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Chapter IV: The Astral Plane2185
is any special “up or down” in the Cosmos, still, we have the old inherited
race-habit of thought which causes us to think of the higher realms of the
soul as “up” toward the stars. And, in a similar manner, the old term “Astral”
has persisted in occult terminology.
Once more we must caution the student against confounding the idea of
the Astral Plane with the idea of place or places. There is no such place as the
Astral Plane. The Astral Plane is neither up nor down, neither north, south,
east or west. It lies in no special direction—and yet it lies in all directions. It is,
first, last, and always, a state or condition and not a place. It is rather a phase or
degree of vibration, rather than a portion of space. Its dimensions are those
of Time—not those of Space. When we use the words; “region;” “realm;”
“higher or lower;” “above or below;” we employ them merely figuratively,
just as we speak of “a high rate of vibration,” or “a rate or vibration above
that, etc.” We find it necessary to repeat this caution, for the reason that the
average student falls into the pitfall of error in connecting the idea of plane
with that of place, when there should be no mental association between the
two.