|
|
||
|
|
AN OPEN LETTER— JUNE 10, 1975 Since the beginning of this
year there have been six (6) open letters distributed to participants of The
Stelle Group. Coupled with these six letters has been an immeasurable amount
of verbal gossip propagated in The Stelle Group. It is not my intent to
respond to the open letters or gossip per se, but to pass along data which I
believe will fill a glaring educational need in The Stelle Group and which I
trust may be used as an analytical tool in the future, by all. “...
Hermetic doctrine of the Principle of Gender on the Mental Plane—the
manifestation of Mental Gender. And examining further he finds that the
ancient philosophy took cognizance of the phenomenon of the ‘dual mind,’ and
accounted for it by the theory of Mental Gender. This idea of Mental Gender
may be explained in a few words to students who are familiar with the modern
theories just alluded to. The Masculine Principle of Mind corresponds to the
so-called Objective Mind; Conscious Mind; Voluntary Mind; Active Mind, etc.
And the Feminine Principle of Mind corresponds to the so-called Subjective
Mind; Sub-conscious Mind; Involuntary Mind; Passive Mind, etc. Of course the
Hermetic Teachings do not agree with the many modern theories regarding the
nature of the two phases of mind, nor does it admit many of the facts claimed
for the two respective aspects—some of the said theories and claims being
very far-fetched and incapable of standing the test of experiment and
demonstration. ... “The
Hermetic Teachers impart their instruction regarding this subject by bidding
their students examine the report of their consciousness regarding their
Self. ... Each student is led to see that his consciousness gives him first a
report of the existence of his Self—the report is ‘I Am.’ This at first seems
to be the final words from the consciousness, but a little further
examination discloses the fact that this ‘I Am’ may be separated or split
into two distinct parts, or aspects, which while working in unison and in
conjunction, yet, nevertheless, may be separated in consciousness. “While
at first there seems to be only an ‘I’ existing, a more careful and closer
examination reveals the fact that there exists an ‘I’ and a ‘Me.’ These
mental twins differ in their characteristics and nature, and an examination
of their nature and the phenomena arising from the same will throw much light
upon many of the problems of mental influence. “Let
us begin with a consideration of the ‘Me,’ which is usually mistaken for the
‘I’ by the student, until he presses the inquiry a little further back into
the recesses of consciousness. A man thinks of his Self (in its aspect of
‘Me’) as being composed of certain feelings, tastes, likes, dislikes, habits,
peculiar ties, characteristics, etc., all of which go to make up his
personality, or the ‘Self’ known to himself and others. He knows that these
emotions and feelings change; are born and die away; ... which take him from
one extreme of feeling to another. He also thinks of the ‘Me’ as being
certain knowledge gathered together in his mind, and thus forming a part of
himself. This is the ‘Me’ of a man. *** “But
as man rises in the scale of consciousness he is able to disentangle his ‘Me’
from his idea of body, and is able to think of his body as ‘belonging to’ the
mental part of him. But even then he is very apt to identify the ‘Me’
entirely with the mental states, feelings, etc., which he feels to exist
within him. He is very apt to consider these internal states as identical
with himself, instead of their being simply ‘things’ produced by some part of
his mentality, and existing within him—of him, and in him, but still not
‘himself.’ He sees that he may change these internal states of feelings by an
effort of will, and that he may produce a feeling or state of an exactly
opposite nature, in the same way, and yet the same ‘Me’ exists. And so after
a while he is able to set aside these various mental states, emotions,
feelings, habits, qualities, characteristics, and other personal mental
belongings—he is able to set them aside in the ‘not-me’ collection of
curiosities and encumbrances, as well as valuable possessions. This requires
much mental concentration and power of mental analysis on the part of the
student. But still the task is possible for the advanced student, and even
those not so far advanced are able to see, in the imagination, how the
process may be performed. “After
this laying-aside process has been performed, the student will find himself
in conscious possession of a ‘Sell’ which may be considered in its ‘I’ and
‘Me’ dual aspects. The ‘Me’ will be felt to be a Something mental in which
thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, and other mental states may be produced.
It may be considered as the ‘mental womb,’ as the ancients styled it—capable
of generating mental offspring. It reports to the consciousness as a ‘Me’
with latent powers of creation and generation of mental progeny of all sorts
and kinds. Its powers of creative energy are felt to be enormous. But still
it seems to be conscious that it must receive some form of energy from either
its ‘I’ companion, or else from some other ‘I,’ ere it is able to bring into
being its mental creations. This consciousness brings with it a realization
of an enormous capacity for mental work and creative ability. “But
the student soon finds that this is not all that he finds within his inner
consciousness. He finds that there exists a mental Something which is able
to Will that the ‘Me’ act along certain creative lines~ and which is also
able to stand aside and witness the mental creation. This part of himself he
is taught to call his ‘I.’ He is able to rest in its consciousness at will.
He finds there not a consciousness of an an ability to generate and actively
create, in the sense of the gradual process attendant upon mental operations,
but rather a sense and consciousness of an ability to project an energy from
the ‘I’ to the ‘Me’—a process of ‘willing’ that the mental creation begin and
proceed. He also finds that the ‘I’ is able to stand aside and witness the
operations of the ‘Me’s’ mental creation and generation. There is this dual
aspect in the mind of every person. The ‘I’ represents the Masculine
Principle of Mental Gender—the ‘Me’ represents the Female Principle. The ‘I’
represents the Aspect of Being; the ‘Me’ the Aspect of Becoming. *** “...
The Masculine Principle contents itself with the work of the ‘Will,’ in its
varied phases. And yet without the active aid of the Will of the Masculine
Principle, the Feminine Principle is apt to rest content with generating
mental images which are the result of impressions received from outside,
instead of producing original mental creations. “Persons
who can give continued attention and thought to a subject actively employ
both of the Mental Principles .... The majority of persons really employ the
Masculine Principle but little, and are content to live according to the
thoughts and ideas instilled into the ‘Me’ from the ‘I’ of other minds. “The
student of Psychic Phenomena is aware of the ... phenomena classified under
the head of Telepathy; Thought Transference; Mental Influence; suggestion;
Hypnotism, etc. Many have sought for an explanation of these varied phases of
phenomena under the theories of the various ‘dual mind’ teachers. And in a
measure they are right, for there is clearly a manifestation of two distinct
phases of mental activity. ... “In
the phenomena of (‘Suggestion’) it is seen how the Vibratory Energy of the
Masculine Principle is projected toward the Feminine Principle of another person,
and the latter takes the seed-thought and allows it to develop into maturity.
... The Masculine Principle of the person giving the suggestions directs a
stream of Vibratory Energy or Will-Power toward the Feminine Principle of the
other person, and the latter accepting it makes it its own and acts and
thinks accordingly. An idea thus lodged in the mind of another person grows
and develops, and in time is regarded as the rightful mental offspring of
the individual, whereas it is in reality like the cuckoo egg placed in the
sparrow’s nest, where it destroys the rightful offspring and makes itself at
home. The normal method is for the Masculine and Feminine Principles in a
person’s mind to co-ordinate and act harmoniously in conjunction with each
other. But, unfortunately, the Masculine Principle in the average person is
too lazy to act—the display of Will-Power is too slight—and the consequence
is that such persons are ruled almost entirely by the minds and wills of
other persons, whom they allow to do their thinking and willing for them. How
few original thoughts or original actions are performed by the average
person? Are not the majority of persons mere shadows and echoes of others
having stronger wills or minds than themselves? The trouble is that the
average person dwells almost altogether in his ‘Me’ consciousness, and does
not realize that he has such a thing as an ‘I.’ He is polarized in his
Feminine Principle of Mind, and the Masculine Principle, in which is lodged
the Will, is allowed to remain inactive and not employed. “The
strong men and women of the world invariably manifest the Masculine Principle
of Will, and their strength depends materially upon this fact. Instead of
living upon the impressions made upon their minds by others, they dominate
their own minds by their Will, obtaining the kind of mental images desired
.... “The
manifestation of Mental Gender may be noticed all around us in everyday life.
The magnetic persons are those who are able to use the Masculine Principle in
the way of impressing their ideas upon others. The actor who makes people
weep or cry as he wills, is employing this principle. And so is the
successful orator, statesman, preacher, writer or other people who are before
the public attention. The peculiar influence exerted by some people over
others is due to the manifestation of Mental Gender, along the Vibratorial
lines above indicated. In this principle lies the secret of personal
magnetism, personal influence, fascination, etc., as well as the phenomena
generally grouped under the name of Hypnotism. “The
student who has familiarized himself with the phenomena generally spoken of
as ‘psychic’ will have discovered the important part played in the said
phenomena by that force which science has styled ‘Suggestion,’ by which term is
meant the process or method whereby an idea is transferred to, or impressed
upon’ the mind of another, causing the second mind to act in accordance
therewith. ...” ‘This is the best and only way.’ “Although
it is not difficult to recognize hidden or unconscious assumptions in others,
we usually recognize our own only when we are brought up short by a life
situation. Suddenly we are aware that our assumptions do not correspond to
reality. ...” “Producing
Unconscious Assumptions in Others” “Many
people, recognizing the fact that everyone makes assumptions, use this
fact to manipulate others by forcing them to make unconscious
assumptions. ...” (Emphasis
added.) Meta-Talk, by Gerard I.
Nierenberg and Henry H. Calero This
open letter has been written by me as a participant of The Stelle Group and
not in the performance of any of my official capacities, nor does it come
from the Board of Trustees. These copies have been paid for and distributed
personally by me. James
E. Howery |
|
|
|
|
|
