Sources of Power
clouds of material thought-forms. Their energy can be constricting, even suffocating, to a soul that is used to the fine light of spiritual aspiration. Also these places are covered with the darkness of corruption and misuse. Encountering the painful addictions of the world can be as disturbing on the inner planes as in physical life. But mystics go where they are needed without thought for themselves. The following dream describes such an experience: I was in the restroom of a main railway station. There were several rooms, very untidy and full of rubbish. There were hypodermic needles from drug addicts lying on the ground, excrement, and the definite smell of urine. Some people, especially women, lived there. I was horrified to see so much hardship. Suddenly I could see my teacher’s leg through the door into another restroom. As I came to the other door we met each other. He was dressed completely in white and there was a very fine sense around him, the soft touch of something else. I was so glad and surprised to see him there. My joy was beyond measure. We hugged each other and he told me, “When we are told to be in such places, we are in such places.”
The railway stations of the world are the places of our addictions, filled with refuse and excrement. The darkness and pain of our culture are very visible, in particular the pain caused by its treatment of women and the feminine. But mystics bring to such places the “soft touch of something else,” an opening into the beyond. The places of power in the world not only carry the darkness of their exploitation, but they also have at work
17