Thought Forms are Real Things That Affect Us - Part 1

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Annie Besant and Charles W. Leadbeater, both Theosophists and clairvoyants, wrote a small book titled Thought-Forms. In it, they described how thoughts filled up the space of the mental and astral subtle bodies and how they were projected outward toward other people and things. They described thought as an “elemental essence” which was “that strange half-intelligent life which surrounds us in all directions vivifying the matter of the mental and astral planes.” Every thought impulse we have is “clothed” in this matter and “becomes for a time a kind of living creature.” These thought-forms are then called “an elemental.”¹ The energy of these thought-forms completely fills up the subtle body field that surrounds a person so much so that everything the person perceives is “seen” through these energy vibrations. Besant states:

"Each man travels through space enclosed within a cage of his own building, surrounded by a mass of the forms created by his habitual thoughts. Through this medium he looks out upon the world, and naturally he sees everything tinged with its predominant colours, and all rates of vibration which reach him from without are more or less modified by its rate. Thus until the man learns complete control of thought and feeling, he sees nothing as it really is, since all his observations must be made through this medium, which distorts and colours everything like badly-made glass.^{" 2}

Since these thought-forms are held in the subtle bodies of the one thinking them, Besant states that they “react upon him whenever he is for a moment in a passive condition.”³ Modern psychology espouses that the interpretation of dreams can give keen insight into the content of the subconscious mind. Dream images are often symbolic representations of thoughts and feelings which lie just below the threshold of the waking state. Many folks often interpret the symbology of dreams and even the content of their visions as coming from an outside source. Besant offers that these images are frequently just the formed creation of internal thought that are held in the subtle bodies and appear to the creator during relaxed states such as times of reflection or dream states.

That is not to say that all dream and vision images are internal constructs of current thoughts. Some information is delivered from other sources during those times. Dr. Carl Jung advanced this idea in his description of archetypes. He also stated that the essence of these patterns were neither matter nor mind (psyche), rather, it shaped both. The texts of many ancient cultures described the same sort of thing, but they referred to them as an elemental spirit or even as gods.

So far, we have discussed how thoughts affect the thinker. What happens when those thoughts are projected toward another person or object? Hopi Indians believe that thoughts are not merely passive energy. They believe that thoughts are real things that can have real effects on their targets. It is not uncommon for them to cradle an ear of corn in their arms and sing a sweet song while gently caressing it. A Hopi might also be found saying nice things over a well of water. Much of Hopi land is near the desert. Corn and water are vital staples and each is treated with far more than just respect. Good thoughts are intentionally sent to them. The Hopi believe that harmful thoughts can and do have deleterious results on the recipient. They believe this so strongly that they “watch” what they think very closely. Nearly a century ago, Besant lamented that most folks didn’t know how to think, much less did they monitor the activity of their thoughts. Famous out-of-body experiencer and researcher Robert Monroe described seeing bands of “thought pollution” around the Earth. He termed it the “H-Band” and stated that they were created by the background noise of uncontrolled human thought.⁴

¹ Besant, Annie and C. W. Leadbeater. Thought-Forms. London: The Theosophical Publishing House.
   Pg. 12
² ibid. Pg. 12
³ ibid. Pg. 12
⁴ Gerber, Richard. Vibrational Medicine for the 21st Century: The Complete Guide to Energy Healing
   and Spiritual Transformation. New York: Harper Collins, 2000. Pg. 94

Some content excerpted from The Sage Age – Blending Science with Intuitive Wisdom
© 2008 MaAnna Stephenson
Content may be used freely with proper credit and a link to www.SageAge.net