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Esoteric Healing - Chapter I - The Psychological Causes of Disease
Much is said today in modern medical investigation anent the "imbalance" of the endocrine glands, and many physical difficulties are ascribed to this frequent imbalance. But behind this condition of the glandular system lies the basic imbalance of the centers themselves. Only when there is a right understanding of force and its reception and consequent use, will right balance be achieved and the human endocrine system control the physical man in the manner that is intended.

There is much need today for the study of the following problems:

  1. The problem of the right reception of force through the appropriate center. An instance of this might be found in the correct control of the solar plexus center as the one in which astral sensitivity can be registered and properly handled. [85]
  2. The problem of the right relation of a particular center to its related gland, permitting the free play of the force pouring through the center to the allied glandular correspondence, thus conditioning its peculiar hormone and eventually conditioning the blood stream. If you grasp this sequence of contact, you will understand more clearly the occult significance of the words in the Old Testament that "the blood is the life." It is the vitality coming from the etheric body which works through into the blood stream, via the center which is responsive to one of the seven peculiar types of force, and its allied gland. It will be apparent, therefore, that there is a close relation between:
    1. The etheric body as a transmitter of a vast aggregate of energies and forces.
    2. The endocrine system whose various glands are in reality the externalization or materialization of the centers, major and minor.
    3. The heart, which is the center of life as the brain is the center of consciousness. From the heart, the blood circulates and is controlled. Thus these three great systems are related.
    4. The entire glandular system to the nervous system through the medium of the network of nerves and the "nadis" which underlie this network. These nadis are the threads of life force which underlie every part of the body and particularly the nervous system in all its aspects.

To these problems and relationships another might be added. This is the interrelation which must be established between all the centers, permitting the free play of force in correct rhythm throughout the physical vehicle. [86]

You have, therefore, certain great interlocking directorates which control or fail to control the physical body. Where there is lack of control it is due to the failure to establish right relations within the body, or to lack of development. These interlocking groups are:

  1. That of the etheric body, which works primarily through its seven major centers but also through many other centers.
  2. That of the endocrine system, which works primarily through the seven major glandular groups, but also through many other less important glands.
  3. That of the nervous system (the sympathetic and the cerebro-spinal) with a peculiar emphasis laid upon the vagus nerve with its effect upon the heart and consequently upon the blood stream.

All these points have to be considered and correlated in any system of occult healing, and the technical matter to be covered is, in the last analysis, less intricate than the vast system built up by orthodox medicine and surgery. It is because of the lack of coordination of these three systems that the healing art is at this time failing to achieve all that it desires. It has done much, but must move another step onto the etheric plane before the real clue to disease and its cure can be ascertained.

For instance, lack of vitality and the common subnormal conditions with which we are so familiar, indicate the inertia of the etheric body and its lack of vitality. The results of this inertness of the vital body can be both physical and psychological, because the glands in the physical body will not function normally and, as is well known, they condition the physical expression of man as well as his emotional and mental states, in so far as those are able or not able to [87] find expression through the medium of the physical vehicle. The glands do not condition the inner man or his states of consciousness, but they can and do prevent those inner states finding manifestation outwardly. In the reverse situation, too powerful an etheric body and the over-stimulation of the centers concerned, may put too great a strain upon the nervous system and produce, as a consequence, definite nervous trouble, migraine, mental and emotional imbalance and, in some cases, lead to insanity.

I have elaborated this matter somewhat because the relation of the etheric body to the physical body and its receptivity to the inner energies most decidedly condition the man. It will be necessary for us to have this ever in mind as we study the causes of the diseases arising in the mental body, or due to the activity of the soul in the life of the disciple, or as we investigate the processes whereby a man is prepared for initiation. The etheric body must always, and invariably does, act as the transmitting agent of the inner energies to the outer plane, and the physical body has to learn to respond to and recognize that which is transmitted. The effectiveness of the transmission and the resultant physical activity depend always upon the centers, which, in their turn, condition the glands; these, later, determine the nature and the expressed consciousness of the man. If the centers are awakened and receptive, there will be found a physical apparatus which will be responsive to the forces flowing through. If the centers are asleep, and thus little force can be transmitted, you will find a physical apparatus which will be equally slow and unresponsive. If the centers below the diaphragm are awakened and those above are not, you will have a man whose consciousness will be focused in the animal and the emotional natures, and much of his physical disease will lie below the diaphragm also. You will see, therefore, how intricate and complex [88] this whole matter is - so complex that it will only be truly understood when human beings regain the lost power to "see the light" of the etheric body and of its seven major centers and, through a developed sense of touch in the hands and fingers, to ascertain the rate of vibration in the various centers. When these two means of knowledge are available, the entire subject of the etheric body will take on a new importance and be correctly understood.
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