Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Glamor - A World Problem - II

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Glamor - A World Problem - The Causes of Glamor

b. Causes initiated by Humanity itself. Slowly, step by step, humanity has created and intensified that glamorous condition of consciousness which we call the astral plane. All glamor is produced by the bringing together of one or more streams of energy which produce a temporary whirlpool of energies and, from the angle of man - the onlooker and participator - produce a condition of darkness, a state of bewilderment which makes clear choice and right discrimination difficult and, in the early stages, impossible. It creates an aura which is today of such a general nature and so all-enveloping that everybody is, figuratively speaking, immersed in it. This aura, in the infancy [107] of the race, only surrounded the more advanced people. To understand what I mean by this statement, I would call your attention to the fact that very unintelligent people, those who are among the lowest human types, and those who are little more than active animals, governed primarily by the instincts, are apt to deal very simply and with complete directness with the facts of existence with which they are faced and which to them are of paramount or sole importance - the facts of hunger, of birth and death, of self-protection and perpetuation. There is little true glamor in their reaction to life and living, and their simplicity, like that of a child, saves and protects them from many of the subtler ills. Their emotions are not subtle, and their minds are unawakened. But, as humanity evolved and the higher levels of the racial consciousness became more subtle and the mind factor slowly became more active, then glamor and illusion developed very rapidly.

The first indications of glamor arose when the disciples and the aspirants of the Lemurian world (Whose problem was the right comprehension, correct functioning and control of the physical body) began to differentiate between themselves, as self-conscious beings, and physical and vital forces. That immediately set up a tremendous activity in the throat center which is the higher aspect of the sacral center (the sex center) and thus led to the initial glamor and to the first definite recognition and consideration of the sex impulse, of sex attraction, and - for the initiate of that period - of the necessary sex transmutation. This went hand in hand with the earliest Yoga, or the cult of the physical body with the objective of its control by the soul, and the consequent merging of the conscious and the subconscious.

Around the aspirants of that time could then be seen gathering the first clouds and fogs of glamor, though [108] illusion was nowhere present. The first recognition of the plane of the emotions, of the astral plane, was evoked in the consciousness of the groups under preparation for the first initiation which was the highest initiation possible at that time. The reason for this slowly emerging astral consciousness in the physically polarized aspirant of that time, was due to the fact that one of the secrets of initiation consists in the right understanding and use of the consciousness which is aware and capable of functioning upon a plane higher than that on which humanity as a whole is, at any given time, living. Hence, in Lemurian times, the physically centered man who was on the verge of admission to the Path was aware of:

The physical duality wherein his consciousness was accustomed to function normally and of the conflict between the physical body per se and the vital etheric body.
A dimly sensed higher consciousness which was distinguished by quality and sentiency. This was all that he could at that time contact upon the most familiar plane today, the astral plane.
A growing sense of self-identity which was the awakening soul or self, the Master who was to lead him out of the purely physical consciousness into the next divine stage, the astral consciousness. Forget not, through familiarity and fatigue of conflict, the divinity of each developing step.

Thus it will be apparent to you, if the above is a true statement of fact, that glamor arose from the recognition of these factors in consciousness and was the result of man's reactions to the complexities of his own constitution and to the energy of his own soul. [109]

As time went on, the entire human family became aware of the new emerging dualism existing between the physical constitution and the astral plane, plus the activity of the center within himself, which at this stage made its appearance as conscience and innate - and at that time unreasoning - realization of an urge to higher living or a tendency to lower activity. This nebulous conscience developed eventually into what we call the Voice of Conscience. When that took place, the intricacy and the difficulty of life was greatly increased and glamor was definitely established on Earth. It was that which enfolded and over-emphasized the lower at the expense of the higher, and served to distract the attention of the aspirant away from reality. May I again re-emphasize that, at this early stage, glamor was only evoked by and recognized by the highly evolved people of that period?

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