The Equinox (Volume I, Number II)

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF HASHISH XIV “There is a certain Intelligible One whom it becometh you to understand with the Flower of Mind.” “Having mingled the Vital Spark, from two according sub- stances, Mind and Divine Spirit, as a third to these He added Holy Love, the venerable Charioteer uniting all things.” “Filling the Soul with profound Love.” “The Soul of man does in a manner clasp God to herself. Having nothing mortal, she is wholly inebriated with God. For she glorieth in the harmony under which the mortal body sub- sisteth.” “ As rays of Light his locks flow forth, ending in acute points. ZOROASTER, ” Vedana.—Pertaining to Sensation we may first notice in the beginner’s concentrating mind the class of distracting thoughts which refer to the emotions. The taking of pleasure in, or the endurance of pain from, the meditation itself is in particular to be dreaded. Of mystic phenomena we may notice the immense class of devotional apparitions. Vishnu, Christ, Jehovah and other deities appear in response to long-continued and passionate love. See ‘‘ Bhagavad Gita,” chap. xi., the visions of many Catholic saints, Teresa, Gertrude, Francis and others, Anna Kingsford (‘Clothed with the Sun,” Part III.), Idra Rabba Qadisha and so on. The Virgin Mary is a favourite with many; it is all one phenomenon. Observe, though, that many such apparitions are not of the Dhyana type at all; they are mostly mere hallucinations of the ‘astral plane.” In section xiii. we have indicated the diagnostics. 69