THE

WORD

JUNE 1908

MOMENTS WITH FRIENDS

Does any one know where the centre is around which our sun and its planets seem to be revolving? I have read that it might be Alcyone or Sirius.

Astronomers have not yet determined which star is the centre of the universe in toto. Each of those stars thought to be the centre have on later investigation been found to be themselves moving. As long as astronomers hold merely to the physical side of astronomy, they cannot discover the centre. The fact is, no one of those stars which are seen is the centre of the universe. The centre of the universe is invisible and not to be discovered by telescopes. That which is visible of the universe is but a small portion of the real universe, in the same sense that that which is seen of man, his physical body, is a small portion of the real man. The physical body, whether of man or the universe, has a formative principle which holds the visible physical particles together. Through this formative principle there operates another principle, the principle of life. The principle of life extends beyond the physical and the formative principles and keeps all the particles of the physical body and all bodies in space in movement. The principle of life is itself included in a greater principle which, to the human mind, is as boundless as is space. This principle is apprehended by authors of religions and scriptures as God. It is the Universal Mind, which includes all things in manifestation, visible or invisible. It is intelligent and all-powerful, but has no parts in the same sense that space has no parts. Within it the physical universe as a whole and all things live and move and have their being. This is the centre of the universe. “The centre is everywhere and the circumference nowhere.”

What makes one’s heart beat; is it the vibration of waves from the sun, also what about breathing?

Vibrations from the sun do not cause the heart to beat, though the sun has to do with the circulation of the blood and with all life on the earth. One of the causes of the heart beat is the action of the breath on the blood as it is contacted in the pulmonary alveoli, the air-chambers of the lungs. This is the physical breath action on the physical blood, the central station of which is the heart. But the physical breath action is not the real cause of the heart beat. The primary cause is the presence in the body of a psychic entity which enters the body at birth and remains during the life of the body. This psychic entity is related to another which is not in the body, but which lives in the atmosphere of the body, surrounds and acts on the body. By the action and interaction of these two entities, the in and out breathing continues through life. The psychic entity in the body lives in the blood and it is directly through this psychic entity living in the blood that the heart is caused to beat.

“One’s heart” is a large subject; “breathing” is a large subject; much may be written about them. That we might be able to answer the last part of the question: “also what about breathing” we must be informed “what about it.”

What is the relation between the heart and the sex functions—also the breathing?

The heart of man may properly be said to extend through the entire body. Wherever are the arteries, veins or capillaries, there are the ramifications of the heart. The circulatory system is only the field of action for the blood. The blood is the medium of the breath for communication between the organs and the body. The blood, therefore, is the messenger between the breath and the sex organs. We breathe into the lungs, the lungs transmit the air to the blood, the action of the blood stirs up the organs of sex. In the editorial on The Zodiac, V., which appeared in The Word, Vol. 3, pp. 264-265, the writer speaks of the gland of Luschka, the particular organ of desire, as sex desire. There it is stated that with each inbreathing the blood is stimulated and acts on the gland of Luschka and that this organ either allows the force playing through it to go downward or upward. If it goes downward it goes outward, acting in conjunction with the opposite organ, which is virgo, but if it goes upward it is made to do so by the will-breath and its path is by way of the spine. The heart is the central station for the blood, and is also the reception hall where all thoughts entering into the body gain audience with the mind. Thoughts of the sex nature enter the body through the sex organs; they arise and apply for entrance into the heart. If the mind grants them audience in the heart and entertains them the circulation of the blood is increased and the blood driven to the parts corresponding to the thought. The increased circulation requires a more rapid breath in order that the blood might be purified by the oxygen breathed into the lungs. It requires about thirty seconds for the blood to pass from the heart through the arteries to the extremities of the body and back to the heart through the veins, making one complete cycle. The heart must pulsate faster and the breath be shorter when thoughts of sex are entertained and the sex organs stimulated by the blood from the heart.

Many organic diseases and nervous complaints are caused by the useless expenditure of the life force through thoughts of sex; or, if there be no expenditure, by the rebound on the whole nervous organism of the life force returning from the parts in question and by the return into circulation of the blood from the sex organs. The generative force is liquefied and killed by the rebound. The dead cells pass into the blood which distributes them through the body. They contaminate the blood and disease the organs of the body. The movement of the breath is an indicator of the state of the mind and a register of the emotions of the heart.

How much does the moon have to do with man and other life on the earth?

The moon has a magnetic attraction for the earth and all the fluids of the earth. The intensity of the attraction depends on the phase of the moon, its position towards the earth, and the season of the year. Its attraction is strongest at the equator and weakest at the poles. The influence of the moon controls the rise and fall of the sap in all plants and determines the strength and efficiency of the medicinal properties in most plants.

The moon affects the astral body, the desires in animals and man, and the mind in men. The moon has a good and an evil side in its relation to man. Generally speaking the evil side is indicated by the phases of the moon in its waning period; the good side is connected with the moon from the time of the new to the full moon. This general application is modified by individual cases; for it depends on the particular relationship of man in his psychic and physical make-up as to the degree to which the moon may influence him. All influences, however, may be counteracted by will, reason, and thought.

Does the sun or the moon regulate or govern the catamenial period? If not, what does?

The sun does not regulate the period; it is a matter of common knowledge that the period of menstruation is coincident with certain phases of the moon. Each woman is differently related to the moon in her physical and psychical make-up; as the lunar influence causes oviation it follows that the same phase of the moon does not bring about the period in all women.

The moon causes the generative germ to mature and to leave the ovary. The moon has a similar influence on the male. The moon influences conception and makes it impossible during certain times, and determines the gestative period and the moment of birth. The moon is the chief factor in regulating these periods, and the moon is also a most important factor in foetal development, because the astral body of the mother and of the foetus is each directly connected with the moon. The sun also has an influence on the functions of generation; its influence is different from that of the moon, in that whereas the moon gives a magnetic quality and influence to the astral body and the fluids, the sun has to do with the electrical or life qualities of the body, and the character, nature and temperament of the body. The sun and moon influence man as well as woman. The solar influence is stronger in man, the lunar in woman.

A Friend [H. W. Percival]