Question: The Western Wisdom Teachings state that the white blood corpuscles
are not the policemen of the system. What then is their origin and mission?
(Vol.II, #50)
Answer: To make this clear to most people it is first necessary to say that
besides the dense body which is visible to all of us, there are finer vehicles
which interpenetrate this organism and which are the springs to its
activities. One is the vital (etheric) body, composed of ether and concerned
in building the dense body by the food which we take into the system. It
controls all the vital functions, such as respiration, digestion,
assimilation, etc., and works through the sympathetic nervous system. Another,
still finer vehicle, is called the desire body. This is the vehicle of our
emotions, feelings, and desires which expends the energies stored in the dense
body by the vital processes through control of the cerebro-spinal or voluntary
nervous system. In its activities this desire body is constantly destroying
and breaking down tissue built up by the vital body and it is the war between
these two vehicles which causes what we call consciousness in the physical
world. The etheric forces in the vital body act in such a manner that they
convert as much of the food as possible into blood, and this is the highest
expression of the vital body.
In the lower animals, from the birds on downward, which are entirely under
the guidance of an invisible guardian called the Group Spirit, the blood is
nucleated, but in the higher mammals which are upon the threshold of
individualization, and particularly in man, who has become an individual,
indwelling Spirit, there are no nuclei in the blood corpuscles. Even in the
fetus, which is formed under the sole guidance of the mother during the first
three weeks, and therefore has nucleated blood corpuscles in that period, they
cease to be formed as soon as the Ego which is to live in the body enters.
This happens about twenty-one days after conception, and by the time of the
quickening the indwelling Ego in the fetus has destroyed all the nucleated
corpuscles. From henceforth none are formed, for the Ego must be master of its
vehicle. That is not the case where there is a nucleus or center in the blood
corpuscles which affords a foothold for another Spirit. It is easily
demonstrated that the life is in the blood, for while we may sometimes with
impunity amputate an arm or limb, we cannot deplete the body of blood without
also killing it.
Thus the blood is the particular vehicle of the Ego, and as in the past
aeons of development we have crystallized matter in order to form our dense
body, so also it is destined that now we must etherealize our vehicles in
order that we may lift ourselves and the world out of the realm of materiality
and into the spiritual. Naturally, therefore, the Ego aims first to make the
blood gaseous, and to the spiritual sight, this red unnucleated blood is not a
fluid, but a gas. It is no argument against this assertion that the moment we
prick our skin the blood comes out as a liquid. The moment we open up the try-
cock of a steam boiler the gas also condenses into a liquid, but if we make a
model steam engine of glass and look at the way steam works there we shall see
only the piston move backward and forward, driven by an invisible agent, live
steam. Similarly as the live steam direct from the boiler is invisible and
gaseous, so also the live blood in the human body is a gas, and the higher the
state of development of any given Ego, the more ethereal it is able to make
the blood.
When, by the vital processes, food has reached this highest alchemical
state, the process of condensation begins and the blood-gas is formed into
tissue in the various organs to replace what has been wasted or destroyed by
the activities of the body. The spleen is the gateway of the vital body. There
the solar force which abounds in the surrounding atmosphere enters in a
constant stream, to aid us in the vital processes, and there also the war
between the desire body and the vital body is waged most fiercely.
Thoughts of worry, fear, and anger interfere with the processes of
evaporation in the spleen. A speck of plasm is the result, and this is at once
seized upon by a thought elemental which forms a nucleus and embodies itself
therein. Then it commences to live a life of destruction, coalescing with
other waste products and decaying elements whenever formed, making the body a
charnel house instead of the temple of an indwelling living Spirit. We may
therefore say that every white corpuscle which has been taken by an outside
entity is to the Ego a lost opportunity. The more of these lost opportunities
there are in the body, the less is the body under control of the Ego.
Therefore, we find them present in larger numbers in diseased people than in
those possessing health. It may also may be said that the person of a jovial
good nature or one who is devoutly religious and has an absolute faith and
trust in divine providence and love, will register many less lost
opportunities, or white blood corpuscles, than those who are always worrying
and fretting.
The Food of the Future
Question: Since evolutionary progress demands changes in man's food from time
to time, will you kindly indicate some characteristics of the food of the
future? (Vol. II, #52)
Answer: At the present time food taken internally is broken down and
decomposed by heat inside the body. Thus the chemical ether permeating each
particle of food combines with the chemical ether of our vital body. The food
magnetized by the Sun working in the plant is thereby assimilated, and remains
with us until this magnetism is exhausted. The more directly food comes to us
from the soil, the more solar magnetism it contains. Consequently, it "stays
with us" the longest when eaten uncooked. When food has gone through the
process of cooking, a part of the ether it contained is lost, as a number of
the finer particles are dissolved by heat and ascend in the kitchen as odor
from whatever food it comes. Consequently the cells of cooked food remain a
shorter time as a part of our body than in the case of uncooked food, and food
which has already been assimilated by the animal has very little chemical
ether of its own (except milk which is obtained by a vital process and has a
greater quantity of ether than any other food). Hence with regard to the flesh
of animals it may be said that most of the chemical ether in the fodder has
gone into the vital body of the animal before it was killed, and at its death
the vital body leaves the carcass. Therefore flesh putrefies very much quicker
than vegetables and "stays with us" only a short time after we eat it.
Death and disease are largely due to the fact that we subsist on food
composed of cells robbed of their individual chemical ether obtained during
plant assimilation. This is different and not to be confused with the
planetary chemical ether which permeates mineral, plant, animal, and man. But
the flesh food deprived by death of the individual vital body which ensouled
the animal during life is really reduced to its chemical mineral form and as
such is of small value in vital processes. In fact, it is a detriment thereto
and ought to be eliminated from the system as quickly as possible. But being
mineral, these particles of flesh are dead and difficult to move. Therefore,
they accumulate gradually. Even a part of the plant food which is ash and
mineral stays in our system, so there is a gradual process of clogging which
we describe as growth. This is because we rob the plant or other food of its
chemical ether. Were we like the plants and capable of impregnating the
mineral with ether we would really be able to assimilate it and grow to giant
statures, but as it is, the dead material accumulates more and more until
finally growth s stopped, because our powers of assimilation become less and
less efficient.
In the future we shall not digest our food inside the body, but extract the
chemical ether and inhale it through the nose where it comes in contact with
the pituitary body. This is the general organ of assimilation and promoter of
growth. Then our body will become more and more ethereal, the life processes
will not be hindered by clogging waste and consequently disease will gradually
disappear and life be lengthened. It is significant in this connection that
often cooks feel no inclination to eat because the pungent odor of cooking
satisfies them to a great extent.
Science is gradually learning the truths previously by occult science and
their attention is being more and more directed to the ductless glands which
will give them the solution of many mysteries. However, they do not seem to be
aware as yet that there is a physical connection between the pituitary body,
the principal organ of assimilation, and therefore of growth, and the
adrenals, which eliminate the waste and assimilate the proteins. These are
also physically connected both with the spleen and the thymus and thyroid
glands. It is significant in this connection from the astrological point of
view, that the pituitary body is ruled by Uranus, which is the higher octave
of Venus, the ruler of the solar plexus where the seed atom of the vital body
is located. Thus Venus keeps the gate of the vital fluid coming direct from
the Sun through the spleen, and Uranus is warder of the gate where enters the
physical food. It is the blending of these two streams which produces the
latent power stored up in our vital body until converted to dynamic energy by
the martial desire nature.
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