Printed in the Fall 2022 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Scherini, Desiree Holmes, "Other Worlds of Thought" Quest 110:4, pg 12-13
By Barbara Hebert
National President
The theme for this issue is “Other Worlds.” One may think of many ways in which discussion of this theme could diverge. For example, in Columbus, Ohio, there is an immersive art experience called OtherWorld. It is filled with large-scale interactive art, mixed reality playgrounds, and secret passageways where visitors are encouraged to explore and interact with a surreal world of science fiction and fantasy. Numerous videos on YouTube focus on information about the planets in our solar system and others that center on bizarre science fiction videos. Austin, Texas, holds an Other Worlds science fiction film festival every year. There are online interactive learning sites that are labeled “Other Worlds” as well as various stores around the country with that name, not to mention many books and movies. So the possibilities for articles in this issue are essentially unlimited.
My initial thought was many articles would discuss intelligent life on other planets in our solar system and other solar systems across the universe. This is a matter of conjecture for some and of belief for others. Theosophical literature discusses this topic.
Another mention of extraterrestrial life in the Theosophical literature occurs in Letter 62 (chronological) of The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett. The Mahatma Koot Hoomi writes, “There are other and innumerable manvantaric chains of globes bearing intelligent beings—both in and out of our solar system—the crowns or apexes of evolutionary being in their respective chains, some—physically and intellectually—lower, others immeasurably higher than the man of our chain. But beyond mentioning them we will not speak of these at present.”
Given the Theosophical teaching that souls incarnate in order to gain self-conscious awareness of their divine nature and connection with the One, it makes sense that souls could incarnate on other planets for this purpose. This is certainly a topic that many find fascinating and may explore further.
Several of the articles in this issue focus on other worlds in the sense of alternate realms of consciousness. Certainly for those of us on the physical plane, the various realms of consciousness can seem like other worlds. For this Viewpoint, I would like to veer into another direction that seems especially pertinent for our world today. On more than one occasion in the last few years, I have wondered, “What kind of a world am I living in?” Many of you may have wondered the same thing. In fact, I have gone from wondering about it to asking the question aloud: “Have I somehow journeyed to another world?” Our world right now is fraught with confusion, uncertainty, suffering, anger, and the loss of so much. It makes us yearn for a world filled with love, harmony, and compassion.
We can easily forget that our world is also filled with love, harmony and compassion. We find support and aid for those who are struggling, compassion for those who are suffering, and strength from those who stand up for their beliefs. From many perspectives, we live in a world of duality: struggles and support, suffering and compassion, strength in light of instability, loss, and uncertainty.
We may wonder if the world is worse today than it was 100 years ago, 700 years ago, or even 2,000 years ago. It seems that it must be worse, but glancing briefly at some components of history may provide greater insight. One hundred years ago, the world was recovering from the influenza pandemic and World War I, but it was also experiencing a time of expansion and solid economic growth. Seven hundred years ago, Europe in the 1300s experienced famine and plagues. The Great Famine of 1315‒17 was followed by the bubonic plague, commonly referred to as the Black Death, in 1346‒53. The ensuing depopulation brought on wars and social unrest. Yet at the same time, the Renaissance was beginning to shine its light in Italy.
Two thousand years ago, the world was also experiencing war and political turmoil. The first century AD saw the rule of the insane emperor Caligula and his assassination; the murder of his successor, Claudius, by his wife; the reign of Nero, with the burning of Rome in AD 64; and the Jewish revolt against Rome, culminating in the sack of the Jerusalem Temple in 70. There was at least one natural disaster with the explosion of Mount Vesuvius in 79. However, also during this time, it is said that Jesus was born and lived. In 96, the Five Good Emperors, starting with Nerva, began a nearly century-long reign over Rome.
It seems that each generation lives through a time of turmoil punctuated by positive events. As human beings, we tend to focus on the negative aspects and sometimes even believe that our time is the worst of times. But, is it?
We may be reminded of the opening words of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, referring to the French Revolution of 1789 and its aftermath: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
It is important to ask ourselves, what are we focusing on? Are our minds and thoughts centering on “the worst of times,” “the age of foolishness,” “the epoch of incredulity,” “the season of darkness,” “the winter of despair,” or the opposite?
Theosophical literature tells us that thoughts are things. Our thoughts manifest as vibrations of mental matter and, if definite enough, can create a form consisting of energy from the emotional and mental fields. The Mahatma K.H. wrote to A.P. Sinnett, “Thoughts are things—have tenacity, coherence, and life . . . they are real entities” (Chin, 66). In another letter, to A.O. Hume, the Mahatma writes:
Every thought of [an individual] upon being evolved passes into the inner world and becomes an active entity by associating itself—coalescing, we might term it—with an elemental; that is to say with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the kingdoms. It survives as an active intelligence, a creature of the mind's begetting, for a longer or shorter period proportionate with the original intensity of the cerebral action which generated it. Thus, a good thought is perpetuated as an active beneficent power; an evil one as a maleficent demon. And so [an individual] is continually peopling his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the offsprings of his fancies, desires, impulses, and passions. (Chin, 472)
These statements by the Mahatma must give us pause and compel us to “metathink”—to think about the thoughts we think! Our thoughts surround us (“peopling our space,” to paraphrase the Mahatma’s words) affecting us as well as those around us. They are the glasses through which we view the world.
If we continue to think about the difficult things that are happening in our world today, we are surrounding ourselves with those negative energies and vibrations. Furthermore, we attract other negative thoughts to us. Soon we have difficulty seeing anything positive around us. All we see is the sadness and suffering, and it can impact us dramatically in both physical and nonphysical ways.
On the other hand, if we focus on the positive, we surround ourselves with positivity. We can remind ourselves of the many acts of kindness and helpfulness, the compassion for others, the love that individuals show to one another, and the strength and courage that many show in standing up for their beliefs. In this way, we are peopling our space with beneficent thoughts, and we are inviting thoughts of similar vibratory patterns to us. Soon we are seeing the beauty in our world and feeling gratitude for it.
Centering our minds and thoughts on positivity is not to suggest that we ignore the suffering; rather, we acknowledge the suffering and work to alleviate it. Yet we do not allow the suffering to become our only perspective. When we focus on the beauty, goodness, compassion, strength, and love that can be seen in almost every corner of the globe, then we send those thoughts out into the world. In this way, we become a powerful force for good in the world. As Matthew Fox says in his interview in this issue, “We all have to ground ourselves in . . . the goodness of creation, the presence of the divine and of love and justice. We have to fill ourselves with those things without being in denial about the suffering.”
Source Material
Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., ed. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in Chronological Sequence. Quezon City, Philippines: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993.