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