LESSON TWENTY - ONE

We now come in this Lesson to subjects which interest all of us; telepathy. You may have wondered why we have been stressing so much the similarity between the human brain waves and radio waves. In this Lesson you may get more enlightenment on that subject! Here is Figure Nine. As you will see, we call it "The Tranquil Head."(det fredfylte hode) It is called "tranquil" because we must be in that state before we can do telepathy or clairvoyance or psychometry, that is why in our last Lesson we dealt (did you say "ad nauseum"?) with those matters. We must be at ease (ro) within ourselves if we are going to progress.

Look at it this way; would you expect to get a good symphony concert if you were in the vicinity of a boiler factory? Would you be able to enjoy classical music or whatever form of music you favour - if people were hopping up and down around you screeching at the top of their voices? No, you would either switch off the radio and run screaming yourself, or you would tell every - body to be quiet!

From the Figure of "The Tranquil Head" you will see that there are different receptor areas of the brain. The area, which corresponds roughly to the halo, picks up telepathic waves. We will deal with the other waves later, first we are dealing with telepathy. When we are tranquil we can pick up all sorts of impressions. They are merely the radio waves of other people - coming in and being absorbed by our own receptive brain. You will agree that most people have "hunches."(innskytelser). Most people at some time or other have had a most strange impression that something was going to happen, or that they should take some specific course of action. People who know no better call it "a hunch." Actually it is merely unconscious, or sub - conscious, telepathy, that is the person with the "hunch" was picking up a telepathic message sent out consciously or unconsciously by another person.

Intuition is the same type of thing; it is stated correctly that women possess more intuition than men. Women could be greater telepaths than the average man if women would not talk so much!

The female brain is stated to be smaller than that of the male, but of course that does not matter in the slightest. A lot of rubbish has been written about the size of brains affecting the size of intelligence. On the same basis, we suppose an elephant should be a genius compared to human standards! The female brain can "resonate" in harmony with incoming messages, and again in radio terms, the female brain is a radio set which can be tuned in to a station more easily than can the male brain. It is a matter of simplicity if you prefer that explanation. Do you remember the old old radio set that your father or your grandfather had? There were knobs and dials all over the place, and it was almost a feat of engineering to tune - in the local station. One had to turn up filament controls to make sure that the tubes were at the right voltage. One had to tune - in with a pair of slow motion knobs, often one had to move coils as well, and then there was the volume control. Your grandfather will tell you all about the first radios. Now - well, now one gets hold of a pocket radio, switches it on, moves a knob perhaps with one finger, and there is the programme maybe from half way across the world. The female brain is like that, it is easier to tune than is the male brain.

We would also remind you of identical twins. It is an established fact that identical twins are nearly always in contact with each other, no matter how far they may be apart physically. You can have one twin in North America and another twin in South America, and you will get reports of happenings occurring to the pair of them simultaneously, you will get reports that each knows what the other is doing. That is because these two came from a single cell, came from a single egg, and so their brains are like a pair of carefully matched radio receivers or transmitters. They are "in tune" without any effort at all on the part of the owners.

Now you will want to know how you can do telepathy, for you can do it with practice and with faith, but no matter how much practice, no matter how much faith, you will not do it unless you have our old friend inner composure. The best way to practise is: - Tell yourself for a day or two that on such - and - such a day at such - and - such a time you are going to make your brain receptive so that you can pick up, first general impressions, and then definite telepathic messages. Keep repeating to yourself, keep affirming to yourself, that you are going to succeed in this.

On the pre - determined day, preferably in the evening, retire to a private room. Make sure that the lights are low, and that the temperature is just comfortable for you. Then recline in the position, which you have found to be the most comfortable. Have in your hand a photograph of the person to whom you are most attached. Any light should be behind you so that it shines on or illuminates the photograph. Breathe deeply for a few minutes, and then clear your mind of all extraneous thoughts, think of the person whose photograph is in your hands, look at the photograph, visualise the person standing in front of you. What would this person say to you? What would you reply? Frame your thoughts. You can if you like, say "Speak to me - speak to me." Then wait for a reply. If you are composed, if you have faith, you will get some stirring inside your brain. First you will be inclined to put it down to imagination, but it is not imagination but reality. If you dismiss it as idle imagination you will dismiss telepathy.

The easiest way of acquiring telepathic ability is to work with a person whom you know very well, and with whom you are on the most intimate terms of friendship. Both of you should discuss what you are going to do, you should both agree that on such - and - such a date at such - and such a time you 'will get in touch with each other telepathically. Both of you should retire to rooms, it does not matter how far apart, it can even be a continent apart, for distance is no object. But you must make sure that you make allowance for any difference in time, for example Buenos Aires may be two hours ahead of New York in time. You have to allow for that otherwise your experiment will fail. You also have to agree who is going to transmit and who is going to receive. You can do it easily if you synchronise your watches, and go by Greenwich Mean Time, which will obviate any possibility of confusion. One can obtain Greenwich mean time almost anywhere, and if you decide to transmit first, and then after ten minutes, neither more nor less, but a definite fixed interval of time, your friend will transmit back. The first two or three times you will not necessarily succeed, but practice makes perfect. Remember that a baby cannot walk at the first attempt, the baby had to practise and fall down and crawl. You will not succeed necessarily at the first attempt at telepathy, but again practice makes perfect.

When you can send a telepathic message to a friend, or receive one, then you are well on the way to getting the thoughts of others, but you can only get their thoughts provided that you have no evil intent toward them. We are going to make one of our famous digressions here!

You can never, never, never use telepathy or clairvoyane psychometry to do harm to another person, nor can any another person do harm to you by these means. It has often been stated that if an evil person were telepathic or clairvoyant - they would able to blackmail (utpresse) people who had made some slight mistake - but that emphatically is not the case, it is impossible. You cannot have light and darkness at the same time in the same place, you cannot use telepathy for evil, that is an absolutely inexorable law of metaphysics. So - do not be alarmed, people do not your thoughts to do you harm. No doubt many would like to, they cannot do so. We mention that because of the fear that many people have that a person by telepathy can know all most secret fears and phobias. It is true that the purest minded people could pick up your thoughts, could see from your aura what your weak points were, but the pure person would not for one moment contemplate doing such a thing, and the impure person permanently lacks the ability.

We suggest that you practice telepathy with a friend, or if you cannot get a friend to co - operate, relax as we have said and let thoughts come into you. You will find first that your head is a buzz of conflicting thoughts, it is similar to when you go into a crowd of people. There is a babble of conversation, just a horrible noise - everyone seems to be talking at the same time at the top of their voices. But if you try you can single out one voice. You can do that also in telepathy. Practise, you must practise and have faith, then, provided you keep calm about it all and have no intention of hurting any other person, you will be able to do telepathy.

From our Figure Nine you will see that the rays from clairvoyant sight come from the location of the third eye, and as you will observe they are of a completely different frequency from telepathy. It is in some ways the same type of thing giving different results. One might say that when you get telepathic messages - you listen to radio, when you get clairvoyant messages you see television pictures, and often in "glorious technicolour"!

If you want to see clairvoyantly you will need a crystal or something which shines. If you have a diamond ring with one stone - that is as good as a crystal, and certainly it is less tiring to hold! Here again you will have to recline comfortably, and you will have to make sure that the lighting is of a very low order indeed. Let us assume, though, that you have invested in a crystal - You are resting completely at ease in your room in the evening - the curtains or blinds have been drawn to cut out any direct of light. The room is so dark that you can hardly see the outline of the crystal. It is so dark that you certainly cannot see any pinpoints of light in the crystal. Instead the whole thing is hazy - almost "not there," - you know that you are holding it, you know you can see "something." Keep looking into the crystal without trying to see anything, look into the crystal as if you were looking in the far far distance. This crystal will be just a few inches from you, but instead you have to look miles. Then you will see crystal gradually begin to cloud, you will see white clouds form, and the crystal, instead of being apparently of clear glass, will appear to be full of milk. Now is the critical time, do not jerk, not let yourself become alarmed, as so many people do, because next stage - The whiteness rolls away like curtains being drawn away to

disclose a stage. Your crystal has gone - vanished - and you see instead the world. You are gazing down as a God on Olympus might look upon the world, you see perhaps the clouds with a continent beneath, you have a sensation of falling, you might even involuntarily jerk forward a little. Try to control this because if you jerk you will "lose the picture" and have to start all over again some other night. But supposing you did not jerk, then you will have the impression that you are speeding down and the world is getting larger and larger, you will find continents sweep beneath you, and then you will come to a halt at some particular spot. You might see a historical scene, you might even appear to land in the middle of a war and find a tank charging at you. There is nothing to be alarmed at in this, because the tank cannot hurt you, it will go right through you and you will not know a thing about it. You may find that you are seeing apparently through the eyes of some other person, you cannot see the person's face but you can see all that he or she would see. Again, do not be alarmed, do not allow yourself to jerk, you will see quite clearly, quite plainly, and although you do not actually hear a sound, you will know everything that is being said. So it is that we see in clairvoyance. It is a very easy thing provided - again - that you have faith.

Some people do not actually see a picture, some people get all impressions without actually SEEING. This often happens to a person who is engaged in business. We can have a very clairvoyant person indeed, but if that person be engaged in business or commerce, then often there is a sceptical attitude which makes it difficult to actually see the picture, the person subconsciously thinks that such a thing cannot be, and as clairvoyance will not be completely denied - the person gets impressions "somewhere in the head" which are, nevertheless, as real as are the pictures.

With practice you can see clairvoyantly. With practice you can visit any period of the world's history and see what that history really was. You will be amused and amazed when you find most frequently that history was not as written in the history books, for history as written reflects the politics of the time. We can see how that happens in the case of Hitler Germany and Soviet Russia! Now let us deal with psychometry.

Psychometry can be termed "seeing through the fingers". Everyone has had some form of this experience, for instance, take a heap of coins and get some other person to hold just one of the coins for a few minutes. Then if that coin is put back with the others you will be able to pick the coin because it will be warmer than the rest. This, of course, is just an elementary little thing, which has no place off the stage.

By psychometry we mean the ability to pick up an article and to know its origin, what has happened to it, who has had it and the person's state of mind. You can often get a sort of psychometry when you feel that an article has been in happy surroundings or in unpleasant surroundings.

You can practise psychometry by enlisting the aid of a sympathetic friend. This is how you should set about it.

Assuming that your friend is sympathetic to you and wants to see you progress, we suggest that you get him to wash his hands and then pick up a stone or pebble. That also should be washed with soap and water and well rinsed. Then your friend should care - fully dry his hands ande the stone, and then, eolding the stone in his left hand, he should think strongly for about a minute, he should think of one thing - it can be of the colour black, or white, or good temper, or bad temper, it does not matter what he ihie as long as he thinks strongly of one subject for about a minute. Having done that, he should wrap the stone in a clean handkerchief or a paper handkerchief, and hand it to you. You should not unwrap it then but wait until you are alone in your "contemplation room." We are going to digress again!

We said "with the left hand" and let us first explain the reason. Under esoteric lore the right hand is supposed to be the practical hand, the hand devoted to the things of the world. The left hand is the spiritual hand , that which is devoted to metaphysical things. Provided that you are normally right handed, then you will get greater results by using your left "esoteric" hand for psychometry. If you are one of those who are left handed, then you will use your right hand in the metaphysical sense. It is to be observed that you can often get results with the left hand when you cannot with the right hand.

When you are in your room of contemplation, you will need to wash your hands very carefully, and then rinse them before drying them because if you do not do that you will have other impressions on your hands, and you want one impression only for this experiment. Lie down, make yourself comfortable, and in this case it doesn't matter how much or how little light there is, you can have every light on or you can be in complete darkness. Then unwrap the stone or whatever it was, and pick it up with your left hand, see that it rolls into the centre of your left palm. Do not think about it, do not bother about it, just try to let your mind go blank, think about nothing. You will next experience a very slight tingling in the left hand, and then you will get an impression, probably what your friend was trying to put over to you. You might also pick tip the impression that he really thinks you are engaging upon a crackpot stunt! If you practise this you will find that provided you are tranquil you can pick up most interesting impressions. When your friend is tired of assisting you do it on your own, go out somewhere, get hold of a pebble which has not been touched by man so far as you know. This is easy if you are by a seashore, or you can dig up a stone from the earth. By practising you will have truly remarkable results, you can, for example, pick up a pebble end know about the time when it was part of a mountain, how it was swept down by a river and out into the sea. The information that one can pick up by psychometry is truly amazing, but again, it needs a lot of practice, and you must keep your mind tranquil.

It is possible to pick up a letter, which is still in an envelope, and to be aware of the general trend of the contents. It is also possible to pick up a letter written in a foreign language, and by running the finger tips of the left hand lightly over the surface you will pick up the meaning of the letter even though you do not understand the individual words. This is quite infallible with practice, but never do it just to prove that you can do such a thing for the benefit of other people.

****

It is unfortunately possible for anyone to have anything that one wants. There are certain laws of nature, or, if you prefer, of the occult, which makes it possible for anyone to have success or money if they will follow simple rules. We have tried to show throughout this Course that occultism, which really means "that which is unknown," follows absolutely sensible laws and rules, and that there is nothing mystical about such things. For that purpose we are going to tell you how to get what you want!

Let us say, though, that when we say "Get what you want" we emphasise and re - emphasise that one should strive for the spiritual values, one should at all times work with determination to increase one's worth in the next life. A million or two would be very useful, let us hasten to agree on that, but it would be a snare and a delusion (illusjon) if we had "a million or two" at the expense of the next life. Our stay on Earth is temporary, and again we state that; every effort of ours upon this Earth should be devoted to learning and to improving ourselves so that we are worth more when we move into the next life. Let us, then, strive for spirituality, let us strive that we may show kindness to others, and that true humility which must not be confused with false modesty, but the humility which assists us on our climb upwards.

Everything is in a state of movement, all life is movement, even death is movement because cells are breaking down and turning into other compounds. Let us remember at all times that one cannot stand still on a tightrope, one can either go forwards or backwards. Our endeavours should be to go forward, that is, we should move forward into spirituality, into kindness, into under standing for others, not backwards where we should be among the money - grabbers, those who cling to temporal possessions rather than striving to attain richness of the spirit. But - let us show you how you may gain all you desire.

The mind can give us all that we ask if we will let it. There are immense powers latent within the sub - conscious. Unfortunately most people are not taught how to contact the sub - conscious. We function at one tenth consciousness, and - at most - one tenth of our abilities. By aligning the subconscious on our side - we can achieve miracles as did the Prophets of old.

It is useless to pray idly and without being specific. It is useless to pray with an empty mind because one's words will echo hollowly if one does so. Use your brain, use your mind, use the great possibilities of the subconscious. There are certain inviolable steps, which always must be followed. First decide precisely what you want, be absolutely definite, you must know what you want, you must say what you want, and you must visualise it. WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU WANT? It will not do to say you want a lot of money, it will not do to say that you want a new car or a new wife or a new husband. You must state EXACTLY what it is that you want. You must visualise it - picture it in your mind - and hold that picture firmly before you. If you want money, state quite definitely how much you want. It must be a definite sum. "About half a million" will not do, it must be definite. If you are wise, however, you will not bother so much about money, about the mundane things, you will WANT to be like Gandhi, Buddha, Christ, St. Peter, St. Anybody. You will strive to gain virtues, which will be of use to you, when you leave this life.

When you have decided what you want, you come to stage two. We have already told you that you must GIVE in order that you may receive. What are YOU going to give? If you are asking for a certain sum of money (and that sum must be exactly, specified) - are you willing to give a tithe, which, of course, is a tenth, of that money? Are you willing to give help to other people who are not so fortunately placed as you? It is futile to say, "Yes, when I get this money I will give a tenth of it." You must start helping before that, you must start assisting those in need. If you do that you will be living the spirit of "Give that you may receive." Again, you must be definite, you must be absolutely precise. The third item is - when do you want this money or this car, or a new husband or new wife? It is not enough to say that you want it sometime in the indefinite future, and of course it is absurd to say that you want it immediately because there are physical laws which cannot be broken. It is not possible for a God to drop a gold brick into your waiting heads, and in any case if the brick did fall it would probably crush a few toes! Your time limit must be physically feasible. You could, for instance, say that you will have the money by such - and such a month in such - and - such a year, but you could not say that you would have a fortune within the next five minutes - because that would be contrary to the laws of nature, and it would nullify (annulere) your thought power.

What are you going to do to realise your ambition? Supposing - just by way of illustration - that you want a new car. Well, first of all, can you drive? It would be of little point to desire a new car unless you knew how to drive, so if you are determined to have a new car, take driving lessons first. Then you can decide on the type of car you want, and all that sort of thing. If you are looking for a husband or a wife make sure that you in your turn are fitted to be an adequate partner, make sure that you understand the law of give and take and are prepared to do your share to make a success of marriage, because marriage is not just a case of take all and give naught. When you take a partner you also have to give a partner to the other person. When you get married you cease to be one person, and you take on the problems and the worries and the pleasures of two persons; before you can hope to be satisfactorily and happily married, you have to be sure that you are able physically, mentally and spiritually to be a satisfactory partner yourself.

As our fifth item we are going to say that the written word is stronger than the spoken word, while the two together make an unbeatable combination. Write out what you want, write it out as simply and as clearly as you can. You know what you want, so write it down. Do you want to be spiritual? Who is your ideal in the world of spirituality? Enumerate (regn opp) that person's abilities, talents, and strong points of character. Write it all down. If you are trying to get money write down the precise sum you want, write down when you want it, and make clear in writing that you are going to help other people, make clear that you are going "to tithe." When you have written all this down as simply and as clearly as you can, write at the end "I will give that I may receive." You must also add a note stating how you are going to work for the desired result, for bear in mind once again - that you cannot get anything for nothing, everything has to be paid for in some form or other, there is no such thing as "getting something for free." If you receive a hundred dollars unexpectedly you have to give a hundred dollars worth of service. If you expect other people to help you, then you must first help them.

Assuming that you have written all this down; read your statement aloud to yourself three times a day. There is power gained if you can read it aloud in the quietude and privacy of your own room. Read it in the morning before you leave your bedroom, read it at lunch time, and read it once again before going to sleep at night so that three times a day, at least, you have read your affirmation which has thus become akin (som et..) to a mantrae As you read this FEEL that the money or car, or whatever it is that you want, is coming to you, be positive about it, imagine that you have the thing desired, imagine that it is actually within your grasp. The stronger you can think about this, that you can imagine all this, the more positive will the reaction be . It is a waste of effort to think "Well, I only hope it works - I only hope I shall get it, but I have my doubts." That will invalidate your mantra immediately, you must be quite positive and absolutely constructive all the time, and you must not permit any doubts to enter. If you will adopt these steps you will drive the thought into your sub - conscious, and the subconscious is nine times cleverer than you are! If you can interest your sub - conscious, then you will get help, more help than you believed possible. It is a fact proved time after times, that when one makes money other money comes more easily. A millionaire, for instance, would tell you that after he has made one million, two, three, or four millions come very much more easily and with little additional work. The more money one has, the more money is attracted to one, it works on the law akin to that of magnetism.

Again let us caution you that there are things of greater value than money. Once again let us say that no one has ever taken a single coin into the next world, and the more money you have the more you leave for other people, the more you strive for money the more you contaminate yourself; and make it difficult for yourself to aspire and to attain to the spiritual values. The more good you do for others, the more good you take away with you. Life on Earth is hard and one of the hardest things of all is the falsification of values. At the present time people think that money is all that matters. So long as we have enough that we may eat, clothe ourselves and be sheltered (en beskyttet tilværelse), that will suffice. But we can never have too much spirituality, we can never have too much purity of thought, we can never help others too much, for in helping others we help ourselves.

We suggest that you read and re - read this Lesson. Perhaps it is the most important Lesson yet. If you follow the instruction you will find that you can have almost anything You want. What do YOU want? The choice must be yours, for you CAN have whatever it is that you desire. A pointer - money, success on this Earth? And then eclipse and a start all over again. Or will you choose spirituality, purity, and service to others? It may mean poverty or near - poverty on the Earth, which, after all, is only a speck of dust floating in the void…

In the next lesson - 23 - he again describes how the power of imagination works - and how this power is also stronger than the WILL.

…everyone - be he prince or beggar - travels along what we call the WHEEL OF LIFE - the circle of endless existence. A man may be a king i one life - but in the next he may be a beggar - travelling a-foot from city to city - perhaps trying to get work and failing, or perhaps just drifting along like a leaf blowing before a gale.

There are some people who are exempt from the laws of kharma, so it is useless for you to say, "Oh, what a terrible life that person has had, he must have been a terrible sinner in a previous life!" The higher entities (whom we call "Avatars") come down to Earth in order that certain tasks may be accomplished. The Hindus, for instance, believe that the god Vishna descends onto Earth at various times in order to bring to mankind once again the truths of religion, which mankind is so prone to forget. This Avatar, or Advanced Being, will often come to live, perhaps, as an example of poverty, but to show what can be done in the way of compassion, in the way of what seems to be immunity to suffering. Nothing could be further from the truth about this "immunity to suffering," for the Avatar, being of finer material, suffers the more acutely.

The Avatar is not born because he has to be, he is not born that he may work out his kharma. Instead he comes to Earth as an embodied soul, his birth is the result of free choice, or under certain conditions he may not even be born, he may take over the body of another. We do not want to tread on anyone's "corns" in the matter of religious beliefs, but if one will read the Christian Bible closely, one will understand that Jesus, the man, was born of Joseph and Mary, but in the fulness of time and when Jesus was a grown man, Jesus wandered into the Wilderness (ødemarken) and the Spirit of Christ - the Spirit of God - descended and filled the body of Jesus. In other words, it was a case that another soul came and possessed the willing body of Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary.

We mention this, though, because we do not like to think that some people are being blamed for misfortunes and poverty when actually they come to help others by showing what may be accomplished by misfortune and poverty.

Everything we do results in some action. Thought is a very real force indeed. As you think, so you are. Thus, if you think of pure things you become pure, if you think of lust then you become lustful and contaminated, and you have to come back to Earth time after time until "desire" withers within you under the onslaught (stormløp) of purity and good thinking.

No person is ever destroyed, no person is ever so bad that they are condemned to everlasting punishment. The "Everlasting Punishment" was a device started by the priests of old whe wanted to maintain discipline over their somewhat unruly flock. Christ never taught eternal suffering, eternal damnation. Christ taught that if a person repented and tried, then a person would be "saved" from his own folly and given a chance and a chance again.

Kharma, then, is the process whereby we incur debts and we pay off those debts. If you go into a store and you order certain goods, then you are incurring certain debts which have to be paid for in coin of the realm. Until you have paid for those goods you are a debtor, and if you do not pay for the articles- you can, in some countries, be arrested to be made a bankrupt (konkurs). Everything has to be paid for by the ordinary man, woman and child upon the Earth, only the Avatar is immune from the laws of kharma. So those who are not Avatars had better try to lead a good life so that they may cut short their sojourn (opphold) on this Earth, for there is much better on other planets and on other planes of existence.

We should forgive those that trespass (krenker) against us, and we should seek the forgiveness of those against whom we trespass. We should always remember that the surest way to a good kharma is to do to others as we would have them do to us.

Kharma is a matter, which few of us can escape. We make a debt, we have to pay it, we do good to others, they must pay us back and do good to us. It is much better for us to receive good, so let us show good, compassion and kindness to all creatures, no matter what their species, remembering that in the eyes of God all men are equal, and in the eyes of Great God all creatures are equal whether they be cats, horses - what will you call them?

God, it is stated, works in a mysterious way His wonders to perform. It is not for us to question the ways of God, but it is for us to work out the problems allotted to us, for only in working out our problems and bringing them to a satisfactory conclusion -can we pay off kharma. Some people have a sick relative with whom they must live, some people have this sick relative living with them and they think, "Oh, how tiresome! Why cannot he die and be out of his misery?" The answer is, of course , that both are working out a planned life span, working out a planned form of existence. The person who is looking after the sick one may have planned to come just for that purpose.

We should at all times show great care, great concern, great understanding for those who are ill or sorrowing or are afflicted, for it may be that our task is to show such care and such understanding. It is too easy to brush off a tiresome person with an impatient gesture - but those who are sick are most frequently very high sensitive - they feel their disabilities - they feel very keenly that they are in the way - not wanted..

It is sad indeed to have a loved friend go off to a far distant country, but upon Earth we console ourselves with the thought that we can always write a letter, send a cable (telegram), or even use a telephone. So called "death" on the other hand does not appear to have any room for communication. Do YOU think that the "deads" are beyond reach? You could be greatly and joyously mistaken! We say to you that there are various scientists in reputable (anerkjente) scientific centres of the world who are actually working on an instrument, which will be capable of communicating with those to whom we must refer as "disembodied spirits." 

This is not a pipe dream, it is not a fantastic thought, it is an item of news which has been bruited about for qulte a number of years, and according to the latest scientific reports there is at last some hope that such developments may soon become public knowledge, public property. (Here we must be clear that there are very strong religious forces which very strong will try to prevent such instruments or equipment to come forth - because they are afraid that it will undermine their power over the masses - when another picture of the "other side" appear through such communication. R.Ø.remark). But before we can get in touch with those who have passed beyond our immediate reach we can do much to help them.

When a person dies the physiological functions, that is, the actual working of the physical body, slows down and eventually stops. We have seen in the preliminary stages of this Course that a human brain can live for minutes only when deprived of oxygene. The human brain, then, is one of the first portions of the body to, "die." Obviously when the brain is dead, death is utterly inevitable. We have a special reason for making this what appears to be a long drawn out affair.

After the death of the brain, other organs deprived of the commands and the guidance of the brain - subside into quiescence, that is - they become like a motor car, which has been deserted by the driver. The driver has switched off the ignition and left the vehicle. The engine may give a few kicks over by its own momentum, and then gradually the car will cool. As it cools one will get little clicks and grunts and squeaks (knirk) from contracting metal. The same with the human body - as one organ follows another into that stage which we call dissolution, there are various creaks and grunts and twitches of muscles. Over a period of some three days, the astral body - completely and permanently disengages its hold of the physical body. The Silver Cord, which we may say roots the astral body to the physical, gradually withers in much the same way as the umbilical cord of a baby withers when cut, when the baby is separated from the mother. For three days the astral body is kept in more or less close contact with the decaying physical.

A person who has died has an experience something like this; the person is in bed, possibly surrounded by sorrowing relatives or friends. There comes a shuddering gasp in the throat, and the final rattle of death, and then the last harsh breath is exhaled through the teeth. The heart races for a moment, slows, flutters, and stops permanently.

There are various tremors of the body, gradually the body becomes colder, but at the instant of death itself a clairvoyant can see a shadowy form emerge from the physical vehicle and float upwards - like a silvery mist, float up to lie directly above the dead body. Over a period of the three days the silver cord connecting the two darkens, eventually it turns black where it enters the body. Then one gets an impression of black dust flying off that part of the cord, which is still connected, to the body. At last the cord drops loose and the astral form is free to rise properly and to get its introduction to the life above the astral. First, though, it has to look down and see this dead body which it used to inhabit. Often the astral form will accompany a hearse to the cemetery (følge likbilen til gravlunden) and will actually witness the funeral proceedings. There is no pain, no distress, no upset caused by this - because the astral, in the case of a person unprepared by knowledge such as that contained within this Course, is in a state of semi - shock. It follows the body in the coffin in much the same way as a kite will follow a small boy at the other end of a string, or in much the same way as a balloon follows the trailer car, which holds it from escaping. Soon, though, this silver cord - silver no longer - parts, and then the astral body is free to go up and up, and to prepare for its second death. This second death is completely and absolutely painless.

Before the second death a person has to go to the Hall of Memories and see all that happened in his life. You are not judged by anyone except yourself, and there is no greater judge, no sterner judge than yourself. When you see yourself stripped of all the petty conceits (innbilskheter), all the false values that were dear to you upon the Earth - you may find that in spite of all the money you have left behind, in spite of all the positions you have held, all the appointments, you are not so great after all. Very, very frequently the most humble, the most lowly and the poorest in money; get the most satisfactory and highest judgement.

After having seen yourself in the Hall of Memories, then you go on to that portion of the "Other World" which you think is most suitable for you. You do not go to Hell, believe us when we say that Hell is upon Earth - our training school!

You will probably know that people in the East, great mystics, great teachers, never let their true name be known because there is much power in names, and if all and sundry (alle og enhver) can call upon one in the correct vibration of one's name, then one is pulled irresistibly back to gaze upon the Earth. In some parts of the East, and in some parts of the West too, God is known as "He whose name may not be spoken." That is because if everyone kept calling on God, then the leader of this world would have a most harrowing time.

Many teachers adopt a name which is not their own, a name which differs markedly from the pronunciation of their true name, for names, remember, consist of vibrations, of cords and harmoeics, and if one is called by what is one's own harmonic combination of vibrations, then one is greatly distracted from any work -which one may be doing at the time.

Sorrowing unduly (overdreven sorg) for those who have "passed over, causes them pain, causes them to feel dragged down to the Earth. They are much the same as a man who has been cast into the water and feels himself dragged down by soggy clothes and heavy boots.

Let us consider again this matter of vibrations, for vibration is the essence of life upon this Earth, and in fact upon any and all worlds. We all know a very simple illustration of the power of vibration; soldiers who are marching along keeping step -will break back that step and walk across a big bridge in any disordered array of paces. The bridge may be capable of withstanding the heaviest machanised traffic, it may be capable of bearing a whole succession of armoured tanks rattling across, or it may bear a whole load of railway locomotives, and it will not deviate more than its designated amount through that load. Yet let a column of men march in step across that bridge, and it will set up momentum, which causes the bridge to sway and bounce, and eventually to collapse.

Another illustration we might give in the matter of vibration is that of the violinist; if he takes his violin he can - by playing a single note for some seconds, cause vibrations to build up in a wineglass, with the result that the glass will shatter with a surprisingly loud explosion.

The soldiers are one end of our illustration on vibration, and the other end? Let us consider Om. If one can say the words "Om Mani Padmi Um" in a certain way and keep on saying that for a few minutes, one can build up a vibration of quite fantastic strength. So - remember that names are powerful things, and those who have passed over should not be called unduly, nor should they be called in sorrow or grief, for why should our sorrow be allowed to penalise (straffe) them and make them suffer? Have they not suffered enough already?

We may wonder why we come to this Earth and suffer death, but the answer is that dying refines (foredler) one, suffering refines one provided that it be not too much suffering, and again we must remind you that in nearly every case (there are certain special exceptions!) no man or woman is ever called upon to bear greater suffering or sorrow than meets his or her particular need of refining at that moment. You will appreciate this when you think of a woman who can swoon (besvime) with sorrow. The swoon is merely a safety valve so that she is not overburdened with sorrow, so that nothing happens to injure her.

Often a person who has suffered a great sorrow will be numb with grief (lammet av sorg). Here again, the numbness is a mercy to the one who is left and to the one who has gone on. Numbness can cause the bereaved to be aware of the loss and so to undergo the refining process, but in being aware of the loss he or she is not unbearably tormented (ulidelig plaget).

The person who has passed over is protected by the numbness of the bereaved (lammelsen hos den sørgende), because if the numbness were not present - perhaps the bereaved, with wailing and lamentations in full possession of his or her faculties, would cause great stress, great drags on the person who had newly passed over.

In the fullness of time it may be that all of us will be able to communicate with those who have passed over in much the same way as we can now use a telephone to get in touch with those who are in some distant city of the world. (I personally know a woman who scared got a telephone-call from her son who only just had committed suicide. She said to him "but you are dead!!" - but he answered - "but you well know mother - that there is nothing that is DEATH". Later she has heard of similar stories - and it is to remark that she seems to have parapsychic abilities - I have made an interview with her. R.Ø.remark.)

By studying this Course conscientiously, by having faith in yourself and in the Greater Powers of this life and of the next life, you too should be able to get in touch with those who have passed over. It is possible to do so by telepathy, it is possible to do so by clairvoyance and by so - called "automatic writing." In this latter, however, one must keep clear of one's own distorted imagination, one must control one's imagination so that the message which is written out, apparently sub - consciously, does not emanate from our consciousness nor from our subconscious, but comes instead directly from one who has passed over and who can se us although most of us cannot, for the moment, see them.

Be of good cheer, be of good faith, for believing you can miracles. Is it not written that faith can move mountains? It certainly can!

We are going to set down now what we term "Rules for Right Living." These are completely basic rules, rules which are definitely a "must." To them you should add your own rules. First we will set them down and then we will go over them again examining them more carefully so that we may perhaps have some insight into the reasons behind them. Here they are then: -

1. Do as you would be done by. (behandle andre slik du selv vil behandles)

2. Do not judge others.

3. Be punctual in all that you do. ( vær presis i alt du gjør)

4. Do not argue about religion nor scoff at the beliefs of others. (diskuter ikke religion - eller håne andres tro)

5. Keep to your own religion and show complete tolerance to those who are of the different religion.

6. Refrain from dabbling in "magic." (avhold deg fra a fuske med "magi")

7. Refrain from taking intoxicating drinks, and drugs.(avstå fra å bruke berusende drikker og stoffer)

Shall we have a look at these rules in somewhat greater detail? We said "Do as you would be done by." Well, that is good enough because if you are in possession of your normal faculties you would not stab yourself in the back, nor would you swindle yourself or overcharge yourself. If you are a normal person you like to look after yourself as much as possible. You will be living according to "The Golden Rule" if you look after your neighbour as you would yourself. In other words, do as you would be done by. It helps, it works out. This turning the other cheek business works out with normal people. If some person cannot accept your purity of thought and motive, then after you have suffered in silence two, or, at most, three times, you would be well advised to keep free of that person's presence. In the world beyond this life we cannot meet those who are opposed to us, those with whom we are not in harmony. unfortunately we have to meet some pretty horrible people while on Earth, but we need not do so from choice but only from sheer necessity. So do as you would be done by and your character will stand you in good stead - and will be as a shining light to all men and women. You will be known as a person who does good….