THE RANGE OF the mind, or psyche, is vast. The personal self is merely the tip of the iceberg of consciousness, most of which is submerged. The spiritual self, through which the soul radiates most powerfully, penetrates and illuminates the vast range of mind, at least in a "self-actualised person" - by which I mean a person who is well on the way to establishing his true identity, who has passed beyond the conditioning of his surroundings and enslavement to the selfish unconscious drives of self-preservation, sex, and comfort, and is free to be himself and use the talents previously latent in him. In the more average mass of human beings there is little awareness of the fixed centre that we know as the personal self, let alone the radiance of the spiritual self, of which, as I have already stated, the personal self is merely a dull reflection in a tarnished, undeveloped mind.
The Collective Unconscious
The mind is complex in form, and has no fixed limits or boundaries. It is in fellowship with the minds of other people through the means of conscious rational communication that we use in social intercourse, such as speech and writing, and in addition there is a non-rational, unwilled communion between the minds of all sentient beings. This communion is mediated through the "collective unconscious" (described so admirably by Jung), and it extends from the psyche of the earliest members of the human race to the most recent additions. Through our individual participation in the collective unconscious, we experience symbolic images of high psychic power that have been in currency since the beginning of man's history. Many of these symbols have important information to impart about the state of our unconscious and its degree of integration with our conscious life. A living integration of various elements of the unconscious - autonomous complexes, archetypal images and themes (that have their origin deep in man's psychic pre-history), and symbols that have the ability to transform our inner attitudes - with consciousness forms the process of "individuation" which is the heart of Jung's psychological theory. As the two are progressively integrated, so there is a tendency for the true self, both in its personal and spiritual mode, to be revealed and at last we begin to live as real persons.
The individual psyche is indeed in intimate communion with the psyche of the world and its creatures. Well did Heraclitus say, "You can never find out the boundaries of the soul, so deep are they." The boundaries of the psyche are not only immeasurably deep but they are also inextricably woven with the soul of the whole created universe. It is in this respect that we are members one of another (Ephesians 4:25), and if we were living fully in the Spirit, this membership would be realised in our conscious lives also. But then our present world of separation and death would pass away and Christ would be all and in all (Colossians 3:11).
Extrasensory Communication
Since there is a communication between the individual mind and the total psychic history of mankind (to say nothing of the minds of those people closely associated with us either by blood relationship or community of interests), it is to be expected that we are from time to time subject to flashes of information that come directly to us without the mediation of such rational sensory perception as speech that is heard or writing that is seen. Indeed, it is surprising that such "extrasensory perception", or psychic communication, is not of more frequent occurrence than it appears to be. The distinguished French philosopher Henri Bergson, himself a student of psychical research and in his day a president of the Society for Psychical Research, put forward the hypothesis that extrasensory perception is the normal mode of communication between minds, but that the brain acts as a censor to prevent the influx into consciousness of undifferentiated psychic information, which though of great theoretical interest is of no practical use to us in the everyday running of our lives. I agree with Bergson. The most primitive races seem to have the greatest psychic rapport not only with each other as people but also with their natural environment. On the other hand, their intellectual ability is modest, and their awareness of self-identity rudimentary. This state of psychic rapport has idyllic overtones, but such people are geared to a low level of human performance and are not easily adaptable to outside circumstances of interference or disaster.
As man grows in intelligence, so the rational faculty of the mind dominates, and with it he sees himself apart from the realm of nature and ultimately isolated even from his fellows. The natural tendency to strive selfishly for self preservation at the expense of others, which, if carried out logically to the end, would lead to war, destruction, and the total annihilation of the human race (and perhaps the entire planet now that man is equipped with nuclear energy) is fortunately offset by the innate nobility that is also part of human nature, residing, as we have already seen, in the "higher" part of the unconscious. The more isolated man is, the less amenable he is to extrasensory perception; indeed, the experience of the personal self at the moment of conscious decision in a crisis is an experience also of total isolation from the greater community who previously tended to carry the person along with it. But as one proceeds onwards, guided by the drives that come from the superconscious and manifesting themselves in value judgments which lead one on to full humanity, so the domination of the rationality of the personal self loosens, and the reason becomes subject to higher intuitions emanating from the superconscious and especially from the spiritual self. At this stage of "self-actualisation", extrasensory perception again plays its part in leading the person to full inner development. But now the source of information is no longer crudely psychic; it is increasingly spiritual. This is not to say that the "higher", more spiritual ranges of extrasensory information are not also psychically conveyed, but that they are no longer concerned with the person as an isolated unit, and instead with his corporate membership in the body of mankind, whose centre is God.
In this respect we see the difference between the psychical and the spiritual planes of reality; the psychical planes are personal in scope, speaking directly to the isolated individual and tending to exalt him; the spiritual planes are transpersonal, inspiring the person to move beyond personal isolation to that self-giving which is the prerequisite of union with God.
Planes of Psychical Communication
It seems that psychical communication reaches all realms of the individual psyche, from the depths of the lower unconscious with its submerged blackness of unrealised personal desire that can all too easily assume a demonic character, to the heights of the superconscious with its noble aspirations culminating in the vision of God enthroned in the holiest part of the spiritual self, which as I have said, is called the "apex," "centre" or "spark" of the soul, or simply the "spirit". If a person is frustrated through the failure of his conscious life and the repression of deep inner drives of self-assertion, there may be an irruption of unconscious psychic energy into his field of consciousness, and this may lead to destructive, criminal actions. Unless this "shadow" side, present in all of us, is fully accepted and redeemed, it is liable to invade in a demonic form and acquire an identity of its own. It can influence other weak, susceptible people, themselves frustrated and emotionally unbalanced, not only by way of conscious communication in speech and writing, but also by extrasensory contact. In this way a general black mood can spread rapidly throughout an entire community, and precipitate demonic behaviour. The advent of Nazism and its effect on possibly the most civilised nation in the world is a terrible example of the power of demonic psychic communication on a sensitive, frustrated population.
If such dark personalities survive physical death; and I have no doubt that they do, it is quite possible that they could obsess, or even actively possess, the personalities of weak people still alive in the flesh. The prerequisites for this type of obsession are a weak, unbalanced personality and a tendency towards psychic sensitivity such as is encountered in mediumistic types of people. If such a person were to dabble with the occult, the danger of psychic invasion would be a real one. This type of psychical communication is of the lowest order; it impinges on the lower unconscious with its drives towards personal satisfaction without a higher concern for the well-being of other people. The psychism of primitive races is usually, but not always, of this type, and some types of occultism also tap this dark psychic reservoir.
Another, far less undesirable type of psychical communication impinges on the conscious personal self, which itself is a dull reflection of the soul. This type of communication usually takes the form of a strong mental impression that appears to come spontaneously to the person, invading his train of thought and disturbing it peremptorily. It gives him information from some other mind, either still associated with a physical body or else in an immaterial form beyond the grave, and this information is subsequently substantiated and confirmed. This modality of extrasensory communication between two minds is called "telepathy". Sometimes the information is of a more emotional nature. Sometimes it is transformed into words or visions by the psyche of the sensitive recipient (this is called "clairaudience" or "clairvoyance" respectively). On some occasions a clairvoyant person may "see" (with the inner eye of the soul) an event taking place a great distance away.
Another remarkable psychic faculty is the sudden perception of events destined to occur in the future; this is called "precognition", and sometimes it manifests itself in visual configuration. The reverse aspect is "retrocognition", in which the psyche may be attuned to the past history of a person or a locality; this, in minor degrees, is a not uncommon gift, for many people can sense "atmospheres" where there have been conflict or evil doings in the past, or alternatively the hallowed peace of a country church made valid by the prayers of past generations of humble believers.
Of an even higher plane of psychical communication are the teachings that come through some "mediums," or "sensitives" as they are preferably called. These teachings have superconscious overtones, and tend to lead the person away from selfishness to a more active concern with abiding spiritual values. It is probable that many of these communications really arise in the minds of the sensitives themselves, and are therefore psychologically induced rather than psychically transmitted, but a few of the higher teachings do bear the impress of an advanced mind in a realm beyond human knowledge. Nevertheless, I would hesitate to apply the term "spiritual" to even the highest communications of this type, no matter how edifying their content, for they come to the personal self, and tend to confirm the strength of the self rather than lead it to the vision of God. True saintliness does not follow psychical communication from even the most advanced sources, whether on earth or in the life of the world to come. At most, these sources afford one knowledge of things, processes, and techniques. But they cannot provide the only knowledge that ultimately counts for anything at all, the unitive knowledge of God. Each of the great higher religions of the world has its complement of saints, who have trodden the spiritual path that leads to God Himself. But occultism, in the framework that I have already described, leads at best only to enhanced personal power and greater knowledge of the universe. No wonder experienced spiritual directors of all the major religious traditions advise their aspirants to acknowledge psychical phenomena without becoming trapped in their glamour, and to aspire only to the unitive knowledge of God.
Spiritual Communication The highest of all psychical communication comes from God by way of the spirit to the spiritual self, or soul. It transcends personal isolation, and leads the aspirant from the isolation of the personal self to the full participation in the world of eternal reality. It is in this context that the famous words of Jesus ring true: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" (Mark 8:34-35). In the context of this quotation the Greek word "psyche" is used to denote life; it can also be used in the sense of soul or person, as in the words that immediately follow the above quotation: "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world at the cost of his true self (or soul)" (Mark 8:36)? To arrive at the unitive knowledge of God we have to be prepared to sacrifice our very selves (or our very lives), to walk on a hidden path of self-giving in faith. We have to be bereft of personal self-seeking in order to find the spiritual self that is the source of all personality. When we are as little children once more, God can reveal Himself to us as transpersonal love, uncreated light, and fulfilling purpose. We in turn cease to be finite individuals and become complete persons; our identity finds its validity not in isolation but in intimate participation with the whole creation. Being no longer finite entities, we become persons in the universal body, even the full body of Christ seen in His cosmic form. This is the heart of mystical illumination; in it one escapes from limited selfhood and enters into full personality.
I have described my own experience of illumination in the autobiographical section of this book. To compare it with even the highest occult teaching, such as might be transmitted psychically from a source of wisdom beyond the grave, is like comparing eternal life with an alleged communication from a friend who has passed beyond the death of the physical body. Spiritual reality is the culmination of self-knowledge; it implies the swallowing up of the personal self into the spiritual self. When we live in the form of the spiritual self, we are real persons even as Christ was in the human mode. But He lived in the form of the spirit also, for in Him divinity and humanity co-inhere. In Him soul is infused perfectly with the spirit within it. "The first man Adam was made a living soul (psyche); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit (pneuma)" (1 Corinthians 15:45). In us we can, at our present state of being, hope only that the soul may infuse the remainder of the psyche and the body; a knowledge of the spirit is still hidden from us. The important exception is that of the mystics of the human race, who gain glimpses of it.
The Heart of Spirituality Although truly spiritual communication is a thing apart - and may be called "supernatural" inasmuch as it originates beyond the natural order from the ineffable Godhead Itself - it can, and indeed does, interpenetrate all other modes of communication that impinge on the psyche. The very distinction between spiritual and material, or sacred and secular, is ultimately invalid, for the spiritual mode finds its place in all actions, whether physical or psychical, that lead us to a fuller knowledge of God. Whatever leads us to a knowledge of God is spiritually based; it also leads us away from preoccupation with ourselves to a fuller participation in the world's affairs and the concerns of other people. All this is summarised by Jesus' two great commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like it, namely this,: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12:30-31). The beauty of nature, the marvellous rhythm of the cosmic flow, and the processes of our own healthy bodies are all fundamentally physical in scale, and yet are also deeply spiritual in content, for they lead the beholder to rejoice in God the creator and sustainer of the universe. Great art, again sensual and physical in its outer manifestation, is man's finest spiritual creation, for it leads the weary soul to its Creator Who is the end of all beauty. Likewise the scientist dedicated to the pursuit of truth is God-centred and spiritually based, for in God is all truth. Those whose lives are devoted to service and care for others are equally spiritual in orientation, for they tread the path of self-giving service in love, and God is above all else love. From this we can deduce that physical communication has strong spiritual overtones when it is inspired by the highest values we know - beauty, truth, and goodness (or love).
The same line of reasoning holds true for psychical communication. When the love of someone dear to us, whether distant in the flesh or in the greater life beyond physical death, lifts us up when we are feeling very low, it is as if God's love is bearing us in His everlasting arms. How often in my own life has such a spontaneous psychical communication from the world beyond space and time (at least as we understand these two modalities of reality) raised me to the greatest felicity when my depression was at its darkest! Great art carries psychical overtones of a deeper level than mere aesthetic delight, and it lifts the obscured soul up to the throne of God. This is why a general denunciation of all psychical communication as diabolical is not only ignorant but also monstrously unjust. The psychical realm, like that of the physical material world in which we live our carnal lives, contains all modalities of value from debased corruption to divine splendour. We are incarnate to redeem, through the love that comes from God, all that is soiled and corrupt so that it may be transfigured and resurrected - following the two great events in the life of Jesus, the Transfiguration and the Resurrection, which relate not only to the life's journey of a God-filled man, but also to the work vouchsafed to all His disciples on the path of Christhood. Just as He descended into Hell to reclaim that which was "lost", so we too have to follow His path. But before we can proceed with safety, we have to "take unto ourselves the whole armour of God" (Ephesians 6:13).
Only the Spirit of God can redeem that which is lost, and this comes to us in the spiritual communication of prayer or of a rapt loss of self in service for others.
Conclusions
To summarise the differences between the psychical and the spiritual, I would say this, that while psychical communication impinges on all aspects of the psyche including the soul, or spiritual self, it only becomes really spiritual when it tells of God Himself in His ineffable mode and reaches the soul from the spirit within it. This is the meaning of mystical experience: it is the experience of union of the soul with God, so that the soul loses itself in Him and finds the spirit within it at the same time. All other types of psychical communication speak to the isolated self, which does not cease from its isolation even when the communication is being given. Some such information can be very beneficial, but other types of communication can be equally demonic in character.
It, is for this reason that psychical communication is hazardous, and should not be initiated from the living to the dead. Once psychical communication is thus initiated, it is impossible to predict the nature of the source from beyond the grave which may interfere with and even obsess the dabbler.
No wonder psychical research should be undertaken only by trained, dedicated workers.