The Astral World—Higher Occult Powers / Clairvoyance, Spiritism, Mediumship, and Spirit-Healing Fully Explained

by Joel Tiffany

From considerations of this kind it becomes evident that anticipated pleasures are illegitimate, and belong to the school of lusts, and do not tend to beget true happiness; and that just in proportion as the individual is absorbed in the anticipated pleasures or duties of the morrow, he is disregarding the true law of his being, neglecting present needs, and laying the foundation for defeating the very end he seeks. Man, as a physical, intellectual, moral, and religious being, has needs pertaining to each and every department thereof, and consequently in supplying these needs he becomes receptive of pleasure from every department of his being. When he is truly and harmoniously unfolded, all his needs are orderly and harmoniously set forth; and when he truly complies with their demand, his delights or gratifications blend or flow together in one harmonious stream, and his whole soul is filled with the divinest melody, instinct with the present God. But note, the moment he neglects a single need, or misdirects the energies of his being, there is not only a strain which is not represented in the choral anthem of God, but it is caused to vibrate discordantly with those strains which are represented, and instead of a soul pulsating with the divinest melody and joy, you have it harshly jarring to the discordant notes of antagonism and death.

The principles of this philosophy affirm that man must attend to the needs of every department of his being, if he would develop harmoniously. The Divine, in the plenitude of his wisdom, has given to man nothing superfluous. His physical body, with its needs, is just as essential to the perfect man as is his spiritual being; and its demands are as imperative in their sphere. And man is as really obeying the Divine in truly administering to his physical as to his spiritual needs; and the pleasures attending the true administration are as true and just in their sphere as are those pertaining to more exalted spheres of being and action. He who despises and afflicts his body to benefit his soul mistakes the divine order and method, and in afflicting his body wars with the true interests and destiny of his immortal being. The disposition to afflict the body for the benefit of the soul is that higher manifestation of the selfish and lustful principle turning its weapons purposely upon itself. Its aim is self-gain, and, through that, self-gratification. Hence the cloistered nun, the solitary monk, and the stern ascetic, of whatever school, are violating the divine method and law as much as is the pleasure-seeking worldling. They are as really under the dominion of their lusts for self-gratification as any other class. Their expenditure of worldly pleasure has respect to the spiritual, which they hope thereby to obtain; and, like any other selfish being, they only act with respect to some expected gain, bringing with it enjoyment or gratification.

The great error of the world is that it does not distinguish between the true and false impulse, giving rise to true and false action, out of which grows true and false development, bringing existence into antagonism and false relation.

Said the Divine Teacher, speaking of little children, “Of such is the kingdom of heaven.” The infant at birth instinctively obeys the law of its being, and it continues to do so in every department of its being which does not come under the rule of its conscious, voluntary action. When it feels the demand for food to nourish and develop its infantile body, it indicates that demand by its restlessness and complainings; and when the demand is supplied, its complainings cease. It does not ask for gratification beyond the supply of its needs; that it does ask for, and must have to give it quiet. During this early period it eats to live, and continues to do so until, by its development, another nature with its needs is brought into conscious existence, and neglected. Then the unsatisfied demands of that other nature impart disquiet to the being, and he begins to search after gratification. It is in this way that lust is begotten. It is never felt until the demand of some need is neglected, and it is an immutable law that such neglect must beget lust; and hence whoever feels the demand for gratification of any sort hears the voice of God within proclaiming a neglected demand, a perishing need. He sees the cherubim of God standing at the gate of Paradise, with a drawn sword of flame turning in every direction, guarding the tree of life. Thus man’s lusts proclaim his imperishable needs, and, when truly understood, they are but the echo of God’s voice calling upon him to return and live.

The child naturally comes under the dominion of its lusts through ignorance. It feels the disquieting influence of its neglected needs; it feels discontented and unhappy, and therefore it seeks gratification in such direction as experience has taught it it might sometimes be found. He early learns the pleasures of sense. He could not comply with the demands of his physical nature without knowing them; hence, when he feels a demand for something—he does not know what—what more natural than that he should seek sensual gratification. Thus it is according to the figure, that man partakes of the forbidden fruit before his eyes are opened to know good and evil. His first disobedience is in consequence of his ignorance of the nature and requirements of his needs; and, seeking to obtain gratification, he violates the true law of his being. But as man has needs pertaining to his physical, intellectual, moral, and religious natures, and as there are pleasures pertaining to the proper supplying of them, man’s lusts may lead him to act in either the physical, intellectual, or moral and religious departments; and, as already remarked, the grossness of the lust will depend upon the plan and the means by which it seeks gratification. Reflection will demonstrate that the different lusts, as they are called, differ not in the primary impulse, but differ in the manner of seeking gratification. Man, in the external and finite of his being, may be differently affected by the different modes of gratification which his lust prompts him to seek. Thus the physical effect produced upon him by seeking gratification through his appetite for strong drink, will be different from that produced upon him by seeking gratification through his relish for food or social amusement. Seeking gratification through the improper exercise of any of the faculties of the body or mind tends to produce injury in two ways.

First, the tendency is to call off the attention from the actual needs of the being, so that the proper demands are neglected, and thereby lustful desires become intensified by the influx of an unnatural degree of energy in that false direction. And second, by overtaxing the capacity of those organs which are used for lustful gratification. Thus the inebriate and glutton who make use of their appetites as a means of gratification, often weaken and disease the organs of digestion and assimilation, and thereby disqualify them for performing their proper functions. Man can not engage in lustful exercises without subjecting himself to these twofold evils. And their manifestation will be according to the plane of the lust and the means adopted for its gratification. But while lusts differ thus in their modes of expression, as well as in their primary and secondary effects upon the individual, they are all alike in their inception, and in the end sought to be attained. They all have their beginning in the neglect of some need, which creates a sense of lack, and they all seek self-gratification irrespective of such need; so that all lust, in whatever plane found, is alike in its origin and end. All are fatal to true happiness.

The general sameness of character of all lusts accounts for the singular compounds and apparent incongruities of character found in certain individuals. That is, it is not unfrequent to find individuals remarkable for their zeal in politics, morals, and religion, carried away at times by the grossest lusts. Men, eminent for their piety, sometimes have been notorious for their intemperance and lewdness; and the world have been astonished at it. But a careful attention to the distinction to be made between the true impulse and lust soon solves the mystery. Such men are pre-eminently under the influence of lust in every department of their being—in the moral and religious as well as in the physical. The piety of such men may be ever so deep and earnest, yet its basis is in use. They see nothing in the Divine character or perfections which excites in them love or admiration any further than it is to bear upon their own well-being and happiness. Their love of God is a love of the instrument or means by which they are to become supremely blessed. And their love, after all, is a love of their own happiness, and of God as essential to their happiness. If they should discover that God stood in the way of their future enjoyment, they would like him no better than any other enemy.

Such minds mistake lust for love, and in seeking their own happiness call it seeking God; and in rejoicing in their anticipations, call it rejoicing in God. The man that seeks religion for the sake of securing to himself salvation and endless delight, is just as lustful and selfish as he who seeks gratification in any other way. Man may go a whoring after strange gods as well as after strange women.

Those who appeal to men to get religion in order that they may escape misery and secure happiness, appeal to their lusts, and so far as they influence them by their appeals to their hopes and fears, they stimulate them to lust. The individual who seeks religion for the purpose of saving his soul, is exercising the very impulse which most of all tends to defeat his salvation. Hence said Jesus upon this very point, “Whosoever seeketh to save his life shall lose it,” etc. The very impulse is as selfish and undivine as possible. It is for this very reason that the influence of the popular religions of the day is not redemptive in its character. To say to the world that when all should be converted to the religion of these fashionable churches, the millennium would come, would provoke in the highest degree their sense of the ludicrous. Their lustful seeking after self-gratification is so apparent and gross, that they can not even deceive themselves.

It will not be considered a false declaration when I say, that there is no possible resemblance of character or practice between these modern fashionable Christians and Jesus of Nazareth. The redemptive principle of the religion of Jesus can not be found in their religion. The difference is, Jesus was seeking the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, while they are seeking self-gratification. The impulse in Jesus was that of religious love; theirs is a religious lust. The impulse in Jesus led him to hunger and thirst after righteousness; theirs leads them to hunger and thirst after the things of sense. Jesus, in the things pertaining to the world, was the Lazarus; they are the Dives.