THE TRIAD  OF "BECOMING" ON THE TREE OF LIFE

This blog follows on the architecture of the soul because this - the highest Triad on the Tree of Life - is the gateway to Unity, Unity Consciousness and a quest for non-duality in a world of duality.

We are all one, though not the same.

"We Inter-Are." Thich That Hahn

At the end of the day we alone are responsible for managing our souls' architecture.

… I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”  

William Ernest Henley

 

Wisdom seekers who dedicated themselves to a spiritual life relied on sacred texts, meditations and sometimes the magic of nature’s polarities to become spiritually adept.

Ancient wisdom teaches us that we have to find our own way. We have to do what works best for us. 

In the eyes of God personal insight is more valuable than divine revelation. If we depend only on scriptures and the teachings of masters but have no vision of our own, all is worthless.

With all your strength get knowledge!

Spiritual practice is essential for us to hold to the path. Moreover, knowing the spiritual principles must be incorporated into the whole. However ...  

The value of information is in its use for transformation.

Knowing the path differs from following it.

The T.O.L. is a map that can help us. It can be simplified by dividing it into Three Triads as above.

 

The Triad of Becoming

The Triad of Love

The Triad of Ego

The Ancestors warn us about the challenges along the way.

If you say there is much that you have never heard of, consider more importantly how much is there that you have not encompassed.

Information is not to be equated with knowledge.

Knowledge is not to be equated with Understanding 

(the left side of Becoming' Triad.)

Understanding is not to be equated with Wisdom 

(the right side of Becoming.)

Wisdom is not to be equated with Virtue.

(We need to balance all these to get to Keter.)

The Triad of Ego and the Three Deadly Sins of Karma have been covered in prior blogs as has the Triad of Love and its key component of forgiveness. We will cover these again because spiritual transformation requires a constant reminding. Buddhist teachers give dharma talks and repeat the lessons over and over again for good reason. So easily we forget and get distracted.

Being aware of the lessons differs from learning it.

The First Triad of Becoming encompasses

Keter - the Crown, 

Wisdom on the left – Understanding on the right

There are 22 pathways between the 10 sephirot indicating that everything is happening in the moment and what we do, or not do depends on our free will and our choices. Every sephirah is having its own effect on the other centers around them. The model is dynamic not static. Hence, we cannot stagnate and have to keep reminding ourselves of spiritual principles. We cannot just read them like we would a book and then leave it behind looking for something new and more exciting. 

Dedication can prevent us embarking on a journey of spiritual materialism linked primarily to the Triad of Ego. We have to be constantly aware of our spiritual compass. 

A regular spiritual practice that is enjoyable and sustainable is an essential navigation tool. 

There are many forms of transformation just as there are many sacred prayers and holy paths. You are to find the one made for you.

If we wish to have a personal relationship with the Divine we of necessity should be on a journey to the Top Triad of the T.O.L.

The Ancestors teach …

 

It will be given to you according to the measure of your Faith 

(Top Triad of Becoming)

To the measure of you love 

(Middle Triad of Love)

And the measure of your humility

(lower Triad of Ego)

 

Each Triad relies on the balance of the other two. They cannot work alone. The Triad of Becoming is the final path where we connect with the Field, our guides and the Creator.

For good reason Kabir says; "Friend there are very few who find the way."

That should not deter us but make us more resolute.

 

THE FIELD

 

“Whatever being comes to be, be it motionless or moving, derives its being from Field and Knower (the Creator) of the Field. Know this!”

Bhagavad Gita

 

“Out there beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing there is a Field. I will meet you there.” Rumi

 

When we are in touch with the Field we may be able experience the paranormal - beyond the mundane, the usual, the normal. These include; synchronicity, superfluidity (“being in the zone,”) coherence of body, mind and spirit, precognition, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clair-sentience, distant or remote viewing and diagnosis or distant healing, telekinesis, connecting with spirit guides in dreams or awake time and even trance-channeling. These may or may not be associated with the Triad of Becoming. They can be regarded as benefits by which we help others rather than ourselves. The yogis warns of the danger of going on a power trip when the Third Eye opens to the Field. 

 

The T.O.L. is balanced by restraint or contraction on the left and expansion on the right. The left relates to fear, Monkey Mind and survival - the right to love, Spacious Mind and spiritual growth. 

The central column holds the balance with Will. 

 

There are five loves on the Tree; Keter, Wisdom, Mercy, Love and Non-Attachment

and five fears; Understanding, Judgment, Attachment, Ego and Kingdom. 

It's always "Becomes" a question of polarity balance.

Balance is achieved by harmonizing polarities. Dualities come into harmony by negotiating a third or middle path, a path not of assimilation but one of coexistence.

We are meant to find the middle away up the Central Column of the Tree to the Infinite One.

 

With regard to Kingdom this is the testing ground for our journey, in a sense like the launching pad for a satellite or space craft to the heavens.

 

“This world is only an ante-chamber for the world to come.”

 Rev. Akiva

 

 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #8

There are Three Triads on the Tree of Life

The Triads of 

Becoming

Love 

 Ego

THE TRIAD OF BECOMING COMPRISES

Keter (Wisdom or Intellect) - Understanding (Mind)

Faith between the two is not a true Sephira but is essential to arrive at Keter. This Triad is the gateway to Unity.

 

ENERGY (Ruach, Breath, Wind) 

is involved in the lower two of the three Triads (Six Sephirot.)

According to Kabbalah this is also the seat of our emotions.

Love or the Heart Triad is balanced by Mercy and Judgment. 

(Judgment is harder to control so it is situated above Ego.) 

The Ego Triad - balanced by Attachment and Non-Attachment to self-cherishing and the desire for the material. Monkey Mind operates here.

The Ancestors teach that Netzach - the Sephirah of Non-Attachment is the key to spiritual evolution since it helps to open the Sephirah of Love (or the heart chakra.) In Kabbalah it is said that when the student has mastered Love he or she can then teach themselves. In yoga the heart chakra is said to be the most difficult one to open. 

Moreover, Netzach is the gateway to loving others only by having no attachment to any ulterior motive or agenda in the relationship. It leads to loving your neighbor as your self for its own sake only.

Seeing the divinity in others is a huge challenge for us all.

 

PHYSICAL (Earth or FOOD SHEATH)

Us in a physical, sensate body living on our planet with the huge task to not only to ascend and Self-Realize but also to protect our earth home.

 

EMANATION arising from Source solicits UNITY and manifests above Keter, the Crown sephira 

and emanates from the Infinite One. 

CREATION requires both Intellect (Wisdom) and Mind (Understanding) - the two sephirot just below Keter. 

Wisdom includes undifferentiated thought through fantasy and imagination. 

 

To think like God is to think with imagination.

 

What cannot be imagined, cannot be fulfilled.

 

As you think it, so it can be, as you imagine and believe it, so it will be.

Faith is not a true Sephira  and is interposed between Wisdom and Understanding to help us gain access to Keter. Keter can be realized by Grace if catalyzed by absolute faith.

Creation is a function of Wisdom (Intellect-Spacious Mind.)

Wisdom's imagination, however, requires Understanding's-Mind to help it take form.

The shadow side of Understanding is Monkey (Narrow) Mind which resides in the Ego Triad. Monkey Mind with its fear bound limitations of zealotry, dogma, denial, disbelief, resignation, desperation, detachment and hopelessness. These properties are neutralized by truth, hope, trust, surrender, belief and faith residing in the Triad of Becoming.

 

FORMATION is included in the six Sephirot below Wisdom and Understanding. It represents energy arising from Breath/Wind/Spirit. We are continually being "breathed" by the breath of the Creator until the Grim Reaper comes to take us home. 

The elements and the mystery of the unexplainable ability of the Creator to make something out of nothing began with the Big Bang when the elements of the periodic table were infused into the void (Nothingness) to eventually become "Somethingness" and then slowly evolved into order through the world of Formation probably in seven periods of time (maybe billions of years) -  the "seven days" (or epochs) as in Genesis. There is no time on the other side of the veil in the Field, so that the number seven in the idea of "days" is arbitrary.

“The distinction between, past, present and future is only an illusion, albeit it a stubborn one.” A. Einstein

Formation’s Spirit-Breath-Energy is contained in six sephirot (two Triads – one of Love the other of Ego.)

ACTUALIZATION

All of us in physical bodies (and the other Beings as well) living here on Earth where we manifest our sentient existence.

Any process of Actualization whether from God or from us should  correspond to the Fours Worlds and to the Five Levels of Soul which are templates that can help us elevate our sacred intentions toward Unity with the Divine.

If we acknowledge the importance of all these Four Stages and put it out into the "Field," to the Creator and our guides in a sensory driven, active imagination we will have greater success in our ventures. 

 

In summary:

     “This world is just an antechamber for the world to come.”                  Rev. Akiva

 

We are made in the image of the Divine and have some of that potential. We can make something out of something else but only the Creator can make something out of nothing.

Our actualizing process for the spiritual and the material must follow the same Four Stages; 

Emanation 

in our Imagination and Intent, 

Creation 

in the plan or blueprint, 

Formation 

in the materials and various expertises required

  Actualization 

of the project - whatever it is. 

 

The correspondence of the Fours Worlds to the Five Levels of Soul is seminal to this understanding. Our spiritual transformation will occur as a reversal of the top down vibrational change during our creation into a live birth to a bottom up approach using the sephirot of the Tree. and the Five Levels of Soul and the Four Worlds as a template for our spiritual transformation. In this way we utilize the Tree of Life and subordinate the Tree of Knowledge to regain "Eden." Being aware of this architecture and these principles of manifestation may help catalyze our sacred intentions.

When we desire to manifest something, it is useful to also ponder on this teaching of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

 

"Know what you want,

 decide when you want it, 

figure your plan of action, follow through on it, and never doubt. 
Unless an action is rightly thought out and its steps rightly planned, every stage of its performance will probably remain vague and therefore unsatisfactory for the doer and all those concerned;" 

(as well as your guides, the Creator and also your subconscious.)

 

We can use imagination's dormant force for Emanation.

 

INTENTION 

 In the beginning was the word, the thought.

IMAGINATION'S ATTENTION 

Attending to the context of the details 

 ACTION.

Do your part.

"Trust in God but tie your camel." Sufi saying

AFFIRMATION

Stay the course, maintain, sustain.

Also ...

Being Non-Attached to Outcome 

Attachment has a stickiness that repels and implies a lack of trust.

 Faith, Believe (Daat on the Tree of Life,) Trust, Surrender, Hope. 

Subordinating any doubt, disbelief, denial.

Having Passion, Will it, Feel it 

(use the senses in any way possible!)

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Ruach Hakodesh (the spirit/breath/wind of the Holy One) who is in you, whom you have received from God? 

You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies."  Corinthians

 

Many of these principles are being used by self-help “gurus” for the sake of material actualization which may or may not be successful. I suspect the stumbling blocks to success are: 

No attempt to invoke the help of the Creator, Jesus, one's guides, spirit and Field. 

The intention should be for the greater good - getting one's small self out of the way.

 To truly believe - and harder still have complete faith - in what will transpire is easier if we do it on behalf of others .

These principles will have greater traction in the spirit world if it is about one’s needs on behalf of helping other/s rather than ones small self's wants. 

It should be for the purpose of soul work and not ego-based attachment to the object we are desiring to manifest.

 

Below are some of the main challenges that will confront us at every level of ascent towards Unity Consciousness. We are meant to enjoy the whole conundrum and savor the journey – good or bad, light or dark, sacred or profane, negative or positive. However, lurking in the background, also, are – The Shadow, Ego, Monkey Mind, our negative Store Consciousness and Subconscious, dark forces and tricksters. Everything is a test of our worthiness.

 They are balanced by the Higher Self’s Inclination to do Good, Spacious Mind and our Guides as well as the positive attributes of our Store Consciousness and the Subconscious.

 

The sages teach that without the sacred there is no mundane and without the mundane, no sacred. They are different sides of the same reality. They are unique but not separate from the whole.

 

Ultimately, we also need to balance the polarities and: 

Subordinate Ego to the Higher Self,

Monkey (Narrow) Mind to Spacious Mind, 

our Evil Inclination or Shadow to our Good Inclination, 

and,

the Tricksters or Dark Forces to the Higher Self, our Good Inclination and Spacious Mind with the help of our guides.

Karma is built as a default into the soul. God does not micromanage. We are responsible to our Selves - our own souls. To the extent that we manage our  karma we may attain the Causal, the Pure Land of Buddhism or Eden and escape samsara - the continuous cycle of death - rebirth until we attain a high enough vibration to inherit Eden. The template of the Chakra system, Patanjali's Five Sheaths or the Tree of Life can help us arrive.

 

           

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #7

This blog is an attempt to explain some of the dynamics and conflicts presented to us on our journey back to Unity when we rejoin the Flame of the Infinite One. To summarize ...

 There were two Trees in the Garden of Eden. The Tree of Knowledge (ego and acquisitiveness) which got us got kicked out of the Garden and the T.O.L. With the Tree of Life we can ascend the Sephirot of the Tree and regain “Eden" as we can with the Chakra system of Yoga and attain the Causal.

These Five Levels of Soul (on the left of the figure) coincide with the Four Worlds or Planes of Existence (on the right.) They also correspond  to the Sephirot on Tree of Life.

 

This totality comprises the architecture, anatomy or structure at these levels - a map to help us navigate the polarities. We are first created by descending from the Light of Infinity ultimately into Kingdom the lowest Sephira and earth. "Becoming" or enlightenment is about ascending to join Unity again– in a sense by a process of "reverse engineering"- - we ascend up the Tree to our rightful place with the Creator where we recognize fully the Unity with the Divine and being made in His/Her image.

I am that I am, I was what I was and I will be what I will be.

 

Patanjali's Five Sheaths or Bodies of Consciousness are similar to the Five Levels of Soul. 

 

The Food (Physical) Sheath. 

The Energy Sheath. 

The Mind Sheath. 

The Intellectual Sheath. 

The Bliss Sheath (Unity in Kabbalah.)

 

 

Patanjali's Five Sheaths of Consciousness are represented above and below as circles going from without inward, somewhat different to Kabbalah's representation on the Tree of Life, where they manifest from Source above, to the physical below. They are aligned in this figure with the Five Levels of Soul. This confirms the universality and "truth" of these two belief systems - Yoga and Kabbalah.

 

 

The Food or Body Sheath in the Patanjali's figure can be said to represent the Physical level in Kabbalah. 

The Energy Sheath or Sheath of Prana (Breath),

 the Energy Level, (also of Breath, Wind or Ruach in Hebrew -six sephirot rather than one.) 

 Mind Sheath

Understanding (and its shadow side is Monkey or Narrow Mind.) 

The Intellectual Sheath

Wisdom and Spacious Mind.

The Bliss Sheath

Unity

These polarities are always in flux. Our purpose is to subordinate Ego to the Higher Self, Monkey Mind to Spacious Mind and our Shadow or Evil Inclination to our Inclination to do Good. "Becoming" or Self-Realization arises because of balance and harmony and learning to coexist but not assimilate the negative polarities that arise from the journey.

The Bliss Sheath in yoga is where the Higher Self (Soul) dwells and is the place where duality is replaced by Oneness or Unity Consciousness Ananda (Bliss) - 

Unity (Yechida) with the Divine in Kabbalah.

In Yoga, where the Knower, the Known and the Process of Knowing fuse into one - the Oneness Experience.

To live in the world we need to function in duality yet fully realize that;

 We are all one though not the same 

We "Inter-Are" (Thich Nhat Hahn.)

"The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose; I am here and you are out there." Yasutani Roshi

 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #6

With apologies for my limitations.

Since this blog is complex there will be repetition to help all of our understandings when it comes to correlating the two systems.

 The Creation of the world as well as our human existence followed these stages and can be helpful in out attempts to regain "Eden," Becoming or Self-Realization.

 

The soul emanates from the Infinite One 

UNITY 

(Yechida - Oneness or Absolute Unity) 

 the first level of Soul and descends through the  

Four Worlds or Planes of Reality

Emanation (Atzilut)

Creation (Beriyah)

Formation (Yetzirah) 

Actualization  (Asiyah)

 where it is clothed in a physical body. 

Actualization has been said to occur in a split second like a lightning bolt, into the physical body.

In Unity (if enlightened), we may get a sense of Infinity and Nothingness (possibly the Buddhist concept of Emptiness.)

The Four Bodies, the roots of all things above and below are the

 foundation of all creation beneath the firmament ...

 All things above and below are formed from these Four Bodies, Worlds or Planes of Reality or Manifestation.

During its evolution down the Tree of Life, 

Unity 

the first level of Soul is completed by 

Intellect, then 

Mind, then

 Energy (in Six Sephirot) 

and then housed in a 

Physical Body 

at Kingdom, the lowest Sephirah on the Tree of Life. 

FIVE LEVELS OF THE SOUL

 

UNITY (Yechida) 

(THE BLISS SHEATH OF PATANJALI)

As above, so below, as below so above.

As without, so within, as within, so without.

Where we come into the full realization that we are one with the Creator, made in His/Her image.

"My soul is One with Him, as one flame, cleaving to Him." Rev Shimon bar Yochai

"I and the Father are One and through this Unity our existence emanates." John (10:30)

The Bliss Sheath in yoga is where the Higher Self (Soul) dwells and is the place where duality is replaced by Oneness or Unity Consciousness and Ananda (Bliss) or Unity (Yechida) with the Divine in Kabbalah.

In Yoga this is where the Knower, the Known and the Process of Knowing fuse into One - the Oneness Experience - Unity.

We may all have experienced this briefly through grace. For instance, where you are looking at a rainbow and the Observer (you), the Observed (the rainbow), and in the Process of you Observing the rainbow - you become one with the rainbow. 

This might also be what Maslow described in his various forms of "Peak Experiences." 

Having this experience can inspire us to go on the path of Self- Realization. 

Possibly those that have had Near Death Experiences may also get a glimpse of Unity or the Oneness experience when they arise out of the "tunnel" into the light and an overwhelming experience of pure love. This too will invariably induce them to follow a life of Self-transformation and service.

 CHAYAH - INTELLECT - WISDOM SEPHIRAH 

(INTELLECTUAL SHEATH) 

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the soul of life and man became a living soul." Genesis

Chaya means life.

The life breath of the human is the Flame of the Infinite One searching through the chambers of one's core.

NESHAMA - UNDERSTANDING SEPHIRA

 (MIND SHEATH)

"What is god, the breath within the breath." Kabir

ENERGY, BREATH OR SPIRIT (Ruach) 

(ENERGY SHEATH)

Energy comprises all of the six sephirot below 

Understanding.

NEPHESH - THE PHYSICAL  BODY 

(BODY SHEATH)

Nefesh, the most basic aspect of the soul, exists in the realm of Actualization. Us living out our lives on earth.

“This world is just an antechamber for the world to come.” 

Rev. Akiva

Yechidah exists beyond time and space. 

Chayah is connected to Wisdom through Emanation and exists in our capacity for Imagination which comes from beyond our consciousness, transcending all aspects of material or physical existence. Only we as Talking Beings have this capacity. 

To think like God is to imagine.

 

Chayah (Wisdom) also represents eternal life by which which we can attain enlightenment through the ongoing process of reincarnation. The soul never dies !

It is through Neshama (Mind and Understanding) that we synthesize and catalyze Wisdom's knowledge and imaginative capacity.

The Shadow side of Mind exists in the lowest Triad of Ego which will be discussed later and can be found in prior blogs.

Wisdom and Understanding exist in the Triad of Becoming or Enlightenment.

The Three Triads on the T.O.L.

Becoming

 Love 

 Ego

Our purpose is to ascend into the full realization of Self, made in the image of the Divine by ascending up the levels of the Tree of Life to regain Unity and ideally “Eden” or the enlightened realm.

The Yoga equivalent would be to harmonize and balance the chakras and Sun and Moon Nadis which allows the Kundalini serpent energy to rise up the Central energy channel of the spine thus realizing Keter, non-duality and the Oneness Experience or Unity Consciousness and in death, the Causal realm (Bliss Sheath of Patanjali.) 

On the way up the Tree we will encounter many challenges. The higher we get the harder it becomes.