Finding of the Third Eye

Finding of the Third Eye (1938) by Vera Stanley Alder is a simple & clear layman's introduction to the Ageless Wisdom teachings about the evolutionary path, which all will eventually tread.

Quotes
(Full text, pdf)
 * The field of esoteric truth is so large and its departments so many and so varied that the neophyte is apt to be confused and bewildered by the extent of the horizon which opens up before him and the many types of knowledge which presumably he is expected to master... We need simple synthetic presentations, which eliminate the non-essentials and give a clear picture in clear outline and clear language. Such a book is this... (Preface)
 * Are human beings potential gods, as they have been told, or are they merely the least of worms? The world today is a seething mass of contradictions. Life does not become simpler with each new achievement, and the average man, kept busy with the urgent process of existing, has little time for thought. Yet there are moments when, looking out upon a world which appears drab, cruel, confused, and very ugly in many ways, man wonders... If there are great heights for him to attain why does he seem to know so little about them? What has man been doing all these centuries? Why do disease, difficulties and dangers appear to have increased the more civilization ‘progresses’?  There comes a time in the lives of many people when they earnestly desire to find an answer to these questions. They would know why they are here, what it is all about, and if they can learn to master circumstances instead of continually being a prey to them. They begin to make an individual effort to find out for themselves if there is really any rhyme or reason, any justice in life, anything to hope for or to work for. (Introduction)


 * When a man arrives at this stage in his life it marks a very important crisis in his development. It is the moment at which he changes from a puppet into an individual and joins the honoured company of the seekers (of truth). To his surprise he finds that the number of these seekers is increasing rapidly, and that, in fact, they are beginning to make their impact felt upon social consciousness. He soon sees the significance of this.


 * True socialism becomes possible when people recognize themselves as individual units of power, capability and thought; then there will inevitably follow a correspondingly important and congenial position in life for each one of them. There is an unfailing demand for either the competent worker or for those able to wield constructive influence, and all can fill one of these needs. There is no other way to individual happiness... The quest after Truth opens up an unimagined and wonderful new world to the seeker, so thrilling and so full of reward and interest that it is not within the power of human speech to portray it. Only the fringe of this absorbing search has been touched in these few pages, but even so this book contains the recipe for turning an ordinary human being into a superman, one who commands the means of success, happiness or personal fulfilment always within himself, and irrespective of all circumstances. (Intro)


 * Our first concern will be to take a survey of the present position with unprejudiced eyes. The unprejudiced eye is a much more difficult thing to cultivate than we may imagine. In fact, to most of us it is an impossibility. For generations, indeed for centuries, we have been brought up in certain grooves of thought, certain traditions and habits, until our brains become wedged into a confined rut and are unable to look at things from a new angle. When, however, after finishing our survey of the present position, we see around us the result of thinking in these grooves, and realize to what a state of unhappiness, chaos and muddle this has brought us, we may, in sheer desperation, make the effort needed to jerk our brains out of their ruts and guard them against ever slipping back again.  (Part One, Chapter 1, Things As They Are)


 * Truth can only be understood by one in a state of attention. Therefore Truth is not available to those in a slack condition of mind – they could not take it in. Truth is only to be found ‘at the bottom of a well’; it must be struggled for and sought after and come upon through earnest effort, through the stimulation brought about by suffering or striving, whereby the mind is prepared to recognize it. That is why Truth appears always to be hidden, veiled and guarded. (Chapter 1, Things As They Are)


 * Let us, then, try to look with new eyes at the struggling mass of inconsistencies which we are in the habit of calling civilization. Man has striven always for happiness, and he has sought to attain it mostly in one of three ways – comfort, entertainment, and religion. But he has sought these things only in their outward form. Comfort for the body has been the first aim, while a comfortable state of mind has been the last thing considered, until the lack of it has reduced the victim to despair. (Chapter 1, Things As They Are)


 * Cleanliness has also been studied outwardly, but seldom in its inward form – we do not understand how to keep our minds wholly free from rubbish and poisoning material. Religion likewise has come to be mostly an external observance, while as for entertainment it is poured in from outside, the mind being required to make no effort to obtain it.   (Chapter 1)


 * In some countries the State supports a Church which tells us, ‘thou shalt not kill’, but is not averse to sending us out to war in order to slaughter our possibly blameless fellow-men. For this we are called heroes. (Chapter 1)


 * Many of us are asked to believe in Church teaching and the Bible, both of them containing a mass of contradictions which no one attempts to explain. For example, Christ asked His disciples to carry on the work as He had done, saying: ‘He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.’ These words referred to healing, prophesying and clairaudience, which, with the ‘gift of tongues’ (power to be understood by all nationalities), the power to work miracles, to interpret dreams and symbols, and to have wisdom, were the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Yet... the clergy, who should be cultivating these gifts, leave them mostly in the hands of those whom they consider ignorant... (Ch. 1)


 * Calling ourselves civilized, we produce a race which cannot compare with many of the most savage tribes in health and physique. Look around at the members of an average crowd of today... Through unbiased eyes we shall see that we are mostly misshapen travesties of what a human being should be... imperfect bodies, unlovely vacant faces, ugly clothes and primitive conversation.


 * We know the hospitals are full; so are the asylums – who dares to tell us how full? Consider also that we are at present in imminent danger of a world war which would let loose as much beastliness and cruelty as has ever existed in history.


 * Even without war man is being murdered daily in various ways by the terrible Robot which he has reared under the name of Civilization. This Robot is running amok; it has mastered its creator for the time being and produced a clever system of keeping him in slavery.


 * Much that is really enlightening in knowledge is gradually being eliminated from man’s education, which is given to him in odd spoonfuls having no apparent relation to each other. Through no fault of his own he is under an economic system which causes him to spend all his days in the terror and anxiety of being without means of support.
 * Every effort is made to soak him through and through with an interest in sex – by means of cinemas, theatres, books, newspapers and through the type of food most cheaply obtained. He is never told the plain truth – that a preoccupation with sex is one of the greatest deterrants to brain development.


 * He is surrounded with mind-destroying noise, rush and anxiety, until even the doctors are beginning to say that modern life will soon exterminate itself!


 * There are many great men alive today whose achievements stand out in sharp contrast to the average. Is it that they are supermen, or that the rest of us are lagging far behind the point of development we should have reached? If we were to lay any of them upon the dissecting table we should certainly find nothing about them that differs in any degree from the average person. Where, then, is the key to the wonderful power and omnipotence that apparently may be every man’s birthright?
 * We are told that the secret lies in the use and understanding of a certain knowledge through which is given an insight into the inner laws and forces of life, and the manner in which to use them. This knowledge has always existed, but it remains hidden for ever from all but the earnest seeker.


 * The hour has already struck which marks the beginning of humanity’s emergence from that blackness. Men have suffered so much and for so long, through ignorance, that at last the inevitable reaction has set in. We can feel this change beginning to play in subtle ways through all phases of life.


 * Our first clue to this knowledge lies in the study of what is known as the Secret Wisdom. This teaching was always in the charge (in the early days) of those who were well equipped both to govern and teach. But in time they neglected their deep knowledge in favour of the easier way – power through money, superstition and material pomp. This resulted in laziness and effete degeneration. Their only hope of retaining hold on the people was to plunge them into ignorance also.


 * Systematic persecution of certain knowledge began, by edicts, inquisitions and massacres. Finally their end was so thoroughly attained that from the highest to the lowest the wisdom had apparently faded out.


 * Fortunately, however, there are now, and always have been, those who would give their whole lives to the guarding and hiding of a treasure so precious. Such people were the alchemists, hermits, early freemasons and many more. So the knowledge was not really lost, but only concealed and safely guarded from desecration.


 * We cannot gain such valuable knowledge without making worthy effort, but if we persevere there is no limit to the benefit we shall obtain. The earliest results achieved will be, firstly, a considerable improvement and control of health and looks, a growing capacity for happiness, an inability to worry or fear; a gaining of popularity, and freedom from boredom.(Ch. 1)


 * In time, when greater strides are made, there will be immunity from disease, conquering of fatigue, and prolonging of youth. There will be a growing capacity for helping others, a mastery of sorrow and pain, and the development of healing power. A growing inner force will be felt, both for creating ideas and the carrying of them out. (Ch. 1)
 * Yogis, become unaffected by heat or cold, wounds and poisons. They are able to perform feats usually considered as miracles, and they appear to have access to regions of wisdom and felicity undreamt of by us. People of this type move about among us unsuspected. They do not advertise themselves; they are under a Law which forbids them to help unless help is asked, or to give out knowledge unless it is sought and will be properly understood. They are ready and waiting for the time when a growing number of people sense their secrets and beg their help. When the general public have sufficiently advanced they will insist on being governed by persons of such attainments, and then indeed will begin the coming Golden Age. (Ch. 1)


 * Meanwhile those who are anxious to forge ahead and prepare for the future will find in this book a broad survey of many sides of the subject, together with the first simple rules for the beginning of attainment. They are asked only to keep an open mind as they read, for only an open mind is big enough to contain the secrets of the universe. (Ch. 1)


 * Before we begin studying the ancient wisdom we will find it very helpful to prepare our minds by taking a survey of the ground covered by modern science today. It will be fascinating to see how identical facts can be known under different names and reached by different methods. Both the ancient sages and modern scientists are agreed that everything in life is formed of vibrations. (Chapter 2, What Modern Science Says)


 * Vibration is the result of force or energy, concentrated in some mysterious way and caused to vibrate, shake or oscillate at different speeds. The composition of an atom, according to some scientists, is, first of all, a tiny vacuum, round which this force or energy revolves as a vortex, just as the circle of the sun’s aura or zodiac revolves round it. The zodiac contains the planets revolving within it, and the minute ‘zodiac’ of the atom contains also its planets, or electrons as they are called. (Chapter 2, What Modern Science Says)


 * The difference between one object and another is ultimately a question of rate of vibration. It is the number and arrangement of the electrons within an atom, and the varied cohesions of atoms into molecules, which go to make up these vibratory differences. (Chapter 2, What Modern Science Says)


 * The disturbance in the atmosphere caused by a vibration sends out a ripple or air-wave in all directions. As an illustrative simile of this we can throw a stone into a pool of water. At first we see the hole which the stone makes, corresponding to the vacuum in the centre of the atom. Then we see the disturbance in the water created by the hole, a circle of energy which sets up waves or ripples which spread out to an unlimited distance. Drop other stones in nearby, and their circle of waves will flow over and through the others, none, however, being destroyed although they affect one another slightly. The distance between one ripple and the next is called the ‘wavelength’.  (Chapter 2, What Modern Science Says)