_Vague Intellectual Pleasure._--Fig. 18 represents a vague cloud of the
same order as those shown in Figs. 8 and 14, but in this case the colour
is yellow instead of crimson or blue. Yellow in any of man's vehicles
always indicates intellectual capacity, but its shades vary very much,
and it may be complicated by the admixture of other hues. Generally
speaking, it has a deeper and duller tint if the intellect is directed
chiefly into lower channels, more especially if the objects are selfish.
In the astral or mental body of the average man of business it would
show itself as yellow ochre, while pure intellect devoted to the study
of philosophy or mathematics appears frequently to be golden, and this
rises gradually to a beautiful clear and luminous lemon or primrose
yellow when a powerful intellect is being employed absolutely
unselfishly for the benefit of humanity. Most yellow thought-forms are
clearly outlined, and a vague cloud of this colour is comparatively
rare. It indicates intellectual pleasure--appreciation of the result of
ingenuity, or the delight felt in clever workmanship. Such pleasure as
the ordinary man derives from the contemplation of a picture usually
depends chiefly upon the emotions of admiration, affection, or pity
which it arouses within him, or sometimes, if it pourtrays a scene with
which he is familiar, its charm consists in its power to awaken the
memory of past joys. An artist, however, may derive from a picture a
pleasure of an entirely different character, based upon his recognition
of the excellence of the work, and of the ingenuity which has been
exercised in producing certain results. Such pure intellectual
gratification shows itself in a yellow cloud; and the same effect may be
produced by delight in musical ingenuity, or the subtleties of argument.
A cloud of this nature betokens the entire absence of any personal
emotion, for if that were present it would inevitably tinge the yellow
with its own appropriate colour.
[Illustration: FIG. 18. VAGUE INTELLECTUAL PLEASURE]
_The Intention to Know._--Fig. 19 is of interest as showing us something
of the growth of a thought-form. The earlier stage, which is indicated
by the upper form, is not uncommon, and indicates the determination to
solve some problem--the intention to know and to understand. Sometimes a
theosophical lecturer sees many of these yellow serpentine forms
projecting towards him from his audience, and welcomes them as a token
that his hearers are following his arguments intelligently, and have an
earnest desire to understand and to know more. A form of this kind
frequently accompanies a question, and if, as is sometimes unfortunately
the case, the question is put less with the genuine desire for knowledge
than for the purpose of exhibiting the acumen of the questioner, the
form is strongly tinged with the deep orange that indicates conceit. It
was at a theosophical meeting that this special shape was encountered,
and it accompanied a question which showed considerable thought and
penetration. The answer at first given was not thoroughly satisfactory
to the inquirer, who seems to have received the impression that his
problem was being evaded by the lecturer. His resolution to obtain a
full and thorough answer to his inquiry became more determined than
ever, and his thought-form deepened in colour and changed into the
second of the two shapes, resembling a cork-screw even more closely than
before. Forms similar to these are constantly created by ordinary idle
and frivolous curiosity, but as there is no intellect involved in that
case the colour is no longer yellow, but usually closely resembles that
of decaying meat, somewhat like that shown in Fig. 29 as expressing a
drunken man's craving for alcohol.
[Illustration: FIG. 19. THE INTENTION TO KNOW]
_High Ambition._--Fig. 20 gives us another manifestation of desire--the
ambition for place or power. The ambitious quality is shown by the rich
deep orange colour, and the desire by the hooked extensions which
precede the form as it moves. The thought is a good and pure one of its
kind, for if there were anything base or selfish in the desire it would
inevitably show itself in the darkening of the clear orange hue by dull
reds, browns, or greys. If this man coveted place or power, it was not
for his own sake, but from the conviction that he could do the work
well and truly, and to the advantage of his fellow-men.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. HIGH AMBITION]
_Selfish Ambition._--Ambition of a lower type is represented in Fig. 21.
Not only have we here a large stain of the dull brown-grey of
selfishness, but there is also a considerable difference in the form,
though it appears to possess equal definiteness of outline. Fig. 20 is
rising steadily onward towards a definite object, for it will be
observed that the central part of it is as definitely a projectile as
Fig. 10. Fig. 21, on the other hand, is a floating form, and is strongly
indicative of general acquisitiveness--the ambition to grasp for the
self everything that is within sight.
[Illustration: FIG. 21. SELFISH AMBITION]