THE RELATION OF THE INTUITION TO ILLUSION

Intuition is a spiritual perception which gives right direction and a higher state of consciousness; it results in the pouring down through the mind of a stream of pure intelligent reason that is emotionally stabilised and poised, and which comes direct from the intuitional or buddhic plane.

The intuition is one of the latent faculties of the mind and that which enables the Spiritual Triad to make its presence objectively felt; it will develop into activity and usefulness by following the prescribed methods for its cultivation. By means of this faculty, man can have direct access to Truth, without the preliminary necessity of research and intellectual discrimination, these being then superseded.

Illusion is a mental misinterpretation of facts of life. According to the teachings of the Occult Philosophy, there is only one Reality, i.e. the One Cause, the universal Consciousness, which the orthodox call God. Outside of this One Great Changeless Mind, there is nothing but its manifestations; these are in a constant state of flux and change and under the influence of the law of Evolution. These manifestations, therefore, are not real, the final Reality being that which will Be – at the close of the evolutionary process. In so far as the human mind assumes these temporary manifestations to be permanent, it is subject to illusion.

Throughout centuries of belief in the reality of the material world, humanity has become confirmed in its belief of its reality. Because of this, it is with the utmost difficulty that the individual can be brought to suspect that his concepts of Reality are not true.

The student of psychology observe that the individual – as he develops the power of the mind – finds that the ideas he held, while functioning purely on the lower levels of the emotions and of thought, become untrue as his consciousness shifts to higher levels. A child has his definite concepts of Truth and Reality, but these concepts prove illusory as the child emerges into manhood. The concepts held by mature humanity and believe to be true prove illusory also as he gains in knowledge and begins to transmute experience into wisdom. In old age, if wisdom has been achieved and the fruits of experience are garnered, he will then look upon the concepts of early life and maturity as materialistic and largely untrue.

What is true of the individual is also true of the race. The concepts and the beliefs of one age prove illusory in a subsequent age and are discarded for the new. This is so because [as the mind evolves and develops] it comes closer to the world of truth. When the mind of the individual finally comes under the influence of the intuition and of the higher mind, he will know the truth with immediacy and will discard as illusion his former concepts and beliefs.

Because of the exigencies of the present time, the Hierarchy – through their teachers – are transmitting, through various ways and means, the manner in which this Great Illusion can be dispelled. Through self-discipline, right orientation, the practice of meditation and detachment from personality claims, the consciousness is raised to ever higher levels until the intuitional level can be reached. There, knowledge and understanding reveal to the individual that there is no Reality except the One Changeless Eternal Mind and all else is illusion. The aim is then to enter into that divine and universal Mind and learn co-operation with the purposes, the plans and the laws of that Mind. Everything else is regarded as unstable, temporary and illusory. The mind suddenly discovers and KNOWS that certain things are true without further investigation or enquiry and proceeds to govern action upon the assumption of their truth.

The relation of the intuition to illusion is one of living in a life which will clear the way for the acquiring of knowledge and intelligence; then that which is illusion will be easily discerned and finally dispersed, through the use of the intuition. The technique of the life of the disciplined disciple is to learn “to stand in spiritual being”.

The result of the pouring in of the intuition will be ILLUMINATION. It takes the form of the impression of the Light and Wisdom of the soul upon the quiescent [still] mind. This is one of the factors which will dispel glamour. Glamour is an astral or emotional force which makes the aspirant the victim of his own false emotional concepts and desires. Glamour can be likened to the conduct of a people living in the valleys, enmeshed in fog and mists. Due to their inability to see clearly through the fogs, they imagine they see various forms, fearsome or otherwise, and then imagine these forms of their own emotional-mental approach to be real. The morning sun, rising in glory above the horizon, disperses these fogs of the night, revealing the illusions and glamours under which people have been labouring. This is what happens to the human consciousness when the Light of the Intuition or the Light of the Soul [which is actually the Light of the Spiritual Triad working through the Soul], pours through into the mind of the aspirant.

D. P .R.  [Student]