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OCCULT VIBRATIONS

A FRAGMENT OF CONVERSATION WITH H.P.B. IN 1888.

[The Path, New York, Vol. VIII, June, 1893, pp. 79-81]

The following was written by me at the dictation of H.P.B. in 1888 with the purpose of printing it at that time. But it was not used then, and as I brought it home with me it is now of interest.—W. Q. J.*

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Quest.—It has struck me while thinking over the difference between ordinary people and an adept or even a partly developed student, that the rate of vibration of the brain molecules, as well as the coordination of those with the vibrations of the higher brain, may lie at the bottom of the difference and also might explain many other problems.

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* [This introductory Note is by William Quan Judge.—Compiler.]
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H.P.B.—So they do. They make differences and also cause many curious phenomena; and the differences among all persons are greatly due to vibrations of all kinds.
Q.—In reading the article in The Path of April, 1886, this idea was again suggested. I open at p. 6, Vol. I. “The Divine Resonance is only the outbreathing of the first sound of the entire Aum. . . . It manifests itself not only as the power which stirs up and animates the particles of the Universe, but also in the evolution and dissolution of man, of the animal and mineral kingdom, and of solar systems. Among the Aryans it was represented in the planetary system by Mercury, who has always been said to govern the intellectual faculties and to be the universal stimulator.” What of this?
H.P.B.—Mercury was always known as the god of secret wisdom. He is Hermes as well as Budha the son of Soma. Speaking of matters on the lower plane, I would call the “Divine Resonance” you read of in The Path “vibrations” and the originator, or that which gives the impulse to every kind of phenomena in the astral plane.
Q.—The difference found in human brains and natures must, then, have their root in differences of vibration?
H.P.B.—Most assuredly so.
Q.—Speaking of mankind as a whole, is it true that all have one key or rate of vibration to which they respond?
H.P.B.—Human beings in general are like so many keys on the piano, each having its own sound, and the combination of which produces other sounds in endless variety. Like inanimate nature they have a keynote from which all the varieties of character and constitution proceed by endless change. Remember what was said in Isis Unveiled, at p. xvi, Vol. I, “The universe is the combination of a thousand elements, and yet the expression of a single spirit—a chaos to the sense [physical], a cosmos to the reason” (manas).
Q.—So far this applies generally to nature. Does it explain the difference between the adept and ordinary people?

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H.P.B.—Yes. This difference is that an adept may be compared to that one key which contains all the keys in the great harmony of nature. He has the synthesis of all keys in his thoughts, whereas ordinary man has the same key as a basis, but only acts and thinks on one or a few changes of this great key, producing with his brain only a few chords out of the whole great possible harmony.
Q.—Has this something to do with the fact that a disciple may hear the voice of his master through the astral spaces, while another man cannot hear or communicate with the adepts?
H.P.B.—This is because the brain of a chela is attuned by training to the brain of the Master. His vibrations synchronize with those of the Adept, and the untrained brain is not so attuned. So the chela’s brain is abnormal, looking at it from the standpoint of ordinary life, while that of the ordinary man is normal for worldly purposes. The latter person may be compared to those who are colour-blind.
Q.—How am I to understand this?
H.P.B.—What is considered normal from the view of the physician is considered abnormal from the view of occultism, and vice versa. The difference between a colour-blind signal man who mistakes the lamps and the adept who sees is that the one takes one colour for another, while the adept sees all the colours in every colour and yet does not confuse them together.
Q.—Has the adept, then, raised his vibrations so as to have them the same as those of nature as a whole?
H.P.B.—Yes; the highest adepts. But there are other adepts who, while vastly in advance of all men, are still unable to vibrate to such a degree.
Q.—Can the adept produce at his will a vibration which will change one colour to another?
H.P.B.—He can produce a sound which will alter a colour. It is the sound which produces the colour, and not the other or opposite. By correlating the vibrations of a sound in the proper way a new colour is made.
Q.—Is it true that on the astral plane every sound always produces a colour?

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H.P.B.—Yes; but these are invisible because not yet correlated by the human brain so as to become visible on the earth plane. Read Galton, who gives experiments with colours and sounds as seen by psychics and sensitives, showing that many sensitive people always see a colour for every sound. The colour-blind man has coming to him the same vibrations as will show red, but not being able to sense these he alters the amount, so to say, and then sees a colour corresponding to the vibrations he can perceive out of the whole quantity. His astral senses may see the true colour, but the physical eye has its own vibrations, and these, being on the outer plane, overcome the others for the time, and the astral man is compelled to report to the brain that it saw correctly. For in each case the outer stimulus is sent to the inner man, who then is forced, as it were, to accept the message and to confirm it for the time so far as it goes. But there are cases where the inner man is able to even then overcome the outer defect and to make the brain see the difference. In many cases of lunacy the confusion among the vibrations of all kinds is so enormous that there is no correlation between the inner and the outer man, and we have then a case of aberration. But even in some of these unfortunate cases the person inside is all the time aware that he is not insane but cannot make himself be understood. Thus often persons are driven really insane by wrong treatment.
Q.—By what manner of vibrations do the elementals make colours and lights of variety?
H.P.B.—That is a question I cannot reply to though it is well known to me. Did I not tell you that secrets might be revealed too soon?