The Neglected Astral Body

[QUOTING]

Where do the psychological stimuli governing man come from?

You already know the answer: from the desire body, the astral body, from the subconscious, the sphere of the desires, from the feelings, the psyche; from the aspect of being in which hereditary factors and karmic influences exert their effects. You are familiar with all these effects of your own wishes and desires, since ever and again you find them in you.

However, do you also know the desire body or astral body itself? Do you know that body in the same way as you know the physical body?

In fact we can state with certainty that you do not know the astral body, that you literally know nothing at all about it; that you haven't even the most elementary conception of how to control that body, of how to steer and guide it.

If we put it like that, it is not to insult you, but only to show you how things really are, and that is of the greatest importance, because you need to learn to know and control your astral body, just as you do your physical body. You need to take just as much care of your astral body as you do of your material body. That is why the Universal Brotherhood draws attention so emphatically to these things.

You begin every morning by washing and dressing your material body. You take care of your hair, your nails, your teeth. Then you nourish your body with food and drink. You know what it needs and you give it rest at fixed times. If you feel a pain that doesn't fade straight away, you take precautions. What don't people do to cultivate and care for their bodies? These things are carried to absurd lengths!

But what do you do for the daily care of your astral body? The very idea is strange to you! It would never even enter your head to smear your so well-cared for physical body with dirt or mud. Dogs sometimes do that with pleasure. Why? Because they are not yet completely conscious in the material body. Their consciousness is only partially in-dwelling.

But did you know that as regards your astral body you are just the same as a dog? If your dog comes home covered in dirt you notice immediately and put him straight in the bath. But if you come home with a dirty astral body no-one notices it , not even you. Well...later maybe, but only when it is too late.

That is a highly dangerous situation! While you are busy manicuring your fingernails, just so they have the right shape and look nice and shiny, a carload of filth can be emptied over your astral body. Often you only notice it later! And that is extremely serious, for through this astral pollution all four bodies of your personality are damaged. Not only the material body but also the etheric and mental bodies share in the astral body's troubles. If your children come in dirty from the playing fields, you probably tell them off, but wouldn't your astral appearance at that moment be even less appetizing, in fact?

Do you see the enormous problem posed by your ignorance of these things? It is a problem faced by all mankind! That is why, nowadays, people speak so much about the psyche, about psychiatrists and psychological help. That is why people want to take psychological tests and have psychiatric examinations.

However, the word "psyche" means precious little, for when people use it they are only thinking of all those things that lie below the level of consciousness.

In this way, a new danger arises, because of all the psychological methods that have sprouted in the brains of speculators and immoral people, and which are let loose on mankind under the guise of science.

Everything that you are afraid of in life, all your sorrows, all your troubles, all those terrific tensions, everything you do or don't do, is caused by the fact that you have neither knowledge or control of your astral body.

It is the task of the Spiritual School to help you gain control over your astral body in a liberating sense, and as a result, to bring you pure happiness, the inexpressible joy of true healing from all the results of suffering, sickness and death. The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross sets out the path to this imperishable happiness in its entirety. It is the path to liberation through the imitation of Christ in deed and reality.

From "The Need For Astral Purification" - Esoteric Analysis Of The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

The astral body can be likened to a pool of water. In order to effectively assist the transfiguration process, the astral body must be calm and unruffled, like an undisturbed pool of water. Unfortunately, most humans have a very disorganized and hyper-active astral body. This is due to:

a. a person's wrong or fear-based thinking
b. a person's contact with other humans who have disorganized astral bodies
c. a person's reaction to the astral influences of aeons and negative groups

Anytime we have a thought that supports or rejects something ("I like ice cream", "I don't like Harriet"), we arouse a focus of astral energy in our astral body. If the thought is of a low vibration, it will manifest itself as a low-vibrating focus in the astral body. Since the ethers that build our etheric body are extracted from the astral body, this low-vibrating astral focus will result in a slow-moving, low-vibrational focus in the etheric double as well.

As the etheric double is the matrix from which the physical body is formed and maintained, any malformation in the etheric body will manifest itself in the physical body as cysts, clots, cancers, headaches, nerve pain, abdominal pain, etc.

This is why detachment and indifference to natural stimuli are constantly emphasized. When the human can remain detached, being neither for nor against any particular stimuli, the astral body is not subjected to unnecessary fluctuations or disturbances. A calm astral body can more effectively assimilate the transforming energies of the Gnosis that are bearing down upon all of humanity at this very minute.

By providing a calm, receptive astral body, we will be working with these beneficial radiations, rather than against them. When that happens, a natural healing takes place, not only in the physical body, but in the etheric, astral and mental bodies as well. Mankind has forgotten that true and lasting healing occurs from the inside-out, not from the outside-in.

We do not have to react to every little thing. In fact, it is best that we learn not to.

We do not have to act upon every thought that enters the mind. In fact, it is best that we learn to monitor and control our thinking.

Having the four bodies of the personality at their highest level of health is of utmost importance in the transfiguration process. We accomplish this not by exercising or "eating right", as those things only benefit the physical shell. We accomplish this by calming the astral body, controlling our thoughts and developing a cool indifference to the thousands of random impulses that bombard us every hour of every day.

~ g
.