“Education is not the learning of
facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
Albert Einstein
The mind needs to be trained ‘how
to think’. Without training it churns out thoughts after thoughts continuously
which do not have much substance, tiring itself in the process. When trained it
thinks fewer thoughts but more focused, carrying more substance, and also more
effective. It may give rise to strong ‘thought forms’ which may affect not only
the thinker but people at large. What are these ‘thought forms’, how they are
formed and how they affect us? These significant issues are dealt in the book ‘A Textbook of Theosophy’ written by the noted
Theosophist C W Leadbeater. Some excerpts from the book on thought forms are as
follows:-
“When a man thinks of any concrete object – a book, a house, a landscape – he builds a tiny image of the object in the matter of his mental body. This image floats in the upper part of that body, usually in front of the face of the man and the level of the eyes. It remains there as long as the man is contemplating the object and usually for a little time afterwards, the length of time depending upon the intensity and clearness of the thought. This form is quite objective and can be seen by another person, if that other has developed the sight of his own mental body. If a man thinks of another, he creates a tiny portrait in just the same way. If his thought is merely contemplative and involves no feeling (such as affection or dislike) or desire (such as a wish to see the person) the thought does not usually perceptibly affect the man of whom he thinks.
“If coupled with
the thought of the person there is a feeling, as for example of affection,
another phenomenon occurs besides the forming of the image. The thought of
affection takes a definite form, which it builds out of the thinker’s mental
body. Because of the emotion involved, it draws round it also matter of his
astral body, and thus we have an astro-mental form which leaps out of the body
in which it has been generated, and moves through space towards the object of
the feeling of affection. If the thought is sufficiently strong, distance makes
absolutely no difference to it; but the thought of an ordinary person is
usually weak and diffused, and is therefore not effective outside a limited
area.
“When this
thought form reaches its object, it discharges itself into his astral and
mental bodies, communicating to them its own rate of vibration. Putting this in
another way, a thought of love sent from one person to another involves the
actual transference of a certain amount both of force and of matter from the
sender to the recipient and its effect upon the recipient is to arouse the
feeling of affection in him and slightly but permanently to increase his power
of loving. But such a thought also strengthens the power of affection in the
thinker and therefore it does good simultaneously to both.
“Every thought
builds a form if the thought be directed to another person it travels to him;
if it be distinctly selfish it remains in the immediate neighbourhood of the
thinker; if it belongs to neither of these categories it floats for a while in
space and then slowly disintegrates. Every man therefore is leaving behind him
wherever he goes, a trail of thought forms; as we go along the street we are
walking all the time amidst a sea of other men’s thoughts. If a man leaves his
mind blank for a time these residual thoughts of others drift through it,
making in most cases but little impression on him. Sometimes one arrives which attracts
his attention, so that his mind seizes upon it and makes it its own,
strengthens it by the addition of its force, and then cast it out again to
affect somebody else. A man, therefore, is not responsible for a thought which
floats into his mind, because it may not be his, but someone else’s but he is
responsible if he takes it up, dwells upon it and then sends it out
strengthened.
“Self-centred
thought of any kind brings about the thinker and most men surround their mental
bodies with a shell of such thoughts. Such a shell obscures the mental vision
and facilitates the formation of prejudice.
“Each thought
form is a temporary entity. It resembles a charged battery awaiting an
opportunity to discharge itself. Its tendency is always to reproduce its own rate
of vibration in the mental body upon which it fastens itself, and so to arouse
in it a like thought. If the person at whom it is aimed happens to be busy or
already engaged in some definite train of thought, the particles of his mental
body are already swinging at a certain determinate rate and cannot for the
moment be affected from without. In that case the thought form bides its time,
hanging about its object until he is sufficiently at rest to permit its
entrance; then it discharges itself upon him and in the act ceases to exist.
“The
self-centred thought behaves in exactly the same way with regard to its
generator, and discharges itself upon him when opportunity offers. If it be an
evil thought, he generally regards it as the suggestion of a tempting demon,
whereas in truth he tempts himself. Usually each definite thought creates a new
thought form; but if a thought form of the same nature is already hovering
around the thinker, under circumstances a new thought on the same subject,
instead of creating a new form, coalesces with and strengthens the old one, so
that by long brooding over the same subject a man may sometimes create a
thought form of tremendous power. If the thought be a wicked one, such a
thought form may become a veritable evil influence, lasting perhaps for many
years, and having for a time all the appearance and powers of a real living
entity.
“All these which
have been described are the ordinary unpremeditated thoughts of man. A man can
make a thought form intentionally, and aim at another with the object of
helping him. This is one of the lines of activity adopted by those who desire
to serve humanity. A steady stream of powerful thought directed intelligently
upon another person may be of the greatest assistance to him. A strong thought-form
may be a real guardian angel, and protect its object from impurity, from
irritability or from fear.”
Pages 63 to 67
“Any person who
habitually thinks pure, good and strong thoughts is utilizing for that purpose
the higher part of his mental body – a part which is not used at all by the
ordinary man, and is entirely undeveloped in him. Such a one is therefore a
power for good in the world, and is being of great use to all those of his
neighbours who are capable of any sort of response. For the vibration which he
sends out to arouse a new and higher part of their mental bodies, and
consequently to open before them altogether new fields of thought.”
Page 68
“He knows that
thoughts are things and that it possible to do great harm or great good by this
means. He knows that no man liveth to himself, for his every thought acts upon
others as well; that the vibrations which he sends forth from his mind and from
his mental nature are reproducing themselves in the minds and the mental
natures of other men, so that he is a source either of mental health or mental
ill to all with whom he comes into contact.
“This at once
imposes upon him a far higher code of social ethics for he knows that he must
control not only his acts and his words, but also his thoughts, since they may
produce effects more serious and more far reaching than their outward
expression in the physical world. He knows that even when a man is not in the
least thing of others, he yet inevitably affects them for good or for evil. In
addition to this unconscious action of his thought upon others he also employs
it consciously for good. He sets current in motion to carry mental help and
comfort to many a suffering friend, and in this way he finds a whole new world
of usefulness opening before them.”
Pages 182-183
Name of the Book: A Textbook of Theosophy
Author: C
W Leadbeater
Edition: First
Edition, Fifteenth Reprint 2007
First of all, congratulations to you for launching this blog. This is going to be enlightening indeed and I trust I'll now get a lot of new books on my shelf or rather, maybe, just grasp a lot of new concepts in my life!
ReplyDeleteI believe every life is a spiritual pursuit and what matters is just the point of time one realizes this fact in their journey.
Considering this above article- Thought Forms, I completely second every word you share from the book. I recently read - "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne and watched the documentary with the same name based on it. I realized and became aware of the enormous power contained in our thoughts. They said that this has been even proved scientifically (quantum-physics) that each thought, every feeling does have a vibration and a frequency and that it does cause an effect on the Universe and the pattern how things take shape around us.
This law, being a universal phenomenon is actually the essence of all Spirituality in my opinion. The law of Karma, law of attraction, good luck of gemstones, prayers and songs of worship- every such so called spiritual belief in fact revolves around this- what we think about, we bring about!
So I would say this is a very aptly placed article. Thanks for sharing! I really look forward to more additions in this blog.
Regards,
Geetika
Thanks Geetika for the kind words.
DeleteI have also seen the documentary 'The Secret'. It is very nice, inspiring and enlightening. I haven't yet read the book. Hopefully I will read it soon.