Notice: This MS.

is issued for the private use of those who have passed the appropriate exams and
who have taken a pledge not to reveal its contents or permit it to fall into other hands.

Fourth Award.

Box 1525, Los Angeles 53, Calif.

December, 1939

How to Hold the Consciousness on

the Selected Level of the Inner Plane

by

C. C. Zain

People go about habitually as if the physical plane were the only place of importance, and quite oblivious
of the inner plane which contacts them at all times and is of equal or greater importance as affecting the
everyday affairs of their lives. Yet if instead of through attention directing nearly all their electrical energies
to the affairs of the physical plane they would only turn their Attention inward—inward not in the sense of
looking within their own bodies, but in the sense of looking toward the high-velocity astral realm—most of
them would become at least partially conscious of conditions and activities of this other world where, in a
few short years they will be forced largely to function.

If they would only realize that their so-important unconscious mind, or soul, exists now upon the
astral plane, and that at any given time it functions on the particular astral level of the inner world which
has approximately as its basic vibratory rate the dominant vibratory rate which the individual has at the
time, they would be more careful as much as possible to maintain a mood which would insure that the
astral level thus contacted was one whose influence upon their lives would be mentally, physically and
spiritually beneficial.

An individual can improve the trend of his fortune markedly only through making those changes
within his own unconscious mind which are indicated by Mental Alchemy, changes which can be brought
about only through properly selected thoughts and feelings. He can alter the influence of planetary ener-
gies, such as those derived from progressed aspects, in a small measure through selection of proper
environment and other physical methods, but to handle them effectively requires the development and
maintenance of the properly selected types of feeling. And as the only way an individual can tune in on ,or
reach with his extended consciousness, the astral level on which he desires to function or from which he
desires to gain information is through producing in himself and maintaining a state of feeling, or Mood,
which has a vibratory rate similar to that of the selected astral level, it will become apparent that the ability
to control not merely intellectual thought, but feeling also, is the most important asset a well informed
person can have.

ACQUIRING AND HOLDING A SELECTED MOOD.—As his whole future depends upon acquiring
this ability, the aspirant to occult development and spiritual power is warranted in spending whatever time
and energy is necessary to understand how this is done and in learning to do it. In fact, this is the greatest
difficulty with which the neophyte will ever be confronted. Consequently, from time to time, in the course of
these NOT SOLD lessons there will be comments relative to this matter which it is hoped will be helpful.
But as a start in this great quest, let us consider a quotation from regular B. of L. Chapter 4, Course 5,
Esoteric Psychology, (Serial No. 59):

1
 Certain desires, however, are powerful enough that the discharge of their energy when ten-
sion is released creates a profound and widespread disturbance of the nerve currents. These
more violent desires are responses of the life-form to emergency situations. Some of these
situations are: The call to conflict, stimulating anger; realizing inadequacy to handle a situa-
tion, stimulating fear; realization of a loss sustained and consequent inadequacy, stimulating
sorrow; belief that a fond desire will be realized, stimulating hope; realization of a fond hope,
stimulating joy; the thought or presence of a love object, stimulating passion or love. Such
situations demand that energies be present in more than normal volume. Hence the tensions
are higher, quickly piling up energies which are released so violently that they give rise to
those intense feelings which are termed EMOTIONS.

Now a Mood results when the energy released from a desire tension is more moderate in intensity, but of
greater persistence. Bearing in mind it is a less violent but more persistent emotion, let me quote further
from B. of L. Chapter 4, Course 5, Esoteric Psychology, (Serial No. 59):

In the case of those most violent of all desires, which are built up in the presence of emer-
gency situations, the release of their energy—that is, an emotion—produces an immediate
response from the endocrine glands of the physical body. The action of the chemicals then
secreted by them cause the body to be placed on a footing suitable to meet the emergency.
Even though the emergency has passed before it is recognized by consciousness, the thought
of it when recognized may release the emergency energy of emotion, to be followed by
glandular secretion and the whole complex of bodily response which is the Conditioned man-
ner the organism reacts to the emergency.

What a life-form considers an emergency is not inherent in the situation itself, but depends upon the
associations aroused by the situation in its mind. A very slight opposition from another will arouse one man
to violent anger because he has Conditioned himself to react to opposition in this way; while another man
who has Conditioned himself to react calmly in the face of opposition will feel no anger even when vigor-
ously assailed.

One cannot, therefore, set a hard and fast rule as to the particular mental image which in all people
will arouse a given emotion. But as indicated in the quotation above, to arouse anger the thought of some
conflict in the past or the thought of some impending conflict usually serves to arouse anger; the thought
of a love situation usually arouses love; the thought of realizing some fond hope usually arouses joy; the
thought of living a noble life usually stimulates aspiration; the thought of serving Deity usually arouses the
emotion of religious devotion.

Just a fleeting thought customarily does not arouse much feeling. But if the individual will dwell intently
and protractedly upon a situation, or imagine himself in the act of doing something and dwell on this intently
and protractedly, which customarily arouses the emotion, he usually will after a time begin to feel that emo-
tion. To go over intently in imagination some scene in the past in which one has engaged in conflict usually
is in some measure to re-experience the emotion experienced in that conflict. To imagine intently a love
experience usually is to experience in some measure a love emotion. To dwell intently in the imagination on
some happy incident in the past, or on some happy incident which has never yet transpired, usually is in
some measure to experience happiness. To recall some intense joy, is to re-experience it in some degree. To
dwell upon some intense religious experience, usually is to again realize its feeling of exaltation somewhat.
To recall a time of high aspiration, and live it again in imagination, or to imagine a situation in which high
aspiration is called forth, usually is in some measure to experience high aspiration.

The more often a given emotional state is experienced and the more intensely it is felt, the easier it is
to experience it again, as through repetition the energies become Conditioned to flow into given channels.

2
 Even as the actual presence of a love object tends strongly toward the development of the Mood of
love, and the presence of a foe tends strongly to stimulate either the Mood of anger or fear, so there are
various environmental conditions which may aid or hinder the development of a given Mood and its main-
tenance.

PHYSICAL AIDS TO MOOD ACQUIREMENT.—Psychologist are finding that colors when prevalent
in the environment tend strongly to influence the trend of the moods, each assisting some type of mood
and hindering its opposite. And music every where is recognized thus to influence the feelings. Sensual
music stimulates sensual feelings in those who listen to it. Jazz tends to develop a mood of wild abandon.
Martial music tends to create a combative mood and heighten courage. Light and lively music tends to
induce a feeling of gaiety. A funeral dirge encourages despondency and the mood of depression. Plaintive
music brings a responsive plaintive mood. Music which expresses despair tends to produce despair in
those who hear it. Heavy devotional music heightens the feeling of religious resignation, while spiritual
music lifts the mood to heights of aspiration.

Environments, too, have their influence upon the mood, and assist or retard the individual in acquir-
ing the one he seeks. Clash and discord in the environment make it difficult to develop a harmonious
mood. There probably is no better assistance to one who seeks to close the switch of his Attention so that
his electrical energies shall flow into the Vital System of mental activity, and thus work to build up the
strength and health of his physical organism, than for him to get close to outdoor nature.

Not only brain workers, but hypersensitive people, often find that so much of the electricity they
generate is flowing into other very active systems of mental activity that there is insufficient flowing over
the vital system to maintain the vigor of the organs and to furnish needed vitality. The birds and tress and
grass, and even the mountains and brooks and the waves of the ocean and its shore, vibrate very little to
the rates of the Cerebral System or the Hypersensitivity System. Instead, their dominant rates, and those
of the outdoors in general, largely are similar to that of the Vital System. Hence to throw the switch so the
Systems of activity ruled by Mercury or the upper-octave planets do not use up much energy, an ocean
voyage, a hike over a mountain trail, sun bathing and water bathing at the beach, or even lying on the
grass under a tree in a park, is effective.

When the weather permits, lying on the ground often will change the electrical condition markedly,
relieving nervous tension. The magnetic vibrations of the ground may lower the potential even to those
of the Mediumistic System of mental activity; but in addition to such lowering of potential, a sympathetic
contact with living and growing things also tends markedly to encourage the Vital System, and thus
build up the health.

Not only for the purpose of enabling him to tune in on the inner plane level he desires to reach, but
because inducing states of feeling is the only way he can better his life through the processes of Mental
Alchemy, or markedly control the influence of astrological energies on his life, each person should prepare
a list of the thoughts, memories, and environmental conditions of all kinds which he finds most effective in
arousing in himself given and desirable emotions. He should keep at hand a complete and graded sched-
ule of such mental images and environmental stimuli, not to use in the production of violent emotions, but
to use for the purpose of inducing in himself those less intense states of feeling which we call Moods, and
to use in maintaining them.

ADEQUATE ENERGY MUST BE PRESENT TO MAINTAIN A MOOD.—To acquire an emotion or a

mood, however, requires something more than mere thought or an environmental situation. The emotion
or mood is felt only when the thought or environmental stimulation produces a definite electrical condition
in some portion of the nervous system. As explained in detail in Chapter 9, Course 5, Esoteric Psychology,
(Serial No. 64), each cell of the human body is a miniature electric battery in which the semi-permeable

3
membrane separating the nitrogen fraction of the cell from the hydrocarbon fraction, and the membrane
surrounding the cell, are adapted to storing and conducting electricity.

Dr. Edwin J. Cohn, Professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard, has measured the electrical charges
on the giant protein molecules, and he points out that the movement of such an electromagnetic molecule
operates like the armature of a dynamo. It produces an electric current. These are the impulses which flow
over the nerves and enable the mind to control the body; and they are also that which is felt as tempera-
ment, craving, mood, sentiment, passion or emotion.

An individual may think a thing in a coldly intellectual manner without much feeling. In that case the
electrical energies generated by the thought mostly are used up in imparting vibrations to the brain cells.
On the other hand, the same individual may think of some emergency situation, and immediately feed a
profound shock over his whole body. The nervous excitement, which means the intensity of the electrical
currents flowing over his nerves, may be so great that his knees knock together, his teeth chatter, and his
hands shake in spite of all his efforts to appear unconcerned.

What has happened when an individual is thus shaken by anger or fear? The image of the emer-
gency situation through its contact with the normal electrical energies which are present in the brain and
nervous system, has sent an electrical impulse to the adrenal glands. In response, these have released
adrenalin into the blood stream. And the adrenalin, in the process of its commonly recognized mobilization
of the body for fight or flight, has stimulated certain nerves and ganglia to generate a tremendous volume
of high-voltage electrical energy. If the electrical power thus generated is so great that the electrical
energies generated at the time through the reasoning process—electrical energies whose volume seems
largely dependent upon the ability of the front pituitary gland to pour its secretions into the blood stream—
are unable successfully to compete with it, the individual loses control of his movements to a certain
degree. He may even be unable to move away from the danger if the fear he experiences generates
sufficient electrical power. Or if his nervous system is unable to carry the power generated, some portion
of it may burn out, as a fuse is blown when too great a strain is placed upon the lighting system in your
home. That is, some limb or organ may become paralyzed.

On the other hand, if the individual at the time generates a still higher electrical potential in his brain,
due to having a strong and active front pituitary gland, fear or anger does not cause him to lose control of
himself no matter how much electrical energy is generated in his nervous system by adrenalin. He may
feel vividly, but the electrical energies of the reasoning faculties are powerful enough that he is able to
direct all his activities calmly, and without show of perturbation.

Now if the nervous system does not generate powerful electrical energies, no matter what the image
is in the mind, or what the situation is which is faced, the individual does not feel strongly. If an individual
has so used up his adrenal secretions that none are sent into the flood stream when he finds himself in
danger, he will have little feeling of fear or anger, no matter how intense his normal reaction to the same
situation might be. People at times become so worn out, which means that they no longer have much
difference in potential between the different organs, that they are callous to peril. They may even lie down
and sleep in the most dangerous situations. To be able to feel emotion requires the generating of appro-
priate electrical energies. To be sure, it is the electrical energies which are felt; and until they again are
generated in sufficient power the individual is emotionally dead.

SEX VIGOR AS A FACTOR IN GENERATING ELECTRICAL ENERGY FOR MOOD MAINTE-

NANCE.—Because this matter of electrification is so important in all inner plane work, and is at the basis
of ability to control either the thoughts or the feelings, let us consider still another familiar condition. It is
such as important factor in maintaining matrimonial felicity it really deserves far more extensive treatment.
Quoting from Chapter 9, Course 4, Ancient Masonry, (Serial No. 14):

4
 Love as a mental condition is very real. But to feel love there must be appropriate electri-
cal energies in the nervous system. While we occupy physical bodies we feel with the nerves,
and that which gives rise to the feeling is the electric charges which they generate and whose
impulses flow to some central station in the brain.
Love is of various kinds and on various levels of expression. The feeling of affection for
children, for instance, seems to depend much upon the electrical energies generated through
the secretions of the back pituitary gland; and the more refined type of love seems linked
with the electrical energies generated through the secretions of the thyroid glands. But for
the sake of this illustration let us consider the more common phase of attraction between
the sexes.
Man and wife may mentally and spiritually love each other devotedly, but the feeling of
physical attraction commonly is subject to wax and wane. Loyalty, devotion and willingness to
self-sacrifice may well be constant; but the more physical attraction and responsiveness are
largely dependent upon the electrical condition at the time. In spite of willing to do so, neither
can have any real passion, or even strong feeling of physical attraction toward the other, if
through overwork, illness, or too much sex indulgence, that one is electrically depleted. Feel-
ing depends upon the electrical energies present, and if these are absent and cannot be
generated, the feeling cannot be coaxed or willed into existence.
While other glands are involved in lesser degree, it is chiefly the function of the secretions
of the gonad glands to develop in the nervous system these particular electrical energies
which give the feeling of physical attraction toward the love object. When the high-tension
electrical energies are expended there is a lowering of potential, and the feeling which per-
sists, due to the strong lower potential electrical energies, is of a different quality. If harmoni-
ous, it may sustain a tender love which is far above mere passion. If the thoughts at the time
have been conditioned to consider all expression of sex sinful, or if for a variety of reasons
there is inharmony or thoughts of defilement, the low potential electrical energies present will
bring and sustain a feeling of degradation. But in any case the violent expenditure of electrical
energies which have been generated largely through the action of the secretions of the go-
nads on the nervous system, for the time being markedly lowers the electrical potential.
Depending upon the health of the individual, the activity of his gonad glands and other
factors, in a shorter or longer time the electrical potential due to gonad activity normally rises
to a point where it exerts considerable tension; in other words, to a point where the feeling of
physical attraction for the loved one again is quite strong.
Now electrical energy in the nervous system is capable of being diverted, much as the
electrical currents flowing over the ordinary power lines are; and these generated through
the action of the secretions of the gonads on the nervous system are not only capable of
being diverted into different systems of mental activity, but also are capable of being stepped
up or stopped down markedly in voltage. They, therefore, are capable of quite a wide range
of use to give additional power to the electrical energies developed by the action of other
endocrine glands.
It might seem from this that a celibate life is of decided advantage in that it provides
electrical energies of high voltage and power which can be used for the production of psychic
phenomena, for building vitality, to use in cerebral thinking, or for such other purposes as
require energy. And this is the general idea behind the Oriental training which decrees that a
neophyte must renounce marriage and live a celibate life. But here we are confronted with
three factors which are subject to a widely variable personal equation.
1.The electrical power normally generated in the nervous system through the action of
the gonad secretion by a person who has Mars inconspicuous in his birth-chart and Venus in
conjunction with Saturn is but a small fraction of the electrical power generated by the action
of these secretions by a person who has Mars conjunction Venus and both very prominent in
his birth-chart. Those who do creative work of any kind have active gonad secretions; and it

5
 is likely that some creative artists generate daily, in spite of marital excess, more electrical
energy of this kind than most people do even when they live celibate lives.
2.Ordinarily a gland, muscle or nerve which is called upon to do no work tends to reduce
its activity, perhaps even atrophy. While under normal conditions of abstinence no such dete-
rioration is likely to take place, the question remains whether or not gonad secretion which is
given no opportunity to function normally will continue as well to assist in the development of
electrical power in the nervous system as if not too frequently it were called into normal play.
3.The electrical power that can be handled successfully by the nervous system when
generated varies markedly with different persons; and anyone can only handle so much
successfully. When the lighting system in your home blows a fuse due to an overload of
electricity the fuse melts. Then some people put a one cent piece, which will not melt in the
fuse box, and because while they have it there no unusually heavy electrical load is present,
no damage occurs. But when an unusually heavy current comes in under such circumstances,
there usually is a fire or other catastrophe. And the individual who normally generates much
electrical power under the influence of the secretions of his gonad glands, and who through
trying to awaken his kundalini or by rhythmic breathing intensifies this current, and at the
same time a life of enforced celibacy, suffers much damage. He generates more electricity
than he can handle and it causes disaster.
That which is related to sex becomes a very delicate subject of discussion, too delicate to
go into the details as the importance of the matter warrants. Yet the individual who employs
everyday common sense, instead of being led astray by fantastic mysticism or by the oppo-
site extreme, sensualism, will solve its problems without much difficulty. He can do this more
readily than anyone can lay down hard and fast rules for him, because he is in a position to
observe the actual effect in terms of the volume and potential of electrical energy present as
the result of variations in conduct.
Not only do hard and fast rules that work for one person often fail to work well for another,
but usually there is a periodic variation of gonad activity during the month, which differs widely
in intensity with different persons, so that at one period even though the thoughts are turned
exclusively to cerebral pursuits, the electrical power present may be far more than at another
period even when the thoughts are not especially guarded.
The condition of electrification to be sought, and to which the sex activity or lack of sec
activity may contribute or from which it may detract, is that in which there is not so much
electrical power within the nervous system as to place the individual under a strain of pres-
sure, but in which there is ample to do whatever work is at the time required of it.. And of
course it is understood that this sex factor is only one of a number of things which may assist
or detract from thus acquiring the proper electrical power.
Emotion cannot be felt in the absence of electrical energies, and to sustain a Mood there
must be available adequate electrical power which can be used for this purpose. Yet, be-
cause there is so much nonsense written and talked about sex and the kundalini, I believe I
should again emphasize that the electrical energies generated through the action of the go-
nad secretions are capable of being diverted into widely different channels, or sublimated so
that their voltage and trend support noble aspirations and the highest phases of love, it is
quite possible to develop more electrical power than can be diverted, or used in a construc-
tive way.

After all, the objective sought is not to repress sex, but to develop and maintain a selected emotion or
state of feeling. Why get the cart before the horse and place the emphasis on sex! Instead, sex should be
considered not an end in itself, but as a means to an end, the end of furnishing electrical energies which
readily can be made to radiate high-frequency electromagnetic waves to be used as carriers in inner-
plane activity, and which can be used to stimulate and sustain selected states of feeling and thus tune the
individual in on the particular astral level he desires to contact. Sex, however, is not the only source of

6
electrical energies that can thus be used, although it is admittedly a very important source. But from sex,
rhythmic breathing and other sources, the practical thing to do is not to develop electrical power hap-
hazard, but in just the amperage and voltage which is needed for the particular work to be performed.

COMMON CAUSES OF FAILURE IN MOOD CONTROL.—In addition to making a list of the thoughts,
memories and environmental conditions of all kinds which he finds most effective in arousing in himself
the emotions and moods which he desires, each individual should also make a reference list, based upon
his own personal experiences, of the things which at times are able to destroy these desirable moods or
able to make their attainment impossible. He should realize that his thoughts and feelings are the most
important factors in his life and that, cost what it may in time and effort, he must be able to develop, hold,
or dismiss them at will. And if he keeps a list of the things which markedly detract from such ability, he can
more effectively guard against their interference.

1. Exhaustion.—From what already has been said about the necessity of maintaining at the com-
mand of the brain a potential high enough to overcome competing electrical currents if the brain is to direct
the thoughts and feelings, it will be apparent that whenever the electrical energy within the body has been
too greatly exhausted from any cause whatsoever, there is a corresponding diminishment in thought,
feeling and action control. If you keep your foot on the starter button of your car over too long a time it runs
the battery down and the power present is no longer sufficient to turn over the engine. And if you use up
to much of the electrical energy of your body, the potential difference between brain and liver becomes
lower and lower, decreasing progressively your power to control your body, your thoughts and your feel-
ings. It is true that a battery not completely run down will recharge if permitted to rest, and it is true that
rest, including sleep which permits the brain to rest, will permit your body to recharge itself. But while it is
exhausted the ability of control is proportionally lessened.

Too strenuous physical work may result in much exhaustion, or too much mental work even of a
constructive kind. Too intense or prolonged an emotional state brings electrical exhaustion, even if it is the
most pleasurable of emotions; and worry, fear, anger and other discordant emotions quickly use up the
electrical energies. Too much sex pronouncedly exhausts the electrical energies, as does shock of any
kind, pain, or loss of sleep, or undue exposure to heat or cold. Not only does such exhaustion result in a
lessening of the potential between brain and liver, and thus in less ability of the brain to exercise control,
but even while brain potential is sufficient to direct what takes place, there is not electrical energy enough
it can use to hold a desired thought or to develop a selected emotion. Directed thought and induced
emotion are possible only when there is sufficient electrical power present which can be used in producing
and maintaining them. In other words, when an individual becomes exhausted from any cause he be-
comes negative.

2. Too Complete Relaxation.—It would be natural to conclude that the best manner of recuperating
and becoming positive after exhaustion would get to relax as completely as possible. But such is not
always the case, for it is quite possible to “let go” so completely that the electrical energies generated in
this overly-relaxed condition are almost entirely those of the Mediumistic System. In the sleep of utter
exhaustion the individual who normally is not mediumistic may generate the low potential large amperage
electricity which radiates the low-frequency waves ruled by the Moon. When such is the case, on awaken-
ing, he will feel a distinct vibration through his nervous system or some portion of it. All he needs to
overcome this condition is to become slightly more tense and alert.

Tension of the nervous system tends to develop the higher vibratory radiations of electromagnetic
energy. The individual who is too tired may relax his nervous system so completely that instead of its
normal electromagnetic radiations it develops those of the Mediumistic System. People who are exhausted
by illness for this reason sometimes develop mediumistic qualities. In fact, the nearer they are to the
exhaustion of physical death, the easier it is for some external entity to move in and exercise control. But

7
it is not necessary to be ill or tired or exhausted to be thus controlled. It is only necessary to develop the
low-frequency electromagnetic waves in volume which provide a non-resisting field to be used.

But whether it results form exhaustion, from over relaxation, or from unwise yielding to mediumistic
conditions, the only way to overcome it is to slightly tense the nerves, become a little more alert, hold
determined thoughts of raising the potential, develop a feeling of radiating slightly, and acquiring the
necessary electrical power. In other words, develop more potential and divert the electrical energies into
one of the other systems through giving Attention to it.

3. Negative Thoughts.—Not only do worry, anxiety and fear immediately lower the potential and deprive
of proper thought and emotional control, but any tendency toward despondency, discouragement, grief, pity
for oneself, or feeling of inadequacy, inferiority or want quickly to likewise. They must not be permitted
entrance to the mind; and should one of them sneak in, so soon as its presence is recognized it should be
violently ousted by turning the Attention vigorously to some pleasant, buoyant and constructive thought.
There are at least a dozen good reasons why you cannot afford to harbor, even briefly, any negative thought.

4. Fancied or Real Emergency.—It matters not whether a real emergency exists, for the endocrine
glands do not analyze the situation but take their orders from the thoughts. When any thought which has
been Conditioned to produce an emergency reaction in the body is present, appropriate hormones are
released by the glands into the blood stream, and the body, including the electrical energies generated, is
placed on a footing to meet the given emergency.

The thought reaction may be that of a possible danger to be avoided, of an antagonist to be over-
come, of an opportunity to be grasped, or even some good news. An individual upon receiving a letter of
no real great importance may become so excited by it that he fails to sleep half the night. Another may be
faced by a business conference, and its possibilities so dominate his mind that, in spite of all his efforts, he
can think of nothing else until the conference is past. Or he may expect to meet an antagonist, or expect
to meet someone greatly loved, or may have an idea about which he becomes tremendously enthusiastic.

Whatever the cause of it, and these causes are of great variety, whenever a thought or feeling
becomes so insistent that it cannot be dismissed, that thought or feeling is in control of the individual,
instead of the individual being in control of his thoughts and feelings. The thought has become dominant,
and can muster a stronger electrical potential than can the individual, who now has become negative to
the thought.

These thoughts and feelings which have become so conditioned that they can mobilize emergency
electrical energy are difficult customers to deal with. Even the banishment of the feelings of irritation when
opposed, or of annoyance at discord, may not be easy to handle. But so long as such feelings and
thoughts are able to find lodgment in the mind even when the individual has resolved not to entertain
them, so long is that individual negative to these particular thoughts and feelings.

As occult development and spiritual training among other things are undertaken to enable one at all
times to use his thoughts and feelings as tools in constructive work, rather than be used by them in
destructive ways, it is the individual’s job to learn how to oust all such undesirable thoughts and feelings,
or better still shut them out even before they gain admittance. To do this he must cultivate a vigilance to
note their approach, and to mobilize powerful electrical energies directed by Attention to other things; for
when the energies are being chiefly used in one kind of thought and feeling, this of itself deprives other
thoughts and feelings of electrical energies which they can use.

5. Negativeness to People and Situations.—When there is a reluctance to face whatever should be

faced the individual is negative to that particular thing. Such negativeness may be the result of condition-

8
ing which has given him a feeling of inferiority or inadequacy in the presence of others, or of fear to meet
conditions. It may be the result of insufficient vitality, which is another way of saying there is insufficient
electrical energy in the Vital System of mental activity. It may be due to a hypersensitivity induced by too
much of the energy flowing into one of the upper-octave systems, especially into the Hypersensitivity
System. Or it may be due to too much of the total electricity working through the Mediumistic System.

Whatever the cause, the individual who shrinks from facing whatever is required of him is negative to
that person or situation from which he thus shrinks. That is, the person or situation by virtue of his mental
attitude has him under control.

The individual who is master of himself meets every situation with which he is faced positively and
confidently, and does the best he can. He pays as little attention to the hardships and temporary defeats
as possible. And the first step in this direction is the control of the thoughts, holding them to the conviction
that there is no hesitation in meeting any contingency life may bring. The next step is the development of
sufficient electrical power, and the diverting of it into the Vital System, which is positive and radiates
controlling electromagnetic waves. The final step, of course, is actual unshrinking practice in meeting
situations with a positive and constructive mental attitude.

6. Climate and Weather.—The nervous system of man responds to weather conditions in the amount
of its tension and consequent potential of electrical energy. Depending upon conditions mapped by birth-
chart and progressed aspects, some people do better in one type of climate and others in a different one.
As a general rule wet foggy or humid weather relaxes the nerves, and makes it more difficult to maintain
a high potential. Hot, dry weather, on the other hand, tends to increase the tension of the nerves and
raises the potential. There is wide variation in the degree of sensitiveness of different people to weather
conditions. Some are so sensitive that they are quite positive in hot, dry weather, and in spite of them-
selves quite mediumistic in cold, rainy weather.

As altitude is gained there is an increase in ionization due to the impact of cosmic rays. Also the
nerves tense up. Many who have suffered from too great a tendency to be mediumistic have overcome
this difficulty merely by moving to a high desert region to live. On the other hand, those whose nerves give
too great tension and develop too much of the high-frequency radiations sometimes derive marked ben-
efit by moving to the seashore to live.

7. Planetary Energies.—When there is a progressed aspect to Saturn operating in the life there is a
tendency for the individual to develop electrical energies of low potential, and to think negative thoughts.
A progressed aspect to Mars tends to the opposite extreme; and the thoughts are aggressive, and the
feelings tend to be positive. Progressed aspects to the other planets each gives its own characteristic
trend to the thoughts and feelings. If these trends are not the thoughts and feelings desired special pains
must be taken to displace them with the selected thoughts and feelings. Especially as it is chiefly through
the thoughts and feelings they induce that they are able to attract corresponding events into the life.

HOLDING THE CONSCIOUSNESS TO THE SELECTED LEVEL.—To hold the consciousness any-
where we must first of all be able to keep the thoughts from wandering about. And for any proper inner-
plane endeavor we must know what we want to find out or what we want to do and then keep this thought
and desire before the Attention.

In addition to resolutely holding the image of that to be contacted or that to be done in the conscious-
ness, if that which is to be contacted is not of the commonplace physical level of the astral world, we must
raise or lower our dominant vibratory rate so it will have the same frequency as the astral level on which
our consciousness is to function. This is done through the development of an appropriate mood. Whether
we are conscious of the inner plane or not, we may always be sure that our consciousness is functioning

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on the astral level corresponding to the dominant Mood. Consequently, to hold the consciousness there
merely requires that we maintain the given Mood.

To sustain the Mood and keep it from changing, and to furnish the energy for extension of conscious-
ness or other inner-plane work, through rhythmic breathing and other things already mentioned we must
have an adequate high-frequency electrical supply.
To insure that the energies are not being consumed in cerebral or other systems of activity than
those that permit inner-plane work, cerebral thinking should largely be inhibited, the amount of inhibition
depending upon whether it is the Hypersensitivity, the Inspirational or the Inner Plane System which is to
be used.

For the more complete form of Inner Plane Consciousness, after the proper electrical condition and
mood have been induced the Consciousness is moved away from the brain, down and back and thence
out away from the physical body on the inner plane. The Attention, sustained by the mood and electrical
energies, holds the consciousness on the inner-plane level thus moved out upon so completely that there
is almost no consciousness either of the physical body or of anything of the physical world.

Then give the consciousness the proper little shove toward the information or whatnot it is desired to
contact on this astral level. If you are on the basic astral level of the thing to be contacted, to make the
contact requires only that you think rather steadily of the thing and then give the little shove, just as to
touch anything on the physical plane you must move some part of yourself.

When through extension of consciousness thus used you contact the plane, object or person you
seek, then continuing in the same mood and thought and still furnishing the electrical energy for the work,
you can examine it thus on the inner plane, or mentally exchange ideas if it is a person, or follow its world
line backward or forward and learn much of its past and probable future.

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