NooSchool Blog – Charles Winborne

Candidate Course Content (CW), Preparatory School:

• Experimental Attitude
• Identification – Losing Force
• Passive Self-Observation – Preserving Force
• Remembering Oneself – Creating Force
• Exclusive Self-Preference: Extent
• Science of Impressions
• Science of Meditation
• Types
• Cosmology – Stepping-Down Impressions
• Cosmology – Heirarchy of Beings and Functions
• Cosmology – Rays
• Esoteric Psychology: Integration of Functions
• Group Practice
• Individual Practice
• Experiments in Telepathy
• Love and Sentiment
• Guidance (Conscience, Soul, Master-Teacher, etc.)
• Right Human Relations: Sub-Human Kingdoms
• Right Human Relations: Super-Human Kingdoms

Suggested Course Content, Preparatory School/School of Meditation (AB: LOOM):

(This School will be prepare selected students for Advanced Schooling)

[The] curriculum deals much with the development of lower mind, with the laying of the foundations upon which to build the later work, and with the formulation, the study, and the memorizing of the theories and occult laws upon which the true occultist will later base his practical work. We saw also that much that was taught was necessarily closely allied with the exoteric teaching of the world, and necessitated the school being in close touch with the centers of modern thought.

(I) First–The Practice of Meditation

(II) Second–The Curriculum, proper, as follows:

 The Microcosm

• Elementary anatomy, physiology, biology.
• Ethnology.
• Study of the etheric body and its allied subjects of vitality and magnetism.
• Study of geology; of the vegetable kingdom, or botany; and of the animal kingdom.
• Study of the history of man and the development of science.
• Study of the laws of the microcosmic body.

The Macrocosm

• Study of the laws of electricity, of fohat, of prana, and of the astral light. [329]
• Study of astronomy and of astrology.
• Study of occult cosmogony.
• Study of the human hierarchy.
• Study of the deva evolution.
• Study of the laws of the solar system.
• Study of telepathy, mental creation, psychometric.

The Mind

• The study of the mental plane.
• The study of the laws of fire.
• The study of the causal body.
• The study of the fifth principle.
• The study of color and of sound.

Synthesis

• The study of spirit-matter-mind.
• Study of numbers and of symbology.
• Study of higher mathematics.
• Study of the laws of union.
• Study of the laws of sex.
• Psychic Development
• Study of practical occultism.
• Study of psychism.
• Study of the astral light and the akashic records.
• Study of mediumship and inspiration.
• Study of past lives.
• Study of the macrocosmic and microcosmic centers.

Practical Work

• Service to the race.
• Study of group work.
• Review work.
• Work on the subtler bodies with the view to producing continuity of consciousness.
• Study of magic.
• Study of the seventh ray.

(III) Third–Individual Development, as follows:

• The aligning of the bodies with a view to egoic contact.
• The building of the antahkarana, and the development of the higher mind.
• The development of the intuition, and the definite spiritual awakening of the pupil.
• The study of the pupil’s vibration, ray, color and tone.
• The conscious refining of all the bodies beginning with the physical.

Overview:

All the work of the school will be based upon an occult knowledge of times and seasons, and two things will be carefully adhered to:

1. The school year will be divided into two halves, one half wherein the pupils are strenuously acquiring knowledge, that period being that in which the sun moves northward or the earlier half of the year, and a second half – separated from the earlier by an interval of six weeks – wherein he assimilates and puts, into practice that – which earlier was imparted. During the earlier months of the year he goes through a drastic system of reception, of learning, of hard study, of accumulation of facts and of concrete knowledge. He attends lectures, he wades through many books, he studies in the laboratory, and with the aid of the microscope and of the telescope he widens the range of his vision, and builds into his mental body a vast store of scientific data.

During the six weeks’ vacation he is recommended to rest entirely from all mental effort save that associated with the practice of the imparted occult meditation. He mentally follows the cycle and goes into pralaya temporarily. At the end of six weeks he returns to his work with the object in view of systematizing the mass of information, of perfecting his comprehension of the facts earlier studied, of practicing that part of the occult lore permissible, with the object in view of becoming proficient and to discover his weak points. He writes during the “dark period” of the year the themes and essays, the books and pamphlets that will embody the product of the assimilated information. The best of these books will be published yearly by the college, for the use of the public. In this way be serves his time and generation and educates the race in the higher knowledge.

2. In exactly the same way his studies each month will be so arranged that the harder part (dealing with the higher mind) will be undertaken during the part of the month which is called the bright half, whilst the work of the dark half will be more given over to the things concerning lower mind and to an effort to hold the gain of the earlier weeks. Each day will be likewise divided into set times, the earlier hours being those in which the more abstract and occult data will be given, the latter part of the day being given over to a more practical type of work.

The basis of all occult growth is meditation, or those periods of silent gestation in which the soul grows in the silence. Therefore, during the day there will be for every pupil in the school three periods of meditation – at sunrise, at midday, and at sunset. During the earlier part of the pupil’s attendance at the school these periods will be for thirty minutes each. Later he will give one hour to the practice of occult meditation three times a day, and during his final year he will be expected to give five hours a day to meditation. When he can do this and get results he will be able to pass on into the advanced school. It is the great test and mark of readiness.

The hours of the school will begin with sunrise and end with sunset. After the sun sets, and for one hour after each of the other two periods of meditation, the pupil is permitted to relax, take his meals and recreate himself. All pupils will be required to retire to rest at night by ten o’clock, after thirty minutes of careful revision of the day’s work and the filling in of certain charts that go to the completion of his record.

The length of a pupil’s stay in the school depends entirely upon the progress made, the inner powers of assimilation and the outer life of service. It depends therefore upon the point in evolution at which he enters the school. Those just entering the Path of Probation will be there for five to seven years and on occasion even longer; those who are old disciples and those who have taken initiation in earlier lives will be there but a brief time, pushing rapidly through the curriculum and simply learning to produce for use the knowledge earlier stored. The period of their stay will be anywhere from one to five years, usually about three. Their innate knowledge will be developed by encouraging them to teach the younger brethren. A pupil passes out of the school, not as a result of an exoteric examination but simply on the notification of the Head of the School, who bases his decision upon esoteric results in the bodies of the pupil, upon the clarity of his auric colors and upon the tone of his life and the key of his vibration.

Noos–a sphere of mind.

By way of introduction: I am Charles B. Winborne III. You are welcome to read my short biography at:

 http://nooschool.org/winborne_bio.html.

The NooSchool Blog primarily functions as my personal journal. Visitors are welcome to comment.

The thoughts scribed here center on three main themes and one immediate goal:

1.  The possibility of becoming oneself; of participating in conscious-evolution.

(Becoming Oneself: Efforts made on behalf of continual self-sublimation, self-synthesis)

2.  The conjecture that becoming oneself may not be confined to one’s person, but may be connected to group effort.

3.  The hypothesis that school is a venue where one might become oneself.

IMMEDIATE GOAL: Appropriate incorporation of Science of Consciousness into the ordinary School Curriculum. This will not only include knowledge of cosciousness (history, psychology, sociology, and anthropology), but also the very Practice of Becoming.

A school, NooSchool.org, accompanies this Blog, at http://nooschool.org/nooschool/. This intent of this school should be understood as preparatory with respect to the “Immediate Goal” mentioned, above.

I am the administrator of this school, which currently has no classes. For the time being I will be its only instructor. I do not claim any particular authority in relation to the subject matters discussed herein.

I anticipate that the School subject matters will include:

1. Selected teachings offered within those books published under Alice A. Bailey’s name.
2. Selected teachings offered within the rubric defined by G.I. Gurdieff, especially those given expression by Maurice Nicoll.
3. Commentaries and proposed experimental regimes by Charles Winborne.
4. Other teaching sources, to be determined by the interests of the students.
5. Discussion regarding the nature of “School” and its purposes and operations during each of life’s stages.

I liberally quote the Alice Bailey and Maurice Nicoll writings. In these cases I may not always provide attribution, but often mark the extractions with (AB) or (MN). In any case, the reader should perhaps measure veritude by virtue of his/her own best sensibilities.

If others which to teach classes at NooSchool, where the subject matters lie within the themes specified, please feel free to contact me by email.

Might one mediate those impinging/conditioning forces that are concerned only with calculation?

Might one mediate those impinging/conditioning forces that are concerned only with the incalculable?

Might one, with due appropriation, welcome both the Power of Limits and the Freedom of Limitlessness?

It is my claim that versatility among these two implicate consciousness, and a chosen pervasiveness of Occupancy.

THE BALANCING AND SYNTHESIS OF THE OPPOSITES

by Roberto Assagioli, M.D.

Polarity is a universal fact; it is inherent in cosmic manifestation. It is true that the Ultimate and Supreme Reality is the One, the Absolute, the Transcendent; but it can only be defined by what it is not. From the very moment that cosmic manifestation begins to unfold, duality is born. The first fundamental duality is precisely that between manifestation and the Unmanifest. In the Bhagavad Gita this is expressed in the words: “Having pervaded the whole Universe with a fragment of myself, I remain.” In the process of manifestation the fundamental polarity is that of Spirit and Matter.

It is at once necessary to state that all polarity is a relationship between two elements, and that, as such, it is never absolute, but relative even to a particular pair of opposites: the same element can be positive in its relation to a certain “pole” and negative in its relation to another. An instance of the relativity of the “polar relationships” exists in the fundamental polarity between Spirit and Matter. According to some, Spirit is the free and transcendent Reality which stands above the various pairs of opposites existing in manifested life.

Such is the conception of Keyserling, contained in his book, From Suffering to Fulfififillment (London; Selwyn  and Blount) (cf. also Das Buch vom Personlichen Leben (Stuttgart: Deutsche VerlagAnstalt, 1936), by the same writer, p. 505-510-515.) According to others, Spirit corresponds to the positive pole, to the dynamic and creative element in all duality. Such is Jung’s idea. In other words, Keyserling regards the “tension” between Spirit and the various manifestations of life as existing in a “vertical” direction, which he refers to as the “dimension of intensity,” while Jung conceives polarity more as a horizontal relationship.

Physical Polarity

In the physical world, the most commonly recognized polarity is that between the positive and negative poles in electricity. This polarity is the basis of the constitution of matter since, as is well known, each atom contains charges of electricity differentiated into a positive nucleus and a varying number of negative electrons. Electric polarity manifests itself in various ways which have many practical applications, as in induced and alternating currents, etc. Interesting analogies can be found in various polarities in the field of psychology, such as   emotional attraction and repulsion, ambivalence and the “compensatory” function.

Within living organisms, such as the human body, there are various polarities. One of the most important is that between the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems; the former stimulates catabolism, the latter assimilation or anabolism. Other polarities exist between the different endocrine glands. One of the most important and general polarities in the three kingdoms of organic life (vegetable, animal and human) is the sexual. The positive pole is represented by the masculine element, the negative by the feminine element. This does not mean that the former is active and the latter passive. Both are active, but in a different way, the masculine element being the dynamic, initiating pole, while the feminine element is the receptive, “gestative,” elaborative pole. This type of polarity extends far beyond the man-woman relationship to innumerable manifestations in life. It has been particularly and deeply emphasized by the Chinese who regard these two principles as the foundation both of cosmic evolution and of every aspect of human life. The creative aspect, symbolized by the father and Heaven, they call Yang, while Yin is the receptive and elaborative aspect, symbolized by the mother and the Earth. The well-being of Man depends, in the view of Chinese philosophy, on the harmonious accord between Man and the cyclic evolution of the Universe, woven from the innumerable relationships and interactions of Yang and Yin.

Emotional Polarity

In the field of the emotions and feelings we find those dualities which are familiar to all: pleasure-pain; excitement-depression; confi dence-fear; attraction-repulsion; love-hate. Such is their extent that one might say that the life of the average human being is based on his emotional reactions to things, to events and to persons. These reactions have a definite function and purpose, provided they are maintained within appropriate bounds. But if we allow them to take over—as too often is the case—we are apt to become their slaves. Later we shall  consider how the limitations of these opposites can be overcome.

Mental Polarity

In the mental realm there is the polarity between the analytical activity of the concrete mind and the synthetic operation of the abstract intelligence; between the inductive process (from the particular to the general) and the deductive process (from the general to the particular).

Consideration of the human personality in its totality discloses various fundamental polarities which have been extensively investigated by modern psychology. The knowledge about the human being acquired in this process has stimulated the development of important psychological, educational and psychotherapeutic techniques.

The principal polarities here are: Body-Psyche; Consciousness-the Unconscious; the lower Unconscious-the Superconscious; Pathos (Receptivity, Sensitivity, Reactivity) Ethos (Activity, Dynamism, Will); Eros (Feeling)- Logos (Reason).

Spiritual Polarity

The fundamental duality in the spiritual realm is that existing between the personality and the Transpersonal Self, a polarity which is the cause of many inner conflicts, until harmonious relationships and an increasing blending or unification (spiritual psychosynthesis) are achieved.

Interindividual Polarity

There are also many “inter-individual” polarities which are of the utmost importance. The first and fundamental one is that existing, on all levels, between Man and Woman. Then there is that between adults and young people, particularly in the interaction between parents and their children. There are, further, the various relationships between individuals and the different groups to which they belong.

Among them we find the family considered as a unit, as a “psychic entity,” which is made up not only of members who are alive, but also of ancestral influences and family traditions. Such influences are sometimes a help to the individual, offering him an ideal and a way of life which he may be encouraged to live by. Other times, and perhaps more often, they may hem him in and even oppress him.

Then come the social groups of different kinds (social and professional classes, cultural and religious groups, nations) with which the individual may find himself associated, in a condition of passive subordination or of cooperation, as leader and directing agent or in conflict. Similar relationships exist among groups; both among those of the same kind and size, i.e., between families and families, classes and classes, nations and nations, etc.; and the “hierarchical” ones, between the family and the state; classes and nations; between a state and a federation of states.

Two kinds of polarities which are of great importance are that between the northern and southern individuals and groups in each nation and continent and that between Western and Eastern peoples.

Balancing Opposite Poles

Each of these numerous polarities confronts us with the problem of their interplay and balancing. The following is a brief survey of the general principles and methods of balancing opposite poles with the object of resolving “polar tensions:”

1. Fusion of the two poles, involving the neutralization of their charges of energy.

2. Creation of a new being, of a new reality.

3. Adjustment of the opposite poles, by means of an “intermediary center” or of a principle higher than  both. A regulating action of this kind can be brought about in two ways:

(a) By diminishing the amplitude of the oscillations between the two extremes, at times even to vanishing point, thus inducing a more or less complete neutralization (“the happy medium”). An instance of this, of great actual interest, is the oscillation between excessive authority and uncontrolled freedom in education and the search for a balanced attitude.

(b) By consciously and wisely directing the alternations so that the result is harmonious and constructive, and in accord with the cyclic alternations of both individual and general, human and cosmic, conditions. (This is the method taught by Chinese philosophy and particularly by the I Ching.)

4. Synthesis, brought about by a higher element or principle which transforms, sublimates and reabsorbs the two poles into a higher reality.

The different types of polarity require correspondingly appropriate solutions. Man often has the freedom—and consequently the responsibility—of choosing between different methods of balancing. It should, however, be pointed out that the indicated solutions are not always as clear-cut as the above enumeration might lead one to believe. Sometimes, as the following examples will show, they can overlap or be combined in various ways.

In the field of electricity, the most simple outcome is neutralization through the fusion of the positive and negative charges. However, the conditions in which this fusion is effected determine the results, which are thus subject to considerable variation. When, for instance, the poles are brought towards each other, and the voltage with which they are charged overcomes the resistance of the medium which separates them, a discharge is produced which manifests as a spark. Lightning is an instance of this phenomenon. When, on the other hand, the poles are kept apart but connected by a conducting wire, with some “resistance” introduced at a point along the conducting wire, the electrical energy becomes susceptible to various transformations. This latter process is being utilized with increasing ingenuity in the transformation of electricity into light, into heat, or into movement. In these cases the process of neutralization produces various useful effects.

In the biological realm, health can be defined as a dynamic equilibrium ever threatened and ever restored between a series of polarities, such as exist between the divisions of the nervous system, between various endocrine glands, and in general between the anabolic and catabolic functions. In the same way, psychological life can be regarded as a continual polarization and tension between differing tendencies and functions, and as a continual effort, conscious or not, to establish equilibrium. Among the most important psychological polarities are: impulse-inhibition; feeling-reason; extraversion-introversion.

In sexual polarity, the union of the two physical elements has a creative effect. The dynamism of their fusion brings about the birth of a new organism similar to that of the parents. In humanity this wonderful physical creative function is closely associated with the psychological polarities, and this often produces very complex situations and difficult problems.

In the fields of drives, emotions and feelings, the balancing of opposite qualities requires the intervention of a higher regulating principle of a mental or transpersonal nature. The first task is to prevent the drives and the emotions from overwhelming and submerging the reason and the will. The best way to achieve this is to learn how to disidentify oneself from them at will, in order to be free at any time to maintain the “I”, the center of consciousness, on a higher level above them, in order to be able to observe and evaluate them, and to wisely regulate them as needed.

Let us make it clear that to regulate does not mean to “suppress,” and that this does not in any way lead to aridity or a lack of sensitivity. Let us, for example, consider a fundamental polarity, pleasure-pain. As long as  we remain slaves of this duality, always actively seeking pleasure and fearfully fleeing from pain, we shall not find lasting peace or permanent satisfaction. On the other hand, a forced inhibition, an artificial impassivity, certainly does not constitute a satisfactory solution. This can only be arrived at by means of that clear insight which enables us to understand the causes, the nature and the functions of both pleasure and pain. This insight carries the recognition that, in accepting pleasure without craving for it and attachment to it, and in accepting pain, when unavoidable, without fearing it and rebelling against it, one can learn much from both pleasure and pain, and “distill the essence” which they contain. Moreover, one can gradually raise the quality and level of these “opposites”; one passes by degrees from the physical pleasures in and of themselves to the joys of feeling and of the mind, finally experiencing spiritual joy. One makes one’s way from physical suffering to emotional troubles, to intellectual turmoils; then to compassion for the sufferings of others and then of the whole human race. From all these experiences one gathers the fruits of wisdom, and learns to keep the center of consciousness stabilized more and more at a level above the alternations of personal pleasure and pain. Finally we can acquire  the ability to identify ourselves with the Universal Life, with the Supra-Individual Self, with the Supreme, which transcends all “opposites” in ineffable bliss.

If we examine more closely the specific polarities of the emotional field, we can clearly distinguish two main types of solutions. One is realized on the same level; it can be called “the middle way” of compromise, the blending of the two poles. The other solution is achieved at a higher level: it is the fusion of the poles into a higher synthesis.

The method of synthesis which is analogous in a certain sense to a chemical combination, includes and absorbs the two elements into a higher unity endowed with qualities differing from those of either of them. The difference between the solutions achieved through compromise and those brought about through synthesis can be clearly indicated by a triangular diagram. Here are a few examples:

The polarity between ‘mind’ and ‘heart’, between reason and feeling (Logos and Eros), is regulated in the first place by the recognition of their respective functions and of the legitimate field of action of each of the two functions, so that neither dominates the other. This can be followed by a mutual and increasing cooperation and interpenetration between the two, finally arriving at the synthesis so well expressed by Dante in the words “Intellectual light full of love.”

The polarity between sensitivity and receptivity (Pathos) and dynamism or Will (Ethos) which, in a wider sense, corresponds to psychosexual polarity—for the former pole is the “feminine” and the latter the “masculine” modality—can also at first be controlled by a balanced adjustment, to be superseded by a creative synthesis. The fundamental polarity between the human personality as a whole and the spiritual Self can also be resolved into a unity. This is the aim of the process of harmonization and transmutation involving a protracted series of conflicts, approaches, and contacts, each producing partial, increasingly expanded fusions. In short, this is the process of spiritual psychosynthesis. It constitutes the noble effort, the central drama of Man who, either consciously or unconsciously, aspires to this high goal, or is pushed towards it by his inability to find lasting satisfaction or a true peace until he has attained it.

The interaction between the Self and the personality creates a series of “triangular” relationships similar to those previously indicated. Here are some of them:

The various equilibrations, adjustments and syntheses can be produced in different ways. At times, they are preceded by intense crises and conflicts. In other cases they are reached in a more gradual and harmonious way by means of a progressive decrease in the oscillations of the “pendulum”. A clear understanding of this  process of synthesis enables one to achieve it more easily and rapidly. The essential requirement, as previously mentioned, is to avoid identifying oneself with either of the two opposite poles, and to control, transmute, and direct their energies from a higher center of awareness and power.

It seems accurate, from what follows, that general use of the term “soul” is varied, where variance depends on the founding tradition, belief or disbelief in a given tradition, or mere convention/assumption/unmindful adoption. We specify here that associated statements by various ”scientists” and religionists fall within these uses.

My own use is not a function of belief or disbelief, but rather one of fiat. “Soul” is what I say it is; and, the saying affects and effects the conditioning of my apprehension of myself and others.  This view implicates the possibility that “I” am both a proximate cause of “reality” and a proximate cause of my own existence.  A review of the following may reveal that such a statement is in highest conformity with the Gurdieffian view. To the extent that “I” as Being and as Sentient exist within the womb of Time and Space, this remains as a Mystery that implicates the possibility of solution-within-profound paradox. (I, Other, It, All… these are reconciled without loss of either the part nor the whole).

“Having pervaded this whole universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.” This approximates a reconciliation.

What do you mean when you use the term, “Soul”?

When modern scientists speak of the soul outside of this cultural and psychological context, they generally treat soul as a poetic synonym for mind; an object of human belief, or as a concept that shapes cognition and an understanding of the world, rather than as an entity in and of itself.  (Francis Crick, Daniel Dennett)

The true self; the inner, most sacred part of each person (Eckankar/Paul Twitchell, 1965)

“When it is covered by the bubble of mind, energy and matter, becomes separate from God. But as soon as the bubble is burst, which is when the ego-self is annihilated through love for God, it finds that it is One with God.” (Meher Baba)

Taught that nobody is ever born with a soul. Rather, an individual must create a soul during the course of their life. Without a soul, Gurdjieff taught that one will “die like a dog”. (George Gurdjieff/Fourth Way)

An exact replica and spark of the Divine. The purpose of Surat Shabd Yoga is to realize one’s True Self as soul (Self-Realisation), True Essence (Spirit-Realisation), and True Divinity (God-Realisation) while living in the physical body. (The Radhasoami Movement/Surat Shabda Yoga)

Three stages of soul development, which interpenetrate one another in consciousness:
(1) “sentient soul”, centering on sensations, drives, and passions, with strong conative (will) and emotional components;
(2) “intellectual” or “mind soul”, internalizing and reflecting on outer experience, with affective and cognitive components;
(3) “consciousness soul”, in search of universal, objective truths. (Rudolf Steiner)

The field of our psychological activity (thinking, emotions, memory, desires, will, and so on) as well as of the so-called paranormal or psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, out-of-body experiences, etc.). However, the soul is not the highest, but a middle dimension of human beings. Higher than the soul is the spirit, which is considered to be the real self; the source of everything we call “good”—happiness, wisdom, love, compassion, harmony, peace, etc. While the spirit is eternal and incorruptible, the soul is not. The soul acts as a link between the material body and the spiritual self, and therefore shares some characteristics of both. The soul can be attracted either towards the spiritual or towards the material realm, being thus the “battlefield” of good and evil. It is only when the soul is attracted towards the spiritual and merges with the Self that it becomes eternal and divine. (Helena Blavatsky/Theosophy)

Every person has two types of soul called hun and po, which are respectively yang and yin. Taoism believes in ten souls, sanhunqipo “three hun and seven po”. The pò is linked to the dead body and the grave, whereas the hún is linked to the ancestral tablet. A living being that loses any of them is said to have mental illness or unconsciousness, while a dead soul may reincarnate to a disability, lower desire realms or may even be unable to reincarnate. Also, Journeys to the Under-World said there can be hundreds of divisible souls. (Taoism/Chinese Traditions)
Soul (atma) to be part of God (Waheguru). “God is in the Soul and the Soul is in the God.” “The soul is divine; divine is the soul. Worship Him with love.” “The soul is the Lord, and the Lord is the soul; An entity or “spiritual spark” or “light” in our body because of which the body can sustain life. On the departure of this entity from the body, the body becomes lifeless. The soul is the ‘driver’ in the body. (Sikhism)

Has a separate existence from the body that houses it. Every living being from a plant or a bacterium to human, has a soul. The soul (Jiva) is differentiated from non-soul or non-living reality (ajiva) that consists of: matter, time, space, medium of motion and medium of rest. (Jainism)
Put into the human embryo 40 days after fertilization takes place. (one version among others). “Verily the creation of every one of you is brought together in the mother’s womb as a drop of semen for forty days, then it becomes a clot for the same period, then it becomes a blob of flesh for the same period. Then the angel will be sent unto it to blow into it a SPIRIT (soul?), and the angel is ordered (to carry out) with four instructions, to write down its livelihood, the span of life, its deeds, and whether it is wretched or fortunate.” (Islam)

The term “Soul” may be misleading as it implies an object possessed (“I have a Soul”), whereas “Self” signifies the subject which perceives all objects (“I am that Self”). This “Self” is held to be distinct from the various mental faculties such as desires, thinking, understanding, reasoning and self-image (ego), all of which are considered to be part of nature (Prakriti). All the three major schools of Hindu philosophy agree, on the basis of the Vedic revelation, that the individual Self is related to the Supreme Self of the Universe. But they differ in the nature of this relationship. In Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism) the Individual Self and the Supreme Self are one and the same. Dvaita or Dualistic Hinduism rejects this concept of identity, instead identifying the Self as separate but similar part of Supreme Self, but it never lose its individual identity. Visishtadvaita or Qualified Non-Dualism takes a middle path and accepts the Individual Self as an attribute of the Supreme Self. For an alternative atheistic and dualistic view of the soul in ancient Hindu philosophy, see Samkhya. (Hinduism)

“For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever – existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Bhagavad Gita)

“…a special substance, endowed with reason, adapted to rule the body” (Augustine). Some Christians espouse a trichotomic view of humans, which characterizes humans as consisting of a body (soma), soul (psyche), and spirit (pneuma). However, the majority of modern Bible scholars point out how spirit and soul are used interchangeably in many biblical passages, and so hold to dichotomy: the view that each of us is body and soul. Paul said that the “body wars against” the soul, and that “I buffet my body”, to keep it under control. “Preexistence theory:” the soul exists before the moment of conception. “Creationism:” Each individual soul is created directly by God at the moment of conception. (Christianity)

“And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7). y Paul the Apostle, “And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45).

..generally believe in The soul’s existence, but fall into two major camps regarding afterlife. Some, following Calvin, believe in the immortality of the soul and conscious existence after death, while others, following Luther, believe in the mortality of the soul. (Protestantism)

When God united His breath, or spirit with man, man became a living soul. A living soul is composed of body and spirit. Adventists believe at death the body returns to dust and life returns to the God who bestowed it. (Seventh Day Adventist).

…take the Hebrew word nephesh, which is commonly translated as “soul”, to be a person, an animal, or the life that a person or an animal enjoys. They believe that the Hebrew word ruach (Greek pneuma), which is commonly translated as “spirit” but literally means “wind”, refers to the life force or the power that animates living things. A person is a breathing creature, a body animated by the “spirit of God”, not an invisible being contained in a body and able to survive apart from that body after death. Jesus spoke of himself, having life, as having a soul. When he surrendered his life, he surrendered his soul. John 10:15 reads “just as the Father knows me and I know the father, and I surrender my soul in behalf of the sheep.” This belief that man is a soul, rather than having a soul, is also in line with the knowledge that Hell (Sheol in Hebrew and Hades in Greek) represents the common grave with the hope of resurrection rather than eternal torment in hellfire. (Jehovah’s Witness)

These preliminary notes are intended as a rough compilation of “differentiation” (of Types, for instance) from the perspective of Religious traditions that bespeak Angels, Hierarchies, and Heavens. Whether fundamental differentiation arises as a result of Cosmic Mechanics or from the volitional action of Celestial Beings is of little interest, since neither Science nor Religion seems to be able to synthetically reconcile the issue anent Creation/Volition/Mechanics. What seems irrefutable, however, is that orderly Differentiation is often experienced by the senses and within ratiocination.

It may be useful to read the following without unmindfully projecting “personhood” upon the various identities. An alternative is to attend to the identities as organized energy expressions, like tornados, hurricanes, firestorms, magnetic fields, plasma fields, low-pressure-areas, etc. With a little effort, a rose or a mountain may be seen as such, as might a human body, a human emotional expression, or a human thought. Thus, one may playfully/synthetically blur the lines that often separate Mechanics from Volition.

A Theosophical Perspective approaches this subject from the perspective of DYANI-CHOHAN

My interest in “Differentiation” is especially focussed on the various identities associated with “Personality Type”– where Personality Type as the not-self is provisionally construed as the foundation upon which an Integrated Personality (also not-self) might be consciously constructed, theoretically assuming progressive guidance from a revealing-Self. Here, an extension of this conjecture implicates Fundamental Differentiations of Self, also. Clarification of such differences may become increasingly useful as Education moves away from normative practice and toward individulized application.

Various sources are clearly interpretive, with many, many misalignments and inconsistencies. The interpretive sources are, variously, Individual, Kabbalistic, Hebrew, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Greek.  I omit,  for the most part, Buddhist and Theosophical descriptions here, although their respective lexicons seem much more rich than those offered by the mentioned groups

In the meantime, what follows provides a mixed-bag summary, mostly derived from Kabalistic Interpretation.

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SEPHAROTH, meaning “enumerations”, are the 10-Heirarchical attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which God (who is referred to as Ein Sof – The Infinite) reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the chain of higher metaphysical realms.

EIN SOF – The Infinite: “God” prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm.
Zohar explains the term “Ein Sof” as follows:

“Before He gave any shape to the world, before He produced any form, He was alone, without form and without resemblance to anything else. Who then can comprehend how He was before the Creation? Hence it is forbidden to lend Him any form or similitude, or even to call Him by His sacred name, or to indicate Him by a single letter or a single point. . . . But after He created the form of the Heavenly Man, He used him as a chariot wherein to descend, and He wishes to be called after His form, which is the sacred name ‘YHWH’.”

SHEKHINAH is derived from the Hebrew verb שכן. In Biblical Hebrew the word means literally to settle, inhabit, or dwell. Similar to Greek term “PAROUSIA”: “presence” “arrival.” Female Divine Presence.

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HAYOT HA KODESH: 1
Holy Animals
Ruling Archangel: Metatron, the First of Ten (Kabal)
Keter-Crown (Sepiroth,  1st of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Kether. Metatron is one of the two most Godlike Archangels and has no specific day of the week assigned to him. As such, he can be easily called upon at any time. Metatron belongs to the angelic order of the Chai-ot Ha Kah-desh. He usually appears as a young boy or youth. This being is very powerful an his wisdom should never be debated, despite his childlike form. Metatron come to individuals on the verge of a spiritual transformation. he carries with him the power to turn your human self into the divine being you were always meant to be. Seeing Metatron is a powerful vision that should not be taken lightly because he usually comes at a time of great inner change.

Metatron is also mentioned in the Pseudepigrapha, most prominently in the Hebrew Merkabah Book of Enoch, also called 3 Enoch or Sefer Hekhalot (Book of [the Heavenly] Palaces). The book describes the link between Enoch, son of Jared (great grandfather of Noah) and his transformation into the angel Metatron. His grand title “the lesser YHWH” resurfaces here. Metatron says, “He [the Holy One]… called me, ‘The lesser YHWH’ in the presence of his whole household in the height, as it is written, ‘my name is in him.’” (12:5, Alexander’s translation). The narrator of this book, supposedly Rabbi Ishmael, tells how Metatron guided him through Heaven and explained its wonders. Here Metatron is described in two ways: as a primordial angel (9:2–13:2) and as the transformation of Enoch after he was assumed into Heaven.
Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. [Genesis 5:24 NIV.] This Enoch, whose flesh was turned to flame, his veins to fire, his eye-lashes to flashes of lightning, his eye-balls to flaming torches, and whom God placed on a throne next to the throne of glory, received after this heavenly transformation the name Metatron.

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ORPHANIM: 2
Wheels
Ruling Archangel: Raziel, the Second of Ten (Kabal)
Chokmah-Wisdom (Sepiroth,  2nd of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The famous Sefer Raziel HaMalach (“Book of Raziel the Angel”) attributed to this figure is said to contain all secret knowledge, and is considered to be a book of magic. He stands close by God’s throne, and therefore hears and writes down everything that is said and discussed. He purportedly gave the book to Adam and Eve after they ate from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which resulted in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, so the two could find their way back “home” and better understand their God. Raziel’s fellow angels were deeply disturbed by this, and as such, stole the book from Adam and threw it into the ocean. God Himself decided not to punish Raziel, but instead retrieved the book by means of the angel Rahab and returned it to Adam and Eve.Bertie considers this story – not attested in the Bible – to be a variant of the story of Prometheus in Greek mythology.

According to some sources, the book was passed on through the generations to Enoch (believed to have later become the angel Metatron), who may have incorporated his own writings into the tome. From Enoch, the archangel Raphael gave it to Noah, who used the wisdom within to build Noah’s Ark. The Book of Raziel was said to have come into the possession of King Solomon, and a number of texts claiming to be this volume have recently appeared.

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ERELIM, THRONES: 3
Thrones
Ruling Archangel: Tzaphkiel, the Third of Ten (Kabal)
Binah-Understanding/Knowledge (Sepiroth, 3rd of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; FEMININE, vessel)

Also Known As: Sachiel, Zachiel, Zedekiel, Zadakiel, Tzadqiel (Hebrew), Tzadkiel, and Zedekul

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Binah. The day of the week for Tzaphkiel is Saturday. Tzaphkiel belongs to the angelic order of the Araleem. You will rarely see the entire form of this being. Usually you will see just a hand or just a helmet. His forms are very large, and it is easy to be taken aback by him. Tzaphkiel is responsible for the beginnings and endings of things. He often can be called upon to crush an unwanted situation or to bring a swift end to a long term pain. Tzaphkiel is closely associated with death and often he can be perceived as such. However, Tzaphkiel is more than just an Archangel of death, but of life, because without endings in things, the individual can not begin a new and transform himself into something more.

The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception refers that the “Lords of the Flame”, the Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically assigned to Leo, are the Thrones (from the Old Testament description, “because of the brilliant luminosity of their bodies and their great spiritual powers.”).

Tzaphqiel is the Archangel of Binah on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, ruled by the name IHVH Elohim and ruling the angelic choir Aralim. Binah is the supreme feminine aspect in Kabbalah and Tzaphqiel is its representative in the world of Briah. Associated with the primal waters, darkness, closing the initial impulse in form and inertia, this archangel is rarely made use of in practical occultism.

Planet=Jupiter?

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HASHMALLIM: 4
Electric Ones
Ruling Archangel: Tzadkiel, the Fourth of Ten (Kabal)
Chesed-Loving Kindness or Mercy (Sepiroth, 4th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Chesed. The day of the week for this Archangel is Thursday. Tzadkiel belongs to the angelic order of Chasmaleem. This Archangel appears as a very old man with wrinkly face, white hair, and a white beard. He is very powerful despite his elderly appearance and dispenses justice swiftly without prejudice or bias. Seeing him is often a call to expose the injustice within you or to expose an injustice being done to you. He is merciful but only to those that earn or deserve his mercy. He is the energy force behind poverty or wealth and any of its various incarnations; therefore he is often associated with games of luck and chance. However, this Archangel knows that any good luck or bad luck is duly earned by the individual, and he gauges your fortune or ill-fortune accordingly.

In rabbinic writings Zadkiel belongs to the order of Hashmallim (equated with the Dominations or Dominions), and considered by some sources to be chief of that order (others sources name Hashmal or Zacharael).

Zadkiel is one of two standard bearers (along with Jophiel) who follow directly behind Michael as the head archangel enters battle. Zadkiel is associated with the color violet.

In Jewish mysticism and Western ritual magic, Zadkiel is associated with the planet Jupiter. The angel’s position in the Sephirot is fourth, which corresponds to mercy.

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SERAPHIM: 5
Burning Ones
Ruling Archangel: Khamael, the Fifth of Ten (Kabal)

Also Known As: Anael, Anani, Ariel, Hamiel, Hanael, Hananel, Haniel, Khananel, Onoel.

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Geburah. The day of the week for this Archangel is Tuesday. Khamael belongs to the angelic order of the Serapheem. He appears as a Knight in shinning armor. He embodies protection in the form of skill, prowess, and the utilization of tools and resources. Seeing this Archangel is often a sign that you possess the necessary skill to carry out your task. However, seeing Khamael can also be viewed as the Archangel come to the rescue to do battle with or against forces that you yourself do not possess the ability to conquer. In either case, Khamael represents the acquiring of skills and resources to get through some physical challenge.

Planet= VENUS

Gevurah-Power or Judgement (Sepiroth, 5th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)
Camael (Latin Camael), Means one who seeks God. (also known as Kamuel, Chamuel, Camiel, Camniel) is an angel in Judeo-Christian mythology and angelology, and is often included in lists as being one of the seven archangels. He is claimed to be the leader of the forces that expelled Adam from the Garden of Eden. Camael is not recognised by the Catholic Church due to the Vatican’s decision to ban the veneration of angels not mentioned in the Bible Camael is an angel who revanges the light, also war-like and punishes those who are against God. Also known as an angel of Love, he is covered with fire.

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MALAKIM: 6
Messengers/Angels
Ruling Archangel: Raphael, the Sixth of Ten (Kabal)
Tipheret-Beauty or Compassion (Sepiroth, 6th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Tiphareth. The day of the week for this Archangel is Sunday. Raphael belongs to the angelic order of the Malacheem. Raphael is associated with the element of Air and the planetary energy of Mercury. Raphael is one of the few Archangels that actually appear with wings. His wings symbolize his ability to rise above the limitations of the mundane and let in the power of divine light. It is with this divine light that Raphael is able to put the divine seed within you, a seed that will continue to grow over time. Seeing Raphael can also be a sign that it is time to let go of the physical chains that are holding you back from obtaining your goals.

The name of the angel Raphael appears only in the Deuterocanonical Book of Tobit. The Book of Tobit is considered canonical by Roman Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox Christians. Raphael first appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of Tobit’s son, Tobiah, calling himself “Azarias the son of the great Ananias”. During the adventurous course of the journey the archangel’s protective influence is shown in many ways including the binding of the demon in the desert of upper Egypt. After the return and the healing of the blindness of Tobit, Azarias makes himself known as “the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord” Tobit 12:15. Compare the unnamed angels in John’s Revelation 8:2. He is often venerated and patronized as Saint Raphael the Archangel.

Regarding the healing powers attributed to Raphael,we have little more than his declaration to Tobit that he was sent by the Lord to heal him of his blindness and to deliver Sarah, his future daughter-in-law, from the demon Asmodeus, who abducts and kills every man she marries on their wedding night before the marriage can be consummated.

In the Koran, it is Raphael who sounds the trumpet announcing The Last Day and The Day of Judgment.

Raphael in the Book of Enoch: “And again the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there for ever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire.

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ELOHIM: 7
Gods
Ruling Archangel: Haniel, the Seventh of Ten (Kabal)

Also Known As: Anael, Anani, Ariel, Hamiel, Hanael, Hananel, Haniel, Khananel, Onoel.

Netzach-Triumph or Endurance (Sepiroth, 7th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Netzach. The day of the week for this Archangel is Friday. Haniel belongs to the angelic order of the Eloheem. Haniel usually appears as a beautiful woman but on occasion will take the form of a very handsome man. Haniel symbolizes beauty, pleasure, and friendship. Haniel has the power to make a barren life become fruitful or to turn sadness to happiness. Haniel will often appear and show you how to fill the gaps in your life with the stuff that makes life worth living for: friendship, love, camaraderie, and harmony

Haniel (Hebrew: “Joy of God” or Hebrew: “Grace of God”), also known as Anael, Hanael or Aniel, is an angel in Jewish lore and angelology, and is often included in lists as being one of the seven archangels. Haniel is generally associated with the planet Venus, he is also the archangel of the Sephirah Netzach. The name Haniel probably derives from Hebrew hana’ah, “joy”, “pleasure” (qualities associated with Venus) + the suffix -el, “God”.

Planet=VENUS?

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BENE ELOHIM: 8
Sons of God
Ruling Archangel: Michael, the Eighth of Ten (Kabal)
Hod-Majesty or Splendor (Sepiroth, 8th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Hod. the day of the week for Michael is Wednesday. Michael belongs to the angelic order of the Beney Eloheem. He is associated with the element of Fire and the planetary energy of the Sun. He usually appears like a broad, muscular man wearing leather or bronze. Michael comes when strength is needed to get you through a difficult challenge. Michael also represents protection, but unlike Khamael’s form of protection, which is more geared toward and approaching or unknown danger, Michael’s protection is for those situations when life demands us to leave our save and secure camp and move into enemy waters. Michael stands as a protector, by your side, when you are engaged in matters requiring a strong presence, to safeguard your journey.

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CHERUBIM: 9
Strong Ones
Ruling Archangel: Gabriel, the Ninth of Ten (Kabal)
Yesod-Foundation (Sepiroth, 9th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; MASCULINE)

In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an Archangel who typically serves as a messenger to humans from God.

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Yesod. The day of the week for this Archangel is Monday. Gabriel belongs to the angelic order of the Kerubeem. This Archangel is associated with the element of Water and the planetary energy of the Moon. He or she (this archangel is often seen in both genders) usually appears as a tall slender being, silver-like garments, and emanates great intelligence. Gabriel is the Archangel of the mind. He can be called upon to help you through some kind of mental challenge or to help construct alternative choices for situations. Gabriel carries with him the knowledge of the sciences and as such can be a powerful ally to people engaged in such matters. Gabriel is also the Archangel that watches over non-human entities and makes sure that these entities are about their own business and not in the way of yours. The latter is not as much of a concern now, as ti t was many thousands of years ago when the Earth was still new and there was a great deal of disorder about.

Gabriel: Also Known As: Abruel, Gabrielus (Latin), Gavri’el ( Hebrew), Jibril or Jibrail ( Arabic) and Serafili.

Planet= MOON?

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ISHIM: 10
Persons
Ruling Archangel: Sandalphon, the Tenth of Ten (Kabal)
Malkuth-Realm (Sepiroth, 5th of 10 enumeration/attributes/emanations; FEMININE, vessel)

The Archangel who presides over the Sephira Malkuth. Because Sandalphon is so closely connected with the Earth Plane he has no specific day of the week assigned to him and, as such, can be easily called upon at any time. Sandalphon belongs to the angelic order of the Asheem. This Sandalphon can appear as an old wise man, a pontiff, or one of various princesses. This Archangel is also associated with John the Baptist from Christian doctrine, and Elijah from Jewish doctrine. He frequently wears sandals when he s not in the form of a princess. Sandalphon is an important entity and, undoubtedly, will be one of the first Archangels that you will meet. He is responsible for your nonphysical safety when you begin to consciously focus on the various planes of light. Sandalphon will eventually assign a special body-of-light spirit guide to help you with your indoctrination into the spirit world.

In Enoch chapter 3, Sandalphon is the ruler of the Sixth Heaven (makom) but in the Zohar he is “chief of the Seventh Heaven”. According to Islamic lore, he dwells in the Fourth Heaven. As Michael does, he carries on a ceaseless battle with Samael (perhaps Satan), angel of evil. Sandalphon is also said to be instrumental in bringing about the differentiation of sex in the embryo; receives the prayers of humans and sends them to God.

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Other Archangels: Kabal

Cassiel. Also Know as: Captiel, Kafziel (Hebrew).

Planet=SATURN?

Samael. Also Known As: Azazel, Sammael and Samil.

Planet= MARS?

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Other Archangels: Uriel

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First Hierarchy, First Heaven
(Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones-R. Steiner)
(Seraphim • Cherubim • Ophanim • Thrones )

Second Hierarchy, Second Heaven
(Kyriotetes, Dynamis, Exusiai-R. Steiner)
(Dominions • Virtues  • Powers or Authorities)

Kyriotetes (Ophanim)
never sleeping, but watching (or guarding) the throne of God.

The word ophan means “wheel” in Hebrew so the Ophanim have been associated with the description in Ezekiel 1:15-21 and possibly again in the Daniel 7:9

The Ophanim are also equated as the “Thrones”, associated with the “Wheels”, in the vision of Daniel 7:9 (Old Testament).

Dynamis

Exusiai
eksousía (from 1537 /ek, “out from,” which intensifies 1510 /eimí, “to be, being as a right or privilege”) – authority, conferred power; delegated empowerment (“authorization”), operating in a designated jurisdiction.

Third Hierarchy, Third Heaven
(Archai, Archangeloi, Angeloi-R. Steiner)
(Principalities or Rulers • Archangels • Angels)

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According to the verses in Ezekiel and its attendant commentaries, the analogy of the Merkaba image consists of a chariot made of many angels being driven by the “Likeness of a Man.” Four angels form the basic structure of the chariot. These angels are called the “Chayot” חיות (lit. living creatures). The bodies of the “Chayot” are like that of a human being, but each of them has four faces, corresponding to the four directions the chariot can go (north, east south and west). The faces are that of a man, a lion, an ox (later changed to a cherub in Ezekiel 10:14) and an eagle. Since there are four angels and each has four faces, there are a total of sixteen faces. Each Chayot angel also has four wings. Two of these wings spread across the length of the chariot and connected with the wings of the angel on the other side. This created a sort of ‘box’ of wings that formed the perimeter of the chariot. With the remaining two wings, each angel covered its own body. Below, but not attached to the feet of the “Chayot” angels are other angels that are shaped like wheels. These wheel angels, which are described as “a wheel inside of a wheel”, are called “Ophanim” אופנים (lit. wheels, cycles or ways). These wheels are not directly under the chariot, but are nearby and along its perimeter. The angel with the face of the man is always on the east side and looks up at the “Likeness of a Man” that drives the chariot. The “Likeness of a Man” sits on a throne made of sapphire.

The Bible later makes mention of a third type of angel found in the Merkaba called “Seraphim” (lit. “burning”) angels. These angels appear like flashes of fire continuously ascending and descending. These “Seraphim” angels powered the movement of the chariot. In the hierarchy of these angels, “Seraphim” are the highest, that is, closest to God, followed by the “Chayot”, which are followed by the “Ophanim.” The chariot is in a constant state of motion, and the energy behind this movement runs according to this hierarchy. The movement of the “Ophanim” is controlled by the “Chayot” while the movement of the “Chayot” is controlled by the “Seraphim”. The movement of all the angels of the chariot are controlled by the “Likeness of a Man” on the Throne.

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Angelology

Angelology (from Greek: aγγελος, angel, “angel”; and λόγος, logos, “knowledge”) is a branch of theology that deals with a hierarchical system of angels, messengers, celestial powers or emanations, and the study of these systems. It primarily relates to Kabbalistic Judaism and Christianity, where it is one of the ten major branches of theology, albeit a neglected one.

Many secular scholars believe that Judeo-Christianity owes a great debt to Zoroastrianism in regards to the introduction of angelology
and demonology, as well as the fallen angel Satan as the ultimate agent of evil,  comparing him to the evil spirit Ahriman. As the Iranian Avestan and Vedic traditions and also other branches of Indo-European mythologies show, the notion of demons had existed long before.

It is believed that Zoroastrianism had an influence on Jewish angelology,and therefore modern Christian angelology, due to the appearance of elements from Zoroastrianism in Judaism following Israel’s extended contact with the Persian Empire while in exile in Babylon. Borrowed notions may include the introduction of Satan as a supreme head over the powers of evil (present mainly in Christian and Islamic theology), in contrast to God; comparing Satan to Angra Mainyu (also known as Ahriman) of Zoroastrian faith[citation needed], who was the arch-enemy of Ahura Mazda, the supreme Universal God of mankind. Angels, some also believe, may have first been depicted as God’s helpers in Zoroastrianism, and their hierarchy is comparable to modern Angelology’s hierarchy.

Christian angelic hierarchy

The most influential of  these classifications was that put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the Fourth or Fifth century, in his book “The Celestial Hierarchy”. However, during the Middle Ages, many schemes were proposed, some drawing on and expanding on Pseudo-Dionysius, others suggesting completely different classifications (some authors limited the number of Choirs to seven). Several other hierarchies were proposed, some in nearly inverted order. Scholars of the Middle Ages believed that angels and archangels were lowest in the order because they were the most involved in the world of men and thus more
susceptible to sin.

In The Celestial Hierarchy and in the Summa Theologica the Catholic Church theologians drew on passages from the New
Testament, specifically Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16 (considered by modern scholars to be very tentative and ambiguous sources in relation to the construction of such a schema), in an attempt to reveal a schema of three Hierarchies, Spheres or Triads of angels, with each Hierarchy containing three Orders or Choirs.

From the comparative study of the Old Testament and New Testament passages, the above mentioned theological works (which contain
variations), and esoteric Christian teachings, the descending order of rank, appears to be:

First Hierarchy:
- Seraphim
- Cherubim
- Ophanim (Thrones/Wheels)

Second Hierarchy:
- Thrones (Gr. thronos)- Dominions (Gr. kuriotes)
- Principalities (Gr. arche)

Third Hierarchy:
- Powers (Gr. exousia)
- Archangels
- Angels

1. Seraphim

The Seraphim (singular “Seraph”), mentioned in Isaiah 6:1—7 [1], serve as the caretakers of God’s throne and continuously singing his praises: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. All the earth is filled with His Glory.” It is said that they surround the throne of God, singing the music of the spheres and regulating the movement of the heavens as it emanates from God. It is also said that such a bright light emanates from them that nothing, not even other divine beings, can look upon them. It is said that there are four of them surrounding God’s throne, where they burn eternally from love and zeal for God.

The Seraphim have six wings; two covering their face, two covering their feet, and two that they fly with.

Unlike other Seraphim who had six wings, Lucifer was featured to have twelve wings.

Names of Seraphim in various traditions:

Seraphiel
Metatron

Michael
Vehuel
Uriel
Nathanael
Jehoel
Chamuel (Kemuel,
Shemuel)
Lucifer
Abaddon
Asmodeus
Astaroth
Samael

Semyazza

2. Cherubim

The Cherubim (singular “Cherub”) are beyond the throne of God; they are the guardians of light and of the stars. It is believed
that, although they are removed from man’s plane of reality, the divine light that they filter down from Heaven still touches the lives of living things.

They have four faces: one of a man, ox, lion, and eagle. The ox-face is considered the “true face”, as later on in Ezekiel the ox’s face is called a cherub’s face (Chapter 10.) They have eight conjoined wings covered with eyes, and they have ox’s feet.

Cherubim are considered the elect beings for the purpose of protection. Cherubim guard Eden and the throne of God.

Their rank among angels is uncertain but they are always categorized in the First Sphere. Some believe them to be an order or class of angels; others hold them to be a class of heavenly beings higher than angels. Cherubim are said to have perfect knowledge of God, surpassed only by the love of the Seraphim.

The Cherubim are mentioned in Genesis 3:24; Ezekiel 10:17–20 ; and 1 Kings 6:23–28.

Names of Cherubim in various traditions:

Cherubiel
Gabriel
Ophaniel
Raphael
Uriel
Zophiel

Azazel
Beelzebub
Berith
Lauviah
Marou
Salikotal

Shamsiel

3. Ophanim

The Ophanim (Heb. owphan: Wheels, also known as Thrones, from the vision of Daniel 7:9) are unusual looking compared to the
other celestial beings; They appear as a beryl-coloured wheel-within-a-wheel, their rims covered with hundreds of eyes.

They are closely connected with the Cherubim: “When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures [Cherubim] was in the wheels.” (Ezekiel 10:17). In Esoteric Christianity they are called Lords of Flame.

De Coelesti Hierarchia refers the Thrones (from the Old Testament; Ezekiel and Daniel visions of the Thrones/Weels) as the third Order of the first sphere, corresponding to the description of the Ophanim; the other two superior orders being the Cherubim and Seraphim. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception refers that the “Lords of the Flame”, the Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically assigned
to Leo, are the Thrones “because of the brilliant luminosity of their bodies and their great spiritual powers.”, corresponding also to the description of the Ophanim; the other two superior hierarchies being also the Cherubim and Seraphim. According to this esoteric Christian teachings, these three Hierarchies have already reached liberation, thus no longer active in the work of evolution.

Names of Ophanim in various traditions:

Bodiel

Ophaniel
Jophiel
Zaphkiel
Oriphiel
Raziel
Astaroth

Gressil
Focalor
Forneus
Murmur
Nelchael
Phenex

Purson
Raum
Samael
Sonneillon
Verrine

4. Thrones

Main article: Thrones
The Thrones (Gr.  thronos) are a class of celestial beings mentioned by Paul of Tarsus in Colossians 1:16 (New Testament) and related to the throne of God the Father. They are living symbols of God’s justice and authority. They come the closest of all Angels to spiritual perfection and emanate the light of God with mirror-like goodness. They, despite their greatness, are intensely humble, an attribute that
allows them to dispense justice with perfect objectivity and without fear of pride or ambition. Because they are living symbols of God’s justice and authority, they are called Thrones and have as one of their symbols the throne.

The Thrones may possibly be equated with the Lords of Wisdom, a Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically associated to Virgo, presented in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. They inhabit, in Rosicrucian cosmology, the World of Divine Spirit, which is the home of The Father. According to this source, the Lords of Wisdom (here equated with the Thrones; thronos) and the higher Lords of
the Flame (Thrones/Wheels: Ophanim) have worked together in a far past toward the development of mankind.

5. Dominions

The Dominions, also known as the Hashmallim hold the task of regulating the duties of lower angels. They are responsible for ensuring that the cosmos remains in order. It is only with extreme rarity that the angelic lords make themselves physically known to mortals. Instead, they quietly concern themselves with the details of existence. They are also the angels who preside over nations.

The Dominions are believed to resemble unnaturally beautiful humans with a pair of feathered wings, much like the common representation of Angels, but they are physically characterized from other groups as wielding orbs of light fastened to the heads of their sceptres or on the pommel of their swords.

The Dominions may possibly be equated with the Lords of Individuality, a Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically associated to Libra, presented in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. They inhabit, in Rosicrucian cosmology, the World of Life Spirit, which is the home of Christ, The Son.

6. Principalities

The Principalities (Gr. arche) are shown wearing a crown and carrying a sceptre. They lie beyond the group of archangels. They are the guardian angels of nations and countries, and are concerned with the issues and events surrounding these, including politics, military matters, commerce and trade. One of their duties is to choose who amongst living things will rule.

Their duty also is said to be to carry out the orders given to them by the Dominions and bequeath blessings to the material world. Their
task is to oversee groups of people. As beings related to the world of the germinal ideas, they are said to inspire living things to many things such as art or science.

The Principalities may possibly be equated with the Lords of Form, a Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically associated to Scorpio, presented in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. They inhabit, in Rosicrucian cosmology, the Worl of Thought in the Region of Abstract Throught (higher region), which is the home of Jehova, The Holy Spirit.

7. Powers

The Powers (Gr. exousia) are the bearers of conscience and the keepers of history. The angels of birth and death are Powers. They are academically driven and are concerned with ideology, philosophy, theology, religion, and documents pertaining to those studies. Powers are the brain trusts: a group of experts who serve as advisers and policy planners. They are also the warrior angels created to be completely loyal to God, thus the only order created after the fall. Some believe that no Powers have ever fallen from Grace but others say that not only have some of them Fallen, the Devil was believed to have been the Chief of the Powers before he Fell (see also Ephesians 6:12) Their duty is to oversee the distribution of power among mankind, hence their name.

The Powers may possibly be equated with the Lords of Mind, a Hierarchy of Elohim astrologically associated to Sagittarius, presented in The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception. They inhabit, in Rosicrucian cosmology, the World of Thought in the Region of Concrete Throught (lower region), which is the location of the human mind.

Paul used the term powers in Colossians 1:16 and Ephesians 1:21 but he may have used it to refer to the powers of nations, societies or individuals, instead of referring to angels.

8. Archangels

The word archangel comes from the Greek αρχάγγελος (archaggělǒs), meaning chief angel. It derives from the Greek archō, meaning to be first in political rank or power; and aggělǒs which means messenger. This suggests that they are the highest ranking angels. The word is only used twice in the Bible: 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 1:9. Only Michael and Gabriel are mentioned by name in the Holy Bible.

Michael is the only angel the Bible names expressly as an archangel. In Daniel he is referred to as ‘one of the chief princes’. The word ‘prince’ here is the ancient Hebrew word sar, which means: “a head person (of any rank or class), a chief, a general etc.”

In most Christian traditions Gabriel is also considered an archangel, but there is no direct literal support for this assumption.

The name of the archangel Raphael appears only in the Deuterocanonical Book of Tobit (Tobias). Tobit is considered canonical by Catholics, Orthodox and some Protestants. Raphael said to Tobias that he was “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”, and it is generally believed that Michael and Gabriel are two of the other seven. Another possible interpretation of the ‘seven’ is that the seven are the seven spirits of God that stand before the throne.

9. Angels

The Angels are the lowest order of the angels, and the most familiar to men. They are the ones most concerned with the affairs of living things. Within the category of angels, there are many different kinds, with different functions. The angels are sent as messengers to men.

Jewish angelic hierarchy

Maimonides, in his Yad ha-Chazakah: Yesodei ha-Torah, counts ten ranks of angels in the Jewish angelic hierarchy, beginning from the highest:

Rank Angel Notes:
1 Chayot Ha Kadesh
2 Ophanim
3 Erelim (Isaiah 33:7)
4 Hashmallim (Ezekiel 1:4)5 Seraphim
6 Malakhim: Messengers, angels
7 Elohim “Godly beings”8 Bene Elohim “Sons of Godly beings”
9 Cherubim (Talmud Hagigah 13b)10 Ishim “manlike beings” (see Daniel 10:5)

Kabbalistic angelic hierarchy

According to the Kabbalah as described by the Golden Dawn there are ten archangels, each commanding one of the choir of angels and corresponding to one of the Sephirot. It is similar to the Jewish angelic hierarchy.

Rank Choir of Angels Translation Archangel Sephirah:
1 Chayot Ha Kadesh Living Ones Metatron Keter
2 Ophanim Wheels Raziel Chokmah
3 Erelim Thrones Tzaphkiel Binah
4 Hashmallim Brilliant Ones Tzadkiel Chesed
5 Seraphim Fiery Serpents Khamael Gevurah
6 Malakhim Messengers, angels Raphael Tipheret
7 Elohim Godly Beings Haniel Netzach
8 Bene Elohim Sons of Godly Beings Michael Hod 9 Cherubim Strong Ones Gabriel Yesod
10 Ishim Souls of Fire Sandalphon Malkuth

Islamic angelic hierarchy

Angels are intangible, sentient entities, who do not posses free will. They were created for the sole purpose of serving God. Being made of light, they can assume almost any form, completely real to the human eye, and traverse a distance just as fast as light or faster.

While Iblis did disobey God, was expelled from Heaven, and became the avowed enemy of man, he was a Jinn not an angel, which is not angelic in any way, since they are made of smokeless fire, not light, have free-will, and can disobey or openly defy God.

There is no standard hierarchical organization in Islam that parallels the division into different “choirs” or spheres, as hypothesised and drafted by early medieval Christian theologians. Most Islamic scholars agree that this is an unimportant topic in Islam, especially since such a topic has never been directly mentioned or addressed in the Qur’an. However, it is clear that there is a set order or hierarchy that exists between Angels, defined by the assigned jobs and various tasks to which angels are commanded by God.

The general consensus agrees that Archangels are the highest order of Angels, as those are the ones named the most in the Qur’an (Gabriel, Michael, etc.); these are considered to be closest to God in terms of servitude, as their meaning and purpose is more detailed than any other angel.

There are four Archangels whom Muslims are required to acknowledge as part of their conversion to Islam. (Due to varied methods of translation from Arabic and the fact that these Angels also exist in Christian contexts and the Bible, several of their Christian and phonetic transliteral names are listed.)

Jibrail (OR Jibraaiyl OR Jibril OR Gabriel in English and the Bible). Jibra’il is the Archangel responsible for revealing the Qur’an to Muhammad, verse by verse. Jibra’il is known as the angel who communicates with (all of) the Prophets that Muslims accept. He is mentioned specifically in the Qur’an.

(Angel of Death)[ often mistakenly called "Azrael", which is not mentioned in Quran or Hadith]: The Angel of Death who along with his helpers is responsible for parting the soul of the human from the body. The actual process of separating the soul from the body depends on the person’s history or record of good or bad deeds. If the human was a bad person in life, the soul is ripped out very painfully. But if the human was a righteous person, then the soul is separated like a ‘drop of water dripping from glass’. It is also noted that The Angel of Death will look like a terrifying beast or demon for the souls of bad people and will look like ‘the most pleasant sight’ when he comes for the souls of good people.

Mikail (OR Mikaaiyl OR Michael). Michael is the Archangel charged with bringing thunder and lightning onto the Earth. He is also responsible for the rewards doled out to good persons in this life. This archangel was mentioned in Qur’an. Israfil (OR Israafiyl OR Raphael).

According to the Hadith, Israfil is the Angel responsible for signalling the coming of Judgment Day by blowing a horn and sending out a Blast of Truth. It translates to Hebrew as Raphael. The blowing of the trumpet is described in many places in Quran. It is said that the first blow will destroy everything [Qur'an 69:13], while the second blow will bring all human beings back to life again [Qur'an 36:51].

From this perspective, I am the occupant of an organization of various destinies.

The body functions, along with its several organs, each has its destiny.

The emotional functions, along with its several proclivities to responsive feeling, each has its destiny.

The intellectual functions, along with its several proclivities to thought, each has its destiny.

It is possible to interfere with each mentioned destiny.

Interference may be of a corrupting nature, or of a sublimation nature, or of a benign nature.

The liver develops up to a certain point of destined optimal function. If interference is benign, the liver falls into degeneration according to its destined use/quality-life. If interference is corrupting, its use/quality-life is shortened. If interference is sublimating, its use/quality-life may be enhanced. So, also, it is with a feeling such as desire-to-become; and, so it is with a thought such as “red is warming.”

Who/What interferes? Clearly, “I” interfere–such as I am; and clearly, “it” interferes, such as is the world.

Buddha (563-483 BC) Indian Avatar, teacher of enlightenment, central figure of Buddhism, died from food poisoning [tainted meat] in his final meal.

Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879-1950) Indian Hindu sage and saint died of cancer of the stomach.

Shunryu Suzuki Roshi (1904-1971) Japanese US American Sōtō Zen master, of cancer of the liver.

Catholic saint Saint Bernadette (1844-1879) French miller’s daughter, who had 18 reported apparitions of Mother Mary in Lourdes (1858), died of bone cancer in the right knee (due to disseminated tuberculosis), at age thirty-five.

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986) indischer spiritual teacher, philosopher, author, theosophist, died of cancer of the pancreas.

I live within the world. I interact with that world.

I live within thought. I interact with that thought.

I live within feeling. I interact with that feeling.

I live within sensation. I interact with that sensation.

I live within a personal ego. I interact with that ego.

I live within personal, family, group, and pan-human fates. I interact with these fates.

All of these worlds, thoughts, feelings, sensations, egos, and fates are the not-self.

The not-self seems to arise from the Self.

I do not forsake these elements of the not-self; I have not forgotten their origination.

Yet, I do not identify with these.

How to recognize identification? Suffering.

How to recognize realeasing-from identification? Humor.

How to recognize release-from identification? Play.

Perhaps one has observed “Being Present” or “Being in the Now”, accompanied by suffering as pride, vanity, desperation, and self-abegnation, sometimes colored by that impure humor indicated by cynicism, ridicule, and condescension.

“Having pervaded the whole Universe with a fragment of Myself, I remain.”

Provisional observation:

The Passive-Agressive Voice intones superiority by virtue of the creation of the appearance of insincere subordination.

Often, this voice speaks judgmentally, but with a softened, breathy intonation.

When it is apparent to the Passive-Agressive Voice that it is “found-out”, this Voice may become suddenly clarient… efulgently declaring an ingratiating message. This message may have the unconscious purpose of smokescreening, so that the underlying insincerity and its exclusive self-preference will not become painfully obvious.

Hylomorphism (Greek ὑλο- hylo-, “wood, matter” + -morphism < Greek μορφή, morphē, “form”)

Thus, “Hylic Man” as wooden-man, as compared to that man informed by spiritual impetus (what ever that is!)

But what were the forms? In Plato’s dialogues as well as in general speech there is a form for every object or quality in reality: forms of dogs, human beings, mountains, colors, courage, love, and goodness. Form answers the question “what is that?” Plato was going a step further and asking what Form itself is. He supposed that the object was essentially or “really” the Form and that the phenomena were mere shadows mimicking the Form; that is, momentary portrayals of the Form under different circumstances. The problem of universals – how can one thing in general be many things in particular – was solved by presuming that Form was a distinct singular thing but caused plural representations of itself in particular objects. Matter was considered particular in itself.

These Forms are the essences of various objects: they are that without which a thing would not be the kind of thing it is. For example, there are countless tables in the world but the Form of tableness is at the core; it is the essence of all of them. Plato’s Socrates held that the world of Forms is transcendent to our own world (the world of substances) and also is the essential basis of reality. Super-ordinate to matter, Forms are the most pure of all things. Furthermore, he believed that true knowledge/intelligence is the ability to grasp the world of Forms with one’s mind.

A Form is aspatial (transcendent to space) and atemporal (transcendent to time). Atemporal means that it does not exist within any time period, rather it provides the formal basis for time. It therefore formally grounds beginning, persisting and ending. It is neither eternal in the sense of existing forever or mortal, of limited duration. It exists transcendent to time altogether. Forms are aspatial in that they have no spatial dimensions, and thus no orientation in space, nor do they even (like the point) have a location. They are non-physical, but they are not in the mind. Forms are extra-mental (i.e. real in the strictest sense of the word).

A Form is an objective “blueprint” of perfection. The Forms are perfect themselves because they are unchanging. For example, say we have a triangle drawn on a blackboard. A triangle is a polygon with 3 sides. The triangle as it is on the blackboard is far from perfect. However, it is only the intelligibility of the Form “triangle” that allows us to know the drawing on the chalkboard is a triangle, and the Form “triangle” is perfect and unchanging. It is exactly the same whenever anyone chooses to consider it; however, the time is that of the observer and not of the triangle.

From Rudolf Steiner’s:

Basic Issues of the Social Question

Chapter Two: Finding Real Solutions to the Social Problems of the Times

…this human organism exhibits three complementary systems (serving as an example, which is limited according to R.S.), each of which functions with a certain autonomy. These three complementary systems can be characterized as follows. (1) The system consisting of the nerve and sense faculties functions as one area in the natural human organism. It could also be designated, after the most important member of the organism in which the nerve and sense faculties are to a certain extent centralized, the head organism.

A clear understanding of the human organization will result in recognizing as the second member, (2) what [ I ] would like to call the rhythmic system. It consists of respiration, blood circulation and everything which expresses itself in the rhythmic processes of the human organism.

(3) The third system is to be recognized in everything which, in the form of organs and functions, is connected with metabolism as such. These three systems contain everything which, when properly co-ordinated, maintains the entire functioning of the human organism in a healthy manner.

…

The human being is engaged in economic activity in his own interests. These are based on his spiritual needs and on the needs of his soul.

How these interests can be most suitably approached within a social organism so that the individual can best satisfy his interests through the social organism and also be economically active to the best advantage, is a question which must be resolved in practice within the various economic facilities.

This can only happen if the interests are able to freely assert themselves, and if the will and possibility arise to do what is necessary to satisfy them.

The origin of the interests lies beyond the circle which circumscribes economic affairs. They develop together with the development of the human soul and body. The task of economic life is to establish facilities in order to satisfy them. These facilities should be exclusively concerned with the production and interchange of commodities, that is, of goods which acquire value through human need.

The commodity has value through the person who consumes it. Due to the fact that the commodity acquires its value through the consumer, its position in the social organism is completely different from the other things which the human being, as a member of this organism, values. The economy, within the circumference of which the production, inter-change and consumption of commodities belong, should be considered without preconceptions. The essential difference between the person-to-person relationship in which one produces commodities for the other, and the rights relationship as such will be evident. Careful consideration will lead to the conviction and the practical requirement that in the social organism legal rights must be completely separated from the economic sector. The activities which are to be carried out in the facilities which serve the production and interchange of commodities are not conducive to the best possible influence on the area of human rights. In the economy one individual turns to another individual because one serves the interests of the other, but the relation of one person to another is fundamentally different in the area of human rights.

It might seem that the required distinction would be sufficiently realized if the legal element, which must also exist in the relations between the persons engaged in the economy, be provided for in it. Such a belief has no foundation in reality. The individual can only correctly experience the legal relation which must exist between himself and others when he does not experience this relation in the economic area, but in an area which is completely separate from it. Therefore, an area must develop in the social organism alongside the economy and independent of it, in which the rights element is cultivated and administered. The rights element is, moreover, that of the political domain, of the state. If men carry over their economic interests into the legislation and administration of the rights-state, then the resulting rights will only be the expression of these economic interests. When the rights-state manages the economy it loses the ability to regulate human rights. Its acts and facilities must serve the human need for commodities; they are therefore diverted from the impulses which correspond to human rights.

The healthy social organism requires an autonomous political state as the second member alongside the economic sector. In the autonomous economic sector, through the forces of economic life, people will develop facilities which will best serve the production and interchange of commodities. In the political state facilities will develop which will orient the mutual relations between persons and groups in a way which corresponds to human rights-awareness.

This viewpoint, which advocates the complete separation of rights-state and economy, is one which corresponds to the realities of life. The same cannot be said for the viewpoint which would merge the economic and rights functions.

===================================================================

[CW - consider:"Careful consideration will lead to the conviction and the practical requirement that in the social organism legal rights must be completely separated from the economic sector."

and:

"If men carry over their economic interests into the legislation and administration of the rights-state, then the resulting rights will only be the expression of these economic interests. When the rights-state manages the economy it loses the ability to regulate human rights. Its acts and facilities must serve the human need for commodities; they are therefore diverted from the impulses which correspond to human rights."

On first blush, this separation of the Rights-State and the Economy seems unnecessary and incongruent with Steiner's "triformation of the human natural organism." For the moment, I see these as superpositioned, just as their biological-functional counterparts are superpositioned. In the text, Steiner speaks of Economy based in "individual interests;"  As I see it, he neglects the sublimation and actualization of "individual interest" such as to consider its transformation into the interests of an "I" that expands beyond the "individual."  In the case of such an expansion, what would "Capitalism" look like? I suspect it would begin to look like family interest, tribal interest, national interest, and pan-human interest... in short, voluntary "Collectivism."]

For an example of such voluntary collectivism in-action, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation

A mantra may be repeated vocally, with little attention.

May be repeated with attention to meaning.

May be repeated silently.

My be repeated continually in time.

May be repeated continually, outside of time.

Mantra: “Thus I stand”

(I stand in this manner)

I notice that my fingertips have a stronger desire for justification than my wrist. Curious, inquisitive fingertips. Relatively benign wrist.

An aspect of mind says: How clever of you!

This mind, these fingertips.

Noticing mind, this wrist.

Restraints:

• harmlessness

• truthfulness

• no-stealing

• “rememberiing oneself” in the highest sense possible, avoidance of incontinence

• non-possessiveness, non-holding through senses, non-greed, non-grasping, non-indulgence, non-acquisitiveness

Observances:

• cultivate purity of body and mind

• cultivate attitude of contentment

• training the senses, austerities

• self-study, reflection on most-enobling concepts

• recollection of creative source, causal field

Abiding-in-Poise

Regulation of Impressions and Expressions

Abstraction, Withdrawal from the senses

Attention, or Concentration

Meditation, with seed

Contemplation, or deep absorption in Meditation-without seed

Yoga Sutras, 2.34. Thoughts contrary to yoga are harmfulness, falsehood, theft, incontinence, and avarice, whether committed personally, caused to be committed or approved of, whether arising from avarice, anger or delusion (ignorance) ; whether slight in the doing, middling or great. These result always in excessive pain and ignorance.

Theft is indicated when one takes another’s psychic energy, without being invited to take.

Psychic Energy is comprised of those defined and undefined energies that constitute the basis of living, of movement, of feeling, and of thinking.

When one is identified with one’s created-objects, these may become objects of theft. When one is not-identified with one’s created-objects, the taking of such objects by another do not constitute theft from the perspective of the creator; thus, there is no loss of psychic energy and no diminishment of the possibility of conscious self-evolution.

Such a “taking” diminishes the possibilities of conscious evolution for the thief in all cases, whether the taking is the result of the action of ignorance or the action of intelligence.

In the case of the ”victim” of the theft, possibility of consious evolution may also be diminished.

Here victim-hood is deemed to be under the potential control of the one upon whom the theft has been committed. As such control is achieved, the action of forgiveness is undertaken, which restores possibility-of-consious-evolution both to the thief and the no-longer-victim.

The bare claim is made here (subject to one’s own verification) that one may contrive oneself such that, in sequence, one may not be victimized in life, in movement, in feeling, or in thought.

The accomplishment of non-victimhood requires practice undertaken on behalf of authentic interest. Such practice is a responsibility for he/she who wishes to participate in their own evolution. For those for whom, in ignorance, believe that they are in control of their lives but who are not… these are not responsible for loss of psychic energy. For these, the thief may be rightfully blamed for the loss, where redress will be a matter for civil authority and not “forgiven” by means of personal authority.

In the case where the thief is not-ignorant (rare, evil), he/she abiding in personal authority will do well to guard against the actions of such thieves by means of achievement of deeper abidance in the undiminishable Self.

Ponder on this:

“Incontinance” may be an act whereupon one steals from oneself. (A lower aspect of oneself diminishes the possibilities of conscious evolution of a higher aspect of self. Consider self-forgiveness, in the case of incontinance. To forgive oneself, one must have noticed the interaction of the two aspects, one must see a way forward, and one must attempt to move forward.)

From Yoga Sutras, Book 2

23. The association of the soul with the mind and thus with that which the mind perceives, produces an understanding of the nature of that which is perceived and likewise of the Perceiver.

2.23 Having an alliance, or relationship between objects and the Self is the necessary means by which there can subsequently be realization of the true nature of those objects by that very Self.
(sva svami saktyoh svarupa upalabdhi hetuh samyogah)

• sva = of being owned
• svami = of being owner, master, the one who possesses
• saktyoh = of the powers
• svarupa = of the nature, own nature, own form (sva = own; rupa = form)
• upalabdhi = recognition
• hetuh = that brings about, the cause, reason
• samyogah = union, conjunction

24. The cause of this association is ignorance or avidya. This has to be overcome.

2.24 Avidya or ignorance, the condition of ignoring, is the underlying cause that allows this alliance to appear to exist.
(tasya hetuh avidya)

• tasya = of that (of that alliance, from last sutra)
• hetuh = that brings about, the cause, reason
• avidya = spiritual forgetting, ignorance, veiling, nescience

25. When ignorance is brought to an end through non-association with the things perceived, this is the great liberation.

2.25 By causing a lack of avidya, or ignorance there is then an absence of the alliance, and this leads to a freedom known as a state of liberation or enlightenment for the Seer.
(tat abhavat samyogah abhavah hanam tat drishi kaivalyam)

• tat = its
• abhavat = due to its disappearance, lack or absence (of that ignorance in the last sutra)
• samyogah = union, conjunction
• abhavah = absence, disappearance, dissolution
• hanam = removal, cessation, abandonment
• tat = that
• drishi = of the knower, the force of seeing
• kaivalyam = absolute freedom, liberation, enlightenment

“I know that I exist because my orifices emit their exudates.”

“I know that I exist because he/she loves me.”

“I know that I exist because I have a daily list of things-to-do, chores.”

Authentic Interest as the Foundation of Education:

As Presented in the Yoga Sutras

(Theory: “Meditation with Seed” is a spontaneous occurrence when the Object of Attention is “close to the heart.” or “authentic.” Althought spontaneous and self-originating, Meditation with Seed benefits from guidance. Meditation with Seed proceeds from the Form, and extends to the Qualities, Purpose, and Cause of that Form. Thus, the control of attention implicit in “meditation” extends from the Gross to the Subtle/Abstract)

**************************************************************************************

39. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.

40. Thus his realization extends from the infinitely small to the infinitely great, and from annu (the atom or speck) to atma (or spirit) his knowledge is perfected.

41. To him whose vrittis (modifications of the substance of the mind) are entirely controlled, there eventuates a state of identity with, and similarity to that which is realized. The knower, knowledge and the field of knowledge become one, just as the crystal takes to itself the colours of that which is reflected in it.

42. When the perceiver blends the word, the idea (or meaning) and the object, this is called the mental condition of judicial reasoning.

43. Perception without judicial reasoning is arrived at when the memory no longer holds control, the word and the object are transcended and only the idea is present.

44. The same two processes of concentration, with and without judicial action of the mind, can be applied also to things subtle.

45. The gross leads into the subtle and the subtle leads in progressive stages to that state of pure spiritual being called Pradhana.

46. All this constitutes meditation with seed.

47. When this super-contemplative state is reached, the Yogi acquires pure spiritual realisation through the balanced quiet of the chitta (or mind stuff).

48. His perception is now unfailingly exact (or his mind reveals only the Truth).

49. This particular perception is unique and reveals that which the rational mind (using testimony, inference and deduction) cannot reveal.

50. It is hostile to, or supersedes all other impressions.

51. When this state of perception is itself also restrained (or superseded), then is pure Samadhi achieved.

The peerage of England:

containing a genealogical and historical account of all the peers of that kingdom, now existing, either by tenure, summons, or creation, their descents and collateral lines, their births, marriages and issues …

http://books.google.com/books?id=P15AAAAAYAAJ&dq=Shaftesburiensis&output=text&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Wimborne St. Giles is a small village, scattered about in the lush, well-wooded landscape on the edge of Cranborne Chase. Although the mostly brick built cottages are of a variety of styles, this is the estate village at the centre of the estate which has been the home of one of our noblest families, the Earls of Shaftesbury, who as the Ashley-Coopers have been here since the 15th century.

The 16th century house is in a vast park through which the river Allen flows, feeding a seven acre lake as it winds its way towards Wimborne. the quaintest of village signs pictures St. Giles with his hind. Wimborne St. Giles, which bears itself with dignity, is another of those sequestered places where you find yourself whispering lest you annoy the spirits of Ashley’s, long dead.

The first Earl, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, built the house in the 1650s in the style of Inigo Jones. During the Civil Wars, he at first sided with the King but believed in the right of Parliament to rule and, at the Coronation of Charles II, he was made a Peer and Chancellor to the Exchequer. His independent thinking was his downfall and, when holding the office of Lord Chancellor was dismissed. Later the King needed his aid and tried to bribe him, offering him a dukedom. He declined and became a leader in the Protestant cause, but when he proposed the Duke of Monmouth as a future king, he had gone too far and was thrown into the Tower and tried for high treason. He escaped to Holland where he died in 1683.

The seventh Earl lives on in the heart of the people because of his hatred of wrong and injustice. He fought the cause of Jews and Poles, and passed legislation to stop much of the child labour in the early 1800s. journeying into home, factory and mine, he saw for himself the conditions women and children worked and lived in. He faced opposition from mine owners who were using the sweated labour of children of 5 years of age in the pits, and made Parliament aware of the plight of the poor. In one Act, chimney sweeping by boys was abolished. The seventh Earl was one of the great Parliamentarians of the Victorian era.

The centre of the village is decidedly odd, with a green partly surrounded by large brick buildings. The long row of almshouses, built by Sir Anthony Ashley in 1624, are of bricks with stone detail, including a weathered loggia. The church of St. Giles is of only two dates. It was first rebuilt in 1732 by the Bastard brothers of Blandford, and then again in 1908 by the distinguished architect after being badly damaged in a fire. The church contains many fine monuments to the Shaftesburys. The main memorial to the 7th Earl however is to be found in London. The statue of Eros, in Piccadilly Circus, intended to show the Christian virtue love and whose arrow is aligned with Wimborne St. Giles.

Wimborne St. Giles was the scene of another story concerning children. Soon after the last war the village school conducted an interesting experiment in education. The headmaster and his teacher wife, accepting that the young village children would turn to the land for their livelihoods, ran the school as a farm. Nearby they kept pigs and sheep and a kitchen garden, which the boys ran under supervision. The girls spun the wool, dyed it and made garments from their own patterns. The running of the farm and its financial problems formed the basis of mathematics, and at, official Young Farmers Club gave the children the chance to express themselves publicly. Alas, educational practices have changed the age group attending the school, and the idea has long been forgotten.

In 1907 Treves described the village stocks as being in a state of ‘extreme senility’. Today, preserved under a little tin roof inside iron railings, they are scarcely recognizable, and certainly in no condition to contain the local bad boys

J. LOCKE.

MEMOIRS RELATING TO THE LIFE OF ANTHONY First Earl of Shaftesbury.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

Three Letters writ by the Earl of Shaftesbury while Prisoner in the Tower; one to King Charles II, another to the Duke of York, a Third to a noble Lord: found with Mr. Locke’s Memoirs, &c.

Being at Oxford in the beginning of the civil war (for he was on that side as long as he had any hopes to serve his country there) he was brought one day to King Charles I, by the lord Falkland, his friend, then secretary of state, and presented to him as having something to offer to his majesty worth his consideration. At this audience he told the king that he thought he could put an end to the war if his majesty pleased, and would assist him in it. The King answered, that he was a very young man for so great an undertaking. Sir, replied he, that will not be the worse for your affairs, provided I do the business; whereupon the king showing a willingness to hear him, he discoursed to him to this purpose:

The gentlemen and men of estates, who first engaged in this war, seeing now after a year or two that it seems to be no nearer the end than it was at first, and beginning to be weary of it, I am very well satisfied would be glad to be at quiet at home again, if they could be assured of a redress of their grievances, and have their rights and liberties secured to them. This I am satisfied is the present temper generally through all England, and particularly in those parts where my estate and concerns lie; if therefore your majesty will empower me to treat with the parliament garrisons to grant them a full and general pardon, with an assurance that a general amnesty (arms being laid down on both sides) should re-instate all things in the same posture they were before the war, and then a free parliament should do what more remained to be done for the settlement of the nation:—

That he would begin and try the experiment first in his own country; and doubted not but the good success he should have there would open him the gates of other adjoining garrisons, bringing them the news of peace and security in laying down their arms.

Being furnished with full power according to his desire, away he goes to Dorchester, where he managed a treaty with the garrisons of Pool, Weymouth, Dorchester, and others; and was so successful in it, that one of them was actually put into his hands, as the others were to have been some few days after. But prince Maurice,Prince Maurice. who commanded some of the king’s forces, being with his army then in those parts, no sooner heard that the town was surrendered, but he presently marched into it, and gave the pillage of it to his soldiers. This sir A. saw with the utmost displeasure, and could not forbear to express his resentments to the prince; so that there passed some pretty hot words between them; but the violence was committed, and thereby his design broken. All that he could do was, that he sent to the other garrisons, he was in treaty with, to stand upon their guard, for that he could not secure his articles to them; and so this design proved abortive and died in silence.

This project of his for putting an end to a civil war, which had sufficiently harassed the kingdom, and nobody could tell what fatal consequences it might have, being thus frustrated, it was not long before his active thoughts, always intent upon saving his country, (the good of that being that by which he steered his counsels and actions through the whole course of his life,) it was not long before he set his head upon framing another design of the same purpose. The first project of it took its rise in a debate between him and serjeant Fountain, in an inn at Hungerford, where they accidentally met: and both disliking the continuance of the war, and deploring the ruin it threatened, it was started between them, that the counties all through England should arm and endeavour to suppress the armies on both sides. This proposal, which in one night’s debate, looked more like a well-meant wish than a formed design, he afterwards considered more at leisure, framed and fashioned into a well-ordered and practical contrivance, and never left working in it till he had brought most of the sober and well-intentioned gentlemen of both sides all through England into it. This was that which gave rise to that third sort of army, which of a sudden started up in several parts of England, with so much terrour to the armies both of king and parliament; and had not some of those who had engaged in it, and had undertaken to rise at the time appointed, failed, the clubmen,Clubmen. for so they were called, had been strong enough to carry their point, which was to make both sides lay down their arms, and if they would not do it, to force them to it; to declare for a general amnesty; to have the then parliament dissolved, and to have a new one called for redressing the grievances, and settling the nation. This undertaking was not a romantic fancy, but had very promising grounds of success; for the yeomanry and body of the people had suffered already very much by the war; and the gentry and men of estates had abated much of their fierceness, and wished to return to their former ease, security, and plenty; especially perceiving that the game, particularly on the king’s side, began to be played out of their hands, and that it was the soldiers of fortune who were best looked upon at court, and had the commands and power put in their hands.

He had been for some time before in Dorsetshire, forming and combining the parts of this great machine, till at length he got it to begin to move. But those, who had been forward to enter into the design, not being so vigorous and resolute, when the time was to appear and act; and the court, who had learnt or suspected that it had its rise and life from him, having so strict an eye upon him that he could not maintain correspondence with distant countries, and animate the several parts as it was necessary, before it was his time to stir; he received a very civil and more than ordinary letter from the king to come to him at Oxford: but he wanted not friends there to inform him of the danger it would be to him to appear there, and to confirm him in the suspicion that the king’s letter put him in, that there was something else meant him, and not so much kindness as that expressed. Besides, the lord Goring, who lay with an army in those parts, had orders from court to seize him, and had civilly sent him word, that he would come such a day and dine with him. All this together made him see that he could be no longer safe at home, nor in the king’s quarters; he therefore went, whither he was driven, into the parliament quarters; and took shelter in Portsmouth. Thus, for endeavouring to save his king and country, he was banished from the side he had chosen. And the court, that was then in high hopes of nothing less than perfect conquest, and being masters of all, had a great aversion to moderate counsels, and to those of the nobility and gentry of their party, who were authors or favourers of any such proposals as might bring things to a composition. Such well-wishers to their country, though they had spent much, and ventured all on the king’s side, when they appeared for any other end of the war but dint of arms, and a total reduction of the parliament by force, were counted enemies; and any contrivance carried on to that end was interpreted treason.

A person of his consideration, thus rejected and cast off by the king, and taking sanctuary with them, was received by the parliament with open arms; and though he came in from the other side, and put himself into their hands without any terms; yet there were those among them that so well knew his worth, and what value they ought to put upon it, that he was soon after offered considerable employments under them, and was actually trusted with command without so much as ever being questioned concerning what he knew of persons or counsels on the other side, where they knew that his great penetration and forward mind would not let him live in ignorance among the great men, who were most of them his friends, and all his acquaintance.

But though he was not suffered to stay among those with whom he had embarked, and had lived in confidence with, and was forced to go over to the parliament, he carried thither himself only, and nothing of any body’s else; he left them and all their concerns, actions, purposes, counsels, perfectly behind him; and nobody of the king’s side could complain of him after the day he went from his house, where he could be no longer safe, that he had any memory of what he had known when one of them.

This forgetfulness, so becoming a gentleman, and a man of honour, he had established so firmly in his own mind, that his resolution to persist in it was like afterwards to cost him no little trouble. Mr. Denzil Hollis (afterwards the lord Hollis) had been one of the commissioners employed by the parliament in the treaty at Uxbridge; he had there had some secret and separate transactions with the king; this could not be kept so secret, but that it got some vent, and some of the parliament had some notice of it. Mr. Hollis being afterwards attacked in parliament by a contrary party, there wanted nothing perfectly to ruin him, but some witness to give credit to such an accusation against him. Sir A. Ashley Cooper they thought fit for their purpose; they doubted not but he knew enough of it; and they made sure that he would not fail to embrace such a fair and unsought-for opportunity of ruining Mr. Hollis, who had been long his enemy upon a family quarrel, which he had carried so far, as, by his power in the house, to hinder him from sitting in the parliament, upon a fair election for that parliament. Upon this presumption he was summoned to the house; and being called in, was there asked, whether when he was at Oxford he knew not, or had not heard something concerning Mr. Hollis’s secret transaction with the king at the treaty at Uxbridge. To this question he told them he could answer nothing at all; for though, possibly, what he had to say would be to the clearing of Mr. Hollis; yet he could not allow himself to say any thing in the case, since, whatever answer he made, it would be a confession that, if he had known any thing to the disadvantage of Mr. Hollis, he would have taken that dishonourable way of doing him a prejudice, and wreak his revenge on a man that was his enemy.

Those who had brought him there pressed him mightily to declare, but in vain, though threats were added of sending him to the Tower. He persisting obstinately silent, was bid to withdraw; and those who had depended upon his discovery being defeated, and consequently very much displeased, moved warmly for his commitment; of which he, waiting in the lobby, having notice, unmoved expected his doom, though several of his friends coming out, were earnest with him to satisfy the house; but he kept firm to his resolution, and found friends enough among the great men of the party that opposed Mr. Hollis to bring him off; who very much applauded the generosity of his carriage, and showed that action so much to deserve the commendation, rather than the censure of that assembly, that the angry men were ashamed to insist farther on it, and so dropt the debate.

Some days after Mr. Hollis came to his lodging, and having, in terms of great acknowledgment and esteem, expressed his thanks for his late behaviour in the house, with respect to him; he replied, that he pretended not thereby to merit any thing of him, or to lay an obligation on him; that what he had done was not out of any consideration of him, but what was due to himself, and he should equally have done, had any other man been concerned in it; and therefore he was perfectly as much at liberty as before to live with him as he pleased. But with all that he was not so ignorant of Mr. Hollis’s worth, nor knew so little how to put a just value on his friendship, as not to receive it as a very great and sensible favour, if he thought him a person worthy on whom to bestow it. Mr. Hollis, not less taken with his discourse than what had occasioned it, gave him fresh and repeated assurances of his sincere and hearty friendship, which were received with suitable expressions. And thus an old quarrel between two men of high spirits and great estates, neighbours in the same county, ended in a sound and firm friendship, which lasted as long as they lived.

This passage brings to my mind what I remember to have often heard him say concerning a man’s obligation to silence, in regard of discourse made to him or in his presence: that it was not enough to keep close and uncommunicated what had been committed to him with that caution, but there was a general and tacit trust in conversation, whereby a man was obliged not to report again any thing that might be any way to the speaker’s prejudice, though no intimation had been given of a desire not to have spoken it again.

He was wont to say, that wisdom lay in the heart, and not in the head; and that it was not the want of knowledge, but the perverseness of the will that filled men’s actions with folly, and their lives with disorder.

That there were in every one, two men, the wise and the foolish, and that each of them must be allowed his turn. If you would have the wise, the grave, and the serious, always to rule and have the sway, the fool would grow so peevish and troublesome, that he would put the wise man out of order, and make him fit for nothing: he must have his times of being let loose to follow his fancies, and play his gambols, if you would have your business go on smoothly.

I have heard him also say, that he desired no more of any man but that he would talk: if he would but talk, said he, let him talk as he pleases. And indeed I never knew any one penetrate so quick into men’s breasts, and from a small opening survey that dark cabinet, as he would. He would understand men’s true errand as soon as they had opened their mouths, and begun their story in appearance to another purpose.

Sir Richard Onslow and he were invited by Sir J. D. to dine with him at Chelsea, and desired to come early, because he had an affair of concernment to communicate to them. They came at the time, and being sat, he told them he had made choice of them both for their known abilities, and particular friendship to him, for their advice in a matter of the greatest moment to him that could be. He had, he said, been a widower for many years, and begun to want somebody that might ease him of the trouble of house-keeping, and take some care of him under the growing infirmities of old age; and to that purpose had pitched upon a woman very well known to him by the experience of many years, in fine, his house-keeper. These gentlemen, who were not strangers to his family, and knew the woman very well, and were besides very great friends to his son and daughter, grown up, and both fit for marriage, to whom they thought this would be a very prejudicial match, were both in their minds opposite to it; and to that purpose sir Richard Onslow began the discourse; wherein, when he came to that part, he was entering upon the description of the woman, and going to set her out in her own colours, which were such as could not have pleased any man in his wife. Sir Anthony seeing whither he was going, to prevent any mischief, begged leave to interrupt him, by asking sir J. a question, which in short was this, “whether he were not already married?” Sir J. after a little demur, answered, “Yes truly, he was married the day before.” Well then, replied sir Anthony, there is no more need of our advice; pray let us have the honour to see my lady and wish her joy, and so to dinner. As they were returning to London in their coach, I am obliged to you, said sir Richard, for preventing my running into a discourse which could never have been forgiven me, if I had spoke out what I was going to say. But as for sir J. he, methinks, ought to cut your throat for your civil question. How could it possibly enter into your head to ask a man, who had solemnly invited us on purpose to have our advice about a marriage he intended, had gravely proposed the woman to us, and suffered us seriously to enter into the debate, “whether he were already married or no?” The man, and the manner, replied sir Anthony, gave me a suspicion that, having done a foolish thing, he was desirous to cover himself with the authority of our advice. I thought it good to be sure before you went any farther, and you see what came of it. This afforded them entertainment till they came to town, and so they parted.

Soon after the restoration of king Charles II, the earl of Southampton and he having dined together at the chancellor’s, as they were returning home, he said to my lord Southampton, “Yonder Mrs. Ann Hyde (for so, as I remember, he styled her) is certainly married to one of the brothers.” The earl, who was a friend to the chancellor, treated this as a chimæra, and asked him how so wild a fancy could get into his head. Assure yourself, sir, replied he, it is so. A concealed respect, however, suppressed, showed itself so plainly in the looks, voice, and manner, wherewith her mother carved to her, or offered her of every dish, that it is impossible but it must be so. My lord S. who thought it a groundless conceit then, was not long after convinced by the duke of York’s owning of her, that lord Ashley was no bad guesser.

I shall give one instance more of his great sagacity, wherein it proved of great use to him in a case of mighty consequence. Having reason to apprehend what tyranny the usurpation of the government by the officers of the army, under the title of the committee of safety, might end in; he thought the first step to settlement was the breaking of them, which could not be done with any pretence of authority, but that of the long parliament. Meeting therefore secretly with sir Arthur Haselrig, and some others of the members, they gave commissions in the name of the parliament to be majors-generals, one of the forces about London, another of the west, &c. and this when they had not one soldier. Nay, he often would tell it laughing, that when he had his commission his great care was where to hide it. Before this he had secured Portsmouth; for the governor of it, colonel Metham, being his old acquaintance and friend, he asked him one day, meeting him by chance in Westminster-hall, whether he would put Portsmouth into his hands if he should happen to have an occasion for it? Metham promised it should be at his devotion. These transactions, though no part of them were known in particular, yet causing some remote preparations, alarmed Wallingford-house, where the committee of safety sat, and made them so attentive to all actions and discoveries that might give them any light, that at last they were fully persuaded there was something a brewing against them, and that matter for commotions in several parts was gathering. They knew the vigour and activity of sir A. Ashley, and how well he stood affectionated to them, and therefore suspected that he was at the bottom of the matter. To find what they could, and secure the man they most apprehended, he was sent for to Wallingford-house, where Fleetwood examined him according to the suspicions he had of him; that he was laying designs in the west against them, and was working the people to an insurrection that he intended to head there. He told them he knew no obligation he was under to give them an account of his actions, nor to make them any promises; but to show them how ill grounded their suspicions were, he promised that he would not go out of town without coming first and giving him an account of it. Fleetwood knowing his word might be relied on, satisfied with the promise he had made, let him go upon his parole. That which deceived them in the case, was, that knowing his estate and interest lay in the west, they presumed, that that was his post, and there certainly, if any stir was, he would appear, since there lay his great strength, and they had nobody else in view who could supply his room, and manage that part. But they were mistaken: Haselrig, upon the knowledge that they should have Portsmouth, forwardly took that province; and he, who had instruments at work in the army quartered in and about London, and knew that must be the place of most business and management, and where the turn of affairs would be, had chosen that.

Lambert, who was one of the rulers at Wallingford-house, happened to be away when he was there, and came not in till he was gone: when they told him that sir A. Ashley had been there, and what had passed, he blamed Fleetwood for letting him go, and told him they should have secured him, for that certainly there was something in it that they were deceived in, and they should not have parted so easily with so busy and dangerous a man as he was. Lambert was of a quicker sight, and a deeper reach than Fleetwood, and the rest of that gang; and knowing of what moment it was to their security to frustrate the contrivances of that working and able head, was resolved, if possibly he could, to get him into his clutches.

Sir A. A. coming home to his house in NA street in Covent-Garden one evening, found a man knocking at his door. He asked his business; the man answered, it was with him, and fell a discoursing with him. Sir A. A. heard him out, and gave him such an answer as he thought proper, and so they parted; the stranger out of the entry where they stood into the street, and sir A. A. along the entry into the house: but guessing by the story the other told him, that the business was but a pretence, and that his real errand he came about was something else; when he parted from the fellow he went inwards, as if he intended to go into the house; but as soon as the fellow was gone, turned short, and went out, and went to his barber’s, which was but just by; where he was no sooner got in, and got up stairs into a chamber, but his door was beset with musketeers, and the officer went in too with others to seize him: but not finding him, they searched every corner and cranny of the house diligently, the officer declaring he was sure he was in the house, for he had left him there just now; as was true, for he had gone no farther than the corner of the Halfmoon tavern, which was just by, to fetch a file of soldiers that he had left there in the Strand out of sight, whilst he went to discover whether the gentleman he sought were within or no; where doubting not to find him safely lodged, he returned with his myrmidons to his house, sure, as he thought, of his prey; but sir A. A. saw through his made story, and gave him the slip. After this he was fain to get out of the way and conceal himself under a disguise; but he hid himself not lazily in a hole; he made war upon them at Wallingford-house, incognito as he was, and made them feel him, though he kept out of sight. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Several companies of their soldiers drew up in Lincoln’s-inn-fields without their officers, and there put themselves under the command of such officers as he appointed them. The city began to rouse itself, and to show manifest signs of little regard to Wallingford-house; and he never left working till he had raised a spirit and strength enough to declare openly for the old parliament, as the only legal authority then in England, which had any pretence to claim and take on them the government. For Portsmouth being put into the hands of sir Arthur Haselrig, and the city showing their inclination; the counties readily took it, and by their concurrent weight re-instated the excluded members in their former administration. This was the first open step he made towards wresting the civil power out of the hands of the army; who, having thought Richard, Oliver’s son, unworthy of it, had taken it to themselves, executed by a committee of their own officers, where Lambert, who had the chief command and influence in the army, had placed it, till he had modelled things among them, so as might make way for his taking the sole administration into his own hands; but sir A. A. found a way to strip him of that as soon as the parliament was restored.

The first thing he did was to get from them a commission to himself, and two or three more of the most weighty and popular members of the house, to have the power of general of all the forces in England, which they were to execute jointly. This was no sooner done but he got them together, where he had provided abundance of clerks, who were immediately set to work to transcribe a great many copies of the form of a letter, wherein they reciting, that it pleased God to restore the parliament to the exercise of their power, and that the parliament had given to them a commission to command the army, they therefore commanded him (viz. the officer to whom the letter was directed) immediately with his troop, company, or regiment, as it happened, to march to N. These letters were directed to the chief officer of any part of the army who had their quarters together in any part of England. These letters were dispatched away by particular messengers that very night, and coming to the several officers so peremptorily to march immediately, they had not time to assemble and debate among themselves what to do; and having no other intelligence but that the parliament was restored, and that the city and Portsmouth, and other parts of England, had declared for them: the officers durst not disobey, but all, according to their several orders, marched some one way, and some another; so that this army, which was the great strength of the gentlemen of Wallingford-house, was by this means quite scattered, and rendered perfectly useless to the committee of safety, who were hereby perfectly reduced under the power of the parliament, as so many disarmed men to be disposed of as they thought fit.

It is known, that, whilst the long parliament remained intire, Mr. Denzil Hollis was the man of the greatest sway in it, and might have continued it on, if he would have followed sir A. A.’s advice. But he was a haughty stiff man, and so by straining it a little too much lost all.

From the time of their reconcilement already mentioned, they had been very hearty friends; it happened one morning that sir A. A. calling upon Mr. Hollis in his way to the house, as he often did; he found him in a great heat against Cromwell, who had then the command of the army, and a great interest in it. The provocation may be read at large in the pamphlets of that time, for which Mr. Hollis was resolved, he said, to bring him to punishment. Sir A. A. dissuaded him all he could from any such attempt, showing him the danger of it, and told him it would be sufficient to remove him out of the way, by sending him with a command into Ireland. This Cromwell, as things stood, would be glad to accept; but this would not satisfy Mr. Hollis. When he came to the house the matter was brought into debate, and it was moved, that Cromwell, and those guilty with him, should be punished. Cromwell, who was in the house, no sooner heard this, but he stole out, took horse, and rode immediately to the army, which, as I remember, was at Triplowheath; there he acquainted them what the presbyterian party was a doing in the house, and made such use of it to them, that they, who were before in the power of the parliament, now united together under Cromwell, who immediately led them away to London, giving out menaces against Hollis and his party as they marched, who with Stapleton and some others were fain to fly; and thereby the independent party becoming the stronger, they, as they called it, purged the house, and turned out all the presbyterian party. Cromwell, some time after, meeting sir A. A. told him, I am beholden to you for your kindness to me; for you, I hear, were for letting me go without punishment; but your friend, God be thanked, was not wise enough to take your advice.

Monk, after the death of Oliver Cromwell, and the removal of Richard, marching with the army he had with him into England, gave fair promises all along in his way to London to the Rump that were then sitting, who had sent commissioners to him that accompanied him. When he was come to town, though he had promised fair to the Rump and commonwealth party on one hand, and gave hopes to the royalists on the other; yet at last agreed with the French ambassador to take the government on himself, by whom he had promise from Mazerine of assistance from France to support him in his undertaking. This bargain was struck up between them late at night, but not so secretly but that his wife, who had posted herself conveniently behind the hangings, where she could hear all that passed, finding what was resolved, sent her brother Clarges away immediately with notice of it to sir A. A. She was zealous for the restoration of the king, and had therefore promised sir A. to watch her husband, and inform him from time to time how matters went. Upon this notice sir A. caused the counsel of state, whereof he was one, to be summoned; and when they were met, he desired the clerks might withdraw, he having matter of great importance to communicate to them. The doors of the council-chamber being locked, and the keys laid upon the table, he began to charge Monk, not in a direct and open accusation, but in obscure intimations, and doubtful expressions, giving ground of suspicion, that he was playing false with them, and not doing as he promised. This he did so skilfully and intelligibly to Monk, that he perceived he was discovered, and therefore in his answer to him fumbled and seemed out of order; so that the rest of the council perceived there was something in it, though they knew not what the matter was; and the general at last averring that what had been suggested was upon groundless suspicions, and that he was true to his principles, and stood firm to what he had professed to them, and had no secret designs that ought to disturb them, and that he was ready to give them all manner of satisfaction; whereupon sir A. A. closing with him, and making a farther use of what he had said than he intended: for he meant no more than so far as to get away from them upon this assurance which he gave them. But sir A. A. told him, that if he was sincere in what he had said, he might presently remove all scruples, if he would take away their commissions from such and such officers in his army, and give them to those whom he named; and that presently before he went out of the room. Monk was in himself no quick man; he was guilty alone among a company of men whom he knew not what they would do with him; for they all struck in with sir A. A. and plainly perceived that Monk had designed some foul play. In these straits being thus close pressed, and knowing not how else to extricate himself, he consented to what was proposed; and so immediately, before he stirred, a great part of the commissions of his officers were changed; and sir Edward Harley, amongst the rest, who was a member of the council, and there present, was made governor of Dunkirk in the room of sir William Lockhart, and was sent away immediately to take possession of it. By which means the army ceased to be at Monk’s devotion, and was put into hands that would not serve him in the design he had undertaken. The French ambassador, who had the night before sent away an express to Mazarine, positively to assure him that things went here as he desired, and that Monk was fixed by him in his resolution to take on himself the government, was not a little astonished the next day to find things taking another turn; and indeed this so much disgraced him in the French court, that he was presently called home, and soon after broke his heart.

This was that which gave the great turn to the restoration of king Charles II, whereof sir A. had laid the plan in his head a long time before, and carried it on,

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quantus hîc situs est ex titulis, quod rarò, discas.

Baro Ashley de Winborne St. Giles,

Deinde Comes Shaftesburiensis,

Cancellarius Scaccarij, Ærarij Triumvir,

Magnus Angliæ Cancellarius,

CAROLO Secundo à Sanctioribus & Secretioribus

Conciliis, &c.

Hæc non Sepulchri ornamenta, sed Viri.

Quippe quæ nec Majoribus debuit nec favori.

Comitate, acumine, suadelâ, consilio, animo, constantia,

fide,

Vix Parem alibi invenias, Superiorem certè nullibi.

Libertatis Civilis, Ecclesiasticæ,

Propugnator strenuus, indefessus.

Vitæ publicis commodis impensæ memoriam & laudes,

Stante libertate, nunquam obliterabit

Tempus edax, nec edacior Invidia.

Servo pecori inutilia, invisa magna exempla.

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Ashley Cooper, Cropley, Earl of SHAFTESBURY;

Baron Ashley, of Winborne, St. Giles, Dors.;

Baron Cooper, of Paulett, Somers.;

and a Baronet; [born 27 Dec. 1768; inherited the honours of tbe family, as sixth Earl, at the demise of his brother, 14 May, 1811. Creations, Baronet, No. 184, 4 July, 1622, &c. as in the Alphabet.

Residences, St. Giles's House, Dors, and Rose Dale House, Richmond, Surrey. Town House, 24, Grosvcnor Square] Arms, &c. as in the Alphabet.

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http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1444&chapter=81469&layout=html&Itemid=27

From:

POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF JOHN LOCKE, Esq. – John Locke, The Works, vol. 8 (Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Posthumous Works, Familiar Letters) [1690]

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Quantus hîc situs est ex titulis, quod rarò, discas.

How great are the titles situated here, which are rare, as though mayest learn.

Baron Ashley de Winborne St. Giles, Deinde Comes Shaftesburiensis,

The Earl of Shaftesburiensis, Baron Ashley of Winbourne St. Giles

Cancellarius Scaccarij, Ærarij (Ærarii) Triumvir,

Chancellor Scaccarij, (Chancellor Scaccarii, Chancellor of the Exchequer) Triumvirate Founder,

Magnus Angliæ Cancellarius,

Great Chancellor of England,

CAROLO Secundo à Sanctioribus & Secretioribus

Charles the First from the holy and confidential

Conciliis, &c.

Councils, & c.

Hæc non Sepulchri ornamenta, sed Viri.

But the men shall not be the ornaments of a burying-place, .

Quippe quæ nec Majoribus debuit nec favori.

Neither favor nor should have been because the Mayors.

Comitate, acumine, suadelâ, consilio, animo, constantia, fide,

Courtesy, intelligence, PERSUASION, with wisdom, mind, constancy,  faith

Vix Parem alibi invenias, Superiorem certè nullibi.

The like I can scarcely find in other places, at all events, the superior of nowhere.

Libertatis Civilis, Ecclesiasticæ,

Civil Liberty, Ecclesiastic

Propugnator strenuus, indefessus.

Champion, energetic, tireless.

Vitæ publicis commodis impensæ memoriam & laudes,

The advantages, expenses, praises and memories of public life

Stante libertate, nunquam obliterabit

Never forgetful as long as freedom stands

Tempus edax, nec edacior Invidia.

The time of gluttony, nor Envy.

Servo pecori inutilia, invisa magna exempla.

Those servants of useless cattle, examples to be loathed.

Book 4 – Illumination

1. The higher and lower siddhis (or “psychic powers”) are gained by incarnation, or by drugs, words of power, intense desire or by meditation.

2. The transfer of the consciousness from a lower vehicle into a higher is part of the great creative and evolutionary process.

3. The practices and methods are not the true cause of the transfer of consciousness but they serve to remove obstacles, just as the husbandman prepares his ground for sowing.

4. The “I am” consciousness is responsible for the creation of the organs through which the sense of individuality is enjoyed.

5. Consciousness is one, yet produces the varied forms of the many.

6. Among the forms which consciousness assumes, only that which is the result of meditation is free from latent karma.

7. The activities of the liberated soul are free from the pairs of opposites. Those of other people are of three kinds.

8. From these three kinds of karma emerge those forms which are necessary for the fruition of the effects.

9. There is identity of relation between memory and the effect-producing cause, even when separated by species, time and place.

10. Desire to live being eternal, these mind-created forms are without known beginning.

11. These forms being created and held together through desire, the basic cause, personality, the effective result, mental vitality or the will to live, and the support of the outward going life or object, when these cease to attract then the forms cease likewise to be.

12. The past and the present exist in reality. The form assumed in the time concept of the present is the result of developed characteristics and holds latent seeds of future quality.

13. The characteristics, whether latent or potent, partake of the nature of the three gunas (qualities of matter).

14. The manifestation of the objective form is due to the one-pointedness of the effect-producing cause (the unification of the modifications of the chitta or mind stuff).

15. These two, consciousness and form, are distinct and separate; though forms may be similar, the consciousness may function on differing levels of being.

16. The many modifications of the one mind produce the diverse forms, which depend for existence upon those many mind impulses.

17. These forms are cognised or not, according to the qualities latent in the perceiving consciousness.

18. The Lord of the mind, the perceiver, is ever aware of the constantly active mind stuff, the effect-producing cause.

19. Because it can be seen or cognised it is apparent that the mind is not the source of illumination.

20. Neither can it know two objects simultaneously, itself and that which is external to itself.

21. If knowledge of the mind (chitta) by a remoter mind is postulated, an infinite number of knowers must be inferred, and the sequence of memory reactions would tend to infinite confusion.

22. When the spiritual intelligence which stands alone and freed from objects, reflects itself in the mind stuff, then comes awareness of the Self.

23. Then the mind stuff, reflecting both the knower and the knowable, becomes omniscient.

24. The mind stuff also, reflecting as it does an infinity of mind impressions, becomes the instrument of the Self and acts as a unifying agent.

25. The state of isolated unity (withdrawn into the true nature of the Self) is the reward of the man who can discriminate between the mind stuff and the Self, or spiritual man.

26. The mind then tends towards discrimination and increasing illumination as to the true nature of the one Self.

27. Through force of habit, however, the mind will reflect other mental impressions and perceive objects of sensuous perception.

28. These reflections are of the nature of hindrances, and the method of their overcoming is the same.

29. The man who develops non-attachment even in his aspiration after illumination and isolated unity, becomes aware, eventually, through practised discrimination, of the overshadowing cloud of spiritual knowledge.

30. When this stage is reached then the hindrances and karma are overcome.

31. When, through the removal of the hindrances and the purification of all the sheaths, the totality of knowledge becomes available, naught further remains for the man to do.

32. The modifications of the mind stuff (or qualities of matter) through the inherent nature of the three gunas come to an end, for they have served their purpose.

33. Time, which is the sequence of the modifications of the mind, likewise terminates, giving place to the Eternal Now.

34. The state of isolated unity becomes possible when the three qualities of matter (the three gunas or potencies of nature) no longer exercise any hold over the Self. The pure spiritual consciousness withdraws into the One.

Book 3 – Union achieved and its Results

1. Concentration is the fixing of the chitta (mind stuff) upon a particular object. This is dharana.

2. Sustained concentration (dharana) is meditation (dhyana).

3. When the chitta becomes absorbed in that which is the reality (or idea embodied in the form), and is unaware of separateness or the personal self, this is contemplation or samadhi.

4. When concentration, meditation and contemplation form one sequential act, then is sanyama achieved.

5. As a result of sanyama comes the shining forth of the light.

6. This illumination is gradual; it is developed stage by stage.

7. These last three means of yoga have a more intimate subjective effect than the previous means.

8. Even these three, however, are external to the true seedless meditation (or samadhi) which is not based on an object. It is free from the effects of the discriminative nature of the chitta (or mind stuff).

9. The sequence of mental states is as follows: the mind reacts to that which is seen; then follows the moment of mind control. Then ensues a moment wherein the chitta (mind stuff) responds to both these factors. Finally these pass away, and the perceiving consciousness has full sway.

10. Through the cultivation of this habit of mind there will eventuate a steadiness of spiritual perception.

11. The establishing of this habit, and the restraining of the mind from its thought-form-making tendency, results eventually in the constant power to contemplate.

12. When mind control and the controlling factor are equally balanced, then comes the condition of onepointedness.

13. Through this process the aspects of every object are known, their characteristics (or form), their symbolic nature, and their specific use in time-conditions (stage of development) are known and realised.

14. The characteristics of every object are acquired, manifesting or latent.

15. The stage of development is responsible for the various modifications of the versatile psychic nature and of the thinking principle.

16. Through concentrated meditation upon the triple nature of every form, comes the revelation of that which has been and of that which will be.

17. The Sound (or word), that which it denotes (the object) and the embodied spiritual essence (or idea) are usually confused in the mind of the perceiver.. By concentrated meditation on these three aspects comes an (intuitive) comprehension of the sound uttered by all forms of life.

18. Knowledge of previous incarnations becomes available when the power to see thought-images is acquired.

19. Through concentrated meditation, the thought images in the minds of other people become apparent.

20. As, however, the object of those thoughts is not apparent to the perceiver, he sees only the thought and not the object. His meditation excludes the tangible.

21. By concentrated meditation upon the distinction between form and body, those properties of the body which make it visible to the human eye are negated (or withdrawn) and the yogi can render himself invisible.

22. Karma (or effects) are of two kinds: immediate karma or future karma. By perfectly concentrated meditation on these, the yogi knows the term of his experience in the three worlds. This knowledge comes also from signs.

23. Union with others is to be gained through one-pointed meditation upon the three states of feeling-compassion, tenderness and dispassion.

24. Meditation, one-pointedly centred upon the power of the elephant, will awaken that force or light.

25. Perfectly concentrated meditation upon the awakened light will produce the consciousness of that which is subtle, hidden or remote.

26. Through meditation, one-pointedly fixed upon the sun, will come a consciousness (or knowledge) of the seven worlds.

27. A knowledge of all lunar forms arises through one-pointed meditation upon the moon.

28. Concentration upon the Pole-Star will give knowledge of the orbits of the planets and the stars.

29. By concentrated attention upon the centre called the solar plexus, comes perfected knowledge as to the condition of the body.

30. By fixing the attention upon the throat centre, the cessation of hunger and thirst will ensue.

31. By fixing the attention upon the tube or nerve below the throat centre, equilibrium is achieved.

32. Those who have attained self-mastery can be seen and contacted through focussing the light in the head. This power is developed in one-pointed meditation.

33. All things can be known in the vivid light of the intuition.

34. Understanding of the mind-consciousness comes from one-pointed meditation upon the heart centre.

35. Experience (of the pairs of opposites) comes from the inability of the soul to distinguish between the personal self and the purusa (or spirit). The objective forms exist for the use (and experience) of the spiritual man. By meditation upon this, arises the intuitive perception of the spiritual nature (the purusa).

36. As the result of this experience and meditation, the higher hearing, touch, sight, taste and smell are developed, producing intuitional knowledge.

37. These powers are obstacles to the highest spiritual realisation, but serve as magical powers in the objective worlds.

38. By liberation from the causes of bondage through their weakening and by an understanding of the mode of transference (withdrawal or entrance), the mind stuff (or chitta) can enter another body.

39. By subjugation of the upward life (the udana) there is liberation from water, the thorny path, and mire, and the power of ascension is gained.

40. Through subjugation of the samana, the spark becomes the flame.

41. By the means of one-pointed meditation upon the relationship between the akasha and sound, an organ for spiritual hearing will be developed.

42. By one-pointed meditation upon the relationship existing between the body and the akasha, ascension out of matter (the three worlds) and power to travel in space is gained.

43. When that which veils the light is done away with, then comes the state of being called discarnate (or disembodied), freed from the modification of the thinking principle. This is the state of illumination.

44. One-pointed meditation upon the five forms which every element takes, produces mastery over every element. These five forms are the gross nature, the elemental form, the quality, the pervasiveness and the basic purpose.

45. Through this mastery, minuteness and the other siddhis (or powers) are attained, likewise bodily perfection and freedom from all hindrances.

46. Symmetry of form, beauty of colour, strength and the compactness of the diamond, constitute bodily perfection.

47. Mastery over the senses is brought about through concentrated meditation upon their nature, peculiar attributes, egoism, pervasiveness and useful purpose.

48. As a result of this perfection, there comes rapidity of action like that of mind, perception independent of the organs, and mastery over root substance.

49. The man who can discriminate between the soul and the spirit achieves supremacy over all conditions and becomes omniscient.

50. By a passionless attitude towards this attainment and towards all soul-powers, the one who is free from the seeds of bondage, attains the condition of isolated unity.

51. There should be entire rejection of all allurements from all forms of being, even the celestial, for the recurrence of evil contacts remains possible.

52. Intuitive knowledge is developed through the use of the discriminative faculty when there is one-pointed concentration upon moments and their continuous succession.

53. From this intuitive knowledge is born the capacity to distinguish (between all beings) and to cognize their genus, qualities and position in space.

54. This intuitive knowledge, which is the great Deliverer, is omnipresent and omniscient and includes the past, the present and the future in the Eternal Now.

55. When the objective forms and the soul have reached a condition of equal purity, then is At-one-ment achieved and liberation results.

Book 2 – The Steps to Union

1. The Yoga of action, leading to union with the soul is fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara.

2. The aim of these three is to bring about soul vision and to eliminate obstructions.

3. These are the difficulty producing hindrances: avidya (ignorance) the sense of personality, desire, hate and the sense of attachment.

4. Avidya (ignorance) is the cause of all the other obstructions whether they be latent, in process of elimination, overcome, or in full operation.

5. Avidya is the condition of confusing the permanent, pure, blissful and the Self with that which is impermanent, impure, painful and the not-self.

6. The sense of personality is due to the identification of the knower with the instruments of knowledge.

7. Desire is attachment to objects of pleasure.

8. Hate is aversion for any object of the senses.

9. Intense desire for sentient existence is attachment. This is inherent in every form, is self-perpetuating, and known even to the very wise.

10. These five hindrances, when subtly known, can be overcome by an opposing mental attitude.

11. Their activities are to be done away with, through the meditation process.

12. Karma itself has its root in these five hindrances and must come to fruition in this life or in some later life.

13. So long as the roots (or samskaras) exist, their fruition will be birth, life, and experiences resulting in pleasure or pain.

14. These seeds (or samskaras) produce pleasure or pain according as their originating cause was good or evil.

15. To the illuminated man all existence (in the three worlds) is considered pain owing to the activities of the gunas. These activities are threefold, producing consequences, anxieties and subliminal impressions.

16. Pain which is yet to come may be warded off.

17. The illusion that the Perceiver and that which is perceived are one and the same is the cause (of the pain-producing effects) which must be warded off.

18. That which is perceived has three qualities, sattva, rajas and tamas (rhythm, mobility and inertia); it consists of the elements and the sense organs. The use of these produces experience and eventual liberation.

19. The divisions of the gunas (or qualities of matter) are fourfold; the specific, the non-specific, the indicated and the untouchable.

20. The seer is pure knowledge (gnosis). Though pure, he looks upon the presented idea through the medium of the mind.

21. All that is exists for the sake of the soul.

22. In the case of the man who has achieved yoga (or union) the objective universe has ceased to be. Yet it existeth still for those who are not yet free.

23. The association of the soul with the mind and thus with that which the mind perceives, produces an understanding of the nature of that which is perceived and likewise of the Perceiver.

24. The cause of this association is ignorance or avidya. This has to be overcome.

25. When ignorance is brought to an end through non-association with the things perceived, this is the great liberation.

26. The state of bondage is overcome through perfectly maintained discrimination.

27. The knowledge (or illumination) achieved is sevenfold and is attained progressively.

28. When the means to yoga have been steadily practised, and when impurity has been overcome, enlightenment takes place, leading up to full illumination.

29. The eight means of yoga are, the Commandments or Yama, the Rules or Nijama, posture or Asana, right control of life-force or Pranayama, abstraction or Pratyahara, attention or Dharana, Meditation or Dhyana, Contemplation or Samadhi.

30. Harmlessness, truth to all beings, abstention from theft, from incontinence and from avarice, constitute yama or the five commandments.

31. Yama (or the five commandments) constitutes the universal duty and is irrespective of race, place, time or emergency.

32. Internal and external purification, contentment, fiery aspiration, spiritual reading and devotion to Ishvara constitutes nijama (or the five rules).

33. When thoughts which are contrary to yoga are present there should be the cultivation of their opposite.

34. Thoughts contrary to yoga are harmfulness, falsehood, theft, incontinence, and avarice, whether committed personally, caused to be committed or approved of, whether arising from avarice, anger or delusion (ignorance) ; whether slight in the doing, middling or great. These result always in excessive pain and ignorance. For this reason, the contrary thoughts must be cultivated.

35. In the presence of him who has perfected harmlessness, all enmity ceases.

36. When truth to all beings is perfected, the effectiveness of his words and acts is immediately to be seen.

37. When abstention from theft is perfected, the yogi can have whatever he desires.

38. By abstention from incontinence, energy is acquired.

39. When abstention from avarice is perfected, there comes an understanding of the law of rebirth.

40. Internal and external purification produces aversion for form, both one’s own and all forms.

41. Through purification comes also a quiet spirit, concentration, conquest of the organs, and ability to see the Self.

42. As a result of contentment bliss is achieved.

43. Through fiery aspiration and through the removal of all impurity, comes the perfecting of the bodily powers and of the senses.

44. Spiritual reading results in a contact with the soul (or divine One).

45. Through devotion to Ishvara the goal of meditation (or samadhi) is reached.

46. The posture assumed must be steady and easy.

47. Steadiness and ease of posture is to be achieved through persistent slight effort and through the concentration of the mind upon the infinite.

48. When this is attained, the pairs of opposites no longer limit.

49. When right posture (asana) has been attained there follows right control of prana and proper inspiration and expiration of the breath.

50. Right control of prana (or the life currents) is external, internal or motionless; it is subject to place, time and number and is also protracted or brief.

51. There is a fourth stage which transcends those dealing with the internal and external phases.

52. Through this, that which obscures the light is gradually removed.

53. And the mind is prepared for concentrated meditation.

54. Abstraction (or Pratyahara) is the subjugation of the senses by the thinking principle and their withdrawal from that which has hitherto been their object.

55. As a result of these means there follows the complete subjugation of the sense organs.

Book 1 – The Problem of Union

1. AUM. The following instruction concerneth the Science of Union.

2. This Union (or Yoga) is achieved through the subjugation of the psychic nature, and the restraint of the chitta (or mind).

3. When this has been accomplished, the Yogi knows himself as he is in reality.

4. Up till now the inner man has identified himself with his forms and with their active modifications.

5. The mind states are five, and are subject to pleasure or pain; they are painful or not painful.

6. These modifications (activities) are correct knowledge, incorrect knowledge, fancy, passivity (sleep) and memory.

7. The basis of correct knowledge is correct perception, correct deduction, and correct witness (or accurate evidence).

8. Incorrect knowledge is based upon perception of the form and not upon the state of being.

9. Fancy rests upon images which have no real existence.

10. Passivity (sleep) is based upon the quiescent state of the vrittis (or upon the non-perception of the senses.) (Vrittis: fluctuation in sense, emotion, mind)

11. Memory is the holding on to that which has been known.

12. The control of these modifications of the internal organ, the mind, is to be brought about through tireless endeavour and through non-attachment.

13. Tireless endeavour is the constant effort to restrain the modifications of the mind.

14. When the object to be gained is sufficiently valued, and the efforts towards its attainment are persistently followed without intermission, then the steadiness of the mind (restraint of the vrittis) is secured.

15. Non-attachment is freedom from longing for all objects of desire, either earthly or traditional, either here or hereafter.

16. The consummation of this non-attachment results in an exact knowledge of the spiritual man when liberated from the qualities or gunas.

17. The consciousness of an object is attained by concentration upon its fourfold nature: the form, through examination; the quality (or guna), through discriminative participation; the purpose, through inspiration (or bliss) ; and the soul, through indentification.

18. A further stage of samadhi is achieved when, through one pointed thought, the outer activity is quieted. In this stage, the chitta is responsive only to subjective impressions.

19. The samadhi just described passes not beyond the bound of the phenomenal world; it passes not beyond the Gods, and those concerned with the concrete world.

20. Other yogins achieve samadhi and arrive at a discrimination of pure Spirit through belief, followed by energy, memory, meditation and right perception.

21. The attainment of this state (spiritual consciousness) is rapid for those whose will is intensely alive.

22. Those who employ the will likewise differ, for its use may be intense, moderate, or gentle. In respect to the attainment of true spiritual consciousness there is yet another way.

23. By intense devotion to Ishvara (The One Supreme Controlling Agent, God), knowledge of Ishvara is gained.

24. This Ishvara is the soul, untouched by limitation, free from karma, and desire.

25. In Ishvara the Gurudeva (Divine Teacher), the germ of all knowledge expands into infinity.

26. Ishvara, the Gurudeva, being unlimited by time conditions, is the teacher of the primeval Lords.

27. The Word of Ishvara is AUM (or OM). This is the Pranava.

28. Through the sounding of the Word and through reflection upon its meaning, the Way is found.

29. From this comes the realisation of the Self (the soul) and the removal of all obstacles.

30. The obstacles to soul cognition are bodily disability, mental inertia, wrong questioning, carelessness, laziness, lack of dispassion, erroneous perception, inability to achieve concentration, failure to hold the meditative attitude when achieved.

31. Pain, despair, misplaced bodily activity and wrong direction (or control) of the life currents are the results of the obstacles in the lower psychic nature.

32. To overcome the obstacles and their accompaniments, the intense application of the will to some one truth (or principle) is required.

33. The peace of the chitta (or mind stuff) can be brought about through the practice of sympathy, tenderness, steadiness of purpose, and dispassion in regard to pleasure or pain, or towards all forms of good or evil.

34. The peace of the chitta is also brought about by the regulation of the prana or life breath.

35. The mind can be trained to steadiness through those forms of concentration which have relation to the sense perceptions.

36. By meditation upon Light and upon Radiance, knowledge of the Spirit can be reached and thus peace can be achieved.

37. The chitta is stabilized and rendered free from illusion as the lower nature is purified and no longer indulged.

38. Peace (steadiness of the chitta) can be reached through meditation on the knowledge which dreams give.

39. Peace can also be reached through concentration upon that which is dearest to the heart.

40. Thus his realization extends from the infinitely small to the infinitely great, and from annu (the atom or speck) to atma (or spirit) his knowledge is perfected.

41. To him whose vrittis (modifications of the substance of the mind) are entirely controlled, there eventuates a state of identity with, and similarity to that which is realized. The knower, knowledge and the field of knowledge become one, just as the crystal takes to itself the colours of that which is reflected in it.

42. When the perceiver blends the word, the idea (or meaning) and the object, this is called the mental condition of judicial reasoning.

43. Perception without judicial reasoning is arrived at when the memory no longer holds control, the word and the object are transcended and only the idea is present.

44. The same two processes of concentration, with and without judicial action of the mind, can be applied also to things subtle.

45. The gross leads into the subtle and the subtle leads in progressive stages to that state of pure spiritual being called Pradhana.

46. All this constitutes meditation with seed.

47. When this super-contemplative state is reached, the Yogi acquires pure spiritual realisation through the balanced quiet of the chitta (or mind stuff).

48. His perception is now unfailingly exact (or his mind reveals only the Truth).

49. This particular perception is unique and reveals that which the rational mind (using testimony, inference and deduction) cannot reveal.

50. It is hostile to, or supersedes all other impressions.

51. When this state of perception is itself also restrained (or superseded), then is pure Samadhi achieved.

From Yoga Sutras:

1. Concentration is the fixing of the chitta (mind stuff) upon a particular object. This is dharana.

2. Sustained concentration (dharana) is meditation (dhyana).

3. When the chitta becomes absorbed in that which is the reality (or idea embodied in the form), and is unaware of separateness or the personal self, this is contemplation or samadhi.

4. When concentration, meditation and contemplation form one sequential act, then is sanyama achieved.

5. As a result of sanyama comes the shining forth of the light.

6. This illumination is gradual; it is developed stage by stage.

7. These last three means of yoga have a more intimate subjective effect than the previous means.

8. Even these three, however, are external to the true seedless meditation (or samadhi) which is not based on an object. It is free from the effects of the discriminative nature of the chitta (or mind stuff).

9. The sequence of mental states is as follows: the mind reacts to that which is seen; then follows the moment of mind control. Then ensues a moment wherein the chitta (mind stuff) responds to both these factors. Finally these pass away, and the perceiving consciousness has full sway.

10. Through the cultivation of this habit of mind there will eventuate a steadiness of spiritual perception.

11. The establishing of this habit, and the restraining of the mind from its thought-form-making tendency, results eventually in the constant power to contemplate.

12. When mind control and the controlling factor are equally balanced, then comes the condition of onepointedness.

13. Through this process the aspects of every object are known, their characteristics (or form), their symbolic nature, and their specific use in time-conditions (stage of development) are known and realised.

14. The characteristics of every object are acquired, manifesting or latent.

[This contines through item #55. From one angle, these subsequent items are little understood by contemporary Educational theory and practice, whereas the items leading to #14 are probably sensible and plausible. -CW]

From Yoga Sutras:

(As I ponder “pranayama” it occurs to me that the word is not restricted to breath-rhythmn, itself. Expanding beyond respiratory breath, the rhythmic regulation of each life-current comprises pranayama. This might include cycles of nutrition, sleep, sex, movement, emotional activity, mental activity, aspiration, and all those subtle-biophysical activities that take place beneath the threshold of ordinary consciousness)

29. The eight means of yoga are, the Commandments or Yama, the Rules or Nijama, posture or Asana, right control of life-force or Pranayama, abstraction or Pratyahara, attention or Dharana, Meditation or Dhyana, Contemplation or Samadhi.

50. Right control of prana (or the life currents) is external, internal or motionless; it is subject to place, time and number and is also protracted or brief.

From Yoga Sutras.

(As I ponder this, I see “posture” or asana as aimed at physical/emotional/mental poise. This is in no way constrained to body-position-prescriptions, but rather occurs in-action, where that action occurs during the course of the day, during the hours of meditation, or during the hours of rest. As an extension of Yogic traditions, Meditation becomes possible wherein “seated-ness, or abidance” is not constrained to static body positions, but rather to grace-in-action)

47. Steadiness and ease of posture is to be achieved through persistent slight effort and through the concentration of the mind upon the infinite.

48. When this is attained, the pairs of opposites no longer limit.

49. When right posture (asana) has been attained there follows right control of prana and proper inspiration and expiration of the breath

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Translation of “asana” from Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries (Emphasis, mine)

1. asana n. throwing , sending , a shot one who throws or discharges; a missile , an arrow.

2.  asana the tree (Terminalia Tomentosa.)

3.  Asana n. sitting , sitting down; sitting in peculiar posture according to the custom of devotees , (five or , in other places , even eighty-four postures are enumerated ; the manner of sitting forming part of the eightfold observances of ascetics) ; halting , stopping , encamping; abiding , dwelling ; seat , place , stool. ; the withers of an elephant , the part where the driver sits; maintaining a post against an enemy ; stay , abiding; stay , abiding , sitting; a shop , a stall; a small seat , a stool.

Proposed:

BRAIN is a biological organ that operates as long as remains the viability of its contextualizing Organism.

MIND is an intra-individual function, where “individual” may and may-not have finite duration, or definite spatial location.

This is one of the most concise descriptions of the journey from contemporary Science to Consciousness that I have read. Real, sincere, intelligent questions… and an authentic quest for answers that are not tainted by habits-of-mind and ordinary convention. Most assuredly, the statements made herein are not as conclusions, but rather as works-in-progress–as I see it. The keynote here is sincerety.  -CW

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A condensed version of book From Science to God, (Full text online)
by Christian de Qunicey, Noetic Sciences Review #50, pp. 8-13,44-47

The more I discovered,   the more fascinated I became. At sixteen I was devouring Einstein and marveling at the paradoxical world of quantum physics. I delved into different theories   of how the universe began, and pondered the mysteries of space and time. I had a passion for knowing, an insatiable curiosity about the laws and principles that governed the world.

I was not, however, a materialist, believing that everything could be explained by the physical sciences. By my   mid-teens I had developed an interest in the untapped potentials of the human mind. Stories of yogis being buried alive for days, or lying on beds of nails, intrigued me. I dabbled in so-called out-of-body experiences and experimented with the altered states of consciousness produced by hyperventilating or entraining the brain’s alpha rhythms with pulsating lights. I developed my own techniques of meditation, though I did not recognize them as such at the time.

Nevertheless, my overriding interest was still in the physical sciences, and, above all, mathematics. Thus, when it came to choosing which subject I was to study at university, the choice   was obvious. And when it came to deciding which university I should apply to, the choice was again clear: Cambridge. It was, and probably remains, the best British university for studying mathematics.

The   Turning Point

In my third year, I was exactly where I thought I would want to be. Stephen Hawking was my supervisor.   Although he had fallen prey to the motor-neuron disorder known as Lou Gehrig’s disease several years earlier, the illness had not yet taken its full toll.   He could walk with the aid of a cane and speak well enough to be understood.

Sitting with him in his study, I found half my attention would be on whatever he was explaining to me (such as the solution of a particularly difficult set of differential equations), while my eye would be caught by the hundreds of sheets of paper strewn across his desk, on which were scrawled, in very large handwriting, equations that I could hardly begin to fathom. Only later did I realize these papers were probably   part of his seminal work on black holes.

On more than one occasion, a spasmodic movement of his arm would accidentally send most of the papers sliding   to the floor. I wanted to get down and scoop them up for him, but he always insisted I leave them there. To be doing such ground-breaking work in cosmology was achievement enough. To be doing it with such handicaps was astounding. I felt both extremely privileged and very daunted.

So there I was, studying with the best of minds in the best of universities, yet something else was stirring deep inside me.

My studies in mathematics and quantum physics explained how the entire material universe could have evolved from the simplest of the elements-hydrogen. Yet the most fascinating question for me had now become: How had hydrogen-a single electron orbiting a single   proton-evolved into a system that could be aware of itself? How had the universe become conscious?

It was becoming clear that however hard I studied the physical sciences, they were never going to answer this deeper, more fundamental, question. I felt a growing sense of frustration, manifesting at times as depression. I found myself reading more about mind and   consciousness, and less able to focus on my mathematical assignments.

The Best of Both Worlds

My tutor must have sensed   I was not at ease in myself and approached me one day to ask how I was doing.   I shared with him as best I could my confusion and misgivings about my chosen   path. His response surprised me: “Either complete your degree in mathematics [I was in my final year] or take the rest of the year off and use it to decide   what you really want to study.” Then, knowing how hard it would be for me to make such a choice without a deadline, he added, “I want your decision by noon on Saturday.”

Saturday, five minutes before noon, I was still torn between my two options, struggling with feelings of failure, and a sense of wasted time. In the end, I surrendered to an inner   knowing that I would not be fulfilled continuing with mathematics, and that   I really wanted to take the rest of the year off. By late afternoon I had packed, said a temporary farewell to my friends, and was on my way, with only uncertainty ahead.

During the next six months I produced light shows, worked in a jam factory at night, and from time to time pondered my future career.

After exploring various   options I returned to Cambridge to study experimental psychology; it seemed the closest academic approach to understanding consciousness. Whereas clinical psychology involves treating those who are mentally ill at ease, experimental psychology is concerned with the functioning of the normal human brain. It includes the study of the physiological process of perception and how the brain builds up a picture of the world. It encompasses learning and memory, the brain’s control of the body, and the biochemistry of neuronal interactions. Understanding the brain seemed a start in the right direction.

So I found myself able to continue pursuing my interests in mathematics and physics, while at the same time embarking on my exploration of the inner world of consciousness.

Today, after thirty years of investigation into the nature of consciousness, I have come to appreciate just how big a problem the subject is for contemporary science. We all know, beyond any doubt, that we are conscious beings. It is the most intimate and obvious fact of our existence. Indeed, all we ever directly know are the thoughts, images, and feelings arising in consciousness. Yet as far as Western science is concerned, there is nothing more difficult to explain.

The  ‘Hard Problem’ of Consciousness

The really hard problem-as David Chalmers, professor of philosophy at the University of Arizona, has said-is consciousness itself. Why should the complex processing of information in the brain lead to an inner experience? Why doesn’t it all go on in the dark, without any subjective aspect? Why do we have any inner life at all?

This paradox-namely, the   absolutely undeniable existence of human consciousness set against the complete absence of any satisfactory scientific account for it-suggests to me that something is seriously amiss with the contemporary scientific worldview. For a long time I could not put my finger on exactly what it was. Then suddenly, about four years ago on a flight back to San Francisco, I saw where the error lay.

If consciousness is not   some emergent property of life, as Western science supposes, but is instead a primary quality of the cosmos-as fundamental as space, time, and matter, perhaps even more fundamental-then we arrive at a very different picture of reality.   As far as our understanding of the material world goes, nothing much changes;  but when it comes to our understanding of mind, we are led to a very different worldview indeed. I realized that the hard problem of consciousness was not   a problem to be solved so much as the trigger that would, in time, push Western   science into what the American philosopher Thomas Kuhn called a “paradigm shift.”

The continued failure of science to make any appreciable headway into this fundamental problem suggests that, to date, all approaches may be on the wrong track. They are all based on the assumption that consciousness emerges from, or is dependent upon, the physical world of space, time, and matter. In one way or another they are trying to accommodate the anomaly of consciousness within a worldview that is intrinsically   materialist. As happened with the medieval astronomers, who kept adding more and more epicycles to explain the anomalous motions of the planets, the underlying assumptions are seldom, if ever, questioned.

I now believe that rather than trying to explain consciousness in terms of the material world, we should be developing a new worldview in which consciousness is a fundamental component of reality. The key ingredients for this new paradigm-a “superparadigm”-are already in place. We need not wait for any new discoveries. All we need do is put various pieces of our existing knowledge together, and consider the new picture of reality that emerges.

Consciousness   and Reality

Because the word “consciousness” can be used in so many different ways, confusion often arises around statements   about its nature. The way I use the word is not in reference   to a particular state of consciousness, or particular way of thinking, but to the faculty of consciousness itself-the capacity for inner experience, whatever the nature or degree of the experience.

A useful analogy is the image from a video projector. The projector shines light onto a screen, modifying   the light so as to produce any one of an infinity of images. These images are   like the perceptions, sensations, dreams, memories, thoughts, and feelings that we experience-what I call the “contents of consciousness.” The light itself, without which no images would be possible, corresponds to the faculty of consciousness.

We know all the images on the screen are composed of this light, but we are not usually aware of the light itself; our attention is caught up in the images that appear and the stories   they tell. In much the same way, we know we are conscious, but we are usually aware only of the many different experiences, thoughts, and feelings that appear in the mind. We are seldom aware of consciousness itself. Yet without this faculty there would be no experience of any kind.

The faculty of consciousness is one thing we all share, but what goes on in our consciousness, the content of our consciousness, varies widely. This is our personal reality, the reality we each know and experience. Most of the time, however, we forget that this is just our personal reality and think we are experiencing physical reality directly. We see the ground beneath our feet; we can pick up a rock, and throw it through the air; we feel the heat from a fire, and smell its burning wood.  It feels as if we are in direct contact with the world “out there.” But this is not so. The colors, textures, smells, and sounds we experience are not really “out there”; they are all images of reality constructed in the mind.

It was this aspect of perception that most caught my attention during my studies of experimental psychology (and   amplified by my readings of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant). At that time, scientists were beginning to discover the ways in which the brain pieces together its perception of the world, and I was fascinated by the implications of these discoveries for the way we construct our picture of reality. It was clear that what we perceive and what is actually out there are two different things.

This, I know, runs counter to common sense. Right now you are aware of the pages in front of you, various   objects around you, sensations in your own body, and sounds in the air. Even though you may understand that all of this is just your reconstruction of reality, it still seems as if you are having a direct perception of the physical world.  And I am not suggesting you should try to see it otherwise. What is important for now is the understanding that all our experience is an image of reality constructed in the mind.

Unknowable  Reality

Because our perception of the world is so different from the actual physical reality, some people have   claimed that our experience is an illusion. But that is misleading. It may all be a creation of my own mind, but it is very, very real-the only reality we ever know.

The illusion comes when we confuse our experience of the world with the physical reality, the thing-in-itself.   The Vedantic philosophers of ancient India spoke of this as “maya.” Often translated   as illusion (a false perception of the world), the word is more accurately translated   as delusion (a false belief about the world). I suffer a delusion when I believe that the manifestations in my mind are the external world. I deceive myself when I think that the tree I see is the tree itself.

If all that we ever know are the images that appear in our minds, how can we be sure there is a physical reality behind our perceptions? Is it not just an assumption? My answer to that is: Yes, it is an assumption; nevertheless, it seems a most plausible assumption.

For a start, there are   definite constraints on my experience. I cannot, for example, walk through walls.   If I try to, there are predictable consequences. Nor can I, when awake, float through the air, or walk upon water. Second, my experience generally follows   well-defined laws and principles. Balls thrown through the air follow |precisely defined paths. Cups of coffee cool at similar rates. The sun rises on time.   Furthermore, this predictability is not peculiar to my personal reality. You, whom I assume to exist, report similar patterns in your own experience. The   simplest way, by far, of accounting for these constraints and for their consistency   is to assume that there is indeed a physical reality. We may not know it directly, and its nature may be nothing like our experience of it, but it is there.

To reveal the nature of this underlying reality has been the goal of the physical sciences, and over the years they have elucidated many of the laws and principles that govern its   behavior. Yet curiously the more deeply they have delved into its true nature, the more it appears that physical reality is nothing like we imagined it to be. Actually, this should not be too surprising. All we can imagine are the forms and qualities that appear in consciousness. These are unlikely to be very appropriate models for describing the underlying physical reality, which is of a very different nature.

Take, for example, our ideas as to the nature of matter. For two thousand years it was believed that atoms were tiny balls of solid matter-a model clearly drawn from everyday experience.   Then, as physicists discovered that atoms were composed of more elementary,  subatomic, particles (electrons, protons, neutrons, and suchlike), the model shifted to one of a central nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons-again a model based on experience.

An atom may be small, a mere billionth of an inch across, but these subatomic particles are a hundred-thousand times smaller still. Imagine the nucleus of an atom magnified to the size of   a grain of rice. The whole atom would then be the size of a football stadium, and the electrons would be other grains of rice flying round the stands. As   the early twentieth-century British physicist Sir Arthur Eddington put it, “matter is mostly ghostly empty space”-99.9999999 percent empty space, to be a little more precise.

With the advent of quantum theory, it was found that even these minute subatomic particles were themselves far from solid. In fact, they are not much like matter at all-at least nothing   like matter as we know it. They can’t be pinned down and measured precisely.   They are more like fuzzy clouds of potential existence, with no definite location.   Much of the time they seem more like waves than particles. Whatever matter is, it has little, if any, substance to it.

Somewhat ironically, science, having set out to know the ultimate nature of reality, is discovering that not only is this world beyond any direct experience, it may also be inherently unknowable.

The Paradox of Light

With hindsight, my decision to study theoretical physics along with experimental psychology was definitely the right one. They provided two complementary directions to my personal search for truth. Theoretical physics was taking me closer toward the ultimate truths of the physical world, while my pursuit of experimental   psychology was a first step toward truth in the inner world of consciousness.   Moreover, the deeper I went in these two directions, the closer the truths of the inner and outer worlds became. And the bridge between them was light.

Both relativity and quantum physics, the two great paradigm shifts of modern physics, started from anomalies in the behavior of light, and both led to radical new understandings of the nature of light. For example, in relativity theory, at the speed of light time comes to a stop-in effect, that means for light there is no time whatsoever.   Furthermore, a photon can traverse the entire universe without using up any energy-in effect, that means for light there is no space. In quantum theory, we find that light has zero mass and charge, which in effect means that it is immaterial. Light, therefore, seems to occupy a very special place in the cosmic scheme; it is in some ways more fundamental than time, space, or matter. The same, I later discovered, was true of the inner light of consciousness.

Although all we ever see is light, paradoxically, we never know light directly. The light that strikes the eye is known only through the energy it releases. This energy is translated into a visual image in the mind, and that image seems to be composed of light-but that light is a quality of mind. We never know the light itself.

Physics, like Genesis, suggests that in the beginning there was light, or, rather, in the beginning   there is light, for light underlies every process in the present moment. Any   exchange of energy between any two atoms in the universe involves the exchange of photons. Every interaction in the material world is mediated by light. In this way, light penetrates and interconnects the entire cosmos.

An oft-quoted phrase comes to mind: God is Light. God is said to be absolute-and in physics, so is light.   God lies beyond the manifest world of matter, shape, and form, beyond both space and time-so does light. God cannot be known directly-nor can light.

The Light of Consciousness

My studies in experimental psychology taught me much about the basic functioning of the human brain. Yet, despite all I was learning about neurophysiology, biochemistry, memory, behavior, and perception, I found myself no closer to understanding the nature of consciousness itself. The East, however, seemed to have a lot to say about consciousness, and so had many mystics, from around the world. For thousands of years they   had focused on the realm of the mind, exploring its subtleties through direct personal experience. I realized that such approaches might offer insights unavailable to the objective approach of Western science, and began delving into ancient   texts such as the Upanishads, The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation, The Cloud of Unknowing, and works of contemporary writers such as Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, Carl Jung, and Christopher Isherwood.

I was fascinated to find that here, as in modern physics, light is a recurring theme. Consciousness is often spoken of as the inner light. St John refers to “the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” The Tibetan Book of the Great Liberation speaks of “the self-originated Clear Light, eternally unborn . .   . shining forth within one’s own mind.”

Those who have awakened to the truth about reality-whom we often call illumined, or enlightened-frequently   describe their experiences in terms of light. The sufi Abu’l-Hosian al-Nuri experienced a light “gleaming in the Unseen. . . . I gazed at it continually, until the time came when I had wholly become that light.”

The more I read about this inner light, the more I saw close parallels with the light of physics. Physical light has no mass, and is not part of the material world; the same is true of consciousness. Light seems in some way fundamental to the universe, its values are absolute, universal constants. The light of consciousness is likewise fundamental; without it there would be no experience.

This led me to wonder whether there was some deeper significance to these similarities. Were they pointing to a more fundamental connection between the light of the physical world and the light of consciousness? Do physical reality and the reality of the mind share the same common ground-a ground whose essence is light?

Meditation

Hunting through my local library one day, I happened upon a book titled The Science of Being and Art of Living by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This was the Indian teacher who had recently made the headlines when The Beatles renounced their use of drugs in favor of his technique of Transcendental Meditation, or TM for short. Little knowing how much this work would change my life, I added it to the pile of books I was   borrowing and took it back to my study. There it sat, unopened, on my desk for two weeks. Finally I got around to taking a further look. Within minutes it had my attention. Maharishi was saying the exact opposite of just about everything I’d heard or read on meditation; yet it made sense.

To give just one example, most of the books I had read on meditation talked about how much concentration and effort it took to still the restless mind and discover the deep peace and fulfillment that lies within. Maharishi looked at the whole matter in a different way. Any concentration, the least bit of trying, even a wanting the mind to settle down, would, he observed, be counterproductive. It would be promoting mental activity rather than lessening it. He suggested that the reason the mind was restless was because it was looking for something-namely, greater satisfaction and fulfillment. But it was looking for it in the wrong direction, in the world of thinking and sensory experience. All that was needed, he said, was to turn the attention 180 degrees inward and give the mind a technique that helped it settle down. Then, in that quieter state it would begin to taste a little of the fulfillment it had been seeking, and would be spontaneously drawn on to deeper levels of its own accord.

Maharishi’s ideas appealed to my scientific mind. They were simple and elegant-almost like a mathematical derivation. But the skeptic in me was not going to take anything on faith. Just because something is written in a book, or because some famous person says it, or because many others believe it, does not mean it is true. The only way to know how well his technique worked was to try it.

Journey to India

As soon as I completed my undergraduate degree, I earned some money driving a truck, then set off in an old VW van for India (it was the sixties, after all). My destination was Rishikesh, an Indian holy town, about 150 miles north of Delhi, at the foot of the Himalayas. The plains of northern India do not gradually rise up into   mountains, as in the Alps; the landscape looks more like the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. One moment it is flat, the next there is mountain. Rishikesh nestles right where plain turns into mountain, and at the very point where the Ganges comes tumbling out of its deep Himalayan gorge.

On one side of the river was Rishikesh the bustling market town, its crowded streets a jumble of stalls,   honking cars, bicycle rickshaws, and bony cows. On the other side was Rishikesh the holy town. The atmosphere here was very different. There were no cars for a start. The one bridge across the river-a suspension bridge strung high across the mouth of the gorge-was deliberately built too narrow for cars. Along this side of the river, and sprinkled up the jungle hillsides above, were all manner of ashrams, each with its own architectural style and spiritual inclination.   Some were austere walled quadrangles lined with simple meditation cells; others   gloried in lush gardens, fountains, and brightly colored statues of Indian deities.   Some were centers for hatha yoga, others taught meditation or followed the teachings of a particular guru.

About two miles down river from the bridge was Maharishi’s ashram, the last habitation before the winding track disappeared into the jungle. Here, perched on a cliff top, a hundred feet above the swirling Ganges, were half-a-dozen bungalows, a meeting hall, dining room, showers, and other facilities providing some basic Western comforts.

Here, just over a hundred of us, of all ages, from many countries, had gathered for a teacher training course. Many were like myself, recent graduates and looking for intellectual understanding of Maharishi’s teachings as much as experience of deep meditation.   There were PhDs in philosophy, medical doctors, and long-term students of theology.

Over the coming weeks we listened to Maharishi talk at length, and asked question after question, virtually   interrogating him at times. We teased out everything, from the finer distinctions of higher states of consciousness and subtle influences of meditation to the exact meaning of various esoteric concepts.

Pure Consciousness

Even more important than our growing understanding of meditation was the opportunity to deepen our experience.   Initially we meditated for three or four hours a day. As the course progressed,   Maharishi gradually increased our practice times until we were spending most of the day in meditation-and much of the night as well. He wanted us to have   clear experiences of the states of consciousness he was describing.

During these long meditations, the habitual chatter of my mind began to fade away. Thoughts about what was going on in meditation, what time it was, what I wanted to say or do later, occupied less and less of my attention. Sounds outside no longer triggered images of monkeys playing games on the roof. Random memories of the past no longer flitted through my mind. My feelings settled down, and my breath grew so gentle as to virtually disappear. What thoughts there were became fainter and fainter, until finally my thinking mind fell completely silent. In Maharishi’s terminology I had transcended (literally gone beyond) thinking-hence the name “Transcendental Meditation.”

Indian teachings call this state samadhi, literally “still mind.” They identify it as a fundamentally different state of consciousness from the three major states we normally experience-waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. In waking consciousness we are aware and experience the world perceived by the senses. In dreaming we are aware and experience worlds conjured by the imagination. In deep sleep there is no awareness, either of outer world or inner world. Samadhi they define as a fourth major state. There is awareness, one is wide awake, but there is no object of the awareness. It is pure consciousness-pure in the sense of being unmodified by thoughts and images-consciousness without content.

In terms of the video projector analogy, this fourth state of consciousness corresponds to the projector being on, but without any data being fed to it; only white light falls on the screen.   Likewise, in samadhi you know consciousness itself, in its unmanifest state, before it takes on the many forms and qualities of thinking, feeling, and sensory experience.

One further quality of this state of consciousness marks it out from all our normal states. When you are in this state you discover a sense of self that is more real and more fundamental than any you have known before. You are no longer an individual person, with individual characteristics. Here, in the complete absence of all normal experience, you find your true identity, an identity with the essence of all beings and all creation.

Looking for the self is rather like being in a room at night with only a flashlight, looking for the source of the light. All you would find would be the various objects in the room that the light fell upon. It is the same when we try to look for the self which is the subject of all experience. All we find are the various ideas, images, and feelings that the attention falls upon. But these are all objects of experience;   they cannot therefore be the subject of the experience. For this reason, the self cannot be known in the way that anything else is known.

Universal Light

We can now begin to see just how close are the parallels between the light of physics and the light of consciousness. Both are beyond the material world. And both seem to lie beyond space and time. Both seem intrinsically unknowable-at least in the way that everything else is known.  And both are absolutes. Every photon of light is an identical quantum of action, and the foundation of every interaction in the universe. The light of consciousness is likewise absolute and invariant. It is the source of every quality that we ever experience.   And its essential nature is the same for   everyone. Since it is beyond all attributes and identifying characteristics, there is no way to distinguish the light of consciousness in me from the light   that shines in you. In other words, how it feels to me to be conscious-that sense of being we label “I”-is the same as how it feels to you. In this sense we are one. We all know the same inner self.

I am the light. And so are you. And so is every sentient being in the universe.

Mystics have spoken of  this inner light as the Divine Light, the Cosmic Light, the Light of Light, the Eternal Light that shines in every heart, the Uncreated Light from which all creation takes form.

Once again the phrase “God   is Light” comes to mind. But now God begins to take on a much richer and more personal meaning. If God is the name we give to the light of consciousness shining   at the core of every sentient being, and if that pure consciousness is the very essence of self, then it is only a short step to the assertion that “I am God.”

Consciousness and God

To many, the statement ”I am God” sounds ridiculous. God is not a human being, but the supreme deity, the almighty, eternal creator. How can any lowly human being claim that he or she is God? To those of a more religious disposition, the statement may sound   heretical, if not blasphemous. When the fourteenth-century Christian priest and mystic Meister Eckhart preached that “God and I are One,” he was brought   before Pope John XXII and forced to “recant everything that he had falsely taught.”   Not all were so lucky. The tenth-century Islamic mystic al-Hallãj was crucified for using language that claimed an identity with God.

To those who do not believe in God at all, such statements are meaningless, the symptoms of some delusion or pathology. They might have been tolerable a couple of hundred years ago, but not in the modern scientific era, where God seems a totally unnecessary concept. Science has looked out into deep space, across the breadth of creation to the edges of the universe. It has looked back in “deep time” to the beginning   of creation. And it has looked down into the “deep structure” of the cosmos, to the fundamental constituents of matter. In each case science finds no evidence for God; nor any need for God-the Universe seems to work perfectly well without any divine assistance. Thus anyone talking of a personal identity with God is clearly talking nonsense.

That is where I stood thirty years ago. Now I recognize that I was rejecting a rather naïve and old-fashione  interpretation of God. When we look to mystical writings, we do not find many claims for God being in the realm of space, time, and matter. When mystics refer to God, they are, more often than not, pointing toward the realm of personal experience, not something in the physical realm. If we want to find God, we have to look within, into the realm of deep mind-a realm that science has yet to explore.

http://www.spaceandmotion.com/

For some perspective – there are a trillion trillion wave-center ‘particles’ in a pin head, all vibrating 10^20 times per second with 10^80 other wave-center ‘particles’ in the universe – mind boggling!

Proposition: “Particles” are the centers of IN and OUT spherical standing waves, or the point of maximum amplification/positive interference of those waves. “Space” is the 3-dimensional medium wherein spherical waves propagate. “Fields” are those domains of Space where standing-wave interference is not occuring, but will-occur.

[Space must be the substance which exists and matter is formed from waves in Space.]

[The electron has a spherical in / out wave structure. The wave-center forms the 'particle' effect, the spherical in and out waves explain the continual two way communication / interconnection of matter in space. The wave center of the spherical in and out waves forms high wave amplitude coherent waves, thus this is where the wave interactions / energy exchanges occur, which gives the appearance of discrete matter 'particles'.]

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Newton’s mechanics is clearly a mathematical description of reality that is missing causal connection. Newton knew this, stating;

“It is inconceivable that inanimate brute matter should, without mediation of something else which is not matter, operate on and affect other matter without mutual contact. … That gravity should be innate, inherent and essential to matter, so that one body may act upon another at-a-distance, through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else by and through which their action may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no man, who has in philosophical matters a competent faculty of thinking, can ever fall into it. … So far I have explained the phenomena by the force of gravity, but I have not yet ascertained the cause of gravity itself. … and I do not arbitrarily invent hypotheses. (Newton. Letter to Richard Bentley 25 Feb. 1693)

“Three dimensional space exists and has plane waves flowing through it in all directions.”

To answer Hume’s question of the required medium for causal connection, well it is space, it is a wave medium. And we all experience existing in this space (e.g. the space your universities exist in, the space of your lecture halls, the space you drive your car through, the space of your body). Being one substance it must also be infinite, eternal and continuous (not bound by, created by, or contain a second substance). The waves have the velocity of light, a wavelength of around 10^-12 meters, frequency of 10^20 Hz (they are matter waves, not light waves).

BACKGROUND SPACE (QUANTUM FIELD VIBRATIONS) – Space vibrates in a fixed (but very complex) vector / transverse wave pattern in all directions.

PARTICLE VIBRATIONS (ELECTRONS & POSITRONS) – Space vibrates spherically around a central point – a scalar longitudinal spherical standing wave.

[What is possible is a] …growing freedom from the thralldom of age-old fear concepts. The student finds himself becoming steadily detached from the prime governing instincts which have hitherto served to weld him into the general scheme of the elementary planetary life. It might be valuable here to point out that all the major instincts have their roots in that peculiar quality of the planetary life, – fear reactions, leading to activity of some kind. As you know the psychologists list five main and dominant instincts, and we will very briefly touch upon them.

[Note that each of these fears and their related instincts are to be passively observed, without judgment and disdain. Consider the possibility that each instinctive fear has a sublimated counterpart, where that finer part is built upon the existence of the associated fear and its continuous study and observation.]

The instinct of self-preservation has its root in an innate fear of death; through the presence of this fear, the race has fought its way to its present point of longevity and endurance. The sciences which concern themselves with the preservation of life, the medical knowledge of the day, and the achievements of civilized comfort have all grown out of this basic fear. All has tended to the persistence of the individual, and to his preserved condition of being. Humanity persists, as a race and as a kingdom in nature, as a result of this fear tendency, this instinctual reaction of the human unit to self-perpetuation.

The instinct of sex has its main root in the fear of separateness and of isolation, and in a revolt against separative unity on the physical plane, against aloneness; and it has resulted in the carrying forward of the race and the persistence and propagation of the forms through which the race can come into manifestation.

The herd instinct can easily be seen to have its root in a similar reaction; for the sense of safety and for convinced assured security – based on numerical aggregations – men have always sought their own kind and herded themselves together for defense and for economic stability. Out of this instinctual reaction of the race as whole, our modern civilization is the result; its vast centers, its huge cities and its massed tenements have merged, and we have modern herding, carried to the nth degree.

The fourth great instinct, that of self-assertion, is also based on fear; it connotes the fear of the individual that he will fail of recognition and thus lose much that would otherwise be his. As time has progressed, the selfishness of the race has thus grown; its sense of acquisitiveness has developed and the power to grasp has emerged (the “will to power” in some form or another) until today we have the intense individualism and the positive sense of importance which have produced much of the modern economic and national troubles. We have fostered self-determination, self-assertion and self-interest until we are presented with a well-nigh insuperable problem. But out of it all, much good has come and will come, or no individual is of value until he realizes that value for himself, and then with definiteness sacrifices the acquired values for the good of the whole.

The instinct to enquire in its turn is based on fear of he unknown, but out of this fear has emerged – as a result of age-long enquiry – our present educational and cultural systems and the entire structure of scientific investigation.

For self- and student-assessment:

[NOMENCLATURE: "Type" refers to Life-Aspect. "Quality" refers to Consciousness-Aspect

The Type will manifest primarily through what we might call dynamic direction and through its power to produce an effect. The Quality will be indicated more by its power of attractive approach. It has in it more of the magnetic aspect than the type has. Students can arrive at the Quality of the force they may be using by noticing what they attract to themselves, both in circumstances, in people, and in the reactions which people show to what the student may say or do. In the Type there is a preponderance of the will aspect.  In the Quality the desire aspect is primarily to be found. It is profoundly true that according to a man's desires so will be the forms of life which he will, like a magnet, attract to himself.]

What was the Type of energy used by me in my speech today? Were any Qualities evident in my speech, building upon the Types?

What frame-of-mind, What conscious/unconsious motives? What words?

What Strength of force? What Speed of energy?

(1) Will there be evidenced a desire to impose his will upon his hearers?  This imposition of will could be either right or wrong. When right, it would mean that he was speaking under the impulse of his ”authentic interests” and would be governed by love and, therefore, would be constructive, helpful and healing. His attitude would be one of detachment and he would have no desire to take prisoner the mind of his brother. But if his words were prompted by self-will and by the desire to impose his ideas upon other people and so to shine in their presence, or to force them to agree with his conclusions, his method would then be destructive, dominating, aggressive, argumentative, forceful, rude or irritable, according to his personality trends and inclinations.

(2) Will she find her personality force to be based on group love, service and compassion, or upon a selfish longing to be liked, on sentiment and on attachment. Her words will indicate this to her if she will closely study them.

(3) Will he be devious in his propositions, subtle and elusive in his arguments, using manipulation in his relations with his fellowmen? Or, for instance, will he be as an an interfering busybody, actively engaged in running the world, in managing other people’s lives for them, or in grasping so firmly the reins of government in his own self-interest that he will sacrifice everything and everybody in the work of furthering his own busy ends. If he is exercising “authentic interest,” he will work in an organized fashion to bring about loving purposes. He will be busy and active and his word will carry truth, and will lead to the helping of others, for they will be detached and true.

What is the Strength, or ”persistance of attention” (ponder: dynamic vs. steady), with respect to the creation of thoughtforms and entities and material objects?

What is the “Speed” of the force used? Here, we attempt to separate the speed of an action from time. Perhaps speed could be more correctly translated by the words “correct direction”, for where there is correct direction, true orientation, exact understanding of purpose and recognition of the type of force required, then there is an instantaneous effect. When the soul has registered the desired quality and possesses the strength of the “Timeless One” and the persistence of the “One Who” is from the beginning, the process of force expression and the relation between cause and effect is spontaneous and simultaneous, and not sequential. This can scarcely be understood by those who have not yet the consciousness of the “eternal Now”. But this spontaneous and simultaneous effect is the clue to the entire magical work and in these four words – type, quality, strength and speed

“A precipitation is an aggregation of energies arranged in a certain form, in order to express the idea of some creative Thinker, and qualified or characterized by the nature of his thought and held in that peculiar form as long as his thought remains dynamic.”

Just as soon as man becomes a thinker and can formulate his thought, desire its manifestation and can energize “by recognition” the four ethers, a dense physical manifestation is inevitable. He will attract by his pranic energy, colored by desire high or low, and animated by the potency of his thought, just as much of the responsive matter in space as is needed to give body to his form.

…within fifty years the true significance of precipitations will be engrossing the attention of the scientists. Occult students would do well to give the subject careful thought. It can be approached in two ways. There is, first of all, the study of the objective world in which the individual aspirant finds himself. He will need to consider the fact that his body of manifestation is a precipitation, that it is a result of his potent thought and desire and of his “recognition” of the four ethers. He will need to understand that this form which he has created will persist just as long as the dynamic power of his thought holds it together, and that it will dissipate when he (occultly speaking) “takes his eye away”. He will need to consider also that his environment is the result of the work of an aggregate of group thinkers – a group to which he belongs.

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The etheric body is a web or network of fine interlacing channels, formed of matter of the four ethers, and built into a specific form. It forms, a focal point for certain radiatory emanations, which vivify, stimulate and produce the rotary action of matter.

These pranic emanations when focalized and received, react upon the dense matter which is built upon the etheric scaffolding and framework.

This etheric web, during incarnation, forms a barrier between the physical and astral planes, which can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to permit of escape. This can be seen in both the microcosm and the macrocosm. When a man has, through meditation and concentration expanded his consciousness to a certain point he is enabled to include the subtler planes, and to escape beyond the limits of the dividing web.

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The majority of men only function consciously on the three lower levels of the physical – the gaseous, the liquid, and the dense physical.

Subtler than these, the (four) etheric levels are as sealed to this majority, at present..

In the coming centuries, man’s normal habitat will be the entire physical plane (gaseous/liquid/dense), as now. But it will further include the fourth (intuition) and third (“spiritual-atmic”) etheric levels as familiar to him as is now familiar to the usual physical landscape to which he is now accustomed.

The center of attention of medical and scientific students will be focussed on the etheric body, and the dependence of the physical body upon the etheric body will be recognized. This will change the attitude of the medical profession, and magnetic healing and vibratory stimulation will supersede the present methods of surgery and drug assimilation. Man’s vision being then normally etheric, will have the effect of forcing him to recognize that which is now called the unseen world, or the super-physical.

Live and work in the terrain of ideas and not in the world of forms.

In relation to the technique of dying it is only possible for me at this time to make one or two suggestions. I deal not here with the attitude of the attendant watchers, I deal only with those points which will make for an easier passing over of the transient soul.

[Perhaps it goes without saying that the environment will be increasingly devoid of expression of grief and fear, and increasingly saturated with joy and synthesis - CW]

First, let there be silence in the chamber. This is, of course, frequently the case. It must be remembered that the dying person may usually be unconscious. This unconsciousness is apparent but not real. In nine hundred cases out of a thousand the brain awareness is there, with a full consciousness of happenings, but there is a complete paralysis of the will to express and complete inability to generate the energy which will indicate aliveness. When silence and understanding rule the sick room, the departing soul can hold possession of its instrument with clarity until the last minute and can make due preparation.

Later, when more anent color is known, only orange lights will be permitted in the sick room of a dying person, and these will only be installed with due ceremony when there is assuredly no possibility of recovery. Orange aids the focussing in the head, just as red [506] stimulates the solar plexus and green has a definite effect upon the heart and life streams.

Certain types of music will be used when more in connection with sound is understood, but there is no music as yet which will facilitate the work of the soul in abstracting itself from the body, though certain notes on the organ will be found effective. At the exact moment of death, if a person’s own note is sounded, it will coordinate the two streams of energy and eventually rupture the life thread, but the knowledge of this is too dangerous to transmit yet and can only later be given. I would indicate the future and the lines along which future occult study will run.

It will be found also that pressure on certain nerve centers and on certain arteries will facilitate the work. (This science of dying is held in custody, as many students know, in Tibet.) Pressure on the jugular vein and on certain big nerves in the region of the head and on a particular spot in the medulla oblongata will be found helpful and effective. A definite science of death will inevitably later be elaborated, but only when the fact of the soul is recognized and its relation to the body has been scientifically demonstrated.

Mantric phrases will also be employed and definitely built into the consciousness of the dying person by those around him, or employed deliberately and mentally by himself. The Christ demonstrated their use when be cried aloud, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” And we have another instance in the words, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.” The steady use of the Sacred Word chanted in an undertone or on a particular key (to which the dying man will be found to respond) may later constitute also a part of the ritual of transition accompanied by the anointing with oil, as preserved in the Catholic Church. Extreme unction has an occult, scientific basis. The top of the head of the dying man should also symbolically point towards the East and the feet and the hands should be crossed. Sandalwood only should be burned in the room and no incense of any other kind permitted, for sandalwood is the incense of the first or destroyer ray and the soul is in process of destroying its habitation.

It might well be asked if it is possible to give a simple set of rules that could be followed now by all who seek to establish such a rhythm that life itself is not only organized and constructive, but when the moment for vacating the outer sheath arrives, there will be no problem nor difficulty. I will therefore, give you four simple rules that link up with much that all students are now doing:

1. Learn to keep focussed in the head through visualization and meditation and through the steady practice of concentration; develop the capacity to live increasingly as the king seated on the throne between the eyebrows. This is a rule that can be applied to the every day affairs of life.
2. Learn to render heart service and not an emotional insistence on activity directed towards handling the affairs of others. This involves, prior to all such activity, the answering of two questions: – Am I rendering this service to an individual as an individual, or am I rendering it as a member of a group to a group? Is my motive an egoic impulse, or am I prompted by emotion, ambition to shine and love of being loved or admired? These two activities will result in the focussing of the life energies above the diaphragm and so negate the attractive power of the solar plexus. Hence, that center will become increasingly inactive and there will not be so much danger of puncturing the web in that locality.
3. Learn, as you go to sleep, to withdraw the consciousness to the head. This should be practiced as a definite exercise as one falls to sleep. One should not permit oneself to drift off to sleep, but should endeavor to preserve the consciousness intact until there is a conscious passing out onto the astral plane. Relaxation, close attention, and a steady drawing upwards to the center in the head should be attempted, for until the aspirant has learned to be steadily aware of all processes in going to sleep and to preserve at the same time his positivity, there is danger in this work. The first steps must be taken with intelligence and followed for many years until facility in the work of abstraction is achieved.
4. Record and watch all phenomena connected with the withdrawing process, whether followed in the meditation work or in going to sleep. It will be found, for instance, that many people wake with an almost painful start just as they have dropped asleep. This is due to the slipping out of the consciousness through a web which is not adequately clear and through an orifice which is partially closed. Others may hear an intensely loud snap in the region of the head. This is caused by the vital airs in the head of which we are not usually aware and is produced by an inner aural sensitivity which causes awareness of sounds always present but not usually registered. Others will see light as they fall asleep, or clouds of color, or banners and streamers of violet, all of which are etheric phenomena. These phenomena which are of no real moment, are all related to the vital body, to pranic emanations, and to the web of light.

The carrying on of this practice and the following of these four rules over a period of years will do much to facilitate the technique of the death bed, for the man who has learned to handle his body as he falls asleep, has an advantage over the man who never pays any attention to the process.

In the human body, as you know, we have an underlying, interpenetrating vital body which is the counterpart of the physical, which is larger than the physical and which we call the etheric body or double. It is an energy body and is composed of force centers and nadis or force threads. These underlie or are the counterparts of the nervous apparatus – the nerves and the nerve ganglia. In two places in the human vital body there are orifices of exit for the life force. One opening is in the solar plexus and the other is in the brain at the top of the head. Protecting both is a closely woven web of etheric matter, composed of interlacing strands of life energy.

During the process of death, the pressure of the life energy beating against the web produces eventually a puncturing or opening. Out of this the life force pours as the potency of the abstracting influence of the soul increases. In the case of animals, of infants and of men and women who are polarized entirely in the physical and astral bodies, the door of exit is the solar plexus and it is that web which is punctured, thus permitting the passing out. In the case of mental types, of the more highly evolved human units, it is the web at the top of the head in the region of the fontanelle which is ruptured, thus again permitting the exit of the thinking rational being.

In psychics and in the case of mediums and lower seers (clairvoyant and clairaudient people) the solar plexus web is permanently ruptured early in life and easily therefore they pass in or out of the body, going into trance, as it is called, and functioning on the astral plane. But for these types there is no continuity of consciousness and there seems no relation between their physical plane existence and the happenings which they relate whilst in trance and of which they usually remain totally unaware in the waking consciousness. The whole performance is below the diaphragm and is related primarily to animal sentient life.

In the case of conscious clairvoyance and in the work of the higher psychics and seers there is no trance, obsession or mediumship. It is the web in the brain which is punctured and the opening in that region permits the inflow of light, information and inspiration; it confers also the power to pass into the state of Samadhi which is the spiritual correspondence to the trance condition of the animal nature.

In the process of death these are, therefore, the two main exits: the solar plexus for the astrally polarized, physically biased human being and therefore of the vast majority, and the head center for the mentally polarized and spiritually oriented human being. This is the first and most important fact to remember and it will easily be seen how the trend of a life tendency and the focus of the life attention determine the mode of exit at death. It can be seen also that an effort to control the astral life and the emotional nature and to orient one’s self to the mental world and to spiritual things has a momentous effect upon the phenomenal aspects of the death process.

If the student is thinking clearly, it will be apparent to him that one exit concerns the spiritual and highly evolved man, whilst the other concerns the low grade human being who has scarcely advanced beyond the animal stage. What then of the average man? A third exit is now in temporary use; just below the apex of the heart another etheric web is found covering an orifice of exit. We have, therefore, the following situation:

1. The exit in the head, used by the intellectual type, by the disciples and initiates of the world.
2. The exit in the heart, used by the kindly, well-meaning man or woman who is a good citizen, an intelligent friend and a philanthropic worker.
3. The exit in the region of the solar plexus, used by the emotional, unintelligent, unthinking man and by those whose animal nature is strong.

[underlined emphasis, mine - CW]

The circle of those who apprehend them (wisdom teachings-CW) is widening somewhat and these thought-forms frequently take to themselves astral matter from the desire in the heart of the student to verify, corroborate, and share with the group whose knowledge is as vital as his. Sometimes this is possible, and sometimes not. If prohibited what is the method of protection then? Largely a refusing to allow the matter of the astral plane to adhere to the mental thought-form. Fight the matter out on the desire level, and inhibit that type of matter from formulating. Where no desire to speak exists, and where the striving is to prevent the gathering of the material around the nucleus, another thought-form is built up, one that intervenes and protects.

Still another type of thought-form comes forth, – the most prevalent and the one that causes the most trouble. These are the facts of information, the detailed material, the news (if so you like to call it), the basis of what may degenerate into gossip, that concerns either your work, administrative or otherwise, and that which concerns other people. How shall you prevent your mind from transmitting to another facts such as these? These are facts that have their origination in physical plane occurrence, and therein lies the difficulty. The inner facts of the occult life, and those that originate on the mental plane are not so difficult to hide. They do not come your way till your vibrations are keyed high enough for them, and as a rule, when that is so, character of sufficient stability and wisdom goes alongside. But it is not thus with a physical plane fact. What must be done?

The other thoughts descend from above; these latter work upwards from the physical plane and are increased in vitality by the knowledge of the many, often of the many unwise.

One kind starts nebulously on the mental plane, and only the higher type of mind can formulate it, and clothe it with matter in geometrical precision, and such a mind usually has the wisdom that refuses to clothe it in astral plane matter.

Not so with the physical plane fact. It is a vital entity, robed in material of the astral plane and the mental plane when first you meet and contact it. Will you vitalize it, or will you arrest it? Arrest it by a rush and wave of love for the party implicated, that envelops the thought-form and sends it back to the originator, borne on the wings of a surge of astral plane matter, strong enough to sweep through and around, mayhap disintegrating, but most certainly returning it harmlessly to the sender. Perhaps it is an evil piece of information, a lie or item of gossip. Devitalize it by love, break it in pieces by the power of a counter thought-form of peace and harmony.

Or again, it may be true, some sad or evil occurrence or deed of some mistaken brother. What then is there to do? Truth cannot be devitalized or disintegrated. The Law of Absorption will aid you here. Into your heart you absorb the thought-form you encounter and there transmute it by the alchemy of love. Let me be practical and illustrate, for the matter is of importance.

Some brother comes to you and tells to you a fact about another brother – a fact involving what the world would call wrongdoing on that brother’s part. You who know so much more than the average man of the street, will realize that that so called wrongdoing may be but the working out of karma, or have its basis in a good motive wrongly construed. You add not to the talk, you do not hand on the information, as far as you are concerned the thought-form, built around the fact, has wandered into what you call a cul-de-sac.

What do you then? You build a counter stream of thoughts which (on a wave of love) you send your apparently erring brother: thoughts of kindly assistance, of courage and aspiration, and of a wise application of the lessons to be learnt from the deed he has accomplished. Use not force, for strong thinkers must not unduly influence other minds, but a gentle stream of [488] wise transmuting love. We have here three methods, none strictly occult, for those later shall be imparted, but methods available for the many.

1. The thought form kept to the mental levels, i.e. the inhibiting of astral plane matter.
2. The thought-form broken up and disintegrated by a stream of love-force well-directed.
3. The absorbing of the thought-form, and the formulation of a counter-thought of loving wisdom.

1. View the world of thought, and separate the false out of the true.
2. Learn the meaning of illusion, and in its midst locate the golden thread of truth.
3. Control the body of emotion, for the waves that rise upon the stormy seas of life engulf the swimmer, shut out the sun and render all futile plans.
4. Discover that you have a mind and learn its dual use.
5. Concentrate the thinking principle, and be the master of your mental world.
6. Learn that the thinker and his thought and that which is the means of thought are diverse in their nature, yet one in ultimate reality.
7. Act as the thinker, and learn it is not right to prostitute your thought to the base use of separative desire.
8. The energy of thought is for the good of all and for the furtherance of the Plan of Humanity. Use it not therefore for your selfish ends.
9. Before a thought-form is constructed, vision its purpose, ascertain its goal, and verify the motive.
10. For you, the aspirant on the way of life, the way of conscious building is not yet the goal. The work of cleaning out the atmosphere of thought, of barring fast the doors of thought to hate and pain, to fear, and jealousy and low desire, must first precede the conscious work of building. See to the clarity of your psychological atmosphere.
11. Closely watch the gates of thought. Sentinel desire. Cast out all fear, all hate, all greed. Look out and up.
12. Because your life is mostly centered on the plane of concrete life, your words and speech will indicate your thought. Pay close attention to these.
13. Speech is of triple kind. The idle words will each produce effect. If good and kind, naught need be done. If otherwise, the paying of the price cannot be long delayed.
14. The selfish words, sent forth with strong intent, build up a wall of separation. It takes a long time to break that wall and so release the stored-up, selfish purpose. Observe and know your motive, and seek to use those words which blend your little life with the larger ennobling purposes that might guide the whole of Humanity.
15. The word of hate, the cruel speech which ruins those who feel its spell, the poisonous gossip, passed along because it gives a thrill – these words kill the flickering impulses of the soul, cut at the roots of life, and so bring death.
16. If spoken in the light of day, words of hate, cruel speech, and gossip will bring just retribution; when spoken and then registered as lies, they strengthen that illusory world in which the speaker lives and holds him back from liberation.
17. If uttered with intent to hurt, to bruise and kill, such words wander back to he who sent them forth, and it is he who they bruise and kill.
18. The idle thought, the selfish thought, the cruel hateful thought if rendered into word produce a prison, poison all the springs of life, lead to disease, and cause disaster and delay. Therefore, be sweet and kind and good as far as in thee lies. Keep silence and the light will enter in.
19. Speak not of self. Pity not your fate. The thoughts of self and of your lower destiny prevent the inner voice of thine own soul from striking upon your ear. Speak of the soul; enlarge upon the plan; forget yourself in building for the world. Thus is the law of form offset. Thus can the rule of love enter upon that world.

It will be useful to ponder “the end of work.”

Here, “work” implicates getting-a-job, making-a-living, and raising-employment-numbers, etc.

Clearly, as we pass out of the dark ages of petroleum dependency, and as we emerge into the age of light-power and nuclear-power (including quantum/photonic switching), with attendent computing and telecommunications technologies, the imperative to survive will require decreasing need for material industry and enslavement to the incubus of money and monetary systems.

Considering the possibility, what will you do? Why will you be here? To what purposes your existence?

My current reply to these questions is a follows:

There will be time and freedom for a soul culture which will supersede our modern methods of education, and the significance of soul powers and the development of the superhuman consciousness will engross the attention of educators and students everywhere.

Will you be one of those who demand: “Save my job!”?

Will you characterize those who do not work in visible substance as “lazy” and thus less deserving of a creative, abundant life?

As the beneficiary of the gifts of this imminent age, will you spend your newly-available attention on amusement and titillation?

Alternatively, will you be one of those who redefines “work,” who–in discipline–learns to build a traversable bridge from the substantive “here” to a less-substantive “there”?

And, might it not be the case that such a bridge might be built, in the first instance, within the dominions of one’s own psychological territory?

I declare that the time is at hand, for those who occupy such a territory. Of course, in the case that one wanders from day to day as the effect of past causes, no such territory is available for occupancy.

The effort on the part of all aspirants should not be to resist and repel the pressure or to fight and ward off. Such a method centers the attention upon the not-self and leads to added chaos. The effort should be along the lines of an endeavor to make contact with the higher self, and keep it stable and steady, and to be in such direct alignment that the force and power of the soul may be poured upon and through the lower threefold nature. This pouring through will bring about a steady radiation which will affect the surroundings exactly in proportion to the extent of the inner contact, and in direct relation to the clarity of the channel linking the physical brain to the causal body.

Rule I. Enter thy brother’s heart and see his woe. Then speak. Let the words spoken convey to him the potent force he needs to loose his chains. Yet loose them not thyself. Thine is the work to speak with understanding. The force received by him will aid him in his work.

Rule II. Enter thy brother’s mind and read his thoughts, but only when thy thoughts are pure. Then think. Let the thoughts thus created enter thy brother’s mind and blend with his. Yet keep detached thyself, for none have the right to sway a brother’s mind. The only right there is, will make him say: “He loves. He standeth by. He knows. He thinks with me and I am strong to do the right.” Learn thus to speak. Learn thus to think.

Rule III. Blend with thy brother’s soul and know him as he is. Only upon the plane of soul can this be done. Elsewhere the blending feeds the fuel of his lower life. Then focus on the plan. Thus will he see the part that he and you and all men play. Thus will he enter into life and know the work accomplished.

Suspense, Anticipation, Titillation, Amusement… The Theft of Poise

These are the devices by which some part us from the contents of our wallet.

Yes, the “wallet” is the thing wherein your dollar and euro is temporarily stored; but it is also the safe, place where one stores one’s composure, one’s self-control.

Do others try to steal your composure? Does your own inclination steal the self-control of others? Why, and under what circumstances does this occur?

Exercise:

By fiat, I declare that the purposes of the Cinema and Popular Entertainment and Advertising are to  simulate the Theft of Poise by:

1. Offering opportunity to recapitulate the entire spectrum of emotions that I have experienced, throughout the millenia, without identification.
2. Offer opportunity to sustain occupancy of poise, which may be connected to the sense that: “Ah…there re-acts the not-self.”

It is difficult to imagine the situated realization of these without recourse to remembering-oneself or passive self observation.

The practice of harmlessness is the best and easiest way for the aspirant to work. (Compared to the construction of ”shells” and “barriers” –CW). There is then nothing in him which is inimical to any life in any form, and he therefore attracts to himself only that which is beneficent. He uses the beneficent forces thus attracted for the helping of other beings. This has to be the first step, and the discipline it entails and the constant supervision of all the activities on the three planes of human evolution and of all reactions bring the emotional body under the dominance of the illumined mind. They also bring about the understanding of one’s fellow men.

There is secondly, a later stage wherein the disciple learns to absorb and transmute the wrong vibrations and the energies which are destructive. He has no shells nor barriers. He does not insulate himself nor isolate himself from his brothers. Through harmlessness he has learnt to neutralize all evil emanations. Now he acts with a positiveness of a new kind. Definitely and with full awareness of what he is doing, he gathers into himself all the evil emanations (destructive energies, and wrong forces) and he breaks them up into their component parts and returns them whence they came, neutralized, impotent and harmless, yet intact in nature. You say that this is a hard teaching and conveys but little to the average aspirant? Such is ever the way in esoteric teaching, but those who know will understand and for them I speak.

(From one angle, this second stage involves “eating” the negative emotions of others. We may begin to eat others’ negative emotions by making an effort to  ”bear the unpleasantness of others.” Such an effort implicates “Work.” It does not happen automatically. One must be present to oneself, or remember oneself, to perform this work, it is said. This may be a fundamental component of “service.” — CW)

Does an expert surfer seek a diminishing wave?

A Logos and its Elemental: A relationship to ponder, with respect to a Man, a Planet, a Sun.

Consider the Logos as on the “evolutionary arc,” whereas the sentient-body of the Logos is on the “involutionary arc.”

Consider the Logos as representing the Organizing Intelligence, wheras its “Elemental” is a  composite Being, which may express as an aggregate intelligence of lesser and greater power.

Consider “Natural Man” as the son of the Planetary Entity.

Consider man as a composite of “many I’s” where these are machine-entities, programmed to perform their assigned tasks and expressing within their limited fields of activity with power that–for at term–rivals and overwhelms the power of “Real I” or, the Logos of that system.

The Fear of Death is based upon:

• A terror of the final rending processes in the act of death itself.
• Horror of the unknown and the indefinable.
• Doubt as to final immortality.
• Unhappiness at leaving loved ones behind or of being left behind.
• Ancient reactions to past violent deaths, lying deep in the subconsciouss.
• Clinging to form life, because primarily identified with it in consciousness.
• Old erroneous teaching as to Heaven and Hell, both equally unpleasant in prospect to certain types.

I speak about Death as one who knows the matter from both the outer world experience and the inner life expression: – There is no death. There is, as you know, entrance into fuller life. There is freedom from the handicaps of the fleshly vehicle. The rending process so much dreaded does not exist, except in the cases of violent and of sudden death and then the only true disagreeables are an instant and overwhelming sense of imminent peril and destruction, and something closely approaching an electric shock. No more. For the unevolved, death is literally a sleep and a forgetting, for the mind is not sufficiently awakened to react, and the storehouse of memory is as yet practically empty. For the average good citizen, death is a continuance of the living process in his consciousness and a carrying forward of the interests and tendencies of the life. His consciousness and his sense of awareness are the same and unaltered. He does not sense much difference, is well taken care of, and oft is unaware that he has passed [301] through the episode of death. For the wicked and cruelly selfish, for the criminal and for those few who live for the material side only, there eventuates that condition which we call “earth-bound”. The links they have forged with earth and the earthward bias of all their desires force them to remain close to the earth and their last setting in the earth environment. They seek desperately and by every possible means to re-contact it and to re-enter. In a few cases, great personal love for those left behind or the non-fulfillment of a recognized and urgent duty holds the good and beautiful in a somewhat similar condition. For the aspirant, death is an immediate entrance into a sphere of service and of expression to which he is well accustomed and which he at once recognizes as not new. In his sleeping hours he has developed a field of active service and of learning. He now simply functions in it for the entire twenty-four hours (talking in terms of physical plane time) instead of for his usual few hours of earthly sleep.

As time progresses and before the close of the next century, death will be finally seen to be non-existent in the sense in which it is now understood. Continuity of consciousness will be so widely developed and so many of the highest types of men will function simultaneously in the two worlds that the old fear will go and the intercourse between the astral plane and the physical plane will be so firmly established and so scientifically controlled that the work of the trance mediums will rightly and mercifully come to an end. The ordinary common trance mediumship and materialisations under controls and Indian guides are just as much perversions of the intercourse between the two planes as are sex perversions and the distortions of the true relationship and intercourse between the sexes. I refer not here to the work of clairvoyants no matter how poor, nor to the taking possession of the body by entities of high calibre, but of the unpleasant phenomena of the materialization seance, of ectoplasm, and the blind unintelligent work done by old Atlantean degenerates and earthbound souls, the average Indian chief and guide. There is nothing to be learned from them and much to be avoided. The reign of the fear of death is well-nigh ended and we shall soon enter upon a period of knowledge and of certainty which will cut away the ground from under all our fears. In dealing with the fear of death, there is little to be done except to raise the whole subject onto a more scientific level, and – in this scientific sense – teach people to die. There is a technique of dying just as there is of living, but this technique has been lost very largely in the West and is almost lost except in a few centers of Knowers in the East. More of this can perhaps be dealt with later but the thought of the needed approach to this subject can rest in the minds of the students who read this and perhaps as they study and read and think, material of interest will come their way which could be gradually assembled and published.