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THOUGHT-FORMS

BY ANNIE BESANT
AND C.W. LEADBEATER

[Illustration: Publisher Logo]

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE LTD
38 GREAT ORMOND STREET, LONDON, W.C. 1




_First Printed_ 1901
_Reprint_       1905
_Reprint_       1925


_Made and Printed in Great Britain by_
PERCY LUND, HUMPHRIES & CO LTD
THE COUNTRY PRESS
BRADFORD

[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE--MEANING OF THE COLOURS--(see html version
for this and other illustrations.)]




FOREWORD


The text of this little book is the joint work of Mr Leadbeater and
myself; some of it has already appeared as an article in _Lucifer_ (now
the _Theosophical Review_), but the greater part of it is new. The
drawing and painting of the Thought-Forms observed by Mr Leadbeater or
by myself, or by both of us together, has been done by three friends--Mr
John Varley, Mr Prince, and Miss Macfarlane, to each of whom we tender
our cordial thanks. To paint in earth's dull colours the forms clothed
in the living light of other worlds is a hard and thankless task; so
much the more gratitude is due to those who have attempted it. They
needed coloured fire, and had only ground earths. We have also to thank
Mr F. Bligh Bond for allowing us to use his essay on _Vibration
Figures_, and some of his exquisite drawings. Another friend, who sent
us some notes and a few drawings, insists on remaining anonymous, so we
can only send our thanks to him with similar anonymity.

It is our earnest hope--as it is our belief--that this little book will
serve as a striking moral lesson to every reader, making him realise the
nature and power of his thoughts, acting as a stimulus to the noble, a
curb on the base. With this belief and hope we send it on its way.

ANNIE BESANT.




CONTENTS

                                                                    PAGE
FOREWORD                                                               6
INTRODUCTION                                                          11
THE DIFFICULTY OF REPRESENTATION                                      16
THE TWO EFFECTS OF THOUGHT                                            21
HOW THE VIBRATION ACTS                                                23
THE FORM AND ITS EFFECT                                               25
THE MEANING OF THE COLOURS                                            32
THREE CLASSES OF THOUGHT-FORMS                                        36
ILLUSTRATIVE THOUGHT-FORMS                                            40
AFFECTION                                                          40-44
DEVOTION                                                           44-49
INTELLECT                                                          49-50
AMBITION                                                              51
ANGER                                                                 52
SYMPATHY                                                              55
FEAR                                                                  55
GREED                                                                 56
VARIOUS EMOTIONS                                                      57
  SHIPWRECK                                                           57
  ON THE FIRST NIGHT                                                  59
  THE GAMBLERS                                                        60
  AT A STREET ACCIDENT                                                61
  AT A FUNERAL                                                        61
  ON MEETING A FRIEND                                                 64
  APPRECIATION OF A PICTURE                                           65
FORMS SEEN IN MEDITATION                                              66
  SYMPATHY AND LOVE FOR ALL                                           66
  AN ASPIRATION TO ENFOLD ALL                                         66
  IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS                                               67
  COSMIC ORDER                                                        68
  THE LOGOS AS MANIFESTED IN MAN                                      69
  THE LOGOS PERVADING ALL                                             70
  ANOTHER CONCEPTION                                                  71
  THE THREEFOLD MANIFESTATION                                         71
  THE SEVENFOLD MANIFESTATION                                         72
  INTELLECTUAL ASPIRATION                                             72
HELPFUL THOUGHTS                                                      74
FORMS BUILT BY MUSIC                                                  75
  MENDELSSOHN                                                         77
  GOUNOD                                                              80
  WAGNER                                                              82




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

                                            FIG.                    PAGE
MEANING OF THE COLOURS                                    _Frontispiece_
CHLADNI'S SOUND PLATE                          1                      28
FORMS PRODUCED IN SAND                         2                      28
FORMS PRODUCED IN SAND                         3                      29
FORMS PRODUCED BY PENDULUMS                  4-7                      30
VAGUE PURE AFFECTION                           8                      40
VAGUE SELFISH AFFECTION                        9                      40
DEFINITE AFFECTION                            10                      42
RADIATING AFFECTION                           11                      43
PEACE AND PROTECTION                          12                      42
GRASPING ANIMAL AFFECTION                     13                      43
VAGUE RELIGIOUS FEELING                       14                      44
UPWARD RUSH OF DEVOTION                       15                      46
SELF-RENUNCIATION                             16                      44
RESPONSE TO DEVOTION                          17                      46
VAGUE INTELLECTUAL PLEASURE                   18                      50
VAGUE SYMPATHY                                18A                     50
THE INTENTION TO KNOW                         19                      51
HIGH AMBITION                                 20                      52
SELFISH AMBITION                              21                      52
MURDEROUS RAGE                                22                      53
SUSTAINED ANGER                               23                      53
EXPLOSIVE ANGER                               24                      51
WATCHFUL JEALOUSY                             25                      54
ANGRY JEALOUSY                                26                      54
SUDDEN FRIGHT                                 27                      55
SELFISH GREED                                 28                      56
GREED FOR DRINK                               29                      56
AT A SHIPWRECK                                30                      58
ON THE FIRST NIGHT                            31                      59
THE GAMBLERS                                  32                      60
AT A STREET ACCIDENT                          33                      61
AT A FUNERAL                                  34                      62
ON MEETING A FRIEND                           35                      64
THE APPRECIATION OF A PICTURE                 36                      64
SYMPATHY AND LOVE FOR ALL                     37                      66
AN ASPIRATION TO ENFOLD ALL                   38                      67
IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS                         39                      66
AN INTELLECTUAL CONCEPTION OF COSMIC ORDER    40                      69
THE LOGOS AS MANIFESTED IN MAN                41                      69
THE LOGOS PERVADING ALL                42 and 44                      70
ANOTHER CONCEPTION                            45                      70
THE THREEFOLD MANIFESTATION                   46                      70
THE SEVENFOLD MANIFESTATION                   47                      70
INTELLECTUAL ASPIRATION                       43                      72
HELPFUL THOUGHTS      48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54                      74

                                           PLATE
MUSIC OF MENDELSSOHN                           M                      78
MUSIC OF GOUNOD                                G                      80
MUSIC OF WAGNER                                W                      82

[Transcriber's Note: Some of the plates are displayed out of sequence to
correspond with references to them in the text.]




THOUGHT-FORMS


As knowledge increases, the attitude of science towards the things of
the invisible world is undergoing considerable modification. Its
attention is no longer directed solely to the earth with all its variety
of objects, or to the physical worlds around it; but it finds itself
compelled to glance further afield, and to construct hypotheses as to
the nature of the matter and force which lie in the regions beyond the
ken of its instruments. Ether is now comfortably settled in the
scientific kingdom, becoming almost more than a hypothesis. Mesmerism,
under its new name of hypnotism, is no longer an outcast. Reichenbach's
experiments are still looked at askance, but are not wholly condemned.
Röntgen's rays have rearranged some of the older ideas of matter, while
radium has revolutionised them, and is leading science beyond the
borderland of ether into the astral world. The boundaries between
animate and inanimate matter are broken down. Magnets are found to be
possessed of almost uncanny powers, transferring certain forms of
disease in a way not yet satisfactorily explained. Telepathy,
clairvoyance, movement without contact, though not yet admitted to the
scientific table, are approaching the Cinderella-stage. The fact is
that science has pressed its researches so far, has used such rare
ingenuity in its questionings of nature, has shown such tireless
patience in its investigations, that it is receiving the reward of those
who seek, and forces and beings of the next higher plane of nature are
beginning to show themselves on the outer edge of the physical field.
"Nature makes no leaps," and as the physicist nears the confines of his
kingdom he finds himself bewildered by touches and gleams from another
realm which interpenetrates his own. He finds himself compelled to
speculate on invisible presences, if only to find a rational explanation
for undoubted physical phenomena, and insensibly he slips over the
boundary, and is, although he does not yet realise it, contacting the
astral plane.

One of the most interesting of the highroads from the physical to the
astral is that of the study of thought. The Western scientist,
commencing in the anatomy and physiology of the brain, endeavours to
make these the basis for "a sound psychology." He passes then into the
region of dreams, illusions, hallucinations; and as soon as he
endeavours to elaborate an experimental science which shall classify and
arrange these, he inevitably plunges into the astral plane. Dr Baraduc
of Paris has nearly crossed the barrier, and is well on the way towards
photographing astro-mental images, to obtaining pictures of what from
the materialistic standpoint would be the results of vibrations in the
grey matter of the brain.

It has long been known to those who have given attention to the question
that impressions were produced by the reflection of the ultra-violet
rays from objects not visible by the rays of the ordinary spectrum.
Clairvoyants were occasionally justified by the appearance on sensitive
photographic plates of figures seen and described by them as present
with the sitter, though invisible to physical sight. It is not possible
for an unbiassed judgment to reject _in toto_ the evidence of such
occurrences proffered by men of integrity on the strength of their own
experiments, oftentimes repeated. And now we have investigators who turn
their attention to the obtaining of images of subtle forms, inventing
methods specially designed with the view of reproducing them. Among
these, Dr Baraduc seems to have been the most successful, and he has
published a volume dealing with his investigations and containing
reproductions of the photographs he has obtained. Dr Baraduc states that
he is investigating the subtle forces by which the soul--defined as the
intelligence working between the body and the spirit--expresses itself,
by seeking to record its movements by means of a needle, its "luminous"
but invisible vibrations by impressions on sensitive plates. He shuts
out by non-conductors electricity and heat. We can pass over his
experiments in Biometry (measurement of life by movements), and glance
at those in Iconography--the impressions of invisible waves, regarded by
him as of the nature of light, in which the soul draws its own image. A
number of these photographs represent etheric and magnetic results of
physical phenomena, and these again we may pass over as not bearing on
our special subject, interesting as they are in themselves. Dr Baraduc
obtained various impressions by strongly thinking of an object, the
effect produced by the thought-form appearing on a sensitive plate; thus
he tried to project a portrait of a lady (then dead) whom he had known,
and produced an impression due to his thought of a drawing he had made
of her on her deathbed. He quite rightly says that the creation of an
object is the passing out of an image from the mind and its subsequent
materialisation, and he seeks the chemical effect caused on silver salts
by this thought-created picture. One striking illustration is that of a
force raying outwards, the projection of an earnest prayer. Another
prayer is seen producing forms like the fronds of a fern, another like
rain pouring upwards, if the phrase may be permitted. A rippled oblong
mass is projected by three persons thinking of their unity in affection.
A young boy sorrowing over and caressing a dead bird is surrounded by a
flood of curved interwoven threads of emotional disturbance. A strong
vortex is formed by a feeling of deep sadness. Looking at this most
interesting and suggestive series, it is clear that in these pictures
that which is obtained is not the thought-image, but the effect caused
in etheric matter by its vibrations, and it is necessary to
clairvoyantly see the thought in order to understand the results
produced. In fact, the illustrations are instructive for what they do
not show directly, as well as for the images that appear.

It may be useful to put before students, a little more plainly than has
hitherto been done, some of the facts in nature which will render more
intelligible the results at which Dr Baraduc is arriving. Necessarily
imperfect these must be, a physical photographic camera and sensitive
plates not being ideal instruments for astral research; but, as will be
seen from the above, they are most interesting and valuable as forming a
link between clairvoyant and physical scientific investigations.

At the present time observers outside the Theosophical Society are
concerning themselves with the fact that emotional changes show their
nature by changes of colour in the cloud-like ovoid, or aura, that
encompasses all living beings. Articles on the subject are appearing in
papers unconnected with the Theosophical Society, and a medical
specialist[1] has collected a large number of cases in which the colour
of the aura of persons of various types and temperaments is recorded by
him. His results resemble closely those arrived at by clairvoyant
theosophists and others, and the general unanimity on the subject is
sufficient to establish the fact, if the evidence be judged by the usual
canons applied to human testimony.

The book _Man Visible and Invisible_ dealt with the general subject of
the aura. The present little volume, written by the author of _Man
Visible and Invisible_, and a theosophical colleague, is intended to
carry the subject further; and it is believed that this study is useful,
as impressing vividly on the mind of the student the power and living
nature of thought and desire, and the influence exerted by them on all
whom they reach.

[Footnote 1: Dr Hooker, Gloucester Place, London, W.]




THE DIFFICULTY OF REPRESENTATION


We have often heard it said that thoughts are things, and there are many
among us who are persuaded of the truth of this statement. Yet very few
of us have any clear idea as to what kind of thing a thought is, and the
object of this little book is to help us to conceive this.

There are some serious difficulties in our way, for our conception of
space is limited to three dimensions, and when we attempt to make a
drawing we practically limit ourselves to two. In reality the
presentation even of ordinary three-dimensional objects is seriously
defective, for scarcely a line or angle in our drawing is accurately
shown. If a road crosses the picture, the part in the foreground must be
represented as enormously wider than that in the background, although in
reality the width is unchanged. If a house is to be drawn, the right
angles at its corners must be shown as acute or obtuse as the case may
be, but hardly ever as they actually are. In fact, we draw everything
not as it is but as it appears, and the effort of the artist is by a
skilful arrangement of lines upon a flat surface to convey to the eye an
impression which shall recall that made by a three-dimensional object.

It is possible to do this only because similar objects are already
familiar to those who look at the picture and accept the suggestion
which it conveys. A person who had never seen a tree could form but
little idea of one from even the most skilful painting. If to this
difficulty we add the other and far more serious one of a limitation of
consciousness, and suppose ourselves to be showing the picture to a
being who knew only two dimensions, we see how utterly impossible it
would be to convey to him any adequate impression of such a landscape as
we see. Precisely this difficulty in its most aggravated form stands in
our way, when we try to make a drawing of even a very simple
thought-form. The vast majority of those who look at the picture are
absolutely limited to the consciousness of three dimensions, and
furthermore, have not the slightest conception of that inner world to
which thought-forms belong, with all its splendid light and colour. All
that we can do at the best is to represent a section of the
thought-form; and those whose faculties enable them to see the original
cannot but be disappointed with any reproduction of it. Still, those who
are at present unable to see anything will gain at least a partial
comprehension, and however inadequate it may be it is at least better
than nothing.

All students know that what is called the aura of man is the outer part
of the cloud-like substance of his higher bodies, interpenetrating each
other, and extending beyond the confines of his physical body, the
smallest of all. They know also that two of these bodies, the mental and
desire bodies, are those chiefly concerned with the appearance of what
are called thought-forms. But in order that the matter may be made clear
for all, and not only for students already acquainted with theosophical
teachings, a recapitulation of the main facts will not be out of place.

Man, the Thinker, is clothed in a body composed of innumerable
combinations of the subtle matter of the mental plane, this body being
more or less refined in its constituents and organised more or less
fully for its functions, according to the stage of intellectual
development at which the man himself has arrived. The mental body is an
object of great beauty, the delicacy and rapid motion of its particles
giving it an aspect of living iridescent light, and this beauty becomes
an extraordinarily radiant and entrancing loveliness as the intellect
becomes more highly evolved and is employed chiefly on pure and sublime
topics. Every thought gives rise to a set of correlated vibrations in
the matter of this body, accompanied with a marvellous play of colour,
like that in the spray of a waterfall as the sunlight strikes it, raised
to the _n_th degree of colour and vivid delicacy. The body under this
impulse throws off a vibrating portion of itself, shaped by the nature
of the vibrations--as figures are made by sand on a disk vibrating to a
musical note--and this gathers from the surrounding atmosphere matter
like itself in fineness from the elemental essence of the mental world.
We have then a thought-form pure and simple, and it is a living entity
of intense activity animated by the one idea that generated it. If made
of the finer kinds of matter, it will be of great power and energy, and
may be used as a most potent agent when directed by a strong and steady
will. Into the details of such use we will enter later.

When the man's energy flows outwards towards external objects of desire,
or is occupied in passional and emotional activities, this energy works
in a less subtle order of matter than the mental, in that of the astral
world. What is called his desire-body is composed of this matter, and it
forms the most prominent part of the aura in the undeveloped man. Where
the man is of a gross type, the desire-body is of the denser matter of
the astral plane, and is dull in hue, browns and dirty greens and reds
playing a great part in it. Through this will flash various
characteristic colours, as his passions are excited. A man of a higher
type has his desire-body composed of the finer qualities of astral
matter, with the colours, rippling over and flashing through it, fine
and clear in hue. While less delicate and less radiant than the mental
body, it forms a beautiful object, and as selfishness is eliminated all
the duller and heavier shades disappear.

This desire (or astral) body gives rise to a second class of entities,
similar in their general constitution to the thought-forms already
described, but limited to the astral plane, and generated by the mind
under the dominion of the animal nature.

These are caused by the activity of the lower mind, throwing itself out
through the astral body--the activity of Kâma-Manas in theosophical
terminology, or the mind dominated by desire. Vibrations in the body of
desire, or astral body, are in this case set up, and under these this
body throws off a vibrating portion of itself, shaped, as in the
previous case, by the nature of the vibrations, and this attracts to
itself some of the appropriate elemental essence of the astral world.
Such a thought-form has for its body this elemental essence, and for its
animating soul the desire or passion which threw it forth; according to
the amount of mental energy combined with this desire or passion will
be the force of the thought-form. These, like those belonging to the
mental plane, are called artificial elementals, and they are by far the
most common, as few thoughts of ordinary men and women are untinged with
desire, passion, or emotion.




THE TWO EFFECTS OF THOUGHT


Each definite thought produces a double effect--a radiating vibration
and a floating form. The thought itself appears first to clairvoyant
sight as a vibration in the mental body, and this may be either simple
or complex. If the thought itself is absolutely simple, there is only
the one rate of vibration, and only one type of mental matter will be
strongly affected. The mental body is composed of matter of several
degrees of density, which we commonly arrange in classes according to
the sub-planes. Of each of these we have many sub-divisions, and if we
typify these by drawing horizontal lines to indicate the different
degrees of density, there is another arrangement which we might
symbolise by drawing perpendicular lines at right angles to the others,
to denote types which differ in quality as well as in density. There are
thus many varieties of this mental matter, and it is found that each one
of these has its own especial and appropriate rate of vibration, to
which it seems most accustomed, so that it very readily responds to it,
and tends to return to it as soon as possible when it has been forced
away from it by some strong rush of thought or feeling. When a sudden
wave of some emotion sweeps over a man, for example, his astral body is
thrown into violent agitation, and its original colours are or the time
almost obscured by the flush of carmine, of blue, or of scarlet which
corresponds with the rate of vibration of that particular emotion. This
change is only temporary; it passes off in a few seconds, and the astral
body rapidly resumes its usual condition. Yet every such rush of feeling
produces a permanent effect: it always adds a little of its hue to the
normal colouring of the astral body, so that every time that the man
yields himself to a certain emotion it becomes easier for him to yield
himself to it again, because his astral body is getting into the habit
of vibrating at that especial rate.

The majority of human thoughts, however, are by no means simple.
Absolutely pure affection of course exists; but we very often find it
tinged with pride or with selfishness, with jealousy or with animal
passion. This means that at least two separate vibrations appear both in
the mental and astral bodies--frequently more than two. The radiating
vibration, therefore, will be a complex one, and the resultant
thought-form will show several colours instead of only one.




HOW THE VIBRATION ACTS


These radiating vibrations, like all others in nature, become less
powerful in proportion to the distance from their source, though it is
probable that the variation is in proportion to the cube of the distance
instead of to the square, because of the additional dimension involved.
Again, like all other vibrations, these tend to reproduce themselves
whenever opportunity is offered to them; and so whenever they strike
upon another mental body they tend to provoke in it their own rate of
motion. That is--from the point of view of the man whose mental body is
touched by these waves--they tend to produce in his mind thoughts of the
same type as that which had previously arisen in the mind of the thinker
who sent forth the waves. The distance to which such thought-waves
penetrate, and the force and persistency with which they impinge upon
the mental bodies of others, depend upon the strength and clearness of
the original thought. In this way the thinker is in the same position as
the speaker. The voice of the latter sets in motion waves of sound in
the air which radiate from him in all directions, and convey his message
to all those who are within hearing, and the distance to which his voice
can penetrate depends upon its power and upon the clearness of his
enunciation. In just the same way the forceful thought will carry very
much further than the weak and undecided thought; but clearness and
definiteness are of even greater importance than strength. Again, just
as the speaker's voice may fall upon heedless ears where men are already
engaged in business or in pleasure, so may a mighty wave of thought
sweep past without affecting the mind of the man, if he be already
deeply engrossed in some other line of thought.

It should be understood that this radiating vibration conveys the
character of the thought, but not its subject. If a Hindu sits rapt in
devotion to Krishna, the waves of feeling which pour forth from him
stimulate devotional feeling in all those who come under their
influence, though in the case of the Muhammadan that devotion is to
Allah, while for the Zoroastrian it is to Ahuramazda, or for the
Christian to Jesus. A man thinking keenly upon some high subject pours
out from himself vibrations which tend to stir up thought at a similar
level in others, but they in no way suggest to those others the special
subject of his thought. They naturally act with special vigour upon
those minds already habituated to vibrations of similar character; yet
they have some effect on every mental body upon which they impinge, so
that their tendency is to awaken the power of higher thought in those to
whom it has not yet become a custom. It is thus evident that every man
who thinks along high lines is doing missionary work, even though he may
be entirely unconscious of it.




THE FORM AND ITS EFFECT


Let us turn now to the second effect of thought, the creation of a
definite form. All students of the occult are acquainted with the idea
of the elemental essence, that strange half-intelligent life which
surrounds us in all directions, vivifying the matter of the mental and
astral planes. This matter thus animated responds very readily to the
influence of human thought, and every impulse sent out, either from the
mental body or from the astral body of man, immediately clothes itself
in a temporary vehicle of this vitalised matter. Such a thought or
impulse becomes for the time a kind of living creature, the
thought-force being the soul, and the vivified matter the body. Instead
of using the somewhat clumsy paraphrase, "astral or mental matter
ensouled by the monadic essence at the stage of one of the elemental
kingdoms," theosophical writers often, for brevity's sake, call this
quickened matter simply elemental essence; and sometimes they speak of
the thought-form as "an elemental." There may be infinite variety in the
colour and shape of such elementals or thought-forms, for each thought
draws round it the matter which is appropriate for its expression, and
sets that matter into vibration in harmony with its own; so that the
character of the thought decides its colour, and the study of its
variations and combinations is an exceedingly interesting one.

This thought-form may not inaptly be compared to a Leyden jar, the
coating of living essence being symbolised by the jar, and the thought
energy by the charge of electricity. If the man's thought or feeling is
directly connected with someone else, the resultant thought-form moves
towards that person and discharges itself upon his astral and mental
bodies. If the man's thought is about himself, or is based upon a
personal feeling, as the vast majority of thoughts are, it hovers round
its creator and is always ready to react upon him whenever he is for a
moment in a passive condition. For example, a man who yields himself to
thoughts of impurity may forget all about them while he is engaged in
the daily routine of his business, even though the resultant forms are
hanging round him in a heavy cloud, because his attention is otherwise
directed and his astral body is therefore not impressible by any other
rate of vibration than its own. When, however, the marked vibration
slackens and the man rests after his labours and leaves his mind blank
as regards definite thought, he is very likely to feel the vibration of
impurity stealing insidiously upon him. If the consciousness of the man
be to any extent awakened, he may perceive this and cry out that he is
being tempted by the devil; yet the truth is that the temptation is from
without only in appearance, since it is nothing but the natural reaction
upon him of his own thought-forms. Each man travels through space
enclosed within a cage of his own building, surrounded by a mass of the
forms created by his habitual thoughts. Through this medium he looks out
upon the world, and naturally he sees everything tinged with its
predominant colours, and all rates of vibration which reach him from
without are more or less modified by its rate. Thus until the man learns
complete control of thought and feeling, he sees nothing as it really
is, since all his observations must be made through this medium, which
distorts and colours everything like badly-made glass.

If the thought-form be neither definitely personal nor specially aimed
at someone else, it simply floats detached in the atmosphere, all the
time radiating vibrations similar to those originally sent forth by its
creator. If it does not come into contact with any other mental body,
this radiation gradually exhausts its store of energy, and in that case
the form falls to pieces; but if it succeeds in awakening sympathetic
vibration in any mental body near at hand, an attraction is set up, and
the thought-form is usually absorbed by that mental body. Thus we see
that the influence of the thought-form is by no means so far-reaching as
that of the original vibration; but in so far as it acts, it acts with
much greater precision. What it produces in the mind-body which it
influences is not merely a thought of an order similar to that which
gave it birth; it is actually the same thought. The radiation may affect
thousands and stir up in them thoughts on the same level as the
original, and yet it may happen that no one of them will be identical
with that original; the thought-form can affect only very few, but in
those few cases it will reproduce exactly the initiatory idea.

The fact of the creation by vibrations of a distinct form, geometrical
or other, is already familiar to every student of acoustics, and
"Chladni's" figures are continually reproduced in every physical
laboratory.

[Illustration: FIG. 1. CHLADNI'S SOUND PLATE]

[Illustration: FIG. 2. FORMS PRODUCED IN SOUND]

For the lay reader the following brief description may be useful. A
Chladni's sound plate (fig. 1) is made of brass or plate-glass. Grains
of fine sand or spores are scattered over the surface, and the edge of
the plate is bowed. The sand is thrown up into the air by the vibration
of the plate, and re-falling on the plate is arranged in regular lines
(fig. 2). By touching the edge of the plate at different points when it
is bowed, different notes, and hence varying forms, are obtained (fig.
3). If the figures here given are compared with those obtained from the
human voice, many likenesses will be observed. For these latter, the
'voice-forms' so admirably studied and pictured by Mrs Watts Hughes,[1]
bearing witness to the same fact, should be consulted, and her work on
the subject should be in the hands of every student. But few perhaps
have realised that the shapes pictured are due to the interplay of the
vibrations that create them, and that a machine exists by means of which
two or more simultaneous motions can be imparted to a pendulum, and that
by attaching a fine drawing-pen to a lever connected with the pendulum
its action may be exactly traced. Substitute for the swing of the
pendulum the vibrations set up in the mental or astral body, and we have
clearly before us the _modus operandi_ of the building of forms by
vibrations.[2]

[Illustration: FIG. 3. FORMS PRODUCED IN SOUND]

[Footnote 1: _The Eidophone Voice Figures._ Margaret Watts Hughes.]

[Footnote 2: Mr Joseph Gould, Stratford House, Nottingham, supplies the
twin-elliptic pendulum by which these wonderful figures may be
produced.]

The following description is taken from a most interesting essay
entitled _Vibration Figures_, by F. Bligh Bond, F.R.I.B.A., who has
drawn a number of remarkable figures by the use of pendulums. The
pendulum is suspended on knife edges of hardened steel, and is free to
swing only at right angles to the knife-edge suspension. Four such
pendulums may be coupled in pairs, swinging at right angles to each
other, by threads connecting the shafts of each pair of pendulums with
the ends of a light but rigid lath, from the centre of which run other
threads; these threads carry the united movements of each pair of
pendulums to a light square of wood, suspended by a spring, and bearing
a pen. The pen is thus controlled by the combined movement of the four
pendulums, and this movement is registered on a drawing board by the
pen. There is no limit, theoretically, to the number of pendulums that
can be combined in this manner. The movements are rectilinear, but two
rectilinear vibrations of equal amplitude acting at right angles to each
other generate a circle if they alternate precisely, an ellipse if the
alternations are less regular or the amplitudes unequal. A cyclic
vibration may also be obtained from a pendulum free to swing in a rotary
path. In these ways a most wonderful series of drawings have been
obtained, and the similarity of these to some of the thought-forms is
remarkable; they suffice to demonstrate how readily vibrations may be
transformed into figures. Thus compare fig. 4 with fig. 12, the mother's
prayer; or fig. 5 with fig. 10; or fig. 6 with fig. 25, the serpent-like
darting forms. Fig. 7 is added as an illustration of the complexity
attainable. It seems to us a most marvellous thing that some of the
drawings, made apparently at random by the use of this machine, should
exactly correspond to higher types of thought-forms created in
meditation. We are sure that a wealth of significance lies behind this
fact, though it will need much further investigation before we can say
certainly all that it means. But it must surely imply this much--that,
if two forces on the physical plane bearing a certain ratio one to the
other can draw a form which exactly corresponds to that produced on the
mental plane by a complex thought, we may infer that that thought sets
in motion on its own plane two forces which are in the same ratio one to
the other. What these forces are and how they work remains to be seen;
but if we are ever able to solve this problem, it is likely that it
will open to us a new and exceedingly valuable field of knowledge.

[Illustration: FIGS. 4-7. FORMS PRODUCED BY PENDULUMS]


GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

Three general principles underlie the production of all thought-forms:--

1. Quality of thought determines colour.

2. Nature of thought determines form.

3. Definiteness of thought determines clearness of outline.




THE MEANING OF THE COLOURS


The table of colours given in the frontispiece has already been
thoroughly described in the book _Man Visible and Invisible_, and the
meaning to be attached to them is just the same in the thought-form as
in the body out of which it is evolved. For the sake of those who have
not at hand the full description given in the book just mentioned, it
will be well to state that black means hatred and malice. Red, of all
shades from lurid brick-red to brilliant scarlet, indicates anger;
brutal anger will show as flashes of lurid red from dark brown clouds,
while the anger of "noble indignation" is a vivid scarlet, by no means
unbeautiful, though it gives an unpleasant thrill; a particularly dark
and unpleasant red, almost exactly the colour called dragon's blood,
shows animal passion and sensual desire of various kinds. Clear brown
(almost burnt sienna) shows avarice; hard dull brown-grey is a sign of
selfishness--a colour which is indeed painfully common; deep heavy grey
signifies depression, while a livid pale grey is associated with fear;
grey-green is a signal of deceit, while brownish-green (usually flecked
with points and flashes of scarlet) betokens jealousy. Green seems
always to denote adaptability; in the lowest case, when mingled with
selfishness, this adaptability becomes deceit; at a later stage, when
the colour becomes purer, it means rather the wish to be all things to
all men, even though it may be chiefly for the sake of becoming popular
and bearing a good reputation with them; in its still higher, more
delicate and more luminous aspect, it shows the divine power of
sympathy. Affection expresses itself in all shades of crimson and rose;
a full clear carmine means a strong healthy affection of normal type; if
stained heavily with brown-grey, a selfish and grasping feeling is
indicated, while pure pale rose marks that absolutely unselfish love
which is possible only to high natures; it passes from the dull crimson
of animal love to the most exquisite shades of delicate rose, like the
early flushes of the dawning, as the love becomes purified from all
selfish elements, and flows out in wider and wider circles of generous
impersonal tenderness and compassion to all who are in need. With a
touch of the blue of devotion in it, this may express a strong
realisation of the universal brotherhood of humanity. Deep orange
imports pride or ambition, and the various shades of yellow denote
intellect or intellectual gratification, dull yellow ochre implying the
direction of such faculty to selfish purposes, while clear gamboge shows
a distinctly higher type, and pale luminous primrose yellow is a sign of
the highest and most unselfish use of intellectual power, the pure
reason directed to spiritual ends. The different shades of blue all
indicate religious feeling, and range through all hues from the dark
brown-blue of selfish devotion, or the pallid grey-blue of
fetish-worship tinged with fear, up to the rich deep clear colour of
heartfelt adoration, and the beautiful pale azure of that highest form
which implies self-renunciation and union with the divine; the
devotional thought of an unselfish heart is very lovely in colour, like
the deep blue of a summer sky. Through such clouds of blue will often
shine out golden stars of great brilliancy, darting upwards like a
shower of sparks. A mixture of affection and devotion is manifested by a
tint of violet, and the more delicate shades of this invariably show the
capacity of absorbing and responding to a high and beautiful ideal. The
brilliancy and the depth of the colours are usually a measure of the
strength and the activity of the feeling.

Another consideration which must not be forgotten is the type of matter
in which these forms are generated. If a thought be purely intellectual
and impersonal--for example, if the thinker is attempting to solve a
problem in algebra or geometry--the thought-form and the wave of
vibration will be confined entirely to the mental plane. If, however,
the thought be of a spiritual nature, if it be tinged with love and
aspiration or deep unselfish feeling, it will rise upwards from the
mental plane and will borrow much of the splendour and glory of the
buddhic level. In such a case its influence is exceedingly powerful, and
every such thought is a mighty force for good which cannot but produce a
decided effect upon all mental bodies within reach, if they contain any
quality at all capable of response.

If, on the other hand, the thought has in it something of self or of
personal desire, at once its vibration turns downwards, and it draws
round itself a body of astral matter in addition to its clothing of
mental matter. Such a thought-form is capable of acting upon the astral
bodies of other men as well as their minds, so that it can not only
raise thought within them, but can also stir up their feelings.




THREE CLASSES OF THOUGHT-FORMS


From the point of view of the forms which they produce we may group
thought into three classes:--

1. That which takes the image of the thinker. When a man thinks of
himself as in some distant place, or wishes earnestly to be in that
place, he makes a thought-form in his own image which appears there.
Such a form has not infrequently been seen by others, and has sometimes
been taken for the astral body or apparition of the man himself. In such
a case, either the seer must have enough of clairvoyance for the time to
be able to observe that astral shape, or the thought-form must have
sufficient strength to materialise itself--that is, to draw round itself
temporarily a certain amount of physical matter. The thought which
generates such a form as this must necessarily be a strong one, and it
therefore employs a larger proportion of the matter of the mental body,
so that though the form is small and compressed when it leaves the
thinker, it draws round it a considerable amount of astral matter, and
usually expands to life-size before it appears at its destination.

2. That which takes the image of some material object. When a man thinks
of his friend he forms within his mental body a minute image of that
friend, which often passes outward and usually floats suspended in the
air before him. In the same way if he thinks of a room, a house, a
landscape, tiny images of these things are formed within the mental body
and afterwards externalised. This is equally true when he is exercising
his imagination; the painter who forms a conception of his future
picture builds it up out of the matter of his mental body, and then
projects it into space in front of him, keeps it before his mind's eye,
and copies it. The novelist in the same way builds images of his
character in mental matter, and by the exercise of his will moves these
puppets from one position or grouping to another, so that the plot of
his story is literally acted out before him. With our curiously inverted
conceptions of reality it is hard for us to understand that these mental
images actually exist, and are so entirely objective that they may
readily be seen by the clairvoyant, and can even be rearranged by some
one other than their creator. Some novelists have been dimly aware of
such a process, and have testified that their characters when once
created developed a will of their own, and insisted on carrying the plot
of the story along lines quite different from those originally intended
by the author. This has actually happened, sometimes because the
thought-forms were ensouled by playful nature-spirits, or more often
because some 'dead' novelist, watching on the astral plane the
development of the plan of his fellow-author, thought that he could
improve upon it, and chose this method of putting forward his
suggestions.

3. That which takes a form entirely its own, expressing its inherent
qualities in the matter which it draws round it. Only thought-forms of
this third class can usefully be illustrated, for to represent those of
the first or second class would be merely to draw portraits or
landscapes. In those types we have the plastic mental or astral matter
moulded in imitation of forms belonging to the physical plane; in this
third group we have a glimpse of the forms natural to the astral or
mental planes. Yet this very fact, which makes them so interesting,
places an insuperable barrier in the way of their accurate reproduction.

Thought-forms of this third class almost invariably manifest themselves
upon the astral plane, as the vast majority of them are expressions of
feeling as well as of thought. Those of which we here give specimens are
almost wholly of that class, except that we take a few examples of the
beautiful thought-forms created in definite meditation by those who,
through long practice, have learnt how to think.

Thought-forms directed towards individuals produce definitely marked
effects, these effects being either partially reproduced in the aura of
the recipient and so increasing the total result, or repelled from it. A
thought of love and of desire to protect, directed strongly towards some
beloved object, creates a form which goes to the person thought of, and
remains in his aura as a shielding and protecting agent; it will seek
all opportunities to serve, and all opportunities to defend, not by a
conscious and deliberate action, but by a blind following out of the
impulse impressed upon it, and it will strengthen friendly forces that
impinge on the aura and weaken unfriendly ones. Thus may we create and
maintain veritable guardian angels round those we love, and many a
mother's prayer for a distant child thus circles round him, though she
knows not the method by which her "prayer is answered."

In cases in which good or evil thoughts are projected at individuals,
those thoughts, if they are to directly fulfil their mission, must find,
in the aura of the object to whom they are sent, materials capable of
responding sympathetically to their vibrations. Any combination of
matter can only vibrate within certain definite limits, and if the
thought-form be outside all the limits within which the aura is capable
of vibrating, it cannot affect that aura at all. It consequently
rebounds from it, and that with a force proportionate to the energy with
which it impinged upon it. This is why it is said that a pure heart and
mind are the best protectors against any inimical assaults, for such a
pure heart and mind will construct an astral and a mental body of fine
and subtle materials, and these bodies cannot respond to vibrations that
demand coarse and dense matter. If an evil thought, projected with
malefic intent, strikes such a body, it can only rebound from it, and it
is flung back with all its own energy; it then flies backward along the
magnetic line of least resistance, that which it has just traversed, and
strikes its projector; he, having matter in his astral and mental bodies
similar to that of the thought-form he generated, is thrown into
respondent vibrations, and suffers the destructive effects he had
intended to cause to another. Thus "curses [and blessings] come home to
roost." From this arise also the very serious effects of hating or
suspecting a good and highly-advanced man; the thought-forms sent
against him cannot injure him, and they rebound against their
projectors, shattering them mentally, morally, or physically. Several
such instances are well known to members of the Theosophical Society,
having come under their direct observation. So long as any of the
coarser kinds of matter connected with evil and selfish thoughts remain
in a person's body, he is open to attack from those who wish him evil,
but when he has perfectly eliminated these by self-purification his
haters cannot injure him, and he goes on calmly and peacefully amid all
the darts of their malice. But it is bad for those who shoot out such
darts.

Another point that should be mentioned before passing to the
consideration of our illustrations is that every one of the
thought-forms here given is drawn from life. They are not imaginary
forms, prepared as some dreamer thinks that they ought to appear; they
are representations of forms actually observed as thrown off by ordinary
men and women, and either reproduced with all possible care and fidelity
by those who have seen them, or with the help of artists to whom the
seers have described them.

       *       *       *       *       *

For convenience of comparison thought-forms of a similar kind are
grouped together.


ILLUSTRATIVE THOUGHT-FORMS

AFFECTION

_Vague Pure Affection._--Fig. 8 is a revolving cloud of pure affection,
and except for its vagueness it represents a very good feeling. The
person from whom it emanates is happy and at peace with the world,
thinking dreamily of some friend whose very presence is a pleasure.
There is nothing keen or strong about the feeling, yet it is one of
gentle well-being, and of an unselfish delight in the proximity of
those who are beloved. The feeling which gives birth to such a cloud is
pure of its kind, but there is in it no force capable of producing
definite results. An appearance by no means unlike this frequently
surrounds a gently purring cat, and radiates slowly outward from the
animal in a series of gradually enlarging concentric shells of rosy
cloud, fading into invisibility at a distance of a few feet from their
drowsily contented creator.

[Illustration: FIG. 8. VAGUE PURE AFFECTION]

_Vague Selfish Affection._--Fig. 9 shows us also a cloud of affection,
but this time it is deeply tinged with a far less desirable feeling. The
dull hard brown-grey of selfishness shows itself very decidedly among
the carmine of love, and thus we see that the affection which is
indicated is closely connected with satisfaction at favours already
received, and with a lively anticipation of others to come in the near
future. Indefinite as was the feeling which produced the cloud in Fig.
8, it was at least free from this taint of selfishness, and it therefore
showed a certain nobility of nature in its author. Fig. 9 represents
what takes the place of that condition of mind at a lower level of
evolution. It would scarcely be possible that these two clouds should
emanate from the same person in the same incarnation. Yet there is good
in the man who generates this second cloud, though as yet it is but
partially evolved. A vast amount of the average affection of the world
is of this type, and it is only by slow degrees that it develops towards
the other and higher manifestation.

[Illustration: FIG. 9. VAGUE SELFISH AFFECTION]

_Definite Affection._--Even the first glance at Fig. 10 shows us that
here we have to deal with something of an entirely different
nature--something effective and capable, something that will achieve a
result. The colour is fully equal to that of Fig. 8 in clearness and
depth and transparency, but what was there a mere sentiment is in this
case translated into emphatic intention coupled with unhesitating
action. Those who have seen the book _Man Visible and Invisible_ will
recollect that in Plate XI. of that volume is depicted the effect of a
sudden rush of pure unselfish affection as it showed itself in the
astral body of a mother, as she caught up her little child and covered
it with kisses. Various changes resulted from that sudden outburst of
emotion; one of them was the formation within the astral body of large
crimson coils or vortices lined with living light. Each of these is a
thought-form of intense affection generated as we have described, and
almost instantaneously ejected towards the object of the feeling. Fig.
10 depicts just such a thought-form after it has left the astral body of
its author, and is on its way towards its goal. It will be observed that
the almost circular form has changed into one somewhat resembling a
projectile or the head of a comet; and it will be easily understood that
this alteration is caused by its rapid forward motion. The clearness of
the colour assures us of the purity of the emotion which gave birth to
this thought-form, while the precision of its outline is unmistakable
evidence of power and of vigorous purpose. The soul that gave birth to a
thought-form such as this must already be one of a certain amount of
development.

[Illustration: FIG. 10. DEFINITE AFFECTION]

_Radiating Affection._--Fig. 11 gives us our first example of a
thought-form intentionally generated, since its author is making the
effort to pour himself forth in love to all beings. It must be
remembered that all these forms are in constant motion. This one, for
example, is steadily widening out, though there seems to be an
exhaustless fountain welling up through the centre from a dimension
which we cannot represent. A sentiment such as this is so wide in its
application, that it is very difficult for any one not thoroughly
trained to keep it clear and precise. The thought-form here shown is,
therefore, a very creditable one, for it will be noted that all the
numerous rays of the star are commendably free from vagueness.

[Illustration: FIG. 11. RADIATING AFFECTION]

_Peace and Protection._--Few thought-forms are more beautiful and
expressive than this which we see in Fig. 12. This is a thought of love
and peace, protection and benediction, sent forth by one who has the
power and has earned the right to bless. It is not at all probable that
in the mind of its creator there existed any thought of its beautiful
wing-like shape, though it is possible that some unconscious reflection
of far-away lessons of childhood about guardian angels who always
hovered over their charges may have had its influence in determining
this. However that may be, the earnest wish undoubtedly clothed itself
in this graceful and expressive outline, while the affection that
prompted it gave to it its lovely rose-colour, and the intellect which
guided it shone forth like sunlight as its heart and central support.
Thus in sober truth we may make veritable guardian angels to hover over
and protect those whom we love, and many an unselfish earnest wish for
good produces such a form as this, though all unknown to its creator.

[Illustration: FIG. 12. PEACE AND PROTECTION]

_Grasping Animal Affection._--Fig. 13 gives us an instance of grasping
animal affection--if indeed such a feeling as this be deemed worthy of
the august name of affection at all. Several colours bear their share in
the production of its dull unpleasing hue, tinged as it is with the
lurid gleam of sensuality, as well as deadened with the heavy tint
indicative of selfishness. Especially characteristic is its form, for
those curving hooks are never seen except when there exists a strong
craving for personal possession. It is regrettably evident that the
fabricator of this thought-form had no conception of the
self-sacrificing love which pours itself out in joyous service, never
once thinking of result or return; his thought has been, not "How much
can I give?" but "How much can I gain?" and so it has expressed itself
in these re-entering curves. It has not even ventured to throw itself
boldly outward, as do other thoughts, but projects half-heartedly from
the astral body, which must be supposed to be on the left of the
picture. A sad travesty of the divine quality love; yet even this is a
stage in evolution, and distinctly an improvement upon earlier stages,
as will presently be seen.

[Illustration: FIG. 13. GRASPING ANIMAL AFFECTION]


DEVOTION

_Vague Religious Feeling._--Fig. 14 shows us another shapeless rolling
cloud, but this time it is blue instead of crimson. It betokens that
vaguely pleasurable religious feeling--a sensation of devoutness rather
than of devotion--which is so common among those in whom piety is more
developed than intellect. In many a church one may see a great cloud of
deep dull blue floating over the heads of the congregation--indefinite
in outline, because of the indistinct nature of the thoughts and
feelings which cause it; flecked too often with brown and grey, because
ignorant devotion absorbs with deplorable facility the dismal tincture
of selfishness or fear; but none the less adumbrating a mighty
potentiality of the future, manifesting to our eyes the first faint
flutter of one at least of the twin wings of devotion and wisdom, by the
use of which the soul flies upward to God from whom it came.

[Illustration: FIG. 14. VAGUE RELIGIOUS FEELING]

Strange is it to note under what varied circumstances this vague blue
cloud may be seen; and oftentimes its absence speaks more loudly than
its presence. For in many a fashionable place of worship we seek it in
vain, and find instead of it a vast conglomeration of thought-forms of
that second type which take the shape of material objects. Instead of
tokens of devotion, we see floating above the "worshippers" the astral
images of hats and bonnets, of jewellery and gorgeous dresses, of horses
and of carriages, of whisky-bottles and of Sunday dinners, and sometimes
of whole rows of intricate calculations, showing that men and women
alike have had during their supposed hours of prayer and praise no
thoughts but of business or of pleasure, of the desires or the anxieties
of the lower form of mundane existence.

Yet sometimes in a humbler fane, in a church belonging to the
unfashionable Catholic or Ritualist, or even in a lowly meeting-house
where there is but little of learning or of culture, one may watch the
deep blue clouds rolling ceaselessly eastward towards the altar, or
upwards, testifying at least to the earnestness and the reverence of
those who give them birth. Rarely--very rarely--among the clouds of blue
will flash like a lance cast by the hand of a giant such a thought-form
as is shown in Fig. 15; or such a flower of self-renunciation as we see
in Fig. 16 may float before our ravished eyes; but in most cases we must
seek elsewhere for these signs of a higher development.

_Upward Rush of Devotion._--The form in Fig. 15 bears much the same
relation to that of Fig. 14 as did the clearly outlined projectile of
Fig. 10 to the indeterminate cloud of Fig. 8. We could hardly have a
more marked contrast than that between the inchoate flaccidity of the
nebulosity in Fig. 14 and the virile vigour of the splendid spire of
highly developed devotion which leaps into being before us in Fig. 15.
This is no uncertain half-formed sentiment; it is the outrush into
manifestation of a grand emotion rooted deep in the knowledge of fact.
The man who feels such devotion as this is one who knows in whom he has
believed; the man who makes such a thought-form as this is one who has
taught himself how to think. The determination of the upward rush points
to courage as well as conviction, while the sharpness of its outline
shows the clarity of its creator's conception, and the peerless purity
of its colour bears witness to his utter unselfishness.

[Illustration: FIG. 15. UPWARD RUSH OF DEVOTION]

_The Response to Devotion._--In Fig. 17 we see the result of his
thought--the response of the LOGOS to the appeal made to Him, the truth
which underlies the highest and best part of the persistent belief in an
answer to prayer. It needs a few words of explanation. On every plane of
His solar system our LOGOS pours forth His light, His power, His life,
and naturally it is on the higher planes that this outpouring of divine
strength can be given most fully. The descent from each plane to that
next below it means an almost paralysing limitation--a limitation
entirely incomprehensible except to those who have experienced the
higher possibilities of human consciousness. Thus the divine life flows
forth with incomparably greater fulness on the mental plane than on the
astral; and yet even its glory at the mental level is ineffably
transcended by that of the buddhic plane. Normally each of these mighty
waves of influence spreads about its appropriate plane--horizontally, as
it were--but it does not pass into the obscuration of a plane lower than
that for which it was originally intended.

[Illustration: FIG. 17. RESPONSE TO DEVOTION]

Yet there are conditions under which the grace and strength peculiar to
a higher plane may in a measure be brought down to a lower one, and may
spread abroad there with wonderful effect. This seems to be possible
only when a special channel is for the moment opened; and that work must
be done from below and by the effort of man. It has before been
explained that whenever a man's thought or feeling is selfish, the
energy which it produces moves in a close curve, and thus inevitably
returns and expends itself upon its own level; but when the thought or
feeling is absolutely unselfish, its energy rushes forth in an open
curve, and thus does _not_ return in the ordinary sense, but pierces
through into the plane above, because only in that higher condition,
with its additional dimension, can it find room for its expansion. But
in thus breaking through, such a thought or feeling holds open a door
(to speak symbolically) of dimension equivalent to its own diameter, and
thus furnishes the requisite channel through which the divine force
appropriate to the higher plane can pour itself into the lower with
marvellous results, not only for the thinker but for others. An attempt
is made in Fig. 17 to symbolise this, and to indicate the great truth
that an infinite flood of the higher type of force is always ready and
waiting to pour through when the channel is offered, just as the water
in a cistern may be said to be waiting to pour through the first pipe
that may be opened.

The result of the descent of divine life is a very great strengthening
and uplifting of the maker of the channel, and the spreading all about
him of a most powerful and beneficent influence. This effect has often
been called an answer to prayer, and has been attributed by the ignorant
to what they call a "special interposition of Providence," instead of to
the unerring action of the great and immutable divine law.

_Self-Renunciation._--Fig. 16 gives us yet another form of devotion,
producing an exquisitely beautiful form of a type quite new to us--a
type in which one might at first sight suppose that various graceful
shapes belonging to animate nature were being imitated. Fig. 16, for
example, is somewhat suggestive of a partially opened flower-bud, while
other forms are found to bear a certain resemblance to shells or leaves
or tree-shapes. Manifestly, however, these are not and cannot be copies
of vegetable or animal forms, and it seems probable that the explanation
of the similarity lies very much deeper than that. An analogous and even
more significant fact is that some very complex thought-forms can be
exactly imitated by the action of certain mechanical forces, as has been
said above. While with our present knowledge it would be unwise to
attempt a solution of the very fascinating problem presented by these
remarkable resemblances, it seems likely that we are obtaining a glimpse
across the threshold of a very mighty mystery, for if by certain
thoughts we produce a form which has been duplicated by the processes of
nature, we have at least a presumption that these forces of nature work
along lines somewhat similar to the action of those thoughts. Since the
universe is itself a mighty thought-form called into existence by the
LOGOS, it may well be that tiny parts of it are also the thought-forms
of minor entities engaged in the same work; and thus perhaps we may
approach a comprehension of what is meant by the three hundred and
thirty million Devas of the Hindus.

[Illustration: FIG. 16. SELF-RENUNCIATION]

This form is of the loveliest pale azure, with a glory of white light
shining through it--something indeed to tax the skill even of the
indefatigable artist who worked so hard to get them as nearly right as
possible. It is what a Catholic would call a definite "act of
devotion"--better still, an act of utter selflessness, of self-surrender
and renunciation.


INTELLECT

_Vague Intellectual Pleasure._--Fig. 18 represents a vague cloud of the
same order as those shown in Figs. 8 and 14, but in this case the colour
is yellow instead of crimson or blue. Yellow in any of man's vehicles
always indicates intellectual capacity, but its shades vary very much,
and it may be complicated by the admixture of other hues. Generally
speaking, it has a deeper and duller tint if the intellect is directed
chiefly into lower channels, more especially if the objects are selfish.
In the astral or mental body of the average man of business it would
show itself as yellow ochre, while pure intellect devoted to the study
of philosophy or mathematics appears frequently to be golden, and this
rises gradually to a beautiful clear and luminous lemon or primrose
yellow when a powerful intellect is being employed absolutely
unselfishly for the benefit of humanity. Most yellow thought-forms are
clearly outlined, and a vague cloud of this colour is comparatively
rare. It indicates intellectual pleasure--appreciation of the result of
ingenuity, or the delight felt in clever workmanship. Such pleasure as
the ordinary man derives from the contemplation of a picture usually
depends chiefly upon the emotions of admiration, affection, or pity
which it arouses within him, or sometimes, if it pourtrays a scene with
which he is familiar, its charm consists in its power to awaken the
memory of past joys. An artist, however, may derive from a picture a
pleasure of an entirely different character, based upon his recognition
of the excellence of the work, and of the ingenuity which has been
exercised in producing certain results. Such pure intellectual
gratification shows itself in a yellow cloud; and the same effect may be
produced by delight in musical ingenuity, or the subtleties of argument.
A cloud of this nature betokens the entire absence of any personal
emotion, for if that were present it would inevitably tinge the yellow
with its own appropriate colour.

[Illustration: FIG. 18. VAGUE INTELLECTUAL PLEASURE]

_The Intention to Know._--Fig. 19 is of interest as showing us something
of the growth of a thought-form. The earlier stage, which is indicated
by the upper form, is not uncommon, and indicates the determination to
solve some problem--the intention to know and to understand. Sometimes a
theosophical lecturer sees many of these yellow serpentine forms
projecting towards him from his audience, and welcomes them as a token
that his hearers are following his arguments intelligently, and have an
earnest desire to understand and to know more. A form of this kind
frequently accompanies a question, and if, as is sometimes unfortunately
the case, the question is put less with the genuine desire for knowledge
than for the purpose of exhibiting the acumen of the questioner, the
form is strongly tinged with the deep orange that indicates conceit. It
was at a theosophical meeting that this special shape was encountered,
and it accompanied a question which showed considerable thought and
penetration. The answer at first given was not thoroughly satisfactory
to the inquirer, who seems to have received the impression that his
problem was being evaded by the lecturer. His resolution to obtain a
full and thorough answer to his inquiry became more determined than
ever, and his thought-form deepened in colour and changed into the
second of the two shapes, resembling a cork-screw even more closely than
before. Forms similar to these are constantly created by ordinary idle
and frivolous curiosity, but as there is no intellect involved in that
case the colour is no longer yellow, but usually closely resembles that
of decaying meat, somewhat like that shown in Fig. 29 as expressing a
drunken man's craving for alcohol.

[Illustration: FIG. 19. THE INTENTION TO KNOW]

_High Ambition._--Fig. 20 gives us another manifestation of desire--the
ambition for place or power. The ambitious quality is shown by the rich
deep orange colour, and the desire by the hooked extensions which
precede the form as it moves. The thought is a good and pure one of its
kind, for if there were anything base or selfish in the desire it would
inevitably show itself in the darkening of the clear orange hue by dull
reds, browns, or greys. If this man coveted place or power, it was not
for his own sake, but from the conviction that he could do the work
well and truly, and to the advantage of his fellow-men.

[Illustration: FIG. 20. HIGH AMBITION]

_Selfish Ambition._--Ambition of a lower type is represented in Fig. 21.
Not only have we here a large stain of the dull brown-grey of
selfishness, but there is also a considerable difference in the form,
though it appears to possess equal definiteness of outline. Fig. 20 is
rising steadily onward towards a definite object, for it will be
observed that the central part of it is as definitely a projectile as
Fig. 10. Fig. 21, on the other hand, is a floating form, and is strongly
indicative of general acquisitiveness--the ambition to grasp for the
self everything that is within sight.

[Illustration: FIG. 21. SELFISH AMBITION]


ANGER

_Murderous Rage and Sustained Anger._--In Figs. 22 and 23 we have two
terrible examples of the awful effect of anger. The lurid flash from
dark clouds (Fig. 22) was taken from the aura of a rough and partially
intoxicated man in the East End of London, as he struck down a woman;
the flash darted out at her the moment before he raised his hand to
strike, and caused a shuddering feeling of horror, as though it might
slay. The keen-pointed stiletto-like dart (Fig. 23) was a thought of
steady anger, intense and desiring vengeance, of the quality of murder,
sustained through years, and directed against a person who had inflicted
a deep injury on the one who sent it forth; had the latter been
possessed of a strong and trained will, such a thought-form would slay,
and the one nourishing it is running a very serious danger of becoming a
murderer in act as well as in thought in a future incarnation. It will
be noted that both of them take the flash-like form, though the upper is
irregular in its shape, while the lower represents a steadiness of
intention which is far more dangerous. The basis of utter selfishness
out of which the upper one springs is very characteristic and
instructive. The difference in colour between the two is also worthy of
note. In the upper one the dirty brown of selfishness is so strongly
evident that it stains even the outrush of anger; while in the second
case, though no doubt selfishness was at the root of that also, the
original thought has been forgotten in the sustained and concentrated
wrath. One who studies Plate XIII. in _Man Visible and Invisible_ will
be able to image to himself the condition of the astral body from which
these forms are protruding; and surely the mere sight of these pictures,
even without examination, should prove a powerful object-lesson in the
evil of yielding to the passion of anger.

[Illustration: FIG. 22. MURDEROUS RAGE]

[Illustration: FIG. 23. SUSTAINED ANGER]

_Explosive Anger._--In Fig. 24 we see an exhibition of anger of a
totally different character. Here is no sustained hatred, but simply a
vigorous explosion of irritation. It is at once evident that while the
creators of the forms shown in Figs. 22 and 23 were each directing their
ire against an individual, the person who is responsible for the
explosion in Fig. 24 is for the moment at war with the whole world round
him. It may well express the sentiment of some choleric old gentleman,
who feels himself insulted or impertinently treated, for the dash of
orange intermingled with the scarlet implies that his pride has been
seriously hurt. It is instructive to compare the radiations of this
plate with those of Fig. 11. Here we see indicated a veritable
explosion, instantaneous in its passing and irregular in its effects;
and the vacant centre shows us that the feeling that caused it is
already a thing of the past, and that no further force is being
generated. In Fig. 11, on the other hand, the centre is the strongest
part of the thought-form, showing that this is not the result of a
momentary flash of feeling, but that there is a steady continuous
upwelling of the energy, while the rays show by their quality and length
and the evenness of their distribution the steadily sustained effort
which produces them.

[Illustration: FIG. 24. EXPLOSIVE ANGER]

_Watchful and Angry Jealousy._--In Fig. 25 we see an interesting though
unpleasant thought-form. Its peculiar brownish-green colour at once
indicates to the practised clairvoyant that it is an expression of
jealousy, and its curious shape shows the eagerness with which the man
is watching its object. The remarkable resemblance to the snake with
raised head aptly symbolises the extraordinarily fatuous attitude of the
jealous person, keenly alert to discover signs of that which he least of
all wishes to see. The moment that he does see it, or imagines that he
sees it, the form will change into the far commoner one shown in Fig.
26, where the jealousy is already mingled with anger. It may be noted
that here the jealousy is merely a vague cloud, though interspersed with
very definite flashes of anger ready to strike at those by whom it
fancies itself to be injured; whereas in Fig. 25, where there is no
anger as yet, the jealousy itself has a perfectly definite and very
expressive outline.

[Illustration: FIG. 25. WATCHFUL JEALOUSY]

[Illustration: FIG. 26. ANGRY JEALOUSY]


SYMPATHY

_Vague Sympathy._--In Fig. 18A we have another of the vague clouds, but
this time its green colour shows us that it is a manifestation of the
feeling of sympathy. We may infer from the indistinct character of its
outline that it is not a definite and active sympathy, such as would
instantly translate itself from thought into deed; it marks rather such
a general feeling of commiseration as might come over a man who read an
account of a sad accident, or stood at the door of a hospital ward
looking in upon the patients.

[Illustration: FIG. 18A. VAGUE SYMPATHY]


FEAR

_Sudden Fright._--One of the most pitiful objects in nature is a man or
an animal in a condition of abject fear; and an examination of Plate
XIV. in _Man Visible and Invisible_ shows that under such circumstances
the astral body presents no better appearance than the physical. When a
man's astral body is thus in a state of frenzied palpitation, its
natural tendency is to throw off amorphous explosive fragments, like
masses of rock hurled out in blasting, as will be seen in Fig. 30; but
when a person is not terrified but seriously startled, an effect such as
that shown in Fig. 27 is often produced. In one of the photographs taken
by Dr Baraduc of Paris, it was noticed that an eruption of broken
circles resulted from sudden annoyance, and this outrush of
crescent-shaped forms seems to be of somewhat the same nature, though in
this case there are the accompanying lines of matter which even increase
the explosive appearance. It is noteworthy that all the crescents to the
right hand, which must obviously have been those expelled earliest,
show nothing but the livid grey of fear; but a moment later the man is
already partially recovering from the shock, and beginning to feel angry
that he allowed himself to be startled. This is shown by the fact that
the later crescents are lined with scarlet, evidencing the mingling of
anger and fear, while the last crescent is pure scarlet, telling us that
even already the fright is entirely overcome, and only the annoyance
remains.

[Illustration: FIG. 27. SUDDEN FRIGHT]


GREED

_Selfish Greed._--Fig. 28 gives us an example of selfish greed--a far
lower type than Fig. 21. It will be noted that here there is nothing
even so lofty as ambition, and it is also evident from the tinge of
muddy green that the person from whom this unpleasant thought is
projecting is quite ready to employ deceit in order to obtain her
desire. While the ambition of Fig. 21 was general in its nature, the
craving expressed in Fig. 28 is for a particular object towards which it
is reaching out; for it will be understood that this thought-form, like
that in Fig. 13, remains attached to the astral body, which must be
supposed to be on the left of the picture. Claw-like forms of this
nature are very frequently to be seen converging upon a woman who wears
a new dress or bonnet, or some specially attractive article of
jewellery. The thought-form may vary in colour according to the precise
amount of envy or jealousy which is mingled with the lust for
possession, but an approximation to the shape indicated in our
illustration will be found in all cases. Not infrequently people
gathered in front of a shop-window may be seen thus protruding astral
cravings through the glass.

[Illustration: FIG. 28. SELFISH GREED]

_Greed for Drink._--In Fig. 29 we have another variant of the same
passion, perhaps at an even more degraded and animal level. This
specimen was taken from the astral body of a man just as he entered at
the door of a drinking-shop; the expectation of and the keen desire for
the liquor which he was about to absorb showed itself in the projection
in front of him of this very unpleasant appearance. Once more the hooked
protrusions show the craving, while the colour and the coarse mottled
texture show the low and sensual nature of the appetite. Sexual desires
frequently show themselves in an exactly similar manner. Men who give
birth to forms such as this are as yet but little removed from the
animal; as they rise in the scale of evolution the place of this form
will gradually be taken by something resembling that shown in Fig. 13,
and very slowly, as development advances, that in turn will pass through
the stages indicated in Figs. 9 and 8, until at last all selfishness is
cast out, and the desire to have has been transmuted into the desire to
give, and we arrive at the splendid results shown in Figs. 11 and 10.

[Illustration: FIG. 29. GREED FOR DRINK]


VARIOUS EMOTIONS

_At a Shipwreck._--Very serious is the panic which has occasioned the
very interesting group of thought-forms which are depicted in Fig. 30.
They were seen simultaneously, arranged exactly as represented, though
in the midst of indescribable confusion, so their relative positions
have been retained, though in explaining them it will be convenient to
take them in reverse order. They were called forth by a terrible
accident, and they are instructive as showing how differently people are
affected by sudden and serious danger. One form shows nothing but an
eruption of the livid grey of fear, rising out of a basis of utter
selfishness: and unfortunately there were many such as this. The
shattered appearance of the thought-form shows the violence and
completeness of the explosion, which in turn indicates that the whole
soul of that person was possessed with blind, frantic terror, and that
the overpowering sense of personal danger excluded for the time every
higher feeling.

[Illustration: FIG. 30. AT A SHIPWRECK]

The second form represents at least an attempt at self-control, and
shows the attitude adopted by a person having a certain amount of
religious feeling. The thinker is seeking solace in prayer, and
endeavouring in this way to overcome her fear. This is indicated by the
point of greyish-blue which lifts itself hesitatingly upwards; the
colour shows, however, that the effort is but partially successful, and
we see also from the lower part of the thought-form, with its irregular
outline and its falling fragments, that there is in reality almost as
much fright here as in the other case. But at least this woman has had
presence of mind enough to remember that she ought to pray, and is
trying to imagine that she is not afraid as she does it, whereas in the
other case there was absolutely no thought beyond selfish terror. The
one retains still some semblance of humanity, and some possibility of
regaining self-control; the other has for the time cast aside all
remnants of decency, and is an abject slave to overwhelming emotion.

A very striking contrast to the humiliating weakness shown in these two
forms is the splendid strength and decision of the third. Here we have
no amorphous mass with quivering lines and explosive fragments, but a
powerful, clear-cut and definite thought, obviously full of force and
resolution. For this is the thought of the officer in charge--the man
responsible for the lives and the safety of the passengers, and he rises
to the emergency in a most satisfactory manner. It does not even occur
to him to feel the least shadow of fear; he has no time for that. Though
the scarlet of the sharp point of his weapon-like thought-form shows
anger that the accident should have happened, the bold curve of orange
immediately above it betokens perfect self-confidence and certainty of
his power to deal with the difficulty. The brilliant yellow implies that
his intellect is already at work upon the problem, while the green which
runs side by side with it denotes the sympathy which he feels for those
whom he intends to save. A very striking and instructive group of
thought-forms.

_On the First Night._--Fig. 31 is also an interesting specimen--perhaps
unique--for it represents the thought-form of an actor while waiting to
go upon the stage for a "first-night" performance. The broad band of
orange in the centre is very clearly defined, and is the expression of a
well-founded self-confidence--the realisation of many previous
successes, and the reasonable expectation that on this occasion another
will be added to the list. Yet in spite of this there is a good deal of
unavoidable uncertainty as to how this new play may strike the fickle
public, and on the whole the doubt and fear overbalance the certainty
and pride, for there is more of the pale grey than of the orange, and
the whole thought-form vibrates like a flag flapping in a gale of wind.
It will be noted that while the outline of the orange is exceedingly
clear and definite, that of the grey is much vaguer.

[Illustration: FIG. 31. ON THE FIRST NIGHT]

_The Gamblers._--The forms shown in Fig. 32 were observed simultaneously
at the great gambling-house at Monte Carlo. Both represent some of the
worst of human passions, and there is little to choose between them;
although they represent the feelings of the successful and the
unsuccessful gambler respectively. The lower form has a strong
resemblance to a lurid and gleaming eye, though this must be simply a
coincidence, for when we analyse it we find that its constituent parts
and colours can be accounted for without difficulty. The background of
the whole thought is an irregular cloud of deep depression, heavily
marked by the dull brown-grey of selfishness and the livid hue of fear.
In the centre we find a clearly-marked scarlet ring showing deep anger
and resentment at the hostility of fate, and within that is a sharply
outlined circle of black expressing the hatred of the ruined man for
those who have won his money. The man who can send forth such a
thought-form as this is surely in imminent danger, for he has evidently
descended into the very depths of despair; being a gambler he can have
no principle to sustain him, so that he would be by no means unlikely to
resort to the imaginary refuge of suicide, only to find on awakening
into astral life that he had changed his condition for the worse instead
of for the better, as the suicide always does, since his cowardly action
cuts him off from the happiness and peace which usually follow death.

[Illustration: FIG. 32. THE GAMBLERS]

The upper form represents a state of mind which is perhaps even more
harmful in its effects, for this is the gloating of the successful
gambler over his ill-gotten gain. Here the outline is perfectly
definite, and the man's resolution to persist in his evil course is
unmistakable. The broad band of orange in the centre shows very clearly
that although when the man loses he may curse the inconstancy of fate,
when he wins he attributes his success entirely to his own transcendent
genius. Probably he has invented some system to which he pins his faith,
and of which he is inordinately proud. But it will be noticed that on
each side of the orange comes a hard line of selfishness, and we see how
this in turn melts into avarice and becomes a mere animal greed of
possession, which is also so clearly expressed by the claw-like
extremities of the thought-form.

_At a Street Accident._--Fig. 33 is instructive as showing the various
forms which the same feelings may take in different individuals. These
two evidences of emotion were seen simultaneously among the spectators
of a street accident--a case in which someone was knocked down and
slightly injured by a passing vehicle. The persons who generated these
two thought-forms were both animated by affectionate interest in the
victim and deep compassion for his suffering, and so their thought-forms
exhibited exactly the same colours, although the outlines are absolutely
unlike. The one over whom floats that vague sphere of cloud is thinking
"Poor fellow, how sad!" while he who gives birth to that sharply-defined
disc is already rushing forward to see in what way he can be of
assistance. The one is a dreamer, though of acute sensibilities; the
other is a man of action.

[Illustration: FIG. 33. AT A STREET ACCIDENT]

_At a Funeral._--In Fig. 34 we have an exceedingly striking example of
the advantage of knowledge, of the fundamental change produced in the
man's attitude of mind by a clear understanding of the great laws of
nature under which we live. Utterly different as they are in every
respect of colour and form and meaning, these two thought-forms were
seen simultaneously, and they represent two points of view with regard
to the same occurrence. They were observed at a funeral, and they
exhibit the feelings evoked in the minds of two of the "mourners" by the
contemplation of death. The thinkers stood in the same relation to the
dead man, but while one of them was still steeped in the dense ignorance
with regard to super-physical life which is so painfully common in the
present day, the other had the inestimable advantage of the light of
Theosophy. In the thought of the former we see expressed nothing but
profound depression, fear and selfishness. The fact that death has
approached so near has evidently evoked in the mind of the mourner the
thought that it may one day come to him also, and the anticipation of
this is very terrible to him; but since he does not know what it is that
he fears, the clouds in which his feeling is manifested are
appropriately vague. His only definite sensations are despair and the
sense of his personal loss, and these declare themselves in regular
bands of brown-grey and leaden grey, while the very curious downward
protrusion, which actually descends into the grave and enfolds the
coffin, is an expression of strong selfish desire to draw the dead man
back into physical life.

[Illustration: FIG. 34. AT A FUNERAL]

It is refreshing to turn from this gloomy picture to the wonderfully
different effect produced by the very same circumstances upon the mind
of the man who comprehends the facts of the case. It will be observed
that the two have no single emotion in common; in the former case all
was despondency and horror, while in this case we find none but the
highest and most beautiful sentiments. At the base of the thought-form
we find a full expression of deep sympathy, the lighter green indicating
appreciation of the suffering of the mourners and condolence with them,
while the band of deeper green shows the attitude of the thinker towards
the dead man himself. The deep rose-colour exhibits affection towards
both the dead and the living, while the upper part of the cone and the
stars which rise from it testify to the feeling aroused within the
thinker by the consideration of the subject of death, the blue
expressing its devotional aspect, while the violet shows the thought of,
and the power to respond to, a noble ideal, and the golden stars denote
the spiritual aspirations which its contemplation calls forth. The band
of clear yellow which is seen in the centre of this thought-form is very
significant, as indicating that the man's whole attitude is based upon
and prompted by his intellectual comprehension of the situation, and
this is also shown by the regularity of the arrangement of the colours
and the definiteness of the lines of demarcation between them.

The comparison between the two illustrations shown in this plate is
surely a very impressive testimony to the value of the knowledge given
by the theosophical teaching. Undoubtedly this knowledge of the truth
takes away all fear of death, and makes life easier to live because we
understand its object and its end, and we realise that death is a
perfectly natural incident in its course, a necessary step in our
evolution. This ought to be universally known among Christian nations,
but it is not, and therefore on this point, as on so many others,
Theosophy has a gospel for the Western world. It has to announce that
there is no gloomy impenetrable abyss beyond the grave, but instead of
that a world of life and light which may be known to us as clearly and
fully and accurately as this physical world in which we live now. We
have created the gloom and the horror for ourselves, like children who
frighten themselves with ghastly stories, and we have only to study the
facts of the case, and all these artificial clouds will roll away at
once. We have an evil heredity behind us in this matter, for we have
inherited all kinds of funereal horrors from our forefathers, and so we
are used to them, and we do not see the absurdity and the monstrosity of
them. The ancients were in this respect wiser than we, for they did not
associate all this phantasmagoria of gloom with the death of the
body--partly perhaps because they had a much more rational method of
disposing of the body--a method which was not only infinitely better for
the dead man and more healthy for the living, but was also free from the
gruesome suggestions connected with slow decay. They knew much more
about death in those days, and because they knew more they mourned less.

_On Meeting a Friend._--Fig. 35 gives us an example of a good,
clearly-defined and expressive thought-form, with each colour well
marked off from the others. It represents the feeling of a man upon
meeting a friend from whom he has been long separated. The convex
surface of the crescent is nearest to the thinker, and its two arms
stretch out towards the approaching friend as if to embrace him. The
rose colour naturally betokens the affection felt, the light green shows
the depth of the sympathy which exists, and the clear yellow is a sign
of the intellectual pleasure with which the creator of the thought
anticipates the revival of delightful reminiscences of days long gone
by.

[Illustration: FIG. 35. ON MEETING A FRIEND]

_The Appreciation of a Picture._--In Fig. 36 we have a somewhat complex
thought-form representing the delighted appreciation of a beautiful
picture upon a religious subject. The strong pure yellow marks the
beholder's enthusiastic recognition of the technical skill of the
artist, while all the other colours are expressions of the various
emotions evoked within him by the examination of so glorious a work of
art. Green shows his sympathy with the central figure in the picture,
deep devotion appears not only in the broad band of blue, but also in
the outline of the entire figure, while the violet tells us that the
picture has raised the man's thought to the contemplation of a lofty
ideal, and has made him, at least for the time, capable of responding to
it. We have here the first specimen of an interesting class of
thought-forms of which we shall find abundant examples later--that in
which light of one colour shines out through a network of lines of some
quite different hue. It will be noted that in this case from the mass of
violet there rise many wavy lines which flow like rivulets over a golden
plain; and this makes it clear that the loftiest aspiration is by no
means vague, but is thoroughly supported by an intellectual grasp of the
situation and a clear comprehension of the method by which it can be put
into effect.

[Illustration: FIG. 36. THE APPRECIATION OF A PICTURE]


FORMS SEEN IN THOSE MEDITATING

_Sympathy and Love for all._--Hitherto we have been dealing chiefly with
forms which are the expression of emotion, or of such thought as is
aroused within the mind by external circumstances. We have now to
consider some of those caused by thoughts which arise from within--forms
generated during meditation--each being the effect produced by a
conscious effort on the part of the thinker to form a certain
conception, or to put himself into a certain attitude. Naturally such
thoughts are definite, for the man who trains himself in this way learns
how to think with clearness and precision, and the development of his
power in this direction shows itself in the beauty and regularity of the
shapes produced. In this case we have the result of an endeavour on the
part of the thinker to put himself into an attitude of sympathy and love
towards all mankind, and thus we have a series of graceful lines of the
luminous green of sympathy with the strong roseate glow of affection
shining out between them (Fig. 37). The lines are still sufficiently
broad and wide apart to be easily drawn; but in some of the higher
examples of thought-forms of this type the lines are so fine and so
close that no human hand can represent them as they really are. The
outline of this thought-form is that of a leaf, yet its shape and the
curve of its lines are more suggestive of a certain kind of shell, so
that this is another example of the approximation to forms seen in
physical nature which we noted in commenting upon Fig. 16.

[Illustration: FIG. 37. SYMPATHY AND LOVE FOR ALL]

_An Aspiration to Enfold all._--In Fig. 38 we have a far more developed
example of the same type. This form was generated by one who was
trying, while sitting in meditation, to fill his mind with an aspiration
to enfold all mankind in order to draw them upward towards the high
ideal which shone so clearly before his eyes. Therefore it is that the
form which he produces seems to rush out from him, to curve round upon
itself, and to return to its base; therefore it is that the marvellously
fine lines are drawn in lovely luminous violet, and that from within the
form there shines out a glorious golden light which it is unfortunately
quite impossible to reproduce. For the truth is that all these
apparently intricate lines are in reality only one line circling round
the form again and again with unwearied patience and wonderful accuracy.
It is scarcely possible that any human hand could make such a drawing as
this on this scale, and in any case the effect of its colours could not
be shown, for it will be seen by experiment that if an attempt be made
to draw fine violet lines close together upon a yellow background a grey
effect at once appears, and all likeness to the original is destroyed.
But what cannot be done by hand may sometimes be achieved by the
superior accuracy and delicacy of a machine, and it is in this way that
the drawing was made from which our illustration is reproduced,--with
some attempt to represent the colour effect as well as the wonderful
delicacy of the lines and curves.

[Illustration: FIG. 38. AN ASPIRATION TO ENFOLD ALL]

_In the Six Directions._--The form represented in Fig. 39 is the result
of another endeavour to extend love and sympathy in all directions--an
effort almost precisely similar to that which gave birth to Fig. 37,
though the effect seems so different. The reasons for this variety and
for the curious shape taken in this case constitute a very interesting
illustration of the way in which thought-forms grow. It will be seen
that in this instance the thinker displays considerable devotional
feeling, and has also made an intellectual effort to grasp the
conditions necessary for the realisation of his wishes, and the blue and
yellow colours remain as evidence of this. Originally this thought-form
was circular, and the dominant idea evidently was that the green of
sympathy should be upon the outside, facing in all directions, as it
were, and that love should lie at the centre and heart of the thought
and direct its outgoing energies. But the maker of this thought-form had
been reading Hindu books, and his modes of thought had been greatly
influenced by them. Students of Oriental literature will be aware that
the Hindu speaks, not of four directions (north, east, south, and west),
as we do, but always of six, since he very sensibly includes the zenith
and the nadir. Our friend was imbued from his reading with the idea that
he should pour forth his love and sympathy "in the six directions"; but
since he did not accurately understand what the six directions are, he
directed his stream of affection towards six equidistant points in his
circle. The outrushing streams altered the shape of the outlying lines
which he had already built up, and so instead of having a circle as a
section of his thought-form, we have this curious hexagon with its
inward-curving sides. We see thus how faithfully every thought-form
records the exact process of its upbuilding, registering ineffaceably
even the errors of its construction.

[Illustration: FIG. 39. IN THE SIX DIRECTIONS]

_An Intellectual Conception of Cosmic Order._--In Fig. 40 we have the
effect of an attempt to attain an intellectual conception of cosmic
order. The thinker was obviously a Theosophist, and it will be seen
that when he endeavours to think of the action of spirit upon matter he
instinctively follows the same line of symbolism as that depicted in the
well-known seal of the Society. Here we have an upward-pointing
triangle, signifying the threefold aspect of the Spirit, interlaced with
the downward-pointing triangle, which indicates matter with its three
inherent qualities. Usually we represent the upward triangle in white or
gold, and the downward-pointing one in some darker hue such as blue or
black, but it is noteworthy that in this case the thinker is so entirely
occupied with the intellectual endeavour, that no colour but yellow is
exhibited within the form. There is no room as yet for emotions of
devotion, of wonder, or of admiration; the idea which he wishes to
realise fills his mind entirely, to the exclusion of all else. Still the
definiteness of the outline as it stands out against its background of
rays shows that he has achieved a high measure of success.

[Illustration: FIG. 40. AN INTELLECTUAL CONCEPTION OF COSMIC ORDER]

_The Logos as manifested in Man._--We are now coming to a series of
thoughts which are among the very highest the human mind can form, when
in meditation upon the divine source of its being. When the man in
reverent contemplation tries to raise his thought towards the LOGOS of
our solar system, he naturally makes no attempt to image to himself that
august Being; nor does he think of Him as in any way possessing such
form as we can comprehend. Nevertheless such thoughts build forms for
themselves in the matter of the mental plane; and it will be of interest
for us to examine those forms. In our illustration in Fig. 41 we have a
thought of the LOGOS as manifested in man, with the devotional
aspiration that He may thus be manifested through the thinker. It is
this devotional feeling which gives the pale blue tinge to the
five-pointed star, and its shape is significant, since it has been
employed for many ages as a symbol of God manifest in man. The thinker
may perhaps have been a Freemason, and his knowledge of the symbolism
employed by that body may have had its share in the shaping of the star.
It will be seen that the star is surrounded by bright yellow rays
shining out amidst a cloud of glory, which denotes not only the
reverential understanding of the surpassing glory of the Deity, but also
a distinct intellectual effort in addition to the outpouring of
devotion.

[Illustration: FIG. 41. THE LOGOS AS MANIFESTED IN MAN]

_The Logos pervading all._--Our next three Figures are devoted to the
effort to represent a thought of a very high type--an endeavour to think
of the LOGOS as pervading all nature. Here again, as in Fig. 38, it is
impossible to give a full reproduction, and we must call upon our
readers for an effort of the imagination which shall to some extent
supplement the deficiencies of the arts of drawing and printing. The
golden ball depicted in Fig. 42 must be thought of as inside the other
ball of delicate lines (blue in colour) which is drawn in Fig. 44. Any
effort to place the colours in such intimate juxtaposition on the
physical plane results simply in producing a green blur, so that the
whole character of the thought-form is lost. It is only by means of the
machine before mentioned that it is at all possible to represent the
grace and the delicacy of the lines. As before, a single line produces
all the wonderful tracery of Fig. 44, and the effect of the four
radiating lines making a sort of cross of light is merely due to the
fact that the curves are not really concentric, although at first sight
they appear to be so.

[Illustration: FIG. 42. THE LOGOS PERVADING ALL]

[Illustration: FIG. 44. THE LOGOS PERVADING ALL]

_Another Conception._--Fig. 45 exhibits the form produced by another
person when trying to hold exactly the same thought. Here also we have
an amazing complexity of almost inconceivably delicate blue lines, and
here also our imagination must be called upon to insert the golden globe
from Fig. 42, so that its glory may shine through at every point. Here
also, as in Fig. 44, we have that curious and beautiful pattern,
resembling somewhat the damascening on ancient Oriental swords, or that
which is seen upon watered silk or _moire antique_. When this form is
drawn by the pendulum, the pattern is not in any way intentionally
produced, but simply comes as a consequence of the crossing of the
innumerable microscopically fine lines. It is evident that the thinker
who created the form upon Fig. 44 must have held in his mind most
prominently the unity of the LOGOS, while he who generated the form in
Fig. 45 has as clearly in mind the subordinate centres through which the
divine life pours forth, and many of these subordinate centres have
accordingly represented themselves in the thought-form.

[Illustration: FIG. 45. ANOTHER CONCEPTION]

_The Threefold Manifestation._--When the form employed in Fig. 46 was
made, its creator was endeavouring to think of the LOGOS in His
threefold manifestation. The vacant space in the centre of the form was
a blinding glow of yellow light, and this clearly typified the First
Aspect, while the Second was symbolised by the broad ring of
closely-knitted and almost bewildering lines which surround this centre,
while the Third Aspect is suggested by the narrow outer ring which seems
more loosely woven. The whole figure is pervaded by the usual golden
light gleaming out between the lines of violet.

[Illustration: FIG. 46. THE THREEFOLD MANIFESTATION]

_The Sevenfold Manifestation._--In all religions there remains some
tradition of the great truth that the LOGOS manifests Himself through
seven mighty channels, often regarded as minor Logoi or great planetary
Spirits. In the Christian scheme they appear as the seven great
archangels, sometimes called the seven spirits before the throne of God.
The figure numbered 47 shows the result of the effort to meditate upon
this method of divine manifestation. We have the golden glow in the
centre, and also (though with lesser splendour) pervading the form. The
line is blue, and it draws a succession of seven graceful and almost
featherlike double wings which surround the central glory and are
clearly intended as a part of it. As the thought strengthens and
expands, these beautiful wings change their colour to violet and become
like the petals of a flower, and overlap one another in an intricate but
exceedingly effective pattern. This gives us a very interesting glimpse
into the formation and growth of these shapes in higher matter.

[Illustration: FIG. 47. THE SEVENFOLD MANIFESTATION]

_Intellectual Aspiration._--The form depicted in Fig. 43 bears a certain
resemblance to that in Fig. 15; but, beautiful as that was, this is in
reality a far higher and grander thought, and implies much more advanced
development on the part of the thinker. Here we have a great clear-cut
spear or pencil of the pure pale violet which indicates devotion to the
highest ideal, and it is outlined and strengthened by an exceedingly
fine manifestation of the noblest development of intellect. He who can
think thus must already have entered upon the Path of Holiness, for he
has learnt how to use the power of thought to very mighty effect. It
will be noted that in both the colours there is a strong admixture of
the white light which always indicates unusual spiritual power.

[Illustration: FIG. 43. INTELLECTUAL ASPIRATION]

Surely the study of these thought-forms should be a most impressive
object-lesson, since from it we may see both what to avoid and what to
cultivate, and may learn by degrees to appreciate how tremendous is our
responsibility for the exercise of this mighty power. Indeed it is
terribly true, as we said in the beginning, that thoughts are things,
and puissant things; and it behoves us to remember that every one of us
is generating them unceasingly night and day. See how great is the
happiness this knowledge brings to us, and how gloriously we can utilise
it when we know of some one in sorrow or in suffering. Often
circumstances arise which prevent us from giving physical help either by
word or deed, however much we may desire to do so; but there is no case
in which help by thought may not be given, and no case in which it can
fail to produce a definite result. It may often happen that at the
moment our friend may be too entirely occupied with his own suffering,
or perhaps too much excited, to receive and accept any suggestion from
without, but presently a time comes when our thought-form can penetrate
and discharge itself, and then assuredly our sympathy will produce its
due result. It is indeed true that the responsibility of using such a
power is great, yet we should not shrink from our duty on that account.
It is sadly true that there are many men who are unconsciously using
their thought-power chiefly for evil, yet this only makes it all the
more necessary that those of us who are beginning to understand life a
little should use it consciously, and use it for good. We have at our
command a never-failing criterion; we can never misuse this mighty power
of thought if we employ it always in unison with the great divine scheme
of evolution, and for the uplifting of our fellow-man.


HELPFUL THOUGHTS

The Figures numbered 48 to 54 were the results of a systematic attempt
to send helpful thought by the friend who has furnished us with the
sketches. A definite time was given each day at a fixed hour. The forms
were in some cases seen by the transmitter, but in all cases were
perceived by the recipient, who immediately sent rough sketches of what
was seen by the next post to the transmitter, who has kindly supplied
the following notes with regard to them:--

"In the coloured drawings appended the blue features appear to have
represented the more devotional element of the thought. The yellow forms
accompanied the endeavour to communicate intellectual fortitude, or
mental strength and courage. The rosy pink appeared when the thought was
blended with affectionate sympathy. If the sender (A.) could formulate
his thought deliberately at the appointed time, the receiver (B.) would
report seeing a large clear form as in Figs. 48, 49, and 54. The latter
persisted for some minutes, constantly streaming its luminous yellow
'message' upon B. If, however, A. was of necessity experimenting under
difficulty--say walking out of doors--he would occasionally see his
'forms' broken up into smaller globes, or shapes, such as 50, 51, 52,
and B. would report their receipt so broken up. In this way many
details could be checked and compared as from opposite ends of the line,
and the nature of the influence communicated offered another means of
verification. Upon one occasion A. was disturbed in his endeavour to
send a thought of the blue-pink connotation, by a feeling of anxiety
that the nature of the pink element should not be misapprehended. The
report of B. was that a well-defined globe as in Fig. 54 was first seen,
but that this suddenly disappeared, being replaced by a moving
procession of little light-green triangles, as in Fig. 53. These few
drawings give but a slight idea of the varied flower-like and geometric
forms seen, while neither paint nor crayon-work seems capable of
representing the glowing beauty of their living colours."

[Illustration: FIG. 48. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 49. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 50. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 51. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 52. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 53. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]

[Illustration: FIG. 54. HELPFUL THOUGHTS]


FORMS BUILT BY MUSIC

Before closing this little treatise it will perhaps be of interest to
our readers to give a few examples of another type of forms unknown to
those who are confined to the physical senses as their means of
obtaining information. Many people are aware that sound is always
associated with colour--that when, for example, a musical note is
sounded, a flash of colour corresponding to it may be seen by those
whose finer senses are already to some extent developed. It seems not to
be so generally known that sound produces form as well as colour, and
that every piece of music leaves behind it an impression of this nature,
which persists for some considerable time, and is clearly visible and
intelligible to those who have eyes to see. Such a shape is perhaps not
technically a thought-form--unless indeed we take it, as we well may,
as the result of the thought of the composer expressed by means of the
skill of the musician through his instrument.

Some such forms are very striking and impressive, and naturally their
variety is infinite. Each class of music has its own type of form, and
the style of the composer shows as clearly in the form which his music
builds as a man's character shows in his handwriting. Other
possibilities of variation are introduced by the kind of instrument upon
which the music is performed, and also by the merits of the player. The
same piece of music if accurately played will always build the same
form, but that form will be enormously larger when it is played upon a
church organ or by a military band than when it is performed upon a
piano, and not only the size but also the texture of the resultant form
will be very different. There will also be a similar difference in
texture between the result of a piece of music played upon a violin and
the same piece executed upon the flute. Again, the excellence of the
performance has its effect, and there is a wonderful difference between
the radiant beauty of the form produced by the work of a true artist,
perfect alike in expression and execution, and the comparatively dull
and undistinguished-looking one which represents the effort of the
wooden and mechanical player. Anything like inaccuracy in rendering
naturally leaves a corresponding defect in the form, so that the exact
character of the performance shows itself just as clearly to the
clairvoyant spectator as it does to the auditor.

It is obvious that, if time and capacity permitted, hundreds of volumes
might be filled with drawings of the forms built by different pieces of
music under different conditions, so that the most that can be done
within any reasonable compass is to give a few examples of the leading
types. It has been decided for the purposes of this book to limit these
to three, to take types of music presenting readily recognisable
contrasts, and for the sake of simplicity in comparison to present them
all as they appeared when played upon the same instrument--a very fine
church organ. In each of our Plates the church shows as well as the
thought-form which towers far into the air above it; and it should be
remembered that though the drawings are on very different scales the
church is the same in all three cases, and consequently the relative
size of the sound-form can easily be calculated. The actual height of
the tower of the church is just under a hundred feet, so it will be seen
that the sound-form produced by a powerful organ is enormous in size.

Such forms remain as coherent erections for some considerable time--an
hour or two at least; and during all that time they are radiating forth
their characteristic vibrations in every direction, just as our
thought-forms do; and if the music be good, the effect of those
vibrations cannot but be uplifting to every man upon whose vehicles they
play. Thus the community owes a very real debt of gratitude to the
musician who pours forth such helpful influences, for he may affect for
good hundreds whom he never saw and will never know upon the physical
plane.

_Mendelssohn._--The first of such forms, a comparatively small and
simple one, is drawn for us in Plate M. It will be seen that we have
here a shape roughly representing that of a balloon, having a scalloped
outline consisting of a double violet line. Within that there is an
arrangement of variously-coloured lines moving almost parallel with this
outline; and then another somewhat similar arrangement which seems to
cross and interpenetrate the first. Both of these sets of lines
evidently start from the organ within the church, and consequently pass
upward through its roof in their course, physical matter being clearly
no obstacle to their formation. In the hollow centre of the form float a
number of small crescents arranged apparently in four vertical lines.

[Illustration: PLATE M. MUSIC OF MENDELSSOHN]

Let us endeavour now to give some clue to the meaning of all this, which
may well seem so bewildering to the novice, and to explain in some
measure how it comes into existence. It must be recollected that this is
a melody of simple character played once through, and that consequently
we can analyse the form in a way that would be quite impossible with a
larger and more complicated specimen. Yet even in this case we cannot
give all the details, as will presently be seen. Disregarding for the
moment the scalloped border, we have next within it an arrangement of
four lines of different colours running in the same direction, the
outermost being blue and the others crimson, yellow, and green
respectively. These lines are exceedingly irregular and crooked; in
fact, they each consist of a number of short lines at various levels
joined together perpendicularly. It seems that each of these short lines
represents a note of music, and that the irregularity of their
arrangement indicates the succession of these notes; so that each of
these crooked lines signifies the movement of one of the parts of the
melody, the four moving approximately together denoting the treble,
alto, tenor and bass respectively, though they do not necessarily appear
in that order in this astral form. Here it is necessary to interpolate a
still further explanation. Even with a melody so comparatively simple as
this there are tints and shades far too finely modulated to be
reproduced on any scale at all within our reach; therefore it must be
said that each of the short lines expressing a note has a colour of its
own, so that although as a whole that outer line gives an impression of
blueness, and the one next within it of carmine, each yet varies in
every inch of its length; so that what is shown is not a correct
reproduction of every tint, but only the general impression.

The two sets of four lines which seem to cross one another are caused by
two sections of the melody; the scalloped edging surrounding the whole
is the result of various flourishes and arpeggios, and the floating
crescents in the centre represent isolated or staccato chords. Naturally
the arpeggios are not wholly violet, for each loop has a different hue,
but on the whole they approach more nearly to that colour than to any
other. The height of this form above the tower of the church is probably
a little over a hundred feet; but since it also extends downwards
through the roof of the church its total perpendicular diameter may well
be about a hundred and fifty feet. It is produced by one of
Mendelssohn's "Lieder ohne Wörte," and is characteristic of the delicate
filigree-work which so often appears as the result of his compositions.

The whole form is seen projected against a coruscating background of
many colours, which is in reality a cloud surrounding it upon every
side, caused by the vibrations which are pouring out from it in all
directions.

_Gounod._--In Plate G we have an entirely different piece--a ringing
chorus by Gounod. Since the church in the illustration is the same, it
is easy to calculate that in this case the highest point of the form
must rise fully six hundred feet above the tower, though the
perpendicular diameter of the form is somewhat less than that, for the
organist has evidently finished some minutes ago, and the perfected
shape floats high in the air, clearly defined and roughly spherical,
though rather an oblate spheroid. This spheroid is hollow, as are all
such forms, for it is slowly increasing in size--gradually radiating
outward from its centre, but growing proportionately less vivid and more
ethereal in appearance as it does so, until at last it loses coherence
and fades away much as a wreath of smoke might do. The golden glory
surrounding and interpenetrating it indicates as before the radiation of
its vibrations, which in this case show the dominant yellow in much
greater proportion than did Mendelssohn's gentler music.

[Illustration: PLATE G. MUSIC OF GOUNOD]

The colouring here is far more brilliant and massive than in Plate M,
for this music is not so much a thread of murmurous melody as a splendid
succession of crashing chords. The artist has sought to give the effect
of the chords rather than that of the separate notes, the latter being
scarcely possible on a scale so small as this. It is therefore more
difficult here to follow the development of the form, for in this much
longer piece the lines have crossed and intermingled, until we have
little but the gorgeous general effect which the composer must have
intended us to feel--and to see, if we were able to see. Nevertheless
it is possible to discern something of the process which builds the
form, and the easiest point at which to commence is the lowest on the
left hand as one examines the Plate. The large violet protrusion there
is evidently the opening chord of a phrase, and if we follow the outer
line of the form upward and round the circumference we may obtain some
idea of the character of that phrase. A close inspection will reveal two
other lines further in which run roughly parallel to this outer one, and
show similar successions of colour on a smaller scale, and these may
well indicate a softer repetition of the same phrase.

Careful analysis of this nature will soon convince us that there is a
very real order in this seeming chaos, and we shall come to see that if
it were possible to make a reproduction of this glowing glory that
should be accurate down to the smallest detail, it would also be
possible patiently to disentangle it to the uttermost, and to assign
every lovely touch of coruscating colour to the very note that called it
into existence. It must not be forgotten that very far less detail is
given in this illustration than in Plate M; for example, each of these
points or projections has within it as integral parts, at least the four
lines or bands of varying colour which were shown as separate in Plate
M, but here they are blended into one shade, and only the general effect
of the chord is given. In M we combined horizontally, and tried to show,
the characteristics of a number of successive notes blended into one,
but to keep distinct the effect of the four simultaneous parts by using
a differently-coloured line for each. In G we attempt exactly the
reverse, for we combine vertically, and blend, not the successive notes
of one part, but the chords, each probably containing six or eight
notes. The true appearance combines these two effects with an
inexpressible wealth of detail.

_Wagner._--No one who has devoted any study to these musical forms would
hesitate in ascribing the marvellous mountain-range depicted in Plate W
to the genius of Richard Wagner, for no other composer has yet built
sound edifices with such power and decision. In this case we have a vast
bell-shaped erection, fully nine hundred feet in height, and but little
less in diameter at the bottom, floating in the air above the church out
of which it has arisen. It is hollow, like Gounod's form, but, unlike
that, it is open at the bottom. The resemblance to the successively
retreating ramparts of a mountain is almost perfect, and it is
heightened by the billowy masses of cloud which roll between the crags
and give the effect of perspective. No attempt has been made in this
drawing to show the effect of single notes or single chords; each range
of mimic rocks represents in size, shape, and colour only the general
effect of one of the sections of the piece of music as seen from a
distance. But it must be understood that in reality both this and the
form given in Plate G are as full of minute details as that depicted in
Plate M, and that all these magnificent masses of colour are built up of
many comparatively small bands which would not be separately visible
upon the scale on which this is drawn. The broad result is that each
mountain-peak has its own brilliant hue, just as it is seen in the
illustration--a splendid splash of vivid colour, glowing with the glory
of its own living light, spreading its resplendent radiance over all
the country round. Yet in each of these masses of colour other colours
are constantly flickering, as they do over the surface of molten metal,
so that the coruscations and scintillations of these wondrous astral
edifices are far beyond the power of any physical words to describe.

[Illustration: PLATE W. MUSIC OF WAGNER]

A striking feature in this form is the radical difference between the
two types of music which occur in it, one producing the angular rocky
masses, and the other the rounded billowy clouds which lie between them.
Other _motifs_ are shown by the broad bands of blue and rose and green
which appear at the base of the bell, and the meandering lines of white
and yellow which quiver across them are probably produced by a rippling
arpeggio accompaniment.

In these three Plates only the form created directly by the
sound-vibrations has been drawn, though as seen by the clairvoyant it is
usually surrounded by many other minor forms, the result of the personal
feelings of the performer or of the emotions aroused among the audience
by the music. To recapitulate briefly: in Plate M we have a small and
comparatively simple form pourtrayed in considerable detail, something
of the effect of each note being given; in Plate G we have a more
elaborate form of very different character delineated with less detail,
since no attempt is made to render the separate notes, but only to show
how each chord expresses itself in form and colour; in Plate W we have a
still greater and richer form, in the depiction of which all detail is
avoided, in order that the full effect of the piece as a whole may be
approximately given.

Naturally every sound makes its impression upon astral and mental
matter--not only those ordered successions of sounds which we call
music. Some day, perhaps, the forms built by those other less euphonious
sounds may be pictured for us, though they are beyond the scope of this
treatise; meantime, those who feel an interest in them may read an
account of them in the little book on _The Hidden Side of Things_.[1]

It is well for us ever to bear in mind that there is a hidden side to
life--that each act and word and thought has its consequence in the
unseen world which is always so near to us, and that usually these
unseen results are of infinitely greater importance than those which are
visible to all upon the physical plane. The wise man, knowing this,
orders his life accordingly, and takes account of the whole of the world
in which he lives, and not of the outer husk of it only. Thus he saves
himself an infinity of trouble, and makes his life not only happier but
far more useful to his fellow-men. But to do this implies
knowledge--that knowledge which is power; and in our Western world such
knowledge is practically obtainable only through the literature of
Theosophy.

To exist is not enough; we desire to live intelligently. But to live we
must know, and to know we must study; and here is a vast field open
before us, if we will only enter upon it and gather thence the fruits of
enlightenment. Let us, then, waste no more time in the dark dungeons of
ignorance, but come forth boldly into the glorious sunshine of that
divine wisdom which in these modern days men call Theosophy.

[Footnote 1: By C.W. Leadbeater.]




BRADFORD: REPRINTED BY PERCY LUND, HUMPHRIES AND CO. LTD.





End of Project Gutenberg's Thought-Forms, by Annie Besant
C.W. Leadbeater