To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

Psychism / 125
realize how sinister is the trend of some of this research and
resulting practices worldwide.
Fortunately, a number of researchers in the field are
aware of inherent risks, particularly to those mentally and
psychologically unstable. Some of them are speaking out
strongly against ‘‘hypnotic programming,’’ and warning
against the psychic pollution to which hypnotized victims
open themselves. We cannot emphasize too much the peril
of putting oneself under the will or within the aura of another.
It is not recommended; it is not advisable. We must
be master of ourselves at all times; and to let ourselves even
unconsciously slip under the dominance of another is to
weaken by so much our innate power to handle our lives.
We human beings are here with an immense background
of force, generated through lifetimes, which we are
learning to direct along those paths of destiny that are rightfully
ours. While we interact with one another and thereby
a¤ect to some degree each other’s karma, no one — no god
in heaven, no demon in hell, no Master or Adept — has the
right to interfere with the inner life of any human being.
Were we to permit another to impose his will upon ours and
break into the citadel of our selfhood, we would be degrading
our humanhood and prostituting the intent of our
higher self.
Young people especially should be aware of the potential
risk, because as the years go by they will be meeting with
this type of intrusion more and more. Physical war is not
nearly so hazardous as the control of wills and of minds
which increasingly is taking more subtle forms. One day,
and hopefully during the present century, war on the