H U N A
The Workable Psycho-Religious System of the Polynesians.
An Abridgement of the Pamphlet Huna, of Max Freedom Long.
Second Installment -
Section II
The Element of Force.
We have seen that the High Self is the element of consciousness involved in instant healing and fire-walking. Let us now consider the force it uses. In Huna, all things are triune. There is always a conscious being using force, to operate on some form of dense or etheric matter. The High Self uses vital force, or electro-vital force.
Electro-vital force of the body has been measured; it is of the 3 to 4 million volt level. In the brain it is stepped up another million volts or so. The High Self does not live in the body, so its vital force has not yet been measured by laboratory methods, but Huna asserts that its voltage is higher still, probably around 5-6 million volts. This is in the atom-smashing range, and it is probably the power used by the High Self in controlling heat (fire-walking) and cold, and in dematerializing and reconstructing solid matter (as in the instant healing of a broken bone).
Apports at seances are produced in a somewhat similar way, by a thinning out of the dense matter, then transporting and resolidifying it. Spirits of the dead obtain apports through the aid of the High Self, but understand the phenomenon no better than we do. Levitation and (some forms of) materialization are produced in the same way. If we can learn how to use the Huna system, we could ourselves obtain teleportation and similar phenomena without the aid of discarnate spirits.
(The occult concept of ectoplasm, as current in the West, is that it is an intermediary substance between the etheric double and the dense body. It is the Hyle or First Matter of the ancients. Laboratory workers (as von Schrenck-Notzing, Geley, Bichet) and many spiritualists apparently consider it an organic substance and an emanation from the human organism, without going further in their speculations. It seems likely that both ideas are correct, and that the Hyle is an omnipresent cloud of matter-energy, which functions in the body in the manner mentioned, but is by no means confined to the body. If the reader will turn to the review of of "The Mediumship of Jack Webber", in this issue of RR, he will note the really appalling fact that the re-materialization of an apport (whether a flower or a brick or a pan of fried eggs, or even some living thing) seems to be connected with the "ectoplasm" of the medium (or other persons present). Perhaps we should say that the apported object was first reduced to Hyle, or its First-Matter form, without losing its pattern, was transported in that state, and reconstructed inside the energy-field, or auric field of human beings, by means of the organic Hyle or body ectoplasm. However this may be, it is quite necessary, for the Understanding of Huna, to grasp this larger use of the term ectoplasm. All magical operations may be said to depend on the Hyle or Cosmic Stuff and its relation to ectoplasmic phenomena is of vital importance.)
"The Vital Force is made in quantity on the earth level. Plants have it, and animals and men generate it for the foods they use. The low self in the body generates and uses the low voltage of vital force. This is stepped up by the middle self to the middle voltage, and is used as the 'will' to control the low self." The High Self draws from the same store of body energy, but steps up the voltage to the atom-smashing level, where it can be used effecting all kinds of miraculous physical changes, instant healing, teleportation, materialization and the like - and even changes of weather.
Section III
The Element of Matter.
If we grant that an energy exists, by means of which any object, or any part of the body can be dematerialized and then reconstructed, then the mechanism of instant healing becomes at least thinkable. The broken bone or diseased organ is simply "thinned out" until only its pattern in the Hyle remains, then the pattern is filled in again, so to speak, minus its diseased elements. (The present writer takes rather wide liberties with the language of the pamphlet, and gives his own understanding of Mr Long's expressions.)
Above the dense matter, there is etheric matter to be considered. Everything has an exact etheric duplicate. Each of the three selves has a body, and the bodies of the low and middle selves have etheric duplicates. The High Self, since it does not live in the dense body, has an etheric body, since it must have a 'vehicle' of some kind.
In etheric substance, energy can be stored up - or vital force - and this stored force can be used by spirits of the dead to produce various kinds of physical effects (ectoplasmic phenomena in seances, and other). The etheric body, or shadow body, can be withdrawn from from its association with the dense body, temporarily (a "cord" connection is probably maintained). (This covers "astral" projection on the etheric level, or in the etheric body.) Instant healing, as we have said, consists in emptying the etheric mould or duplicate of the diseased tissues, and then refilling the mould with basic substance. The High Self can do many other things - can control the weather, for instance. The Kahuna of the Berber tribe who instructed W.R. Stewart, stated that according to tribal history the Great Pyramid in Egypt had been built by the Higher Selves, who were able to cut and transport the stone. Mr Long reminds us that psychic science has reported instances of parts of stones being used as apports - the parts having been cut off, not broken, leaving a smooth, almost polished surface.
(In regard to the companionship, powers, and near-omniscience of the Higher Selves, compare the explanations given by the communicating Being in the Cayce clairvoyance: the idea is acceptable to Western occultism as a whole. . . We draw attention to the possibility that some types of Poltergeist phenomena may be traceable to activity of the low selves of here-living people . . . Apparitions of living people are a fairly frequent occurrence. The low self may possess a double not identical with the etheric double of the middle self, and it is conceivable that such a double would have much more freedom of action than does the low self. This seems less impossible when we reflect that certain early religious concepts deal with as many as ten, or nine 'vehicles' in addition to the dense body. The present status of psychological knowledge does not [10] justify us in rejecting out of hand these 'primitive' opinions; they are likely to be based on clairvoyant and astral investigations far superior to our own. And the Poltergeist, for example, remains an inscrutable mystery for the modern student. .Q The concept of the High Self, as inhabiting a separate vehicle (etheric, electronic, sub-electronic?) yet remaining in connection and communication with the low and middle selves (brain consciousness and subconsciousness) is certainly congenial to the larger part of Western occult theory. And all occultism postulates a High Self (a Guardian Angel, Yechidah, the Augoeides, the Higher Consciousness), and the aim of occult disciplines, as well as the aspiration of the mystic, is union with this higher consciousness (Recognition, Illumination, Attainment). The brain consciousness is, in short, a kind of dissociated complex of a higher intelligence - or it is a 'fallen' Angel, or a Prodigal Son whose whole desire is to return to the house of his Father . . . Now, the essence of all these concepts is writ large in HUNA and with admirable simplicity. And above all, from all available facts the HUNA concept is workable; contact with the High Self is really established.
In another respect the claims of HUNA are more modest than those of Western occultism. It conceives that since the High Self employs direct knowing, intuitional knowledge and telepathic rapport, and does not use reason and logic, we (the brain consciousness or second self) cannot possibly understand it or function on its level. And if this is true, what use to spin vast dreams of yet higher Gods, and of a God above all Gods? All these are flatus vocis, empty words, void of content. Let us only, by humble and knowledgeable methods, make clear the channel, each of us, for our personal God, our own High Self, which will then manifest if It so desires. The initiative of prayer and of way-clearing rests with the middle and low self, but the initiative of all response, help-giving, prayer-answering, rests with the High Self alone. And this, too, has its echo in the best thought of our contemporary esoteric Schools.
The crucial weakness of psychic research, paranormal psychology, spiritualism, and indeed of nearly all occult practise, is the lack of an adequate psychology. Otherwise, and crudely put, it is the displacement and neglect of the role of the subconscious, the low self. With the advent of the Freudian psychology, which defined the subconscious largely as the region of the basic instincts, and the breeding place of all human depravities, the confusion grew still worse. Spiritist, religionist, cultists and occultists alike cared for nothing but to cut straight through, so to speak, from conscious to superconscious levels. There is, however, that which lies between, through which the High Self must be approached, and through which it can respond - the subconscious, the low self, "the hidden twin and secret lover" of us all.
All this our long parenthesis is not in the words of Max Freedom Long, and it may be does not accurately represent his thought; also it in a measure anticipates what the HUNA pamphlet has yet to offer us. For purposes of exposition, however, it has seemed best to offer it here. Once again, we must carry over to another issue. We hope for critical reading and close comment - and the HUNA pamphlets are available for those who request them.)