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Passages similar to: The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians — The Three Higher Planes of Consciousness
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Western Esoteric
The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians
The Three Higher Planes of Consciousness (6)
It is quite difficult to describe clearly in words the actual distinction between the highest forms of animal consciousness, and the lowest forms of the self-consciousness of the human being, although the difference between the highest animal and the highest man in this respect is quite marked. Admitting the difficulty of the explanation, it may be said that while even in the case of the highest animal the consciousness is always directed outward , in even the lowest type of man there is at least a faint degree of the inward direction of consciousness. The animal always thinks of outside things, while even the primitive man occasionally thinks of himself —makes himself the object of his own thoughts, in at least the sense of considering his own feelings, ideas, etc., and comparing them with others previously had by him. Or again, there is no "inside world," or "something within," to the animal; while man always (at least in some degree) is aware of the "inside world," or the "something within" as distinguished from the "something without." A favorite illustration of the psychologists, employed by them to point out the distinction between the "simple consciousness" of the higher animal, and the "self consciousness" of the human being is stated by a writer as follows: "A horse standing out in the cold sleet and rain undoubtedly feels the discomfort, and possibly the pain, for we know by observations that the animals feel both. But the horse is not able to analyze his mental states and to wonder when his piaster will come out to him; or to think how cruel it is to keep him out of the warm stable; or to wonder whether he will be taken out in the cold again tomorrow; or to feel envious of other horses who are indoors; or to wonder why he is compelled to be out on cold nights, etc., etc.—just as a man would do under the same circumstances. He is aware of the discomfort, just as is the man and he would run home if he could, just as would the man. But he is not able to pity himself, nor to think about his individuality or his personality, as would the man—nor does he wonder whether such a life is worth living, after all. He 'knows,' but does not 'know that he knows,' as does the man. The animal cannot 'know himself.'" But we must not fall into the error of supposing that the primitive man, or even the less-developed individuals of modern civilization, possess this faculty of self-conscious to a high degree. On the contrary, with both of these types this form of consciousness may be said to exist merely in a "dawn state"—and yet the "dawn" is a distinct advance upon the darkness of the mental night. A modern psychologist says of the comparatively higher forms of self-consciousness: "Many persons never have more than a misty idea of such a mental attitude. They always take themselves for granted, and never turn the gaze inward." The development of the higher forms of self-consciousness may be noted in the gradual unfoldment of the mind of the young child—for on the mental, as well as on the physical plane, the young of the human being rapidly passes through and reproduces the stages of the evolution of its ancestral forms. At a certain stage of the mental evolution or development of the young child there comes a particular period at which the child seems to awaken to a dawning realization that it is an individual, instead of being merely a bunch of feelings and desires. Up to a certain point the young child speaks of itself in the third person, i.e., as "Johnny," "Mary," etc. Then all of a sudden it begins to employ the terms "I" or "Me" in speaking of itself—though it may make grammatical errors in using these pronouns, nevertheless, there is never any doubt left that the child knows just what they stand for: it knows "I am I." Some psychologists call attention to the fact that many children experience a feeling of something akin to terror when they first reach this sense of "I," or individuality. Some writers have testified to having felt a strange sense of Aloneness, and detachment from all other things, when this sense of individuality first burst upon them in early childhood. In some cases the fuller dawn of self-consciousness is accompanied by a newly developed bashfulness, shyness, or that more or less morbid state known by the common name "self conscious." With the faculty of introspection, there often comes the tendency to employ the same too freely, and thus to become morbid on the one hand, or else foolishly egotistical and vain on the other hand.
Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (5)
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...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (8)
After this laying-aside process has been performed, the student will find himself in conscious possession of a "Self" which may be considered in its...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (7)
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 ...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (6)
The "Me" of many men may be said to consist largely of their consciousness of the body and their physical appetites, etc. Their consciousness being la...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (3)
The Hermetic Teachers impart their instruction regarding this subject by bidding their students examine the report of their consciousness regarding...
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Neoplatonic
On the Intellectual Beauty (11)
Similarly any one, unable to see himself, but possessed by that God, has but to bring that divine- within before his consciousness and at once he...
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Neoplatonic
The Knowing Hypostases and the Transcendent (2)
We begin with the soul, asking whether it is to be allowed self-knowledge and what the knowing principle in it would be and how operating. The...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (4)
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."...
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Neoplatonic
On True Happiness (10)
Perhaps the reason this continuous activity remains unperceived is that it has no touch whatever with things of sense. No doubt action upon material...
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Neoplatonic
The Knowing Hypostases and the Transcendent (1)
Are we to think that a being knowing itself must contain diversity, that self-knowledge can be affirmed only when some one phase of the self...
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Western Esoteric
Chapter XIV: Mental Gender (9)
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 as...
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Neoplatonic
Detached Considerations (2)
For in any one science the reduction of the total of knowledge into its separate propositions does not shatter its unity, chipping it into unrelated f...
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Neoplatonic
Problems of the Soul (2) (2)
Enough on that point: we come now to the question of memory of the personality? There will not even be memory of the personality; no thought that the...
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Western Esoteric
Secret Teachings of All Ages
Conclusion (25)
Thus all creatures are relatively ignorant yet relatively wise; comparatively nothing yet comparatively all. The microscope reveals to man his...
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Neoplatonic
The Animate and the Man (7)
The truth lies in the Consideration that the Couplement subsists by virtue of the Soul's presence. This, however, is not to say that the Soul gives...
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Neoplatonic
The Knowing Hypostases and the Transcendent (3)
Sense sees a man and transmits the impression to the understanding. What does the understanding say? It has nothing to say as yet; it accepts and...
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