Three methods of working with thought and imagination

In this extract from The Powers of Thought- the reality of spiritual work, the master gives us three methods of working with the powers of thought and imagination:

According to Initiatic Science, the whole of space is filled with a very subtle matter, a formless quintessence, which also envelops and fills each one of us. And it is up to us, God’s children, to give this matter form, to mould it as we would modelling clay and use it to produce wonderful, glorious creations. The invisible world is not indifferent to what we do with it, it observes our creations and pronounces judgement on them.

If it sees men or women who are not contributing to the harmony of the universe, who are destructive or disruptive elements, it deprives them of good conditions and possibilities so that they fall back and revert to a lower level of evolution. And, as you can imagine, between the stones of earth and God, there are many different levels! The important thing, therefore, is to know the best kinds of work for the disciples of an initiatic school: that is what I want to talk to you about today.

The first concern of disciples is to work to perfect themselves, to recover the image of themselves that they possessed once before, a very long time ago, before they left Paradise, and which they have since lost. This is their principle task, to recapture their original countenance which shone with such light, splendour and perfection that all the forces of nature obeyed them.

If Moses said that human beings were created in the image of God, it certainly wasn’t for the words to remain idle and useless. On the contrary they were an indication that humans should concern themselves with that image. Disciples, therefore, learn to focus on the perfection of God, on God’s love, wisdom and power- God has so many qualities and attributes that no one could ever exhaust that wealth- and in this way, they model themselves and gradually draw closer to perfection. To be sure, it is a very lengthy task, but it is one of the best, the task of recovering their lost royalty.

Perhaps some of you would prefer something more impersonal than this preoccupation with their own image? If so, you can think of the world as one immense family whose members all love, understand and smile at each other. Picture a world in which there are no more wars, no more national boundaries, in which all human beings are free to travel and meet others. The whole earth sings a hymn of joy and gratitude to the creator, Yes, you can think of so many wonderful things for the happiness of humankind! Isn’t it better to do that than to occupy your mind with all kinds of selfish, prosaic things?

You can also think about the light of all the heavenly entities: the angels, archangels and divinities, all the heavenly hierarchies. Think of their qualities, of the light in which they dwell, of their love and, above all, of their purity; wish for all that splendour to descend on earth. In this way, you will be building bridges and establishing channels of communication so that all the perfection, wealth and beauty of that higher world may really and truly come down to earth, one day.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov       The Powers of Thought

The extraordinary powers of thought