"The ills of men which affect the circulatory system, the kidneys, the bladder, and the lubrication of the joints, will find a CURE in vegetable constituents and above in all the right adjustment of the emotional nature." (A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, p. 945) "In cases of imbecility and idiocy, and in that stage of old age which we call senile decay, the thread which anchored in the brain is withdrawn, whilst that which conveys the life impulse or urge, remains still anchored in the heart. There is life but no intelligent awareness; there is movement but no intelligent direction; in the case of senile decay, when there has been a high grade apparatus utilised in life, there may be the appearance of intelligent functioning, but that is an illusion due to old habit and to old established rhythm, but not to co-ordinated coherent purpose." (A Treatise on White Magic, p. 497) "Very few of the troubles of the dense physical body, arise within that body itself. A few arise directly in the etheric body, but at this stage of evolution, most of the troubles arise in the emotional body, and the remainder in the mental. We might generalise and say that: 25% of the ills flesh is heir to, arise in the etheric body.

25% in the mental body.

50% find their origin in the emotional body." (Letters on Occult Meditation, p. 158/59) "The question is often asked: Why is there frequently so much illness, nervous trouble, and various pathological conditions found among the saints of the earth, and among those who are clearly oriented towards the light? The answer is that the strain put upon the physical vehicle by the shift of the forces, is usually unduly great, and so produces these undesirable conditions. These again are often augmented by the foolish things done by the aspirant, as he seeks to bring his physical body under control. It is, however, far better for the undesirable results to work themselves out in the physical vehicle, than in the astral or mental bodies. This point is seldom realised, and hence the emphasis laid upon the idea that sickness, ill-health, and disease, are indicative of individual error, of failure, and of so-called sin. They can of course be all of these things, but, in the case of the true aspirant, who is endeavouring to discipline and control his life, they are often not due to these causes at all. They are the inevitable result of the clash of forces -- those of the awakened energies, which are in progress of elevation, and those of the centre into which the energies are being raised. This clash produces strain, physical discomfort and (as we have seen), many distressing kinds of disorders." (Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, p. 544/5) "Speaking generally, diseases fall into five major categories, and it is only with the last of them that we are here occupied. These five groupings of disease are: 1. Heredity diseases a. Inherent in the planet itself, and having a definite effect upon humanity, through contact with the soil and water.



b. Developed during past ages in mankind itself, and handed on from generation to generation.



c. Characteristic of some particular family, and inherited by the member of this family as part of his chosen karma. Souls come into certain families because of this opportunity. 2. Diseases invoked by tendencies in the man himself. These are governed by his astrological sign -- either his sun sign, or his rising sign, and will be considered later.



3. Contagious diseases (epidemic or endemic) which are of group origin, and involve the man as part of his group karma, but are frequently unrelated to his personal karma.



4. Acquired diseases and accidents, which are the result of injudicious action, or unwise habits in this life, and definitely condition his future karma. One interesting point in connection with accidents might here be made. Accidents are frequently caused by what might be regarded as "explosions of force". These are generated by a man or by a group of human beings through hatred or jealousy or vindictiveness, which qualities react, or are "turned back" upon the individual life like a boomerang.



5. The diseases of mystics with which we are at this time concerned. Speaking generally, these are caused by the energy of an awakened and active lower centre being transferred into a higher one. This is done in three stages, and each stage brings its own physiological difficulties: a. The stage wherein the energy of the lower centre becomes intensely active prior to rising upward. This will produce over-activity of the organs in the physical area governed by the centre, with consequent congestion, inflammation, and usually disease.



b. The stage wherein the "processes of elevation" are taking place, producing intense activity in the higher centre, and a lessening of activity in the lower. A fluid period intervenes, in which the forces swing back and forth between the two centres, accounting for the uneven life of the mystic in the earlier stages of his unfoldment. This is particularly the case in connection with the solar plexus. The energy is rejected at first by the higher centre, and is then re-absorbed into the lower, only to be elevated again and again, until the higher centre can absorb and transmute it.



c. The stage wherein the energy is raised definitely into the higher centre. This leads to a difficult period of adjustment and of tension, again producing physical ills but, this time, in the area controlled by the higher centre." (Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, p. 547/8) "As the heart centres and the higher centres assume control, such diseases as cancer, tuberculosis, and the various syphilitic complaints (due to the age old activity of the sacral centre) will gradually die out." (Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, p. 551) "Many of the difficulties of mystics and occultists today, are due to the fact that they are literally "playing with fire" and are not aware of it; that they are not preserving the right or ordered sequence of development. . . . ; that they are following practices for which they are not ready, which have not been modified to suit the occidental type of body, and which they blindly follow, without any understanding of the process or results. Unless the basic rule is grasped, that "energy follows thought", it is inevitable that dire results must eventuate. The mystic, for instance, whose thought is focused on the Christ, regarding Him as somewhere in Heaven, but at outside himself, and whose aspiration makes Him the objective of all desire, is frequently debilitated and physically ill. Why is this the case? Because the energy which is seeking to enter him and permeate his whole organism, only reaches as far as the heart centre, and is from there constantly turned back, and driven out of the physical body by the directing power of the mystic's thought. Christ, for him, is elsewhere. Outside himself lies his thought, and the energy consequently streams out of his body. It is a much discussed problem among initiates today, as to whether the generally debilitated condition of the human race is not due in part to the fact that the aspiration and thought of mankind, having been constantly directed to some outside goal, and not (as should have been the case) to the centre of life and love within each human being, has drained man of much needed energy. In spite of the fact that he has been taught for centuries, that the kingdom of God is within, the peoples in the occident have not accepted the statement, or worked on the premise presented, but have sought for reality without, and have turned their attention to the Personality of the One who taught them a major truth. At no time did He desire or seen their devotion. The price of this distortion of the truth, has been paid again and again by a devitalised body, and by the inability of the average mystic to live in a concrete, and yet divine, life upon earth." (Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II, p. 596/8) "From one angle, disease is a process of liberation, and the enemy of that which is static and crystalised. Think not, from what I say, that therefore disease should be welcomed, and that the process of death should be cherished. Were that the case, one would cultivate disease, and put a premium on suicide. Fortunately for humanity, the whole tendency of life is against disease, and the reaction of the form life upon the thought of man, fosters the fear of death. This has been rightly so, for the instinct of self-preservation and the preservation of form integrity, is a vital principle in matter, and the tendency to self-perpetuation of the life within the form, is one of our greatest God-given capacities, and will persist. But in the human family this must eventually give place to the use of death as the organised, freeing process, in order to conserve force and give to the soul a better instrument of manifestation. For this liberty of action, mankind as a whole is not yet ready. The disciples and aspirants of the world should now, however, begin to grasp these newer principles of existence." (Esoteric Healing, p. 14) "What is disease? I suggest the following: 1. All disease is disharmony and lack of alignment and control.

a. Disease is found in all the four kingdoms in nature.

b. Disease is purifactory in effect.

c. Definite methods of healing are peculiar to humanity, and mental in origin.

2. Disease is a fact in nature.

a. Antagonism to disease simply energises it.

b. Disease is not the result of wrong human thought.

3. Disease is a process of liberation, and the enemy of that which is static.

4. The law of cause and effect governs disease as it governs all else in manifestation. We found also that healing is brought about in three ways: 1. Through the application of the methods of the many schools of medicine and surgery, and allied groups.

2. Through the use of psychology.

3. Through the activity of the soul. I have also stated that the major causes of disease are three in number: they are psychological in nature; they are inherited through group contact; and they are karmic." (Esoteric Healing, p. 32) "The esoteric healer knows much about the inner forces and energies, and has some understanding of the basic causes of the exoteric diseases, but his ignorance of man's mechanism is deplorable, and he fails to realise two things:

First that disease is sometimes the working out into manifestation of undesirable subjective conditions. These, when externalised and brought to the surface of the human body, can then be known, dealt with, and eliminated. It is well to remember also that sometimes this working out and elimination, may well bring about the death of that particular body. But the soul goes on. One short life counts for very little in the long cycle of the soul, and it is counted well worthwhile if a period of ill health (even if it eventuates in death) brings about the clearing away of wrong emotional and mental conditions.

Second, disease is sometimes incident upon, and part of the process of the withdrawal of the soul from its habitation. This we call death, and it can come quickly and unexpectedly when the soul withdraws with suddenness from its body. Or death can spread itself over a long period of time, and the soul may take several months or years for its slow and gradual emergence from the body, with the body dying by inches all the time." (Esoteric Healing, p. 41) "The free use of salt sea bathing has a definite effect on the healthiness of the physical body. The water, incidentally absorbed through the medium of the skin and by the mouth, has a vitally prophylactic effect." (Esoteric Healing, p. 62) "The more advanced the aspirant, the greater probability there is that the diseases from which he suffers, will be pronounced and powerfully demonstrating, on account of the inflow, to a greater or less degree, of the stimulating force of the soul." (Esoteric Healing, p. 66) "To sum all up: Disease, physical disability of any kind (except of course those due to accidents and, to some extent, to planetary conditions inducing epidemics of a peculiarly virulent nature, such as war oft produces), and the many differing aspects of ill health can be directly traced to the condition of the centres, as they determine the activity or the non-activity of the nadis; these in their turn, affect the nervous system, making the endocrine system what it is in the individual man, and the blood stream is responsible for this condition reaching every part of the body." (Esoteric Healing, p. 198/9) "The over-emphasis which people put on disease, is bewildering to the soul, for it places the transient, constantly changing form-nature in a position of undue prominence, whereas -- from the angle of the soul -- the vicissitudes of the body are only of importance just in so far as they contribute to the enrichment of soul experience." (Esoteric Healing, p. 297) "Disease is only a form of transient imperfection, and death is just a method for refocusing energy, prior to a forward moving activity, leading steadily and always towards betterment." (Esoteric Healing, p. 297) "All disease and ill-health, are the result of the activity or inactivity of one or other of the seven types of energy, as they play upon the human body." (Esoteric Healing, p. 304) "A right handling of ill health is a major factor in breaking down separateness and a sense of aloneness and isolation; that is why the effects of bad health, when rightly handled, lead to a sweetening of the disposition and a broadening of the sympathies. Sharing and a sense of general participation has usually to be learnt the hard way -- such again is the law." (Esoteric Healing, p. 545) "Why do advanced people, spiritual leaders, and those oriented to the spiritual life, suffer so frequently from physical difficulties? It is probably because they are at the stage where the energy of the soul, pouring through the physical body, meets resistance from that body of a correspondingly intense kind. This friction set up is so acute, that disease is promptly the result." (Esoteric Healing, p. 565) "People have little idea how much -- objectively speaking -- they increase the potency of the disease by the constantly directed thought which they expend upon it, and by the attention they pay to that area wherein the trouble is located." (Esoteric Healing, p. 570) "The more determined the person is to submit his personality to soul control, the more intense will be the conflict, with consequent physical conditions of a serious kind as a result. Under this category would come the majority of the diseases of disciples and mystics, largely of a nervous nature, and often affecting the heart or the blood stream." (Esoteric Healing, p. 592)