition.
Love. As earlier said, this is not affectionate sentiment, or the possession of a loving disposition; these two later aspects are incidental and sequential. When the intuition is developed, both affection and the possession of a spirit of loving outgo will, necessarily, in their pure form, be demonstrated, but that which produces these is something much more deep and comprehensive. It is that synthetic, inclusive grasp of the life and needs of all beings (I have chosen these two words with intent!) which it is the high prerogative of a divine Son of God to operate. It negates all that builds barriers, makes criticism, and produces separation. It sees no distinction, even when it appreciates need, and it produces in one who loves as a soul immediate identification with that which is loved. ..."
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<41> (Glamour: a World Problem, pp. 208-210.)
"... It is during this stage that meditation is instituted so that the man becomes aware of soul light as it blends with the inherent light of the mental body, and this blended light steadily intensifies as he persists in the meditation work. A point then comes where the aspirant discovers that this inner light can be used, and he begins tentatively and with uneven success to turn that light upon the problems of his particular glamour. It is also at this point that we now carry forward the Technique of Light, employing it so that the vague unscientific technique of the past comes to an end. The indicated technique is of use only to the man who knows something of the light of the mind, of the light in the head, and of the light of the soul. The light in the head is produced by the definitely planned bringing together of soul light and personality light, focussed in the mental body and producing an effect in the brain. This focussing process falls into three stages:
1. The attempt to focus the light of the mind and of matter in the mental vehicle.
This signifies a bringing together of the light of matter and substance (dense material and etheric light) and the light of the mind itself. There is no peculiar or specific light in or of the astral body itself, for it is only an aggregate of forms, created by individual man, by nations and by races, and these in their entirety constitute the astral plane and possess no inherent light as do other forms. They are not created as a form of expression for some dynamic life by the planetary Logos, and this is the real meaning of what I have earlier told you that the astral plane in reality does not exist. It is the phantasmoric creation of human desire down the ages and its false light is a reflection of either the light of matter or of the mind. This process of focussing is undertaken through alignment and by the effort to bring to a point of illumination the positive light of the mind and the negative light of the brain and is carried forward through mental control, developed in meditation. When these two opposite poles are in relation then (by an act of the personality will) these two aspects of the lesser light can form a pin point of light—like a small torch light—revealing some phase of the glamour to which the aspirant most easily responds. This first focussed light is not of such a nature that it can do more than reveal. It has no dissipating power, nor can it render existing glamour ineffective. It can only make a man aware in his waking or brain consciousness that glamour holds him. This is related to the stage of concentration in the meditation process.
2. The second stage of the focussing process is produced through the effort to meditate. In the previous stage, the blending of the two material lights was entirely a form process and the aspirant is actuated entirely by his personality forces and expediency. An illustration of this and of its effectiveness can be seen in the man who, from purely selfish motives and through an intense concentration, focusses his mind and brings about the gratification of his desires and the achievement of his goals. He kills out all emotional reactions and goes a long way towards dissipating glamour. He develops the ability to draw on the light of matter itself (physical matter and mental substance) and thus he generates a false light from which soul light is rigorously excluded. It is this power which eventually produces a black magician. He has developed the capacity to draw upon the light energy of matter itself and to focus it so powerfully and effectively that it becomes a great destructive force. It is this which has given Hitler and the six evil men associated with him their power to destroy upon the material plane. But, in the case of the aspirant, the power to meditate upon spiritual reality and to contact the soul offsets the dangers inherent in focussing on and using solely the light of matter; to the lesser light of matter is added the light of the soul and then these two blended lights, or aspects of the One Light, are focussed upon the mental plane through the power of the creative imagination. This enables man eventually to dissipate glamour and liberates him from the astral plane.
3. The third stage is that in which the light of matter, the light of the mind and the light of the soul (as a channel for the intuition) are consciously blended, fused and focussed. The man then turns this blended light, under soul direction, upon the world of glamour and upon the particular glamour with which he is at any one time pre-occupied. The false light of the astral plane disappears in this triple blended light just like a fire can be nearly put out if subjected to the full rays of the sun; or a burning glass, focussing the rays of the sun, can start a destructive blaze. It is the use of a powerful light which can obliterate a lesser light and dissipate a fog. ..."
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<42> (Esoteric Healing, pp. 540-541.)
"... You will, therefore, realise the basic necessity for the healer in the New Age to be either clairvoyant or—far better still—to have true spiritual perception with its quality of infallibility. His first task is to investigate or "occultly see" the etheric body of the patient, and thus arrive at the following knowledge:
1. The potency with which the soul influences its etheric body. This is indicated by the point of light in the head centre and the area which it irradiates.
2. The condition of the etheric centre which controls or governs the area within which the physical trouble is to be found.
3. The relation of the centres above the diaphragm to those below, because this will give him a general indication of the point in evolution of the man to be healed. ..."
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<43> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. II, pp. 51-52.)
"... 4. This pathway of light leads to the heart of a dark blue disk at the very centre of which you were told I could be contacted. Those of you who are in any way adept at meditation work know well that the light in the head—when seen and recognised—passes usually through three stages of intensification:
a. It is, first of all, a diffused light, surrounding the head, discovered later within the head and producing an inner radiance, which is the rudimentary halo.
b. This diffused light then consolidates and becomes an inner radiant sun.
c. Finally, at the centre of that sun, a point of dark blue, or a small indigo disk, appears. This is, in reality, the exit in the head through which the soul passes out of the world of phenomenal existence, and it is the symbol of the path or the door into the kingdom of God. This is the symbolical interpretation of the phenomena.
As the group approaches nearer and nearer to reality, the pathway or the band of light shortens (symbolically) and in time, when you are expert in this work and when your spiritual nature is truly intensified, you will enter almost immediately into, or through, the disk of blue and become aware of the higher consciousness, or divinity. ..."
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<44> (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 169-170.)
"... The fifth phrase, Let power attend the efforts of the Great Ones, is definitely related to the effect in the Hierarchy of a constructive use of the Great Invocation, just as the previous one is related to the effect in humanity. This effect in the Hierarchy is a relatively new one and is due to the participation of humanity in the process of invocation, thus producing new effects and contacts. It is the united effort of the two great centres which is of such paramount importance and upon which I desire to have you concentrate. Its utterance by man throws the weight of human appeal and desire behind the age-old efforts of the Hierarchy and this is now, for the first time, truly possible on a large scale. For aeons, the Hierarchy has struggled alone to help and lift humanity and to stimulate the potency of the human planetary centre so that its vibratory activity would eventually be sufficiently powerful to swing it into the radius or magnetic field of hierarchical activity. This long task has at last achieved success. The Hierarchy and humanity are at last en rapport. This is the higher reflection or correspondence to what goes on within the consciousness of a human being who—having reached the stage of discipleship—is at the point of blending the light of the personality (as it is expressed through the ajna centre and its externalisation, the pituitary body) and the light of the soul (as it is, in its turn, expressed by the light in the head, or by the head centre and its externalisation, the pineal gland).
You will, therefore, note afresh the practical significance of these fourth and fifth phrases of the Great Invocation. One serves to arouse humanity (as a planetary centre) to activity and realisation and the other serves to aid the Hierarchy in its ancient efforts so that the two are then related to each other's magnetic fields and produce a blending and a synthesis which will lead to a fuller expression of the soul of divinity through the medium of humanity. Ponder on this statement. ..."
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<45> (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 273-274.)
"... We come now to the second stanza, with its direct references to human attitudes and recognitions. For decades, I, as one of the spiritual teachers, along with many others, have sought to awaken all to the fact of Light—light in the world, light coming from the plane of desire (called the astral plane quite often), light illumining science and human knowledge, the light of the soul, producing in due time the light in the head. You have been carefully taught that the right use of the mind in meditation and reflection will lead to the correct relation of soul and personality, and that when this has taken place, the light of the soul ignites or fosters the light in the head and the man reaches the stage of illumination. The reference in this second stanza is to the more extended idea of the relation of humanity (the kingdom of men) to the spiritual Hierarchy (the kingdom of God). When these two are more closely aligned and related, light will break out among the sons of men as a whole, just as light breaks out in the individual aspirant. This much-to-be-desired event can be brought about by the spiritually minded people in the world, by the men and women of goodwill, and by the world disciples, standing with "massed intent." This means with a uniform, united focus—a thing as yet rarely seen and much needed at this time. So many people are animated by wishful thinking, by hoping and by prayer; so few are motivated by intention. Intention here is that unbreakable, immovable determination that a situation shall be handled, that what is needed in order to release mankind assuredly must appear, for such is the mental intention of the focussed minds of many. I would ask you to give much thought to these words "massed intent" and to differentiate with care between intention and desire. When humanity has fulfilled the conditions through a focussed mental demand, based on correctly formulated mass intent, then will come the affirmation from the spiritual Forces. ..."
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<46> (Rays and The Initiations, p. 42.)
"... I would like for a moment to refer here to the door symbology as the initiate begins to grasp the inner meaning of those simple words. For long the teaching, given in the clear cold light, anent the door and the emphasis put upon the presentation of the door lying ahead of the aspirant has been made familiar, but that has been working with the lower aspects of the symbolism, even if aspirants did not realise it; they have been taught the fact of the light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to the clear cold light to which I refer. At the very centre of that light, as many aspirants know theoretically or factually by inconstant experience, is a centre or point of dark indigo blue—midnight blue. Note the significance of this in view of what I have been saying anent the "dark night," the midnight hour, the zero hour in the life of the soul. That centre is in reality an opening, a door leading somewhere, a way of escape, a place through which the soul imprisoned in the body can emerge and pass into higher states of consciousness, untrammelled by form limitations; it has also been called "the funnel or the channel for the sound"; it has been named the "trumpet through which the escaping A.U.M. can pass." The ability to use this door or channel is brought about by the practice of alignment; hence the emphasis laid upon this exercise in the attempt to train aspirants and disciples. ..."
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<47> (Rays and The Initiations, pp. 73-74.)
"... 2. Let the cry of invocation issue forth from the deep centre of the group's clear cold light.
We are not here dealing with the light in the head or with soul light as it is perceived by the attuned and aligned personality. That too is left behind, and the initiate is aware of the light of the Ashram and the all-including light of the Hierarchy. These are two aspects of soul light which the individual light in the head has revealed. That soul light which the initiate has been aware of from the first moment of soul contact, and at rapidly decreasing intervals, is created by the fusion of the light of the soul with the light of substance itself, and is the inevitable and automatic consequence of the purification of the three vehicles and of creative meditation. We are told in the world Scriptures that "in that light shall we see Light"; and it is to this other Light that I now refer—a light which is only to be perceived when the door is shut behind the initiate. That light is itself composed of the light of buddhi and the light of atma, and these are (to interpret these Sanskrit terms esoterically) the light of the pure reason, which is the sublimation of the intellect, and the light of the spiritual will, which is the revelation of the enfolding purpose. The first is focussed in the Ashram, and the second in the Hierarchy as a whole, and both of them are the expression of the activity of the Spiritual Triad.
Let me make myself clearly understood, if possible. You have, therefore, three great lights, all of them focussed upon the mental plane, for beyond that plane the symbolism of light is not used; divinity is known as life, where the Monad and its expression, the Spiritual Triad, are concerned. All the lights are finally focussed upon the mental plane:
1. The blended light of soul and personality.
2. The light of the egoic group which, when forming a recognised group in the consciousness of the illumined initiate, is called an Ashram, embodying the light of buddhi or pure reason.
3. The light of the Hierarchy as a centre of radiance in the planetary body and embodying the light which understanding of the plan and cooperation with that plan produce, and which comes from identification—upon mental levels—with the spiritual will.
All these three aspects of light can be described as:
1. The light which is thrown upward. This is the lesser light, from the angle of the Monad.
2. The light which the Spiritual Triad reflects upon the mental plane.
3. The focussed light which is produced by the meeting of the two lights, the higher and the lower.
These are the higher correspondence of the blazing forth of the light in the head, when the light of the personality and the light of the soul make contact. ..."
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<48> (Rays and The Initiations, pp. 142-143.)
"... It must ever be borne in mind that the great theme of LIGHT underlies our entire planetary purpose. The full expression of perfect LIGHT, occultly understood, is the engrossing life-purpose of our planetary Logos. Light is the great and obsessing enterprise in the three worlds of human evolution; everywhere men rate the light of the sun as essential to healthy living; some idea of the human urge to light can be grasped if you consider the brilliance of the physically engendered light in which we live when night arrives, and compare it with the mode of lighting the streets and homes of the world prior to the discovery of gas, and later of electricity. The light of knowledge, as the reward of educational processes, is the incentive behind all our great schools of learning in every country in the world and is the goal of much of our world organisation; the terminology of light controls even our computation of time. The mystery of electricity is unfolding gradually before our rapt eyes and the electrical nature of man is being slowly proven and will later demonstrate that, throughout the human structure and form, man is composed primarily of light atoms, and that the light in the head (so familiar to esotericists) is no fiction or figment of wishful thinking or of a hallucinated imagination, but is definitely brought about by the junction or fusion of the light inherent in substance itself and the light of the soul.
It will be found that this will be capable of scientific proof. It will also be shown that the soul itself is light, and that the entire Hierarchy is a great centre of light, causing the symbology of light to govern our thinking, our approach to God, and enabling us to understand somewhat the meaning of the words of Christ "I am the Light of the world." These words carry meaning to all true disciples and present them with an analogous goal which they define to themselves as that of finding the light, appropriating the light, and themselves becoming light-bearers. The theme of light runs through all the world Scriptures; the idea of enlightenment conditions all the training given to the youth of the world (limited though the application of this idea may be), and the thought of more light governs all the inchoate yearnings of the human spirit. ..."
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<49> (Rays and The Initiations, p. 671.)
"... What is oft omitted from normal consideration is the fact that the increasing activity of these two "points of light within the head" is basically related to what is occurring in the sacral and throat centres, as the transmutative process proceeds and the energies of the sacral centre are gathered up into the throat centre—without, however, withdrawing all the energy from the lower centre; thus its normal activity is properly preserved. The two centres in the head then become correspondingly active; the negative and the positive elements affect each other, and the light in the head shines forth; a line of light, permitting free interplay, is established between the ajna centre and the head centre, and therefore between the pituitary body and the pineal gland. When this line of light is present and there is an unobstructed relation between the two centres and the two glands, then the first initiation becomes possible. When this takes place, it must not be inferred that the task of transmutation going on between the lower and the higher centres and the relationship between the two head centres is fully and finally completed and established. The line of light is still tenuous and unstable, but it is in existence. It is the energy let loose at the first initiation and distributed into the sacral and the throat centres (via the slowly awakening head centre) which brings the transmutation process to a successful conclusion and stabilises the relationship within the head. This process may take several lives of steadily intensifying effort on the part of the initiate-disciple. ..."
