Alice Bailey - From Intellect to Intuition - VII - Intuition and Illumination
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From Intellect to Intuition - Chapter Seven - Intuition and
Illumination
It seems, however, on investigation, that there is a good deal
of meaning in this special terminology and these symbolic phrases. The uniformity of the
language, the testimony of the many thousands of reputable witnesses and the similarity of
the related occurrences seem to indicate something in the nature of a genuine phenomenal
happening. Dr. Overstreet, in The Enduring Quest, mentions a large number of those
great individuals for whom it is claimed that they were illumined, and points out that
"these
men do not reason their way to conclusions, although reason - the search for truth -
apparently played a [150] part in preparation for their final insight. In every
case," he adds, "they experienced what, for want of a better term, we may call
'illumination'." He goes on to warn us also that "we may, to be sure,
brush these experiences aside as aberrations..." But he says "these men do not
act after the manner of men suffering from an aberration. Out of them has come a great
portion of the spiritual wisdom of the race. They are, as it were, among the illuminati of
mankind. If 'by their fruits we shall know them,' these men have shown fruits so far above
the average as to make them spiritual leaders of mankind."
- Overstreet, H. A. The Enduring Quest, pages 238, 239, 240.
The trouble
has been that with the average mystic, though not with the outstanding figures to whom Dr.
Overstreet refers, there has usually been an inability to define or express clearly this
state of illumination.
"The
mystic," we are told in the Bampton Lectures for 1930, "cannot explain, but he
knows that he has known and not merely felt, and often that knowledge remains an abiding
possession which no criticism can touch... though the mystics seem to be unable to convey
to others any body of truth which cannot be reached by more ordinary channels of
experience and reasoning, it is nevertheless possible that the intensity of their special
apprehension of reality may serve, as extreme cases serve to test the truth of some
general geometrical theorem, to set our fundamental problem in a clearer light."
- Grensted, Rev. L.W., Psychology and God, pages 203-204. [151]
It is here
that the East steps in and shows the system whereby illumination can be gained, and
produces for our consideration an ordered process and method which carries man to the
state of identification with the soul. It posits - as a result of that identification and
its subsequent effects - an illuminated perception and an intuitive apprehension of Truth.
It is, we are told in the eastern Scriptures, the mind that reflects the light and
knowledge of the omniscient soul, and the brain that, in its turn, is illuminated. This is
only possible when the interplay between the three factors of soul, mind and brain is
complete. Patanjali tells us in his Yoga Sutras,
"The Lord of the mind, the perceiver, is ever aware of the constantly active mind
stuff."
"Because it can be seen or cognized it is apparent that the mind is not the source of
illumination."
"When the spiritual intelligence which stands alone and freed from objects, reflects
itself in the mind stuff, then comes awareness of the Self."
"Then the mind stuff, reflecting both the knower and the knowable, becomes
omniscient."
"The mind then tends towards discrimination and increasing illumination."
"When the means to union have been steadily practiced, and when impurity has been
overcome, enlightenment takes place, leading up to full illumination."
"The knowledge (or illumination) achieved is sevenfold and is attained
progressively."
- Bailey, Alice, The Light of the Soul, pages 408, 409, 415, 416, 422, 178,
172.
Patanjali goes on later to point out that, after proper concentration, meditation and
contemplation, [152] "that which obscures the light is gradually removed, and he
adds:
"When
that which veils the light is done away with, then comes the state of being called
discarnate (or disembodied) freed from the modification of the thinking principle. This is
the state of illumination."
- Bailey, Alice, The Light of the Soul, pages 118, 240.
It is
perhaps possible, therefore, that when Christ enjoined upon His disciples that they should
"let their light shine," He was not speaking symbolically at all, but was urging
upon them the necessity of arriving at a state of freedom from the body consciousness in
order that the light of the soul could pour through the mind into the brain and produce
that illumination which enables a man to say: "In that Light shall we see
light."
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