Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism | Page 8

belonging to this plane of the mind, and sends to it adverse suggestions, fear
thoughts, etc. However, this trouble is but temporary, as, when the intellect unfolds a
little farther, it sees the error into which it has fallen and proceeds to rectify the trouble
and to prevent its recurrence.
But this is only a part of the province of the instinctive mind. As the animal progressed
along the scale of evolution, certain things became necessary for its protection and
well-being. It could not reason on these things, so that wonderful intelligence dwelling,
subconsciously, in the instinctive mind unfolded until it was able to grasp the situation
and meet it. It aroused the "fighting instinct" in the brute for its preservation, and this
action of the instinctive mind, very good for its purpose and essential to the preservation
of the life of the animal, is still with us and occasionally projects itself into our mentality
with a surprising degree of strength. There is a great deal of the old animal fighting spirit
in us yet, although we have managed to control it and to hold it in restraint, thanks to the
light obtained from our unfolding higher faculties. The instinctive mind also taught the
animal how to build its nests, how to migrate before approaching winter, how to
hibernate, and thousands of other things well known to students of natural history. And it
teaches us how to do the many things which we perform instinctively, as it also assumes
tasks which we learn how to perform by means of our intellect, and which we pass on to
the instinctive mind, which afterward performs them automatically or nearly so. It is
astonishing how many of our daily tasks are performed under the direction of our
instinctive mind, subject merely to a casual supervision of the Intellect. When we learn to
do things "by heart," we have really mastered them on the intellectual plane, and then
passed them on to the instinctive plane of mentation. The woman with her sewing
machine, the man who runs his engine, the painter with his brush, all find the instinctive
mind a good friend, in fact the intellect would soon tire if it had these every - day tasks to
perform. Note the difference between learning to do a thing, and then doing it after it has
been learned. These manifestations of the instinctive mind are of course among its higher
phases, and are due largely to its contact with and blending with the unfolding intellect.
The instinctive mind is also the "habit" mind. The intellect (either that of the owner of the
instinctive mind, or of some other man) passes on ideas to it, which it afterward faithfully
carries out to the letter, unless corrected or given better instructions, or worse ones, by the
intellect of some one.
The instinctive mind is a queer storehouse. It is full of things received from a variety of
sources. It contains many things which it has received through heredity; other things
which have unfolded within it, the seeds of which were sown at the time of the primal
impulse which started life along the path; other things which it has received from the
intellect, including suggestions from others, as well as thought-waves sent out from the
minds of others, which have taken lodgment within its corridors. All sorts of foolishness
as well as wisdom is there. We will deal with this phase of the subject in future lessons,
under the head of Suggestion and Auto Suggestion, Thought Power, etc.
Instinctive mind manifests varying degrees of consciousness, varying from almost
absolute sub-consciousness to the simple consciousness of the highest of the lower
animals and the lower forms of man.

Self-consciousness comes to man with the unfoldment of the intellect, and will be spoken
of in its proper place. Cosmic or universal consciousness comes with the unfoldment of
the spiritual mind and will be touched upon later on. This gradual growth of
consciousness is a most interesting and important branch of the subject before us, and
will be referred to, and spoken of, at different points in this course.
Before we pass on to the next principle, we must call your attention to the fact that the
instinctive mind is the seat of the appetites, passions, desires, instincts, sensations,
feelings, and emotions of the lower order, manifested in man as well as in the lower
animals. There are of course higher ideas, emotions, aspirations, and desires, reaching the
advanced man from the unfolding spiritual mind, but the animal desires, and the ordinary
feelings, emotions, etc., belong to the instinctive mind. All the "feelings" belonging to
our passional and emotional nature belong to this plane. All animal desires, such as
hunger and thirst, sexual desires (on the physical plane); all passions, such