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.

 

 THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #5

THE FIVE LEVELS OF THE SOUL 

AND THE FOUR WORLDS OF MANIFESTATION

 

"Play in the exultation of the possible." M. Buber

 

We are much more than we know ...

Trying to explain the architecture of the soul is a little like a layman  trying to explain quantum physics. Even the quantum physicists acknowledge that those who think they understand quantum physics, do not understand it.

The Ancestors say that our role is not to try and explain the mystery but to be in awe of it. However, it helps to try, because the deeper we go, the less we know and this accentuates the awe. When we open Pandora’s box, the mystery becomes even more opaque. Knowing more about the mystery does not make it any less mysterious. It enhances our humility. 

Out of the Light of Infinity the Creator made Somethingness out of Nothingness, the multiverse as well as our souls beginning with ...

Unity. 

There were

 Four Worlds of Manifestation

(and Four separate Trees of Life for each)

represented by; 

Emanation 

(The Intention)

Creation 

(The Plan)

 Formation

 (All the elements coming together after the Big Bang)

 Actualization 

(The Manifestation)

The Five Levels of the Soul or levels of God Consciousness 

 correspond to these 

Four Worlds of Manifestation.

There are a Five Levels of God Consciousness.

The first component of the soul (Unity,) 

emanates from the Infinite One and descends through the Four Worlds of Manifestation; 

Emanation, Creation, Formation and Actualization, until it is clothed in a physical body. 

Actualization manifests in the lowest sephira of the T.O.L.

The Five Levels of Soul are 

Unity, 

Intellect, 

Mind

Energy

  The Physical 

(corresponding to these Worlds (or Planes of Reality) 

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

This is an attempt - for clarification and hopefully simplification  - to examine the architecture of the soul by combining 

Patanjali's Five Sheaths of Consciousness 

with Kabbalah's concept of - the

 Five Levels of the Soul. 

Patanjali's model is less complicated and easier to use and so I will describe what I know of it first.

Patanjali’s Five Sheaths of Consciousness

 

The Food or Body Sheath is the physical and all of us facing the challenges of being in a sentient body. We are here to enjoy it fully, but responsibly.

The Mind Sheath, the Intellectual Sheath and Ego form a triad 

which is always in flux. Depending on our spiritual practice we can subordinate; 

Mind (Monkey or Narrow Mind) to the Intellectual sheath (Spacious Mind,) and Ego to the Higher Self 

(and according to the Ancestors, our Evil Inclination or Shadow to our Inclination to do Good.). 

Spiritual practice will also help us control our subconscious' 

Store Consciousness and subordinate the dark side to the light side of our past life experiences. 

Without spiritual practice and spiritual knowledge we will usually confine ourselves to the material and the sentient pleasures of the body and the Body/Food sheath. 

The way to God is through the senses. 

From my flesh will I behold the Creator.

A sensory, energetic practice - in yoga; asanas (postures,) pranayama (breath meditation,) sacred chants and other practices will help to access the Energy Sheath or this sheath of Breath -Prana. 

"With song one can enter the gates of heaven." Chassidic proverb

"We pray by singing and dancing." Sangoma wisdom

This goes a long way to controlling the Mind Sheath and allowing the Intellectual Sheath (Spacious Mind, Christ Consciousness, Buddha Mind) to supervene. Ultimately when all is in balance we can access 

Bliss - the Oneness Experience or Unity Consciousness. 

(Where the Knower, the Known and the process of Knowing become one thing.)

The Mind Sheath is the seat of our primitive emotions. These emotions were meant for survival and connect us to our autonomic,  sympathetic, flight of fight response. 

Neuroscience and Functional M.R.I. studies have shown that in non-meditators F.M.R.I activity usually default to the primitive areas of the brain and confines us to the Body Sheath. 

We all know the mantra, sound of body, sound of mind. 

Everything is imprinted in the body which will affect all levels of our consciousness. The Yogi masters understood this.

We need to attend the Food and the Energy Sheaths and keep them as well tuned as possible or it will be difficult to attain higher states of spiritual transformation.

The Intellectual Sheath connects us to our higher consciousness. F.M.R.I. studies also show that in advanced meditators activity defaults to the prefrontal lobe, the mediator of our higher ideas, ideals, goals, beliefs, discernments and discriminations. These practitioners also appear to have more neuronal density in this area on the scans. In the Intellectual Sheath we experience feelings that are love generated and which facilitate positive emotions rather than Monkey Mind, fear based, unskillful emotions. 

In Kabbalah 

The Five Levels of Soul are 

Unity

Intellect 

Mind

Energy

  The Physical 

 

During its evolution down the Tree of Life 

Unity is completed by Intellect, Mind, Energy and manifest in the Physical Body at Kingdom, the lowest Sephira on the Tree of Life. 

These Five Levels are similar to Patanjali's Sheaths of Consciousness.

THE FIVE LEVELS OF THE SOUL 

or levels of God Consciousness are: 

UNITY (Yechida) 

Patanjali's Sheath of Bliss

  WISDOM (Chaya) or INTELLECT

The Intellectual Sheath

UNDERSTANDING (Neshama) or MIND  

The Mind Sheath

(The Shadow side of Mind)

ENERGY, BREATH OR SPIRIT (Ruach) 

The Energy Sheath 

THE PHYSICAL OR THE BODY (Nephesh)

The Body Sheath

As below

 This information can help us in attaining spiritual transformation. 

If we do not attend to the Body it affects our Energy. 

If neither are in balance we dwell in Monkey Mind. 

Without spiritual knowledge and practice we confine ourselves to the Shadow side of Mind and may never consider Intellect or Wisdom. 

Even if we attune to all these things it will be diffiult to attain Keter (Unity) or the Crown chakra (Bliss-Oneness) but we have to do the best that we can.

The gates are wide but few will enter.

 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #4

FREE WILL AND KARMA 

Karma, Free Will and Impermanence are created as a default around the soul.

IMPERMANENCE

”The day we die, the wind comes to take away out footprints. The wind makes dust to cover up the marks left while walking. For otherwise it would seem as if we were still living. Therefore, the wind is he who comes to blow away our footprints.” Southern Bushman Proverb

Impermanence is the seminal challenge we need to recognize when negotiating Free Will and our Karma. All we take with us when we die and cross the veil between the worlds are our experiences and our karma. Some live irresponsibly as if there is no tomorrow, fully believing that we only live once. They immerse themselves in sensory pleasures and the material pursuits required to fulfill them, imagining that there is no reckoning when they get to the other side of the veil between the worlds or even if there is another side.

The three deadly sins of karma - Ego (the self-cherishing of the persona,) Desirous Attachment and Judgment have no hold over them. Judgment of others who have more than they do gives them impetus for gaining more "stuff," power, prestige, fame and the material favors that accompany these attributes. Some wear greed as a badge of honor.

 

"Know not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for you."  John Donne

 

Once we cross over the veil we will all face a spiritual tribunal who judge our skillfulness or unskillfulness navigating samsara (the relentless cycle of birth and rebirth) and the challenges as well as the gifts of being in a sensory body. The consequences of disobeying the laws of spirit are immutable. Karma is not negotiable - one's lawyer cannot help us there. Spiritual laws differ and are stricter than those on the earth plane. They are binding whether we know about them, believe in them, understand them or not. Being ignorant of them is no excuse. That is one of the reasons why the Ancestors teach ... With all your strength get knowledge.

 

Everyone can ultimately achieve the spiritual perfection for which we are created. This can take many life times because of free will.

However

Free will is always neutral, motivated and catalyzed by desire. 

You cannot say, the devil made me do it.

 

Free will is the cosmic law. We are free to screw up our karma as much as we choose - or take heed of ancient wisdoms. 

 

Merit on a judgmental level is the balancing of evil and good deeds. Merit is the credit we receive on the side of good.

 

Consequences are neither reward nor punishment, they are simply consequences - natural cause and effect - always inescapable.

 

Karmic laws are similar to the laws of gravity. If you jump out of a building you are going down, not up.

 

The results of cause and effect are often not immediate because that would influence free will. God wants us to do things for the right reasons, not out of fear or shame and because of what may result but out of love and justice.

 

 The Creator does not want us to do things because of the fear of hell and damnation. We must have right intention. Fear driven, good intentions are better than negative intentions but may still have a karmic consequence or be karmically neutral. Acts of kindness must be done for their own sake.

Disobeying karmic laws will earn us yet another life time. If we operate karmically at a higher level we have the potential of inheriting a Causal vibration where we no longer our bound to the cycle of death and rebirth. 

 

Everything is foreseen but free will is given.

 

Because of free will nothing is preordained but it is foreseen by the Creator. 

 

"A net is spread out for the living, free will is given, everything is on loan (impermanent) and all is preparation for a grand celebration." Rev. Akiva

 

The net is the net of samsara, cause and effect and being bound to the cycle of reincarnation that challenge us being in a sentient body. 

If we prevail there will be a great celebration.

We are always free to change course. If we were not, there would be none of the tension required for our victory and fulfillment. There can be no growth without conflict and everything is a test. The light or dark, good or bad, sacred or profane, positive and negative are all necessary and part of the conundrum of life. We are meant to coexist but not assimilate the dark. The only way to overcome evil is with good.

 

Remember that good prevails by being what it is, not by dispossessing, defeating or winning but simply being more and more of what it is.

 

If you would dispel the darkness, seek the sacred.

 

What you resist with persist, what you defeat, defeats you, what you destroy destroys you, what you sanctify, sanctifies you.  

 

The myriad of polarities facing us in life are a template for spiritual perfection. The Supreme Being does not micromanage and does not judge. S/He loves us all - karma is the judge and everyone is capable of being redeemed.

With right understanding and action we can create the conditions for transgressions to become merits.

 Those that have reached rock bottom can still emerge like the Phoenix out of the fire and will be regarded very favorably from above. They will usually be more powerful spiritually than others that may have had lesser challenges.

 

"...what counts is to restrain the blaze in the hours of desire and let it flow into the hours of prayer and service." The Talmud

We can think of this journey as enlisting in the "spiritual" special forces. Our karma is at stake - not our life - but certainly, future life times. It usually gets harder rather than easier as we progress. Everyone is welcome to enlist and each of us has the potential to succeed. The rules are simple but difficult.

 

Once we pass over, most of us will go to one of the multiple vibrations in the Astral realm where we lose free will. Our karma is cut in stone but can be redeemed in certain circumstance by forgiveness by the living. Unfinished business is best resolved with forgiveness before someone departs. However, skeletons in the closet can still be released after death by those skilled in spiritual work through special rituals. Forgiveness, if sincere, will erase that particular karmic sin and make for a better reincarnation.

Below is a summary of the basic karmic requirements which is a subject for a future blog. There is no judgment day as such on the other side. The process is done lovingly, where we are shown the errors of our ways, but the consequences are immutable. 

 

To correct injustice and help heal the planet.

To do no harm.

To fulfill one’s destiny.

To subordinate Ego to the Higher Self, Monkey Mind to Spacious Mind, our Evil Inclination to our Good Inclination (Shadow.)

To love all Four of the Beings of Nature, not only the Talking Beings.

To be in joy and have gratitude.

The figure below summarizes the polarities that have to be balanced. We could add to this the challenge of subordinating our tricksters to our spirit guides as well as the subconscious imprints of our bad karma from past lives to the good karma of the same. Being subconscious, the only way to do this is with spiritual knowledge and a diligent spiritual practice. Past life regressions could be helpful or startling and unsupportive to our inner being - we have all done bad things before and have already paid the karmic price. Sometimes it's best to look ahead - guilt inhibits our spiritual transformation.

 

 

THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE SOUL #3

MORE ABOUT THE SENSES

The senses are there for us to enjoy - but responsibly.

The soul’s essence should lodge comfortably in the body.

 

From the sound of my sighing,

 has my essence (soul) cleaved onto my flesh (body).

 

The “sound of sighing" is when we achieve equanimity and we feel at one with both our Self (Soul) and our body. This is why the Ancestors stress the power of sensory, active meditations.

 

The soul yearns to do the Creator’s will and clings to the body when all is well.
A body caught up in cravings and attached to sentient pleasures distances the soul.
The soul withdraws causing illness.
The body’s attachment needs to be broken so the soul (essence,) can return to the body. 

High vibrational sound is a powerful way to bring the soul back into the body.

 

Soul sickness or even loss occurs when the soul, which is pure, separates from the body due to one reveling irresponsibly in sensual pleasures (sex, drugs and rock and roll ...) This can also occur from guilt, shame and humiliation as a result of severe abuse early or late in life. Other factors include severe grief from loss of health, work or a loved one, a lack of meaning in one's human existence, isolation, addiction, burnout, illness, trauma, as well as spiritual diseases such as intrusive spirits, energetic pollution and sorcery.

The soul - made in the image of the Divine - is pure and whole. When faced with these toxic challenges the soul may separate from the body. Soul sickness or worse, soul loss is sickness in a body deprived of its soul's purpose. 

 

“The soul by reason of lust, had become an accomplice in her own captivity.” Plato

 

Plato is mistaken according to the Ancestors. The ego, monkey mind and the shadow can alienate the Soul. The soul is not an accomplice, She is pure and does not lust, She just checks out.

The soul is unified – it does not become split itself - but can split or detach from the body.  

Some spiritual thinkers describe the soul as being broken (or even split.) It is the Ego, Monkey Mind and the Evil Inclination or Shadow that are responsible for overwhelming Big or Spacious Mind and our inclination to do good, 

hence subordinating - resulting in Soul Sickness

or more rarely totally discarding the Higher Self or soul 

 - Soul Loss (e.g. Mexican cartels, radical Islam etc.)

“To know the real Self to be one’s own is the greatest attainment. To know wrongly the non-self, such as the ego to be the Self is no attainment at all. One therefore should renounce this perception of taking the non-self for the Self.”
     Sri Sankara Charya

THE HEART AND LOVE

An open, loving heart is the gateway to the soul. Of all the chakras, the heart chakra, is the most challenging one to open.

 

“To awaken the heart is to awaken the dormant soul.” M. Gandhi

 

When the heart is muffled the soul shrinks.

 

Guarded heart or gracious heart? Protective self (ego) or expansive Self? Dutifully committed or passionately empty?

 

The soul’s language is learned by listening with the heart. It has many sounds including that of silence. Its eloquence is universal.

 

The rational mind often gets in the way of what the heart must embrace in order to coax the soul to open.

 

Our soul is made for joy and the more we truly love the more we will experience it and become its very essence.

 

Among all who possess great wisdom only those, act wisely who act from love. If study and prayer do not serve justice and compassion they are but a conceit and a hollow sound.

 

You will come from doubt to belief,

from belief to understanding,

from understanding to knowing,

from knowing to feeling (being heart-felt)

This is the way.

 

If one studies the "fallen gurus," priests or others claiming spiritual purity and knowledge we can see that they usually had profound knowledge, understanding and wisdom of spiritual principles but little heart. Possibly they began with a heart that was pure but then became corrupted by power, position, persona, and greed. 

Many of these gurus abused their students financially, mentally, physically and sexually (their female devotees) using autocratic techniques and dogma as in; "I only can lead you to the truth!" They abandoned the heart chakra and lost  "feeling." This has dire karmic consequences for these spiritual perpetrators  - more will be expected from them when they reconcile on the other side of the veil between worlds.

The heart chakra is one of the most challenging of the chakras to open and an easy one to close. Once they became reattached to the third power chakra, ego and shadow, temptation and power made them lose the way. Many probably knew what they were doing but the enticements were overwhelming.

 

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men...” Sir John Dalberg-Acton

 

We are also now seeing this all around us. There are more autocratic governments in the world today than democratic ones. Power is compelling and alluring whether political, financial or even spiritual.

It is astonishing and tragic that more and more leaders in the world today are power hungry and abandon their sacred mission of service to their people. Some of the less diabolical ones, when they do a measure of good, delude their followers by saying the means justifies the end. This will never hold on "judgment day." Sadly, the world suffers in the interim, the innocent suffer and the powerful prosper.

 

Given full power, greed becomes an enslaver of the greedy - fear becomes first a bully, then a torturer and then a killer.

 

Osho Rajneesh  the fallen guru who took us residence in central Oregon did not fall short of even trying to murder his opponents outside the ashram.