By George A. Boyd © 2019
There are a variety of perspectives on thinking that drive decision and how they interface with the thinking process—whether they engage thought actively to produce behavior or whether they passively observe it. This spectrum of levels of interface with thought is shown below.
- Detachment from thought (Vairagya) – You witness thought from a detached viewpoint. This is typical of those who identify with a seed atom on a Supracosmic Path. After maintaining this viewpoint for some time, you can begin to watch thoughts arise and pass away; to stop yourself from acting on thoughts; and to lose the sense of identification with thoughts.
- Experiencing thoughts as waves of energy that arise on the surface of the mind (Vritti) – From this standpoint, you sense that thoughts appear to bubble up from the depths of the mind to the surface, where they enter consciousness and you become aware of them. Learning to notice the space between the arising of thoughts makes you aware that you are the ball of observing mind stuff (chittam), which we call the attention. Following these thoughts down to the depths makes you aware of the underlying karmic impressions (samskaras) that give rise to thought. Yogi Preceptors impart a variety of transformational methods to teach their disciples to dissolve these samskaras in the field of the Cosmic Mind. When these impressions are fully effaced, the state of perfectly still mind dawns (Nirvritti), and Yogis realize oneness with Brahman.
- Thought appears to arise from the Divine Spirit at the Nirvanic Flame – Adepts—those who reunite Soul with the Monad—use attunement of thought as a carrier wave for the Divine Spirit, and they can initiate, awaken, illumine, guide, and purify others through this laser-like beam of intention-driven thought.
- Thoughts are the radiant downpour of the Illumined Mind (Buddhi) – From this standpoint on the Buddhic Plane, which arises when your Soul undergoes the Fourth Initiation, you view the golden waterfall of thought that purifies the mind of ignorance and heals the emotional wounds of the heart.
- Volition channelizes thought to accomplish an objective and fulfill a purpose – During the Third Initiation, it appears that you constructively utilize thought to enact plans, fulfill goals, and actualize your Soul Purpose. At this level, we call these directed thoughts, Intelligent Activity; in this perspective, they appear to be the working of the Third Ray.
- Thoughts spoken aloud manifest reality – In the Second Initiation, those thoughts that stream forth from the vortex of the Mighty I AM Presence that you utter under inspiration appear to create and manifest the outcomes you intend. You program this center, and allow it to “speak the Word.” This type of creative meditation has been called decree, affirmation, or fiat.
- Thoughts are inspiration from the Divine – In this scenario, you view inspired thoughts coming from the Holy Spirit and angels as ideas sent to direct your decisions, to reform your character, and help you understand the meaning of scriptures. You experience thought in this way when you are undergoing the First Initiation, when you raise your attention into the nucleus of identity of this level, the Moon Soul or Christ Child.
- Thoughts are the kinetic expression of karma in expression – It appears on the Wisdom Plane that thoughts are the energy of your karmic seeds, when they become activated. These dormant karmic seeds, stirred into life, give rise to thought, imagination, emotion, desire, and action.
- Thoughts are the creative force of your intention that activate the Law of Attraction – In this perceptive frame of the Psychic Realm and the Universal Mind Subplane of the Abstract Mind Plane, it appears your thoughts can either attract or repel what you desire. Through carefully controlling your thoughts, you can direct what you receive from the Universe.
- Thoughts channel the force of intelligence that activates the intellect – Through visualization, hypothetical deductive reasoning, creative “possibility” thinking, philosophical inquiry, process meditation, and goal-directed thought, you activate the faculties of the Abstract Mind Plane that enable you to use ideas in your career, in school, and in your avocation to innovate, solve problems, produce successful outcomes, and enhance performance.
- Thoughts are the content that arises from the mental bands of the personality – Thought appears as the content of the operation of the mental field of the Metaconscious mind—personal intuition, intellect, and the concrete mind—and the content of the mental seed atom of the Conscious mind, which governs the faculty of deductive and analogical reasoning. The Self directs thought in the Metaconscious mind through the personal octave of volition; the egoic will operates the faculty of reason.
- Thought is an epiphenomenon of the firing of neurons – in this viewpoint of the waking state of awareness, it appears what we regard as thinking is simply the firing of neurons, which gives rise to the executive mental functions of the prefrontal cortex and directs behavior through the neural motor pathways. In this view, there is no self or Soul directing thought; instead, the organism itself reacts and adapts to conditions in the environment, learning from its mistakes through experience to perform better responses to the stimuli it encounters. This gives you the illusion of a self and free will, when in fact, your organism has a predetermined response that you rationalize as your decisions.
The perspective from which you view the force of thought influences how you use it. For example:
Aspirants who take up the spiritual Path in the traditions of Supracosmic Gurus and Yogi Preceptors are trained to interface with thought through perspectives one and two, and have a detached view of thinking.
Those who undergo the Planetary Initiations experience thought in perspectives three through seven.
Those sojourning through the Planetary Probationary Path—the band of the Planetary Continuum from the Biophysical Universe to the Wisdom Plane—encounter thought via perspectives eight through ten.
You view perspective eleven when you focus your attention on your Self at the core of your personality.
Perspective twelve appears when you do not move your attention out of the waking state of awareness and you only perceive the functioning of your brain and body.
We suggest that those who become fixed in the detached thought postures of perspectives one and two would value from learning to shift their attention to the perspectives of the Planetary Sphere, where they can utilize the perspectives of goal-oriented, creative, and intelligent thought to carry out their Soul Purpose and actualize their personal potential.
Remaining in these detached perspectives fosters the belief that the physical world and personal functioning are an illusion, and the only true objective of human life is to realize God. We point out that it is possible to make spiritual progress while concomitantly working on your personal goals and objectives, and actualizing the facets of your Soul’s unique purpose.
