| Notes |
As stated, children tend to lose their instinctive moral and spiritual
sensitivity as they grow older. These findings may correspond to the
scientific evidence that the pineal gland—the gland that is distinctively
active in childhood—mysteriously atrophies as children grow older.
Alice Bailey points out (The Soul and Its Mechanism, pp. 43-4) that
most books of ancient philosophy state that the pineal gland is also the
seat of the soul and she notes that Descartes was often quoted as
saying, “In man, soul and body touch each other only at a single point,
the pineal gland in the head.” Bailey suggests that there is most likely
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some real connection between the ancient belief that the pineal gland is
the seat of the soul and the fact that the pineal gland atrophies as
children grow older. The activity of the pineal gland in childhood and
the connection with the soul it suggests may explain that quality of
something extra-ordinary many sense in the child.
Although the pineal gland atrophies with age, the ancient philosophies
teach that when a man takes up the spiritual life, and undertakes
certain spiritual practices, then the pineal gland once again becomes
active, returning the man to the full glory of God. Bailey writes in
Glamour, A World Problem (p. 1), “We are told by physicians and
scientists that thousands of cells in the human brain are still dormant
and, consequently, that the average human being uses only a small part
of his equipment. The area of the brain which is found around the
pineal gland is that connected with the intuition, and it is these cells
which must be roused into activity … [and] which, when aroused, will
manifest soul control, spiritual illumination, true psychological
understanding of one's fellowmen…” |