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How are we to understand the soul? What is the purpose of Spirituality? What do we need to live Spiritually? What does Spirituality Involve? What kind of work should I be doing? |
Getting Real 2 How are we to understand the soul?
We do
not go far into either spiritual literature or spiritual activities
without meeting the term, the soul. But what is this soul, and where is it
to be found? This tends to be another Great Unasked Question. People seem
either to think that they should know and are too embarrassed to ask, or
they feel that like spirituality, the soul eludes description.
Teacher
Reshad Feild has given a most concise and useful definition of soul. He
calls it a ‘knowing substance.’ Soul
knows what it is and how it needs to manifest itself. Soul knows the plan.
Soul mediates between spirit and matter, between life and appearance. Soul
confers the qualities which differentiates one thing from another. In our
normal state of consciousness, we look at things through the veil of our
own realities and in relation to ourselves. Our perceptions are dulled by
our preconceptions, preoccupations and needs. This is as true of our view
of our fellow human beings as it is of any other manifested thing. To see
things and people from our everyday world ‘for themselves’ is a
feature of a state of heightened consciousness. Then we see the quality of those things as something quite
separate from the use or value that we humans give to them. It is to truly
see them for the first time. This ‘in themselvesness’ is the soul of
those things. The
form which expresses the soul’s intention is its first aspect or
dimension; the spirit which gives it life is its third aspect. The soul is
the second aspect of an entity. Soul
is the mediator between 1 & 3. The
human soul on the fourth plane of consciousness, mediating between the
Divine Personality of God on the Atmic plane (Holy Spirit) and the human
being in incarnation (physical form) gives the human kingdom its
distinctive qualities. The Soul on its own plane, also known as the
Spiritual Soul knows what it is trying to express in the world of
manifestation, through the kaleidoscope of
personality forms which give it its connection with the physical
plane. It holds the plan for the human kingdom or, more properly, for the
Fourth Creative Hierarchy which comprises those who have used the process
of evolution to open the head centres. The
Soul on its own plane (the fourth plane of consciousness), with the Holy
Spirit as its third principle and the human personality as its first is,
in the Theosophical tradition, called the Ego or Higher Self. The
personality has to build the means to access the soul on its own plane,
and this is done through the causal or egoic body vehicle. This
‘Work’ has been the raison d’etre of spirituality since time
began. For the personality in incarnation, the causal body is his soul. The
casual body is built slowly, over lifetimes. D.K. calls it ‘the product
of millenia of lives of pain
and endeavour’[[i]].
Truly, a knowing substance. There
are seven groups of egoic bodies under construction on the upper mental
plane (the fifth plane of consciousness), one for each ray. Eventually
the causal body contains enough refined energy in the form of
consciousness for the individual soul to become absorbed by the Soul on
its own plane, the fourth plane. Then the state of separation,
individuation and the reincarnating process have all done their work. The
causal body is burnt up. The Ego
is the seat of individuality. The
term egotistic describes our behaviour when we forget that our
individuality is something to be offered back to the Soul on its own plane. The
human kingdom is the only kingdom in nature able to build an egoic body on
the upper mental plane. Animals and the lower kingdoms do not have access
to this plane and so they do not individual souls as defined here.
Non-individuated humanity has a soul only in potential. The
soul of God is on the Cosmic Astral plane. The soul of the Absolute, The
One of Whom Naught Can Be Said is the Cosmic Astral plane. The
Kingdom of Souls (nature’s Fifth Kingdom) is made up of those is made up
of those who are responsive to Egoic consciousness. From the point of view of those on the path of discipleship who are struggling to align (create a permanent enduring connection) their personalities with the Egos, the first aspect of soul is the personality; the second aspect is the causal body; and the third aspect is the Soul on its own plane. Once the personality and ego are effectively aligned (at the Third Initiation) then, for the Initiate, this fused consciousness is the first aspect of soul, the Soul on its own plane is the second, and the Holy Spirit is the third. Then the Monad can makes its entry into consciousness. Until
alignment is achieved, the personality, the first aspect of the soul,
looking at the situation from below upwards, has only an imperfect view,
and uncovers the truth about humanness and its divine connection only
after much pain caused by moving away from the soul into greater
separation in order to gain in.definition. This is why spiritual
literature makes the distinction between the soul which is the true
identity and the personality which is the illusionary or fallen, blinded
self. When made aware of this
distinction, the personality tends to hear an implicit judgement, and,
recognising the cause of its suffering,
projects emotion onto the state of separation. But
for the human kingdom discovering the true identity is a functional
process, as is the turning of a caterpillar into a chrysalis in order to
release a butterfly, or the melting of a block of ice in order to release
the purified water. In the course of recovering his connection with the soul, the human personality transforms energy and sheds the veils of separatist thought form and negative emotion that obscure the higher planes of consciousness. The term for this phase of transformative activity is transmutation. The familiar symbol of the star of six rays, or Solomon’s seal, depicts this process by which the higher and lower aspects of man are fused. There
is much pain for the human being, polarised in personality consciousness.
Each of us can testify to that. Emotionally polarised people yearn
to end this pain through reconnecting, and certain spiritual traditions
have expressed this yearning most poetically. Intellectually polarised
people strive to increase their
mental power by connecting up their individual quota to the overhead
cables, but in neither case is there any logic behind despising the
personality, the vehicle which will make this possible. It is now time
spiritually minded people broke with the Piscean Age affectation of
personality denigration and developed respect for the personality and for
the opportunity it affords us. The
personality, the vehicle of transmutation, is formed under law and
according to plan (‘The human soul on the fourth plane of consciousness,
mediating between the divine and the material, knows what it is trying to
express in the world of manifestation.’) The horoscope, properly read,
will reveal that plan. It shows the manoeuvre which the Soul on its own
plane, working through the egoic vehicle, requires of the personality in
order to enable it to make its contribution and, by that means, become
aware of its connection with the human soul. To uncover that plan and
cooperate with it represents a major opportunity. It is an opportunity
that astrology can assist. In the
Age of Aquarius we are to learn more about the Monad and this requires the
opening of the head centres. This is the destination of Route A and
accounts for the increasing interest in esotericism (the occult) which has
been in evidence since the New Age. (See Part 1, What
is Spirituality?). Whether
to take route A or route B is not simply a matter of choice, as a consumer
understands choice, because the matter is inseparable from who we are as
personalities and as Egos. Our ‘decisions’, in fact, are acts of
recognition which are required of us once we consciously embrace spiritual
development. A wider understanding of this would reduce the number of
people simply following others, trying to walk in the wrong shoes and
finding their progress frustrated. Spiritual
traditions are not inter-changeable, as is so often assumed. They may each
be pointing aspirants in the same general direction but they have all
grown up around a specific kind of transformative activity, focusing on
specific chakras and one of three
aspects of soul. This point is rarely made but it accounts for why, at
the present time, some teachers are encouraging acceptance and others are
encouraged struggle and effort. This can be very confusing to spiritual
seekers. What are they supposed to be doing? Those
on Route A are the spiritual strivers and their way is that of effort and
elimination; they focus upon the throat and head chakras and prepare the
personality to handle Monadic contact. Those on Route B are the spiritual
yearners and their way is that of acceptance and inclusion; they focus
upon the solar plexus and heart chakras and absorption by the Soul on its
own plane. If in doubt about which route to take, ask the higher self, the Ego. It is a knowing substance. The Process of Transmutation
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The DK
Foundation
