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A Treatise on Cosmic Fire - Section Two - Division E - Motion on the Plane of Mind
Frictional Activity. This, as is apparent from the words, deals with the "Fire by friction" aspect of substance, and therefore with the lowest aspect of the energy of the mental sheath. The force of the Life within the sheath manifests in the attractive and repulsive action of the individual atoms, and this constant and ceaseless interplay results in the "occult heat" of the body, and its increased radiation. It is one of the factors also which produces the gradual building in of new atoms of substance (ever of a better and more adequate quality) and the expulsion of that which fails to suffice as a medium for intelligent expression.

The mental unit is the synthesis of the four types of force with which we are dealing, and of the four expressions of it which we are in process of considering.

Each of the groups of lives which are the living essence of four subplanes and which focalize through one of the spirillae of the unit and thus influence

  1. The sheath itself
  2. The man on the physical plane
  3. Part of the head center

express in greater or less degree these four qualities.

It might be noted here that the groups are called certain names by some occult teachers, which names convey [1107] the idea of the active enterprise which is their predominant function.

The "Lives" on the fourth subplane (that on which the mental unit has its place) are called "The absorbers of the above and the below" or the "Transmitting faces of the fourth order." They receive energy and absorb from the Ego on the one hand in the first stage of the incarnation process, and on the other absorb the energies of the personality at the close of the period of manifestation. They have, therefore, an activity which might be regarded as corresponding to the first aspect. When it is remembered that the cosmic process repeats itself on every plane, and that the Ego in the three worlds stands for the unmanifested, it will be seen that they are the primal separators, and the final "destroyers."

The lives of the next plane (which utilize the second spirilla of the mental unit) are called "The interacting points of cyclic momentum." These points which gather momentum through the process of attraction and repulsion represent, in the mental body, dual force, for it is only through the coming together and the separation of atoms, great and small, macrocosmic and microcosmic, that manifestation of any kind becomes possible.

On the subplane which is formed of lives functioning through the third spirilla, are found "the points of frictional activity" or the "heat producers" and these three - the absorbers, the points of momentum, and the heat producers, pour their united forces through the "separated lives" which form the real barrier between the next body and the mental sheath. This is only possible when their work is unified and synthesized. The student must here remember that the lives are the expression of one Life but that one or other of the spirillae will be the agency for lives which express specific qualities. We are dealing specifically with the fourth effect of motion in [1108] the mental sheath as it manifests throughout the entire vehicle.

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