8
Centering Your Consciousness in the Threefold Flame of Your Heart
A primary factor in the study of the evolution of man and the mastery to be attained by each lifestream lies in a clear presentation of the center or focal point of the individual consciousness. The human consciousness, you have been told, is a conglomerate mass of thought and feeling and represents in essence a great cloud held together by a magnetic force within the center of that mass of moving energy. The heart center represents the intelligent thinking and feeling point of consciousness and the area from the center to the circumference is the aura of radiation of that heart center of the individual’s outer personality.
The Four Lower Bodies
In studying the four lower bodies as the “contributing factors” to the consciousness and as the “qualifiers” of tons of God Energy, we see that the central point of consciousness is in constant motion, functioning in one or more of the four lower bodies and is like a basket ball tossed by the players in the course of the game. The individual thus functions from the heart of the emotional body or the mental, or the etheric, or the physical, moving like a pendulum of a clock from one to the other, according to the particular experience and pressure and the will of the body which tries to secure for the moment the prize.
The body which secures the center of consciousness is highly energized during the time when that focus is within it and, therefore, the lower bodies seek and fight with each other to secure the center of the individual consciousness through fair means or foul. This is a completely fatal condition for the progress of the lifestream because an individual whose central balance is constantly shifted to the authority of his lower bodies is a prey to his emotional outbreaks, his etheric memories, etc.
The Grail is Within the Heart
The grail provided for the focus of each lifestream’s consciousness is within the heart and when the individual attains mastery he holds his consciousness within the Threefold Flame in his heart where perfect balance rules all his outer activities and where the Light Ray from his Presence forms a direct line of communication, inspiration and direction, which is much more easily received from the Secret Place of the Most High. If, however, any set of circumstances can throw the consciousness to the mercy of the emotional, mental, etheric or physical bodies the direct communication between the soul and the Spirit is broken.
You have read, perhaps, and seen in pictures how a boat in distress will be circled either by a plane or a rescuing vessel but the turbulent sea between would not allow the life line or the connecting link to unite the two. It is in the same manner that the Higher Self, during times of emergency, has to throw his line of force into the battling sea of the lower bodies, hoping to catch the consciousness in its rapid progress from one to the other.
Most people are completely at the mercy of the lower bodies and find themselves functioning in an emotional frenzy or a mental battle, completely unaware that they have slipped from their moorings. Ageing lifestreams often slip into the etheric body and their consciousness remains there until their passing and thus they enjoy re-living the scenes of yesterday.
Your Open Doors
Your four lower bodies are like four rooms through which your consciousness reaches into the physical appearance world for certain defined effects:
1) Through the emotional body it (consciousness) should absorb the qualities and feelings of the Presence and radiate them;
2) Thus through the mental body the consciousness absorbs knowledge, receives instructions from the Presence and gives it forth;
3) The etheric body should be a storehouse of all the divine memories of the past and should be used as a library;
4) And the physical body should be a vessel through which contact could be made with the third dimensional plane.
All these bodies, however, should be “open doors” through which the consciousness works, maintaining its anchorage always within the constantly flowing stream of energy in the heart.
The Purpose for Stilling Yourself
Your will find upon contemplation and observing yourself how illusive is the center of consciousness and how quickly it slips from one to the other of your bodies before you are even conscious of it. The purpose of stilling one’s self is manifold but one particular activity is to draw the consciousness back into the “secret chamber” of the heart and then to function from within the Light Ray at all times. Even the mental contemplation of this gives you a feeling of poise, mastery and detachment. You will always have a direct line of communication from “headquarters” and you will not release energy unkindly because from the fountain of the sacred waters of life within your heart there can go no unkind emanation.
It is only when the heart center of consciousness energizes one or more of the lower bodies that they seize upon the creative principle and dishonor God’s Name by sending it forth imperfectly. If these lower bodies cannot get the heartcenter of your consciousness, they have no independent authority and they know this. Here you have one of the most powerful ways to mastery if you will contemplate it.
All the accumulation in your four lower bodies could not act and could not be purified and consumed without struggle, if the center of the intelligent consciousness of the outer self could be hidden in the heart of the Presence and not allowed to be coaxed forth by any external force tying it to the caprices of any one of the four lower bodies.
Being directly concerned with drawing the consciousness into the Threefold Flame in your heart, you will find your bodies straight, your sense of struggle greatly diminished, and you will have an alert, calm poise that will amaze you in your forward progress.