Occult Cosmology cont.....

Occult Cosmology

At the core of every civilization lies its cosmology. In anthropology, cosmology refers to the core creation myths or the way in which a culture attributes fundamental meaning to the origin and purpose of existence. Cosmology as used by astrophysicists has to do with our understanding of the origin, functioning and destiny of the material universe. These two uses are often attributed to religion and science. Often, in an attempt to give each its due, the term ‘non-overlapping magisteria’ is used to indicate that the why of existence and the how of existence are separate domains and inquiry into one is irrelevant to the other. But what if they are not? What if the why is embedded at every level of how and the how is embedded at every level of why? What if form, function and meaning are all one?

Occult cosmology attempts to get to this level of reality. The view from the synthesis of matter and consciousness. It is occult, not because it is somehow secretive or clandestine but because it is hidden from our normal consciousness. Indeed the ‘light of our consciousness’ cannot illuminate ‘it’ for ‘it’ is the essence of that light itself. We might say that exoteric has to do with our perception of the outer world, esoteric has to do with our perception of the inner world, but occult has do with that which underlies both. A global cosmology must not only be rooted in our modern scientific understanding of the universe but also provide a context for —and be an accurate reflection of —the deepest meaning and purpose we experience as a human species. It must be inclusive so that it validates and co-measures the many perspectives that humanity has already developed and yet also transcend perspective altogether.

Let us begin with the paradox of choosing a name for the nameless. Of course we are building a conceptual framework for that which cannot be conceptualised; however some prisons are bigger, have more windows and longer visiting hours than others. I am choosing the name IO to represent the underlying reality —the boundless immutable principle as The Secret Doctrine calls it. The principle contains a duality —the I and the O —Absolute Self and Absolute Space. Neither is dominant for neither exists without the other. IO also symbolises the binary code in computing, the perfect 10 in mathematics and in some Maori Polynesian traditions it is the name for the supreme God. IO — the Parentless who was the Always Existent without beginning or end .

Figure 2 IO

Cosmic ideation is the product of the coming together of this primary duality to produce consciousness or the world soul —the sense of ‘self in manifestation’. For the Self to be conscious it needs a sheath to become self-aware in. Once Purusha and Pakriti have come together we have ‘self-consciousness’ in its many emanations and expressions. On the cosmic physical plane, the monad is the primary source of self-awareness which then flows through into the soul and personality. The personal self is more identified with its sheaths or the matter principle and the monad is more identified with ‘being’ or the spirit principle. The soul is the bridge where both aspects are balanced. On the buddhic plane the human soul knows itself to be the product of two parents. On the monadic plane the human monad is fully identified as the source of selfhood to its emanations and begins to inquire into the origin of this selfhood. One answer leads to more subtle manifestations of self-awareness on higher cosmic planes. Another answer leads directly into the unmanifest realm.

Monadic Duality

The esoteric student is familiar with duality on the path —we have the dualities of the astral and mental planes. We have the duality between personality and soul. We have the duality between spirit and matter. Behind all these dualities lies a deeper one —the dual expression of the non-dual Self —or worded in the language of Trans-Himalayan occultism —monadic duality. These two expressions are like the golden birds in the Upanishads which are perched upon the self same tree of life. Firstly we have the evolving self that lives in the world of Becoming. Another name for this self is the ‘climbing self’ with reference to the ladder of conscious evolution; or we might also call this the Hierarchical self. As we evolve through ‘self–realisation’ our ‘identification’ with this self expands to include greater and greater realms of experience. The components of this self with which we are most familiar are personality, soul and monad —the three expressions of self upon the cosmic physical plane. We may represent these simply in the following diagram

The lesser self is always contained in the greater self and ‘self-transformation’ involves the sequential shifting of identity into the larger sphere through the process of initiation. The personality self is contained within the ring-pass-not of the lower three planes and within the time ring-pass-not of the physical incarnation. The soul expresses through five planes and its cycle in time is through many thousands of incarnations. The monad is relatively immortal from the perspective of the personality —‘lasting’ for a manvantara. We can see however that a monad is also an evolving self if it is understood in terms of reference to a particular level of ‘identification’. For example a ‘human monad’ or an ‘Earth Chain monad’ has reference to a spark of the one flame that is ‘identified’ with a particular sphere of life within the One L ife. It could be said that a ‘self-realised’ human monad in the Earth Scheme is one that recognises their identification with the identity of the Planetary Logos. By ‘identification’ we mean something like ‘direct participation in the life of’. We know too that a human monad (or the essence of the monad) will take one of the cosmic paths and pass into other spheres of awareness and identity. What we understand by the human monad then is a far vaster being than what we understand by the human soul, but it is still an ‘evolving self’. The evolution now takes place ‘in life’ rather than strictly ‘in consciousness’, but it is an evolution nonetheless. The monad experiences itself as the ‘One’, however that One keeps getting bigger until it is the solar, galactic and universal identities expressing through greater and greater time and space ring-pass-nots. The human personality was always the monad whether or not it realised this to be the case. Similarly the human monad has always been the One Universal Life even though that realisation occurs in the experience of progressive identification.

There is a second ‘self’ that begins to make its presence felt when the experience of the monad begins to become a reality in human awareness, however and this is the non-evolving ‘absolute’ self. The evolving self lives imbedded in the world of becoming —within the manifest universe. The absolute self is neither confined to the manifest universe nor excluded from it. It neither evolves nor realises itself. It is beyond all definition and all duality. It is what the Ageless Wisdom calls the One Boundless Immutable Principle.

"It is the ever becoming, though the never manifesting."

SD VOL 2 449

Monadic duality refers then to the simultaneous realisation that begins to occur in the human soul once it has penetrated into the centralised identity that we refer to as the ‘monad’. One aspect of this realisation is a sense of self expanded into a larger sphere of time and space identification. The human being begins to realise itself as a participant in the Purpose and L ife aspect (and not only the consciousness) of the planetary and solar life in which it lives. The other aspect is the gradual ‘breaking through’ into awareness of the absolute self so that it is realised that not only is the evolving self participating in ‘Life’, it IS that Life —and not only the one universal LIFE but the very Principle in which that Life LIVES. And always has been and never was or was not. This cannot be said and yet, instead of moving along to the next idea which the consciousness can grasp, it is worth pausing to let the infinite reveal itself through the finite.

Let us pause here and sound the Gayatri. If you, the reader, pause and do likewise —perhaps this reality, via our triangulation of intent, will embrace us all through the gentle illusory folds of time and space:

om bhūr bhuvah svah

tát savitúr várenyam

bhárgo devásya dhīmahi

dhíyo yó nah pracodáyāt

om

Radical Awakening Versus Evolutionary Awakening

Once the consciousness has been able to centre itself even sporadically upon the buddhic plane it becomes possible to engage these two forms of awakening. The buddhic plane is the mid-point of the system of seven planes and therefore the point of balance and of harmony. Most of the teaching given to consciousness beneath this point is dual in nature. It emphasises the soul over the personality, spirit over matter, light over dark. There is a reason for this. The consciousness of the disciple is already over-identified with the substance and experience of the lowest three planes and so it is necessary to emphasise the opposite in order to establish harmony. Now it is possible but rare for radical awakening to begin beneath this point of development. Rare because on the lowest three planes the devic life is so strong that it generally overpowers the sense of identity. Another reason why it has not been useful to speak of this type of awakening in the Western tradition is because of the tendency for misinterpretation and the resultant build-up of erroneous thoughtforms. In the early stages of education about the soul, the personality interprets wisdom as another form of knowledge and believes that if it can acquire enough esoteric information it will become enlightened. This can serve as a hindrance to transcending the mental plane and the grip of the personal identity. Similarly the experience of identification cannot be understood in terms of a progressive series of initiations. Identification and Initiation describe two experiences as different from each other as Individualisation and Initiation or knowledge and wisdom. Evolutionary awakening is related to the path of Initiation. Radical awakening is related to Identification. Individualisation refers to the establishment and development of a ‘self identity’ in a field of activity. It results in translation or mastery of a particular ‘plane’.

Initiation refers to the transformation of identity or the passage of the deeper self from plane to plane. Identification refers to the transfiguration of the essential identity through the experiential realisation that it is, and always has been, the One Life.

From the point of the Third Initiation the soul has freedom from (or is able to stably transcend) the mental plane. Prior to that there is the necessity for the powerful development of the discriminatory factor in order to tell the difference between the soul and the personality prior to their complete fusion. The mental plane is a plane of overlap between these two aspects of identity. Once the transformation of identity from the lower to the higher takes place and the personality is realised as a vessel or instrument for the soul, then the process of identification begins in earnest. As has been often pointed out, the soul on its own plane is aware of differentiation but not separation. The concept of my soul and thy soul belongs with the individualised personality on the mental plane. The soul is aware of interpenetrating fields of awareness and consciousness, collective participation in purpose and responsibility, and response to vibration. It also gradually becomes aware of a duality which cannot be explained easily to the Western mind. Normally when we speak of the duality of spirit and matter something like the following is meant:

The soul is the middle principle between spirit and matter, father and mother (Figure 4) and through the process of atonement these two energies are brought together with the soul principle becoming obsolete (Figure 5).

The real duality is more difficult to symbolise in a diagram, but would be closer to the following:

Matter and spirit in their dualistic conception are opposite poles of a vertical continuum (A). This whole spectrum is the material pole to a horizontal spirit/matter continuum (B).

These two definitions of ‘spirit’ cause much confusion, particularly because the second definition cannot be ‘comprehended’ or conceptualised but only pointed towards. In the vertical duality we have the distinction between gross matter and pure energy, with subtle energy in between. All energy and matter is considered ‘material’ in the other horizontal duality. The terms ‘unmanifest’ or ‘metaphysical’ in this second sense do not mean ‘more subtle’ but transcendent to the whole energy and matter continuum. This is why we will never discover ‘spirit’ in the second sense no matter how deeply we penetrate into quantum mechanics or a black hole.

Consciousness or the soul is not just another form of energy but it is awareness. That awareness on the lower three planes produces sentiency in form. On the middle three planes that awareness becomes ‘self-aware’ or in other words it is able not only to be aware of the realm of energy and matter which it inhabits, but also of itself as awareness.

On the higher three planes that awareness finds its origin in the One Self or one identity of the universe.

On the buddhic plane at the point of balance, radical awakening as spirit is most easily facilitated. This has its analogous correspondence on the emotional plane when a child realises that it has a truly independent identity from its two parents. Initiation is a graded series of awakenings and that process will still continue because evolution in the world of becoming is still taking place. But it is supplemented and enhanced by the radical awakening that Identification represents. Identification does not really happen on a ‘plane’ or in time. Time and space are transcended because they exist within the identity that is being experienced.

Let me try to make this a little clearer. Once the soul is able to stabilise its identity on the buddhic plane it is able to make two clear distinctions. It is able to perceive the world of energy and matter; to receive energy from the higher planes and to permeate the lower. This first perception results from looking ‘outside’ of itself as awareness. Secondly it is able to perceive the realm of souls or of awareness —the one great Ashram. It is able to perceive this realm by extending its sense of self in and as awareness. A third level opens when the soul begins to look ‘inside’ of itself; to inquire into the self that is looking. This movement of awareness results in the collapse of subject and object and the disappearance of both self and self-awareness. Paradoxically this is a direct experience of the Self —the one Universal Self within which all time and space, consciousness, energy and form is spontaneously arising. This is a direct experience as the Being of whom it is said “Having pervaded the Universe with a fragment of myself, I remain.” This experience is not mediated but direct, and that is why it is a radical awakening. It is not an experience of being a part of a great Chain of Being. It is not an experience of having a relationship with ‘God’. It is a direct experience of God from inside the Godhead. This statement of course has always been blasphemous to those outside of the experience and self-evident to anyone inside it. The reason it is blasphemous is because ‘no-one approaches the father except through the son’. The soul is both a bridge to direct experience and, finally, an obstacle. The veil must be rent and this is achieved at what we call the Fourth Initiation. The soul seeks God and therefore is separate from God. When God emerges at and as the core of the experience of soul, then the veil is rent.

So, for the purpose of representation, there is both a vertical sense in which the duality of spirit and matter is expressed (favoured by the Western mind) and a horizontal sense (favoured by the Eastern mind ).

In the Western traditions as emphasised by Theosophy, Plato, Plotinus and so forth, we have the idea of archetypal planes or spheres of consciousness which emanate from the Godhead. In the Eastern Vedanta we have preserved for us the idea of realisation of Atman or the Self of the universe. In The Secret Doctrine we have the system of planes, including the atmic plane. In Vedanta we also have Atma and Buddhi but they are understood quite differently. Let us take the analysis given by Rene Guénon in Vedanta, Man and His Becoming. In this understanding Atma is completely without form altogether but one with the Godhead, Brahman. Buddhi is seen as a ray from Atman that links the Universal One with the individual One. In Theosophy the atmic plane is a sphere of greater subtlety than the buddhic or mental plane and there are still more subtle planes above. We still have atma, buddhi and manas but these are seen as interpenetrating fields of energy in which the self experiences itself. The Eastern is a first-person perspective of atma and the Western is a third-person perspective. Guénon was quite vitriolic in condemnation of Theosophy as a pseudo-religion for the very reason that it emphasises the third person and seemingly ignores the first person of Deity. Here is an example of what are obviously two initiates from the same ashramic initiative divided by perspective. This division is reconciled by emphasising the second perspective, and lies in the very realisation that these ARE two initiates and their disagreement points to a paradox.

The Eastern tradition emphasises the radical awakening experience from inside that experience and therefore it is unqualifiable. The aim of the tradition is to produce the direct experience in the disciple and therefore the mind must be exhausted of any objects or conceptualisations, and hence the emphasis on the subjective. The Western tradition is designed to provide a system that could be incorporated into philosophy and psychology so that the experience can be understood from the outside, and hence the emphasis on the objective. Inside the experience there is no form —all forms subtle and gross are arising internal to the realisation. Outside of the experience, particularly if one is going to discuss the experience, it must be located somewhere in time and space.

In the realm of evolutionary awakening the forms and the consciousness evolve and become more and more subtle and pervasive. The leading edge of consciousness evolution is always spawning new perceptions, and each perception has the potential to transcend and include the previous level. Thus there is no end to the spheres and the planes. Each time a new level of realisation is reached then we can ask the question ‘where is that realisation occurring?’ What is the sphere that includes the sphere of all that is currently known, and so forth? In an evolutionary sense there is never any arriving at a ‘place’ where spirit is to be found. There is only the journey that spirit itself is making. As it makes that journey it throws off more and more levels of time and space. God looks and worlds arise. This evolutionary awakening will continue for as long as the universe continues, but it is possible to wake up on the journey and realise who is making it. This is the other meaning of infinity and of the snake eating its tail. Radical awakening. Within the robes of the ever becoming the always already is remembered. Once the experience of radical awakening takes place in some stable way then the journey of becoming continues, but becomes a blissful creative dance.

Self-realisation is the same in each age because the absolute self is unchanging, but the manifestation that is a part of the One self is undergoing radical change through the interaction between the evolving self and the absolute self. The creation is becoming aware of that which substands creation and this is having effects on creation. The ‘awakening’ of humanity has a meaning within manifest existence —this meaning is not separate from the evolutionary impulse. The ever becoming is becoming more and more complex and transparent as a result of its interaction in consciousness with the never manifesting. It is human life and consciousness which provides this living bridge.

The East has preserved the first perspective of God and the West the third. The whole thrust of the Trans-Himalayan tradition is to bring them together via the second perspective and thus reunite the trinity. This is why the tradition is given in three phases.

In A Treatise on Cosmic Fire the Theosophical model of the planes was still used but a bridge was built by introducing the idea that on each level of manifestation three levels of ‘lives’ were functioning; namely the planes (devas) the rays (consciousness) and the hierarchies (spirit). Another clue to synthesis was the information that in the third system three levels of entity would make up our planetary manifestation: deva, human and a mysterious “third evolution” that was at present involutionary in this primarily dual system.

Within modern Western psychology —in particular the Integral movement —the realisation of both the vertical and horizontal spirit/matter duality has given rise to the idea of the universe ‘tetra-arising’; that each holon from the universal to the personal exists in four distinct quadrants that cannot be separated from each other. A core realisation was the distinction between structures of consciousness and states of consciousness. Structures of consciousness equate to the vertical model of the planes —they are developmental and evolve. States of consciousness arise, often spontaneously, and can be divided into three primary types with a fourth and fifth synthetic level. The three divisions are ‘gross, subtle and causal’ or ‘waking, dreaming and deep sleep’. The two synthetic non-dual states are termed ‘turiya’ and ‘turiyatita’ which we will discuss further on.

While it is more likely for an individual to experience non-dual states at higher structures of consciousness (ie. polarised on higher planes) it is also possible for them (the non-dual experiences) to occur spontaneously within any structure (on any plane). Indeed every human being goes through waking, dreaming and deep sleep states of consciousness in any 24 hour cycle. Evolutionary awakening refers to the process of initiation wherein a self-conscious individual gradually and sequentially experiences themselves through transformation becoming identified with subtler and more inclusive levels of identity. Radical awakening occurs when the self-conscious individual suddenly and radically experiences themselves as the One Life. It may become increasingly obvious why the Hierarchy has embarked upon such an extensive project of transformation and initiation for humanity prior to the current period of Shamballa impacts. If radical awakening —the entrance into consciousness of a fundamental and primary reality —occurs in individuals or societies where the centre of evolutionary gravity is below a certain level then the results are destructive. Similarly if kundalini is awakened before the consciousness of the individual has reached a certain level the results are often destructive. We see this in many (particularly Eastern) sages who have had a genuine non-dual awakening. They know that they ARE the One. If their level of structural initiation is not high however, then their primary self-identification is in the three worlds and so it is their personality that presents itself as the One. The result is often the transfer of power and authority from others to the personality of the awakened one and a diminishment thereby of their own capacity to awaken. Shamballa strengthens the Self or First Aspect of divinity whatever level it is expressing on.

The minimum model that is able to convey something of both Eastern and Western perspectives on the spirit/matter duality is three-dimensional, and even then it should be remembered that this is only a model:

Figure 8 States and Stages of consciousness

The three primary modes of consciousness —monad, soul and personality —express on the seven planes or levels of devic lives, with the third and fifth levels being dual in expression. The causal state permeates and encompasses the whole sphere and is therefore available to consciousness at all levels, but more accessible to conscious lives on the higher planes because they have less dense sheaths or less pakritic immersion. On each plane the conscious self can translate —extend itself horizontally in mastery of the devic lives of that plane; transform —by linking with conscious lives on the planes higher or lower and shifting ‘levels’; transfigure —awaken to deeper states of identification that are ever present (but occulted) realities.

Spiritual awakening then is a process that not only involves the developing and raising of consciousness but the transfiguration of that consciousness by Life. Some insights into this triple process were presented in the Trans-Himalayan teachings through the idea of evolution over three solar systems and of the three centres on Earth of Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity. For the system to function correctly then the three systems or centres, and the functions they represent, must operate synthetically; mastery of matter, the initiation of consciousness and the permeation of the Life principle. At the current stage of evolution on the planet, the Shamballa force is able to impact Humanity directly without being transferred through the subtle state or Hierarchy. This is having a dual effect. On the one hand there will be a continuing occurrence of radical awakening experiences by members not only of advanced humanity who can access the buddhic plane, but by people at all levels and in particular those who have rents in their etheric and emotional bodies through abuse or addiction etc. On the other hand there has been a strengthening of those who are more identified with the I in the horizontal IO (or with the self aspect). This results in an increased egoic tendency —the impulse for the self to dominate the not-self. The dominant personalities of the race are divided into those who are solarised or under the control of their own souls and therefore Hierarchy, and those who are not. Each group is pushed to assert under Shamballic impression and hence the century of battles that have been waged on all three planes of the three worlds. From the Hierarchical perspective the war is over, and yet their will still be battles and that victory has yet to fully demonstrate on the physical plane.

The opportunity for many disciples is to make the transition from the mental to the buddhic plane, which we call the Third Initiation. Then they will be in a position to maximally benefit from and apply the experience of radical awakening that is available in the coming period of this Fourth Ray crisis with its epicentre in 2025. Once again we might have a conceptual glimpse into this process through examining what might be termed fourth-dimensional movement in a sphere.

Let us imagine buddhi as the central point of a sphere. Remember too that if we replace the forty-nine planes with forty-nine years then the central point is 2025:

Figure 9

The point of pure awareness which is the human hierarchy can move into the sphere in any of six directions or three dimensions. It can move horizontally in a plane. This is translation and is often represented by fourfold rotary motion —a motion that produces galaxies, solar systems and so forth by distribution in a plane. Then there is vertical movement. This is transformation or regression as the self-identity spirals up or down the vertical arrow. The third type of movement (which is also the seventh) is back inwards through the central point itself. It is the movement of radical awakening and has a threefold result because it includes all three perspectives. Firstly there is the direct awakening as the one universal Self. This is the Buddha-nature. Secondly there is the direct participatory awareness of all other centres. Each centre is every centre because each centre or self opens directly out into the emptiness of the One Self. As paradoxical as it sounds in language, one is aware of all other selves that are aware of themselves as the One Self. This is the Sangha. The One without an other is simultaneously aware that all others are the One, and in particular that some others are aware of this —a community of Buddhas. Thirdly the One is aware of all things arising inside that realisation and seeks to pervade them all. This is the Dharma. This awakening deepens and ripens in the world of becoming so that more and more subtle distinctions are able to be made, but the ‘Buddha nature’ itself is beyond evolution in time and space. It simply IS. This radical awakening is the beginning of what might be called ‘monadic consciousness’ or identification.

The whole thrust of this third phase of the teachings is to produce in the disciple the experience of radical awakening —or put another way, to strip away all other directional movements of consciousness so that which resides at the core can reveal itself. The jewel in the lotus appears and the disciple passes though its centre into monadic experience.

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