THE HIDDEN SIDE OF FELLOWSHIP CLASSES

Note: The masculine reference was common when this material came forth, and a reader should understand that "he" and "man" etc. refer to both genders.

Let us take an example of the hidden side of life—one which is specially associated with our own work. Let us consider the hidden side of a class of the Fellowship Light Center.

For the purposes of our illustration, I will take an ordinary class at which the Light Center is presenting its unique line of study. I am, of course, referring to the classes for the spiritual effect I wish to describe.

Every Light Center which is worthy of the name is doing something very much higher than any work on the physical plane, and this higher work can only be done by virtue of its own classes. Furthermore, it can be done only if these classes are properly conducted and entirely harmonious. If the participants are thinking of themselves in any way—if they have personal vanity, such as might show itself in the desire to shine or to take a prominent part in the proceedings; if they have other personal feelings, so that they would be capable of taking offense or of being affected by envy or jealously—no useful spiritual effect can possibly be produced. But if they have forgotten themselves in the earnest endeavor to comprehend the subject appointed for study, a very considerable and beneficial result, of which they usually have no conception, may very readily be produced. Let me explain the reason for this.

We will assume a series of classes at which a certain book is being used for study. Every member knows beforehand what paragraph or page will be taken at the approaching meeting, and it is expected that he shall not come to that meeting without previous preparation. He must not be in the attitude of the young nestling simply waiting with open mouth and expecting that someone else will feed him; on the contrary, every member should have an intelligent comprehension of the subject which is to be considered, and should be prepared to contribute his share of information with regard to it. A very good plan is for each member of the circle to make himself responsible for the examination of certain of our publications and other books, if assigned..

The exact subject to be considered at the next class would be announced at the previous one, and each member would make himself responsible for looking carefully through the book or books committed to his charge for any reference to it, so that when he comes to the meeting, he is already possessed of any information about it which is contained in that particular book, and is prepared to contribute this when called upon. In this way every member has his work to do, and each is very greatly helped to a full and clear comprehension of the matter under consideration when all present are thus earnestly fixing their thought upon it. In order to grasp this fully, let us think for a moment of the exact effect of a thought.

Every thought which is sufficiently definite to be worthy of the name produces two separate results. First, it is itself a vibration of the mental body, and it may take place at various levels in that body. Like every other vibration, it tends to reproduce itself in surrounding matter. Just as a harp string, when set in vibration, communicates that vibration to the air about it, thus making an audible sound, so the thought-vibration established in matter of a certain density within a man’s mental body communicates itself to matter of the same density in the mental plane which surrounds him. Secondly, each thought draws round itself the living matter of the mental plane and builds itself a vehicle, which we call a thought-form. If the thought be simply an exercise of the intellect, such as might be involved in the working out of a mathematical or geometrical problem, that thought-form remains on mental levels; but if the thought be in the least tinged with desire or emotion, or if it be in any way connected with the personal self, the thought-form at once draws around itself a vesture of astral matter as well and manifests itself upon the astral plane. With regard to this second result, when there is an intense effort at the realization of the abstract—an attempt to comprehend what is meant by the fourth dimension, an activity upon the higher mental levels—if the thought is mingled with unselfish affection, with high aspiration or devotion, it is even possible that a vibration upon the Buddhic plane may enter into it and multiply its power a hundredfold. We must consider these two results separately and see what follows from each of them.

The vibration may be thought of as spreading on the mental plane through matter capable of responding to it—that is to say, through matter of the same degree of density as that in which it was originally generated. Radiating in this way, it naturally comes into contact with the mental bodies of many other men, and its tendency is to reproduce itself in these bodies. The distance to which it can radiate effectively depends partly upon the nature of the vibration and partly upon the opposition with which it meets. Vibrations entangled with the lower types of astral matter may be deflected or overwhelmed by a multitude of other vibrations at the same level, just as in the midst of the roar of a great city a soft sound will be entirely drowned. The ordinary self-centered thought of the average man begins on the lowest of the mental levels, and instantly plunges down to correspondingly low levels of the astral. Its power in both the planes is therefore very limited, because, however violent it may be, there is such an immense and turbulent sea of similar thought surging all around, that the vibrations are inevitably very soon lost and overpowered in that confusion. A vibration generated on a higher level, however, has a much clearer field for its action, because at present the number of thoughts producing such vibration is very small—indeed Fellowship teachings are almost in a class by themselves, from this point of view. There are truly religious people whose thought is quite as elevated as ours, but never so precise and definite; there are large numbers of people whose thoughts on matters of business and money-making are as precise as could be desired, but they are not as elevated or altruistic. Even scientific thought is scarcely ever in the same class as that of the higher Fellowship teachings, which have practically a field to themselves in the mental world.

The result of this is that when a man thinks on Fellowship subjects, he is sending out all around him a vibration which is very powerful because it is practically unopposed, like a sound in the midst of a vast silence, or a light shining forth on the darkest night. It sets in motion a level of mental matter which is as yet very rarely used, and the radiations which are caused by it impinge upon the mental body of the average man at a point where it is quite dormant. This gives to this thought its peculiar value, not only to the thinker, but to others around him; for its tendency is to awaken and to bring into use an entirely new part of the thinking apparatus.

It must be understood that such a vibration does not necessarily convey Fellowship teachings to those who are unaware of them; but in awakening this higher portion of the mental body, it undoubtedly tends to elevate and liberalize the man’s thought as a whole, along whatever lines that thought may be moving, and in this way it produces an incalculable benefit.

If the thought of a single man produces these results, it will be readily understood that the thought of twenty or thirty individuals directed to the same subject will achieve an effort enormously greater. The power of the united thought of a number of individuals is far more than the sum of their separate thoughts (it would be much more nearly represented by their product). So it will be seen that, even from this point of view alone, it is an exceedingly good thing for any city or community that a Fellowship Light Center should be constantly meeting in its midst, since its proceedings, if they are conducted in the proper spirit, cannot but have a distinctly elevating and ennobling effect upon the thought of the surrounding population. Naturally there will be many people whose minds cannot yet be awakened at all upon those higher levels; but even for them the constant beating of the waves of this more advanced thought will at least bring nearer the time of their awakening.

Nor must we forget the result produced by the formation of definite thought-forms. These also will be radiated from the center of activity, but they can affect only such minds as are already to some extent responsive to ideas of this nature. In these days, however, there are many such minds, and our members can attest that after they have been discussing such a question as reincarnation, it not infrequently happens that they are themselves asked for information upon that very subject by persons whom they have not previously supposed to be interested in it. It should be observed that the thought-form is capable of conveying the exact nature of the thought to those who are somewhat prepared to receive it, whereas the thought-vibration, though it reaches a far wider circle, is much less definite in its action.

Here you see that we have already a very momentous effect upon the mental plane produced quite unintentionally by our members in the ordinary course of their study—something far greater in reality than their intentional efforts in the way of propaganda are ever likely to produce. But this is not all, for by far the most important part is yet to come. Every activity of the Fellowship is a center of interest to the Masters of Wisdom, when their thoughts and those of their pupils are frequently turned toward Spirit. In this way, a force much greater than our own may often shine out from our gatherings, and an influence of inestimable value may be focused where, so far as we know, it would not otherwise specially rest.

This may indeed seem the ultimate limit which our work can attain, yet there is something even greater. All students of the occult are aware that the Light and Life of the Logos flood the whole of the Creator’s system—that on every plane is out-poured from Him that especial manifestation of His strength which is appropriate to it. Naturally, the higher the plane the less veiled is His glory because as we ascend we are drawing nearer to its Source. Normally, the force outpoured in each plane is strictly limited to that plane; but it can descend into and illuminate a lower plane if a special channel be prepared for it. Such a channel is always provided whenever any thought or feeling has an entirely unselfish aspect. The selfish emotion moves in a closed curve and so brings its own response on its own plane; the utterly unselfish motion is an outrush of energy which does not return, but in its own upward movement provides a channel for a down-pouring of Divine power from the next plane above, which is the reality lying at the back of the old idea of the answer to prayer.

The man who is occupied in the earnest study of higher things is, for the time, lifted entirely out of himself and generates a very powerful thought-form upon the mental plane, which is immediately employed as a channel by the force hovering upon the plane next above. When a body of men join together in a thought of this nature, the channel which they make is out of all proportion larger in its capacity than the sum of their separate channels; and such a body of men is therefore an inestimable blessing to the community amidst which it works, for through them (even in their most ordinary meetings for study, when they are considering any subject) there may come an outpouring into the lower mental plane of that force which is normally peculiar to the higher mental; while if they turn their attention to the higher side of the Fellowship teaching and study such questions of ethics, of karma, and of soul development as we find in the Metaphysical Approach to the Field of Consciousness and the Wisdom classes, they make a channel of more elevated thought through which the force of the Buddhic plane by itself may descend into the mental, and thus radiate out an influence for good to many souls who would not be in the least open to it if it had remained on its original level.

This is the real and greatest function of a Center of the Fellowship of Universal Guidance—to furnish a channel for the distribution of the Divine life; and thus we have another illustration to show us how far greater is the unseen than the seen. To the dim physical eyes, all that is visible is a small band of humble students meeting weekly in the earnest endeavor to learn and to qualify themselves to be of use to their fellow men. But to those who can see more of the world, from this tiny root there springs a glorious flower, for no less than four mighty streams of influence are radiating from that seemingly insignificant center—the stream of thought-vibration, the cluster of thought-forms, the magnetism of the Masters of Wisdom, and the mighty torrent of the Divine energy.

These two points on which I have spoken are but specimens of a vast host, for to everything there is an unseen side, and to live the life of the metaphysician is to study this higher inner side of nature and then intelligently to adapt oneself to it. The metaphysician looks at the whole of each subject which is brought before him instead of only at the lowest and least important part of it, and then orders his action according to what he sees, in obedience to certain dictates—of plain commonsense and of the Law of Love which guides the Universe. Those, therefore, who would study and practice these higher teachings must develop within themselves these three priceless possessions—Knowledge, Common Sense, and Love.

Channel: Dr. Wayne Guthrie, Los Angeles, CA

Co-Founder

Fellowship of Universal Guidance