The mental body
by Aart Jurriaanse

Over the ages man progresses steadily, at first with all his energies focused in
the physical body, then through that difficult stage where the emotional body
unfolds and must gradually be brought under mental control, until serenity
and stability are finally attained, and all desires, greed, depression and self-pity
are eliminated. This goal however, is only reached with the development
of the mental vehicle, and the effective utilisation of that built-in computer,
the physical brain, which has always been at man's disposal but has till now
been used only in a very limited way, because the attention has largely been
concentrated on satisfying physical and emotional requirements. For adequate
functioning the computer should be properly programmed, and therefore
suitable information, facts and knowledge should be gathered, arranged,
classified and fed into this instrument, through the medium of the mental
body. This will ultimately give rise to divine wisdom.
During the earlier stages of incarnation, with the life focus still largely centred
in the physical and astral vehicles, the soul is present but remains neutral and
withdrawn, since these bodies are not yet receptive to its influence, and the
suitable channels for effective communication are lacking. But with the
development of the mental sheath the position begins to change. The mental
body may be regarded as charged with positive energies, the physical body at
the opposite pole is negative, and the emotional vehicle is the intermediate
field where the opposing forces meet, and where the battle between the
confronting dualities is fought, until equilibrium is finally achieved.
The Rainbow Bridge
The soul must be regarded as the arbitrator, using its influence to guide the
course of these battles and supervising the evolutionary programme towards
the required balance. During this process the mental body becomes the
transmitter of force currents from the Abstract Mind, via the subjective bridge
known as the 'Rainbow Bridge' (or 'antahkarana') to the astral boiling pot.
The function of a disciple oriented on the mental plane is to develop a
receptive mind and intuitive understanding for thoughts directed towards him
from higher Entities, and to transmute those thought-forms into appropriate
speech or writing, thus enabling him to transmit his version of the message to
his fellow men. The intellect is an attribute of the mental body, and final
achievement of mental control is attained by its sound and correct application.
This is implemented in three stages:
(a) By means of the five senses, relayed through the computing brain, the
mind receives impressions from the physical world.
(b) The mind is brought into activity by these sensations, but simultaneously
initiates its own activities, and in this function the intellect plays the
dominating role. These two currents — the physical and the mental —
interact and produce a third activity, wherein the reasoning and
discriminating principle combines the information from the two informing
currents, and thus the 'thoughts' of the mind are formulated and registered in
conjunction with those received from external sources.
(c) By concentration and meditation the contents of the mind may be held
'steady in the light' of the soul. Through this technique the soul imposes its
ideas and impressions upon the mind, and thus becomes the channel from the
spiritual worlds to the mental plane.
The main clash of forces occurs when a sound and sensitive physical body
and a well equipped mentality are brought into contact. This battle is decided
in the emotional body; it is only after the battle, when the mental body has
reached equilibrium, that the soul can play its appropriate role. Most men still
live in the world of feeling and sense preception, or the emotional body, and
only few are as yet thinkers, oriented in the mental body, which when
activated and correctly aligned, serves as the transmitter of soul energy, and
thus as the mediator between the soul and the lower vehicles.
Every esoteric student at some stage must needs learn to understand
something of his own mental processes; he must be able to form a reasonable
concept of the mental tools at his disposal, how to apply them, and finally
what use to make of that which he learns and gains through the proper use of
this mental equipment.
The mind is the faculty of logical deduction and reasoning, and this rational
activity distinguishes man from the animal. It is the medium through which
the intelligent Will, the active Purpose and the fixed idea of Deity finds
expression through its creation — the human being. By utilizing the human
form, all units within its sphere of influence are driven towards the fulfilment
of a set divine Purpose. The mind is the means and channel through which
these spiritual energies operate, whereby evolution is made feasible,
understanding is achieved, and activity is generated and applied.
The mind may also be regarded as a subjective organ of sense, and as an
instrument of discovery by means of which the consciousness systematically
unfolds. Through the mind man learns to protect himself, to guard his
interests, and to preserve his identity; it serves purposes of discrimination and
slowly builds a sense of values, which eventually enables the emphasis to be
laid on the ideal and the spiritual, instead of on the material and physical.
It is the role of every thinker, even if only of limited capacity, to contribute
his modest share to the pool of mental energy, which is being combined into a
force of mighty power and applied towards the progressive evolution of
mankind.
Right thinking is based on many aspects, but for clearer understanding it
may be useful to indicate the more crucial steps:
1. Sensitivity to egoic impression and intuition must be developed. This does
not mean an understanding of the divine Plan, but requires only the touching
of the fringes of the Absolute Mind — thus intuitive ideas and thoughts are
stimulated which may contribute to the furthering of the Plan.
2. Having recognised a flash of such vision, with perhaps a glimpse of its
supernal beauty, the disciple has the opportunity to bring down to the mental
plane that part of the Plan which he has grasped. He may find it difficult to
retain anything from the first flashes experienced, but in due course and with
sustained efforts at apprehension clearer contacts may be obtained, and
gradually certain ideas will penetrate the concrete mind. These ideas will then
become concrete thoughts, which can be visualized and appropriated.
3. The next step is a period of gestation, wherein a thought-form is being built
of as much of the vision as the disciple has managed to bring through into
consciousness. As this vision slowly takes on definite shape, a longing will
develop to share what has been received with the rest of mankind. The
thought-form is thus being vitalized through the power of the will, and
gradually the thought-form of the vision begins to take on mental stature.
4. The disciple who can finally materialize his vision on the physical plane by
word of mouth, by writing or by painting is greatly favoured. It should be
remembered, however, that such materialization of any aspect of the vision is
never the work of one man. It is only through the united work and efforts of
many that it can be brought to outer manifestation, and this is where the need
of educating public opinion arises — it brings the many helpers to the aid of
the few visionaries. This is therefore how the process works: the few
intuitively sense the Plan; their thought sweeps the mental plane into activity;
the thinkers of the public grasp the ideas and bring them into materialization.
This may also be expressed in terms of a mantram: "I listen, express and
reveal the subtle truth that pervades my consciousness".

Aart Jurriaanse, wrote a number of compilations from the books of Alice A. Bailey. Among these are: Of Life and other worlds; Prophecies; Ponder on this; Serving Humanity; The Soul; The Quality of Life; and he is also the author of Bridges which is a Commentary on these teachings.   

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"Love is an active force which transforms. Love which does not act is hardly love at all. Love in action is the essence of love. It is an ability to love the world and all that is in it which is the capacity of Maitreya. The deepest desire of the heart of the One who can do that is to unify all. He looks into the world and sees 5.6 billion people: suffering, striving, competing, all the different actions, some positive, some deeply negative. He sees all of that and His urge, His deepest desire, the outflow of His spiritual heart's need, is to bring all of that together, to unify it all." Benjamin Creme, in Maitreya's Mission Vol. III

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