168
material
and
the spiritual.
One
may now devote
a little
attention
to
the consideration
of this " plane,"
about
which
a great deal of nonsense
has been written.
When a man shuts his eyes and begins to look
about him, at first there
is nothing
but darkness.
If he continues
trying
to penetrate
the gloom,
a new pair of eyes gradually
opens.
Some people think that these are the " eyes
of imagination."
Those
with more experience
understand
that this
truly
represents things
seen,
although
those things are themselves
totally
false.
At first the seer will perceive
gray gloom ; in subsequent
experiments
perhaps
figures
may
appear
with
whom
the
seer may
converse,
and
under
whose
guidance
he may travel
about.
This " plane " being quite
as large
and varied
as
the
material
Universe,
one
cannot
describe
it
effectively;
we
must
refer
the
reader
to Liber O and
to Equinox II,
pages 295
to 334.
This " Astral Plane " has
been
described
by Homer
in the Odyssey.
Here are Polyphemus
and the Laestrygons,
here Calypso and the Sirens.
Here,
too,
are
those
things
which
many
have
imagined
to
be
the
" spirits " of the dead.
If the student
once take any of these things
for
truth,
he must worship
it,
since
all
truth
is
worshipful.
In such
a
case
he
is
lost;
the phantom
will have power over him;
it
will obsess him.
As long as
an idea is being examined you
are free from