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CHAPTER XIV.— The Qualifications Required · Invisible Helpers

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  Chapter fourteen of Invisible Helpers. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  LibriVox dot org. Invisible Helpers by C. W. Leadbetter. The qualifications
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  required, how it may be asked, are we to make ourselves capable of
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  sharing in this great work? Well, there is no mystery as to the
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  qualifications which are needed by one who aspires to be a helper. The difficulty
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  is not in learning what they are, but in developing them in oneself.
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  To some extent, they have been already incidentally described, but it is nevertheless
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  as well that they should be set out fully and categorically. First, single
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  mindedness, The first requisite is that we shall have recognized the great work which
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  the Masters would have us do, and that it shall be for us the
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  one great interest of our lives. We must learn to distinguish not only between
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  useful and useless work, but between the different kinds of useful work, so
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  that we may each devote ourselves to the very highest of which we are capable,
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  and not fritter away our time in laboring at something, which, however
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  good it may be for the man who cannot yet do anything better is unworthy
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  of the knowledge and capacity which should be ours. As theosophists, a man
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  who wishes to be considered eligible for employment on higher planes must begin by doing
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  the utmost that lies in his power in the way of definite work for theosophy
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  down here, of course, I do not mean for a moment that we
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  are to neglect the ordinary duties of life. We should certainly do well to
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  undertake no new worldly duties of any sort. But those which we have already
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  bound upon our shoulders have become a karmic obligation which we have no right to
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  neglect. Unless we have done to the full the duties which Karma has laid
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  upon us. We are not free for the higher work. But this higher
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  work must nevertheless be to us the one thing really worth living, for the
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  constant background of a life which is consecrated to the service of the masters of
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  compassion. Second, perfect self control. Before we can be safely trusted with
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  the wider powers of the astral life, we must have ourselves perfectly in hand.
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  Our temper, for example, must be thoroughly under control, so that
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  nothing that we may see or hear can cause real irritation in us, for
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  the consequences of such irritation would be far more serious on that plane than on
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  this. The force of thought is always an enormous power, but down here
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  it is reduced and deadened by the heavy physical brain particles which it has to
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  set in motion. In the astral world, it is far are freer and
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  more potent, and for a man with fully awakened faculty to feel anger against
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  a person there would be to do him serious and perhaps even fatal injury.
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  Not only do we need control of temper, but control of nerve, so
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  that none of the fantastic or terrible sights that we may encounter may be able
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  to shake our dauntless courage. It must be remembered that the pupil who awakens
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  a man upon the astral plane incourages thereby a certain amount of responsibility for his
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  actions and for his safety, so that unless his neophyte had courage to stand
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  alone, the whole of the older worker's time would be wasted in hovering round
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  to protect him, which would be manifestly unreasonable to expect. It is to
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  make sure of this control of nerve and to fit them for the work that
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  has to be done. That candidates are always made now, as in the
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  days of old, pass what are called the tests of earth, water,
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  air, and fire. In other words, they have to learn with that
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  absolute certainty that comes not by theory but by practical experience, that in their
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  astral bodies, none of these elements can, by any possibility be hurtful to
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  them, that none can oppose any obstacle in the way of the work which
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  they have to do. In this physical body. We are fully convinced that
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  fire will burn us, that water will drown us, that the solid rock
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  forms an impassable barrier to our progress, that we cannot with safety launch ourselves
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  unsupported into the ambient air. So deeply is this conviction ingrained in us that
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  it costs most men a good deal of effort to overcome the instinctive action which
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  follows from it, and to realize that in the astral body, the densest
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  rock offers no impediment to their freedom of motion, that they may leap with
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  impunity from the highest cliff and plunge with the most absolute confidence into the heart
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  of the raging volcano or the deepest abysses of the fathomless ocean. Yet until
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  a man knows this, knows it sufficiently to act upon his knowledge instinctively and
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  confidently. He is comparatively useless for astral work, since in emergencies that are
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  constantly arising, he would be perpetually paralyzed by imaginary disabilities. So he has
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  to go through his tests and through many another strange experience to meet face to
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  face with calm, courage the most terrifying apparitions amid the most loathsome surroundings,
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  to show in fact, that his nerve may be thoroughly trusted under any and
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  all of the varied groups of circumstances in which he may at any moment find
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  himself. Further, we need control of mind and of desire of mind,
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  because without the power of concentration, it would be impossible to do good work
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  amid all the distracting currents of the astral plane. Of desire, because in
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  that strange world, to desire is very often to have, and unless this
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  part of our nature were well controlled, we might perchance find ourselves face to
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  face with creations of our own, of which we should be heartily ashamed.
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  Third, calmness, this is another most important point. The absence of all
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  worry and depression. Much of the work consists in soothing those who are disturbed
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  and cheering those who are in sorrow. And how can a help her do
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  that work if his own aura is vibrating with constant fuss and worry, or
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  gray with the deadly gloom that comes from perpetual depression. Nothing is more hopelessly
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  fatal to occult progress or usefulness than our nineteenth century habit of ceaselessly worrying over
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  trifles, of eternally making mountains out of mole hills. Many of us simply
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  spend our lives in magnifying the most absurd trivialities, in solemnly and elaborately going
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  to work to make ourselves miserable about nothing. Surely we who are theosophists,
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  ought at any rate to have got beyond this stage of irrational worry and ceaseless
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  depression. Surely we who are trying to acquire some definite knowledge of the cosmic
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  order, ought by this time to have realized that the optimistic view of everything
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  is always nearest to the divine view and therefore to the truth, because only
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  that in any person which is good and beautiful can by any possibility be permanent,
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  while the evil must, by its very nature be temporary. In fact,
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  as Browning's said, the evil is null, is not is silence implying
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  sound, while above and beyond it all the soul of things is sweet,
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  the heart of being is celestial. Rest. So they who know maintain unruffled
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  calm, and with their perfect sympathy, combine the joyous serenity which comes from
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  the certainty that all will at last be well, and those who wish to
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  help must learn to follow their example. Fourth knowledge, to be of use,
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  the man must at least have some knowledge of the nature of the plane
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  on which he has to work, and the more knowledge he has in any
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  and every direction, the more useful he will be. He must fit himself
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  for this task by carefully studying the theosophical literature, for he cannot expect that
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  those whose time is already so fully occupied to waste sold some of it in
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  explaining to him what he might have learnt down here by taking the trouble to
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  read the books. No one who is not already as earnest a student as
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  his capabilities and opportunities permit need begin to think of himself as a candidate for
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  astral work. Fifth, unselfishness. It would seem scarcely needful to insist upon
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  this as a qualification, for surely every one who has made the least study
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  of theosophy must know that while the slightest taint of selfishness remains in a man,
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  he is not yet fit to be entrusted with the higher powers, not
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  yet fit to enter upon a work of whose very essence it is that the
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  worker should forget himself but to remember the good of others. He who is
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  still capable of selfish thought, whose personality is still so strong in him that
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  he can allow himself to be turned aside from his work by feelings of petty
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  pride or suggestions of wounded dignity. That man is not yet ready to show
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  the selfless devotion of the helper. Sixth love, This, the last and
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  greatest of the qualifications, is also the most misunderstood, most emphatically. It
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  is not the cheap namby pamby backboneless sentimentalism, which is always overflowing into vague
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  platitudes and gushing generalities, yet fears to stand firm for the right lest it
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  should be branded by the ignorant as unbrotherly. What is wanted. Is the
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  love which is strong enough not to boast itself, but to act without talking
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  about it. The intense desire for service, which is ever on the watch
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  for an opportunity to render it, even though it prefers to do so anonymously.
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  The feeling which springs up in the heart of him who has realized the
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  great work of the Logos, and, having once seen it, knows that
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  for him there can be, in the three words, no other course but
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  to identify himself with it, to the utmost limit of his power, to
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  become, in however humble away, and at however great a distance, a
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  tiny channel of that wondrous love of God, which, like the peace of
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  God passes man's understanding. These are the qualities toward the possession of which the
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  helper must ceaselessly strive, and of which some considerable measure at least must be
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  his before he can hope that the great ones who stand behind will deem him
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  fit for a full awakening. The ideal is, in truth a high one.
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  Yet none need therefore turn away disheartened, nor think that while he is
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  still but struggling toward it, he must necessarily remain entirely useless on the austral
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  plane. For short of the responsibilities and dangers of that full awaken, there
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  is much that may safely and usefully be done. There is hardly one among
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  us who would not be capable of performing at least one definite act of mercy
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  and good will each night while we are away from our bodies. Our condition
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  when asleep is usually one of absorption in thought, be it remembered, a
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  carrying on of the thoughts that have principally occupied us during the day, and
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  especially of the last thought in the mind when sinking into sleep. Now,
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  if we make that last thought a strong intention to go and give help to
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  someone whom we know to be in need of it, the soul, when
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  freed from the body, will undoubtedly carry out that intention, and the help
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  will be given. There are several cases on record in which, when this
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  attempt has been made, the person thought of has been fully conscious of the
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  effort of the would be helper, and has even seen his astral body in
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  the act of carrying out the insta tructions impressed upon it. Indeed, no
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  one needs sadden himself with the thought that he can have no part nor lot
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  in this glorious work. Such a feeling would be entirely untrue, for everyone
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  who can think, can help, nor need such useful action be confined to
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  our hours asleep. If you know, and who does not, of someone
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  who is in sorrow or suffering, though you may not be able consciously to
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  stand in astral form by their bedside, you can nevertheless send them loving thoughts
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  and earnest good wishes, and be well assured that such thoughts and wishes are
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  real and living and strong, that when you so send them, they do
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  actually go and work your will in proportion to the strength which you have put
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  into them. Thoughts are things intensely real, things, visible enough to those
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  whose eyes have been opened to see, And by their means, the poorest
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  man may bear his part in the good work of the world as fully as
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  the richest. In this way, at least, whether we can yet function
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  consciously upon the astral plain or not, we all can join, and we
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  all ought to join the army of invisible helpers. But the aspirant who definitely
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  desires to become one of the band of astral helpers who are working under the
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  direction of the great masters of wisdom, will make his preparation part of a
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  far wider scheme of development. Instead of merely endeavoring to fit himself for the
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  particular branch of their service, he will undertake with high resolution the far greater
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  task of training himself to follow in their footsteps, of bending all the energies
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  of his soul to attain even as they have attained, so that his power
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  of helping the world may not be confined to the astral plane, but may
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  extend to those higher levels which are the true home of the divine self of
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  man. For him, the path has been marked out long ago by the
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  wisdom of those who have trodden it in days of old, a path of
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  self development, which, sooner or later all must follow, whether they choose
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  to adopt it of their own free will or wait until after many lives and
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  an infinity of suffering. The slow, resistless force of evolution drives them along
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  it among the laggards of the human family. But the wise man is he
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  who eagerly enters upon it, immediately setting his face resolutely toward the goal of
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  a depth chip, in order that, being safe forever from all doubt and
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  fear and sorrow himself, he may help others into safety and happiness. Also,
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  what are the steps of this path of holiness, as the Buddhists call
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  it, and in what order are they arranged? Let us see in our
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  next chapter. End of Chapter fourteen,