T H O U G H T FO R -

MS

ANNIE BESANT
AN D

C. W . LEADBEATE R

W IT H F IF T ! -
E IG H T ILLUSTR A T IO N S

LO ND O N AND B EN A R ES

T HE T H E O SO PH IC AL PUB LISHING SO C IE T !
C IT! A G ENTS : LU N D , H UMPH R IE S , LT D .,
2 A MEN C O R NER

C H IC A G O : T H E T H E O SO PH IC A L B O O ! CO N C ERN

NE W ! O R! : J O H N LA N E

1 9 5
0

(a
 F O RE W
O RD

THE text of thi s little b o o k is the joint work of Mr

Leadbeater and mysel f some of it has already appeared .

as an arti c le in L ucifer ( now the Th ump/ deal R ev i ew ) ,

but the greater part of it is new The d rawing and

.

painting of the Thought Forms observed by M r Lead

-

beater or by myself or by both of us toge ther has been

, ,

done by three friends Mr John Varley M r Prin ce

— , ,

and M iss M acfarlane to eac h of whom we tender o ur

,

’
cordial than ks . To paint in earth s d ull colours t he
forms clothed in the livin g light of other worlds is a hard
and thankless task ; so much the more gratitude is d ue
to those who have attempted it They needed colo ured
.

fire and had only ground earths We have also to than k

, .

M r F Bligh Bond for allowing us to use his essay on

.

Vibr at io n s u r es and some of his exquisite drawings

,
.

A nother friend who sent us some notes and a few

,

drawin gs insists on remai ning anonymous so we can

, ,

only send our thanks to him with similar anonymity .

— —
I t is our earnest hope a s it is our be lief that thi s
little book will serve as a striking moral lesson to every
reader making him realise the nature and power of his
,

tho ughts acting as a stim ulus to the noble a curb on

, ,

the base With this belief and hope we send it on i t s

.

way .

AN N I E B ESANT .
 C O NT E NT S
PA G E

FOR EWORD
INTRODU CTION
TH E D IFF ICU LTY OF REPR ESENTATI ON
TH E TWO EF F ECT S OF THOUGHT
HOW TH E V IBRATION ACTS
THE F O R M AND ITS EFF ECT
TH E MEAN I NG OF TH E COLOU RS
THREE CLASS ES OF THOUGHT FOR M S
-

I LLUSTRATIVE TH OUG HT FOR MS

-

A FF ECTI ON
DEVOTI ON
INTELLECT
AM BITION

GRE ED
VA RIOUS EM OTI ONS
S HIPWR E C !

ON TH E F I RST N IGHT
TH E GA M BLERS
AT A S TR EET ACCI D ENT
AT A F UN ERAL
ON MEETI NG A FRI END
APPR ECIATI ON OF A PICTU RE
 CON T E N TS
vac :

FOR M S SEEN IN MED ITATI ON

SY MP ATHY AND LOVE FOR ALL

AN AS PI RATI ON TO E N FOLD ALL

I N TH E SI! D IR ECTION S
COSM I C ORDER
TH E LO GOS AS MAN IF ESTED IN M AN
TH E LOGOS PERVAD I N G ALL
ANOTH E R CONCE PTION
TH E THREE FOLD MANIF ESTATION
TH E SEV EN FOLD MAN IF ESTATI ON
INTELLECTUAL AS PI RATION
H E LPFU L THOUG HTS
FORMS BU I LT BY MUS I C
MEND ELSSOHN
GO U NOD
WAGNER
 LIST O F ILLU ST RAT IO NS
F I G. PAGE

MEANIN G CO LOU RS
o r TH E F mpzeee
ro n

c aLAD N I S S OU ND P L AT E
’

F OR M S PRODUC ED IN S AND
n

FOR M S PROD UCED B! PENDU LU M S

VAGUE PU RE AFFECTION
V AGUE S ELFIS H AFFECTI ON
D EFINITE AFF E CTION
RAD I ATIN G AFF ECTION
p E AGE AN D PROTECT ION I2

G RAS PING ANI MAL A F F E CTIO N

VAGUE R E LI G IO U S rE E LI N G

UPW ARD RUS H o r D E v o rION

'

S EL F RENU NCI ATION

-

R E S PO NSE TO D E VO I ION
‘ ‘

VAGUE I NT ELL ECTUAL P LEAS U R E

VAGUE S Y M PATHY

I H E INT E NTION T O ! NOW

‘ ‘

HI G H AM BITION
S ELF IS H AM BITI O N
MU RD ER OU S R AGE 22

S U STAIN ED AN GE R

E! PLOS IVE AN GER

WATC H FUL JE ALo v sv
AN GRY JEALOUSY
x L I ST O F I L L U S T RAT I O N S
F IG. PAG E

SUDD E N FRI G HT
SEL F I S H GR EED 2 8 56
G REED FOR D R IN! 29 56
A T A S HIPWR EC! 8
30 5
ON TH E FIRS T N IGHT 31 59
TH E GAMBLE RS 32 60
AT A STREET ACCID ENT 33 6!
A T A F UN E RAL 34 62
ON MEETING A F R I END 35 64
T H E APPR EC I AT I O N OF A PI CTUR E 36 64

SY M P ATHY AN D L OVE FOR ALL 37 66

A N AS PIR ATION TO ENFO LD ALL 38 67

I N TH E SI! D IR ECTION S 39 66
AN I NTELL ECTUAL CONCEPTION OF COS MIC ORD ER 4° 69

TH E LOG OS AS M AN IF ESTED I N MAN 4 1 69

T H E LOGOS P ER VADI N G ALL 4 2 an d 44 7 °

ANOTH E R CONCEPTI ON 45 7 °

T H E THR EE FO LD MAN I F E S T AT I ON 46 7 0

T H E S EV E NFO LD M AN I FES TATI O N 47 7 °

I N T E LLE CTU AL AS PI R AT I ON 43 7 2

H E LPFUL THOUGHTS 8
4 .4 9. 51 .5 2 .53.54 74
''
I- LA I E

MU S I C OF MEND ELSSOHN 7 8

OF GOUNOD G
OF WAGN ER W 82
 TH O UG H T FO R -

MS
A s knowledge increases t he attitude of science towards
,

the things of the invisible world is undergoing con

si d erable modifi cation I ts attention is no long e r directed
.

solely to the earth with all its variety of objects ,

or to the physical worlds around it ; but it finds itself

compelled to glance further afield and to construct ,

hypotheses as to the nat ure of the matter and force

which lie in the regio ns beyond the ken of its i nst ru
me n ts E ther is now comfortably settled in the sc ientific
.

kingdom becoming almost more than a hypothesis

, .

Mesmerism under its new name of hypnotism is no

, ,

longer an outcast Reichenbach s experim e nts are

.
’

still looked at askance but are not wholly condemned

, .

R o ntgen s rays have rearranged some of the older ideas

’

of matter while radium has revolution ised them and is

, ,

leading science beyond the borderland o f ether into the

a stral world The boundaries between animate and
.

inan imate matter are broken down Magnets are found .

to be possessed of almost uncanny powers tran sferring ,

c ertain forms of disease in a way not yet satisfactorily

explained Telepathy clairvoyance movement withou t
, ,

c ontact though not yet admitted to the scientific table

, ,
1 2 T H O UG HT FORMS -

are approaching the C ind e rella stage The fact is that

-
.

science has p ressed its researches so far has used such ,

rare ingenuity in i t s questionings of nature has shown ,

such tireless pati ence in its investigations that it is ,

receiving the reward of those who seek and forces and ,

beings o f the next higher plane of nature are beginning

to Show themselves on the outer edge of the physi cal
”
field . N ature makes no leaps and as the physicist,

nears t he confines of hi s kingdom he finds himself

bewildered by touches and gleams from another realm
which interpenetrates his own H e finds himself com
.

e II ed to spe cu late on invisible presences if only to find

p ,

a rational explanation for undoubted physical phenomen a ,

and insensibly he slips over t he boundary and is although , ,

he doe s not yet realise it contacti ng the astral plane

, .

One o f the most interesting of the highroads from the

physi cal to the astral is that of the study of thought .

The Western scientist commencing in the anatomy and

,

physiology of the brain endeavours to make these the

,

“ ”
basis for a sound psychology H e passes then i nto
.

the region of d reams illusions hallu cinations and as soon

, ,

as he endeavours to elaborate an experimental sc ience

which shall classify and arrange these he inevitably ,

plunges into the astral plane D r Baraduc of Paris has

.

nearly crossed the barri e r and is we ll on the way towards

,

photographing astro m e ntal images to obtaining pictures

-

of what from the materialist ic standpoint would be the

results of vibrations in the grey matter of the brai n .

I t has long been known to those who have given

att en tion to the question that impressions were produced
by t he reflection of the ultra violet rays from objects
-

not visible by the rays of the ordinary spe c tru m .

 T H OU G H T FORM S -

x3

C lairvoyants wer e occasionally justified by the appearan ce

on sensitive photographic plates of figures seen and
desc ribed by them as p resent with the sitter though ,

invisible to physi cal sight I t is not possible for an

.

unbias sed judgment to reject i n i nt o the evidence of such

occurrenc es proffered by men of integrity on t he strength
of their own experiments oftentimes repeated A nd
, .

now we have i nvestigators who turn their attention to

the obtain i ng o f images of subtle forms inv e nting ,

methods spec i ally designed with the view of reproduci ng

them A mong these D r Baraduc seems to have been
. ,

the most successful and he has published a volume

,

dealing with his investigations and containing repro

d uct io ns of the photographs he has obtained Dr .

Baraduc states that he is investigating the subtle fo rces

—
by which the soul d efined as the intelligence worki ng
—
be w een the body and the spirit expresses itself by ‘
,

seeking to record its movements by means o f a needle ,

“ ”
its l umi nous but invisible vibrations by i mpressions
on sensitive plates H e shuts out by no n condu cto rs
.
-

elec tricity and heat We can pass over hi s experiments

.

in Biometry ( measurement of life by movem e nts ) and ,

—
glan ce at those i n I conography the i mpressions o f
invisible waves regarded by him as of the natu re of
,

light in which the soul draws its own i mage A number

, .

of these photographs represent etheric and magnetic

results o f physi cal phenomen a and these agai n we may
,

pass over as not beari ng on o ur special subject in teresti ng

,

as they are in themselves D r Baradu c obtained various

.

impressi ons by strongly thinki ng o f an object the e ffect ,

produ ced by the thought form appearing on a sensiti ve

-

plate ; thus he tried to p roj ec t a port rait o f a lady ( then

1 4 T H O U GH T FO RM S
-

dead ) whom he had known and produced an impression

,

due to his thought of a drawing he had m ade of her on

her deathbed H e quite rightly says that the creation V
.

of an object is the passing out of an image from the

mind and its subsequent materialisation and he seeks ,

the chemical effect ca used on silver salts by this thought

created picture One s t riking illustration is that o f a
.

force raying outwards the projection of an earnest

,

prayer A nother prayer is seen producing forms like

.

the fronds of a fern anoth e r like rain pouring upwards

, ,

if the phrase may be permitt ed A rippled oblong mass

.

is projected by three perso ns thinking o f their unity in

affecti on A young boy sorrowing over and caressing
.

a dead bird is surrounded by a flood of curved interwoven

threads of emotional disturbance A St rong vortex is
.

formed by a feeling of deep sadness L ooking at thi s .

most interesting and suggestive series it is clear that in ,

these pictur es that whi ch is obtained is not the thought

'

i m age but the eflect c aused in etheric matter by its

,

vibrations and it is ne cessary to clairvoyantly see the

,

tho ught in order to understand the results produced .

I n fact the i llustrations are i nstructive for what they do

,

not Show direc tly as well as for the images that appear
, .

I t may be useful to put be fore students a li ttle more ,

plai nly than has hitherto been done some of the fac ts ,

in nature which will render m o re intelligible t he resul ts

at w
'

hich Dr Baraduc is arrivi ng N ec essarily imperfect

.

these must be a ph ysical photographic came ra and

,

sensitive plates not being ideal instruments for astral

research ; but as will be seen from the above they are
, ,
v
most interesting and valuable as formi ng a li nk between
clairvoyant and physi cal sc ientific investigations .
 T H OU GH T FORM S -
1 5

At the present time observers outside the Theo

sophical Society are concerning themselves with the fact
that emotional changes S how their nature by chahges o f
colour in the cloud like ovoid or aura that encompasses
-

, ,

all living beings Articles on the subject are appearing

.

in papers unconnected with the Theosophical Society ,

and a medical specialist has collected a large num ber o f

1

cases in which the colour of the aura of persons o f

various types and temperaments i s recorded by him .

H i s results resemble closely those arrived at by clair

voyant theosophists and others and the gene ral ,

u nanimity on the subject i s su fficient to establish t he

fac t if the evidence be judged by the usual canon s

,

applied to human testimony .

The book Man Vi si ble and I nv i si ble dealt with t he

general subject of the aura The present little volume
.
,

written by the author of Man Vi si ble and [ amiable and

a theosophical colleague i s intended to carry t he
,

subject further ; and it i s believed that this study i s

useful as impressing vividly on the mind of the student
,

the power and living nature of thought and desire and ,

the influence exerted by them on all whom they reach .

1
Dr H o o ker, G
lo ucest er Place , Lo do n
n , W
.
THE D I F F I C U LT ! OF R E PR E S E N T A T I O N

W have often heard it said t at thoughts are things

E h ,

and there are many among us who are persuaded o f the

truth of this statement Yet very few o f us have any
.

clear idea as to what kind o f thing a thought i s and the ,

object of this little book is to help us to concei ve this .

There are some serious di fficulties in our way for our ,

c onception of space is lim ited to three dimensions and ,

when we attempt to make a drawing we practi cally l im it

ou rselves to two I n reality the presen tation even o f
.

ordinary t hree dimensional objec ts is seriously defective

-

for scarcely a lin e or angle in our drawing is accurately

shown I f a road crosses the picture the part in the
. ,

foreground must be rep resented as enormously w id er t han

that in the background al though in reality the width is
,

unchanged I f a house is to be drawn the right angles

. ,

at its corners must be shown as acute or obtuse as the

case may be but hardly ever as they a c tually are I n
, .

fact we draw everything not as it is but as it appears

, ,

and the effort of the artist is by a skilful arrangement

of lines upon a flat surface to convey to the eye an
impression which shall recall that made by a three
dimensional object .

I t is possible to do this only be cause similar objects

 D I F F I C U LT ! OF R E PR E S E N T A T I ON 1 7

are already familiar to those who look at the picture and

acc ept the suggestion which it conveys A person who .

had never seen a tree could form but little idea of o ne

from even the most skilful painting I f to this di fficulty
.

we add the other and far more se rious one of a l imitati on

of consciousness an d suppose ourselves to be showing
,

the picture to a being who knew only two dimensions we ,

see how utterly impossible it would be to convey to hi m

any adequate impression of such a landscap e as we see .

Precisely thi s di fficulty in its most aggravated form

stands in our way when we try to make a drawing of
,

even a very simple thought form The vast majority of

-
.

th o se who look at the picture are absolu t ely limited to

the conscious ness of three dimensions and furthermore , ,

have not the slightest conception of that i nn er world to

which thought fo rm s belong wi t h all its splendid light
-

and colour . A ll that we can do at the best is to

rep rese nt a section of the thought form and those whose
-

faculti e s enable th em to see the origi nal cannot but be

disappointed with any reproduction of it S t ill those . ,

who are at present unable to see anything will gain at

least a part ial comprehension and howe v er inadequate it
,

may be it is at least better than nothing .

All stud e nts know t hat what is ca lled the aura of man
is the outer part of the cloud like substan c e of his higher
-

bodi es interpenetrating each other and extending beyond

, ,

the confines of his physical body the sm allest o f all , .

They kn ow also that two of these bodies the mental and ,

desire bodies are those chiefly concerned w i

,
‘

appearance of what

order that the matte

only for stude
I 8 T H O U G H T FORMS -

tea chings a re capitulation o f the main fac ts will not be

,

out o f place .

M an the Thinke r is clothed in a body composed o f

°

, ,

innumerable combi nations of the subtle matter of the

mental plane this body being more or less refined in
,

its constituents and organi sed mo re or less fully for its

fun ctions a ccordi ng t o the stage of intellec t ual develop
,

ment at which the man himself has arrived The mental .

body i s an obj ect o f gre at beauty the deli cac y and rapid
,

motion of i t s parti cles giving it an aspec t of livi ng

iridesc ent light and this beauty becomes an ex t rao rd in
,

ari ly radiant and ent ran c ing loveliness as the intellec t

be comes more highly evolved and i s employed ch ie fly on

pure and sublime topics E very thought gives rise to a
.

set of correlated vibrations in the matter of this body ,

a ccompanied with a marvellous play of colo ur like that ,

in the spray of a waterfall as the sunlight stri kes it rai sed ,

“
to the a degree of colour and vivid deli ca cy The body .

under this impulse throws o ff a vibrati ng portion o f itself ,

—
shaped by the nature of the vibration s as figures are
made by sand on a disk vibrating t o a musi cal note and —
this gathers from the s urroundi ng a t mosphere m atter like
itself in fineness from the elemental essen c e o f the mental
world We have then a thought form pure and sim ple
.
-

and it is a living en tity o f in t ense activity animated by

the one idea that generated it I f made of the finer .

kinds of matter it wi ll be of great power and energy and

, ,

may be used as a most poten t agent when direc ted by a

strong and steady will I nto the details of such u se we
.

will ent er later .

When the man s energy flows outwards towards

’

external objects of desire or is occupied in passional and

,
 D I F F I C U LT ! OF R E PR E S E N T A T I O N 1 9

emotio nal activities this energy works in a less subtle

,

order of matter than the mental in that o f the astral ,

world What is called his de si re body is composed o f

.
-

this matter and it forms the most p ro m i n ent part of the

,

aura in the undeveloped man Where the man is of a .

gross type the desire body is of the denser matter o f

,
-

the astral plane and is dull in hue browns and dirty

, ,

greens and reds playin g a great part in it Through .

thi s will flash various characteristic colours as his ,

passi ons are excited A man o f a higher type has hi s

.

desi re body composed of the finer qualities of astral

-

matter with the colours rippling ove r and flashin g

, ,

through it fine and clear i n hue While less deli cate

, .

and less rad i ant than the mental body it forms a ,

beautiful object and as selfishness is eliminated all the

,

duller and heavier shades disa ppear .

This desire ( or astral ) body gives rise to a second c las s

of entities similar in their general const itu tion to the
,

thought forms already desc ribed but limited to the astral

-

plan e and generated by the mind under the dominion o f

,

the animal nature .

These are caused by the ac tivi t y of the lower m i nd ,

20 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

t he amount of mental energy combined with this desire

or passion will be the force o f the thought form These
-
. ,

like those belonging to the mental plane are called

,

artificial elementals and they are by far the most common

, ,

as few thoughts o f ordi nary men and women are untinged

w ith desire passion or emotion

, , .
 TH E T W
O E F F E CTS O F T H O U G H T

E AC H definite thought produces a double effect — a

radiating vibration and a floating form The thought
.

itself appears first to clairvoyant sight as a vibration

in the mental body and this may be either si mple or
,

comple x I f the thought itself is absolutely simple the re

.
,

is only the one rate of vibration and o nly one type o f

,

mental matter will be strongly affec t ed The mental

.

body is composed of matter of several degrees of density ,

which we commonly arrange in classes according to the

sub planes Of each of these we have many subd ivisions
-
. ,

and if we typify these by drawing horizontal lines to

indicate the di fferent degrees of density there is anothe r
,

arrangement which we might symbolis e by drawing

perpendicular lines at right angles to the others to denote
,

types which di ffer in quality as well as in density There

.

are th us many varieties of this mental matte r and it is

,

found that each one o f these has its own espec ial and
appropriate rate of vibration to which it seems most
,

acc ustomed so that it very readily responds to it and

, ,

tends to return to it as soon as possible when it has been

forced away from it by some strong rush of thought or
feeling When a sudden wave of some emotion sweeps
.

over a man for example hi s astral body is th rown into

, ,
2 2 T H O U G H T FORM S -

v iolent agitation and i t s original colours are or the time

,

a lmost obscured by the fl ush of carmine of blue or of , ,

scarlet which corresponds with the rate of vibration of

that particul ar emotion This change i s only temporary
.

i t passes o ff in a few seconds and the astral body rapidly

,

resumes i t s us ual condition Yet every such rush of

.

f eeling produces a permanent e ffect : it always adds a

little of i t s hue to the normal colouring o f the astral body ,

so that every time that the man yields himself to a certain

e motion it be comes easier for him to yield himself to it

again because hi s astral body i s getting into the habit of

,

vibrating at that especial rate .

The majority of human thoughts however are by no , ,

m eans simple . A bsolutely pure affection of co urse exists ;

b ut we very often find it tinged with pride or with selfish
ness with jealousy or with animal passion This means
,
.

that at least two separate vibrations appear both in the

—
m ental and astral bodies frequently more than two .

The radiating vibration therefore will be a complex one

, , ,

and the resultant thought form will show several colours

-

i nstead of only one .

 HO W T H E V I B R AT I O N A C T S

T H ES E radiating vibrations like all others in nature

, ,

become less powerful in proportion to the distance from

their source though it is probable that the variati on is in
,

proportion to the cube of the di stance instead of to the

square be cause of the additional dimension involved
, .

A gain like all other vibrations these tend to rep roduce

, ,

themselves when ever O pport unity is offered to them ; and

so when ev er they st rike upon another m ental body they

tend to provoke in it their own rate of motion That is

.

from the point o f view of the man whose mental body is

—
touched by thes e waves they tend to produce in his min d
thoughts of the same type as that which had previ o usly
arisen in the mind of the thinker who sent forth the
waves The distance to which such thought waves
.
-

penetrate and the force and persistency with which they

,

impinge upon the mental bodies of others depend upon

,

the strength and clearn ess of the original thought I n .

t his way the thinker is i n the same position as the

speaker The voice o f the latter sets in motion waves o f
.

sound in the air which radiate from him in all directi o ns ,

and convey his message to all those who are with in

h earing and the distance to which his voice can penet rate
,

depends upon its power and upon the cleam ess of his
23
24 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

enunciation I n j ust the same way the forceful thought

.

will carry very much further than the weak and undec ided
thought ; but clearness and d efini t eness are of ev e n
greater importance than strength Again j ust as the
. ,

speak e r s voice may fall upon heedless ears where men

’

are already engaged in business or in pleasure so may a ,

mighty wave of thought sw eep past without affecting the

mind of the man if he be already dee ply engrossed in
,

some oth e r line of thought .

I t should be understood t hat this radiating vibra t ion

‘
conveys the character of the thought but not its subj ect
,
.

If a H indu sits rapt in devotion to ! rishna the wav es of

,

feeling which po ur forth from him stimulate devotional

feeling in all those who com e unde r their influe nce ,

though in the case of the Muhammadan that devotion is

to Allah whil e for the Z oroastrian it is to Ahuramazda
, ,

or fo r the C hristian to j esus A man thinki ng keenly

.

upon some high subject pours out from himself vibrations

whi ch tend to sti r up thought at a similar level in others ,

but they in no way suggest to those others the spec ial

subject of his thought They naturally act with spe ci al
.

v igour upon those minds already habituated to vibra ti ons

of similar character ; yet they have som e effec t on every

mental body upon which they i mpinge so that th eir tend
,

ency is to awaken the power of higher thought in those

to whom it has not yet become a custom It is thus .

e v ident that every m an who thi nks along high lines is

doing missionary work even though he may be entirely
,

unconscious of it .
 TH E F OR M AN D IT S E F F E C T

L ET us turn now to the second e ffect of thought the ,

creation of a definite form A ll students of the occult are

.

acquainted with the idea of the elemental essence that ,

strange half intellige nt life which s urrounds us in all

-

dire ct ions vivifying the matter of the mental and ast ral
,

planes This matt er thus ani mated responds very readi ly

to the influe nce of h uman thought and every i mpulse ,

sent out either from the mental body or from the as t ral
,

body of man immediately clothes itself in a tempo rary

,

v ehicle of this vital ised matter Such a thought or i m .

pulse becomes for the time a kind of living creature the ,

thought force bei ng the soul and the v i v ified matter the
-

body I nstead of using the somewhat clu m sy paraphrase

.
,

ast ral or mental matter ensouled by the monadic essence

” V
at the stage of one o f the elemental kingdoms theo ,
-

sophi cal writers often for brevity s sake call this qui ckened
,
’

matter simply elemental esse nce ; and someti mes they

”
speak of the thought form as an elemental -
There .

may be i nfinite variety in the colour and shape of su ch

ele mentals or thought forms for each thought draws
-

round it the matter which is appropriate for its exp res

sion and sets that matter in t o vibration in harmony with
,

its own so that the character of the thought dec ides its
2 6 T H O U G H T FORM S
-

c olour and the study of its variations and combinations

,

is an exceedingly interesting one .

This thought form may not inaptly be compared to a

-

Leyden jar t he c oating o f living essen c e being symbol

,

i sed by the jar and the thought en ergy by the charge

,

o f ele c tri c i ty I f the man s thought or feeling is directly

’
.

c onn ec ted with someone else the resultant thought form

,
-

moves towards that person and discharges itself upon his

a stral and mental bodi es If the man s thought is about
’
.

himsel f or is based upon a personal feeling as the vast

, ,

majority o f thoughts are it hovers round its creator and

,

is always ready to react upon him whenever he is for a

moment in a passive c ondition For example a man . ,

who yields himself to thoughts of impurity m ay forget

all about them while he i s engaged i n the daily routine
o f his business ev e n tho ugh the resultant forms are hang
,

i ng rou nd him in a heavy cloud bec ause his attention is

,

otherwise d ire c ted and hi s astral body is therefore not

i mpressible by any other rate of vibration than its own .

When however the m arked vibration slackens and t he

, ,

man rest s a fter his labo u rs and leaves his mind blank as
regards definite thoug ht he is very li kely to feel the
,

vibration of impurity stealing insidiously upon him If .

the consciousness of the man be to any extent awakened ,

he may perceive th i s and cry out that he is being tempted

by t he devil yet the tru th is that the temptation is from
without only in appearance since it is nothin g but
,

t he natural reaction upon him of his own t ho ught fo rm s ~

.

man travels through space en closed within a cage

o f his own building surrounded by a mass of t he forms
,

c reated by hi s habitual thoughts Through this medium

.

he looks out upon the world and natu rally he sees ,

 TH E FO RM AN D I TS E F F E CT 7
,
2

ev erythi ng ti nged wi th its p redom inant colours an d all ,

rates o f vi bration w hich reach him from without are mo re

or less modified by its rate Thus until the man learns
.

com plete contr ol o f thought and feeli ng he sees nothing ,

as i t really is si n ce all his observations must be made

,

through this medium whi c h disto rts and colours cv

,

thing like badly made glass

-
.

I f the thought form be neither defi nitely per son al nor

-

specially aimed at someone else it simply floats detached

, .

in the atmosphere all the t i me radiating vibrations

,

similar to those origin ally sent forth by its creator I f it .

does not come into conta ct with any other mental body .
this radiation gradually exhausts its store of energy and ,

in that case the form falls t o pieces ; but if it su c ceeds i n

awakening sympathetic vi bration in any mental body
near at hand an attraction is set up and the thought form
, ,
-

is usually absorbed by that mental body Thus we see .

that the influence o f the thought form is by no mean s so V

-

far reac hing as that of the original vibration but in so far

-

as it acts it acts with mu ch greater precision What it

, .

produces in the mind body which it influences is not merely

-

a thought of an order similar to that which gave it birth

it is actually the same thought The radiation may affect
.

them will be identi cal with that original ; the thought

form can affect only very fe w bu t in those few cases it
,

will reproduce exactly the initiatory idea .

The fact o f the creation by vibrations of a distin c t

form geometrical or other is already familiar to ev ery
, ,

'
st udent of acousti cs and C hladni s figu res are con
,

t i nually rep roduced i n every physi cal laboratory .

2 8 T H OU G H T FO RM S -

For the lay reader the following brief desc ription may
'
be useful A C hladni s sound plate ( fig 1 ) is made of
. .

brass or plate glass Grains o f

-
.

fine sand or spores are scattered

over the surface and the edge of ,

t he plate is bowed The sand .

is thrown up i nto the air by the

vibration of t he plate and re fall ,
-

F IG . I .
ing on the plate is arrang e d in

re gular lines ( fig By touching .

the edge of the plate at di fferent points when it is bowed ,

di fferent notes and hence varying forms are obtained

, ,

( fig . I f the figures here given are compar ed with

those obtained from the human voice many likenesses ,

'
will be observed For these latter the voice forms
. ,
‘
-

so admirably studied and pictured by M rs Watts

H ughes bearing witness to t he same fact should be
1
, ,

F IG. 2 .

consul ted and her work on the subject should be in the

,

hands of every student But few perhaps have realised

.

that the shapes picture d are due to the inte rplay of the
vibrations that create them and that a mach i ne exists by
,

means of which two or more simultaneous motions can b e

imparted to a pendulum and that by attaching a fine
,

drawing pen to a leve r connec ted with t he pendulum its

-

action may be exactly traced Substitute for the swing o f

.
 TH E FORM AN D I TS E F F E CT 29

the pendulum the vibrations set up in the m ental or astral

body and we have clearly before us the mo d us o perand i
,

‘
of the building of forms by vibrations .

The following description is taken from a most

interesting e ssay entitled Vibr at i o n F igur es by F Bligh ,
.

Bond ,
who has drawn a number of remark
able figu res by the use of pendul ums The pendulum is .

suspended on knife edges of hardened steel and is free ,

to swing only at right angles to the knife edge suspension -

.

F IG. 3.

Four such pendulums may be coupled i n pairs sw inging ,

at right angles to each oth er by threads connecting the

,

shafts of each pair of pendulums with the ends of a light

but rigid lath from the centre o f which run other threads
,

these threads carry the uni ted movements o f each pair

of pendulums to a light square of wood suspended by a ,

spring and bearing a pen The pen is thus controlled by

, .

the combined movement of the four pendulums and this ,

movem ent is regi stered on a drawing board by the pen .

M Jo seph Go uld
r , St ra fo rd H o use, N o i ngham , suppli es t he t wi n
t tt
elli pt i c pen d ul um b y whi ch t hese w o nd erful figures m ay b e pro duced .
30 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

T here is no limit theoreti cally to t he number o f

, ,

pendulums that can be c ombined in this manner The .

movements are rectilinear but two rectilinear vibrations

,

of equal amplitude acting at right angles to eac h other

generate a circle if they alternate precisely an ellipse ,

if the alternations are less regular or the amplitudes

unequal A cy c lic vibration may also be obtained
.

from a pendulum free to sw ing in a rota ry path In .

these ways a most wonderful series of drawings have

been obtained and the sim ilarity of these to some
,

of the thought forms is re m arkable ; they su ffice to

-

demonstrate how readi ly vibrations may be transformed

into figures Thus compare fig 4 with fig 1 2 the
. . . ,

'
mother s prayer ; or fig 5 with fig 1 0 ; or fig 6 . . .

with fig 2 5 the se rpent li ke darting forms

. , Fig 7
-
. .

is added as an illustration of the complexity attai n

able . It seems to us a most marvellous thin g that
some of the drawings m ade apparently at random
,

by the use of this machi ne should exac tly cor ,

respond to higher types o f thought forms created in -

meditation We are sure that a wealth of sign i ficance

.

lies behind this fact tho ugh it will n e ed much further

,

i nvestigation before we can say certainly all that it

means .
—
But it must surely imply this much that ,

if two forces on the physical plane bearing a certain

ratio one to the other can draw a form which exactly
corresponds to that produced on the mental plane
by a complex thought ; we may i nfer that that thought
se ts in motion on its own plane two forces whi ch
are in the same ratio one to the other What these .

forces are and how they work remains to be seen ;

but if we are ever able to solve this problem it is likely ,
 TH E FO RM AN D I TS E F F E CT 31

that it will o pen to us a new and exceedingly v aluable

field of knowledge .

G E N ER AL PR I N CI PLE S
.

Three general principles underlie the pro duction of

thought fo rms
-

1.
! uality of thought determines colour .

2. N ature of thought determines form .

3. D efin i t en e ss of thought determines clearness

outline.
 TH E ME A N I N G O F T H E CO LO U R S

THE table of colours given in the frontispiece has

a lready been thoroughly described in the book Man

Vi si ble an d I n v i si ble and the meaning to be attached

,

to them i s just the same in the thought form as in the -

body out of which it i s evolved For the sake of those

.

who have not at hand the full description given in the

book just mentioned it will be well to state that black
,

means hatred and malice Red of all shades from lurid

. ,

brick red to brilliant scarlet indicates anger ; brutal anger

-

will S how as flashes of lurid red from dark brown clouds ,

“
while the anger of noble indignation is a vivid
scarlet by no means unbeautiful though it gives an
, ,

unpleasant thrill ; a particularly dark and unpleasant

red almost exactly the colour called dragon s blood
,
’

S hows anim al passion and sensual desire of various

kin d s C lear brown ( alm ost burnt sienna) shows avarice ;
.

hard dull brown grey is a S ign of selfishness— a

c olour which is indeed painfully common ; deep heavy

g rey signifies depression ,while a livid pale grey i s

associated with fear ; grey green i s a S ign al of deceit

-

w hile brownish green ( us ually flecked with points and

-
 TH E M EAN I NG O F T H E CO LO U R S 33

flas hes o f scarlet) betokens j ealousy Gree n seem s

.

always to denote adaptability ; in the lowest case when ,

mingled with selfishness this adaptability bec omes

,

deceit ; at a later stage when the colour be comes purer

, ,

it means rather the wish to be all things to all men even ,

though it may be chiefly fo r the sake of becoming

popular and bearing a good reputation with them ; i n
its still higher more delicate and mo re l uminous aspect
, ,

it shows the divine power of sympathy Affection ex .

presses itself in all shades o f crimson and rose a full

clear carmine means a strong healthy affection of normal
type ; if stained heavily with brown grey a selfish and
-

grasping feel i ng is indi cated wh ile pure pale rose mar ks

,

that absolutely un selfish love which is possible only to

high natures ; it passes from the dull crimson of ani mal
love to the most exquisite shades o f delicate rose like ,

the early flushes of the dawning as the love becomes

,

purified from all selfi sh elements and flows out in wide r

,

and wider circles o f generous impersonal tenderness

and compassion to all who are in need With a tou ch .

of the blum fi d ev o ti g u i n it th is may express a strong

,

realisati on of the universal brotherhood of h umanity .

D eep orange imports pri de or ambition and the various

,

shades of yellow denote intelle ct or intelle ctual grati

ficat i o n dull yellow oc hre implyi ng t he
,

fac ulty to selfish purposes while clear

,

a distinctly higher type and pale luminous pri m rose

,

yellow is a sign of the hi ghest an d most un selfis h use o f

intellectual power the pure reason di rected to spiritual
,

ends The di fferent shades of blue all indi cate religi ous
.

feeling and
,

blue of
34 TH OUG H T FORMS -

worship tinged with fear up to the ri ch deep c lear

,

c olour of heartfelt adorati o n and the beauti ful pale azu re

,

of that highest form which implies self renunciation and -

un ion with the divine ; the devotional thought o f an

u n selfish heart is very lovely in colour like the deep ,

blue of a sum m er sky Through such clouds of blue

.

wi ll often shin e out golden stars of great brilliancy ,

darting upwards li ke a shower o f sparks A mixture .

of affection and devotion is manifested by a tint of

violet and the m o re delicate shades o f this invariably
,

show the capac ity of absorbing and respo nding to a

high and beauti ful ideal The bri llian cy and the depth
.

o f the colours are us u ally a measure o f the stre ngt h

a nd the activity of the feeling .

A nother consideration whi ch must not be forgotten

i s the type of matter i n which these forms are generated .

If a thought be purely intellectual and impersonal

f o r example if the thinker is attempting to solve a
,

p roblem in algebra or geometry — the t ho u g h t fo rm and o

t he wave of vib ration will be confined ent i rely to the

mental plane I f however the thought be of a spiritual

. , ,

n ature if it be tinged with love and aspi ration or deep

,

unselfish feeli ng it will ri se upwards from the mental

,

p lane and will borrow mu ch of the splendour and

g lory of the buddhi c level I n such .a case its
i nfluen ce is exceedingly powerful and every suc h ,

t hought is a mighty force for good which cannot

but produce a dec ided e ffect upo n all mental bodies
w ithin reac h if they c ontain any qu ality at all capable
,

o f response .

I f on the o t her hand the thought has in it something

, ,

o f sel f o r o f per sonal des i re at on c e its vibration turns

,
 T H E M E A N IN G OF T H E CO LO U RS 35

downwards and it d raws round its elf a body of as tral

,

matter in addition to i t s clothing of mental matter .

Such a thought form is capable of acting upon the

-

ast ral bodies of other men as well as their minds so ,

that it can not only raise thought within them but,

can also stir up their feelings

.
T H R E E C LA S SE S O F T H O U G H T F O R -
MS
F R O M the point of view of the form s which they pro
duce we may group thou ght into three c lasses
1 .That which takes the image of the thinker When .

a man thinks of himself as in some distant place or ,

wishes earnestly to be in that pla ce he makes a thought

,

form in his own i mage whi ch appears there Such a .

form has not infrequently been seen by others and has ,

sometimes been taken for the astral body or appar ition

o f the man himself . I n su c h a case either the seer must
,

have enough o f clairvoyan c e fo r the tim e to be able to

observe that astral shape or the thought fo rm must have
,
-

sufli c i e nt strength to materialise itself

‘ — t hat is to draw,

round itsel f tempora rily a ce rtain amount of physi cal

matter The thought whi ch gene rates such a form as
.

this m ust necessarily be a strong one and it there fore

,

employs a larger proportion of the m att er of the mental

body so that though the form is s mall and compressed
,

when it l eaves the thinker it draws round it a consider

,

able amount o f astral matt er and usually expand s to

,

li fe size before it appears at its destination

-
.

2 . That which takes the image of some m at erial

object When a man thinks of h is frien d he forms
.

within hi s men tal body a minute i mage of that friend ,

36
 T H R E E C L AS S E S OF T H O U G H T F O R M S 37
-

which often passes outward and usually floats suspended

in the air before him I n the same way if he thinks o f a
.

room a ho use a lands cape tiny images of these thi ngs

, , ,

are fo rmed within the mental body and afterwards

ex ternalised This is equally true when he is exerci sing
.

his imagination ; the painter who forms a conception o f

his fu ture picture builds it up out of the matter o f his
mental body and then proj ec ts it into spac e in front o f
,

him keeps it be fore his mind s eye and copies it The

,
’

,
.

noveli st in the same way builds images of his charac ter

in m en tal matter and by the exercise of hi s will moves
,

these puppets from one pos ition or grouping to another ,

so that the plot of his story is literally ac ted out befo re

hi m
. With our curiously inverted con ceptions of reality
it is hard for us to understand that these mental i mag es
actually e x ist and are so entirely o bject ive that they !
,

may readily be seen by the clai rvoyant and can even be ,

rearranged by so m e one other than their c reator Som e .

noveli st s have been dimly aware o f s uch a pro cess and ,

have testified that their characters when on ce created

developed a will o f their own and insisted on carryi ng,

the plot o f t he story along lines quite di fferent from those

originally intended by the author Thi s has ac tually .

happened sometimes be cause the thought form s we re

,
-

enso uled by playful nature spirits or -

some dead no v elist w at chi ng o

‘ ’

development of the plan o f his fellow auth -

that he co uld Improve upo n it and cho se th i s method

,

putting forward his sugg esti ons .

.
3 That wh i c h take s a form enti rely its own ex pressi o ,

its inheren t q uali ties i n the matter whi ch it d raws rm

3s T H OU G H T FORM S -

be illustrated fo r to re pres en t those o f the fi rst or se cond

,

class wo uld be me rely to draw portraits or landscapes .

I n those types we have the plastic mental or astral

matter moulded in imitation of forms belo nging to the
physi cal plan e ; in this thi rd group we have a glimpse of
the fo rms natural t o the astral or men tal planes Yet .

th is very fact whi ch makes them so inte r esting places

, ,

an insuperable barrier in the way of their a ccurate

reprodu c tion .

Thought fo rm s of this thi rd class almost invariably

-

mani fest themselves upon the astral plane as the vast ,

majo rity of them are exp ressions O f fee li ng as well as of

thought Those o f wh ich we here give specimen s are
.

alm os t wholly of that clas s ex cept that we take a few

,

examples of the beautiful t hought forms created in -

defini t e medi tati o n by those who through long p ra ctice , ,

have learnt how to th i nk .

Thought forms direc ted towards indi viduals produ ce

-

definitely marked e ffects these e ffe cts bei ng either

,

partially reprodu ced in the aura of the rec ipient and so

inc reasing the total result o r repelled from it A thought
, .

Of love and o f des ire to prote c t di rec ted strongly towards

,

some beloved object creates a form whi ch goes to the

,

person thought o f and remai ns in his aura as a shi eld i ng

,

and protect i ng agent ; it wi ll seek all oppo rtunities to

se rve and all O ppo rtunities to defend not by a consc io us
, ,

and deliberate ac tion bu t by a blind following out o f the

,

impulse imp res sed upon it and it will stren gthen friendly
,

forces that impinge on the au ra and weaken unfrien dly

ones Th us may we create and main tain ve ritable
.

guardian an gels round those we love and many a ,

'
m othe r s prayer fo r a di s tant c hild thus circles round
 T H R E E C L AS S E S OF T H O U G H T F O R M S 39
-

him though she knows not the method by whi ch her

,
”
prayer is an s wered .

I n cases i n which good or evil thou ghts are projec ted

at individuals those thoughts if they are to di rectly fulfil
, ,

their mission must find in the aura O f the object to whom

, ,

they are sent materials ca pable of responding sympa

,

thetically to their vibrations Any combination of matter

.

c an only vibrate within certain definite limits and if the ,

thought form be outside all the limits within which t he

-

aura is capable o f vibrating it cannot affect that aura at

,

all I t consequently rebounds from it and that with a

. ,

forc e proportionate to t he energy with which it impinged

upon i t This is why it is said that a pure heart and
mind are the best protec tors against any inimi cal assaults ,

for such a pu re heart and mind will construct an astral

and a mental body o f fine and subtle materials and these ,

bodies cannot respond to vibrations that d emand coarse

and den se matter I f an ev il thought project ed with
. ,

m alefic intent strikes such a body it can only rebo un d

, ,

from it and it is flung bac k with all its own energy ; it

,

then flies backward along the magnetic line O f leas t

resistan ce that which it has just traversed and strikes
, ,

its projec tor ; he havi ng matter in hi s astral and mental

,

bodies similar to that o f the thought form b e gen erated -

is t hrown i nto respondent vib rations and su ff ers the ,

des t ruc tive e ffects he had intended to cau se to an other .

“
Thus cu rses [and blessings! come home t o roost .
”

From this arise also the very serio us effec t s o f hating

or suspecting a good and highly advanced man ; t he -

t hought forms sent ag ai nst him cann ot inj ure

-

they rebound
4 0 T H OU G H T FORMS -

are well known to members o f the Theosophi cal Soc iety ,

havi ng come under thei r direc t observation S O long as .

any Of the coars er ki nds o f matter connec ted with evi l

and selfish tho ughts remai n in a person s body he is ’

open to attac k from th o se who wish him evil but when ,

he has perfec tly e l i minated these by sel f puri ficat io n his -

haters cannot i nj ure him and he goes on calmly and

,

peacefully ami d all the darts of their mali ce But it is .

bad for those who shoot out such darts .

A nother point that should be mentioned be fore passi ng

t o the co nside ration o f our illustratio ns i s t

thi nks that they ought to appear ; they are represe nt a f

tions of forms actually observed as thrown o ff by ordina ry

m en and women and either reprodu ced with all possible
,

c are and fideli ty by those who have seen them or with ,

the help of artists to whom the see rs have desc ribed them .

For convenien ce of co m pariso n tho ught form s -

o f a
sim ilar ki n d are grou ped together .

I L L U S T RA T I V E T H O U G H T FORM S -

AF F ECT IO N

W
V Pur e Afi d i o n — Fig 8 is a revolvin g cloud
. . o f
p ure affection and except fo r its vagueness it represents
,

a ver y good feel i ng The person from whom it emanates

.

is happy and at peace wi t h the world thinking d ream ily ,

o f some fri end whose very prese nc e is a pleasure Th ere .

i s nothing keen or strong about the feeling yet it i s one ,

o f gen tle w ell b ei ng and of an u nselfish delight in the

-

,
 TH RE E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -

4 1

proximity o f those who are beloved The feeli ng whi ch .

gives birth to such a clou d is pure of its kind but the re ,

is in it no forc e capable of producing definite results .

An appearance by no means unli ke this frequen tly

surroun ds a gently purring cat and radiates slowly out
,

ward from the animal in a series of gradually enlarging

con c entri c shells of rosy cloud fadin g into invisibi lity at
,

a di stan ce o f a few feet from their drowsily con t ented

creator .

Vague —
Afi ct zbm Fig 9 show s us al so a c loud
.

of affection but this time it is deeply tinged with a far

,

less desirable feeling The dull hard b ro w n grey o f

. ~

selfishness shows itself very decidedly among the carmine

o f love , and th us we see that the affection which is
indi ca t ed is closely connect ed wi th satisfaction at favours
already re ceived and with a lively anti cipation of others
,

to come in the near future I ndefi nite as was the feeling

.

whi ch produced the cloud in Fig 8 it was at least free . ,

from thi s taint o f selfishness and it therefore showed a

,

certain nobility of nature in its author Fig 9 represents . .

what takes the place of that condition o f mind at a lower

l e vel of evolution I t would scarcely be possible that
.

these two clouds should emanate from the same person i n

the same incarnation Yet there is good in the man who
.

gen erates this sec ond cloud though as yet it is but partially
,

evolved A vast amount of the average affection o f the

.

world is o f th is type and it is only by slow degrees that it

,

devel o ps towards the other and higher manifestation .

D efin i t e Af e d zo n —
'

E ven the first g lance at Fig 1 0

. .

shows us that here we have to deal wi th something o f an

en ti rely d
'

ifi e ent natu re
r — something effecti ve and capable ,

so m ething that will ac hieve a result g i

s full
y
4 2 T H O U G H T FO R M S -

eq ual to that o f Fig 8 in c lea rness and depth and trans

.

are n cy but what was there a mere s en ti m ent is in this

p ,

case translated in t o emphati c inten tion coupled with

unhesi tating action Those who have seen the book
.

Man Visi ble and I aw i néle will recollect that in P late ! I

’

of t hat volume is depicted t he e ffe c t of a sudden rush o f

pure unselfish affection as it showed itself in the astral
body of a mother as she caught up her little child and
,

c overed it with kisses Various changes resulted from

.

that sudden outburst o f e m otion ; one o f them w as the

formation with i n the astral body o f large crimson coi ls or .

vortices lined with livin g light E ach of these is a .

thought form o f in tense a ffection generated as we have

-

desc ribed and almost instantaneously eject ed towards

,

the objec t of the feeling Fig 1 0 depicts j ust suc h a

. .

thought form after it has left the astral body o f its author
-
,

and is on its way towards its goal I t will be observed .

that the almost ci rc ular form has changed into one som e
what resembling a projec tile or the head of a c omet ; and
it will be easily un d erstood that this alteration is ca used
by it s rapid fo rward motion The clear ness of the c olour
.

assures us of the purity of the emotion whi ch gave bi rth

to th is thought form while the prec ision o f its ou tline is
-

u nmistakable evidenc e o f power and o f vi gorous purpos e .

The soul that gave birth t o a thought form such as this -

must alre ady be one o f a certain amou nt o f development .

o f
a tho ught form intentionally generated si nce its autho r
-

is making the effort to po ur him self forth i n lov e to all

bei ngs I t must be rem embered that all these fo rms a re
.

in constant motion This one for exam ple is steadily

. , ,

wi d en in g out though there seems to be an exhaus tless

,
T H R E E C LAS S E S OF T H O U G H T FO RM S -

43

fountain welling up through the centre from a dimension

whi ch we cannot represent A sentimen t such as this is
.

so wide in its appli cation that it i s very di ffic ult for any
,

one not thoroughly trained to keep it clear and prec ise .

The thought form he re shown is therefore a very credit

-

, ,

able o ne for it will be noted that all the n ume rous rays
,

of the star are commendably free from vague ness .

Peace and P ro t ect i o n — Few tho ught forms are mo re -

beauti ful and exp ressive than this whic h we see in Fig 1 2 . .

This is a thought o f love and peace protection and ,

benedi c tion sent forth by one who has the power and
,

has earned the right to bless I t is no t at all probable

.

that in the mind of its creator there exi s ted any tho ught
of its beautiful wing li ke shape tho ugh it is possible that
-

som e u nc onsc ious re fle ction o f far away lesson s of child

-

hood about guardian angels who always hovered ov e r

their charges may have had its in fluence in determ ini ng
this H owever that may be the earnest wi sh un
. ,

doubtedly clothed itself in this gra ceful and expressive

outline while the affection that pr ompted it gave to it
,

its lovely rose c olour and the intellect which gu ided it

-

shone forth like sunlight as its heart a nd central support .

Thus in sober truth we may make verit able guardian

an gels to hover ove r and protect those whom we love ,

and man y an unselfish earnest wish for good p roduc es

such a form as thi s tho ugh all un known to its creator
, .

Grasf mg A m mal A f ect zba

’

— Fig 1 3 gives us an .

—
instan c e of grasping animal affection i f indeed such a
feeling as this be deemed wo rthy of the augu st name of
affe cti on at all Sev eral colours bear the i r share in the
.

product ion o f its du ll un pleasing hue tinged as it is with ,

the l urid gleam o f sen suality as well as deadened with

,
44 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

the heavy tint i ndi cative of selfishness E spe cially .

characteristic is its form for those curving b o o ks are

,

n ever seen ex c ept when there exists a strong craving for

personal possession I t is regrettably evident that the
.

fabricator o f this thought form had no con c eption of the

-

self sacri fici ng love which pours itsel f out in joyous

-

s ervi c e never once thi nking of result or ret urn ; hi s

,

“ ”
thought has been not H ow mu c h can I gi v e ? but H ow
,

”
mu ch can I gain ? and so it has expressed itself i nZt hese
re entering curves I t has not even ventured to throw
~
.

its el f boldly outward as do other tho ughts but projects

, ,

half heartedly from the astral body which m ust be

-

s upposed to be on the le ft o f the pictu re A sad travesty .

o f the divine quality love ; yet even this i s a stage i n

evolution and disti n ctly an imp rovement upon earlier

,

stages as will p resently be seen

, .

D E VOTIO N

Vag ue R eligi o us F eelzhg

4
—
shows Fig
us another
. . 1

shapeless rolling cloud but this ti me it is blue instead o f

,

c rim son I t betoke ns that vaguely pleasurable religio us

.

—
feeling a sensation of dev outness rather than o f devotion
— whi c h is so c ommon among tho se in whom piety i s
more developed than intellect I n many a church one .

may see a great cloud of deep dull blue floating over

—
the h eads o f the cong regation i nd efini t e in outline ,

because of the indistin c t nature of the thoughts and feel

ings whi c h cause it ; flecked t o o often with brown and
grey be cause ignorant devotion absorbs with deplorable
,

facility the dismal tinct ure of selfishness or fear ; but none

the less adumbrating a mighty potentiality of the future ,
 T H R E E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FORM S -

45

m anifest i ng t o o ur ey es the first faint flutter o f one at

least o f the twi n wings o f devotion and wisdom by the ,

use of which the soul flies upward to God from whom it

c ame .

S trange is it to note under what varied ci rc um stan c es

this vague blue cloud may be seen ; and o ftentimes its
absence speaks more loudly than its pre sen ce For in .

many a fashionable place o f worship we seek it in vain ,

and find instead of it a vast conglomeration of thought

forms of that second type whi ch take the shape of
material obje cts I nstead of tokens o f devotion we see
. ,

“ "
floating above the worshippers the astral i mages of
b at s and bonnets of jewellery and gorgeous dresses o f
, ,

horses and of carriages of whisky bottles and of Sunday

,
-

di nners and sometimes of whole rows of intricate calc ula

,

tions sho wing that men and women alike have had during
,

their supposed hours o f prayer and praise no thoughts

but o f business or of pleas ure o f the desi res or the
,

anxieties o f the lower form of mundane exi st ence .

Yet sometimes in a humbler fane in a church belong ,

ing to the unfashionable C atholic or Ritualist or even in ,

a lowly meeting house where there is but litt le of learning

-

or of culture one may watch the deep blue clouds rolling

,

ceaselessly eastward towards the altar or upwards tes ti , ,

fyi ng at least to the earnestness and the reverence o f

those who give them birth .
—
Rarely very rarely
among the clouds o f blue will flash like a lance cast by
the hand of a giant such a tho ught form as is shown i n
-

F ig 1 5 ; or such a flower o f self renunciation as we se e

.
-

in Fig 1 6 may float before o ur ravished eyes ; but in

.

mos t cases we must seek elsewhere fo r these signs o f a

higher development .
4 6 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

Upward R ush o
f D ev o t i o n —The form
Fig 1 5 in .

bears mu ch the same relation to that o f Fig 1 4 as did the .

c learly outlined projec tile of Fig 1 0 to t he in det erminat e

.

cloud of Fig 8 We could hardly have a more marked

. .

contrast than that betw een the inchoate flacc i d i t y o f the

nebulo sity in Fig 1 4 and the vi rile vigour of the splendid
.

Sp i re of highly developed devotion whi ch leaps into bei ng

before us in Fig 1 5 This is no uncertai n half formed

. .
-

senti ment ; it is the outrush in t o man i festation of a grand

em o ti on rooted deep in t he knowledge of fac t The .

man who feels such dev otion as this is one who knows
in w hom he has believed ; the man who makes su c h a
thought form as th is is one w ho has ta ught himself how to
-

thin k The det erm ination of the upward rush po i nts to

co ura e as w ell as convi c tion while the sharpness o f its
g ,

out line shows the clarity of its creator s con ception and ’
,

the peerless p urity of its colour bears witness to his utter

unselfishness.

Tbe R espo nse t o D ev o t i o n — In Fig 1 7 we see the

. .

—
result of hi s thought t he response of the Lo c o s to the
appeal made to H im the truth which underlies the
,

highest and best part of the persistent belief in an

answer to prayer I t needs a few words o f explanation
. .

On every plane o f H is solar system our L o co s pours

forth H is light H is power H is life and nat urally it is
,
‘

, ,

on the higher planes that this outpourin g of divine

strength can be given most fully The des cen t from .

ea ch plane to that next below it means an almost para

—
ly sing limitation a limitation entirely i ncomp rehensible
ex cept to those who have experien ced the h igher
possibiliti es of hum an con scio usness Thus the divi ne .

li fe flows forth with in c omparably greater fulness on

 T H R E E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FO R M S -

47

t he mental plane than on the astral ; and yet even its

glory at the mental level is ineffably t ranscended by that
of the buddhic p lane N ormally each of these mighty
.

waves of in fluen ce spreads about its appropriate plane

—
horizontally as it were but it does not pass into the
,

obscuration of a plane lower than that fo r whi ch it was

origi nally intended .

! et there are conditions u n der which the grace and

st rength pe culiar to a higher plane may in a measure be
brought down to a lower one and may spread abroad ,

there with wonderful effect This seems t o be poss ible

.

only when a speci al chan nel is for the moment opened ;

and that work must be done from below and by the e ffo rt
of man It has be fore bee n explained that whenever a
.

man s thought or feeling is selfi sh , the energy which it

’

produces moves in a close c urve and thus inevitably ,

returns and expends itsel f upon its own level ; but when
the thought or feeling is absolutely unselfish its energy ,

rushes forth in an open curve and thus does no t return

,

in t he ordinary sense but pierces through into the plane

,

above bec ause only in that higher condition with its

, ,

additional dimension can it find room for its expan sion

, .

But in thus breaking through su ch a thought or feeling

,

holds O pe n a door ( to speak symboli cally ) of dimen si on

equivalen t to its own diame ter and thus furnishes the ,

requisi t e channel th rough whi ch the divine forc e

appropriate to the higher plane can pour itself into the
lower wi th marvellous results not only for the thinker
,

but for others A n attempt i s made in Fig 1 7 to sym

. . ~

b o li se this and to indicate the great truth that an i nfinite

,

flood o f the higher type of force is always ready an d

waiting to pour through when the channel is offered j u st ,
4 8 T H O U G H T FO R M S
-

as the water in a cistern m ay be said to be waiting to

pour through the first pipe that may be O pened .

The res ult of the desc ent of divine li fe is a very

great strengthening and uplifting o f the maker of the
channel and the sp reading all about him o f a most
,

powerful and be nefice nt influen c e This e ffec t has o ften .

been called an answ er to prayer and has bee n att ributed ,

by the ignorant to what th ey call a spec ial interposition

of Providen ce instead o f to the unerring ac tion of the
,
"

great and imm utable divine law .

S eg
fl R m m t zo m — Fig 1 6 gives
'

us yet another
.

form of devotion produ cing an exquisitely beautiful form

,

o f a type qui t e new to us — a type in whi ch one might at

fi rst sight suppose that vario us grac eful shapes belonging

to animate nature were being imitated Fig 1 6 fo r . .
,

e xample is somewhat suggestive o f a partially opened

,

flo w er bud while other forms are found to bear a certain

-

resemblance to shells or leaves or tree shapes Mani -

.

fest ly however these are not and cannot be copies of

,

vegetable or an i mal forms and it seems probable that the

,

explanation o f the simi larity lies very mu ch deeper than

that An a nalogous and even more signi fim nt fact is
.

that some very complex thought forms can be exac tly -

imitated by t he action of certain mechani cal forces as has

W
,

been said above hile with o ur presen t knowledge it

.

would b e unwise to att empt a solution of the very fasc i nat

ing problem presented by these remarkable resemblan ces ,

it seems likely that we are obtaining a glimpse across the

th reshold of a very mighty myste ry for if by certain ,

thoughts we produce a form which has been duplicated

by the processes of nature we have at least a presum p ,

tion that these forces of nature work along lines

 T H R E E C LASS E S o r T H O U G H T F O RM S
-

49

Somewhat si m ilar to the action of those thoughts Since .

the universe i s itself a mighty thought form called into

-

e xisten ce by the L o co s it may well b e that tiny parts of

,

it are also the thought forms of minor entities engaged

-

in the same work ; and thus perhaps we may approa ch

a comprehension of what is meant by the three hundred
and thirty million D evas of the H indus .

This form is o f the loveliest pale azure wi th a glory

,

—
of white light shining through i t Something indeed to
tax the skill even of the indefatigable artist who worked
so hard to get them as nearly right as possi ble I t i s .

what a C atholi c would call a definite act of devotion

better still an ac t of utt er selflessness o f self surrender
, ,
-

and renun c i ation

.

I N TE LL E CT

Vag ue I nt ellect ual P leasure — Fig 1 8 represents a

.

vagu e cloud of the same order as those shown in Figs .

8 and 1 4
, but in this case the colour is ye llow
instead of crimson or blue Yellow in any of man s
.
’

vehicles always indicates intellectual capac ity but its ,

S hades vary very much and it may be complicated

,

by t he admixture of other hues Generally speaking

.
,

it has a deeper and duller tint if the intellect is directed

chi e fly into lower channels more espec ially if the
,

objects are selfish I n the astral or mental body of t he

.

average man of business it wo uld show itself as yellow

ochre whi l e pure intellect devoted to the study o f
,

phil o sophy or math ematics appears frequently t o be

golden and this rises gradually to a beautiful clear and
,

luminous lemon or prim ro se yellow wh e n a powerful

4
50 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

intellec t is being employed absolutely unse lfishly for the

benefit of humanity Most yellow thought forms are
. -

clearly outlined and a vagu e cloud o f this colour is

,

comparatively ra re I t indicates intellectual pleasu re

.

appreciation o f the result of ingenuity or the delight ,

felt in clever workmanship Such pleasure as the

.

ordinary man derives from the contemplation of a picture

usually depends chiefly upon the emotions of admiration ,
'

afiect i o n or pity which it arouses within him or some

, ,

times i f it pou rtrays a scene with which he is familiar its

, ,

charm consists in its power to awaken the m e mory o f

past joys A n artist however may derive from a pi ct ure
. , ,

a pleasu re of an enti rely di fferen t character based upon ,

his re c ogn ition o f the excellen ce of the wo r k and of the ,

ingenuity which has been exercised in producing certain

results Such pure intellect ual gratification shows itself
.

in a yellow cloud and the same e ffect may be produ c ed

by delight in musi cal ingenuity or the subtleties o f,

argu ment; A cloud of this nature be t okens the entire

absence of any personal emotion for i f that were presen t
,

it would inevitably ti nge the yellow with its own appro

ri at e colour
p .

Tbe I nt en t i o n t o ! no w — Fig 1 9 is o f interest as

.

showing us something of the growt h of a thought form -

.

The earlier stage whi ch is indicated by the upper form

, ,

is not uncommon and indicates the determination to solve

,

—
some problem the intention to know and to understand .

Sometimes a theosophical lec t urer sees many o f these

yellow serpentine forms projec ting towards him from
his audien ce and wel comes them as a token that his
,

hearers are following his arguments intelligently and ,

have an earnest desire to underst and and to know more .

 T H R E E C LASS E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -

51

A form of this kind frequently accompanies a questi on ,

and if as is sometimes un fortunately the case the questio n

, ,

is put less with the genuine desire for knowled ge t han fo r

'
‘

the purpose of exhibiting the acumen of t he questi oner ,

the form is st rongly tinged with the deep o iange that

indi cates conceit I t was at a theosophi cal m eeting that
.

this special shape was enc ountered and i t a ccompanied a

,

question which showed considerable tha ug ht and penet ra

tion The answe r at fi rst given was not thoroughly
. .

sati sfactory to the inqui rer who seems to have received

,

the impression that his p roblem was bei ng evaded by t he

lecturer H is resolution to obt ain a full and thorough
.

answer to his i nquiry became mo re determ ined than ever ,

and his thought form deepened in colour and changed

-

into the se cond of the two shapes resembling a cork

,

screw even m o re cl o sely than before Forms similar .

to these are constantly c reated by o rdina ry idle and

frivolous curi o s ity but as ther e i s no intellec t involved
,

in that case the colour is no longer yellow but usually ,

closely resembles that o f dec aying meat somewhat like ,

that shown in Fig 2 9 as expressing a drunken man s

.
’

craving fo r al cohol .

A mbi t io n — Fig 2 0 gives us another manifesta

.

—
tion of desire the ambition fo r plac e or power The .

ambitious quality is shown by the rich deep orange

colour and the desire by the hooked extensions which
,

precede the form as it moves The thought is a good

.

and pure one of its kind fo r i f there w e re anything base

,

or selfish in t he desire it would i nevitably Show itse lf in

the darkening of the cl ear orange hue by dull reds ,

b rowns o r g reys If this man covet ed plac e or power

, .
,

it was not fo r his own sake but from the convi c tion that
,
5 2 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

he could do the work well and truly and to the ad v an ,

of his fellow men

! a g e .

3
1 56 4451: A mh t i o m — A mbition of a lower type is
'

r e p rese nted m Fig 2 1 N ot only

. have
. we here a large
s tain o f t he dull brown grey of selfishness -
but there is ,

also a censi ilerab le di fference in the form though it ,

a ppears to po sess equal d efini t en ess of outline Fig

s . .

2 0 is rising st e ad ily onward towards a d efinite object ,

for it will be observ ed that the central part of it is as

d efinit ely a project i l e as Fig 10 Fig 2 1 on the . . . ,

o ther hand is a floati ng form

, and is strongly i ndicative
,

o f general acquisitiveness — the ambition to grasp for the

sel f eve rything that is within sight .

AN G E R

Mur d er o us R ag e and S ust ai ned A ug ean— In Figs . 22

and 23 we have two terrible examples of the awful effect

o f anger The lurid flash from dark clouds ( Fig 2 2 ) was
. .

t aken from the a ura of a rough and partially intoxicated

man in the E ast E nd of London as he S truck do w n a

, ,

woman ; the flash darted out at her the moment before

h e raised his hand to S trike and caused a shuddering ,

feeling o f horror as though it might slay

, The keen .

pointed stilett o like dart ( Fig 2 3) was a thought of steady

-
.

anger intense and desiring vengeance of the quality of

, ,

murder sustained through years and directed against a

, ,

person who had inflict ed a d eep injury on the one who

sent it forth had the latter been possessed of a strong and
trained will such a thought form would slay and the one
,
-

nourishing it is running a very serious danger of beco m

i ng a murdere r in ac t as well as in thought in a future
 T H R E E C LASS E S OF T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

53

in car nation I t w ill be noted that both of them take t he

.

flash like form though the upper is i rregu lar in its shape
-

, ,

while the lower repre sents a steadin ess of intention which

is far more dangerous The basis of utter selfishnes s
.

out of whi ch the upper one springs is very characteristic

and instructive The di ffe ren ce in colo ur between t he
.

two is also worthy of note I n the upper one the d irt y

.

brown of selfishness is so strongly evident that it stain s

even the outrush o f anger ; while in the second case ,

though no doubt se lfishness was at the root of that also ,

the original thought has been forgotten in the sustained

and con centrated wrath One who studies Plate ! I I I
. .

in Man Visi ble ana I nv i si ble will be able to image t o

'

himself the condition of the astral body from which these

for ms are protruding ; and surely the mere sight of these
pi ct ur es even without examination should prove a
, , .

powerful object lesson in the evil of yielding to the

-

passion of anger .

E xplo si v e A ng er — In Fig 2 4 we see an exhibition

. .

of anger of a totally di fferent character H ere is no .

sustained hatred but S imply a vigorous explosion o f

,

irritation I t is at on ce evident that while the creators

.

of the forms shown in Figs 2 2 and 2 3 were eac h direc t

.

ing their ire against an individual the person who is ,

responsible for the explosion in Fig 2 4 is fo r the moment .

at war wi th the whole world round him I t may well .

e xpress the sentiment of some choleric old gentleman ,

who feels himself insulted or imperti nently treated fo r ,

the dash of orange intermingled with the scarlet implie s

that his prid e has been se riously hurt I t is instruo
tive to compare the radiations of this plate with those o f
Fig 1 1
. . H ere we see indicated a ver itable explosion ,
54 T H O U G H T F O RM S
-

instantaneous in its pas sing and irregular in its e ffec ts

and the vacant c ent re shows us that the feeling that
c aused it is already a thing o f the past and that no ,

further force is being generated I n Fig 1 1 on the

. . ,

o ther hand the centre is the strongest part of the

,

thought form showi n g that this i s not the result o f a

-

m omentary flash of feeling but that there is a steady

,

c ontinuous upwelling o f the energy while the rays S how

,

by their quality and length and the evenness of their

dist ribution t he steadily sustained effort which produc es
t hem.

i nteresting though unpleasant thought form I ts pec uliar -

.

brownish gr een colour at once indi cates to the pract i sed

-

c lairvoyant that it is an expression of jealousy and its ,

curious shape shows the eagerness with which the man

is wat ch i ng its object The remarkable resemblance to
.

the snake w ith raised head aptly symbol i ses the extra
o rdi narily fatuous atti tud e o f t he jealous person keen ly ,

alert to discover signs of that which he least of all wishes

to see The moment that he does see it or imagi nes

.
,

that he sees it the form will change into the far

,

c omm oner one shown in Fig 2 6 where the jealousy i s

. ,

alread y mingled with anger I t may be noted that here

.

the jealousy is merely a vague cloud though interspersed ,

with very definite flashes o f anger ready to strike at

t hose by whom it fancies itsel f to be inj ured ; whe reas

i n Fig 2 5 where th e re is no anger as yet the jealousy

. , .
,

i tself has a perfec tly d efin ite and very expressive

o utline.
 T H R E E C LASS E S O F T H O U G H T F O R M S -

55

S! MPAT H !

Vague Sy mpat by —
. In Fig we have another o f the
. 1 8A
vague c louds but this time its green co lour shows us
,

that it is a manifestation of the feeling of sympathy We .

may infer from the indisti nct chara cter of its outl i ne that
it is not a definite and ac tive sympathy such as would ,

i nstantly translate itself from thought into deed ; it marks

rather s uch a general feeling of commise ration as might
com e over a man who read an ac count of a sad a cc ident ,

or stood at the door of a hospital ward looking in upon

the patients .

F E AR

S ud d enF ya
re — One of the most pitiful objec ts in
nature is a man or an ani mal in a condition o f abjec t
fear ; and an exami nati on o f Plate ! IV in Man Visible .

and I nv i si ble shows that under such ci rcumstances the

astral body presents no better appearance than the

physi cal When a man s astral body is thus in a state of
.
’

frenzied palpitation its natu ral tendency i s to throw o ff

,

amo rphous explosive fragments like masses of roc k,

hurled out in blasting as will be seen in Fig 30 ; but

, .

when a person is not terrified but seriously startled an ,

effect su ch as that shown in Fig 2 7 is often produced

. .

I n one of the photographs taken by D r Baraduc of Paris ,

it was noticed that an eruption of broken circles resulted

from sudden annoyance and this outru sh of crescent
,

shaped forms seems to be o f somewhat the same nature ,

though in this case there are the accompanying lines of

matter which even in crease the explosive appearan ce .

I t is noteworthy that all the cresc ents to the right hand ,

56 T H O U G H T FORM S -

whi ch must obviously have been those expelled earliest ,

S how nothing but t he livid grey of fear ; but a moment

later the man is already partially recovering from the
shock and beginning to feel angry that he allowed
,

himself to be startled This is shown by the fact that

.

the later crescents are lined with scarlet evidencing the ,

mi ngli ng o f anger and fear while the last cres cent is

,

pu re scarlet telling us that even al ready the fright is

,

entirely overcome and only t he annoyance remains

, .

G R E ED

Selfis/z G reed — Fig 2 8 gives us an example of

.

—
selfish greed a far low er type than F ig 2 1 I t will be
. .

noted that here there is nothing even so lofty as

ambition and it is also evident from the tinge of muddy
,

green that the person from whom this unpleasant

thought is projecting is quite ready to employ deceit i n
o rder to obtai n her de sire While the ambition of Fig 2 1
. .

was general in its nature the craving expresse d in Fig 2 8

, .

is for a parti c ular object towards which it is reac hing out ;

fo r it will be understood that this thought form like that -

in Fig 1 3 remains attached to the astral body which

. , ,

must be supposed to be on the left of the picture C law .

like forms of this nature are very frequently to be seen

convergin g upon a woman who wears a new dress or
bonnet or some specially attractive article of jewellery
, .

The thought form may vary in colour according to the

-

prec ise amount of envy or jealousy which is mingled with

the lust for possession but an approximation to the
,

Shape indi cated in our illustration will be found in all

cases N ot infrequently people gathered in front of a
.
 TH REE C LASS E S 0 17 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

57

shop window m ay be seen thus protruding astral c rav

-

ings through the glass .

Greed f o r D r i nk — In Fig 2 9 we have another .

variant of the same passion perhaps at an even more

,

degraded and an imal level This specimen was taken

.

from the astral body of a man just as he entered at the

door of a drinking shop ; the expectation of and the
-

keen desire for the liquor which he was about to absorb

showed itself in the projection in front of him of this
very unpleasant appearance Once more the hooked .

protrusions Show the craving while the colour and t he,

coarse mottled texture show t he low and sensual nature

of the appetite S exual desi re s frequently Show them
.

se lves i n an exactly S imilar manner Men who give .

bi rth to forms such as this are as yet but little removed

from the animal ; as they rise in the scale of evolution
the place o f this form will gradually be taken by some
thing resembling that shown in Fig 1 3 and very .
,

slowly as development advances that in turn will pass

, ,

through the stages indicated in Figs 9 and 8 un til . ,

at last all selfishness is cast out and the desire to have ,

has been transmuted into the desire to give and we arr ive ,

at the S plendid res ults shown in Figs 1 1 and 1 0 . .

VA RI O U S E MOTIO N S

At a S li m —
e Very serious is the panic which has
oc casioned the very interesting group of thought forms -

which are depicted in Fig 30 They were s ee n sim ul

. .

t aneo usly arranged exactly as represented though i n the

, ,

midst of indescribable confusion so their relative positions

,

have been retai ned tho ugh in explaining them i t w ill be

,
5 s T H O U G H T FO RM S -

c onvenient to take them in reverse order They w ere .

c alled forth by a t e rrible accident and they are instructive

,

as Showing how di fferently people are affected by sudden

a nd serio us d arlg e r One form sho w s nothing but an
.

eruption o f the livid grey of fear rising out o f a basis o f,

utter selfishness and unfortunate ly there were many such

as this The S hattered appearance of the thought fo rm
.
-

shows the violence and completeness of the expl o sion ,

whi ch in turn indicates that the whole soul of that person

was possessed with blind franti c terror and that the
, ,

o verpowering sense of personal danger e x cluded fo r the

ti me every higher feeling .

The second form represents at least an attempt at

self control and S hows the attitude adopted by a person
-

having a certain amount of religious feeling The .

thinker i s seeking solace in prayer and endeavouring in ,

t his way t o overcome her fear This is indicated by .

the point o f greyish blue which lifts itself hesitatingly

-

upwards ; the colo ur shows however t hat t he effo rt i s

, ,

but parti ally successful and we see also from the lower
,

part of the thought form with its irregu lar outline and its
-

falling fragmen ts that there i s in reali t y alm ost as mu ch

,

fright here as in the other case But at least this woman .

has had presence of mind enough to remember that she

o ught to pray and i s t ryi ng to imagin e that S he is not
,

afraid as She does it whereas in the other case there w as

,

a bsolutely no thought beyond selfish terro r The one .

retains still some semblance o f humanity and some ,

possibility of regaining self control ; the other has for

-

the time cast aside all remnants o f decency and is an ,

a bject slav e to overwhe lm i ng emotion .

A very striking contrast to t he humiliating w eakn

 TH REE C LASS E S o r T H O U G H T FO RM S -

59

shown in these two forms is the splendid strength and

decision o f the third H ere we have no amorphous mass
.

with quivering lines and explosive fragments but a ,

powerful clear cut and definite thought obviously full o f

,
-

force and resolution For this i s the thought of the

.

o fi cer in charge — the man responsible for the lives and

the safety of the passengers and he ri ses to the ,

emergen cy in a most satisfactory manner I t does not .

even occur to hi m to feel the least shadow of fear ; he

has no ti me fo r that Though the scarlet of the sharp
.

point of his weapon like thought form shows anger that

- -

the ac cident S hould have happened the bold c urve of ,

orange immediately above it betokens perfect sel f

confidence and certainty o f his power to deal with the
di fficulty The brilliant yellow implies that his intellec t
.

i s already at work upon the problem while the green ,

which runs side by side with it denotes the sympathy

whi ch he feels for those whom he int e nds to save A .

very striki ng and instructive group of thought forms -

.

On M e F i rst N
n t — Fig 31 is
. also an
. interesting
s pec im e n — —
perhaps unique for it represents the thought
form of an actor while waitin g to go upon the S tage fo r a
“ "
first ni ght
-
performan c e The broad band of orange
.

in the centre i s ve ry clearly defined and is the expressi on ,

o f a well founded self c o nfid e nc e

- —
-
the realisation of many
previous su ccesses and the reasonable expectation that
,

o n this occasion ano t her will be added to the list Yet .

in spite of this there is a good deal of unavoidabl e

uncertainty as to how this new play may strike the fickle
publi c and on the whole the doubt and fear overbalan ce
,

the certainty and pride fo r there is more of the pale grey

,

t han of the orange and the whole thought form vibrates

,
-
60 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

like a flag flappi n g in a gale of wind I t will be noted

.

that while the outli ne o f the orange is exceedingly cl ear

and definite t hat o f the grey is much vaguer
,
.

Tbe Gam bler s — The forms shown in Fig 32 were .

observed sim ultaneo u sly at the great gambling ho use at -

Monte C arlo Both represen t some of the worst of

.

human passions and th ere is little to choose between

,

them although they represent the feelin gs of the success

,

ful and the unsuc cessful gambler respectively T he .

lower form has a strong resemblance to a lurid and

gleaming eye though this must be simply a coincidence
, ,

for when we analyse it we find that its constituent parts

and colours can be accounted for wi t hout d i fli c ult y .

The bac kground of the whole thought is an irregular

cloud o f deep depression heavily marked by t he dull
,

brown grey of se lfishness and the li v id hue of fear I n

-
.

the centre w e find a clearly marked scarlet ring showi ng

-

deep an ger and resentment at t he hostility of fate and ,

within that is a sharply outli ned circle of bl ack e xpressing

the hatred o f the ruined man for those who have won his
money The man who can send forth such a thought
.

form as this is surely in im m in en t danger for he has ,

evidently descended in t o the very depths of despair ;

being a gambler he can have no principle to sustain him ,

so that he would be by no means un likely to resort to the

imaginary refuge o f suicide only to find on awakening
,

into astral life that he had changed his condition for the
worse instead of for t he better as the suicide always
,

does since his cowardly action cuts him o ff from the

,

happiness and peac e which usually follow d a th .

The upper form represe nts a state of mind which is

pe rhaps even more harmful in its effects for this is the
,
 T H R E E C LASS E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -
61

gloating of the successful gambler over his ill gotten -

gai n H e re the outline is perfectly definite and t he

. ,

’
man s resolution to pe rsist in his evil course is unm i st ak
able The broad band of orange in t he cen tre shows
.

very clearly that although when the man loses he may

curse the inco nstancy of fate when he win s he attributes
,

his success entirely to his o wn transcen den t genius .

Probably he has invented some sys t em to which he

pins his faith and o f which he is inordinately proud
,
.

But it will be noticed that on each side of the orange

comes a hard line o f selfishness and we see how this in
,

turn melts into avarice and beco m es a mere animal

greed of possession which is also so clearly expressed
,

by the claw l ik e extremities of the thought form

- -
.

A t a S t r eet A ccid ent — Fig 33 is i nstruc tive as

.

Showing the various forms which the same feeli ngs

may take in di fferent individuals These two evi den ces
.

of emotion were seen simultaneo usly among the spec

t at o rs of a street a ccident —a case in which someone

was knocked down and Slightly inj ured by a passing

vehi cle The persons who generated these two thought
.

forms were both animated by affectionate interest in

the victim and deep compassion for his su ffering and ,

so their thought forms exhibited exactly t he same

-

colours although the outlines are absolutely unlike

,
.

The one over whom floats that vague sphere of cloud

“ ”
is thinking Poor fellow how sad ! while he who
,

gives birth to that Sharply d efined disc is already rush

-

ing forward to see in what way he can be of assi stance .

The one is a dreamer though of acute sensibilities ;

,

the other is a man o f action .

A t a F un eral — In Fig 34 we have an ex c eedi ngly

.
62 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

striking example of the advantage o f knowl edge of the ,

fundamental change produced in the man s attitude of ’

m i nd by a clear understandi ng of the great laws o f

nature under which we live U tterly di fferent as they
.

are in every respect o f colour and form and meaning ,

these two thought forms were seen sim ultaneously and

-

they represent two points of view with regard to the

same oc curren ce They were observed at a funeral
. ,

and they exhibit the feelings evoked in the minds o f

“
t w o of the mou rners by the contemplati o n o f death .

The thinkers s t ood in the same relation to the dead

man but while one of them was still steeped in the
,

dense ignoran c e with regard to super physi cal life whi ch

-

is so painfully common in the present day the other had ,

the i nesti mable advantage o f the li ght o f Theosophy .

In the thought of the former we see expressed nothi ng

but profound depress ion fea r and selfishness The fac t
, .

that death has approached so near has eviden tly evoked

.

in the mind of the mourner the t hought that it may one

day come to him also and the anticipation o f this is v er y
,

terrible to hi m ; but S ince he d o es not know what it i s

that he fears the clouds i n which his feeling is
,

fest ed are appropriately vague H is only defi nite

.

sensations are despair and the sense of his personal loss ,

and these dec lare themselves in regular bands of brown

grey and lead en grey while the very cu rious downward
,

protrusion which actually descends in t o the grave and

,

enfolds the co ffi n is an expression o f strong selfish

,

desire to draw the dead man back into physical li fe .

I t is refreshing to turn from this gloomy picture t o the

wonderfully di fferent e flect produced by the very sam e
c ircumstan c es upon the m i nd of the man who compre
 T H R E E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -
63
.

hends the facts of the case I t will be observed

.

that the two have no S ingle e motion in common ;

in the former case all was desponden cy and horror ,

while in this case we find none but the highest and

most beautiful sentiments A t the base of the thought
.

form we find a full expression of deep sympathy the ,

lighter green indi c ating appreciation of the s uffering

of the mourners and condolence with them while the ,

band of deeper green shows the attitude of the thinke r

towards the dead man himself The deep rose colour
.
-

exhibits affec tion t o s both the dead and the living ,

while the upper part o f the cone and the stars whi ch
rise from it testify to the feeling aroused within t he
thinker by the co nsideration o f the subject o f death the
blue expressing its devotional aspe ct while the Vt o let
,

shows the thought of and the power to res pond to a

, ,

noble ideal and the golden stars denote the spiritual

,

aspirations whi ch its contemplation calls forth The .

ban d of cl ear yellow which is seen in the centre o f thi s

thought form is very signifi c ant as i ndicating that the
-

’
man s whole attitude is based U pon and prompted by
his intellectual comprehension of the situation and this ,

i s also shown by the regularity o f the arrangement o f

the colours and the d efini t eness o f the lines o f dem ar
cation between them .

The comparison between the two illustrations show n

i n this plate is surely a very impressive testimony to t he
value of the kn owledge gi ven by the theosophi cal
teaching U ndoubtedly this knowledge of the tru th
.

takes away all fear o f death and makes life easier to live
,

because we u nderstand its object and its end and we ,

realise that death i s a pe rfect ly natu ral in cident in it s

,
64 T HOUGH T FORMS
-

course a necessary step in our evolution This ought to

, .

be universally known among C hrist ian nations but it is ,

not and therefo re on this poi nt as on so many others

, , ,

Theosophy has a gospel for the Western world I t has .

to announ c e that there is no gloomy impenetrable abyss

be yond t he grave but instead of that a world o f life and
,

light which may be known to us as clearly and fully

and ac curately as this physi cal world in which we live
now We have created the gloom and the horror fo r
.

ourselves like children who frighten themselves with

,

ghastly stories and we have o nly to study the fac ts of the

,

c ase and all these artificial clouds will roll away at once
, .

We have an evi l heredi t y behi nd us in th i s matter ,

for we have inherited all kinds of fun ereal horrors from

our forefather s and so we are used to them and we do
, ,

not see the absurdity and the monstrosity o f them .

The ancients were in this respec t W i ser than we for they ,

did not associate all this phantas magoria of gloom wi th

—
the death of the body partly perhaps because they had
a mu ch more rational method of disposing of the body
a method whi ch was not only infinitely better fo r the dead
man and more healthy for the living but was also free,

from the gruesome suggestions connected with Slow

decay They knew much more about death in those
.

days and because they knew more they mourned less

, .

O n Meet i ng a F r i end — Fig 35 gives us an example

.

of a good clearly d efined and expressive tho ught form

,
o -

wi th each co lour well marked o ff from the others I t .

represents the feeli ng of a man upon meeting a friend

from whom he has been long sepa rated The convex .

surface o f t he c rescent is nearest to t he thinker and its ,

two arms stretch out t owards the approachi ng friend as

T H R E E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -
65

if to embrace him The rose colour naturally betokens

.

the affection felt the light green shows the depth of the
,

sympathy which exists and the clear yellow is a sign of

,

the in tellectual pleasure wi t h which the creator of the

thought anti cipates the revival of delightful reminiscences
of days long gone by .

Tbe Appr eci at io n of a P i ct ur e — In Fig 36 we have .

a somewhat complex thought form represen ting the -

delighted appreciation of a beauti ful picture upon a

religious subject The strong pure yellow marks the
.

’
beholder s enthusiastic recognition of the technical
skill o f the artist while all the other colours are
,

expressions of the various emotions evoked within him

by the examination of so glorious a work o f art Green .

shows his sympathy with the central figu re in the

pi cture deep devotion appears not only in the broad
,

band o f blue but also i n the outl i ne o f the entire

,

figure whi le the violet tells us that the picture has

,

raised the man s thought to the contemplati on of a

’

lofty ideal and has made him at least fo r the time

, , ,

capable of responding to it We have here the first .

specimen of an interesting class of thought forms of which -

—
we Shall find abundant examples later that in which
light o f one colour shines out through a network o f lines
of some quite di fferent hue I t wi ll be noted that in
.

this case from the mass of violet there rise many

wavy lines which flow like rivulets over a golden
plain ; and this makes it clear t hat the lofti est aspira
tion is by no means vague but is thoroughly supported
,

by an intellectual grasp of the situation and a cl ear

comprehension of the method by whi ch it can be put
into effect .
66 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

F OR MS SE E N IN T H OS E ME D ITATI N G

Sy mfiat by and Lo fve o r all — H itherto we have been

dealing chiefly with forms which are the expressi on o f
emotio n or of such thought as is aroused wi thin the min d
,

by ex t ernal circumstances We have now to consi d er

.

some of those caused by thoughts which arise from within

—forms generated during meditation— each being the
efiect
‘
produced by a cons c ious effort on the part of
t he thinker to form a c ertain con c eption or t o put hi mself ,

into a certain attitude N aturally such thoughts

.

definite for the man who trains himself in this way

,

le arns how to thi nk with clearness and prec ision and ,

t he developm e nt of hi s po wer i n th i s di rect ion shows

itself 1 n the beauty and regularity of the shapes produced .

I n this case we have the result of an endeavour on the

p art of the thi n ker to put himself i nto an attitude o f
sym pathy and love towards all mankind and thus we ,

have a series of gra ceful l i nes o f the luminous green of

sympathy with the strong roseate glow of affection
shi ning o ut between them ( Fig The lines are sti ll
.

sufi c i e n t l broad and wide apart to be easily drawn b u t

y ;
'
in som e of the higher examples of thought forms of this -

type the lines are so fine and so close that no h uman

hand can represent th em as they really are The outli ne .

of this thought form 1 5 tha t of a leaf yet its Shape and

,

the curve of its lines are more suggestive of a certain

kind o f shell so that th i s i s anoth e r example o f t he
,

approximation to forms seen in physical nat ure which

we no ted in commenting upon Fig 1 6 . .

An A s
'
—
pi at i o n t o E nf o la all In F ig 38 we have
r .

a far more developed example of the same type This .

 T H R E E C LAS S E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -
67

form was generated by one who was trying while sitti ng

,

in meditation to fill his mind with an aspiration to enfol d

,

all mankind in order to draw th e m upward towards t he

high ideal which shone so clearly before his eyes .

Therefore it is that the form w hi ch he produces seem s

to rush out from him to curve round upon itself and t o
, ,

retu rn to its base ; therefore it is that the marvellously

fine lines are drawn in lovely l umi nous violet and that ,

from within the form there shines out a glorious golde n

light which it is unfortunately quite impossible to re
produ ce . Fo r t he truth is t hat all these apparentl y
intricate lines are in reality only one line ci rcling roun d
the form again and again with unwearied patience and
wonderful accuracy I t is scarc ely po ss ible that any
.

human hand could make such a drawing as this on this

scale and in any case the effect of its colours could not
,

be Shown for it wi ll be seen by experiment that if an

,

attempt be made to draw fine violet lines close together

upon a yellow background a grey effect at once appears ,

and all likeness to the original is destroyed But what .

cannot be done by hand may sometimes be achieved by

the superior accuracy and delicacy of a mac hine and i t ,

is in this way that the drawing was made from which

o ur illustration is reproduce d — with some att empt t o
represent the colour effect as well as t he wonderful
de licacy of the li nes and curves .

I n t lz e S i x D i rect i o ns — T he form represe nted in Fig .

39 is the r e sult of another endeavour to extend lov e

—
and sympathy in all directions an effort almost preci sely
similar to that which gave birth to Fig 37 though the
.
,

e ffect seems so di fferent The reasons for this vari ety

.

and for the curious shape taken in this cas e constitu te a

68 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

v ery inte resting illustration o f the way i n which thought

forms grow I t w ill be seen that in this instan ce the
.

t hinker displays considerable devoti onal feeling and ,

has also made an intellec tual e ffort to grasp the con

d i t i o ns necessary for the realisati on of his wishes and ,

the blue an d yellow colours remain as evid ence of this .

Originally th is thought form w as circular and the

-

d ominant idea evidently was that the green of sym pathy

should be upon the outside facing in all directions as
, ,

it were and that love should lie at the centre and heart
,

o f the thought and di r ect its outgoing energies But .

t he maker o f this thought fo rm had been reading H ind u

-

books and hi s modes o f thought had been greatly i n

,

flu enced by them Students of Oriental literature wi ll

.

be aware that the H indu speaks not of four d i rec tions

,

( no rth east
, south , and west ), as we do, but always,of
six sin ce he very sensibly includes the zenith and the
,

nadir . Our friend was imbued from his reading with

t he idea that he should pour forth his love and sympathy
“
in the S ix directions but sin ce he d id not accurately
un derstan d what the six d i rec tions are he direc ted his
,

stream o f affection towards six equidistant points in his

c ir cle . The outrushing streams altered t he shape of

the outlying lines which he had already b uilt up and so ,

i nstead of having a circle as a secti on of his thought

form we have this curious hexagon with its inward
,

curvi ng sides We se e thus how fai thfully every

.

thought form re cords the exact process o f its upbuilding

-

regi stering i neflaceab ly even the errors of its construction .

4 0 we have the effect of an attempt to attain an

i n t ellectual conception o f cos m ic order The thinke r .
T H R E E C LASS E S O F T H O U G H T FO RM S -
69

was obviously a Theosophist and it will be seen that

,

when he endeavours to th i nk of the a ction of spirit upon

matter he instinctively follows the same line of symbolism
as that depicted in the well known seal of the Society
-
.

H ere we have an upward pointing triangle signifying

-

the threefold aspect of the Spiri t interl aced with t he

,

downwa rd pointing triangl e which indicates matter with

-

its three inhe rent qualities U sually we represent t he

.

upward triangle in white or gold and the do wnward ,

pointing one in some darker hue such as blue or black . ,

but it is not eworthy that in this case the thinker is so

e ntirely occupied with t he intellectual endeavour that ,

no colour but yellow is exhibited within the form .

There i s no room as yet for emotions o f devotion o f ,

wond e r or of admiration ; the idea wh ich he wishes t o

,

realise fills his mind entirely to the exc lusion o f all el se

, .

Sti ll the d efini t eness of the outline as it sta nds o ut

aga i nst its background o f rays Shows that he has
achieved a high measure of succ ess
W
.

Tb e L o g o s as man ifest ed in Man — e are no w

comin g to a series of thoughts which are among the very
highest t he human mind can form when in meditatio n ,

upon the divine so urce o f its being When the man i n

.

reverent contemplation tries to raise his thought to

wards the Lo co s of o ur solar s ystem he naturall y ,

mak es no attempt to image to himself that august Being

nor d oes he think of H im as in any way possessin g
such form as we can comprehend N evertheless such .

thoughts build forms for themselv es in the matter of t he

mental plane ; and it will be o f interest for us to ex
ami ne those forms I n our illustration in Fig 4 1 w e
. .

have a thought of the Loc o s as manifested in man ,

7 0 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

w ith the devotional aspiration that H e may thus be

m anifested through the thinker I t is this devotional
.

feeling which gi v es the pale blue tinge to the fiv e

p oi n t ed s tar
,
and its shape is si gnificant since it
, has been
e mploy ed for many ages as a symbol of God manifest in

m an . The thinker may perhaps have been a F reem aso n ,

a nd his knowledge of the symbolism employed by that

b ody may have had its share in the shaping of the star .

I t wi ll be seen that the star is surroun ded by bright

y ellow r ays shining out ami d s t a cloud of glory whi c h ,

denotes not only the reve ren t ial understanding of the

s urpassi ng lory of the D eity but also a dist i nct
‘

g ,

intellectual effort in addition to the outpou ring of

T kc L o g as perm d mg all — Our next th ree Figures are

d evoted to the effort to represent a thought of a very
—
h igh type an e ndeavour to think of the L o c o s as per “

vadi ng all nature H ere again as in Fig 38 it is im

. , . ,

p ossible to give a full reproduction and we must call

, upon
o u r readers for an e ffort of the imagination which shall

t o some extent supplem ent the deficiencies o f the arts of .

d rawing and printi ng . The golden ball depicted i n Fig .

4 2 must be thought of as inside the other ball of delicate

lines ( blue in colour) which i s drawn in Fig 44 A ny effort . .

t o place the colours in su c h intimate j uxtapositi on on the

physical plan e results simply in produci ng a green blur ,

so that the whole charac ter of the thought form is lost -

.

I t is only by means of the machine before mentioned that

i t is at all possible to repre sent the grace and the delicacy
o f the lines . A s be fore a single line produces all the
,

wonderful tracery of Fig 44 and the e ffect of the four

.
,

r adiating lines making a sort of cross of light is merely

TH RE E C LA SS E S O F T H O U G H T FOR M S -

7 1

due to the fact that the curves are not really concentric ,

although at first sight they appear to be so .

A no t h r Co ncept i o n — Fig 4 5 exhibits the form pro

.

d uced by another person when t rying to hold exactly the

same thought H ere also we have an amazing complexity
.

o f almost in conceivably deli cate blue lines and here also ,

our imagination must be called upon to insert the golden

globe from Fig 4 2 so that its glory may shine through
. ,

at every point H ere also as in Fig 44 we have t hat

.
,
. ,

curious and beautiful pattern resembling somewhat the

,

damascening on ancient Oriental swords or that whi ch is ,

seen upon watered silk or mai n ant iq ue When this .

form is drawn by the p endulum the pattern i s not in any ,

way intentionally produced but simply comes as a co nse

,

ue nc e of the crossing of the i nnumerable microscopically

q
fine lines I t is evident th at the thinker who created
.

the form upon F ig 4 4 m ust have held in hi s mind most

.

prominently the uni ty of the Lo co s while he who gener ,

ated the form in Fig 4 5 has as clearly in mind the

.

subordinate centres through which t he divine life pours

forth and many of these subordinate centres have
,

acc ordingly represented themselves in the thought

Tfie T[t ree/ o ld Mamf est at zo m When the form em

— ' ’

ployed in Fig 4 6 was made its creator was en deavouring

.
,

to think of the Lo c o s in H is threefold manifestation .

The vacant space in the centre of the form was a blinding

glow of yellow light and this clearly typified the First
,

Aspect wh ile the Second was symbolised by t he bro ad

,

ring of closely knitted and almost bewildering lines which

-

surround this c e ntre while the Third A spect is sugges t ed

,

by the narrow outer ring which seems more loosely wo v en .

7 : T H O U G H T F OR M S
-

The w hole figure is pervaded by the usual golden light

glea m ing o ut between the lines o f violet .

Tbe S ew n/ b id Man ifest at i o n — In all religions there

remai ns some tradition of the great truth that the LOGOS
ma n ifests H imself through seven mighty chann els often ,

regarded as minor L ogoi or great planetary Spiri ts I n .

the C hristian scheme th ey appear as t he seven great

archangels sometimes called the seven spirits before the
,

throne of God The figure numbered 4 7 shows the

.

result of the effort to m editate upon this method of

divi n e manifestation We hav e the golden glow in t he
.

centre and also ( though wi th lesser splendour ) pervading

,

the form The line is blue and it draws a suc cession

. ,

o f seven graceful and almost featherlike d o u ble wi ngs

which s urround the cen t ral glory and are clearly intended
as a part of it A s the thought strengthens and
.

expands these beautifu l win gs change their colour to

,

violet and bec ome like the petals o f a flower and overlap ,

one anot her in an intricate but exceedi ngly e ffective

patte rn Thi s gi ves us a ve ry interes ting glimpse into
.

the formation and growth o f these shapes in higher

—
.

I nt ellect ual A spi rat i o n The form depicted in Fig .

43 bears a ce r tain resemblance to that in Fig 1 5 but . ,

beautiful as that was this is in reality a far higher and

,

grander thought and i mplies much more advanced

,

dev elopment on the part of the thinker Here we have .

a great clear cut spear or pencil of the pure pale violet

-

which indicates devoti on to t he highest ideal and it is ,

outlined and st re ngthened by an exceedingly fine m anifes

t at i o n o f the noblest development of intellect H e who .

can think thus must alread y have enter ed upon the Path
TH R EE C LAS S E S o r T H O U G H T FO R M S
-

73

of Holi n ess for he has learnt how to use the powe r o f

,

thought to very mighty e ffect I t wi ll be noted that in .

both the colours there is a strong adm i xture o f the white

light wh ich always indicates unusual spiritual power .

Surely the study o f these thought forms shou ld be a -

most impressive object lesson sin c e from it we may see

-

both what to avoid and w hat to cultivate and may learn ,

by degrees to app reciate how tremendous is our responsi

b i li t y for the exercise of this mighty power I ndeed it .

is terribly tru e as we said in t he beginning that thoughts

, ,

are things and p uissant things ; and it behoves us to

,

remember that every one of us i s generating them un

ceasi n l
gy night and day See how great
. is the h appines s
this knowledge brings to us and how gloriously we can ,

utilise it when we know o f some one in sorrow or in

suffering O ften circumstances arise which prevent us
.

from giv i ng physical help either by word or deed ,

however much we may desi re to do so ; but there is no

case in whi ch help by thought may not be given and no ,

case in whi ch it can fail to produ c e a definite res ult I t .

may often happen that at the moment our friend may be

too entirely occupied w ith his own su ffering or perhap s ,

too much excited to receive and accept any suggestion

,

from without but pre sently a time comes when our

,

thought form can penetrate and discharge itself and then

-

assuredly our sympathy will produce its due result I t .

is indeed true that the responsibility of using such a

power is great yet we should not shrink from our duty
,

on that account I t is sad ly t rue that there are many

.

men who are unconsc iously using their thought po wer -

chiefly for evil yet this only makes it all the more
,

necessary th at those of us who are beginning to under

74 T H O U G H T FO RM S -

stand life a little should use it consciously and use it for ,

g ood. We have at our comm and a never failin g criterion -

we can neve r misuse this mighty power of thought if we

employ it always in unison with the great divine scheme
O f evolution and for the uplifti ng of our fellow man
,
-
.

H ELPF UL T H O UG H T S

The Figures numbered 4 8 to 54 we re the results o f

a systematic attempt to send helpful thought by the

friend who has furnished us with the sketch es A .

d efi nite time was given each day at a fixed hour The .

forms were in some case s se e n by the transmitter but ,

in all cases were perceived by the rec ipient who i rn m ed i ,

a tely s e nt rough sketches of what was se en by the nex t

post to the transmitter who has ki ndly supplied the

,

following notes wi th regard to them

I n the coloured drawings appended the blue features
a ppear to have represented the more devotional elem ent

o f the thought The yellow forms accompanied the

.

e nd eavour to communicate intellectual fortitude or ,

mental strength and courage The rosy pink appeared

.

w hen the thought was blended with a ffectionate sympathy .

I f the sender ( A ) could formulate his thought delibe rately

.

a t the appointed ti m e the receiver ( B ) would report

, .

seeing a large clear form as in Figs 4 8 4 9 and 54 .The , , .

latter persisted for some minutes constantly streaming its,

luminous yellow message upon B I f however A

‘ ’
. , , .

was of n ecessity experimen ting under d i ffic ult y say —

—
walking out of doors he would occasionally see his
'
‘
forms broken up into small e r globes or shapes such , ,

a s 50, 51 ,5 2 and
,
B would report
. their r ec e ipt so broken
 FO RM S B U I L T B! MU S I C 75

up I n this way many det ails could be chec ked and com
.

pared as from opposite ends of the line and the nature ,

of the influence communicated offered another means of

verification Upon one occasi on A was disturbed in his
. .

endeavour to send a thought of the blue pink connotation -

by a feeling of an xiety that the nature of the pink elemen t

should not be misapprehended The report of B was . .

that a well d efined globe as in Fig 54 was first seen but

-
.
,

that this suddenly d isappeared being replaced by a ,

moving proc essi on of little light green triangles as in -

Fig 53 These few drawings give but a slight idea of

. .

the varied flo w er like and geometric forms seen while

-

neither paint nor c rayon work seems capable of repre

-

senti ng the glowing beauty of their living colours .

"

F O R MS B U I LT B! M US IC

Before closing this little treatise it will perhaps be o f

interest to our read e rs to give a few examples of another
type of forms unknown to those who are confined to the
physical senses as their means of obtaining information .

M any people are aware that sound is always assoc i ated

—
with colour that when for example a musi cal note is
, ,

sounded a flash o f colo ur corresponding to it may be

,

seen by those whose finer senses are already to some

extent developed I t seems not to be so generally
.

known that sound produces form as well as colour and ,

that every piece of music leaves behind it an impression

of this nat ure which persists for som e considerable ti m e
, ,

and is clearly vi sible and intel li gi ble to those who have

eyes to see Such a shap e is perhaps not tech nically a
.

-—
thought form un less inde ed we take it as ,
7 6 T HOUG H T FORM S
-

as the result of the thought of the composer expressed

by means of the skill o f the musi ci an through his
instru ment .

Some such fo rms are very striking and impressive ,

and naturally their variety is infinite E ach class of .

music has its own type of form and the sty le of the
,

composer shows as clearly in the form which his music

builds as a man s character shows in his handw riti ng
’
.

Other possibilities of variation are introdu ced by t he

kind of instrument upon which the music is performed ,

and also by the merits of the player The same piec e

.

o f music if acc urately played will always build the same

form but that form will be enormously larger when it is

,

played upon a church organ or by a military band than

when it is performed upon a piano and not only the size
,

but also the texture of the resultant form will be very

different There will also be a similar difference in
.

texture between the result of a pie ce of music played

upon a violin and the same piece executed upon the
flute Again the excellence of the performan ce has its
. ,

effect and there is a wonderful difference between the

,

radiant beauty of the form produced by t he work o f a

true artist perfect alike in expression and execution
, ,

and the comparatively dull and undistinguished looki ng -

one which represents the effort of the wooden and

mechanical player A nything like inaccuracy in render
.

ing nat urally leaves a corresponding defect in the form ,

so that t he exact charact er of the performance shows

itself j ust as clearly to t he clairvoyant specta t or as it
does t o the auditor .

I t is obvious that if time and capacity permitted

, ,

h undreds of volum es might be filled with drawings of

 F O R M S B U I LT B! M USI C 77

the forms built by di fferent pieces o f music under

d i flerent conditions so that the most that can be done
,

within any reasonable compass is to give a few examples

of t he leading types I t has been decided for the pur
.

poses of this book to limit these to thre e to take types

,

of music pr esenting readily recognisable contrasts and ,

for the sake of simplicity in compar i son to present them

all as they appeared when played upon the same
—
instrum en t a very fine church organ I n each of our
.

Plates the church shows as well as the thought form -

which towers far into the air abov e it ; and it should be

remembered that though the drawings are on very
di fferent scales the church is the same in all three cases ,

and consequently the relative size of the sound form can -

eas ily be calculated The ac tual height o f the towe r of

.

the church is just under a hundred feet so it will be seen

,

that the so und form produced by a powerful organ i s

-

enormo us in size .

Such forms remain as coherent erec tions for so m e

—
considerable time an hour or two at least ; and during
all that time they are radiating forth their characteristi c
vibratio ns in every direction just as our thought forms
,
-

do ; and if the m usic be good t he effect of those vibra

,

tions cannot but be uplifting to every man upon whose

vehi c les t hey play Th us the communi ty owes a very
.

real debt of gratitude to the music i an who pours forth

such help ful influences for he m ay a ffect fo r good
,

hundreds whom he never saw and will never know

upon the physical plan e
Mend elsso hn The first o f such forms a comparatively
— ,

s mall and simple one is draw n fo r us in Plate M I t

, .

will be seen that we hm ughly repre r

o
7 s T H OU G H T FO R M S -

senti ng that o f a balloon havi ng a scalloped outlin e

,

consist ing o f a double violet line Within that there .

i s an arrangement of variously coloured lines moving -

almost parallel with this outline ; and then another

so mewhat similar arrangement w hich seems to cross
and inter penetrate the first Both of these sets of lines
.

evid e ntly start from the organ within the church and con ,

sequently pass upward through its roof in their course ,

physical matter being clearly no obstacle to their formation .

I n the hollow centre of the form float a number of small

crescen ts arranged apparently in four v e rtical lines .

L et us endeavour now to give some clue to the

meaning of all this whi c h may well seem so bew ilderi ng
,

to the novice and to e xplain in some measure how it

,

comes into existen ce I t must be recollected that this

.

is a melody of si mple charac ter played once thro ugh ,

and that consequently we can analyse the form in a

way that would be quite impossible with a larger and
more complicated speci men Yet even in this case we
.

canno t give all the details as will presently be seen

, .

D isregarding fo r the moment the scalloped bo rd e r w e ,

have next within it an arrangement of four lines of

'

d ifleren t colours running in the same direction the ,

o ut ermos t being blue and the others crimson yellow , ,

and green respectively These lines are exceedingly

.

irregular and crooked ; in fac t they each consist of a

,

number of short lin es at various levels joi ned together

perpendicularly I t seems that each o f these short lines
.

represents a note o f musi c and that the i rregu larity o f

,

their arrangement indicates the suc cession of these

notes ; so that each of these crooked lines signifies the
movement of one of the parts of the melody the four ,
 FO R M S B U I LT B! M US I C 79

moving approxi m ately together denoti ng the treble ,

alto tenor and bass respectively though they do not

, ,

nec essarily appear in that order in this astral form .

H ere it is nece ssary to interpolate a still further ex

planation E ven with a melody so comparatively
.

simple as this there are tints and shades far too fin el y

modulated to be reproduced on any scale at all withi n
ou r reach ; therefore it must be said that each of t he
short lines expressing a not e has a colour of i ts own ,

so that although as a whole that outer line gives an

impression of blueness and the one next within it o f
,

carmine eac h yet varies in eve ry inch of its length ; so

,

that what i s shown is not a correct rep rod uc tion o f

every ti nt but only the general impression
, .

The two sets of four lines whi ch seem to c ross o ne

another are ca used by two sec tions o f the melody
the scalloped edging surrounding the whole i s the resul t
o f various flourishes and arpeggios and the floating
,

c res cen ts in the centre represent isolated or staccat o

chords N aturally t he arpeggios a re not wholly violet
.
,

for each Ioop has a di fferent hue but on the whole they
,

approach more nearly to that colour than to any o ther .

The height of this form above the tower of the church

is probably a little over a hundred feet ; but since it also
extends downwards through the roof of the church i t s
total perpendi cular diameter may well be about a hundred
and fifty feet I t is produc ed by one of Mendelssohn s
.
’

L ieder ohne W o rte and is characteristi c of the de licate

,

filig ree work which so o ften appears as the result o f

-

his compositions .

T he whole form is seen p rojected agai nst a co ruscat

ing background of many c olours which is in reality a
,
8o T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

cloud surrounding it upon every side caused by the

,

vibrations which are pouring out from it in all directions .

G o uno d — I n Plate G we have an entirely di fferent

piece — a ringing chorus by Gounod Since the
.

church in the illustration is the same it is easy to ,

calculate that in this case the highest point of the form

must rise fully si x hundred feet above the tower though ,

the perpendicular diameter of the form is somewhat

less than that for the organist has evi dently finished
,

some minutes ago and the per fected shape floats high
,

in the air clearly defined and roughly spherical though

, ,

rathe r an oblate spheroid This spheroid is hollow as

.
,

are all su ch forms fo r it is slowly in creasing in size

,

gradually radiating outward from its centre but growing ,

proportionately less vivid and more ethereal in appear

ance as it does so unti l at last it loses coherence and
,

fades away mu ch as a wreath of smoke might do .

The golden glory surrounding and inte rpenetrating it

indi cates as before the radiation of its vibrations whi ch ,

i n th is case Show the dominant yellow in much greater

’
proportion than did Mendelssohn s gentler musi c .

The colouring here is far more brilliant and massive

than in Plate M for this mus ic is not so much a thread
,

of murmurous melody as a splendid succession o f crashing

chords The artist has sought to give the e ffect o f
.

the Chords rather than that of the separate notes the ,

latter being s carcely possible on a scale so small as

this I t is therefore more di ffi cult here to follow the
.

development o f the form for in this much longer piece

,

the lines have crossed and intermingled un til w e have

,

little but the gorgeous general effect which the composer

—
must have intended us to feel and to see if we were ,
 FO R M S B U I L T BY M U S I C 81

able to see . N ever theless it is poss ible to disce rn

something o f the proces s whi ch builds the fo rm and ,

the easiest point at whi c h to commen ce is the lowest

on the left hand as one examines the Plate The large .

violet prot rusio n there is evidently the Openi ng chord

o f a phrase and i f we follow t he ou ter line o f the form
,

upward and ro und the circumference we may obtain

some idea of the c harac ter o f that phrase A c lose
in spec tion will reveal two other lines further in which run
roughly parallel to this outer one and show simila r
,

successions o f colour on a smaller scale and these may

,

well indicate a softer repetition o f the same ph rase .

C areful analysis o f this natu re will soon convince us

t hat t here is a very real order in this seem ing chaos ,

and we shall c ome to see that i f it were poss ible to

make a reprod uc tion o f this glowing glory that should
be a cc urate down to the smallest detail it wo uld also,

be possible patiently to disentangle it to the u ttermost ,

and t o ass ign every lovely touch o f co ruscating colour

to the very note that c alled it i nto existence I t must
not be forgotten that very far less detail is given in
this illustration than in Plate M ; fo r example ea c h of ,

these points or projec tions has within it as integral

parts at least the four lines or bands of varying c olour
,

whi ch were shown as separate i n Plate M but her e ,

they a re blended into one shade and only the gen eral
,

eflect o f the chord is given . I n M we combined

horizontally and t ried to show the charac teristi cs of a
, ,

n umber of succes sive notes blended into one but to ,

keep distinct the effec t of the four simultaneo us parts

by using a di fferently colou red line fo r each I n G
-
.

we attempt exac tly the reverse fo r we combin e verti

,

6
 82 T H O U G H T FO RM S
-

c all y and blend not the s uc cess ive notes o f o ne part

, , ,

but the chords eac h p robably c ontaining si x or eight

,

n otes The true appearan ce combines these two e ffects

.

with an inexpre ssi ble wealth o f detail

W
.

ag ner.
— N o one who has devoted any study to
t h ese mu si cal fo rms would hesitate in as cribing the
mar ve llous mountain range depi c ted in Plate W to the
-

geniu s o f Ri chard Wagner fo r no other composer has

,

yet built sound edifi ces with such power and decisio n .

In this case we have a vast bell S haped erection fully

-

n ine hundred feet in height:and but little less in diameter

at the bottom floating in the air above the church out
,

of wh i ch it has ari sen I t is hollow like Gounod s form

. ,
’
,

but unli ke that it is o pen at the bottom The resem

, ,
.

blan c e to the su ccessively ret reating ramparts o f a

mountain is almost perfec t and it i s heightened by the
,

billowy masses of cloud which ro ll between the crags

and give the e ffect of perspect ive N o att e mpt has .

been made in this drawing to show the effect of single

notes or si ngle chords ; each range of mi mi c rocks
represents in size shape and colour only the general
, ,
'

effec t of one of the sections o f the piece o f m usic as seen

from a distance But it must be understood that in
.

reality both this and the form given in Plate G are

as full of mi nute details as that depicted in Plate M ,

and that all these magn ific ent masses of colour are built
up of many comparatively small b ands whi ch would not
be sepa rately visibl e upon the scale on which this is
drawn The broad resul t is that each mountain peak
.
-

has its own brilliant hue just as it i s se en in the

,

—
illu stration a splendid splash o f vivid colo ur glowing ,

with the glory of its own livin g light sp reading its ,

 FO RM S B U I L T B! MUSIC 83

resplend ent radian ce over all the co un try round Yet .

in each of these masses o f colou r other colours are

consta n tly flickering as they do over the surfac e of
,

molten metal so that the coruscations and s cintillation s

,

of these wondrous astral edifi c es are far beyond the

power of any physical words to desc ribe .

A striking featu re in this form is the radical differen ce

between the two types o f musi c which oc c ur in it one ,

produ cing the angular roc ky masses and the other the
,

rounded billowy clouds whi c h lie between them Other .

mo t if s are shown by the broad ban ds o f blue and

rose and green which appear at the base of the bell ,

and the meandering lines of white and yellow which

q uiver across them are p robably produced by a rippli ng
arpeggio accompaniment .

I n the se three Plates only the form created dire ctly

by the sound vibratio ns has been drawn though as seen
-

by the c lai r voyant it is usually surrounded by many other

minor forms the result o f the pe rso nal feeli ngs of t he
,

performer or of the em otion s aroused among the audience

by the music To recapitulate briefly : in Plate M
.

we have a small and comparatively simple form pour

t rayed in c onsiderable detail something of the e ffect o f
,

each note be i ng given ; in Plate G we have a more

elaborate form o f very different Chara c ter delineated
wi th less detail sin ce no attempt is made to render the
,

separate notes but only to Show how each cho rd expresses

,

itself in form and c olour ; in Plate W we have a sti ll

greater and ri cher form in the depi c ti on of which all
,

detail is avoided in order that the full effect of the piece

,

as a whole may be approximately given .

N atu rally every so und makes its impression upon

84 T H O UG H T FO RM S -

—
astral and mental matter not only those ordered
successio ns o f sounds which we call m usi c Some day . ,

perhaps the fo rms built by th o se other less euphonious

,

sounds may be pict ured fo r us tho ugh they are beyond ,

the scope o f this treatise ; meantime those who feel an ,

interest in them may read an a ccou nt o f them in the

1

I t is well fo r us ever t o bear in min d that there is a

—
hidden S ide to li fe that eac h ac t and word and tho ught
has its con sequence in the unseen world which is always
so near to us and that usually these unseen results are
,

o f infinitely greater importan ce than those which are

visible to all upon the physi cal plan e The wise man ,

knowing t his orde rs his life ac cordingly and takes

, ,

ac count of the whole of the world in which he lives and ,

not of the outer husk o f it only Thus he saves himself .

an infinity o f trouble and makes his li fe not only happier

,

but far more u se ful to his fellow men But to do th i s -

.

—
implies knowledge that knowledge which is power ;
and in our Western world such knowledge is practi cally
obtainable only through the lite ratu re of Theoso phy .

To exi st is not enough we desire to live intelligently .

But to live we must know and to kn ow we m ust study

,
’

and berc is a vast field open before us if we will only ,

en ter upon it and gather thence the fruits of enligh t en

m ent. Let us then waste no more time i n the dark
, ,

dungeons of ign o rance but come forth boldly into the

,

glorio us su ns hine of that divine wisdom which in these

modern days men call Theosophy .

1 B y C. W . Lead bu t er.

PR I NTE D B ! N E IL !. A N D CO ., LTD . , E D I N B U RG H .