ESOTERIC HEALING - Alice Bailey

1 Twenty-Four Books of ESOTERIC philosophy Copyright 1998 LUCIS TRUST ESOTERIC HEALING A TREATISE ON THE SEVEN RAYS VOLUME IV BY Alice A. Bailey COPYRIGHT 1953 LUCIS TRUST COPYRIGHT RENEWED 1981 BY LUCIS TRUST Twenty-Four Books of ESOTERIC philosophy Copyright 1998 LUCIS TRUST Introductory Remarks The entire subject of HEALING is as old as the ages themselves, and has ever been the subject of investigation and experiment. But as to the right use of the HEALING faculty and forces, the knowledge is in its infancy.

2 Only in this age and generation is it at last possible to impart the laws of magnetic HEALING , and to indicate the causes of those diseases originating in the three inner bodies which today devastate the human frame, cause endless suffering and pain, and usher man through the portal which leads to the world of bodiless existence. Only today is man at the point in the evolution of his consciousness where he can begin to realise the power of the subjective worlds, and the new and vast science of psychology is his response to this growing interest. Processes of adjustment, of elimination and of cure engage the minds of all thoughtful people as well as of all suffering people.

3 We have much to do, and I ask therefore for patience on your part. When one enters the realm of HEALING , one enters a world of much ESOTERIC knowledge, and of an infinity of conclusions, and one is faced with the formulations of many minds, who, through the ages, have sought to heal and to help. The why and the wherefore of disease have been the subject of endless investigations and speculations, and much definite deduction has been made as to the cures of such complaints; there has been also much formulation of methods, of techniques, of formulae, of prescription, of varied manipulations and of theories. All these serve to fill the mind with many ideas some correct, some erroneous and this makes it most difficult for new ideas to enter and for the student to assimilate the hitherto unknown.

4 Aspirants lose much by refusing to let go of that which the lower mind cherishes. When they do succeed in being entirely open minded and are ready to accept the new theories and hypotheses, they discover that the old and dearly held truth is not really lost, but only relegated to its rightful place in a larger scheme. All initiates of the Ageless Wisdom are necessarily healers, though all may not heal the physical body. The reason for this is that all souls that have achieved any measure of true liberation are transmitters of spiritual energy. This automatically affects some aspect of the mechanism which is used by the souls they contact. When I employ the word "mechanism" in these instructions I refer to different aspects of the instrument, the body or form nature, through which all souls seek manifestation.

5 I refer, therefore, to: 1. The dense physical body, which is the sumtotal of all the organisms which compose it; these possess the varying functions which enable the soul to express itself on the physical or objective plane as part of a greater and more inclusive organism. The physical body is the response apparatus of the indwelling spiritual man and serves to put that spiritual entity en rapport with the response apparatus of the planetary Logos, the Life in which we live and move and have our being. 2. The etheric body, which has one main objective. This is to vitalise and energise the physical body and thus integrate it into the energy body of the Earth and of the solar system.

6 It is a web of energy streams, of lines of force and of light. It constitutes part of the vast network of energies which Twenty-Four Books of ESOTERIC philosophy Copyright 1998 LUCIS TRUST underlies all forms whether great or small (microcosmic or macrocosmic). Along these lines of energy the cosmic forces flow, as the blood flows through the veins and arteries. This constant, individual human, planetary and solar circulation of life-forces through the etheric bodies of all forms is the basis of all manifested life, and the expression of the essential non-separateness of all life.

7 3. The astral or desire body (sometimes called the emotional body) is the effect of the interplay of desire and of sentient response upon the self at the centre, and the resultant effect in that body is experienced as emotion and as pain and pleasure and the other pairs of opposites. In these two bodies, the etheric and astral bodies, ninety percent of the causes of physical disease and troubles is to be found. 4. The mental body, or that much of the chitta or mind stuff which an individual human unit can use and impress, constitutes the fourth of the series of mechanisms at the disposal of the soul. At the same time let it not be forgotten that these four constitute one mechanism.

8 Five percent of all modern disease originates in this body or state of consciousness, and here I wish to enunciate the truth that the constant reiteration by certain schools of healers that the mind is the cause of all sickness is not as yet a fact. A million years hence, when the focus of human attention has shifted from the emotional nature to the mind, and when men are essentially mental as today they are essentially emotional, then the causes of disease must be sought in the mind realm. They are today to be found (except in a few rare cases) in lack of vitality or in too much stimulation, and in the realm of feeling, of desires (thwarted or over-indulged) and in the moods, suppressions, or expressions of the deep-seated longings, irritations, secret delights and the many hidden impulses which emanate from the desire life of the subject.

9 This urge to be and to have has first of all built, and is building, the outer physical response apparatus, and is today forcing a mechanism that has been constructed essentially for physical ends, to serve more subjective purposes. This again produces trouble, and only when man realises that within the outer physical sheath there exist other bodies which serve more subtle response purposes will we see the gradual readjustment and health of the physical body. With these more subtle sheaths we shall later deal. You naturally ask here: What is the general plan which I shall seek to follow as I instruct you in the laws of HEALING , those laws which guide the initiates and must gradually supersede the more physical methods of the present art of HEALING ?

10 You naturally also seek to know what is the special technique which you as healers must learn to employ, both as regards yourselves and as regards those you seek to heal. I will briefly outline the teaching I shall endeavour to give and point out where you must lay the emphasis, as you commence the study of this subject. I shall endeavour first of all to touch upon the causes of disease, for the occult student must ever begin in the world of origins and not in the world of effects. In the second place, I shall elaborate the seven methods of HEALING which govern the "work of restitution" (as it is called in the occult terminology) as practiced by the initiates of the world.