Art, Symbol & Imagination
Sympathy and Love for All; In the Six Directions
A leaf-like form and a six-armed star illustrate attempts to direct benevolent thought beyond a single person. Figure 37 combines the authors' green for sympathy with rose for love of humanity, while figure 39 accompanies a meditator's reading about sending love in six directions. The text says that this meditator imagined six points around a circle instead of the four horizontal directions together with above and below, accounting for the star-like design. The plate records the authors' interpretation of that specific exercise, not a universal Hindu teaching or proof that meditation creates externally visible shapes.
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Citation
"Sympathy and Love for All; In the Six Directions" [editorial title]. In Thought-Forms, Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater. 1905, Theosophical Publishing Society. Source scan leaf 47. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/art-thought-six-directions
Source details
Editorial title and description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Two complete numbered figures are retained. The six-point interpretation is explicitly the source's account of a particular reader's misunderstanding.
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Sympathy and Love for All; In the Six Directions. Thought-Forms. Scan leaf 47. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/art-thought-six-directions