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A number of esoteric and spiritual teachings
assert that it is necessary to come down to the
physical plane and take on a human incarnation or
some physical form to achieve enlightenment or
liberation, For instance Buddhism refers to the
"precious Human Rebirth"; the idea that even the
gods would hav eto incarnate in physical form to
progress was held by Blavatsky and apparently Theon
as well, and Sai Baba also mentions something like
this in one of his talks. Sri Aurobindo makes the
intriging suggestion that evolution is only possible
in a physical existence, because the other realms
and beings are "typal" and hence unchanging.
If these ideas are correct, it suggests why physical
reality exists. It is only in the outer physical
being that the original Consciousness is solid
enough to enable the interaction and synergy of
dynamic systems. More, if we assume the merit of Sri
Aurobindo's concept of Supramentalisation: it is
only in this physical mode that existence is dense
and stable enough to form the foundation for
structures that can be perfected; that is, that can
be the vehicle of, and take on the consciousness of,
the Noetic Absolute ("supermind").
We have seen that Theosophical and Anthroposophical
cosmologies present evolution in terms of the
progressive individuation of successive metaphysical
principles by a reincarnating monad. This is really
just the temporalisation of the standard Graeco-Medieval
"Great Chain of Being". So minerals have a physical
body only, plants both a physical and an etheric,
animals add an astral body, and humanity a mental
body (Theosophy) or Ego/Soul (Anthroposophy).
While this insight is probably basically correct, it
is far too simplistic as presented above as
literalist esotericism. A better hypothesis would be
a two-way interaction in which emergent evolution
results in the individuation of etheric, emoptional,
and mental resonances in the physical, and that
these resonances in turn shape emergent evolution,
but that it is not a simplistic one on
correspondence in that the mental faculty only
appears in human evolution. In fact rudimentary
mental bodies would seem to have appeared along with
primitive invertebrates, as higher invertebrates
like cephalopods, and higher vertebrates, both have
sophisticated mental bodies. And the principle that
drives this evolution is both the inner striving of
the divine soul/monad/higher self, and the dynamic
environment shaped by larger physical and occult
cosmecological (astrognostic) forces and beings.
Earlier it has been suggested that involution
involves the convergence of four distinct but
interrelated ontoclines. The same could be said for
evolution.
We begin with the understanding - suggested by
Steven Guth several years ago - that the Earth,
rather than being an isolated bubble in the empty
void of space, is an open system which is constantly
receiving forces or "beings" from elsewhere in the
cosmos, and these influence the evolution of life,
consciousness, and civilisation here. Early thoughts
on this hypothesis are in these essays (Considering
Islam and Cosmogenic evolution)
The Formative/Morphogenetic - Immediately beyond,
behind, and within the objective physical are the
matrix or blueprints of the external. Rupert
Sheldrake decsribed this best as the process of
formative causation. It is not the mundane physical
but pertains to the etheric (subtle physical) body
and to environmental and perhaps even to larger
cosmic etheric forces (But not universal because it
changes through time), and to the inner rather than
the outer being. And related to this there are
samskaras or impressions from the past, from past
lives and so on, as well as whatever else is carried
over from individual past lives or from the
collective evolution of the planet from its earlier
stages. In the table of occult planes and
resonances, the Morphogenetic derives from the
Spiritual Physical.
The Ecodevic - In addition to - and further removed
from the material physical than - the above are a
whole host of forces: subtle physical, etheric, and
physico-astral elementals, astral-mental (or orecto-ideational)
group minds, devas (sensu New Age definition) of
various kinds. We can call them ecodevas and in fact
the nature hierarchies as a whole. They seem to
correspond to the environmental intermediate
(between inner and outer) or inner level of being of
the Subtle Physical (Astral Physical and Spiritual
Physical) and Physical Astral. More on them here
The Astrodevic - Then there are beings - here termed
astrodevas to distinguish them from the terrestrial
or ecodevas - that come in from elsewhere in the
physical universe. One might think of the Earth at
its present stage in evolution with such vibrant
activity of biological life forms and human thought
as radiating out into the cosmos and attracting
these things. More on one such being here. These
forces seem to correspond to the same strata as the
Ecodevic, but on the cosmic level of being.
The Interdimensional - Then there are also beings,
like the above, but which come from other physical
or etheric universes than our own.
The Supraphysical - Then there is the descent of
spiritual or occult forces from totally
supraphysical dimensions of being - from the Astral
or possibly even the Ideational universe. But
because we might assume that the higher the universe
the harder to express, so most of these phenomena
are from the Astral Plane. This is also the kingdom
of beings that often come through genuine (as
opposed to physical astral) channelled
communications. These astral forces might sometimes
be seen to be tied with the astrodevic forces from
space, at other times they are purely universal.
These forces and principles and gods and daimons may
come from any of the supraphysical planes or
universes, and the nature of the descent and what
the new hierarchy or kingdom or revelation or divine
or non-divine or anti-divine manifestation brings
varies accordingly.
The Divine - And finally there are specific avataric
descents from the highest levels, from the Divine or
the Supreme Consciousness and the infinite higher
possibilities of the Noetic Absolute. According to
Sri Aurobindo (don't have the actual ref on me)
every major evolutionary ascension of consciousness
involves a divine descent. And Teilhard de Chardin
[ref] refers to evolution moving or drawn towards a
consummate point or goal, the omega point.
Evolution of the Individuality:
Paramatman / Buddha Mind
- This has already been described
Transcendent Higher Self
- This is the "Celestial" Higher Self, the
"Man of Light", Heavenly Twin, the Angelic Spirit,
the Guide of Light, etc in Hermetic, Sufi, Gnostic,
and other such traditions, Ar-Ruh al-Qudsi/Supreme
Spirit, Christ in Christian mysticism and esoteric
Christianity, the Transcendent "Central being" (Jivatam)
guiding incarnations (Aurobindo), Higher or
Spiritual Self (Assagioli), and the Monad of
Theosophy (right). At least one experience [link
xxxx] indicates a Matrix of Higher Selves.
Immanent/Evolving Higher Self
- This is the Divine Soul or Purusha as
immanent Divine Soul; the Pneuma or Divine Spark of
Gnosticism, Sri Aurobindo's Chaitya Purusha or
"Psychic Being", perhaps also Kashmir Shaivism
Purusha, the Immortal Personality evolving to
perfection, the Divine Soul or Higher Triad or
Immortal Ego (right) of Theosophy and Alice Bailey's
teachings. Many teachings confuse the two higher
selves, but I am here following Sri Aurobindo in
considering them separate but in relation to each
other. This is just like the Heavenly Twins of
ancient Hermetic, Gnostic, Ishraqi, and Sufi
thought.
Essential Being
- True Being or purushas of each level,
according to Sri Aurobindo (perhaps Samkhya seems to
refer here to the mental purusha). These are part of
the Inner Being that supports the prakritic nature
(It is unclear whether Sri Aurobindo considers the
Inner Being and the True Bewing as one or two
principles). Also the Antakarana or "Inner Being"
(especially Buddhi and Ahamkara) of Samkhyan
philosophy in part. This is equivalent in part to
the "Divine Soul".
Ego
- Conscious Self - This is the conscious
personality or conscious self, the Ego according to
Freud and Jung, the Manas and Manovijnana of Samkhya
and Yogachara respectively, the "field of
consciousness", the part of our being we identity
with as "I" or "self" or "mind" or "soul". Normally
it corresponds to the Outer or Surface
Consciousness, but with spiritual development the
field of consciosuness expands and is elevated to
include more of the inner being. The Ego or I
corresponds also to the Upper Left Quadrant in
Wilber's Integral map.
Double / "It" / Unconscious
- The "Double" or "Id" (literally, "It") is
that part of the self that is experienced as
"other", as a sort of Double or Doppleganger to the
Ego. It can be understood as a transitional or
intermediate reality between the complete Not-Self,
which is specifically not a part of the individual,
and the ego. In other words, it is intermediate
between Within and Without, Subjectivity and
Objectivity, Interiors and Exteriors. It lies
outside the field of consciousness, but it still
connected to the psyche, although it has a large
degree of autonomy. A review of the Double in
folktales and elsewhere (including Steiner's
teachings) can be found here
Not-self / All Other Selves
- To some extent this is the Prakriti of
Samkhya and Advaita, but also everything that is not
included in the individual Self. It is also, at
least in its physical aspect, Objective reality
according to science and secular thought. |
