The Astral Plane | Page 3

correctly but to translate the memory of what he

has seen accurately from one plane to the other; and to assist him in this
he is trained to carry his consciousness without break from the physical
plane to the astral or devachanic and back again, for until that can be
done there is always a possibility that his recollections may be partially
lost or distorted during the blank interval which separates his periods of
consciousness on the various planes. When the power of bringing over
the consciousness is perfectly acquired the pupil will have the
advantage of the use of all the astral faculties, not only while out of his
body during sleep or trance, but also while fully awake in ordinary
physical life.
It has been the custom of some Theosophists to speak with scorn of the
astral plane, and treat it as entirely unworthy of attention; but that
seems to me a somewhat mistaken view. Most assuredly that at which
we have to aim is the purely spiritual plane, and it would be most
disastrous for any student to neglect that higher development and rest
satisfied with the attainment of astral consciousness. There are some
whose Karma is such as to enable them to develop the purely spiritual
faculties first of all--to over-leap the astral plane for the time, as it were;
and when afterwards they make its acquaintance they have, if their
spiritual development has been perfect, the immense advantage of
dipping into it from above, with the aid of a spiritual insight which
cannot be deceived and a spiritual strength which nothing can resist. It
is, however, a mistake to suppose, as some writers have done, that this
is the only, or even the ordinary method adopted by the Masters of
Wisdom with their pupils. Where it is possible it saves much trouble,
but for most of us such progress by leaps and bounds has been
forbidden by our own faults or follies in the past: all that we can hope
for is to win our way slowly step by step, and since this astral plane lies
next to our world of denser matter, it is usually in connection with it
that our earliest superphysical experiences take place. It is therefore by
no means without interest to those of us who are but beginners in these
studies, and a clear comprehension of its mysteries may often be of the
greatest importance to us, not only by enabling us to understand many
of the phenomena of the séance-room, of haunted houses, etc., which
would otherwise be inexplicable, but also to guard ourselves and others
from possible dangers.

The first introduction to this remarkable region comes to people in
various ways. Some only once in their whole lives under some unusual
influence become sensitive enough to recognize the presence of one of
its inhabitants, and perhaps, because the experience does not repeat
itself, come in time to believe that on that occasion they must have
been the victims of hallucination: others find themselves with
increasing frequency seeing and hearing something to which those
around them are blind and deaf; others again--and perhaps this is the
commonest experience of all--begin to recollect with greater and
greater clearness that which they have seen or heard on that other plane
during sleep. Among those who make a study of these subjects, some
try to develop the astral sight by crystal-gazing or other methods, while
those who have the inestimable advantage of the direct guidance of a
qualified teacher will probably be placed upon that plane for the first
time under his special protection, which will be continued until, by the
application of various tests, he has satisfied himself that the pupil is
proof against any danger or terror that he is likely to encounter. But,
however it may occur, the first actual realization that we are all the
while in the midst of a great world full of active life, of which most of
us are nevertheless entirely unconscious, cannot but be to some extent a
memorable epoch in a man's existence.
So abundant and so manifold is this life of the astral plane that at first it
is absolutely bewildering to the neophyte; and even for the more
practised investigator it is no easy task to attempt to classify and to
catalogue it. If the explorer of some unknown tropical forest were
asked not only to give a full account of the country through which he
had passed, with accurate details of its vegetable and mineral
productions, but also to state the genus and species of every one of the
myriad insects, birds, beasts, and reptiles which he had seen, he might
well shrink appalled at the magnitude of the undertaking: yet even this
affords no parallel to the embarrassments of the