Spring 2013, Volume 9, Number 1 the Esoteric

Spring 2013, Volume 9, Number 1

The Esoteric Quarterly An independent publication dedicated to the trans-disciplinary investigation of the esoteric spiritual tradition. ______Esoteric philosophy and its applications to individual and group service and the expansion of human consciousness.

Washington, DC, USA. www.esotericsquarterly.com e-mail: [email protected]

The Esoteric Quarterly

The Esoteric Quarterly is an online, peer-reviewed, international journal, published by The Esoteric Quarterly Inc., a non-profit corporation based in Washington, DC. It is registered as an online journal with the National Serials Data Program of the Library of Congress. International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) 1551-3874.

Further information about The Esoteric Quarterly, including guidelines for the submission of articles and review procedures, can be found at http://www.esotericsquarterly.com. All correspondence should be addressed to [email protected].

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief: Donna M. Brown (United States) Editor Emeritus: John F. Nash (United States)

Alison Deadman (United States) Gail G. Jolley (United States) Jef Bartow (United States) Judy Jacka (Australia) Katherine O'Brien (New Zealand) Kevin Hataley (Canada) Susan Hamilton (United States)

Copies of the complete journal or articles contained therein may be made for personal use on condition that copyright statements are included. Commercial use or redistribution without the permission of The Esoteric Quarterly is strictly prohibited.

The Esoteric Quarterly

Contents Volume 9, Number 1. Spring 2013 ______

Page Page

Symbolic Interpretation of Features 53 the Book of Job: A Poem of Editorial 4 Initiation Publication Policies 5 Zachary F. Lansdowne Poem of the Quarter: “Gold” by 6 The Spiritual Significance of 77 Diana Durham Silence: Two Writings Roberto Assagioli and Picture of the Quarter: 7 Vicente Beltran Anglada “Drawn to You and the Side of the Mountain” Interview by Bill Brouard An Interview with Rev. Susan Quotes of the Quarter 8 85 Hamilton Advertisements 10 Book Reviews Articles The Russian Cosmists: The 91 The Etheric Body Esoteric Futurism of Nikolai 13 John F. Nash Fedorov and His Followers by George M. Young Modern Science, Psychology, 31 and the Enduring Mystery of Quiet Horizon: Releasing 94 Consciousness: An Esoteric/ Ideology and Embracing Self- Mystical Critique, Part II Knowledge, James Moffatt by Greg Jemsek

The mission of the Esoteric Quarterly is to traditions. We also encourage feedback from provide a forum for the exploration of esoteric readers. Comments of general interest will be philosophy and its applications. Full-length published as Letters to the Editor. All articles and student papers are solicited communications should be sent to: pertaining to both eastern and western esoteric [email protected].

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Editorial Acknowledging the Past, but Looking to the Future

he Esoteric Quarterly was established in in the years to come. If you are interested in T 2004 under the auspices of the School for becoming involved with the Esoteric Esoteric Studies. Over the last eight years, the Quarterly, in any of its aspects, please let me content, quality and complexity of the journal know at: [email protected]. has grown and evolved. The Quarterly has The current issue begins with an article by emerged as a positive thought-form generating John Nash, which provides an engaging interest among a wide-range of spiritual and overview of Alice A. Bailey’s teachings on the esoteric traditions across the globe. In order to etheric body, its formation and function and its expand our reach and inclusiveness even potential for development. Nash divides the further, a decision was taken to make the article into several sections dealing with the Quarterly an independent journal. The Spring fundamental principles of the etheric vehicle, 2013 issue—volume 9, no 1—is the first such as: its function as a receiver and published under its own banner and redesigned transmitter of energies, the etheric body’s website. The site also has a new address: relationship to the tangible body, its role in www.esotericquarterly.com. Previous issues disease, healing and death, and the etheric are available on the new website, along with body’s role in spiritual development. The some new features that we hope will make article succeeds in compiling Bailey’s rich but visiting the site a quicker, easier and more disconnected teachings on the etheric body interactive experience. into a coherent and logical framework. Nash’s Although the Quarterly has made important reflections and commentary give us a deeper changes, our mission to provide a forum for appreciation of the importance of the etheric the scholarly investigation of esoteric spiritual body and provide direction for those who are traditions, remains the same. We will retain the interested in future research. same editorial as before. However, three new Our next contribution, by James Moffatt, is the members have been added to the Review second in a series of articles offering an Board. In addition to John Nash, Alison informed and meaningful critique of the Deadman, Gail Jolley, Judy Jacka, and Kathe- inadequacies of modern science’s rine O’Brien, we are pleased to welcome Jef materialistic-reductionist approach to the study Bartow, Kevin Hataley and Susan Hamilton. of the Universe and consciousness. The article We are also gratified to announce that the opens with a discussion based upon the views Esoteric Quarterly is now a non-profit of several notable scientists who have provided organization and will be operated for inter- thoughtful challenges to the materialist national educational purposes. While the paradigm. The limitations of reductionism and journal and its resources are free, they are scientism are also examined from an esoteric dependent on substantial donated labor behind perspective, with an emphasis on the work of the scenes. Please consider making a gift to Maurice Nicoll and Lama Govinda. Also the Esoteric Quarterly. Your contributions help included is a lucid and accessible analysis of to support the journal and its continued Ken Wilber’s theory on the “Great Chain or development. Thank you in advance for your Nest of Being” which serves to highlight the support and know that it will not go lack of scale within modern scientific and unappreciated. psychological considerations of consciousness. We are excited about having become an The next article, from Zachary Lansdowne, independent journal and hope that we will advances a symbolic interpretation of the continue to be an important esoteric resource “Book of Job.” With its comparisons to the 4 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2011.

esoteric literature on enlightenment and the encouraged to visit: www.dianadurham.net/. “third initiation,” Lansdowne’s article adds to The enchantingly beautiful “Picture” in this the rich diversity of approaches and issue—Drawn to You and the Side of the interpretations of one of the most celebrated Mountain—is from the visionary digital artist, pieces of biblical literature. Drawing primarily Bill Brouard. Mr. Brouard has also contributed upon the teachings of Alice A. Bailey and the evocative mandala that the EQ is now supported by works from other methodologies using on its new website. To see more of his and traditions, the sufferings of Job are shown visionary works visit his Visual Alchemy to be more than a symbolic “test of faith” by Facebook page, or you may contact him God via the instrument of Satan. Rather, Job’s directly at: [email protected]/. hardships and trials are revealed as the impetus Publication Policies for a deeper spiritual awakening and the direct experience of the Self or God. Articles are selected for publication in the Esoteric Quarterly because we believe they The final offering in this issue explores the represent a sincere search for truth, support the “Spiritual Significance of Silence.” The article service mission to which we aspire, and/or presents two like-minded and inspiring views contribute to the expansion of human directed to the development and application of consciousness. the “lost art of silence.” The first essay, by Roberto Assagioli, is an English language Publication of an article does not necessarily translation of an unpublished manuscript by imply that the Editorial Board or the School the Italian psychiatrist. The article is based, in for Esoteric Studies agrees with the views part, on Assagioli’s own experience with expressed. Nor do we have the means to verify esoteric philosophy and the works of the all facts stated in published articles. Tibetan and Alice A. Bailey. The second essay We encourage critical thinking and analysis is by the Spanish born, teacher, lecturer and from a wide range of perspectives and author, Vicente Beltran Anglada, whose traditions. We discourage dogmatism or any prolific discipleship work complemented and view that characterizes any tradition as having advanced the work of the Tibetan's disciple greater truth than a competing system. Francisco Brualla in Spain and Latin America. These evocative essays contribute to our Neither will we allow our journal to be used as understanding of silence as a spiritual a platform for attacks on individuals, groups, discipline and the means by which one institutions, or nations. This policy applies to contacts the voice of the Soul. articles and features as well as to letters to the editor. In turn, we understand that the author of In addition to the featured articles, this issue an article may not necessarily agree with the contains an interview with the Rev. Susan views, attitudes, or values expressed by a Hamilton, who served as the pastor of Parkside referenced source. Indeed, serious scholarship Community Church in Sacramento and dean of sometimes requires reference to work that an Sancta Sophia Seminary. Also included are author finds abhorrent. We will not reject an two book reviews. The first review is for The article for publication simply on the grounds Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism of that it contains a reference to an objectionable Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers, by George source. M. Young. The second is for Quiet Horizon: Releasing Ideology and Embracing Self- An issue of concern in all online journals is Knowledge, by Greg Jemsek. potential volatility of content. Conceivably, articles could be modified after the publication We also draw your attention to our “Poem” date because authors changed their minds and “Picture of the Quarter.” The poem in this about what had been written. Accordingly, we issue—Gold—is from the writer, poet and wish to make our policy clear: We reserve the playwright, Diana Durham. For more inform- right to correct minor typographical errors, but ation on Diana’s poems and her work we will not make any substantive alteration to concerning “the quest for wholeness,” you are an article after it “goes to press.”

The Esoteric Quarterly

Poems of the Quarter

“Gold,” by Diane Durham oh these temple walls are flaked, feathered, caked in gold, gold light as skin they are skin as the body moves in dance along the halls and fire-lit archways all through the crystalline resilience of space. the gold, the gold is radiance that which pours, glistens and turns into everything so that this tight weave of form and pre-form can reflect back its light like facets, glittery facets of an ornate mirror face: by day, a world the gold sun colors with our eyes, by night, the star-hung architecture of space - that which is between - the facets are fields: pulsars, particles, our cupped hands - fields of charge and intercession, and the core of these is what is clothed and flows and is glass- like and dark and nothing, nothing at all, but itself.

Picture of the Quarter

Drawn to You and the Side of the Mountain By Bill Brouard [email protected] The use or reproduction of this image is prohibited without the expressed permission of the artist.

The Esoteric Quarterly

Quotes of the Quarter

______

theric fields might be thought of as the possible ranges of consciousness than E thoughtforms which contain the human sight exhausts all the gradations of information, matrix and ordering rules for colour or human hearing all the gradations of specific components of reality to which they sound — for there is much above or below that are related. In the context of the physical, is to man invisible and inaudible. So there are etheric fields are better known as morphic ranges of consciousness above and below the fields as described by Rupert Sheldrake. They human range, with which the normal human provide a mechanism by which the concepts of [consciousness] has no contact and they seem Infinite Intelligence and Natural Law can be to it unconscious. … Consciousness is a implemented in objective terms. fundamental thing, the fundamental thing in existence. It is the energy, the motion, the Tom Butler, Etheric Fields, ATransC movement of consciousness that creates the Cosmology Series, 2012 universe and all that is in it, not only the (http://atransc.org/theory/etheric_fields.htm) macrocosm but the microcosm is nothing but consciousness arranging itself. For instance, nd now we might add something when consciousness in its movement or rather A concerning a certain most subtle spirit a certain stress of movement forgets itself in which pervades and lies hid in all gross bodies; the action it becomes an apparently by the force and action of which spirit the unconscious energy; when it forgets itself in particles of bodies mutually attract one another the form, it becomes the electron, the atom, the at near distances, and cohere if contiguous; and material object. In reality it is still electric bodies operate to greater distances, as consciousness that works in the energy and well repelling as attracting the neighboring determines the form and the evolution of form. corpuscles; and light is emitted, reflected, When it wants to liberate itself, slowly, refracted, inflected, and heats bodies; and all evolutionarily, out of Matter, but still in the sensation is excited, and the members of form, it emerges as life, as animal, as man, and animal bodies move at the command of the it can go on evolving itself still farther out of will, namely by the vibrations of this spirit, its involution and become something more mutually propagated along the solid than mere man. firmaments of the nerves, from the outward Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine (Pondicherry, organs of sense to the brain, and from the brain India: Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, 1939-40, into the muscles. But these are things that 2006), 233-237. cannot be explained in few words, nor are we furnished with that sufficiency of experiments which is required to an accurate determination onsciousness is perhaps the greatest and demonstration of the laws by which this C mystery ever to be presented to mankind. electric and elastic spirit operates. My question is: What is the nature of consciousness? How can the materialistic Sir Isaac Newton, The Principia: The world view of mankind explain the Mathematical Principles of Natural phenomenon of consciousness. By its nature, Philosophy, 1687 (California Digital Library), which is of a totally immaterial and invisible, 586 with its inner activity of thinking, also a totally invisible activity, which the whole of the onsciousness is usually identified with scientific world view rests upon..."Thinking". C mind, but mental consciousness is only What is thinking if not a non-physical super- the human range which no more exhausts all sensible invisible, immaterial reality. For the

8 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 scientific world view to understand itself, it Ethan Dor Shav, “Job’s Path to must examine the nature of thinking. And in Enlightenment,” Azure, No. 47 (Jerusalem, doing so, the "religious" world view will be Israel, 2011) able to find something to hang onto. Science and religion can meet on this question. ilence used to be, to varying degrees, a Because it is here where they both fall short. S means of isolation. Now it is the absence Science cannot explain consciousness out of of silence that works to render today's world the materialistic world view. Religion cannot empty and isolating. Its reserves have been explain evolutionary principles in nature invaded and depleted. The Machine marches without adapting the scientific world view. The globally forward and silence is the dwindling two are locked in an unending battle. Can it be place where noise has not yet penetrated. that thinking is, in fact, the “spiritual activity of man.” Civilization is a conspiracy of noise, designed to cover up the uncomfortable silences. The Daniel Hehir, TED Conversations on the silence-honoring Wittgenstein understood the Nature of Consciousness, March 2011 loss of our relationship with it. The unsilent present is a time of evaporating attention f we acknowledge as our starting point the spans, erosion of critical thinking, and a I radical idea that the early Job is not lessened capacity for deeply felt experiences. portrayed as a saint, but rather as a severely Silence, like darkness, is hard to come by; but flawed individual, the tale of suffering that mind and spirit need its sustenance. …nothing constitutes the book proves to be quite has changed human character so much as the different from the accepted interpretation. It is loss of silence. Thoreau called silence ‘our not a story of sheer endurance and blind faith inviolable asylum,’ an indispensable refuge but one of existential awakening, leading to the that must be defended. Silence is necessary attainment of prophecy in the book’s final against the mounting sound. It's feared by scenes. The story, in other words, is about one manipulative mass culture, from which it man’s painstaking ascendance from a remains apart, a means of resistance precisely normative religious life to a deeply spiritual because it does not belong to this world. one. As this process takes place, the narrative John Zerzan, Silence also expounds on the biblical secrets of the (http://www.johnzerzan.net/articles/- cosmic order, the nature of man, and, above silence.html) all, heavenly redemption through the light of wisdom. eek the wisdom that will untie your knot. Interpreted this way, the Book of Job deals S Seek the path that demands your whole with a very different question than the one we being. have likely been taught: not “why do bad things happen to good people?” but how a Leave that which is not, but appears to be. man’s honest response to worldly suffering Seek that which IS, but is not apparent. serves as the basis for his awakening and Why are you so afraid of silence? Silence is enlightenment. Indeed, the forty oft-dismissed the root of everything. If you spiral into its “interim” chapters of the Book of Job tell the void, a hundred voices will thunder messages story, step by excruciating step, of one man’s you long to hear. eventual direct experience of God. His suffering plays a critical role in his ethical, Jalaludin Rumi, in Hidden Music, Translated intellectual, and spiritual transformation, by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mali enabling him to move from egoism to (Barnes & Noble, 2009) 68. morality, from ignorance to wisdom, and, finally, from alienation from God to a personal relationship with him.

The Esoteric Quarterly

SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITY AT THE FULL MOON he influence of the full moon is normally felt as a stimulation of the T emotional life leading to over-activity or imbalance. However, this event can also enhance our mental and spiritual life, offering us a special opportunity for spiritual work and meditation. The spiritual festivals celebrated at the monthly full moon are potent opportunities for energy exchange in our relationship to the higher worlds. We actively participate in a dynamic energy stream of ascending aspiration and descending spiritual energy with its blessings of light and healing. Each of the twelve moon festivals is presented as a brief introduction to meditation in the booklet Twelve Festivals: Spiritual Opportunity at the Full Moon, available for $15.00 from:

School for Esoteric Studies 345 S. French Broad Ave. Asheville, NC 28801 U.S.A. Email: [email protected] - www.esotericstudies.net

The Esoteric Quarterly

Spring 2013

The Etheric Body

John F. Nash

Summary sue, and body fluids, the etheric body mediates his article discusses Alice Bailey’s teach- health, disease and healing. It undergoes im- T ings on the etheric body, which permeates portant changes as a person evolves spiritually, the dense physical human form and surrounds and it continues to play a role in the lives of it as part of the aura observed by clairvoyants. initiates who have completed their incarnation- Specifically, the article discusses the relation- al cycle. ship between the etheric and physical bodies; Notions of the etheric body go back to antiqui- the etheric body’s role in diseases, healing and ty, probably reflecting clairvoyant abilities death; changes in the etheric body during spir- pervasive at that time. Ancient Egyptian reli- itual development; and the etheric bodies of gion spoke of the ka. Biblical Judaism dis- initiates. Our etheric bodies are built by devas cussed the nephesh, which captured the sense of various orders and are energized through of both life and breath. In classical Greece, the devic activity by terrestrial and solar prana. physical body was said to be animated by the psyche, which the sixth-century BCE philoso- A major objective of the article is to provide a 1 coherent statement of the relevant teachings pher Anaximenes equated to breath. In India, and a platform for further study. Another ob- we find the pranamaya kosha of Vedantic teachings and the sthulopadhi of Taraka Raja jective is to draw attention to the importance of 2 the etheric body for us, during our incarnation- Yoga. Isaac Newton famously wrote of a al cycle, and for entities who no longer need to “subtle spirit,” pervading animal bodies, whose “vibration” propagates along nerves to the incarnate. The article also notes the pervasive 3 existence of etheric bodies across the whole brain and muscles to produce movement. spectrum of lifeforms in the universe and the Annie Besant wrote of the etheric body in The planets, stars and galaxies on which they re- Ancient Wisdom (1897), and Rudolf Steiner in side. Theosophy (1904). Max Heindel discussed the “vital body” in The Rosicrucian Cosmo- Introduction Conception or Mystic Christianity (1910). nyone who has seen a corpse, even one Charles Leadbeater published his clairvoyant A prepared for viewing at an open-casket studies of the etheric body in Man Visible and funeral, knows that it looks very different from Invisible (1925) and The Chakras (1927). Al- how the person is remembered. Despite morti- ice A. Bailey, who served as amanuensis for cians’ best efforts, the corpse is unmistakably the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul, provided a dead. The very obvious basis of life, what we ______call the etheric body, is gone. Death can be defined by the etheric body’ severance from About the Author the dense physical form. John F. Nash, Ph.D., is a long-time esoteric student, The etheric body, also referred to as the etheric author, and teacher. Two of his books, Quest for the vehicle, etheric double, vital body, or energy Soul and The Soul and Its Destiny, were reviewed in the Winter 2005 issue of the Esoteric Quarterly. body, is the closest of the subtle vehicles to the Christianity: The One, the Many, was reviewed in dense physical form and provides the link be- the Fall 2008 issue. His latest book: The Sacramen- tween it and the astral and higher vehicles. In tal Church was published in 2011. For further in- addition to investing life in what would other- formation see the advertisements in this issue and wise be an inanimate collection of bones, tis- the website http://www.uriel.com.

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 13 The Esoteric Quarterly wealth of information on the etheric body in The Etheric Body her twenty-four books, beginning with Initia- tion, Human and Solar (1922). The know- and Prana ledge, perspective and insights offered by the he dense physical body—which for con- Tibetan sets Bailey’s work apart from other T venience will be referred to simply as the treatments of the subject. “physical body”—is composed of matter of the Despite the volume of available information in three lower subplanes of the physical plane: Bailey’s books and elsewhere, the information solid, liquid and gaseous. The etheric body is is fragmented, complicating detailed study. composed of matter of the four higher sub- Few attempts have been made to provide a planes. Our present focus is on the human clear, coherent account of the subject. Indeed, etheric body, but animals, plants, and even the etheric body does not seem to be a popular rocks all have etheric bodies. We understand topic in the esoteric literature, often glossed that the Earth, the Sun, and all other entities in over in descriptions of the human constitution. the universe also have etheric bodies. Perhaps the higher vehicles are more interest- The human etheric body permeates and ex- ing (dare one say glamorous?) yet they are tends a short distance beyond the physical scarcely more important to us, in our present body and resembles its physical counterpart in phase of evolution and beyond. shape. Some writers claim that it extends about This article seeks to compile and analyze Bai- one-half of an inch (a little over a centimeter) ley’s teachings on the subject, to provide a rea- beyond the physical body. Charles Leadbeater sonably comprehensive account of the etheric reported that it extends “very slightly” beyond body, its properties, strengths and weaknesses, the physical body.4 Alice Bailey stated that it and its potential for development. Occasional “may extend for a few or many inches.”5 She references are made to the works of other writ- commented that the etheric body “can be stud- ers where supporting or dissenting context is ied with relative ease” in the area that extends appropriate. The article is divided into five beyond the physical body.6 Clairvoyants see sections concerned with: this area as the innermost part of a person’s aura. Leadbeater described it as “a mass of  The fundamental principles of the hu- faintly luminous violet-grey mist.”7 The astral man etheric body, including the key body, also known as the sentient or emotional role of prana and its devic mediators. body, may extend much farther from the phys-  The relationship between the etheric ical body. and dense physical bodies, involving Bailey declared that the etheric body has one the chakras and the several physiologi- main objective: cal systems. This is to vitalize and energize the physical  The etheric body’s role in disease, heal- body and thus integrate it into the energy ing and death. body of the Earth and of the solar system. It  Changes in the etheric body that occur is a web of energy streams, of lines of force during spiritual development, including and of light. It constitutes part of the vast awakening of the chakras and raising of network of energies which underlies all the kundalini forms whether great or small (microcosmic or macrocosmic). Along these lines of en-  High initiates’ need for etheric bodies, ergy the cosmic forces flow, as the blood whether or not they work on the physi- flows through the veins and arteries. This cal plane. constant, individual—human, planetary and Hopefully, the present study—still brief, rela- solar—circulation of life-forces through the tive to the breadth of the subject—will stimu- etheric bodies of all forms is the basis of all late greater interest and further research. manifested life, and the expression of the essential non-separateness of all life.8

She emphasized that the etheric body “of every spoke of solar and planetary prana. Solar prana human being, is an integral part of the etheric is the “life-essence” of the Solar Logos, “ani- body of the planet itself and consequently, of mating, vivifying and correlating” the seven the solar system.”9 In other words, the etheric systemic planes “and all that is to be found body is not individualized to the extent that the within and upon them.”18 human monad or the soul is; its energy flows We recall that the seven systemic planes—the from one living entity to another. This startling ones that provide the backdrop for the whole realization gives precise meaning to affirma- of human existence and evolution— tions like “We are all connected” or “We are collectively comprise the cosmic physical all One.” The sharing of etheric matter plane. Our physical, astral and mental planes throughout the cosmos provides the medium comprise the “solid,” “liquid” and “gaseous” for telepathy and also gives meaning to con- subplanes of the cosmic physical plane. Our cepts like divine omniscience.10 Bailey de- buddhic, atmic, monadic and logoic planes scribed the “golden etheric web” through comprise its four cosmic etheric subplanes.19 which “there is a constant circulation of ener- These correspondences are of more than just gies and forces,” adding that “this constitutes theoretical interest. The four systemic etheric the scientific basis of the astrological theo- subplanes, from which our etheric bodies are ries.”11 Space itself, which ordinarily we con- built, have qualities that draw upon those of sider empty, is said to be etheric in nature.12 the four highest systemic planes. This enrich- The cosmic etheric web has a geometric pat- ment of qualities can be expected to become tern. The pattern is not uniform throughout the more apparent as we progress spiritually. universe but varies from one planet or sun to Planetary prana has its origins in the Sun but another according to its point of evolution.13 has been imprinted with the energy of the Earth’s etheric body currently has a square planet. It is structure, whereas the “etheric webs of the sacred planets are largely triangles, whilst that of solar prana which has passed throughout the Sun is that of interlaced circles.”14 A goal the planet, has circulated through the plane- of the Triangles movement, in which groups of tary etheric body, has been transmitted to three people at different points on the globe the dense physical planet, and has been cast commit to daily recitation of the Great Invoca- off thence in the form of a radiation of the tion, is to help convert the square structure of same essential character as solar prana, plus our planetary etheric body into a triangular the individual and distinctive quality of the structure. particular planet concerned.20 The human etheric body also has a structure, Solar and terrestrial prana are transmitted to though it is not a simple geometric one. In Bai- the etheric body by devic activity. Solar prana, ley’s words it is “a network, permeated with “that vital and magnetic fluid which radiates fire, or as a web, animated with golden from the sun . . . is transmitted to mans’ etheric light.”15 The etheric body serves as a receiving body through the agency of certain deva enti- agency for energies coming from “the plane- ties of a very high order, and of a golden tary aura,” “the astral world,” “the universal hue.”21 Bailey gave no indication that these mind or manasic force,” and “the ego itself.”16 devas are, or are related to, the manasaputras, It also serves as a medium through which those or solar angels, who serve, on a one-on-one energies circulate to produce life and health. basis, as our mentors and orchestrate our in- The health aspects of reception and circulation carnational journey until we attain the fourth will be discussed in due course. initiation.22 The energy of the etheric body is prana. “Pra- A much larger class of devas of a lower order, na is the sum total of the energy in the body . . called “the devas of the shadows, or the violet . . It therefore concerns the inflow of energy devas, transmit both solar and planetary pra- into the etheric body and its outflow through na.”23 Their primary mission, in fact, is to the medium of the physical body.”17 Bailey work on the etheric subplanes. Devas of vari-

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 15 The Esoteric Quarterly ous orders energize “the myriads of minute (“atomic”) subplanes of their respective lives” that build the etheric body and “are the planes. The physical permanent atom resides instigators of the creative processes on the on the first etheric subplane, counting, as al- three lowest subplanes of the physical plane.”24 ways, from above. Scientific observation, albeit using different The process of incarnation, long planned by terminology, is now extending to the etheric the solar angel, descends to the physical plane physical subplanes. Electromagnetic and gravi- when the male sperm fertilizes the female tational fields would seem to be etheric in na- ovum. At the moment of conception, Theoso- ture, as the term is used here, even though phist Geoffrey Hodson wrote, “the physical physicists reject the concept of a luminiferous permanent atom is attached by an angel to the ether with physical properties, like elasticity, twin cell then formed.” The permanent atom once thought to provide the medium for the “bestows upon the twin cell organism its or- propagation of electromagnetic waves. Quan- dered, biological impetus” and causes it to tum physicists no longer regard subatomic grow according to instructions emanating from wave-particles, including protons, neutrons the monad and causal body, modified by kar- and electrons, as pieces of matter, like tiny mic and other influences.30 A “field or sphere,” marbles, but as assemblies of energy. Bailey’s Hodson continued, “is established in which assertion about the etheric nature of space may subsequent building will take place.” This be supported by scientific research on the so- field, the etheric body, begins to form, within called vacuum state, or zero-point energy.25 which “there is to be seen, in terms of flowing Additional support may come from recent the- energy or lines of force, each on its own wave- ories of the Higgs field.26 length, a sketch plan of the whole body.”31 Scientists also recognize that all living things Precisely what Hodson meant by the “twin emanate a chemical field, consisting largely of cell” is unclear. At the time of conception the moisture, and a small but measurable electro- male and female gamete cells fuse to form a magnetic field. Kirlian photography is claimed single-celled zygote. Subsequent cell division to capture the corona discharge, suggestive of produces the embryo. In the situation of identi- the etheric aura, around living organisms.27 cal (monozygotic) twins, the separation of the embryos usually occurs after several cell divi- Meanwhile, evolutionary progress is increasing sions. Assuming that each human being has a our inherent capability to view the etheric sub- unique permanent atom, it would seem that the planes and their denizens. “People coming into permanent atoms must be attached to the twins incarnation on [the] seventh ray,” we are as- some time after the phase to which Hodson sured, “will have the eyes that see, and the referred.32 purple devas and the lesser devas of the etheric body will be visioned by them.”28 Elsewhere, Throughout gestation—and continuing Bailey commented: “The development of a throughout childhood and adulthood—the power within the physical eye of a human be- etheric body serves, in Alice Bailey’s words, ing . . . will reveal the etheric body.”29 This as a “mold of the physical body” and “the ar- power will be distinct from, or complementary chetype upon which the dense physical form is to, that of the “reawakened third eye.” The built.”33 The etheric body and the other lower “third eye” refers to the ajna, or brow, chakra, vehicles also develop, providing an increasing- to be discussed in its turn. ly capable vehicle for soul activity: The Etheric Body, Life Prior to the seventh year, the vitality of the physical elemental is largely the determin- and Health ing factor. The soul is then focused in the etween incarnations, the human entity’s etheric body . . . . [I]t has simply a gently B accumulated experiences and karma are pulsating control and a gentle impulsive ac- stored in the physical, astral and mental per- tivity—sufficient to preserve conscious- manent atoms, which reside on the first ness, to vitalize the various physical pro-

cesses, and to initiate the demonstration of energy itself and carry the quality of energy character and of disposition. These become from some area of consciousness in which the increasingly marked until the twenty-first ‘dweller in the body’ may happen to be fo- year, when they stabilize into what we call cused.”40 The largest nadis, or bundles of nad- the personality.34 is, are the sushumna, ida and pingala, which run up the spine, and which are “the externali- Prana provides the energy required to build the zation of the antahkarana, composed of the dense physical form, and devas of the several antahkarana proper, the sutratma or life thread, classes collectively known as the “Builders” and the creative thread.”41 Of those three, the do the construction work. Pranic emanations, sutratma is the most important to the present Bailey explained, “when focalized and re- discussion. The “antahkarana proper,” usually ceived, react upon the dense matter which is referred to simply as the antahkarana, will be built upon the etheric scaffolding and frame- discussed later. The creative thread is of no work.”35 The shape of the etheric body “is concern to our present theme.42 brought about by the fine interlacing strands of [etheric] matter being built by the action of the The sutratma, popularly known as the silver lesser Builders into the form or mold upon cord, “is spun by the Ego from within the which later the dense physical body can be causal body much as a spider spins a thread. It molded.” 36 “Under the Law of Attraction,” she can be shortened or extended at will.”43 It en- continued, “the denser matter of the physical ters the physical body through the top of the plane is made to cohere to this vitalized form, head, and is anchored in the heart to sustain the and is gradually built up around it, and within life of the physical body during the incarna- it, until the interpenetration is so complete that tion. Bailey comments that the whole etheric the two forms make but one unit.”37 body “is but an extension of one aspect” of the sutratma.44 The sutratma is lengthened when According to Bailey, the violet devas transmit the astral body and higher vehicles separate solar and planetary prana to all parts of the from the physical form during sleep or in an etheric body. The golden devas—much fewer out-of-body experience and contracts when the in number but with enormously greater pow- individual returns to waking consciousness. er—allow solar prana to pass “through their bodies” and apply it only to “the uppermost Smaller nadis correspond to the meridians of part of the etheric body, the head and shoul- Chinese medicine, while the smallest ones ders.” From there the prana is “passed down to permeate the entire etheric body, including the the etheric correspondence of the physical or- part that extends beyond the physical form. gan, the spleen, and from thence forcibly The nadis, we understand, “underlie every transmitted into the spleen itself.”38 Bailey did nerve in the human body,” and “the centers not explain why the process is “forcible.” which they form at certain points of intersection or juncture are the background or motivat- Prana’s effect on the physical body is three- ing agency of every ganglion or plexus found fold: it “preserves the animal health of the in the human body.”45 body;” it “constructs and builds in the body, through its energy and force currents, what is Nodes, or points of intersection, in the network needed to replace the daily wear and tear;” and of nadis constitute the minor and major chak- it is “the medium whereby man comes into ras, or in Bailey’s terminology “centers.” They physical touch with his brother man.”39 “Phys- are foci for the exchange of energy between ical magnetism,” Bailey added, “is largely, the etheric and higher planes, and are entry even if not wholly, dependent upon prana.” points for the receipt of prana. The chakras “are found in close proximity to, or in relation The etheric body “is composed of interlocking to” major glands or organs. Indeed, the “vari- and circulating lines of force,” or pathways, ous glands are in reality the externalization or called nadis. “These nadis,” in Bailey’s words, materialization of the centers, major and mi- “are the carriers of energy. They are in fact the nor.” 46

Bailey stated that the seven major chakras are Minor chakras are located in various parts of formed in the fetus’ etheric body shortly before the body, including the palms of the hands. birth. The “descending light . . . concentrate[s] The hands are important “for healing, blessing itself in seven areas of its ring-pass-not, thus and . . . invocation.”51 Moreover, they are “po- creating seven major centers which will content factors in all magical work of healing and trol its expression and its existence upon the utilization of the sense of touch is an esoteric outer plane. . . . This is a moment of great bril- science.”52 liance.”47 The chakras remain in the etheric The etheric body is related to the endocrine body throughout the life of the physical form, system. The endocrine system is a system of but their continued brilliance, as seen by indi- glands that secrete hormones into the blood- viduals with clairvoyant vision, is not assured. stream to regulate bodily functions. The endo- The lower chakras are active in most people, crine and the nervous systems both carry in- but the higher ones “open” only as the individ- formation, but the former is slower in its re- ual develops spiritually. Relatively few people sponse. Whereas a nerve impulse is fast-acting, have all seven major chakras awakened and and its response short-lived, the secretion of a open. hormone can produce effects lasting from a Each chakra, or center, we learn, is related to a few hours to more than one week. The etheric particular type of incoming energy, and the body controls the general condition of the chakra will be awakened when the etheric heart, “which is the center of life as the brain is body is receptive to that energy: “When the the center of consciousness,”53 it thereby con- energy reaching the etheric body . . . is related trols the circulation of the blood. The heart rate [to a particular center] and the center is sensi- is affected by the nervous system, which “is tive to its impact, then that center becomes controlled principally . . . from the astral vibrant and receptive and develops as a con- body.”54 Yet the etheric body is still involved trolling factor in the life of the man on the since it “links the emotional nature to the physical plane.”48 The immediate impact is on dense physical.”55 the physical body: Clearly, the etheric body is a complex entity, According to the nature of the force animat- with multiple functions: ing the etheric body, according to the ac- The etheric body is the inner “substantial” tivity of that force in the etheric body, ac- form upon which the physical body is built cording to the aliveness or the sluggishness or constructed. It is the inner scaffolding of the most important parts of the etheric which underlies every part of the whole body (the centers up the spine) so will be outer man; it is the framework which sus- the corresponding activity of the physical tains the whole; it is that upon which the body.49 outer form is patterned; and it is the net- Four of the major chakras lie along the spine, work of nadis (infinitely intricate) which within the torso: the muladhara, or root, chak- constitutes the counterpart or the duplicate ra; the swadhisthana, or sacral chakra; the ma- aspect of the entire nervous system which nipura; or solar-plexus chakra; and the ana- forms such an important part of the human hata, or heart chakra. Bailey associated them, mechanism. It is thus definitely, with the respectively, with the adrenal glands, the re- blood stream, the instrument of the life productive organs, the pancreas, and the thy- force.56 mus. The three higher major chakras are the The etheric body “conditions, controls and de- vishuddha, or throat, chakra; the ajna, or brow, termines the life expression of the incarnated chakra; and the sahasrara, or crown, chakra, individual.” It is “the conveyor of the forces of lying immediately above the head. They are the personality, through the medium of the associated, respectively, with the thyroid, pi- centers [chakras], and thereby galvanizes the tuitary, and pineal glands.50 physical body into activity.”57

The health of the etheric body is enhanced by lation of the blood, or in the astral body, which “drawing upon the resources of vitality, stored controls the nervous system. Since the etheric up in the soil, in food, fresh air and outer envi- body transmits energy from the astral to the roning conditions.”58 Prana is associated with physical body, it is involved in either case. the breath, and the importance of breathing Weakness of the etheric body manifests as ex- fresh air cannot be overemphasized. According haustion, susceptibility to viruses and bacteria, to “the wholeness of the breathing apparatus,” more serious diseases, and ability “to oxygenate even attack by “obsessing and render pure the The cosmic etheric web has entities.”63 Eventually, it blood,” Bailey noted, “so a geometric pattern. The results in death. Weak- will be the health or ness may be hereditary or wholeness of the dense pattern is not uniform karmic in nature. Weak- physical body.”59 The throughout the universe but ness can be caused by an dangers of smoking varies from one planet or inability to receive prana, should be obvious. sun to another according to or conversely by an ex- Bailey also commented cess of prana, which re- that “the etheric body is its point of evolution. sults in congestion. The vitalized and controlled Earth’s etheric body cur- former is typical of poor by thought and can rently has a square struc- living conditions, lack of (through thought) be fresh air, inadequate nu- brought into full func- ture, whereas the “etheric trition, and unhealthy tioning activity. This is webs of the sacred planets lifestyles. Excessive pra- done by right thinking.” are largely triangles, whilst na is found more often in 60 Love, mirroring the tropical countries. “The Second Aspect of Deity, that of the Sun is that of in- etheric body receives pra- “shows itself through the terlaced circles.” na or solar rays too rapid- heart, the circulatory ly, passes it through and system and the nervous system. This is in out of the system with too much force, and this many ways most important for you to under- leaves the victim a prey to inertia and devitali- stand, for it controls paramountly the etheric zation.”64 Sun tanning may expose the body to body and its assimilation of prana or vitali- more risks than just skin cancer. ty.”61 Similar, polar-opposite conditions arise when Communication between mind and etheric the etheric body is either too loosely, or too body is only one-way. Humanity has reached a closely knit, to the physical body. The former stage of development in which the etheric body condition is associated with poor integration of functions below the threshold of conscious- the vehicles comprising the personality and ness: “Human beings remain unaware of the can lead to obsession or possession— passage of forces through this vehicle and the frequently, but erroneously, diagnosed as in- nearest they get to the recognition of it is when sanity.65 In the latter, “every part of the physi- they speak in terms of vitality or lack of vitali- cal body is in a constant condition of stimula- ty. The physical body makes its presence felt tion, of galvanic effort, with a resultant activity when something goes wrong or through the in the nervous system which—if not correctly gratification of one or other of the appetites.”62 regulated—can lead to a great deal of dis- tress.”66 On the other hand, we are also told: Disease, Healing “The closer [the] etheric body is interwoven . . and Death . with the dense physical vehicle, the clearer will be the instinctual reaction,” and the great- isease strikes the physical body, but its er “will be the sensitivity and the more apti- D origins lie principally in the etheric body, tude will there be for telepathic contact and which controls the endocrine system and circu- recognition of the higher impressions.67

Healing Therapies “in contact with the constructive energies in the Universe.”70 It also has favorable effects at Healing therapies seek to relieve pain and dis- the emotional and mental levels. ability and to restore a level of health sufficient for the person to live a happy, productive Some therapies involve direct interaction be- life—and perhaps to complete work assigned tween the patient and a healing practitioner. for the present incarnation. Bailey used the term “healer,” but “practitioner” is now preferred to avoid any implication Conventional (“allopathic”) medicine has done that the individual can, or should, take person- much to extend life, alleviate pain, and im- ality-level credit for the work performed. The prove body function. Modern medicine has practitioner’s goal is to serve as “an unimped- made enormous advances, and increases in ed channel” for energy coming from else- longevity are to its great credit. Yet it is lim- where. A “clear passage must be formed along ited by treatment of symptoms rather than which health-giving life may flow from the causes, and by its emphasis on narrow, special- ‘needed center’ in the healer’s etheric body to ized therapies, with less concern for a holistic the allied center in the body of the patient and view of the patient beyond the specific disease from thence into the blood stream, via the re- state. It attaches little importance to patients’ lated gland.”71 Several approaches are availa- cooperation—other than to take medications, ble to the practitioner, according to the level in participate in physical therapy, or take other the self where the problem exists: external measures—or even their desire to get well. Some diseases must be dealt with from the mental plane, and will call in the mind of Complementary medicine is more holistic in the healer; others require a concentration of its approach, and seeks to address causes as emotional energy by the healing agent; and well as symptoms. As noted, many of these again, in other cases, the healer should seek causes originate in the etheric body or are to be only a transmitter of pranic energy to transmitted through it. In some complementary the etheric body of the patient, via his [or therapies, like acupuncture, the patient is pas- her] own etheric body.72 sive. In others, patient participation plays a major role. The transmission of pranic energy takes place through “etheric currents and the centers in the Weakness in the etheric body can often be al- etheric body.” Therapies making use of this leviated by enabling or encouraging the patient technique include “the laying on of hands and to change a harmful lifestyle, adopt a more the establishing of relations which affect the healthful diet, and get more fresh air. Recogni- physical body.”73 Efficacy rests on the fact that tion by medical professionals of the synthesis the healer’s and the patient’s etheric bodies are of vitamin D by exposure to sunlight—within part of the planetary etheric body, and there is reasonable limits and mindful of the dangers of “an unbreakable . . . relationship between the sunbathing—is an important step toward healer's etheric body and that of the patient, acknowledgement of the role of prana. Bailey which can be used . . . once contact has been pointed out that the etheric body can also be induced, for a definite circulation of ener- strengthened “by means of . . . violet light, gies.”74 Strong, healthy individuals have ex- with its corresponding sound, administered in ceptional potential to serve as practitioners; 68 quiet sanitariums.” their abundance of prana provides a ready 75 In the future, light therapy will be performed source for transfer to patients. 69 with the “direct aid” of the violet devas. With Bailey made several comments in her works on regard to sound therapy, Torkum Saraydarian, the use of the hands in healing and other occult believed to be one of the Tibetan’s inner group work,76 which should be useful for practition- of disciples, declared that good music “coordi- ers of Reiki, Healing Touch, and similar mo- nates the organs and glands and improves cir- dalities. They should also be relevant for cler- culation,” gives energy, “purifies the body of gy performing sacramental healing and liturgi- decaying elements,” heals, and puts the body

20 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 cal ritual. A comment to a particular disciple, mourners go about the streets: Or ever the sil- but with more general application, was the fol- ver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be bro- lowing: ken . . . . Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God I would ask you, also, to make a careful who gave it.”79 study of the use of the hands in healing. I have given various hints in my different Bailey described the death process in consider- books and there is much anent this subject able detail: in the doctrine of the Church as to the “lay- [T]he “Word of Return” is uttered, and the ing on of hands” and also in the oriental consciousness aspect, the quality nature, the teachings anent the mudras, or the use of light and energy of the incarnating man, are hands in ritualistic service. Find out all that withdrawn into the etheric body. The life you can about the hands. Later, I will indi- principle withdraws, likewise, from the cate the future use of this science of the heart. There follows a brilliant flaring-up of hands and give further instruction on the pure electric light, and the “body of light” purpose of the centers in the hands in rela- finally breaks all contact with the dense tion to the healing art.77 physical vehicle, focuses for a short period The way a healing practitioner should interact in the vital body, and then disappears.80 with the patient may depend on ray type: “A psychic tremor is established,” Bailey con- Healers on the second, third and fifth rays tinued, “which has the effect of loosening or use more generally the mode of laying on breaking the connection between the nadis and of hands or magnetic healing. This term ap- the nervous system; the etheric body is thereby plies to the direct act of laying on of hands detached from its dense sheath, though still upon the patient's physical body, and not to interpenetrating every part of it.” Then there the action of the hands in the second meth- may be a pause: od, when the hands are immersed in the This is allowed in order to carry forward etheric body of the patient and are definite- the loosening process as smoothly and as ly working in etheric matter. Healers on the painlessly as possible. This loosening of the first, fourth and seventh rays use the mode nadis starts in the eyes. This process of de- of “hand immersion.” 78 tachment often shows itself in the relaxa- Interestingly, Bailey added: “The sixth ray tion and lack of fear which dying persons healer is rare and is successful only when high- so often show; they evidence a condition of ly developed; he will then use both methods peace, and a willingness to go, plus an ina- interchangeably.” Presumably sixth-ray peo- bility to make a mental effort.81 ple, who are not yet sufficiently developed, are After the pause, which may be “of a shorter or called to serve in other ways. longer period of time,” The Death Process the organized etheric body, loosened from Healing, of course, is only temporary in its all nervous relationship through the action effects. The time will come when the physical of the nadis, begins to gather itself together vehicle has deteriorated to the point where soul for the final departure. It withdraws from purpose is better served by withdrawal from the extremities towards the required “door the physical world. Alternatively, death may of exit” and focuses itself in the area around that door for the final “pull” of the directing come earlier due to external factors such as 82 accidents, violence—including suicide—and soul. war. The “door of exit,” through which the etheric At death, the etheric body is withdrawn from body is withdrawn, is the solar plexus for “in- the dense physical form. A passage in Ecclesi- fants and [for] men and women who are polar- astes describes the event in poetic terms: ized entirely in the physical and astral bodies.” “[M]an goeth to his long home, and the For “mental types, of the more highly evolved

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 21 The Esoteric Quarterly human units” it is “at the top of the head in the the early work of Elizabeth Kubler Ross and region of the fontenelle.”83 “In the case of an Raymond Moody.91 advanced person,” we also learn the process of The time spent in the etheric body varies from withdrawal “is consciously undertaken, and the individual to individual. “In the case of the man retains his vital interests and his aware- undeveloped person, the etheric body can lin- ness of relationship to others even whilst los- ger for a long time in the neighborhood of its ing his grip on physical existence.84 outer disintegrating shell because the pull of When the etheric body has fully emerged from the soul is not potent, and the material aspect the physical form is. Where the person is advanced, and therefore detached in his thinking from the physical the vital body then assumes the vague out- plane, the dissolution of the vital body can be line of the form that it energized, and this exceedingly rapid.”92 under the influence of the thoughtform of himself which the man has built up over the During the dissolution of the etheric body, the years. This thoughtform exists in the case “solar fire,” which previously flowed through of every human being, and must be de- the sutratma, is “gathered back to the atomic stroyed before the second stage of elimina- subplane where it will still vitalize the perma- tion is finally complete.85 nent atom and hold it connected within the causal body.”93 The energies of the etheric The etheric body may remain, in the form of a body are “reorganized and withdrawn, leaving wraith, close to the physical form for a while only the pranic substance which is identified because it “is not yet freed from its influence. with the etheric vehicle of the planet itself.”94 There is still a slight rapport between the two.” “That is why,” Bailey explained, “clairvoyants The Etheric Body and often claim to see the etheric body hovering around the death bed or the coffin.”86 Mean- Spiritual Development while the physical body begins to “fall into he etheric bodies of aspirants and disciples corruption,” and its component matter “scat- 87 T develop more rapidly with age than do tered to the elements.” She commented that those of others and take on distinct qualities. the “entire process of the focusing of the spir- Moreover, Alice Bailey explained, “the grip of itual elements in the etheric body, with the the soul upon the etheric centers will be more subsequent abstraction and consequent dissipa- powerful from the very start of the physical tion of the etheric body, would be greatly has- existence.” By the fourteenth year, she contin- tened by the substitution of cremation for buri- 88 ued, “the quality and the nature of the incar- al.” nated soul and its approximate age or experi- Release from the dense physical form still ence are determined, the physical, astral and leaves the individual with three of the four ve- mental elementals are under control, and the hicles of the lower quaternary: the etheric, as- soul, the indwelling spiritual man, already de- tral, and lower mental bodies. The energies of termines the life tendencies and choices.”95 the astral and lower mental bodies interpene- Strengthening and refinement of the etheric trate the etheric body, “and at the center there body allows the individual to become more is a point of light which indicates the presence 89 discriminating in what energies and impres- of the soul.” sions, including telepathic impressions, reach So long as the ego remains in the etheric body, the dense physical vehicle: “the etheric body of the possibility remains that the individual can a disciple or even of an advanced person can be “brought back again into physical plane be so handled and dealt with that it can reject existence . . . though the discarding of the much that might otherwise impinge upon it, dense physical body has to all intents and pur- pass through it or use it as a channel.”96 90 poses been completed.” Near-death experi- We have seen that the etheric body transmits ences are receiving increasing attention since astral and mental energy to the physical body.

This is part of the mechanism by which the atom (on the first). So why, Bailey asked, does personality exercises control over its vehicles. occult work not address a gap between the Bailey explained, however, that when a person physical and etheric bodies? Answering her “is upon the Path of Discipleship and, there- own question, she explained that “factually fore, upon the reversed wheel [of the Zodiac], there is no true gap; there is simply the ignor- leading to initiation, the etheric body becomes ing by humanity of an aspect of the physical the transmitter of soul body which is of far energy and not of per- Strengthening and refine- more importance than is sonality force.” In this ment of the etheric body al- the dense physical vehi- 100 way “the powerful ef- lows the individual to be- cle.” “The occultist,” fect of the second Ray she insisted, “never con- of Love-Wisdom— come more discriminating in cerns himself with the working through the what energies and impres- dense physical vehicle. subjective six rays, ac- sions, including telepathic He considers the etheric cording to ray type— body to be the true form begins steadily to domi- impressions, reach the dense and the dense as simply nate the vital body, pro- physical vehicle: “the etheric the material used to fill ducing consequently the in the form.”101 Another shift of force and of in- body of a disciple or even of author commented that tensity to the centers an advanced person can be closure of the physical- above the diaphragm.”97 so handled and dealt with etheric gap was a major achievement of the Bailey reminded us that that it can reject much that Lemurian race and thus integration of the per- is long behind us.102 sonality is both a pre- might otherwise impinge requisite and an effect upon it, pass through it or As an individual evolves of a life of service. The use it as a channel. spiritually, the coarse “inflowing force of the matter of the lower qua- soul” not only serves “to bring all the three ternary is gradually replaced by matter of a lower aspects of the man into one serving higher vibration. On the physical plane, the whole” but is “the major factor leading to effect is primarily on the etheric body and, in demonstrated service.”98 “With the heart and Bailey’s words, it “stimulates the divine mind . . . functioning together,” she continued, flow.”103 The process can be accelerated “by forms of breathing (respiration and inspira- the force, flowing through the server will tion), and by certain rhythmic currents set up galvanize his etheric body into activity. on the mental plane and driving from thence to Then, automatically, the physical body will the lower ethers. The etheric body will thus be respond. There is, consequently, a great strengthened, purified, cleansed, and rear- need for the server to pause upon the astral ranged.”104 Bailey warned, however, against plane, and there, in a holy and controlled si- overemphasis on the physical act of breath- lence, wait, before permitting the force to ing.105 In particular, she criticized breathing pour through into the centers in the etheric exercises which involve “holding the nose,” body. This point of silence is one of the which she characterized as “dangerous.”106 mysteries of spiritual unfoldment.”99 Breathing exercises, properly understood and The world’s great mystics would agree with performed, were central to the ancient yogic her on the importance of “controlled silence.” discipline of pranayama, and Bailey noted that We know that an important element of occult the “The inflow and outflow of prana in the training is building the antahkarana between physical body is symbolized for us in the nec- the personality and spiritual triad, or more spe- essary inspiration and exhalation of the cifically between the mental unit (on the fourth breath.”107 Pranayama “refers to the control, mental subplane) and the mental permanent regulation and suppression of the vital airs, the

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 23 The Esoteric Quarterly breath and the forces or shaktis of the body. It of the head,” and that of the “advanced worldly leads in reality to the organization of the vital man . . . in the pituitary region,” the occultist body or the etheric body so that the life current works in that point in the middle of the head or forces, emanating from the ego or spiritual where the “light in the head” makes its appear- man on his own plane, can be correctly trans- ance.113 The energy of the soul is swept into mitted to the physical man in objective mani- action by the power of will. And “through the festation.”108 etheric body and the force, directed through one or other of the centers . . . the soul carries Complementing pranayama is the discipline of on the work in magic.”114 pratyahara, or withdrawal of sensory awareness from the extremities of the body and even Much has also been written about raising the from the whole body. In Bailey’s words: “Here kundalini, the “serpent fire” that lies coiled at we get back of the physical and the etheric the base of the spine. Bailey warned, in the bodies, to the emotional body, the seat of the strongest terms, of the danger of trying, by desires, of sensory perception and of feeling. force of will, to raise the kundalini before ade- She added: “The etheric body is organized and quate spiritual preparation has been done to controlled and the astral body is re-oriented, ensure a clear channel up the spine. An indi- for the desire nature is subdued and the real vidual who does this “stands in danger of ob- man withdraws himself gradually from all session, insanity, physical death, or of dire dis- sense contacts.”109 Some Christian esotericists, ease in some part of his body, and he also runs wishing to spare Jesus the agony of the cross, the risk of an over-development of the sex im- claim that he practiced pratyahara. pulse.”115 Much has been written about the awakening of If the spine is still clogged, Bailey continued, the higher chakras. Bailey spoke of the “un- the flame is turned “backwards and down- foldment and awakening of the centers in the wards,” permitting “the entrance, through the etheric body, the centralization of the fires of burning etheric, of undesirable and extraneous the body and their just progression up the forces, currents, and even entities. These wreck spine, in order to make union with the fire of and tear and ruin what is left of the etheric ve- the soul.”110 hicle, of the brain tissue and even of the dense physical body itself.”116 She issued a similar Bailey distinguished the brow chakra, located warning in another work: between the eyebrows, from the pineal gland to which it is customarily related. The brow There is extreme danger attendant upon the chakra, “commonly called the third eye,” premature awakening of the fire, and the consequent destruction of certain protective manifests as a result of the vibratory inter- structures in the etheric body and the break- action between the forces of the soul, working down of the barriers between this world ing through the pineal gland, and the forces and the astral world, before the pupil is of the personality, working through the pi- properly “balanced between the pairs of tuitary body. These negative and positive opposites.” There is a menace in the prema- forces interact, and when potent enough ture growth of the lower psychic powers produce the light in the head. Just as the before the higher nature is awakened, and physical eye came into being in response to the effect upon the brain can be seen as in- the light of the sun so the spiritual eye sanity in some form or other, mild or the equally comes into being in response to the reverse.117 light of the spiritual sun.111 Exercises to raise the kundalini should be un- “As [the disciple’s] awareness of this light in- dertaken only under proper supervision: “The creases,” she added, “so does the apparatus of methods for arousing the kundalini fire and vision develop, and the mechanism whereby he blending it with the downpouring egoic force can see things in the spiritual light comes into must . . . be left for direct teaching by a master being in the etheric body.”112 Whereas the in this science to his pupil.”118 mystic’s consciousness is centered “in the top

The etheric body bears a special relationship to atmic, monadic and logoic planes. It will be the Fifth Ray of Concrete Science.119 But we recalled that the seven systemic planes form are also told that, in the present world cycle, the cosmic physical plane. the Third Ray of Active Intelligence is “slowly In a later book Bailey declared that the mas- conditioning the etheric body,” under the in- ters’ “etheric bodies” are composed of cosmic fluence of the “third sign, Gemini,”120 Esoteric etheric matter: astrologer Phillip Lindsay commented: All the Masters, for instance, do not work Gemini is a sign of communication . . . . [It] through a physical vehicle. They neverthe- rules the etheric body, the greater etheric less, have an etheric body composed of the matrix that extends to all corners of the substance of the cosmic etheric levels— universe; it has an innate sense of connect- buddhic, atmic, monadic and logoic levels. . edness with all life; it is the chameleon who . . Until They choose, at the sixth Initiation through its adaptability and penchant for of Decision, one of the seven Paths of Ul- communication can be all things to all peo- timate Destiny, the Masters function in ple. . . . Appropriately, Gemini rules the Their cosmic etheric bodies.125 thymus, the endocrine gland associated with the heart chakra.121 The inclusion of logoic etheric matter is surprising, given that their consciousness—or It was mentioned earlier that the etheric bodies more correctly identification—is focused at the of sacred planets have a triangular structure. monadic level.126 Be that as it may, those mas- Bailey also commented on the potential for ters who do “work through a physical vehicle” advanced esoteric students to grasp “the essen- presumably have etheric bodies like ours, per- tial beauty of coordinated and organized haps interpenetrated by cosmic etheric materi- movement and its power to qualify and condi- al. tion the entire universal pattern” through study of the triangles formed by triplets of chakras in Whether or not the masters choose to take the human etheric body.122 dense physical forms the way we do, they are capable of manifesting a mayavirupa, “a vehi- The Etheric Bodies cle of expression which is built of atomic of Initiates physical and astral substance and of concrete mental substance.” Bailey added that the mas- e are told that avatars have “a peculiar ters can “create [one] at will” and cause it “to W facility or capacity . . . to work with en- vanish at will.”127 The mayavirupa has a meas- ergies, transmitted via the etheric body of a ure of solidity but is not subject to the same planet or of the solar system.” In particular, constraints as are our physical bodies; for ex- Christ “transmitted the cosmic energy of love ample, it can seem to pass through walls. directly to the physical plane of our planet, and When the risen Christ appeared to his disciples also in a peculiar manner to the fourth king- in a locked room, he is believed to have been dom in nature, the human.”123 “wearing” a mayavirupa. Alice Bailey informed us that Sanat Kumara— The ability to create a mayavirupa involves the Ancient of Days, Lord of the World, and processes which are learned even before the greatest of the avatars—took “physical form” third initiation: processes based on combined during the Lemurian era “and has remained use of the sutratma and antahkarana to produce with us ever since.” “Owing to the extreme a powerful thoughtform.128 Bailey added the purity of His nature,” she explained, “He was following tantalizing hint: “The power of the unable to take a dense physical body such as Triad begins to pour through, thus energizing ours, and has to function in His etheric all human activities upon the physical plane, body.”124 That etheric body may not have been and vitalizing in ever increasing degree the built, like ours, from systemic etheric matter. man's thought forms. The key to the formation More likely it was constructed of cosmic ether- of the Mayavirupa is found in the right com- ic matter—that is, matter of our buddhic, prehension of the process.”129

For most of us information about the etheric remains to impede the progress of this bodies of masters and higher initiates is pri- flame.”134 She continued: marily of theoretical interest. Our more imme- As the fire of kundalini and prana proceed diate concern is to know when, on the initiato- with their work, and the channel becomes ry path, differences in the etheric body occur, more and more cleared, the centers more and in what ways they become evident. Bailey active, and the body purer, the flame of provided a potentially useful hint: “Though the spirit, or the fire from the Ego, comes more etheric body of man is an expression of the actively downwards till a flame of real bril- seven ray qualities in varying degrees of force, liance issues from the top of the head. This the etheric body of a Master is an expression of flame surges upwards through the bodies monadic energy, and comes into full activity towards its source, the causal body.135 after the third initiation.”130 She also explained that the etheric body is “the agent consciously The brilliant “flame” issuing from the head no directed, of the rapidly integrating spiritual doubt underlies the artistic convention of de- unity. It can convey into the brain the needed picting saints with haloes. energies and that occult information which The awakening of the chakras, or centers, together make a man a Master of the Wisdom which takes place on the path of discipleship and eventually a Christ—all-inclusive in HIS 131 and continues on the initiatory path, unveil developed attractive and magnetic power.” new ray influences: “Through the seven cen- We have already seen that the quality of the ters in the etheric body, the seven ray energies etheric body can be enhanced by right think- make their appearance and produce their ef- ing. If the process is successful, “certain trans- fects, but at the very heart of each chakra or formations and re-organizations take place lotus, there is a vortex of force to be found which eventually cause a complete change in which is composed of pure manasic energy, the activities of the physical plane man. The and, therefore, is purely energy of the first constant cultivation of this effects an entire three rays.”136 132 transformation in the threefold lower man.” “This energy,” Bailey continued, “is quiescent Such a transformation can be seen in the lives until an advanced stage of discipleship is of the great geniuses of history, some of whom reached. It only sweeps into its divine rhythm were known to sleep no more than four hours a and activity when the three tiers of petals, night. We see it even more clearly in the lives found in the egoic lotus (the higher corre- of certain Indian holy men and Christian stig- spondence), are beginning to unfold, and the matics who no longer sleep at all—and, most center of the egoic lotus is becoming vi- startlingly, no longer need to eat or drink. This brant.”137 Finally, we learn: “Though the ether- latter ability may point to a future mode of ic body of man is an expression of the seven physical existence in which human beings will ray qualities in varying degrees of force, the interact very differently with the lesser lives on etheric body of a Master is an expression of the planet. Meanwhile, it seems likely that the monadic energy, and comes into full activity lesions on stigmatics’ bodies are caused by after the third initiation.”138 strong thoughtforms, propelled by strong emo- 133 We should note that, at the fourth initiation, tion and acting through the etheric body. the egoic lotus, the causal body, is destroyed At some point on the initiatory path the and “the soul life—as hitherto understood— kundalini rises freely up the spine, and the fades out” and the “sum total of memory, qual- chakras become fully awakened. “As time ity and acquirements is then absorbed into the elapses between the first and fourth Initiation,” Monad.”139 Bailey added: Bailey explained, “the threefold channel in the The astral body also vanishes in the same spine, and the entire etheric body is gradually great process of renunciation, and the phys- cleansed and purified by the action of the fire ical body (as an automatic agent of the vital till all ‘dross’ . . . is burnt away, and naught body) is no longer needed, though it per-

sists and serves a purpose when so required needs of aspiration, discipleship and initiation. by the Monad. From the form aspect, you As the individual progresses on the Path of then have the Monad, the sphere of the Return, the etheric body undergoes important Spiritual Triad and the etheric body upon changes, revealing modes of physical existence the physical plane.140 already utilized by the masters and pointing to what, one day, may become the norm for hu- Concluding Remarks manity at large. s the citations in this article testify, Alice The four etheric subplanes can be viewed as A Bailey’s teachings offer a wealth of in- the lower correspondents of the buddhic, formation on the etheric body. What this arti- atmic, monadic, and logoic planes, which in cle has tried to do, within its length constraints, their turn serve as the “etheric subplanes” of is to compile the teachings into a coherent and the cosmic physical plane. Recognition of this logical framework for the convenience of eso- correspondence is evocative. It reminds us teric students, and especially for those who that, while our etheric bodies are built of mate- may wish to do further research. Commentary rial from the four systemic ethers, they have provides continuity and context and suggests qualities pertaining to the higher planes, quali- what we can learn from the teachings. ties that unfold on the initiatory path. Indeed, Of most immediate concern to us is under- we are told that the masters function in etheric standing the critical role of the etheric body in bodies composed of matter of the cosmic establishing and maintaining life on the physi- ethers. That recognition should give us new cal plane: how the dense physical vehicle is appreciation of the etheric body and its im- built around the structure of the etheric body portance, not only for us at our present stage of during gestation and childhood, how the ether- development but also for entities at exalted ic body vitalizes the endocrine and nervous levels of consciousness. systems and the circulation of the blood, and how it strives to maintain health and function during physical embodiment. Those tasks are 1 Psyche, customarily translated as “soul,” did obstructed by poor living conditions, inade- not acquire its modern meaning until well into the classical age. quate diet, and disease; they are aided by 2 healthful lifestyles and, when needed, by con- T. Subba Row, “Buddhism and Ancient Wis- ventional and complementary healing thera- dom-Religion,” Esoteric Writings (Adyar, In- dia: Theosophical Publishing House, 1895), 58- pies. 59. In eastern philosophy prana is intimately When the lifetime comes to an end the etheric connected with breath. 3 body withdraws from the dense physical form. Isaac Newton, “General Scholium,” appended In due course it too is abandoned, as the les- to the 2nd (1713) edition of Principia. Online: sons learned at the physical, astral, and lower http://www.isaacnewton.ca/gen_scholium/Gene ral_Scholium_Motte_1729_4pg.pdf. (accessed mental levels are absorbed into their respective Nov. 26, 2012). permanent atoms. We should note that there 4 Charles W. Leadbeater, The Chakras (Wheaton, are four lower vehicles—constituting the lower II: Theosophical Publishing House, 1927), 3. quaternary—but only three permanent atoms. 5 Alice A. Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Ve- The physical permanent atom absorbs the rec- hicle (New York, NY: Lucis, 1950), 145. Cita- ord of the etheric body and also any record of tions from Bailey’s works have been brought in- dense physical life that is to be preserved. to conformity with American spelling and quotation-mark conventions. All other changes or Of less immediate concern, but of no less im- interpolations are disclosed by square brackets: portance to an appreciation of individual and []. collective human potential, is understanding 6 Ibid., 145. the way in which the etheric body establishes 7 Leadbeater, The Chakras, 3. 8 and eventually awakens the chakras, and how Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Healing (New York, it—and in turn the physical body—adapt to the NY: Lucis, 1953), 2-3. Parenthesis in original.

9 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II (New 29 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 412. York, NY: Lucis, 1942), 184-185. 30 Geoffrey Hodson, The Miracle of Birth (1929; 10 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 7. reprint;Wheaton IL: Quest books, 1981), 82, 84- 11 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology (New York, 88. NY: Lucis, 1951), 11. 31 Hodson, The Miracle of Birth, 84-87. 12 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 178. 32 The author is indebted to a reviewer for this 13 It should be noted that a planet’s or sun’s degree insight. of evolution is also the degree of evolution of its 33 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 81-82. ensouling Logos. 34 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 463. 14 Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, 479. See also the 35 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 82. comments in Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 36 Ibid., 80. 163. 37 Ibid. 15 Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire 38 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 90. (New York, NY: Lucis, 1925), 79. 39 Ibid., 857. 16 Alice A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul (New 40 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 142, York, NY: Lucis, 1927), 220. 145. 17 Ibid., 218. 41 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 183. 18 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 154- 42 The creative thread is said to connect the throat 155. chakra with the causal body. 19 For a discussion of the systemic and cosmic 43 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 735. planes, and the position of our vehicles on the 44 Ibid. former, see John F. Nash, The Soul and Its Des- 45 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, 434. tiny (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2004), 46 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 85. 40-46, 97-103. 47 Ibid., 469. 20 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 92. The 48 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 143. statement that all prana that we receive is of so- 49 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 218-219. Paren- lar origin is not surprising, given that the Sun is thesis in original. the source of life for the whole solar system. 50 Ibid., 120. See also Bailey, Esoteric Psychology 21 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 90 II, 412-413. Along with most other writers, Bai- 22 For a discussion of solar angels and their work ley assigns the root chakra to the adrenal glands see Nash, The Soul and Its Destiny, 177-206. and the sacral chakra to the gonads, but it 23 Ibid. should be noted that the adrenals lie above the 24 Ibid., 924. gonads, on a level with the pancreas. 25 Quantum theory predicts a non-zero energy for 51 Alice A. Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations a vacuum, associated with the rapid emergence (New York, NY: Lucis, 1960), 227. and decay of pairs of subatomic particles. 52 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 354. 26 Theories of the Higgs field are developing rap- 53 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 85. idly, following observation of the Higgs boson, 54 Ibid., 107. believed to be the origin of mass. For a brief 55 Alice A. Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation discussion of the issues see Andrew Z. Jones, (New York, NY: Lucis, 1922), 245. “What is the Higgs Field?” Online: 56 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 79. http://physics.about.com/od/quantumphysics/f/ 57 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 190. HiggsField.htm. (accessed February 20, 2013). 58 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, 512. 27 The electromagnetic field emitted by living or- 59 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 219. ganisms, tentatively called the “L-field,” was 60 Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic first observed in the 1930s by Harold Saxton (New York, NY: Lucis, 1934), 77. Parenthesis Burr, anatomy professor at Yale University. in original. Kirlian photography is named for Russian sci- 61 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 106. entist Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina 62 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 293. who discovered the technique of photographing 63 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 127. electrical coronal discharges in 1939. Main- 64 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 107. stream science embraces the basic concept but 65 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 79, 316. remains skeptical of its broader interpretation. 66 Ibid., 80. 28 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I (New 67 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 114- York, NY: Lucis, 1936), 123. 115.

68 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 127. 100 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 140 69 Ibid. 101 Ibid., 348-349. 70 Torkum Saraydarian, The Creative Sound 102 See for example Charles DeMotte, The Inner (Cave Creek, AZ: 1999), 65-66. Side of History (Mariposa CA: Source Publica- 71 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 626-627. tions, 1998), 72. 72 Ibid., 26. 103 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 63. 73 Ibid., 645. 104 Ibid., 156. Parenthesis in original. 74 Ibid. 105 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 218. 75 A Reiki healing group, to which the present 106 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 77. author belonged, included former Marines and 107 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 218. Special Forces personnel whose effectiveness as 108 Ibid., 182-183. In Hindu thought Shakti (from practitioners was evident. Sanskrit: “ability”) is the primordial cosmic en- 76 See for example Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship ergy, or motive force, believed to move through in the New Age II (New York, NY: Lucis, the entire universe. 1955), 118. Also Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 17; 109 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 182-183. One A Treatise on White Magic, 578. objective of pratyahara is to overcome sensitiv- 77 Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age I ity to pain. Indian fakirs famously pierce them- (New York, NY: Lucis, 1944), 353-354 selves with knives or lie on beds of nails to 78 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 650. demonstrate their prowess. Some Christian eso- 79 Ecclesiastes 12:5-7. The “golden bowl” is be- tericists, eager to spare Jesus the horrors of the lieved to be a reference to the etheric body. crucifixion, suggest that he was able to with- 80 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 470. draw sensory awareness from the physical body 81 Ibid., 474-475. 110 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 62-63. 82 Ibid., 475. 111 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 212-213. 83 Ibid., 456. The fontenelle, or fontanelle, is the 112 Ibid. soft, membranous gaps between the incomplete- 113 Ibid., 247. ly formed cranial bones of a fetus or infant. One 114 Ibid., 216. wonders why Bailey cited it as the etheric 115 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 126. body’s point of exit, since the fontanelle closes 116 Ibid. in childhood. Perhaps she felt it was a more 117 Ibid., 222. specific marker than the crown chakra, which 118 Ibid., 221-222. lies a short distance above, the head. 119 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology I, 162. 84 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 476. 120 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology (New York, 85 Ibid., 477. NY: Lucis, 1951), 357. 86 Ibid., 470. 121 Phillip Lindsay, “The Gemini Christ,” 2006. 87 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 735. Online: 88 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 470. http://www.esotericastrologer.org/Newsletters/3 89 Ibid., 477. 6%20The%20Gemini%20Christ%20I%20am% 90 Ibid., 460. 20made%20all%20things%20to%20all%20men 91 A wealth of information on near-death experi- .htm. (accessed December 13, 2012). ences is available from the International Associ- 122 Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, 418. ation for Near-Death Studies: http://near- 123 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 616. death.com/. (accessed December 12, 2012). A 124 Alice A. Bailey, Initiation, Human & Solar recent book that has received much attention is (New York, NY: Lucis, 1922), 28. Eben Alexander’s, Proof of Heaven: A Neuro- 125 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 159. surgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife (New York, 126 Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations, 282. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2012.) 127 Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Hi- 92 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 460. erarchy (New York, NY: Lucis, 1957), 697. See 93 Ibid. also A Treatise on White Magic, 265. 94 Ibid., 477. 128 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 959. See 95 Ibid., 463-464. also Alice A. Bailey, Education in the New Age 96 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 115. (New York, NY: Lucis, 1954), 31. 97 Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, 352-353. 129 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 959-960. 98 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, 134 130 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, 294. 99 Ibid., 138. 131 Bailey, Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle, 61.

132 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 192. 136 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology II, 294 133 John F. Nash, “Stigmata and the Initiatory 137 Ibid. Parenthesis in original. Path,” The Esoteric Quarterly (Summer 2012), 138 Ibid. 49-72. 139 Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations, 506-507. 134 Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, 124 140 Ibid., 507. Parenthesis in original. 135 Ibid., 124-125.

Modern Science, Psychology, and The Enduring Mystery of Consciousness: An Esoteric/Mystical Critique, Part II

James Moffatt

Man stands between two worlds—an external visible world, that enters the senses and is shared by everyone: and an internal world that none of his senses meets, which is shared by no one—that is, the approach to it is uniquely individual, for although all the people in the world can observe you, only you can observe yourself. This internal world is the second reality, and is invisible. ... Let me ask you: in which world of reality do you live and have your being? In the world outside you, revealed by your senses, or in the world that no one sees, and only you can observe—this inner world? I think you will agree that it is in this inner world that you really live all the time, and feel and suffer. Now both worlds are verifiable experimentally—the outer observable world and the inner self- observable world. You can prove things in the outer world, and you can prove things in the inner world, in the one case by observation and in the second case by self-observation.1 Maurice Nicoll, Commentaries on Gurdjieff & Ouspensky, Vol. 1.

Abstract The Reduction Complex n the second article of this series, the mate- s much as reductionism has become an I rialist - mechanist - reductionist paradigm, A essential element of the materialist epis- which dominates modern science and psychol- temology which has come to dominate modern ogy, will be examined in order to identify and science, its methodological virtues—reducing elaborate upon some of its most problematic complex phenomena to their simpler and thus limitations. Drawing on select esoteric sources, more experimentally manageable elements— an analysis of several critical limitations of the and its apparent explanatory power has blinded reductionist approach to the study of con- its proponents to its inherent limitations. In sciousness will be presented. In addition, Ken fact, reductionism has become such an integral Wilber’s analysis of the collapse of the Great aspect of modern science’s methodological Chain of Being—that which he terms “the dis- arsenal and, as such, an implicit theoretical aster of modernity”—will then be examined to ______provide both a historical perspective on modern science’s commitment to reductionism, as About the Author well as an assessment of the reductionist epis- James Moffatt was raised in Ottawa, Ontario, where temological assumptions, biases, and limita- he attended Carleton University and earned degrees tions. These considerations are intended to in both Sociology and Psychology. For the past 35 identify the significance of the lack of scale years, James has collaborated with Dr. Christopher within modern scientific and psychological Holmes in studying, writing, and lecturing about considerations of consciousness: that is, the consciousness from an esoteric mystical perspec- failure to acknowledge that humans are multi- tive. James resides in Toronto, where he is em- dimensional beings existing in a multidimen- ployed as a law clerk, and also works as a freelance sional consciousness. legal and medical writer.

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 31 The Esoteric Quarterly assumption of conventional scientific thinking If somebody says to you, “But that’s so re- that scientists rarely trouble themselves with ductionistic!” you would do well to re- questions regarding the obvious limitations spond, “That’s such a quaint, old-fashioned inherent in that approach. Indeed, they evince a complaint! What on earth do you have in disconcerting faith in the process of induction: mind?”6 whereby the collation and integration of count- Talbott says that what he has in mind is the less studies of manageable and minimal bits “intertwined notions” of materialism, mecha- and parts of things will lead to an integrated nism, and reductionism. He quotes David and comprehensive grasp of complex wholes. Bohm’s definition of science’s “mechanistic Nevertheless, the evidence from within science philosophy” as being founded on the assump- itself, which contradicts that assumption, is tion that: overwhelming. … the great diversity of things that appear Over the course of the past 50 years, there in all of our experience, every day as well have been numerous critiques of science’s as scientific, can all be reduced completely reigning materialist-mechanistic-reductionistic and perfectly to nothing more than conse- paradigm, which have detailed the striking quences of the operation of an absolute and limitations of any scientific account or expla- final set of purely quantitative laws deter- nation based upon that approach. In the 1960s mining the behavior of a few kinds of basic and early 1970s, such seminal works as Floyd entities or variables.7 Matson’s The Broken Image, Arthur Koestler’s The Ghost In the Machine, and Theodore Talbott expands on this definition to provide Roszak’s Where The Wasteland Ends set out the following definition of the Reduction thoughtful challenges to the materialist para- Complex—in which he includes both material- digm and its proponents’ tacit equation of their ism and mechanism—to be an expression of theoretical, metaphysical, and methodological the following convictions: 2 choices with legitimate science. In the inter- (1) There are a few simple, fundamental vening years, there has been no shortage of constituent elements of the material works identifying and explicating the signifi- 3 universe (Bohm’s “basic entities or cant limitations of reductionism. Despite the variables”). cogency of these numerous critiques, the thrust of modern science continues to be pursued on (2) These elements relate to each other ex- the basis of a largely unquestioned commit- ternally, like the parts of a machine. ment to reductionism as both a methodology (3) The fundamental elements and the laws and an explanatory framework. In a paper enti- governing them can be precisely char- tled “The Reduction Complex,” Stephen L. acterized mathematically and logically. Talbott characterizes “materialism, mechanism, and reductionism” as “slippery terms”;4 (4) The fundamental elements and laws ac- observing that it is difficult to determine where count for and ultimately explain every- “the material” is in materialism. Talbott point- thing that happens. This explanation edly asks: “What sort of material … does the proceeds unidirectionally, “from the quantum physicist believe in?”5 The simple bottom up.” fact is that materialists seem blithely unaware (5) The constituent elements and laws of and/or unconcerned about the ominous import the world possess no intrinsic character of such questions, and maintain a peculiar con- of mind.8 fidence that the alleged problems of reductionism are, in the words of philosopher Daniel Quite simply, an impartial weighing of the Dennett, “too vague to merit a response ….” first four convictions, in terms of scientific Talbott quotes Dennett’s dismissal of all evidence, reveals that—when taken as declara- charges of “reductionism”: tions of absolute truths—they are all demon- strably false. The fifth is a metaphysical

32 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 assumption which, in terms of the evidence tempt at such a line of thought. Our com- gathered by esotericists and mystics, is clearly pulsion is nothing but habit.13 mistaken. Talbott argues that reductionism Although the reductionist approach has been should be understood not as a body of con- an extraordinarily powerful methodological cepts, but rather as “a way of exercising (and approach in biology, its explanatory limitations not exercising) our cognitive faculties.”9 In are obvious. In The Turning Point, Fritjof keeping with Abraham Maslow, who described Capra quotes the eminent biologist Paul Weiss reductionism as “a cognitive pathology,” and on the insurmountable obstacles that confront a Theodore Roszak, who characterized it as a “bottom up” explanation of life: “psychic contraction,” Talbott defines it as a single-minded cognitive activity aimed at “iso- We can assert definitely … on the basis of lating something so as to grasp it more easily strictly empirical investigation, that the and precisely and gain power over it.”10 While sheer reversal of our prior analytic dissec- he acknowledges that we must certainly aim to tion of the universe by putting the pieces get hold of our understanding of things, Tal- together again, whether in reality or just in bott argues that the one-sided and overly in- our minds, can yield no complete explana- tense pursuit of that aim “sever[s] it from its tion of even the most elementary living sys- relationships to everything else.”11 The unin- tem.14 [emphasis added] tended consequence of mindlessly doing so is Theodore Roszak has identified the hierarchi- that we falsify and decontextualize that which cal nature of both human beings and the Uni- we are attempting to understand. verse as the primary reason why reductionism Within the confines of this article, it is not pos- cannot result in comprehensive explanations— sible to do justice to the sophistication of Tal- because a higher level of a system in Nature bott’s analysis or the elegance of his critique of cannot be explained by a lower level. The lev- “the reduction complex.” However, his com- els of hierarchical systems are separated by a mentary on the popular materialist notion cum “barrier of complexity” and, therefore, each postulate cum faith “that causation flows unidi- higher level is, to some extent, autonomous rectionally upward from fundamental building from the lower levels. Roszak states that: blocks, giving us successive levels of explana- All specialization in science is based on this tion …”12 is particularly noteworthy. Describ- astonishing process by which each struc- ing this idea as being “wholly gratuitous,” Tal- tural level is not only elevated above, but in bott explains that: a significant sense is liberated from the Nowhere in our experience—as opposed to governance of the next level down, and so the world of our models—do we find such can be understood in its own terms. Each one-direction causation. And what plausible level both depends upon and yet transcends reason do we have for assuming that the the level below.15 smaller the piece of the universe we are Biologists would never question that the looking at, the more fundamental its ex- physical structures and processes they study planatory value? This is to take the crudest are comprised of atoms, Roszak says, but they possible reading of human experience in as- need not possess a mastery of theoretical phys- sembling things and to make a controlling ics to pursue their discipline. They are study- scientific principle of it. ing organisms at another level of organization Yes, I know how powerfully we are com- and extrapolating from observations carried pelled by our habit of taking tiny elements out a higher material level. He adds that an- as the most fundamentally constitutive of thropologists do not need to know anything the world. But the habit proves upon reflec- about the chemistry of cells to study and com- tion to be vacuous: no significant line of ment upon the culture and customs of the peo- thought supports it, and I’m not even sure ple who are composed of those cells. On that whether anyone has ever made a serious at- basis, Roszak asks:

In what sense, then, is reductionism from which is arbitrary determined by the receptiv- higher to lower levels an “explanation” of ity of our senses. anything? If it were, how could such Our illusions regarding this world of appear- autonomous fields of study be possible?16 ances arise, according to Nicoll, because sense As we shall see in the ensuing examination of thinking comprises “the natural action of the Maurice Nicoll’s work, Talbott’s characteriza- mind.” Consequently, we refer automatically tion of the materialists’ faith in “bottom up” to the senses as the final proof of a thing’s ex- causation as a cognitive habit is in keeping istence. Nonetheless, the entirety of one’s in- with the esoteric conception that the apprehen- ner invisible world exists in a dimension which sion of the external world through the senses is is beyond the reach of the senses. Thoughts, properly understood as a function and expres- feelings, and imagination—even though they sion of the lower aspects of the mind. In addi- do not occupy any position in three- tion, the comments by Weiss and Roszak on dimensional space—are no less real than that the explanatory limitations of reductionism which we apprehend through our senses. In- will be that much more salient when consid- deed, it is precisely because we are attached by ered in terms of Lama Govinda’s commentary our senses to the external world that we are on māyā and the illusions of reductionism, and immersed in a world of appearances; we live Ken Wilber’s analysis of the collapse of hier- under the spell of illusion or māyā. However, archy into “the flatland” of modern thought. the illusory quality of this world of appearances does not mean that the external world is Maurice Nicoll’s “Invisible not real. Rather, the illusion lies in regarding Realities” this world, which the senses apprehend, as a complete view—rather than a partial aspect— aurice Nicoll (1884-1953), a British of “reality.” Nicoll explains the significance of psychiatrist, studied with Carl Jung and, M “studying the invisible” in overcoming the il- subsequently, became a pupil of both G.I. lusion of the world of appearances, and the Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky. Nicoll’s writ- role that sense-based thinking plays in resisting ings—which include extensive commentaries this change: on the Fourth Way teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky17—establish him as one of the Is not the starting point of illusion ... the twentieth century’s most impressive and in- taking of appearances for all ultimate real- sightful esoteric scholars. His esoteric interpre- ity and the belief that sense perception is tations of the Gospels populate those commen- the sole standard of the real? The seen taries and are the topics of his books, The New world is real but does not embrace reality. Man and The Mark.18 In his book, Living It is built out of invisible realities which Time,19 Nicoll addresses the importance of surround it on every side. The visible world grasping one’s “invisibility” as a first step in is contained in a much greater invisible the study and development of being and con- world (invisible to us), and we do not lose sciousness. Typically, Nicoll says, we take the one by studying the other but enlarge one world of appearances—garnered by our into the other. But as our natural everyday senses—as comprising that which is real; how- logic is so closely connected with sense- ever, as he notes, our senses hardly reveal the thinking it fights against this enlarging of external world in its totality. We live in a Uni- the world, and its actual form of under- verse of energies/matters and our senses are standing becomes a psychological barrier to attuned and respond to only a few of them. further understanding.20 What we call “reality” is, then, a configuration Unfortunately, the entire thrust and direction of of interpretations derived from those ener- modern psychology and science has been to gies/matters as they are selected by our senses. focus on that which is externally observable, Even knowing this, however, we still take it and, therefore, quantifiable. Nevertheless, as for granted that objects in the external world long as the limits of materialism confront sci- are what they appear to be—rather than that ence with numerous phenomena that are nei-

34 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 ther knowable in terms of the senses nor meas- tion of the Universe and the laws of Nature urable—including life, consciousness, love, which govern it. thought, emotion, belief, creativity, imagina- The essential flaw in modern science is its as- tion, beauty, spiritual affinities and aspira- sumption that our normal state of waking con- tions—there is a serious problem. But the ma- sciousness is final. Nicoll argues that we have terialists’ faith in reductionism is such that no right to make such an assumption. Cer- they see no such tainly, we recognize predicament; they Is not the starting point of illu- the qualitative change assert that these in consciousness invisible human sion ... the taking of appear- between dreams and realities are “nothing ances for all ultimate reality the waking state, and but” and “nothing and the belief that sense percep- admit that the degree more” than the of awareness and expression of material tion is the sole standard of the form of relation processes and events. real? The seen world is real but changes between Hence, “life” is does not embrace reality. It is them. However, explicable as being an materialist scientists elegant outcome of an built out of invisible realities do not recognize that intricate series of which surround it on every side. further changes in the fortunate biochemical waking state are accidents; “conscious- The visible world is contained in possible, manifesting ness” and “mind” are a much greater invisible world in new degrees of nothing more than the (invisible to us), and we do not awareness or forms of end-products of the relation. As Nicoll brain’s electro-chem- lose one by studying the other points out, we fail to ical activities; and but enlarge one into the other. understand how our “God” is but another conceptualizations, observations, and name for the laws of Nature (as scientists un- interpretations of the world and ourselves are derstand them). defined and limited by our level and degree of Nicoll’s claims, about the illusory nature of consciousness, and that changes in our con- sense-based knowledge, identify the essential sciousness and being would bring about an limitation of any attempt to study conscious- entirely new relation to them. For all esoteric ness solely in terms of external observation. teachings are premised on the understanding Indeed, from an esoteric perspective, any sci- that the level of one’s knowledge is determined entific knowledge which restricts itself to the by the level of one’s consciousness and being. observable material realm is ultimately illu- From an esoteric perspective, modern psy- sory—insofar as it is based on a conceptualiza- chologists’ commitment to studying con- tion of reality, which it takes to be final and sciousness solely through external observation complete, but which esoteric teachings de- constitutes a methodological error which has scribe as being only a partial aspect of higher, led them to look for consciousness where it more integrated and inclusive realms. The vast cannot be found. As Nicoll observed, human majority of modern psychologists and scien- beings stand between two worlds—an inner tists ignore or are ignorant of the higher states and outer reality—and both of those realms are of consciousness and the higher or more subtle verifiable experimentally. Self-knowledge ac- dimensions of reality that are said to be know- quired through systematic self-observation, able by those whose consciousness transcends which is the basis of all esoteric teachings, re- the limits of normal waking consciousness. veals that consciousness can only be known While this shortcoming does not invalidate within oneself and that our normal waking scientific knowledge, it does mean that it is consciousness is most assuredly not final. Eso- ultimately illusory to the extent that it is re- teric methods, practices, and disciplines reveal garded as providing a comprehensive descrip-

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 35 The Esoteric Quarterly that our capacity to know may be transformed, So those shoes must be removed when en- to an unfathomable degree, by awakening our tering into the sphere of knowledge above dormant faculties of higher consciousness and sense-knowledge. To drag psychological being. Further, esoteric teachings maintain that understanding down to the level of sensual the most objective knowledge of the Universe understanding is to destroy everything in can only be attained by those who know them- Man that can lead to his internal develop- selves—by acquiring the states of higher con- ment and make him a man inwardly.23 [em- sciousness and being that allow one to tran- phasis added] scend the limitations of the “normal” subjec- According to Nicoll, this psychological under- tive, egoistic state of consciousness–and, in standing and the psychological man recur in doing so, realize the Self and its unity with the visions, dreams, and parables. The psychologi- Universe. cal man is divided into inner and outer parts, or The “Natural” and the higher and lower levels, respectively. The head “Spiritual” Man is the highest or inner division of the psychological man; its thinking concerns the inner he debate between modern science’s mate- meaning of things. The feet constitute the T rialism and mystical/esoteric teachings’ lower level or outer division; their thinking is metaphysical perspective hardly comprises a sensual and forms the shoes. These two orders new argument—or, to be more accurate, is il- of truth exist on different levels, rather than luminated by comparing a literal and an eso- being contradictory. But one who thinks only teric interpretation of the Gospels. In his from his feet cannot understand a higher level books, The Mark and The New Man, Nicoll of truth. Trying to do so, he reduces everything examines the Gospels in order to present the to the familiar categories of a lower level of differences between the “natural” or “sensual truth. He turns things into opposites which are man,” who understands life only through the not opposites. The result of failing to under- evidence of his senses, and the “spiritual man” stand this distinction between orders of truth, who thinks psychologically, that is, in terms Nicoll says, is that “when people lose all sense beyond literal interpretation. “How does a man of levels—of higher and lower—the world walk the Earth?” Nicoll asks in The Mark21 A turns into opposites and violence.”24 sensual man, whose mind is based on the This antagonism between sensual and psycho- senses—“the mind of the flesh”—thinks from logical thinking prevents the natural man from his feet; more specifically, from the “shoes” developing consciousness and spiritual being. that cover his feet. His truth is always of the As long as he remains attached to his senses, same order or on the same level. His under- he is incapable of the psychological thinking standing of parables is always at one level: he necessary for this development. What is neces- takes everything literally. Nicoll asks: ‘Why sary to fulfill this development is faith. While does it so frequently say in the Scriptures and “faith” is typically equated with unsubstanti- other esoteric literature “that a man must re- ated and unverifiable beliefs, Nicoll argues that move his shoes before entering a sacred faith (pistis), as it is translated in the New Tes- place?”’22 He says that this refers to the neces- tament, means more than belief. It means “an- sity of going beyond sense-based truth in order 25 other kind of thinking.” He cites a passage to understand psychological truth. Hence, a from Matthew XVI: 10-12 to illustrate this man must remove his shoes—his usual sense- point: based truth—because a mind based on the senses and the truth derived from their evi- And when his disciples were come to the dence cannot understand higher levels of truth. other side, they had forgotten to take bread. The mind exists at different levels and the Then Jesus said unto them, ‘Take heed and lower cannot fathom the workings of the beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of higher. The sensual is unable to comprehend the Sadducees.’ And they reasoned among the spiritual: themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus per-

ceived, he said unto them, ‘O ye of little how the worlds were fashioned by God’s faith, why reason ye among yourselves, be- word; how it was that from things unseen all cause ye have brought no bread? ... How is that we see took their origin.”30 it that ye do not understand that I spake it The unknown writer of Hebrews continues: “it not to you concerning bread, that ye should is impossible to please God without faith.” beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of (XI: 6)31 In other words, without a foundation the Sadducees?’ Then understood they how in the faith that allows one to go beyond the he bade them beware not of the leaven of evidence of the senses and literal thinking, one bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees cannot perceive the existence of this invisible and of the Sadducees.26 scale, and understand the meaning of things In this incident, the disciples respond to psychologically. To recognize scale is to real- Christ’s words literally and, therefore, misun- ize that meaning exists on different levels and derstand him. When he says that they have that the same words may be understood liter- little faith, he is not referring to “belief.” In ally or psychologically. this instance, “faith” means understanding on a level other than the sensual man’s literal inter- Matter Transcends Itself pretation. Christ was not speaking sensually, icoll’s commentaries about the limits of but rather psychologically; his meaning can N sensual thinking, the importance of faith only be understood psychologically. The in opening the mind to that which lies beyond leaven of which Christ spoke was psychologi- the reach of the senses, and the significance of cal—not literal. The bread about which he was scale are as equally applicable to modern psy- speaking was not meant literally; instead, he chology’s study of consciousness as they are to was referring to the idea of “falsity infecting interpreting scripture. It is impossible to over- good.” There are always Pharisees and Saddu- estimate the importance of this concept of cees amongst us: fundamentalists, who under- scale and how it places one’s perspective and stand everything literally, in terms of fixed understanding of the meaning of everything— ideas and prejudices; hypocrites, who do eve- consciousness, being, knowledge, understand- rything for the sake of appearances, without ing, meaning, reality, matter, mind, spirit, and inner belief or conviction. Christ connects the God—in a new and startling light. Further- disciples’ littleness of faith with their inability more, these considerations are of the utmost to understand psychologically. Sensual think- importance in assessing the explanatory limita- ing cannot make contact with the meaning of tions imposed by adherence to a reductionist Christ’s teaching. Thus, Nicoll states: “Faith is theoretical and methodological framework. necessary to open a part of the mind not opened by the senses.”27 Strangely enough, when the history of twentieth-century physics’ formulations of relativity Nicoll continues this examination of the higher theory and quantum theory—arguably, modern meaning of faith by turning to Hebrews XI:1, science’s greatest achievements—are consid- in which faith is called “a basis for belief in ered, it might be said that those successes have 28 what is not seen.” This is not simply a matter revealed the limits of sense-based thinking, the of believing in the invisible, but is, according importance of faith (in terms of another kind of to Nicoll, “a basis or plane on which another thinking), and the significance of scale. While world of relations and values can be reached, Newtonian mechanics was regarded for many one that is above the seen world and the cause years as the ultimate theoretical description of 29 of it.” This perception of a world, which is the laws of Nature, the discovery of electric above the world of appearances and is the and magnetic phenomena was but the first in a cause of it—but invisible to the senses— series of developments revealing the theory’s provides one with a sense of scale. One ac- essential limitations. In The Tao of Physics, quires an understanding of the existence of Fritjof Capra explains that we know now: higher and lower levels. Thus, in Hebrews XI: 3, it says: “It is faith that lets us understand ... that the Newtonian model is valid only for objects consisting of large numbers of

atoms, and only for velocities which are Quantum theory has thus demolished the small compared to the speed of light. classical concepts of solid objects and of When the first condition is not given, clas- strictly deterministic laws of matter. At the sical mechanics has to be replaced by quan- subatomic level, the solid material objects tum theory; when the second condition is of classical physics dissolve into wave-like not satisfied, relativity theory has to be ap- patterns of probabilities, and these patterns, plied.32 ultimately, do not represent probabilities of things, but rather probabilities of intercon- Thus, physicists have discovered that the sup- nections. A careful analysis of the process posed universality of Newton’s model col- of observation in atomic physics has shown lapses at the sub-atomic level and as bodies that the subatomic particles have no mean- approach the speed of light. In these other di- ing as isolated entities, but can only be un- mensions—these other levels in the hierarchy derstood as interconnections between the of the physical world—our normal conceptu- preparation of an experiment and the sub- alizations of matter fail, and it is necessary to sequent measurement. Quantum theory thus think in new ways to enter the new order of reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It meaning imposed by each particular level of shows that we cannot decompose the world reality. Einstein’s magnificent theory of rela- into independently existing smallest units. tivity not only defies common sense in its As we penetrate into matter, nature does not unity of space and time, but also brilliantly show us any isolated ‘basic building blocks, overthrows thousands of years of philosophy but rather appears as a complicated web of and science. Quantum mechanics—a collective relations between the various parts of the achievement which represents an even more whole.33 provocative and astounding challenge to previous thought—provides a mathematical descrip- It is difficult to grasp the extraordinary signifi- tion of a level of reality, at which our normal cance of what Capra is saying in describing everyday concepts and assumptions are in- quantum physicists’ discoveries about the be- applicable: an impossibly bewildering world, wildering and unfathomable nature of reality. which confirms J.B.S. Haldane’s famous asser- In searching for the basic indivisible unit tion that the Universe is “not only queerer than which occupies the lowest rung in the hierar- we suppose but queerer than we can suppose.” chy of matter, physicists have been confronted Both relativity theory and quantum theory then by the oneness of the Universe! Instead of have furnished us with a world-view—derived identifying some fundamental building block, by apprehending reality on another level of physicists have discovered the webs of rela- scale—in which the limits of our sense-based tionships linking parts to wholes. It was these thinking and language are revealed. extraordinary discoveries which led philosopher Karl Popper to observe that, in the quan- Ironically, then, it is physics—with its ancient tum Universe, “matter has transcended it- quest to determine the elementary constituents self.”34 It is the significance of these discover- of matter—which has developed an under- ies that have led Theodore Roszak, Stephen standing of the nature of reality which poses Talbott, and other critics of the materialist- some of the most difficult problems for sci- mechanistic-reductionist paradigm to ask: what ence’s materialist - mechanistic - reductionist exactly does it mean to be an ardent material- paradigm. ist? Describing the bafflingly incomprehensible But the implications of what quantum physics sub-atomic world, in which “matter does not has revealed about the nature of reality are exist with certainty at definite places, but even more incredible. Capra explains that the rather shows ‘tendencies to exist’, and atomic web of relations: events do not occur with certainty at definite times and in definite ways, but rather show … always include the observer in an essen- ‘tendencies to occur,’” Capra writes: tial way. The human observer constitutes

the final link in the chain of observational also addressing non-local effects and other processes, and the properties of any atomic quantum paradoxes. He distinguishes between object can only be understood in terms of an explicate order—the world of separate the object’s interaction with the observer. things and events—and an underlying, hidden This means that the classical ideal of an ob- implicate order of undivided wholeness. In the jective description of nature is no longer explicate order, there exist all the independent valid. The Cartesian partition between the I material particles—the quanta—that interact and the world, between the observer and the locally in the space/time configuration. observed, cannot be made when dealing Bohm’s revolutionary proposal is that there with atomic matter. In atomic physics, we exists an implicate order—an invisible, un- can never speak about nature without, at the manifested realm—which informs the expli- same time, speaking about ourselves.35 cate order. In this deeper level of reality, the quanta—which appear to be separate and un- Thus, physics has led us to a dimension in connected in the explicate order—are con- which the external physical world cannot be nected and unified. Everything in the impli- described or its meaning defined without con- cate order is, according to Bohm, enfolded into necting it to the much greater invisible world everything else. Thus, he claims that all the which permeates it. The materialist’s Holy phenomena of the observable explicate order— Grail—the fundamental building block—is manifest physical reality—unfolds from the chimerical; his faith in reductionism has be- implicate order. The implicate order is simul- trayed him, even as it mocks him with his own taneously available to each part of the expli- reflection. Ultimately, what matters is not mat- cate order. Thus, the Universe is conceived of ter; what is fundamentally material is immate- as a hologram in which each part is in the rial. Our attempts to understand the rudimen- whole, and the whole is in each part—although tary constituents of the physical world yield no Bohm, believing that the term “hologram” im- thing, but instead a system of relationship in plied a misleading and untenable stasis, coined which consciousness participates. the term “holomovement” to describe the dy- The challenges to materialism presented by namic nature of these processes of enfolding twentieth - century physics become even more and unfolding by which the implicate order striking when considering the work of David informs the explicate order. Bohm. An esteemed colleague of Einstein’s at Discussing the significance of his theoretical Princeton University, Bohm’s theoretical work position, Bohm contrasts it with the mechanis- had involved attempting to understand the im- tic world-view which strangely—in light of portance of “hidden variables” in resolving the physics’ revolutionary discoveries—continues paradoxes of relativity theory and quantum to dominate contemporary science: theory. Despite the dramatic contradictions in the two perspectives’ interpretation of the na- Whereas the mechanistic picture regarded ture of physical reality, Bohm was struck by discrete objects as the primary reality, and the fact that each theory suggested, for entirely the enfolding and unfolding of organisms, different reasons, that an explanation “imply- including minds, as secondary phenomena, ing the undivided wholeness of the universe I suggest that the unbroken movements of would provide a much more orderly way of enfolding and unfolding, which I call the considering the general nature of reality.”36 It holomovement, is primary while the appar- was that paradox which inspired Bohm to de- ently discrete objects are secondary phe- velop a theory which began by recognizing the nomena. ... the whole universe is actively wholeness of the Universe as the primary real- enfolded to some degree in each of its parts. ity. Because the whole is enfolded in each part, In his groundbreaking 1984 book, Wholeness so are all the other parts, in some way and and the Implicate Order, Bohm presents a to some degree. Hence, the mechanistic pic- model of wholeness by which he attempts to ture, according to which the parts are only reconcile relativity and quantum theory, while externally related to each other, is denied.

That is, it is denied to be the primary truth; It’s difficult to convey to outsiders the dis- external relatedness is a secondary, deriva- taste which the majority of physicists feel tive truth, applicable only to the secondary when they hear the word ‘non-locality.’ … order of things which I call the explicate or these guys so treasure locality that they are unfolded order.37 willing to deny reality itself before accepting a world that’s non-local.38 In essence, Bohm turns the mechanistic worldview upside down. Rather than attempting to Despite their radically different approaches, understand the whole by reducing matter to its then, both scientists and mystics have con- most elementary parts, Bohm asserts that what cluded that our sense-based perceptions of the he calls “postmodern physics” must begin with externally observable world are fundamentally the whole. By turning the supposition as to the incomplete and, therefore, illusory. Comment- nature of the primary reality on its head, Bohm ing on the illusory nature of the physical realm, is proposing a radical reformulation of the dis- Sir Arthur Eddington declared that “the explo- cipline: one which, in its assumptions, reso- ration of the external world by the methods of nates with the assertions of mystical and eso- physical science leads not to a concrete reality teric teachings throughout the ages. but rather to a shadow world of symbols ….”39 That statement is intriguingly reminiscent of As astonishing and intriguing as these views Plato’s depiction of the human condition in his about the unity of the Universe are, the concept famous tale of the cave: wherein he likened of non-locality represents perhaps the most men to prisoners chained in a cave, unable to revolutionary development in modern physics’ turn round and see the source of illumination fantastic history. Einstein famously opposed behind them, and thus failing to understand quantum theory and was particularly con- that the externally observable figures on the vinced of its deficiencies because it implied wall before them are insubstantial—merely “non-local effects” or “action at a distance”— shadows. According to physicists, matter is which he regarded as an absurdity. In 1935, almost totally comprised of empty space—but Einstein and his colleagues, Boris Podolsky it is only when our senses are extended by in- and Nathan Rosen, devised a thought experi- strumentation, providing a more comprehen- ment to illustrate quantum theory’s incom- sive order of scale, that it is possible to under- pleteness. The so-called “EPR paradox” posed stand this truth. According to the mysti- the seemingly impossible existence of instan- cal/esoteric tradition, the material world is a taneous communication of information— projection of higher dimensions—but it is only beyond the speed of light—which emerged by developing our dormant faculties of con- from a singularity condition. In 1964, physicist sciousness, acquiring the instrument of recep- John Bell tested the EPR paradox; assuming tivity and experiencing a more comprehensive that reality is local and that measurement of scale of materiality and consciousness, that we one particle could not affect its paired particle. can understand the nature of our illusions. In But Bell’s results revealed that his assumption each approach, then, “reality” is defined by a of locality was incorrect. Consequently, non- process of observation and relation, within an locality became a baffling, unsettling, and order of scale, through levels of meaning. highly disturbing yet incontrovertible quantum fact. Further research has upheld Bell’s work; Māyā as a Lesser Degree as unsettling as the concept of non-locality of Reality may be, it is here to stay. On that basis, physicist Nick Herbert maintains that any theory in ven without this dissolution of the nature physics, which does not include non-local ef- E and primacy of matter in quantum physics, fects, is incomplete. Nevertheless, Herbert also the materialist faces some rather exacting dif- notes the decidedly “unscientific” stubborn ficulties in conceptualizing, if not studying resistance to non-locality which prevails himself. That is, if he maintains that “he” is amongst physicists: “nothing more” than the aggregate of material

40 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 processes and events, at what level of these an analysis of the thing in question, because processes and events does he assign meaning? it is an intentional arbitrary suppression of How does he reconcile this level of interpreta- all non-material factors, without which the tion with mind, self, being, soul, spirit, particular form and composition of matter thought, imagination, emotion, identification could not exist.)40 [emphasis added] and all the other aspects Indeed, it is this “inten- of himself that elude his We are turned round, like the tional arbitrary sup- touch. Typically, he has pression of all non- responded that human prisoners in Plato’s cave, tak- material factors” or the beings are “nothing but” ing shadows for substance: reduction of everything and “nothing more” without seeing them as pro- to “nothing but” mate- than biochemical rial factors which com- mechanisms … but bio- jections; without understand- prises the materialists’ chemistry leads to ing them as partial aspects of grand illusion that their molecules and thence to a more comprehensive whole; science is objective and atoms, and from there value-free. It is an in- … to what we know is and without relating them to disputable truth that trouble. As Capra ex- their source. Our understand- neither the Universe plained, the materialist nor our own beings cannot “go all the way” ing of consciousness, know- consist of merely what in his quest to reduce ledge, and reality is partial, the senses reveal: that matter to its primary and therefore, illusory. As which we examine al- state without, in some ways represents a com- sense, “knowing him- long as we fail to “relativize” bination of ourselves self.” In light of that each by connecting it with its with that which we ob- apparent road to ruin, higher dimensions, we live serve. And that combi- there is something es- nation is much more sentially untenable and under the spell and divisions complex and meaning- incomplete about the of māyā. ful than materialist- scientist’s subscription mechanistic scientists to a mechanistic-reductionist-materialism as know or suspect. The precision that they have being the way to study reality objectively. sought—by adhering to a method which osten- Lama Anagarika Govinda—the twentieth cen- sibly eliminates them from the observational tury German philosopher who became a Ti- process—demands the very opposite. By betan Buddhist monk—poses the question of studying and understanding the extraordinary how objective reductionism can claim to be in dynamics, linking levels of consciousness of this way: the observer and levels of reality observed, it is If we examined a master-work of art, say a possible to enter a new order of exactitude and painting, with a microscope and come to meaning. But to do so means, at the very least, the conclusion that it is nothing but some to accept that there may be higher levels of sort of fibrous matter combined with some consciousness than our normal waking con- coloured substance, and that all this can sciousness. And it is precisely the refusal to again be reduced to mere elementary vibra- admit this possibility that is the essential tions —this would not bring us one step flaw—the blindness—of the materialists’ ap- nearer to the phenomenon of beauty or to proach. Seeking to reduce everything to simple the understanding of its significance, its material explanations, they arbitrarily suppress meaning or its message; it would only re- the possibility that “consciousness” may be veal the senselessness of such a philosophy something other than a phenomenon produced of ‘nothing but-ism’ and its methods of ‘ob- by the brain’s material processes, or that it may jective’ analysis. (In reality, reality it is exist at levels above that which they experi- neither ‘objective’, i.e., unprejudiced, nor ence and take for granted as final. Attached to

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 41 The Esoteric Quarterly their senses, they live under the spell of illu- straight line. Likewise, the perception and co- sion, or māyā. They interpret a partial or lower ordination of the phases of a straight line degree of reality as complete, without under- movement leads to the conception of a plane. standing that it is a projection of higher (more The same process applied to a plane leads to subtle) and more integrated levels of reality. the perception of a body, and in turn, when Lama Govinda characterizes and explains the applied to a body, results in being conscious of illusory quality of our normal waking state: its “inherent laws and mode of existence.” Succeeding steps in this ascending hierarchy Compared with the highest or “absolute” yield: awareness of a conscious being’s indi- reality, all forms, in which this reality ap- viduality and psychic character; the law of pears to us, are illusory, because they are karma; and finally, a consciousness of “supra- only partial aspects, and as such incom- individual karmic interrelatedness”: plete, torn out of their organic connexions and deprived of their universal relation- In short, we arrive at the perception of a ship. The only reality, which we could call cosmic world order, an infinite mutual rela- “absolute,” is that of the all-embracing tionship of all things, beings and events, whole. Each partial aspect must therefore until we finally realize the universality of constitute a lesser degree of reality—the consciousness in Dharmakāya, when attain- less universal, the more illusory and im- ing Enlightenment. permanent.41 [emphasis added] Seen from the consciousness of the Dhar- Lama Govinda continues by stating that “to a makāya, all separate forms of appearance point-like consciousness the continuity of a are māyā. Māyā in the deepest sense, how- line is inconceivable”42—that is, the higher ever, is reality in its creative aspect, or the dimension of a line is invisible. Yet, from the creative aspect of reality. Thus, māyā be- perspective of this linear consciousness, a comes the cause of illusion, but it is not il- point-like consciousness is clearly visible; it is lusion itself, as long as it is seen as a whole, understood to be a subsidiary part of the whole in its continuity, its creative function, or as defined by a line. To this linear or one- infinite power of transformation and uni- dimensional consciousness, however, the con- versal relationship. tinuity of a plane—a two-dimensional con- As soon, however, as we stop at any of its sciousness—would also be inconceivable and creations and try to limit it to a state of “be- invisible. Lama Govinda extends this analogy ing” or self-confined existence, we fall a through the higher dimensions given by three- prey to illusion, by taking the effect for the dimensional space consciousnesses, conclud- cause, the shadow for the substance, the ing that: particular aspect for the ultimate reality, the Thus, the consciousness of a higher dimen- momentary for something that exists in it- sion consists in the co-ordinated and simul- self.44 taneous perception of several systems of re- Lama Govinda articulates the essence of the lationship or directions of movement, in a esoteric viewpoint: that the way to truth and wider, more comprehensive unity, without contact with ultimate reality lies in the trans- destroying the individual characteristics of formation of one’s being and consciousness. the integrated lower dimensions. The real- Doing so, it is at once “relativized”—through ity of a lower dimension is therefore not the co-ordination and simultaneous perception annihilated by a higher one, but only “rela- of the hierarchy of dimensions in which reality tivized” or put into another perspective of is manifested—and returns to that unity which values.43 [emphasis added] is the source of all Creation. Of course, as long Lama Govinda goes on to explain how the per- as we believe that we know ourselves ... as ception and co-ordination of the different long as we take our normal state as the only phases in the movement of a point proceeding consciousness possible for human beings ... as in one direction leads to the perception of a long as we deny the integral relationship be-

42 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 tween consciousness and our capacity to ap- gues for epistemological pluralism: the recog- prehend reality ... as long as we see meaning as nition that there are three fundamental modes nothing more than the end-product of our in- of knowing that, when taken together, yield the teraction with the world of our senses ... as most comprehensive apprehension of the self long as we regard the Universe as nothing but and the cosmos. On that basis, he contends that the culmination of a process in which simple esotericism must be recognized as a science of matter has blindly evolved into increasing consciousness and being. Finally, in discussing complexity, life, and consciousness ... as long the collapse of “the Great Chain of Being,” as we entertain the rather presumptuous con- Wilber reveals an aspect of materialist reduc- ceit that there is no intelligence in the Universe tionism which is generally overlooked—even superior to our own ... then we live in māyā. by its most vocal critics. We are turned round, like the prisoners in The concept of the Great Chain of Being—a Plato’s cave, taking shadows for substance: hierarchical conceptualization of conscious- without seeing them as projections; without ness, being, and the cosmos— has been consis- understanding them as partial aspects of a tently articulated in various spiritual and eso- more comprehensive whole; and without relat- teric teachings throughout the ages. In his clas- ing them to their source. Our understanding of sic work, The Great Chain of Being, Arthur consciousness, knowledge, and reality is par- Lovejoy described it as having “been the tial, and therefore, illusory. As long as we fail dominant official philosophy of the larger part to “relativize” each by connecting it with its of civilized humankind through most of its higher dimensions, we live under the spell and history.”45 Houston Smith—perhaps the fore- divisions of māyā. most contemporary authority on comparative The Great Nest of Being religion—states that virtually all the great wisdom traditions have subscribed to the concept en Wilber is a contemporary conscious- of the great chain as “a hierarchy of being and K ness theorist whose work involves a knowing.” Noting the inadequacies of the scholarly and insightful appreciation of the metaphor of a “Great Chain,” Wilber proposes mystical-esoteric tradition. A prolific writer, that these hierarchies should be more appropri- Wilber’s impressive body of work involves an ately labeled a “Great Nest.” Thus, he charac- attempt to develop a model of consciousness terizes these different levels of consciousness by incorporating esoteric spirituality, philoso- as constituting “nested hierarchies”: in which phy, psychology and modern science in a each of the lower levels, while possessing its comprehensive synthesis. In his book, The unique characteristics and laws, is subsumed Marriage Of Sense And Soul: Integrating Sci- by those levels above it. As such, the higher ence And Religion, Wilber presents a concise levels contain and inform those levels below and intriguing analysis of the conflict between which remain intact. Furthermore, as each religion and science in which he argues that level of human consciousness is “nested” much of the supposed antagonism between the within those above it, so too are the different two approaches to knowing reality represents a dimensions of Creation. Hence, the esoteric failure to understand that they are grounded in maxim asserts that: “man is a microcosm of two distinct and radically different epistemolo- the macrocosm.” This means that, within hu- gies. In addition, Wilber exposes materialist man beings—their “inner Universe”—there scientists’ self-serving misunderstanding and exists a “cosmos” which mirrors the essential misrepresentation of the meaning of empiri- principles and structure of the external cosmos. cism and the scientific method. He argues that they cannot claim that their pronouncements In essence, the view put forth is that of a on all matters pertaining to the inner domains nested hierarchy of different levels of being, in of being and the subtle realms of reality are which each higher level both transcends and based on science—because materialist science includes that which is lower. Wilber describes long ago banished from consideration all inte- this position to mean that: rior dimensions of reality. Instead, Wilber ar-

… reality is a rich tapestry of interwoven the replacement of quality with quantity, the levels, reaching from matter to body to loss of value and meaning, the denial of the mind to soul to spirit. Each senior level significance of experience, and a host of other “envelops” or “enfolds” its junior dimen- materialist secular assumptions—by character- sions—a series of nests within nests of Be- izing it as “the disenchantment of the world.” ing—so that everything, and event in the Lewis Mumford coined the memorable phrase, world is interwoven with every other, and “the disqualified universe,” to describe the ful- all are ultimately enveloped and enfolded fillment of Galileo’s objective of reducing all by Spirit, by God, by Goddess, by Tao, by aspects of “reality” to only that which the Brahman, by the Absolute itself.46 senses can apprehend and that which can be measured. While the number of levels within the Great Nest may be divided in different ways in dif- The Three Eyes of Knowing ferent traditions—from three to five to seven to the twelve that Plotinus describes—Wilber espite the enduring and significant prob- states that there is widespread recognition that D lems created by the collapse of the Great there are, at the very least, three distinct levels. Nest, Wilber points out that there have been Thus, in Buddhism and Hinduism, there exist numerous significant advances and positive the three great stages of being: gross (matter developments which have accompanied the and body); subtle (mind and soul); and causal emergence of Western modernity: such as the (spirit). No matter what model one considers, establishing of liberal democracies; wide- Wilber states that the fundamental idea recurs spread ideals of equality, freedom, and justice throughout various esoteric teachings and wis- for all; modern medicine, physics, biology, and dom traditions: chemistry; the end of slavery; and the rise of feminism, amongst others. In attempting to Reality is a series of nests within nests define modernity, Wilber notes that various within nests, reaching from matter to mind scholars—including Max Weber and Jurgen to Spirit, with the result that all beings and Habermas—have identified “the differentiation all levels were ultimately enfolded in the of the cultural value spheres” as its essential all-pervasive and loving embrace of an 47 feature; particularly, the differentiation of the ever-present Spirit.” domains of the arts, morals, and science. Prior Wilber explains that the post-Enlightenment, to the Enlightenment, each of these spheres modern West “became the first major civiliza- was “fused,” and; therefore, a scientist such as tion in the history of humanity to deny almost Galileo could not freely report that which he entirely the existence of the Great Nest of Be- had observed or his theories because art and ing.”48 When scientific materialism became morals and science were all under the Church’s “the dominant official philosophy of the mod- authority. With the rise of modernity, each ern West,”49 the Great Nest—a ladder of Crea- sphere freed itself from the Church and be- tion which ascended from matter to God— came a distinct domain, free to develop at its collapsed into the “flatland” of matter. De- own pace, using its own tools, and no longer scribing the essential consequences of the tri- fearful of the intrusions from other spheres. umph of materialism, Wilber states: This differentiation led to science being able to pursue truth on its own terms, without inter- According to scientific materialism, the ference from religious or state authority. Simi- Great Nest of matter, body, mind, soul, and larly, artists and moral theorists pursued their spirit could be thoroughly and rudely re- aims without fear of being sanctioned or sup- duced to systems of matter alone; and mat- pressed by the Church or the state. The ter—whether in the material brain or material process systems—would account for all fulfillment of this differentiation is what of reality, without remainder.50 Wilber terms “the dignity of modernity.” It is this differentiation which freed science from Max Weber summarized this transformation of the Church’s condemnation; liberating it to worldviews—which led to “the death of God,”

44 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 search for truth in terms of its own methods, as being dialogical, and the eye of the spirit as standards, and protocols. being translogical. The eye of the flesh is monological: speaking to oneself, in so far as it By contrast, Wilber argues that the “bad news” deals with objects and things in the external of modernity was that differentiation “went too world—various “Its”—whether they are rocks, far into actual dissociation, fragmentation, stars, kidneys, atoms, or gases. One does not alienation.”51 Scientific materialism’s domi- talk to objects or things; one simply appre- nance became so thorough and so unques- hends them through the senses or through in- tioned within its own ranks that it devolved struments that extend the senses—such as mi- into “scientism” —as evidenced by its adher- croscopes, electroencephalograms, and tele- ents’ dismissal of all other value spheres as scopes. The eye of the mind is dialogical— being worthless or illusory. Accordingly, insofar as the attempt to interpret the meaning Wilber says, scientific materialism “proof symbols involves an exchange of ideas. The nounced the Great Chain of Being to be non- act of interpretation does not involve treating existent.”52 He describes the results of this the author of a text or a formula as an object— wholly arbitrary and decidedly unscientific such as a rock or a star—but rather as a sub- declaration: ject, with whom one would converse if he or Gone was mind and gone was soul and she were present. There is a presumption of an gone was Spirit—gone, in fact, was the en- operative intelligence which has devised lan- tire Great Chain, except for its pitiful bot- guage, mathematics or logic and which could tom rung—and in its place, as Whitehead amplify upon its meaning or revise it in re- famously lamented, there was reality as “a sponse to another speaker’s commentary. dull affair, soundless, scentless, colorless; Translogical refers to that which transcends the merely the hurrying of material endlessly, rational, the logical, and the mental. The eye of meaninglessly.”53 the spirit is translogical: in that it sees beyond To fully understand the significance of the the reach of the senses and mental functioning, “disaster of modernity,” Wilber argues that it apprehending through gnosis—a direct non- must be understood within the context of sci- dualistic knowing—that which is revealed only entific materialism’s simultaneous rejection of to the eye of contemplation. not just the Great Nest, but also “epistemologi- Wilber notes that it is common amongst many cal pluralism.” Scientific materialism routinely of those who identify themselves as propo- asserts that it represents the most reliable and nents of a “new [scientific] paradigm” to dis- objective means of knowing. In order to ex- claim the validity of the mechanistic Newto- pose the dogmatic nature of that assumption, nian-Cartesian worldview in which the Uni- Wilber undertakes an examination of the tradi- verse is conceptualized as being atomistic, tional conceptualization of the three ways of fragmented, and divided. They note the simi- knowing—the eye of the flesh, the eye of the larities between the holistic perspectives of the mind, and the eye of contemplation—as articu- wisdom traditions, and the “web of life” views lated by Christian mystics such as Bonaventure that have arisen from systems and complexity and Hugh of St. Victor. Each of these modes theory, relativity and quantum mechanics. Do- of knowing, he explains, discloses its own di- ing so, they herald the creation of a new quan- mension of being: respectively, gross, subtle, tum self/quantum society holistic paradigm and causal. Further, the realities apprehended which will be ushered in by science itself. But by each mode, when taken together, yield a Wilber argues that such arguments miss the balance of empirical knowledge (science), ra- point entirely about the essential limitations of tional knowledge (logic and mathematics), and all of these scientific perspectives: that they are spiritual knowledge (gnosis). all monological. They are all based on that In elaborating on the distinction between the which is grounded in sensory apprehension. three eyes, Wilber characterizes the eye of the Thus, he states: flesh as being monological, the eye of the mind

… the real problem of our modern frag- none of them could be registered by the eye mentation is not that empirical science is of the flesh or empirical instruments. Art atomistic rather than systems-oriented; the and morals and contemplation and spirit real problem is that all higher modes of were all demolished by the scientific bull in knowing have been brutally collapsed into the china shop of consciousness. And there monological and empirical science. Both was the disaster of modernity.57 atomism and systems theory are monologi- According to Wilber, the problem with modern cal/empirical, and it is the reduction of all materialist science is not that it is atomistic; on knowledge to monological modes that con- the contrary, he asserts that it was basically stitutes the disaster of modernity.54 holistic from its inception. No, the problem is In further analyzing the “disaster of moder- that it is a “flatland holism” which deals with nity,” Wilber focuses on the significance of the Its and nothing but Its. Within that flatland, different types of language which are spoken there are no “I”s or “We”s interwoven Its”58— in the spheres of arts, morals, and science. He which scientists assure us provides the most notes that the expressive-aesthetic language of objective and comprehensive understanding the arts is an “I” language, while that of morals and description of reality. is a “We” language, and that of objective sci- The triumph of materialist monological science ence is an “It” language. With the modern dif- meant that only that which could be described ferentiation of the three spheres, Wilber claims in valueless, empirical, process It-language that they became the realms of the I, the We, was real and meaningful. Whitehead described and the It; each being insulated from the others such Its as having simple location: you can and allowing for the dignified pursuit of its apprehend them with your senses or, literally, own truths on its own terms. But, as noted, put your finger on them. But, as Wilber points this differentiation—which Wilber says began out, you cannot put your finger on compassion in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries— or consciousness … or honor or value or jus- began to devolve into a “pathological dissocia- tice—none of the interior dimensions of I and tion” as the stunning ascendancy of monologi- We—because they do not have simple loca- cal materialist science resulted in its domi- tion. Nevertheless, under the imperial rule of nance of “serious discourse in the Western materialist science, all interior dimensions world.” 55 As a result, Wilber says, “the I and were reduced to exterior Its. As R.D. Laing the WE were colonialized by the IT” 56 and argued, this is the fulfillment of Galileo’s vi- materialist science’s monological truth: sion: a world in which only that which is quan- … became grandiose in its own conceit and tifiable is real. Never mind that it represented cancerous in its relations to others. Full of what Laing terms a “most profound corrup- itself and flush with stunning victories, em- tion” of the Greek view of Nature as being pirical science became scientism, the belief alive, dynamic, and integrally related to human that there is no reality save that revealed by consciousness and being. Ironically, then, it is science, and no truth save that which sci- Galileo—the fabled victim of religious perse- ence delivers. The subjective and interior cution by those too ignorant and fearful to domains—the I and the WE—were flat- overcome their dogmatism and attempt to un- tened into objective, exterior, empirical derstand the Universe as it is, rather than how processes, either atomistic or systems. Con- it is supposed to be—who himself prescribed sciousness itself, and the mind and the heart an epistemological monopoly which was ful- and the soul of humankind, could not be filled in the disaster of the modern scientific seen with a microscope, a telescope, a mind. cloud chamber, a photographic plate, and so Wilber concludes that when modern science all were pronounced epiphenomenal at best, rejected the reality of the interior domains, it illusory at worst. effectively rejected the Great Chain of Being The entire interior dimensions ... were dis- “because all of the levels of the Great Chain missed by monological science because except the lowest (the material body) happen

46 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 to be interior realities of the I and the WE, of deny the significance of interior realities, in- the subjective and interior-subjective do- cluding all spiritual influences and forces. mains.”59 In turn, this rejection constituted the Continuing, Wilber asserts that exposing the rejection of spiritual teachings and the wisdom myth of the given reveals the necessity of rec- traditions. Moreover, it did away with all ques- ognizing the reality of interiors and the need to tions regarding the relationship between inte- address the question of how interiors are re- rior and exterior realities; there is no need to lated to that which is exterior. He adds that relate the substantial reality of that which is science’s rejection of interior knowledge is externally observable to that which is internal, absurd—insofar as logic and mathematics are insubstantial, and unreal. Wilber succinctly derived from interior knowledge. Any scientist and poignantly summarizes the effects of the who uses mathematics already knows that real- rejection of the Great Chain of Being to mean ity does not simply consist of that which is that: apprehended by the senses. For that reason, … all interiors were reduced to exteriors. most scientists reject the myth of the given. All subjects were reduced to objects; all Nevertheless, most scientists who subscribe to depth was reduced to surfaces; all I’s and the materialist-mechanistic-reductionist per- all WE’s were reduced to ITS; all quality spective routinely make pronouncements about was reduced to quantity; levels of signifi- the nature of reality which reveal that they are cance were reduced to levels of size; value tacitly and unequivocally subscribing to the was reduced to veneer; all translogical and myth of the given! Commenting on that para- dialogical were reduced to monological. doxical position, Wilber states that, while the Gone the eye of contemplation and gone subjective and inter-subjective domains are the eye of mind—only data from the eye of clearly integral to the development of scientific the flesh would be accorded primary real- knowledge, scientists seem to be in denial ity, because only sensory data possessed about what they do and how they do it. Thus, simple location, here in the desolate world he explains that: of monochrome flatland.60 ... science approaches the empirical world Empiricism and with a massive conceptual apparatus con- “The Myth Of the Given” taining everything from tensor calculus to imaginary numbers to extensive intersub- ilber argues forcefully and compellingly jective linguistic signs to differential equa- W that scientific materialism’s claim to be tions—virtually all of which are nonempiri- the most objective approach to studying and cal structures found only in interior apprehending the nature of reality is not only spaces—and then it astonishingly claims it fraudulent, but based on a blatant misrepresen- is simply “reporting” what it “finds” out tation of the scientific method. He notes that there in the “given” world—when, in fact empiricists—behaviorists, positivists, and ma- all that is given is colored patches.”62 terialist scientists—typically subscribe to what Wilber states that empirical science can hardly he terms “the myth of the given”: the conten- deny the importance of these interior tools— tion “that the sensorimotor world is simply given that its objective operations are depend- given to us in direct experience and that sci- ent upon them. Yet, that is precisely what has ence carefully and systematically reports what happened with the degeneration of science into it there finds.”61 But that view is a fantasy. As scientism: a denial of the interior domains, Wilber explains, philosophers of science are both subjective and intersubjective. Empirical essentially unanimous in agreeing that this is science, in its most brutish forms, has simply most certainly not how scientists study and rejected these interiors altogether because they interpret anything. Nevertheless, by clinging to cannot be accessed by the monological eye and this myth, scientific materialists invoke its sensorimotor methods. He then provides this power and glory as the basis on which they scathing summary of the reductionist-

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 47 The Esoteric Quarterly materialists’ misrepresentations of what scien- which he terms the “three strands of all valid tists do and how they do it: knowing.” They consist of: (1) an instrumental injunction; (2) a direct apprehension; and (3) This self-obliterating reductionism is not a communal confirmation or rejection. The genuine science, it is simply science the vil- injunction involves a practice, an experiment lage idiot. And, as everybody knows, it … a directive that says: “If you want to know takes a village to raise a complete idiot— this, do this.” The direct apprehension is “an the village of collapsed modernity, in this immediate experience of the domain brought case. Science becomes imperial scientism forth by the injunction ….”66 Communal con- and falls into the simpleminded myth of the firmation is “a checking of the results—the given, naively ascribing to its colored data, the evidence—with others who have ade- patches a great deal of what is found in the quately completed the injunctive and appre- conceptual apparatus, whose existence it hensive strands.”67 Authentic spirituality must has just denied.63 be falsifiable, Wilber argues. As such it cannot One of the most important aspects of “the be imaginal, mythic, mythological or mytho- myth of the given,” according to Wilber, is the poeic. But insofar as it apprehends the world idea that the “scientific method” deals only through the eye of contemplation and fulfills with “sensory empiricism”: that is only, the these three strands, a religious or spiritual sensory domains or sensory experience. Al- teaching is “a science of spiritual experi- though he acknowledges that, historically, em- ence.”68 piricism has been associated with sensorimotor When we examine the great religious and spiri- evidence, Wilber explains that there is cer- tual traditions, Wilber notes, we find that their tainly mental empiricism: for example, founders underwent a profound spiritual ex- mathematics is grounded in interior mental perience. Their experiences involved “direct experiences, perceptions, and processes. Simi- union or even identity of the individual and larly, the wisdom traditions are premised on Spirit ….”69 And that realization conferred “a the rigorous and systematic observation and great liberation, rebirth, metanoia, or enlight- examination of the interior domains of con- enment on the soul fortunate enough to be im- sciousness and being. To be an empiricist mersed in that extraordinary union ….”70 means, then, that one demands evidence to ver- Rather than imparting a series of dogmatic be- ify pronouncements of truth, rather than ac- liefs, these spiritual pioneers gave their follow- cepting assertions on the basis of dogma or ers practices, disciplines, methods, instrumen- faith. Consequently, Wilber asserts that there is tal injunctions. Wilber describes the “do this” “sensory empiricism (of the sensorimotor injunctions as including: world), mental empiricism (including logic, mathematics, semiotics, phenomenology, and … specific types of contemplative prayer, hermeneutics), and spiritual empiricism (expe- extensive instructions for yoga, specific riential mysticism, spiritual experiences.)”64 meditation practices, and actual interior ex- There is evidence that is apprehended through emplars: if you want to know this Divine the eye of the flesh, the eye of the mind, and union, you must do this. the eye of contemplation; there is monological, These injunctions reproduced in the disci- dialogical, and trans-logical science. If we ples the spiritual experiences or the spiritual extend empiricism to the interior domains, we data of the evolutionary pioneers. In the then have “a science of sensory experience, a course of subsequent interior experiments science of mental experience, and a science of (over the decades and sometimes centuries), spiritual experience ….”65 these injunctions and data were often re- A “Spiritual Science” fined and sophisticated, with initial or pre- liminary methods and data polished in the n developing his argument for a spiritual direction of more astute observations.71 I science, Wilber asserts that there are three essential aspects of the scientific method: that

To answer the question, then—“does Spirit Within the life sciences, the continued applica- exist?”—Wilber states that the answer is tion of the materialist paradigm and enduring straight forward and clear: “Take up the in- faith in reductionism leads biologists to evince junction, perform the experiment, gather the an exaggerated faith in the explanatory power data (the experiences), and check them with a of genes and psychologists to regard neurons community of the similarly adequate.”72 As he as somehow harboring the key to unraveling explains, you cannot mentally or verbally or the mysteries of consciousness. Such views rationally answer the question; you have to attest to the power of habitual thinking—even take up the injunction. Otherwise, you are at- within science—and the resistance to revisiting tempting to apprehend with the eye of the and re-examining the assumptive framework mind that which can only be seen or stated which underlies conventional knowledge and with the eye of contemplation. This is pre- understanding. cisely what scientific materialists have failed Ken Wilber’s claim about the “disaster of to grasp and which, in light of the esoteric tra- modernity”—wherein the triumph of science dition’s adherence to this protocol, reveals all has collapsed the Great Chain into the flatland of their pronouncements about consciousness, of scientific materialism—identifies the wholly the soul, Spirit, and God to be transparently ill- arbitrary and indefensible denial of the signifi- informed and dogmatic assertions of their own cance of all interior domains. Scientific mate- beliefs—in other words, nothing but and noth- rialism begat “the myth of the given” and “the ing more than unsubstantiated subjective myth of the scientific method” which, in turn, statements. They have not done the experi- begat scientism. As a result, psychologists and ments; they have no knowledge of the results scientists have pursued the study of conscious- that those who have done them have attained; ness in terms of a materialist-mechanistic- and they are unaware of the communities of reductionist paradigm which addresses only those possessing this expertise. Nevertheless, that which is externally observable. Because Wilber explains: materialists conceive of the Universe as being The great and secret message of the ex- nothing but the manifestation of insentient perimental mystics the world over is that, matter and energy—devoid of intelligence, with the eye of contemplation, Spirit can be purpose, meaning, and Spirit—they have con- seen. With the eye of contemplation, God cluded that consciousness must be generated can be seen. With the eye of contemplation, by the human brain. In doing so, human con- the great Within radiantly unfolds.73 sciousness has been torn out of its organic connections and universal relationship. Concluding Remarks In the next article in this series, an esoteric here exists a profound disconnection be- model of consciousness—that of G.I. Gurd- T tween scientific knowledge and the con- jieff’s Fourth Way teaching—will be presented tinued reign of the materialist-mechanistic- and evaluated as a reply to the deficiencies of reductionist paradigm. Indeed, in light of the materialist paradigm. Gurdjieff’s conceptu- physicists’ discoveries about the inadequacies alization of consciousness will be contrasted of the material-mechanistic model in concep- with that of modern psychology, and assessed tualizing the physical Universe and the unin terms of its potential to accommodate the equivocal limitations of reductionism in study- most startling advances in physics, as well as ing and analyzing it, the extent to which the those altered states of consciousness about materialist paradigm continues to dominate which modern psychology remains, for the scientific research is perplexing. Despite the most part, tellingly mute. Finally, Gurdjieff’s astonishing implications of quantum theory, startling claim—that the separation of psy- most scientists continue to adhere to a materi- chology and cosmology is essentially arbitrary alist perspective of both the Universe and and untenable—will be explicated with the themselves—one which has been unequivo- purpose of suggesting the basis for a radical re- cally disproved.

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 49 The Esoteric Quarterly conceptualization of the origins and nature of human consciousness. 4 Stephen L. Talbott, “The Reduction Com- plex.” http://www.natureinstitute.org/txt/st/m- qual-/ch04.htm. 5 1 Ibid., 1. Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries 6 on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, Ibid., 1. Daniel Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous vol. I, (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, Inc., Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life 1996), 48. (New York, NY: Simon and Shuster, 1995), 2 Floyd Matson, The Broken Image: Man, Sci- 81. 7 ence and Society (Garden City, NY: Double- David Bohm, Causality and Chance In Mod- day & Company, Inc., 1964); Arthur Koestler, ern Physics (Philadelphia, PA: University of The Ghost in the Machine (London, ENG: Pennsylvania Press, 1971) 37. 8 Hutchinson of London, 1967); Theodore Ibid., 2. 9 Roszak, Where the Wasteland Ends (Garden Ibid., 2. 10 City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., Ibid., 2. 11 1972). Ibid., 3. 12 3 Over the past 35 years, there have been nu- Ibid., 9. 13 merous works addressing the inherent limita- Ibid., 9-10. 14 tions of reductionism as a method of studying Fritjof Capra, The Turning Point, 102. 15 both the psyche and the cosmos: Jacob Nee- Theodore Roszak, The Voice of the Earth, dleman, A Sense of The Cosmos (New York, 175. 16 NY: Arkana: Penguin Books Ltd., 1975); Ibid., 175. 17 Morris Berman, The Reenchantment of the Maurice Nicoll, Psychological Commentaries World (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, on the Teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, 1981); Rupert Sheldrake, A New Science of vol. I-VI, (York Beach, Maine: Samuel Life: The Hypothesis of Formative Causation Weiser, Inc., 1996). 18 (London, ENG: Blond & Briggs, 1981) and Maurice Nicoll, The Mark (Boston, MA: The Rebirth of Nature: The Greening of Sci- Shambhalah, 1985) and The New Man (New ence and God (Toronto, CA: Bantam Books, York: Penguin Books, 1972). 19 1992); Ken Wilber, The Holographic Para- Maurice Nicoll, Living Time and the Integra- digm and Other Paradoxes: Exploring the tion of the Life (Boulder, CO: Shambhalah, Leading Edge of Science (Boulder, CO: 1984). 20 Shambhala, 1982), Eye to Eye: The Quest for Ibid., 11. 21 the New Paradigm (Boston: Shambhalah, Maurice Nicoll, The Mark, 3. 22 1990), and The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Ibid., 3. 23 Integrating Science and Religion (New York, Ibid., 4. 24 NY: Broadway Books, 1998); Fritjof Capra, Ibid., 5. 25 The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the Ibid., 12. 26 Rising Culture (Toronto: Simon and Schuster, Ibid., 12. 27 1983); Da Free John, The Transmission of Ibid., 13. 28 Doubt (Clearlake, CA: The Dawn Horse Ibid., 13. 29 Press, 1984); David Ray Griffin, editor, The Ibid., 13. 30 Reenchantment of Science: Postmodern Pro- Ibid., 13 31 posals (Albany, NY: State University of New Ibid., 14. 32 York Press, 1988); David Ray Griffin, Relig- Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics (Boston, ion and Scientific Naturalism: Overcoming MA: Shambhalah, 1975), 42. 33 the Conflicts (Albany, NY: State University of Ibid., 68. 34 New York Press, 2000); Theodore Roszak, Theodore Roszak, The Voice of the Earth, The Voice of the Earth (New York: Simon & 106. 35 Schuster, 1992); Ervin Laszlo, Science and the Capra, op. cit., 68-69. 36 Akashic Field: An Integral Theory of Every- David Bohm, Wholeness and the Implicate thing (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2004), Order, (London, ENG: ARK Paperbacks, and Science and the Reenchantment of the 1983), xi-xii. 37 Cosmos: The Rise of the Integral Vision of David Bohm, “Postmodern Science and a Reality (Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, Postmodern World,” in The Reenchantment of 2006).

Science: Postmodern Proposals, ed. David 51 Ibid., 13. Ray Griffin, 66. 52 Ibid., 13. 38 Nick Herbert, Quantum Reality: Beyond The 53 Ibid., 13. New Physics (New York, NY: Anchor Books, 54 Ibid., 38. 1987), 234. 55 Ibid., 56. 39 Arthur Eddington in Quantum Questions: 56 Ibid., 56. Mystical Writings of the World’s Greatest 57 Ibid., 56. Physicists, ed. Ken Wilber, 181 (Boulder, CO: 58 Ibid., 57. Shambhalah, 1984). 59 Ibid., 60. 40 Lama Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of 60 Ibid., 61. Tibetan Mysticism (New York, NY: Samuel 61 Ibid., 145 Weiser, Inc., 1982), 275. 62 Ibid., 146. 41 Ibid., 217. 63 Ibid., 148. 42 Ibid., 217. 64 Ibid., 152-153. 43 Ibid., 218. 65 Ibid., 155. 44 Ibid., 219. 66 Ibid., 155. 45 Arthur Lovejoy in Ken Wilber, The Marriage 67 Ibid., 156. of Sense and Soul, 7. 68 Ibid., 169. 46 Ibid., 6-7. 69 Ibid., 168. 47 Ibid., 8. 70 Ibid., 168 48 Ibid., 9. 71 Ibid., 168. 49 Ibid., 10. 72 Ibid., 172. 50 Ibid., 13. 73 Ibid., 174.

Spring 2013

Symbolic Interpretation of the Book of Job: A Poem of Initiation

Zachary F. Lansdowne

Abstract 210. This corresponds roughly to the length of the Patriarchs’ lives. he Book of Job, one of the books of the T Hebrew Bible, tells the story of a man 2. Job’s wealth was reckoned in livestock named Job: his tests brought about by Satan, (Job 1:3; 42:12), which was also true of his argument with three friends on the meaning Abraham (Genesis 12:16; 13:2), and Jacob of his suffering, a sermon from another (Genesis 30:43; 32:5). speaker, and a response from God. The tradi- 3. The Hebrew word qeśîṭâh, translated tional approach of interpreting the story is to “piece of silver” (Job 42:11), is used else- accept its literal presentation. This article, where only twice (Genesis 33:19; Joshua however, considers the elements of the story to 24:32), both times in reference to Jacob. be symbols that signify psychological or theosophical referents, so that the story depicts 4. Job’s daughters were heirs to his estate the tests and crisis of what Theosophy calls the along with their brothers (Job 42:15). This, “third initiation.” however, was not possible later under the Mosaic Law if a daughter’s brothers were The Book of Job still living (Numbers 27:8). he Book of Job has been heralded as a 5. The Book of Job includes no references T masterpiece, and is included in lists of the to the Mosaic institutions (priesthood, laws, greatest books in world literature.1 Ezekiel tabernacle, special religious days, and (14:14, 20), written early in the sixth century feasts). BCE, cites Job as an historical figure, and 6. Several personal and place names in the makes the only references to him in the He- book were also associated with the Patriar- brew Bible outside of the book that bears his chal Age.2 name. James (5:11) also cites Job as an historical figure, and makes the only reference to him Some scholars argue that the Book of Job was in the New Testament. A passage from Job written by Job himself during the Patriarchal (5:13) is quoted by the Apostle Paul (1 Corin- Age (2100 – 1900 BCE), because the recorded thians 3:19), using the usual form of quoting conversations give the impression of an eye- scripture, “For it is written,” thereby showing witness account. Other scholars believe that that early Christians regarded this book as in- the linguistic evidence of its text indicates that spired scripture. ______The Patriarchal Age is the period during About the Author which the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are thought to have lived. Roy Zuck, a Zachary F. Lansdowne, Ph.D., who served as Pre- Christian theologian, provides evidence that sident of the Theosophical Society in Boston, has Job is described as living during the Patriarchal been a frequent contributor to The Esoteric Quart- Age: erly. His book The Revelation of Saint John, which provides a verse-by-verse analysis of the entire 1. Job lived 140 years after his calamities Revelation, was reviewed in the Fall 2006 issue. He (Job 42:16) so he may have lived to about can be reached at: [email protected].

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 53 The Esoteric Quarterly the book was written centuries later. Although tion. For the Book of Job is the poem of Ini- the Jewish tradition considers the author to be tiation par excellence.7 Moses (1391–1271 BCE), some argue for Sol- The word Hierophant, which comes from An- omon (970 – 931 BCE), because of a few simi- cient Greece, denotes the conductor of an initi- larities to Proverbs, but others suggest Isaiah ation, and the word Al-om-jah denotes the (731 – 681 BCE), because of a few similarities highest Hierophant in Ancient Egypt. Blavat- to the latter’s writings. Thus the author and sky regards the “Lord,” who is the speaker of date of the book are shrouded in mystery.3 the verse, as “the Hierophant, the Al-om-jah, This article contrasts two interpretative ap- the Initiator of Job,” and regards Job as under- proaches to the Book of Job: the traditional going the “third degree of Initiation,” but what approach, which accepts the story as it is liter- does that mean? ally presented; and the symbolic approach, Alice Bailey (1880 – 1949), a modern theo- which identifies the book’s symbols and their sophical author, considers each initiation as associated referents. The Holman Illustrated marking a point of attainment. She characteriz- Bible Dictionary provides the traditional views es the achievement of what Theosophy calls of the book’s meaning: the “third initiation” in the following way: Through the years, many purposes have “Freedom from the ancient authority of the been suggested for the book. Perhaps the threefold personality,”8 in which the threefold one that has been mentioned more often personality consists of the mental, emotional, than any other is that of answering the and physical bodies. question of why the righteous suffer. Cer- Blavatsky provides only a brief account of how tainly this question was prominent in Job’s the Book of Job could be viewed as a poem of day, for ancient society believed that hu- initiation. This article, however, presents a de- man suffering was the result of one’s sin or tailed symbolic analysis that corroborates her at least a God’s displeasure. Even the conclusion, and covers the following initiatory meaning of the name Job (the persecuted stages: the tests, occult blindness, internal and one) seems to support this suggestion, but external conflicts, inner purification, crisis of that may not be all that is involved in the the third initiation, and aftermath. book. Another popular suggestion is that the book has been preserved to illustrate for All Biblical quotations in this article are from us the nature of true faith both from the the New King James Version (NKJV) unless point of view of people and of God.4 otherwise noted.9 The NKJV updates the vo- cabulary and grammar of the King James Ver- Helena Blavatsky (1831 – 1891), founder of sion, which was completed in 1611, while pre- the Theosophical Society, offers a radically serving its classic style. A few verses are from different view: “The Book of Job is a complete the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), representation of ancient initiation and the tri- which is another modern translation.10 als which generally precede this grandest of all ceremonies.”5 She speaks of “the Book of Job, Prologue: Chapters 1 and 2 a Kabalistic treatise on Egypto-Arabic Initia- tion, the symbolism of which conceals the orman Habel, Professor of Biblical Stud- highest spiritual mysteries,”6 showing that her N ies, describes the basic structure of the interpretation of the book is based on taking its book’s 42 chapters: “It has generally been ac- elements as symbols. Blavatsky quotes and cepted that the book of Job consists of two then comments on Job 38:17: basic parts—a prologue and an epilogue in prose form which together constitute a discrete “Have the gates of death been opened unto story framework (chs. 1-2; 42:7-17), and an thee? Hast thou seen the doors of the shad- extended dialogue in poetic form which repre- ow of death?” Thus asks the “Lord, the Hi- sents the author’s contribution to Israelite erophant, the Al-om-jah, the Initiator of thought (3:1-42:6).”11 Job, alluding to this third degree of Initia-

Chapters 1 and 2 constitute the prologue: the Thus the LORD is said to have the following LORD boasts about Job’s character and allows roles: Hierophant, for what Theosophy regards Satan to test it. Job’s tests include losing his as the major initiations, starting with the third wealth and ten children as well as incurring a initiation; Ancient of Days, who is mentioned horrible skin disease. Let us consider in detail in Daniel 7:9-10; Sanat Kumara, a Sanskrit verses 1:6-12: name that means “Eternal Youth,” who is mentioned in both the Mahabharata and Chan- 6 Now there was a day when the sons of dogya Upanishad of Hinduism;15 and King of God came to present themselves before the Shamballa (also spelled Shambhala), which is LORD, and Satan also came among them.7 the mythical kingdom described in the And the LORD said to Satan, “From where Kalachakra Tantra of Tibetan Buddhism.16 do you come?” So Satan answered the The LORD’s reported association with Theoso- LORD and said, “From going to and fro on phy, Hinduism, and Buddhism may explain the the earth, and from walking back and forth similarity of the initiatory processes that are on it.”8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have found in those systems.17 you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless “God” is a translation of the Hebrew word and upright man, one who fears God and Elohim, which means “the One who is the to- shuns evil?”9 So Satan answered the LORD tality of powers, forces and causes in the uni- and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?10 verse.”18 Do these two words, LORD and God, Have You not made a hedge around him, represent the same concept or can they be dif- around his household, and around all that ferentiated? Bailey gives this definition: “The he has on every side? You have blessed the Being Who is the life of our planet, the One in work of his hands, and his possessions have Whom we live and move and have our being. increased in the land.11 But now, stretch out This being, or sum total of organised lives is Your hand and touch all that he has, and he sometimes called the planetary Logos, … will surely curse You to Your face!”12 And sometimes God, and sometimes the One the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he Life.”19 Bailey also speaks of “the manifested has is in your power; only do not lay a hand form of the planetary Logos in the Person of on his person.” So Satan went out from the Sanat Kumara.”20 Thus, from a theosophical presence of the LORD. perspective, these words denote similar but slightly different concepts: God can be under- Several exalted beings are mentioned in these stood as the planetary Logos, and the LORD as verses. The “LORD,” written entirely with capi- the manifested form of the planetary Logos. tal letters in the NKJV, substitutes for the He- brew name YHWH, which means “the self- “The sons of God” are depicted in verse 1:6 as existent One.”12 Following an earlier quotation presenting themselves before the LORD. A pre- from Blavatsky, the LORD is taken as the Hier- vious quotation describes “the Lodge of Mas- ophant for the third initiation. Bailey provides ters” as being presided over by Sanat Kumara, additional information about this Hierophant: who is thought to be the same as the LORD, so “the sons of God” are taken to be “the Lodge It is only at the third initiation that the great of Masters.” Hierophant, the Lord of the World, Himself officiates. It is the first at which He con- “Satan,” which literally means “the adversary” tacts the initiate.13 (Numbers 22:22), has various connotations in the Bible. In the Book of Job, Satan belongs to The Lord of the World, the One Initiator, the Lodge of Masters according to 1:6, and is He Who is called in the Bible “The Ancient responsible for Job’s tests according to 1:12. of Days,” and in the Hindu Scriptures the Bailey speaks of “The Guru or Master who First Kumara, He, Sanat Kumara it is, Who leads a pupil up to the door of initiation and from His throne at Shamballa in the Gobi who watches over him in all the initial and desert, presides over the Lodge of Mas- subsequent tests and processes,”21 so Satan ters.14

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 55 The Esoteric Quarterly appears to be the Guru or Master who has been question in the first part of 3:23 has this mean- assigned to Job from the Lodge of Masters. ing: Why is life given to a man whose way, or Bailey describes the role of such a Teacher: path, is hidden? This question indicates that Job does not see where he is going. In other Then the Teacher stands aside and watches words, he is experiencing what is sometimes the aspirant achieve. As He watches, He called “occult blindness.” recognises points of crisis, where the application of a test will do one of two things, Bailey considers this condition to be the stage focalise and disperse any remaining uncon- mentioned by the prophet Isaiah (45:3): quered evil—if that term might here be Blindness is a prelude to initiation of no used—and demonstrate to the disciple both matter what degree … Occult blindness is his weakness and his strength. In the great spiritually induced and “blacks out” the initiations, the same procedure can be seen, glory and the promised attainment and re- and the ability of the disciple to pass these ward. The disciple is thrown back upon greater tests and stages is dependent upon himself. All he can see is his problem, his his ability to meet and surmount the daily tiny field of experience, and his—to him— lesser ones.22 feeble and limited equipment. It is to this The LORD characterizes Job as “a blameless stage that the prophet Isaiah refers when he and upright man, one who fears God and shuns speaks of giving to the struggling aspirant evil” (1:8), so perhaps he does not have any “the treasures of darkness.” The beauty of flaws. Moses Maimonides (1135 – 1204), a the immediate, the glory of the present op- medieval Jewish philosopher, perceives Job to portunity and the need to focus upon the be a person with moral virtue but not wisdom, task and service of the moment are the re- implying that he does have something to learn: wards of moving forward into the apparently impenetrable darkness.25 The most marvelous and extraordinary thing about this story is the fact that In the second part of 3:23, Job ponders why knowledge is not attributed in it to Job. He God has given him both life and suffering, be- is not said to be a wise or comprehending or cause his use of the word “hedged” indicates an intelligent man. Only moral virtue and that he blames God for his suffering. In 3:24, righteousness in action are ascribed to him. Job observes himself with some detachment, For if he had been wise, his situation would because he describes both the timing of his not have been obscure to him, as will be- sighing and a simile for his groaning. Thus come clear.23 Job’s occult blindness is already starting to yield two “treasures of darkness”: greater self- Job’s Opening Soliloquy: reliance, because he is pondering his own Chapter 3 questions; and greater self-knowledge, because of his detached self-observation. Bailey gives hapter 3 is Job’s opening soliloquy and this explanation: C consists of two primary sections: his curse (3:3-10) and lament (3:11-26). Job’s curse In the loneliness which is the lot of every calls for his birth to be negated, invokes forces true disciple are born that self-knowledge of darkness, and sets himself against God. His and self-reliance which will fit him in his lament expresses misery and bitterness. Let us turn to be a Master. This loneliness is not consider in detail verses 3:23-24: due to any separative spirit but to the conditions of the Way itself.26 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in? 24 The Friends’ Argument with For my sighing comes before I eat, Job: Chapters 4 through 27 And my groanings pour out like water. hapters 4 through 27 present an extensive Zuck interprets “the subject of light and dark- argument between Job and three friends ness as indicative of life and death,”24 so Job’s C who are introduced in the following way:

“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this 3. Job’s affliction indicates his unright- adversity that had come upon him, each one eousness. Eliphaz asks, “Is not your wick- came from his own place—Eliphaz the Teman- edness great, And your iniquity without ite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the end?” (22:5). Bildad asks, “You who tear Naamathite” (2:11). Traditional commentators yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsak- simply accept the story as it is literally pre- en for you? Or shall the rock be removed sented in these chapters. For example, Tremper from its place?” (18:4). Zophar declares, Longman, Professor of Biblical Studies, pro- “Know therefore that God exacts from you vides a brief summary of the traditional per- Less than your iniquity deserves” (11:6). spective: Because of this similarity among the three Finally, the silence is broken by Job, who friends, Longman raises the following ques- utters a heartrending lament, bemoaning his tion: condition and wishing he would die, indeed The debate has four participants but really that he had never been born (Job 3). This only two viewpoints. If there are differ- lament transforms Job’s comforters into ences between the arguments of the three disputants as they argue over the cause of friends, they are subtle at best. The three and solution to his suffering. This debate really represent one position, thus raising continues from Job 4 to Job 27 and takes the question of why the book creates three place in three rounds with each of the three rather than one debating partner for Job.28 friends speaking in turn with Job respond- ing to them individually.27 Stanley Diamond, an American poet and an- thropologist, makes a key observation about Job’s three friends, called “comforters” in the Job’s friends: “They are not only interchange- above quotation, have unusual characteristics able, but are interchangeable with Job him- that raise questions, or paradoxes, about the self.”29 Indeed, Job himself speaks of changing traditional perspective. The first characteristic places with his friends: “I also could talk as is that they make similar judgments, as shown you do, if you were in my place; I could join by the following summaries: words together against you, and shake my head 1. Righteous people prosper. Eliphaz asks, at you” (16:4, NRSV). Diamond concludes, “Remember now, who ever perished being “The paradox is that the common values that innocent? Or where were the upright ever motivate Job and his friends make it impossi- cut off?” (4:7). Bildad states, “Behold, God ble for them to rely on each other or even to will not cast away the blameless” (8:20). understand each other in their extreme mo- Zophar counsels, “If iniquity were in your ments even though, or rather because, they hand, and you put it far away, And would speak the same language.”30 not let wickedness dwell in your tents; Charles Swindoll, Chancellor of the Dallas Then surely you could lift up your face Theological Seminary, raises questions regard- without spot; … And your life would be ing the temperament of Job’s three friends: brighter than noonday” (11:14-17). Let me add here, all three are legalistic. 2. Wicked people are punished. Eliphaz They are judgmental and condemning. To a states, “The wicked man writhes with pain man, they resort to shame-based counsel. all his days” (15:20). Bildad says, “The Sometimes you’ll shake your head and say, light of the wicked indeed goes out, And “How in the world could they say that? the flame of his fire does not shine” (18:5). Why would they say something like that to Zophar asks, “Do you not know this of old, somebody they called their friend?”31 Since man was placed on earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the Jack Kahn, Fellow of the Royal College of joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?” Psychiatrists, comments on the manner in (20:4-5). which the three friends communicate:

Any group feeling which might have existing as he does “contrition,” which becomes ed between Job and the comforters had possible only when the mind is beginning been dissipated because they had failed to to be active (including the conscience). reach any common ground in their dispute. Shuhite means “prostration or helpless- What transpired between them was scarcely ness,” signifying that alone and unaided the dialogue; it was little more than collective mind can reveal but cannot help. Remorse monologue. The arguments were exhausted and sorrow, involving memory, are the re- because the comforters had remained stead- sult of mental activity. Thus, in Job’s three fast in their aim to compel Job to confess friends the three as aspects of his lower na- himself in the wrong, while Job remained ture stand revealed.34 steadfast in his aim to prove himself in the Bailey’s insight is that Eliphaz, Bildad, and right. For all intents and purposes they had Zophar are actually symbols that represent failed to communicate.32 Job’s threefold personality, implying that In this context, communication as monologue Chapters 4 through 27 depict a heated internal is characterized by condescension, dogmatism, argument rather than an external argument. coercion, self-defensiveness, and judgmental- William Wells, a Christian theologian, has a ism. Communication as dialogue is character- similar insight: ized by equality, open-mindedness, non- The Book of Job reads like an introspective manipulative intent, empathy, and respect.33 study, which gives the book a modern feel. One would expect a dialogue to occur between No other book of the Bible has this same friends, so why would Job and his three friends quality. The entire story revolves around produce a collective monologue instead? Job’s internal struggle to reconcile a just As shown by the foregoing observations, God with unjustified suffering. Job’s three “Job’s three friends” share these unusual char- friends and especially the mysterious Elihu acteristics: they make similar judgments, are at the end all reflect Job’s own attitudes, interchangeable with Job, are condemning, and beliefs and character. As a result, the ex- produce a collective monologue rather than a tended dialogs have the quality of a heated dialogue. These three friends do not seem to be internal argument.35 independent human characters, but what else Carl Jung (1875 – 1961), the eminent Swiss could they be? Bailey provides the following psychiatrist, characterizes inner conflict: “Neu- analysis of the friends based on the meaning of rosis is an inner cleavage—the state of being at their Hebrew names: war with oneself … What drives people to war Eliphaz the Temanite means “my God is with themselves is the intuition or the gold,” and also “the southern quarter,” the knowledge that they consist of two persons in opposite pole to the north. Gold is the sym- opposition to one another.”36 Jung gives these bol of material welfare, and the opposite definitions: “The persona is … a kind of mask, pole to spirit is matter, therefore in this designed on the one hand to make a definite name we have symbolised the tangible out- impression upon others, and on the other to er form of man, actuated by desire for ma- conceal the true nature of the individual,”37 terial possessions and comfort. Zophar the “The shadow personifies everything that the Naamathite means the “one who talks,” and subject refuses to acknowledge about himself his theme is pleasantness, which is the in- and yet is always thrusting itself upon him di- terpretation given to the word rectly or indirectly.”38 “Naamathite.” Here we have the desire Jung also gives this definition: “The ego is the body typified, with its longing for pleasant- subject of all personal acts of consciousness.”39 ness, for happiness and for pleasure, and an Murray Stein, a Jungian scholar, clarifies indication of the constant and ceaseless call Jung’s definition: “The term ego refers to and voice of the sentient nature, to which one’s experience of oneself as a center of will- we can all testify. Bildad the Shuhite repre- ing, desiring, reflecting, and acting.”40 This sents the mental nature, the mind, signify-

58 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 notion of ego is not equivalent to the personali- serves condemnation if evidence of his own ty, but is a center of consciousness that acts unrighteousness were found. through or on the personality, and it may or Soon after being afflicted, Job states, “For the may not identify with various parts of the per- thing I greatly feared has come upon me” sonality, such as the persona and shadow. As (3:25). Thus, even though Job claims to be explained next, Chapters 4 through 27 depict righteous, his latent fear the internal argument is that he would be pun- that arises when Job’s Helena Blavatsky … founder ished for being unright- ego defends his persona of the Theosophical Society, eous, so he must have a against the attacks of his offers a radically different shadow that consists of shadow. To simplify this suppressed judgments exposition, Job’s ego is view: “The Book of Job is a of his own unrighteous- denoted simply as Job. complete representation of ness. Job also says, “I Job says, “I put on right- ancient initiation and the tri- broke the fangs of the eousness, and it clothed als which generally precede unrighteous, and made me” (29:14), showing them drop their prey that Job’s persona is his this grandest of all ceremo- from their teeth” (29:17, self-image of being nies.” She speaks of “the NRSV), which shows righteous. He says, that he hates unright- “May my enemy be like Book of Job, a Kabalistic eous people. This verse the wicked, and may my treatise on Egypto-Arabic In- illustrates another key opponent be like the un- itiation, the symbolism of psychological principle: righteous. For what is when Job hates unright- the hope of the godless which conceals the highest eous people, he is actu- when God cuts them off, spiritual mysteries,” showing ally projecting his when God takes away that her interpretation of the shadow onto them as a their lives?” (27:7-8, way of defending him- NRSV). Thus Job con- book is based on taking its self from it. Jung gives demns unrighteous peo- elements as symbols. this explanation: “When ple as being “godless” [the patient] projects and as deserving of God’s punishment. negative qualities and therefore hates and loathes the object, he has to discover that he is Job gives his reason for performing righteous projecting his own inferior side, his shadow, as duties: “For I was in terror of calamity from it were, because he prefers to have an optimis- God, and I could not have faced his majesty” tic and one-sided image of himself.”42 (31:23, NRSV). Thus, by his own admission, Job is motivated by a fear of being punished Cognitive dissonance is a state of internal con- rather than by a feeling of generosity or com- flict and discomfort that occurs when one’s passion towards the poor and weak. This verse existing belief is contradicted by new evi- illustrates a key psychological principle: con- dence. In Job’s case, his self-image of being demning other people establishes the possibil- righteous, which is his persona, is contradicted ity of self-condemnation. A Course in Miracles by the new evidence of his affliction. Leon (ACIM), a modern system of spiritual psychol- Festinger (1919 – 1989), an American social ogy, gives this explanation: “If you can con- psychologist, states the following principle: demn, you can be injured. For you have be- “The existence of dissonance, being psycho- lieved that you can injure, and the right you logically uncomfortable, will motivate the per- have established for yourself can be now used son to try to reduce the dissonance and achieve against you, till you lay it down as valueless, consonance.”43 unwanted and unreal.”41 Job, through his con- Job’s speeches portray his efforts to reduce his demnation of other people for their unright- cognitive dissonance. His strategy is to use eousness, has accepted the belief that he de-

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 59 The Esoteric Quarterly consonant cognitions for defending and sup- because they are the amplification of Job’s porting his persona, as shown by the following own suppressed judgments of his unrighteous- examples. Job, although agreeing that God ness. Even though the amplified judgments are punishes the wicked, accuses God of being attacking his persona, Job accepts them as be- unjust in his case: “For He crushes me with a ing true, because he had made the same judg- tempest, And multiplies my wounds without mental attacks on other people. cause” (9:17). He accuses God of punishing Job’s and the friends’ speeches depict the in- him for the sins of his youth rather than for any ternal argument that rages within Job’s mind: present sin: “For you write bitter things against the consonant cognitions, which defend Job’s me, and make me reap the iniquities of my persona, oppose the dissonant cognitions, youth” (13:26, NRSV). In addition, he has a which attack it. These speeches depict a collec- hope of future vindication, “See now, I have tive internal monologue, rather than a dialog, prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindi- because there is no attempt to find common cated” (13:18); affirms his righteousness, “My ground: Job tries to defend what he pretends to foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His be against the threat of what he really thinks he way and not turned aside” (23:11); and accuses is. the three friends of allowing an evil spirit to speak through them, “With whose help have Let us examine how this internal argument you uttered words, and whose spirit has come ends in Chapter 27. Job says, “As God lives, forth from you?” (26:4, NRSV). who has taken away my justice, And the Al- mighty, who has made my soul bitter” (27:2), Job’s strategy would work better if he could so he still blames God and still is full of bitter- avoid environmental cues, or stimuli, that am- ness. He also says, “My righteousness I hold plify his dissonant cognitions. He, however, fast, and will not let it go” (27:6), so he still cannot avoid such cues, because he is constant- supports his persona. Yet Job shows cognitive ly shocked by the evidence of his affliction: “If dissonance, because he says, “This is the por- I say, ‘I will forget my complaint; I will put off tion of a wicked man with God, And the herit- my sad countenance and be of good cheer,’ I age of oppressors, received from the Al- become afraid of all my suffering, for I know mighty” (27:13), and then describes the wicked you will not hold me innocent” (9:27-28, man’s fate as being much the same as his own NRSV). plight. The friends’ speeches are the dissonant cogni- Thus, in the final chapter of the argument, tions and include the judgments listed earlier. Job’s speech incorporates both consonant and Diamond has this insight: “For there is nothing dissonant cognitions, thereby blending the ear- that Job’s friends say that Job himself has not lier conflicting monologues. This blending in- said.”44 For example, the friends say that right- dicates that his strategy of dissonance reduc- eous people prosper and wicked people are tion has failed. Consequently, according to punished, but Job made the same judgments Festinger’s principle, Job is motivated to seek before he was afflicted (29:18-20; 31:3). The another strategy for reducing his cognitive dis- friends say that Job’s affliction indicates his sonance. unrighteousness. Job made the same judgment before his affliction: he regarded the outcasts Poem on Wisdom: Chapter 28 of his community as “vile men,” about whom he said, “I disdained to put with the dogs of my hapter 28 consists of a self-contained po- flock” (30:1-8), but those outcasts had charac- C em on wisdom. It has a tranquil and re- teristics similar to his own after his affliction. flective tone that contrasts sharply with the For each judgment that Job made regarding argumentative and emotional style of the pre- someone’s circumstance, he accepted the be- ceding and subsequent chapters. Habel men- lief that he deserved the same judgment if he tions its controversial nature: “Job 28 is a bril- ever found himself in a similar circumstance. liant but embarrassing poem for many com- The friends’ speeches rise out of Job’s shadow, mentators. It has been viewed as an erratic in-

60 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 trusion, an inspired intermezzo, a superfluous 7 When I went out to the gate of the city, prelude, and an orthodox afterthought.”45 when I took my seat in the square, 8 the young men saw me and withdrew, According to this poem, human beings can and the aged rose up and stood; mine for various kinds of treasures, such as 9 the nobles refrained from talking, and silver and gold, but they cannot find wisdom, laid their hands on their mouths; which is the greatest treasure, by searching for 10 the voices of princes were hushed, and it in the natural world. So how can wisdom be their tongues stuck to the roof of their found? The poem’s conclusion is: “Behold, mouths. the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to 11 When the ear heard, it commended me, depart from evil is understanding” (28:28). and when the eye saw, it approved; Nancy Detweiler, a Bible scholar, gives her 12 because I delivered the poor who cried, interpretation: “I believe this chapter to be a and the orphan who had no helper. depiction of the Holy Spirit teaching Job Chapter 30 is Job’s speech of lament in which through his own intuitive thought processes.”46 he recounts how he is currently being treated, The Hebrew phrase ruach hakodesh, usually such as in verses 30:9-13 (NRSV): translated as “Holy Spirit,” appears in the He- brew Bible and rabbinic literature, but not in 9 And now they mock me in song; I am a the Book of Job.47 Is Detweiler’s interpretation byword to them. compatible with the Book of Job, even though 10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; the phrase “Holy Spirit” does not appear in it? they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me. The adjective “holy” indicates a divine source, 11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and the noun “spirit” translates Hebrew and humbled me, they have cast off re- (ruach) and Greek (pneuma) words that denote straint in my presence. “wind” or “breath.” Job 32:8 provides a related 12 On my right hand the rabble rise up; they concept: “But there is a spirit in man, And the send me sprawling, and build roads for my breath of the Almighty gives him understand- ruin. ing.” The notion of the “Holy Spirit,” such as 13 They break up my path, they promote my in John 14:26, seems equivalent to the “breath calamity; no one restrains them. of the Almighty” in Job 32:8, because both breaths are regarded as coming from God and Although Job has a skin disease (2:7), the giving understanding. Thus Detweiler’s inter- foregoing verses indicate that he is primarily pretation seems compatible with the intrinsic concerned with the change in the way that he is concepts of the Book of Job. being treated by other people—a change brought about by his skin disease—rather than Chapter 28, however, could be interpreted in a with his skin disease itself. Henry Ellison, a second way: Job simply takes a break from his Bible scholar, makes a similar observation: “in internal conflict, realizes that he lacks wisdom, the poem there is far less allusion to Job’s and then thinks about what he has read or un- physical sufferings than has often been as- derstood regarding wisdom. These two ways of sumed. Job is concerned less with his physical interpreting this chapter are not mutually ex- pain than with his treatment by his relations, clusive, and either way would support our sub- his fellow-townsmen, the mob and finally his sequent analysis of the overall story. friends.”48 Job’s Closing Soliloquy: Why, then, does Job suffer? As indicated by Chapters 29 through 31 the foregoing verses, Job craves honor and respect from his fellow citizens for being right- hapters 29 through 31 comprise Job’s eous. Job gains pleasure when this craving is closing soliloquy. Chapter 29 is Job’s C satisfied, as described in Chapter 29, but suf- speech of remembrance in which he recalls fers when it is not satisfied, as described in how he was formerly treated by his fellow citi- Chapter 30. Even though these two experienc- zens, such as in verses 29:7-12 (NRSV):

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 61 The Esoteric Quarterly es are contrasted in successive chapters, Job be his legal adversary. Zuck gives this expla- does not acknowledge the following truth nation: “If Job were innocent, then God would about himself: his own craving causes his suf- be required, according to legal practice, to fering. This truth is related to what Buddhists speak up and affirm it. If Job were guilty, then call “The Second Noble Truth,” as the Buddha God would be expected to bring down the im- Dharma Education Association explains: precations on him.”51 By watching people Buddha found out that Thus, whether innocent or guilty, Job has in- the causes of suffering are craving and de- voked God’s answer. The final sentence in sire, and ignorance. The power of these Chapter 31 is: “The words of Job are ended” things to cause all suffering is what Bud- (31:40), indicating that Job is waiting in si- dhists call The Second Noble Truth.49 lence to hear God’s answer. What will be the response? Why doesn’t Job acknowledge that his own craving causes his suffering? Acknowledging Elihu’s Speeches: this truth would be acknowledging an unright- Chapters 32 through 37 eous motivation, namely, the craving to receive honor and respect from his fellow citi- hapters 32 through 37 introduce a new zens for being righteous. Instead, Job blames C speaker, Elihu, who is the only speaker in his troubles on God in 30:11, quoted above, those chapters, starting with verses 32:1-4: and also in 30: 21: “But You have become cru- 1 So these three men ceased answering Job, el to me; With the strength of Your hand You because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 oppose me.” Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Bar- Here is where the poem on wisdom in Chapter achel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was 28 plays an interesting role, because that poem aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused ends with the statement, “Behold, the fear of because he justified himself rather than the Lord, that is wisdom” (28:28). As Zuck God. 3 Also against his three friends his explains, to fear God means to “venerate and wrath was aroused, because they had found submit to” God,50 so Job is not fearing God no answer, and yet had condemned Job.4 when he accuses God of cruelty and persecu- Now because they were years older than he, tion. Thus, to maintain his self-image of being Elihu had waited to speak to Job. righteous, Job ignores both his unrighteous Habel provides a traditional assessment of this motivation and a principle of wisdom that he new speaker: “Elihu, who is introduced to us had embraced. The foregoing Buddhist quota- as a hothead, but claims to be patient, perception states that “the causes of suffering are tive, and wise, unknowingly discloses his true craving and desire, and ignorance.” Corre- nature as a biased and brash fool in spite of his spondingly, Job’s suffering is caused by his glib speech and florid apology.”52 Elihu, how- craving to receive honor and respect for being ever, has some unusual characteristics that are righteous, his desire to defend and support his not noted by traditional commentators. self-image of being righteous, and his willful ignorance of his hypocrisy. Jacques Ellul (1912 – 1994), a French philosopher, analyzes Elihu’s four associated names Chapter 31 is Job’s effort to force God to break given in 32:2: his silence, and includes this plea: “Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that Elihu means ‘He is my God.’ Virtually all the Almighty would answer me, That my Pros- Hebrew scholars agree that when the He- ecutor had written a book!” (31:35). In this brew for ‘he’ is used in the composition of plea, “one to hear me” appears to be someone a name, it always designates the God of Is- like an arbiter or judge in a formal legal pro- rael. Hence, Elihu means ‘YHWH is my ceeding; “my mark” suggests that Job figura- God’ … Elihu is called the son of Barachel, tively signs his statement of defense; and “my which means ‘Elohim has blessed him.’ Prosecutor” indicates that Job considers God to Hence, Elihu is the son of the benediction

of God … Elihu comes from the land of will not speak on His own authority, but what- Buz, which in Hebrew refers to ‘he who is ever He hears He will speak.” despised.’ It is the word which the prophet According to 32:4, Job’s three friends “were Isaiah uses to designate God’s servant … years older” than Elihu. This statement is con- Finally, Elihu is of the family of Ram, strued to mean that Job’s threefold personali- which means ‘from above,’ in the sense of ty—symbolized by his three friends—exists in the heavens. Putting all this together we time, whereas the Holy Spirit—symbolized by have Elihu, YHWH is my God, son of Elo- Elihu—exists in eternity. Hebrews 9:14 like- him’s blessing, bearing the title of the des- wise mentions “the eternal Spirit.” Verse 32:4 pised servant, and coming from the heav- 53 also states that “Elihu had waited to speak to ens. Job.” In fact, Elihu had waited to speak until Charles Fillmore (1854 – 1948), founder of the after Job invoked God’s answer in 31:35, so Unity School of Christianity, states, “Elihu of Elihu’s timing is consistent with him fulfilling the book of Job represents the Holy Spirit.”54 the promise of James 1:5: “If any of you lacks This identification is supported by the forego- wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all ing analysis of Elihu’s associated names as liberally and without reproach, and it will be well as by additional evidence that is discussed given to him.” Thus 32:4 provides further cor- next. roboration that Elihu symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Elihu teaches the discernment of what is false, “Look, in this you are not righteous” (33:12), Verses 32:2-3 say that Elihu is “aroused and teaches wisdom, “Hold your peace, and I against” both sides of the internal argument will teach you wisdom” (33:33). Moreover, described in Chapters 4 through 27. As men- Elihu can bring to Job’s remembrance what tioned earlier, Elihu teaches the discernment of Job had said in the past: Elihu tells Job, “Sure- what is false, so both sides of this argument ly you have spoken in my hearing, And I have must be false. In other words, both Job’s per- heard the sound of your words” (33:8), and sona and shadow are illusions, or false beliefs. then quotes Job sixteen times in Chapters 33 ACIM gives this explanation: “One illusion through 36. Elihu’s abilities to teach and bring about yourself can battle with another, yet the to remembrance corroborate his identification war of two illusions is a state where nothing with the Holy Spirit, because John 14:26 happens. There is no victor and there is no vic- states: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom tory. And truth stands radiant, apart from con- the Father will send in My name, He will teach flict, untouched and quiet in the peace of 55 you all things, and bring to your remembrance God.” all things that I said to you.” Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986), a spiritual Elihu speaks about himself: “I will fetch my philosopher, explains the difficulty in recog- knowledge from afar; I will ascribe righteous- nizing illusions: ness to my Maker. For truly my words are not Ignorance of the ways of the self leads to il- false; One who is perfect in knowledge is with lusion; and once caught in the net of illu- you” (36:3-4). Elihu also speaks about God: sion, it is extremely hard to break through “Do you know how the clouds are balanced, it. It is difficult to recognize an illusion, Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect for, having created it, the mind cannot be in knowledge?” (37:16). Thus Elihu is an in- aware of it.56 termediary: his “words are not false” because he can fetch perfect knowledge from God. Eli- Job’s internal argument is a war of two illu- hu’s abilities to speak truth and be an interme- sions, implying that he is caught in the net of diary further corroborate his identification with illusions and is unable to recognize them. Nev- the Holy Spirit, because John 16:13 states: ertheless, Job can recognize his illusions if he “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has listens to Elihu, because the latter teaches the come, He will guide you into all truth; for He discernment of what is false.

Job is confronted with a choice: either recog- protecting himself.”59 Because of this belief, nize his illusions by listening to Elihu; or de- Job condemned both God (9:17) and unright- fend his illusions by ignoring Elihu. Recogniz- eous people (27:7-8). To the extent that Job ing illusions is the uncomfortable option, be- recognizes that this belief is an illusion, he can cause, in Bailey’s words, “few people care to release himself from his self-condemnation. face the actual truth, for it involves … the abil- Elihu continues: “Beware that wrath does not ity to recognise error and to admit mistakes, entice you into scoffing, and do not let the and this the false pride of the mind will not greatness of the ransom turn you aside” (36:18, permit.”57 Elihu bears “the title of the despised NRSV). In other words, Job receives this servant,” according to Ellul’s earlier analysis, warning: Do not allow the wrath of others to perhaps because of the uncomfortable effect of entice you into deriding them, and do not allow his instructions. Defending illusions is the fu- the apparent attraction of anger to turn you tile option, because it results in what Elihu aside from giving it up. The first part of the calls “empty talk” and “words without warning is applicable to Job, because he knowledge” (35:16, NRSV). Thus Job must scoffed at his tormentors by calling them “A choose between uncomfortableness and futili- senseless, disreputable brood” (30:8, NRSV). ty. During Chapters 32 through 37, Job choos- In the second part of the warning, “ransom” is es to recognize his illusions by having them the price, or sacrifice, that is demanded for pointed out, one by one, by Elihu. Put differ- advancement. Job is reluctant to sacrifice his ently, Job acquiesces to the uncomfortable condemnation of God and unrighteous people, process of inner purification. Bailey writes, because he uses such judgments to defend his “Purification of the self leads one up to the false pride. Thus, to make progress, Job must portal of initiation.”58 sacrifice something that he values. Bailey Let us examine Elihu’s instructions in Chapter gives this explanation: “Each step up is ever 36 in some detail. Job believes that God af- through the sacrifice of all that the heart holds flicts in order to punish (31:2-3). Elihu consid- dear on one plane or another, and always must ers that belief to be an illusion, because he says this sacrifice be voluntary.”60 that God afflicts in order to teach in verses Elihu begins a new speech in Chapter 37 that 36:8-10 (NRSV): uses images of an approaching storm, starting 8 And if they are bound in fetters and with verses 37:1-5: caught in the cords of affliction, 1 At this also my heart trembles, And leaps 9 then he declares to them their work from its place. and their transgressions, that they are be- 2 Hear attentively the thunder of His voice, having arrogantly. And the rumbling that comes from His 10 He opens their ears to instruction, mouth. and commands that they return from iniq- 3 He sends it forth under the whole heaven, uity. His lightning to the ends of the earth. Job’s condition illustrates these verses. He is 4 After it a voice roars; He thunders with “behaving arrogantly” because of his false His majestic voice, And He does not re- pride in being righteous. His affliction opens strain them when His voice is heard. his “ears to instruction” from Elihu, who tells 5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; Job what he has done and to “return from iniq- He does great things which we cannot uity.” comprehend. Elihu continues: “But you are filled with the Traditional commentators simply accept this judgment due the wicked; Judgment and jus- storm as it is literally presented. For example, tice take hold of you” (36:17). ACIM gives a Steven Lawson gives this paraphrase: “Elihu similar account of Job’s fundamental error: was gripped with a deep sense of awe at the “the belief that anger brings him something he mighty power of God in nature … He directed really wants, and that by justifying attack he is Job to hear and sense God’s power in a thun-

64 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 derstorm.”61 Other Bible scholars, however, which is denoted later in the quotation as “the assign symbolic meanings to several words One, the Monad, the Self,” is to be recognized used by Elihu. Herbert Lockyer says, “But for as both immanent and transcendent. Elihu’s the prophets of old, voice stood for the result- directive in 37:2, “Hear attentively the thunder ant inward demonstration of the divine will.”62 of His voice, And the rumbling that comes Emanuel Swedenborg says that Daniel 10:6 from His mouth,” when symbolically under- uses the phrase “‘His face appeared as light- stood, corresponds to Bailey saying that the ning and His eyes as a flame of fire’ to signify students “will then have anchored their con- the Lord’s Divine love.”63 Geoffrey Hodson sciousness in the centre of transcending power says, “Earth and all physical, solid objects re- and guaranteed the flow of the will-to- fer, in the main, to the physical body.”64 Thus achieve.” Elihu’s lesson in 37:3, “He sends it “thunder of His voice,” “His lightening,” and forth under the whole heaven,” corresponds to “earth” can be assigned these meanings: divine Bailey telling the students “to work at the pro- will, divine love, and physical body, respec- cess of transmission, knowing themselves to be tively. agents for the transmission of the will-to-good of the Transcendent One.” Let us compare 37:1-5 to Bailey’s instructions to students preparing for the third initiation: Consider Elihu’s lesson also in 37:3: “His lightning to the ends of the earth.” Its symbolic Students would do well to … pay more at- meaning is that divine love eventually trans- tention to the recognition of that in them forms physical behavior, assuming that the which “having pervaded their little universe “ends of the earth” denote the extremities, such with a fragment of itself remains.” They as hands and feet, of the physical body. Thus will then have anchored their consciousness this lesson corresponds to Bailey telling the in the centre of transcending power and students to “visualise and expect to see devel- guaranteed the flow of the will-to-achieve. oped the needed transformation carried for- From that high point in consciousness (im- ward in their lives,” even though the latter in- aginatively reached at first and practically struction does not explicitly mention either achieved later) they would find it useful to divine love or the physical body. Elihu’s les- work at the process of transmission, know- son, however, has a meaning similar to Bai- ing themselves to be agents for the trans- ley’s statement given elsewhere, “the fire of mission of the will-to-good of the Trans- divine love destroys the loves and desires of cendent One. They should next pass on to the integrated personality,”66 which indicates the stage of transformation wherein they that divine love does transform physical be- would visualise and expect to see devel- havior. oped the needed transformation carried forward in their lives; then—equally ex- Consider Elihu’s lesson in 37:4: “He thunders pectant—they should believe in the trans- with His majestic voice, And He does not re- figuration of those lives in line with the will strain them when His voice is heard.” “Them” of the Transcendent One, the success of the refers back to the “ends of the earth,” because Transmitting One, and the activity of the “ends” is the only plural noun in the earlier Transforming One—all of Whom are but verses, and this referent represents physical the One, the Monad, the Self. All this is behavior, as explained in the preceding para- done by the use of the will, conditioning, graph. If such behavior is not restrained by the fulfilling and overcoming. 65 divine will, then there must be what is called the “transfiguration of the personality,” de- Elihu’s recognition of divinity in 37:1, “At this fined as “its liberation from the alluring im- also my heart trembles, And leaps from its prisonment of the three worlds,”67 in which place,” corresponds to Bailey telling the stu- “the three worlds” denote the physical, emo- dents to “pay more attention to the recognition tional, and mental worlds of human endeavor. of that in them which ‘having pervaded their Thus 37:4 corresponds to Bailey telling the little universe with a fragment of itself re- students that “they should believe in the trans- mains.’” In other words, the divine presence,

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 65 The Esoteric Quarterly figuration of those lives in line with the will of taining the structures of the cosmos and its the Transcendent One.” Finally, Elihu’s lesson orders of life, but it also demonstrates Job’s in 37:5, “God thunders marvelously with His own obvious limits as a finite human crea- voice; He does great things which we cannot ture.68 comprehend,” corresponds to Bailey saying, From our perspective, the LORD has begun to “All this is done by the use of the will, condi- act as the Hierophant for Job’s initiation. What tioning, fulfilling and overcoming.” is the meaning of the “whirlwind” out of which During the remainder of Chapter 37, Elihu the LORD speaks in 38:1? Several theosophi- praises God’s knowledge, power, justice, and cal writers use the expression “winds of righteousness, which helps to prepare Job for thought,”69 which suggests that Job’s initiation the crisis of initiation that he is about to con- takes place on the mental plane. Bailey pro- front. This chapter concludes with Elihu’s vides this explanation: statement about God: “Therefore mortals fear We are considering facts which are substan- him; he does not regard any who are wise in tial and real on the mental plane—the plane their own conceit” (37:24, NRSV). on which all the major initiations take The LORD’s First Speech and place—but which are not materialised on the physical plane, and are not physical Job’s Reply: 38:1–40:5 plane phenomena. The link between the hapters 38 and 39 describe the LORD’s two planes exists in the continuity of con- C reappearance in the story, starting with sciousness which the initiate will have de- verses 38:1-5: veloped, and which will enable him to bring through to the physical brain, occurrences 1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the and happenings upon the subjective planes whirlwind, and said: of life.70 2 “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Bailey describes the crisis of initiation: 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will Initiation might be defined at this point as question you, and you shall answer Me. the moment of crisis wherein the con- 4 “Where were you when I laid the founda- sciousness hovers on the very border-line of tions of the earth? Tell Me, if you have un- revelation. The demands of the soul and the derstanding. suggestions of the Master might be regard- 5 Who determined its measurements? Surely ed as in conflict with the demands of time you know! Or who stretched the line upon and space, focussed in the personality or the it? lower man. You will have, therefore, in this The LORD continues with a long speech that situation a tremendous pull between the asks Job many more questions about the ob- pairs of opposites; the field of tension or the servable world. Leo Perdue, Professor of He- focus of the effort is to be found in the dis- brew Bible, gives a traditional interpretation of ciple “standing at the midway point.” Will this speech: he respond and react consciously to the What follows in the first speech of God is a higher pull and pass on to new and higher lengthy list of questions directed to Job, areas of spiritual experience? Or will he fall questions that ask if Job has the wisdom to back into the glamour of time and space understand the workings of the cosmos and and into the thraldom of the personal life? if he possesses the power to rule over it. Will he stand in a static quiescent condition Yet the questions are asked in such a way in which neither the higher trend nor the as to emphasize that while Job may lack the lower pull will affect him?71 knowledge and power to direct the cosmos, “The demands of the soul” are represented by he should know that God does not. Thus, Elihu’s speech in Chapter 37, because Bailey’s the first speech not only attests to God’s “soul” is comparable to the “Holy Spirit” and wisdom and power in creating and main- to the role played by Elihu. “The suggestions

66 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 of the Master” are represented by the LORD’s expected to be overwhelmed by the sheer speech in Chapters 38 and 39, because the pre- power and terror of these beings, but even siding Master in this case is the LORD. Both more so by the fact that they exist as signs messages pull in the upward direction, because of God’s overarching power, which in- they proclaim the superiority of divine cludes them, in all their chaotic terror, but knowledge; but they conflict with the demand also controls them.72 of Job’s personality that its intelligence re- Bailey continues her explanation of initiation, mains in control, which pulls in the downward in which “astral vehicle” and “Angel of the direction. Job is “standing in the midway Presence” are alternative names for emotional point,” being pulled between this pair of oppo- body and soul, respectively: sites, and his response is in verses 40:3-5: It is at this process, the Master presides. He 3 Then Job answered the LORD and said: is able to do nothing because it is the disci- 4 “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer ple’s own problem. He can only endeavour You? I lay my hand over my mouth. to enhance the desire of the soul by the 5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; power of His directed thought. The person- Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.” ality can also do nothing, for at this point In the final verse of his response, Job says, “I both the physical body and the astral vehi- will proceed no further” (40:5). Using Bailey’s cle are simply automatons, waiting respon- words from her last quotation, he appears to sively for the decision of the disciple, func- “stand in a static quiescent condition in which tioning in his mental body. Only the disci- neither the higher trend nor the lower pull will ple can act upon the mental level of con- affect him.” sciousness at this point of endeavour. Once he does so, the die is cast. He either moves The LORD’s Second Speech forward towards the door of light where the and Job’s Reply: 40:6–42:6 Master takes his hand and the Angel of the Presence becomes potent and active in a hapters 40 and 41 contain the LORD’s sec- way which I may not describe to you, or he ond speech, starting with verses 40:6-8: C drops back temporarily into the life condi- 6 Then the LORD answered Job out of the tion of the lower man.73 whirlwind, and said: The LORD’s first speech demonstrates that Job 7 “Now prepare yourself like a man; I will is ignorant about the observable world. The question you, and you shall answer Me: LORD’s second speech demonstrates that Job is 8 “Would you indeed annul My judgment? ignorant about the occult, or hidden, world. Would you condemn Me that you may be Because of these speeches, Job realizes that his justified? personality’s knowledge is meager when com- James Wharton, Professor of Homiletics, gives pared to divine knowledge, and responds in a traditional interpretation of the speech’s con- verses 42:1-3, 6: clusion: 1 Then Job answered the LORD and said: God’s second speech concludes with poems 2 “I know that You can do everything, And describing two quite indescribable “beasts” that no purpose of Yours can be withheld or “monsters” that have puzzled biblical in- from You. terpreters for the better part of two millen- 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel nia. Who is “Behemoth” (40:15-24)? Who without knowledge?’ Therefore I have ut- is “Leviathan” (41:1-34)? Vivid and com- tered what I did not understand, Things too plex as these twin poems are, their import wonderful for me, which I did not know. in the context of God’s speech to Job is 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in simple in the extreme: They are surely to be dust and ashes.” taken, in the first line, as variations on the In the final verse of Job’s response (42:6), theme that God is God and Job is not. Job is “myself” is taken as Job’s personality, because

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 67 The Esoteric Quarterly its nature can be assessed through self- laws and constellations, to phenomena of the observation; to “repent” means to turn towards earth, such as the mineral, vegetable, and ani- God (Acts 26:20); and “dust and ashes” signify mal kingdoms. Our extrapolation is that Job’s humility, or the lack of false pride (Genesis recollection of these questions after his initia- 18:27). Consequently, Job rejects the control tion evokes his understanding of them, because by his personality (“Therefore I abhor my- of the knowledge that is imparted at his initia- self”), and turns his mind towards the Holy tion, as Bailey explains: Spirit’s divine knowledge (“And repent”) and At the third initiation “the secret of fohat” away from false pride (“in dust and ashes”). is given to him, and then the mystery of the These mental actions enable Job to go through threefold body of the triple Logos is his, the door of the third initiation, because that and the why of the phenomena of the dense, initiation is characterized by Bailey in the fol- liquid and gaseous bodies of the Supreme lowing way: Being is enfolded before his amazed vision At the third Initiation of Transfiguration, … By the knowledge thus imparted, and the the control of the personality in the three progress which the initiate has made in the worlds is broken in order that the Son of study of the law of analogy, he can com- Mind, the soul, may be substituted finally prehend the manipulation of the same forc- for the concrete and hitherto directing lower es on a vastly larger scale in the planetary mind. Again, through the Law of Sacrifice, scheme and in the solar system. The meth- the personality is liberated and becomes od of development in the three earlier simply an agent of the soul.74 rounds is revealed to him, and he understands, practically as well as theoretically, Bailey continues her explanation of initiation: the evolutionary process in its earlier stag- Should he, however, go forward through es. The key to the three lower kingdoms of that door, then (according to the initiation nature is in his hands, and certain ideas which becomes possible) will be the revela- anent the subject of polarity, of at-one- tion and its attendant consequences. The ment, and essential union, are beginning to revelation will not be the revelation of pos- come within his range of consciousness.76 sibilities. It is a factual experience, resulting The above quotation contains some terms that in the evocation of new powers and capaci- have not yet been defined. Bailey characterizes ties and the recognition of new modes and fohat as “divine Purpose, actively function- fields of service.75 ing.”77 The “triple Logos” is taken to be the According to this quotation, Job’s initiation Planetary Logos, because Bailey mentions “the results in the evocation of new powers, capaci- triple nature of the Planetary Logos.”78 “The ties, and recognitions, but what are they? We three lower kingdoms of nature” are the miner- agree with the traditional commentators, such al, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. as Purdue and Wharton, that the LORD’s two According to Theosophy, our universe consists speeches have the purpose of impressing on of seven worlds that are often called “planes” Job the meagerness of his personality’s and that are arranged metaphorically in an up- knowledge and abilities. Another purpose per and lower manner. The physical plane, emerges, however, after his initiation: Job, ac- which is the lowest plane, is said to have seven cording to our extrapolation of the story, finds subplanes. The three lowest physical sub- that those speeches evoke his new powers, ca- planes, called the dense, liquid, and gaseous pacities, and recognitions. Consequently, the subplanes, provide the substance for the dense LORD’s speeches are actually much more pro- physical bodies of human beings. An analo- found than traditionally thought. gous situation holds for the Planetary Logos. Let us reconsider the LORD’s first speech, giv- Bailey writes, “our seven planes are only the en in Chapters 38 and 39. It asks more than 70 seven subplanes of the cosmic physical questions about the observable world: from plane,”79 and speaks of “the appropriation of a phenomena of the heavens, such as celestial dense physical body by the Planetary Logos;

68 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 this body is composed of matter of our three his physical activity was compulsive, because lower planes.”80 The point is that our physical, it kept him from feeling unrighteous. After Job emotional, and mental planes, which are the imagined himself as presenting his case in three lowest cosmic physical subplanes, pro- God’s celestial court (23:3-7), he physically vide the substance for the dense physical body acted out that inner fantasy by presenting for- of the Planetary Logos, and thereby form what mal testimony to a public assembly as though the above quotation calls God were in attendance “the dense, liquid and Job craves honor and re- (30:20-23). gaseous bodies of the Su- spect from his fellow citi- Let us reconsider the preme Being.” zens for being righteous. LORD’S second speech, Some additional defini- Job gains pleasure when given in Chapters 40 and tions need to be consid- 41, which describes the ered. Bailey speaks of this craving is satisfied . . . characteristics of two “the Great Illusion, in its but suffers when it is not occult beasts: Behemoth three forms of illusion, satisfied . . . Even though and Leviathan. Our ex- glamour and maya.”81 For trapolation of the story is a person, illusion is a false these two experiences are that Job can understand belief, glamour is an illu- contrasted in successive this speech after his ini- sion that has been intensi- tiation, because he rec- fied by desire,82 and maya chapters, Job does not ognizes the two beasts as is a glamour that has been acknowledge the following the planetary corre- intensified by vital ener- truth about himself: his spondences of his own gy.83 For the planetary personal beasts, namely, correspondences, Bailey own craving causes his suf- his personal maya and uses the terms world illu- fering. This truth is related personal glamour. As sion, world glamour, and to what Buddhists call “The discussed earlier, he world maya.84 broke the control of his Second Noble Truth.” personality at his initia- For example, when Job tion, which means that he broke the control of created his persona as his self -image of being his own personal beasts, which in turn means righteous (29:14) and used it to feel superior to that he apprehended their characteristics. unrighteous people (30:1), it became an illusion. When Job intensified this illusion by add- Behemoth is interpreted as world maya for the ing the desire to defend and support it (27:6), following reasons: “Look now at the behe- he turned it into a glamour, which in turn moth, which I made along with you” (40:15), formed and projected his shadow. Job’s shad- which is similar to Bailey’s statement, “the ow consisted of suppressed judgments of his Lord of the World is not identified with the own unrighteousness, and the projection of his maya which He has created”;85 “He eats grass shadow resulted in his condemnation of God like an ox” (40:15), indicating that maya acts and unrighteous people (9:17; 27:7-8). When through the physical body, because an ox sym- Job intensified this glamour by adding vital bolizes the animal nature;86 “Its strength is in energy to it (23:11), he created maya, which its loins, and its power in the muscles of its appeared outwardly as physical activity that belly” (40:16, NRSV), indicating that maya was obsessional, compulsive, or based on fan- has the powers of both vitality and glamour, tasy. When Job regularly performed ritual sac- because these powers are seated in those are- rifices on behalf of his children in case they as;87 “It makes its tail stiff like a cedar” (40:17, might have sinned (1:5), his physical activity NRSV), which symbolizes maya’s involve- was obsessional, because it was a persistent ment in sexual compulsions, because Habel preoccupation that supported his own self- regards the “Beast’s tail as a euphemism for image of being righteous. When he wore sack- his penis”;88 “His bones are like beams of cloth and put his head in the dust (16:15-17), bronze, His ribs like bars of iron” (40:18),

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 69 The Esoteric Quarterly meaning that maya compels all parts of the king over all the children of pride” (41:34), physical body to use their strength for acting signifying that glamour engenders false pride. out strongly felt fantasies; “only its Maker can The LORD asks Job, with regard to Behemoth, approach it with the sword” (40:19, NRSV), “Can one take it with hooks or pierce its nose which means that only the Holy Spirit can with a snare?” (40:24, NRSV), and then asks, subdue maya, because the Holy Spirit conveys “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of or press down its tongue with a cord?” (41:1, God” (Ephesians 6:17); “For the mountains NRSV). The hooks, snare, and cord are in- yield food for it where all the wild animals struments for subduing animals, so Job is play” (40:20, NRSV), indicating that maya asked whether he can subdue Behemoth and fulfills fantasies of using the physical body for Leviathan. After Job takes the third initiation self-glorification, thereby reinforcing feelings and understands the meaning of these beasts, of identification with that body, because moun- he realizes that his answer to both questions is tains symbolize both idolatrous worship (Deu- “yes,” because he recognizes that he can sub- teronomy 12:2) and false pride (Isaiah 40:4); due both world maya and world glamour with and “The lotus trees cover him with their the aid of the Holy Spirit. shade; The willows by the brook surround him” (40:22), which indicates the difficulty of Bailey writes, “At the third initiation … a part recognizing maya as being what it is, because of the plans of the Planetary Logos becomes both the mind and emotions accept its underly- revealed to him, and the vision includes the ing illusion. revelation of the plan and purpose as it concerns the planet.”91 The LORD’s second speech Leviathan is interpreted as world glamour for fulfills this pronouncement by revealing these the following reasons: the question “Shall one goals: subduing world maya, symbolized by not be overwhelmed at the sight of him?” Behemoth; and subduing world glamour, sym- (41:9), to which the answer is “yes,” but only bolized by Leviathan. In our extrapolation of if one observes glamour while detached from the story, Job’s recollection of this speech after one’s feelings; the question “Who can remove his initiation evokes his recognition that his his outer coat?” (41:13), to which the answer is new fields of service involve these goals, as the “Holy Spirit,” because only it can recog- Bailey explains: nize glamour’s underlying belief as an illusion;89 “There is terror all around its teeth” Fancy rests upon images which have no re- (41:14, NRSV), symbolizing that one’s glam- al existence … This is one of the sutras our bites other people in the sense of making which, though apparently short and simple, cruel, incisive criticisms of them (Galatians is of the most profound significance; it is 5:15); “Its back is made of shields in rows, studied by high initiates who are learning shut up closely as with a seal” (41:15, NRSV), the nature of the creative process of the indicating that glamour is constructed to de- planet, and who are concerned with the dis- fend false pride; “His breath kindles coals, sipation of planetary maya.92 And a flame goes out of his mouth” (41:21), It is the problem of humanity itself, as a signifying that glamour incites resentment, whole, to work in the world glamour; it is which is smoldering anger, and rage, which is the responsibility of the aspirants of the intense anger, because fire is a symbol of anger world to guide humanity out of the valley (Isaiah 30:27); “His undersides are like sharp of glamour. Men must learn to understand it potsherds; He spreads pointed marks in the and eventually—aided by the senior disci- mire” (41:30), referring to glamour’s shadow ples of the world, trained by the Masters of and its suppressed judgments of self- the Wisdom—to transmute and dispel it.93 condemnation; “He makes the sea like a pot of ointment” (41:31), which means that glamour Epilogue: 42:7-17 uses feelings like an ointment that protects the persona in a superficial way, because the sea he remainder of Chapter 42 is the epi- symbolizes the emotional body;90 and “He is T logue. We comment only on the initial

70 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 portion in verses 42:7-9: of the dense physical body and have the following locations and Sanskrit names: 7 And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to 1. Head centre—sahasrara chakra Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is 2. Centre between eyebrows—ajna chakra aroused against you and your two friends, 3. Throat centre—vishuddha chakra for you have not spoken of Me what is 4. Heart or cardiac centre—anahata chakra right, as My servant Job has.8 Now there- 5. Solar plexus centre—manipura chakra fore, take for yourselves seven bulls and 6. Sacral or sexual centre—svadhisthana seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer chakra up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My 7. Centre at base of spine—muladhara servant Job shall pray for you. For I will chakra.95 accept him, lest I deal with you according The “seven bulls and seven rams” (42:8) are to your folly; because you have not spoken taken as the evolutionary and involutionary of Me what is right, as My servant Job 9 energies associated with the seven chakras, has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad because the up-turned horns of the bull depict the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite the push upward towards illumination, and the went and did as the LORD commanded down-turned horns of the ram depict the them; for the LORD had accepted Job. downward attraction for the material world. William Stevenson, Professor of Semitic Lan- The bull and ram have similar astrological sig- 96 guages, describes the contradictions that arise nificances. These energies include thoughts from the traditional method of interpreting and their interior results, such as feelings, de- these verses: sires, and urges. There are no neutral energies, since, in the words of ACIM, “A neutral result No sentence in the folk-tale has had a more is impossible because a neutral thought is im- mischievous influence on the interpretation possible.”97 Thus the bull and ram for a chakra of the poem than the words addressed to depict the whole range of bodily and psychic Eliphaz by the Almighty, as recorded at the energies that are associated with that chakra. end of the book, in ch. 42, ver. 7: ‘you have not spoken truth regarding me, as my serv- Matthew Easton, author of a leading Bible dic- ant Job has done.’ When the poem is read tionary, gives this definition for burnt offering: without the prejudice injected by this sen- “the whole being consumed by fire, and re- tence, it is clear that Job’s words were gen- garded as ascending to God while being con- erally less in agreement with religious prin- sumed. Part of every offering was burnt in the ciples than were those of his three comfort- sacred fire, but this was wholly burnt, a ‘whole 98 ers. God’s judgment on Job’s speeches is burnt offering.’” expressed in the poem in the words: ‘who The Sanskrit word kundalini literally means here darkens debate in words devoid of “coiled.” Yoga philosophy considers kundalini 94 knowledge?’ (38:2). to be an instinctive force that lies coiled at the Stevenson resolves these contradictions by base of the spine. Bailey defines Word of Pow- regarding the prose framework, consisting of er as “enunciated sound … with the full pur- 99 the prologue and epilogue, as a “folk-tale” that pose of the will behind it” and gives this de- is independent of the enclosed poem. Our scription of the raising of kundalini: symbolic analysis, however, treats the entire The Kundalini Fire, about which so much is book as a coherent narrative without yielding taught and written in the East, and increas- any contradictions, as shown next. ingly in the West, is … then raised by the Before interpreting 42:7-9, let us consider the use of a Word of Power (sent forth by the meaning of its symbols. The Sanskrit word will of the Monad) and by the united au- chakra literally means “wheel.” Yoga philoso- thority of the soul and personality, integrat- phy describes seven wheels of energy, called ed and alive. The human being who can do chakras, that belong to the subtle counterpart this in full consciousness is therefore an ini-

tiate who has left the third initiation behind teachings were intended by the original author, him. He, and he alone, can safely raise this and either kind can be helpful for those who triple fire from the base of the spine to the can relate to it. The various paradoxes and con- head centre.100 tradictions that arise with a traditional interpretation serve as clues to a deeper meaning. When the kundalini fire rises from the base of the spine, it becomes a great moving force that Bailey speaks of the following phenomenon: carries all before it, for which Bailey describes “a revelation has precipitated upon the mental this result: “the final transference of all the plane and—owing to failure rightly to appre- bodily and psychic energies into the head cen- hend and interpret it or to apply it usefully—it tre.”101 The kundalini fire acting on the whole has developed into an illusion and enters upon range of energies of a chakra is analogous to a a career of deception, of crystallisation and of sacrificial fire consuming the whole animal on misinformation.”103 A symbolic interpretation an altar, because the ascension of the whole of the Book of Job has precipitated upon the range of energies to the head center is like the mental plane in the form of this article, and it ascension of the whole burnt offering to God. is a revelation in the sense that it makes many claims that have not been published elsewhere. Let us now consider the symbolic meaning of Whether or not this interpretation is essentially 42:7-9. As discussed previously, Job’s three valid, if it is misapprehended or misapplied, it friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) represent would develop into an illusion and enter upon Job’s threefold personality. The LORD states in a career of deception and misinformation. To 42:7 that Job’s personality has not spoken avoid that unhappy outcome, let us consider “what is right” but Job has. In other words, at how this symbolic interpretation might be mis- the third initiation, Job frees himself from be- apprehended or misapplied during each initia- ing controlled by his personality and instead tory stage: expresses the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. The LORD gives Job’s personality the following 1. The Tests. In Chapters 1 and 2, a Master command in 42:8: with regard to the whole discerns Job’s weaknesses and imposes range of energies for each of the seven chak- tests that will enable him to grow in self- ras, submit to Job’s authority and offer up mastery. One should not deliberately try to these energies as “a burnt offering”—which attract the attention of a Master, however, means that they ascend to the head center as Bailey explains: “Students must attend to through the raising of the kundalini fire— the immediate duty and prepare their mech- whenever Job issues an appropriate Word of anisms for service in the world, and should Power, or “prayer.” According to 42:9, Job’s desist from wasting time and looking for a personality did as the LORD commanded it, Master; they should achieve mastery where raising kundalini whenever Job issued his or- now they are defeated and in the life of ser- der; for Job gained this ability through being vice and of struggle they may then reach accepted by the LORD as an initiate of the third the point of such complete self- degree. forgetfulness that the Master may find no hindrance in His approach to them.”104 Conclusions 2. Occult Blindness. In Chapter 3, the tests lavatsky makes a key distinction: “Every induce in Job what is called “occult blind- B ancient religious, or rather philosophical, ness,” which leads to greater self-reliance cult consisted of an esoteric or secret teaching, and self-knowledge. One should not delib- 102 and an exoteric (outward public) worship.” erately impose such an experience on one- The traditional method of interpreting the Book self, however, as Bailey explains: “Blind- of Job, which accepts the story as it is literally ness nurtures and protects, provided it is in- presented, yields an exoteric teaching; the nate and natural, soul-imposed or spiritually symbolic method of interpretation, which takes engendered. If it is willfully self-induced, the story as a poem of initiation, yields an eso- if it provides an alibi for grasped know- teric teaching. In our view, both kinds of ledge, if it is assumed in order to avoid re-

sponsibility, then sin enters in and difficulty learn from and surmount his tests. The con- ensues. From this may all of you be pro- clusion should not be drawn, however, that tected.”105 one should seek to be initiated. Bailey writes, “There is much talk these days con- 3. Internal Conflict. In Chapters 4 through cerning the mysteries of initiation. Every 27, the tests induce Job’s internal conflict country is full of spurious teachers, teach- by contradicting his self-image of being ing the so-called Mysteries, offering spuri- righteous. Having such a self-image is not ous initiations (usually at a cost and with a necessarily unwise, because it is an admira- diploma) and misleading the people.”109 ble ideal at an early stage of one’s evolu- Seeking to be initiated could be a form of tion. Bailey speaks of the progress that oc- spiritual selfishness that leads to separate- curs when “your ideals have been supersed- ness rather than usefulness in service. ed by greater and more spiritual ones.”106 Job’s progress was blocked when he be- 7. Aftermath. In Chapter 42, Job gains the came attached to an ideal that was no long- ability to raise kundalini as a consequence er appropriate for him. of taking the third initiation. Such raising should not be attempted earlier, as Bailey 4. External Conflict. In Chapters 29 through explains: “The raising of the kundalini 31, the tests induce Job’s external conflict force—if brought about ignorantly and by frustrating his craving to receive honor prematurely—may produce the rapid burn- and respect from his fellow citizens for being through of the protective web of etheric ing righteous. Having such a craving is not matter which separates the various areas of necessarily unwise, because everyone needs the body (controlled by the seven centres) to pass through a stage in which there is, in from each other. This causes serious nerv- Bailey’s words, “Power to influence, sway, ous trouble, inflammation of the tissues, guide and hold others within the range of spinal disease, and brain trouble.”110 Here, individual purpose and desire.”107 Job’s the term “etheric” denotes the subtle coun- progress was blocked when he became at- terpart of the dense physical body. tached to a stage that he outgrew. Perhaps this symbolic interpretation of the 5. Inner Purification. In Chapters 32 Book of Job, when augmented by the above through 37, the tests induce Job’s receptiv- reservations, may be found to be helpful. ity to the Holy Spirit’s teaching, which en- ables him to resolve his internal and exter-

nal conflicts through inner purification. An aspirant should not simply follow any inner 1 “The top 100 books of all time,” The Guardian voice that is heard, however, because it (8 May 2002), http.guardian.co.uk/world/ may be one of these listed by Bailey: “his 2002/may/08/books.booksnews (accessed Oc- subconscious ‘wish life,’” “the result of the tober 1, 2012). 2 Roy B. Zuck, “Job,” in John F. Walvoord and man tuning in telepathically upon the mind Roy B. Zuck (eds.) The Bible Knowledge or the minds of others,” “all kinds and types Commentary: Old Testament (Colorado of incarnate or discarnate men, ranging in Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1983), 717. character from very good to very bad,” and 3 Ibid., 716. “the injunctions and impulses of his own 4 Charles W. Draper, Chad Brand, and Archie personality.”108 People can be left to the England, Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary guidance of the Holy Spirit only when they (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 924–925. understand what is happening to them and 5 can discriminate among their various inner Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, vol. II voices. (1877; reprint; Pasadena, CA: Theosophical University Press, 1976), 494. 6. Crisis of Initiation. In Chapters 38 6 Helena P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings, vol. through 41, Job undergoes the crisis of the VII (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Society in third initiation, showing that he was able to America, 2002), 258.

7 Blavatsky, Collected Writings, vol. XIV, 288- 29 Stanley Diamond, In Search of the Primitive 289. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 8 Alice A. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations 1974), 287. (1960; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing 30 Ibid., 288. Company, 1976), 686. 31 Charles R. Swindoll, Job: A Man of Heroic 9 Scripture taken from the New King James Endurance (Nashville, TN: The W Publishing Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nel- Group, 2004), 79. son, Inc. Used by permission. All rights re- 32 Jack H. Kahn, Job’s Illness: Loss, Grief and served. Integration (London: Royal College of Psy- 10 New Revised Standard Version Bible, copy- chiatrists, 1986), 109. right 1989, Division of Christian Education of 33 Robyn Walker, Strategic Management Com- the National Council of the Churches of Christ munication for Leaders (Mason, OH: Cengage in the United States of America. Used by Learning, 2011), 20. permission. All rights reserved. 34 Alice A. Bailey, From Bethlehem to Calvary 11 Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job (London: (1937; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing SCM Press, 1985), 25. Company, 1989), 153. 12 The Scofield Study Bible: New King James 35 William W. Wells, Commentary on the Book Version (New York: Oxford University Press, of Job (2005), 5-6; 2002), 138. http://www.newwineonline.com/files/pdf/boo 13 Alice A. Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar ks/Commentary_on_Job_WWWells.pdf (ac- (1922; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing cessed Sept. 23, 2012). Company, 1974), 88. 36 Carl G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul 14 Ibid., 106. (1933; reprint; Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 1955), 15 Roshen Dalal, Hinduism: An Alphabetical 236-237. Guide (New Delhi, India: Penguin India, 37 Carl G. Jung, Two Essays on Analytical Psy- 2011), 358. chology (1953; reprint; London: Routedge, 16 Robert Beer, Tibetan Symbols and Motifs 1999), 192. (Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004), 162. 38 Carl G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collec- 17 Arthur E. Powell, The Causal Body and the tive Unconscious (1959; reprint; Princeton, Ego (1928; reprint; Wheaton, IL: Theosophi- NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990), 284- cal Publishing House, 1978), 309-316. 285. 18 Jonathan Sacks, “Keywords of Prayer,” The 39 Carl G. Jung and Joseph Campbell (ed.), The Koren Siddur (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers, Portable Jung (New York: Penguin Books, 2009), xlv. 1971), 139. 19 Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic 40 Murray Stein, Jung’s Map of the Soul (Peru, (1934; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing IL: Open Court Publishing, 1998), 15. Company, 1979), 531. 41 A Course in Miracles (ACIM) (second edition; 20 Alice A. Bailey, The Externalisation of the Glen Ellen, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace, Hierarchy (1957; reprint; New York: Lucis 1992), vol. II, 379. Publishing Company, 1976), 676. 42 Carl G. Jung, Analytic Psychology: Its Theory 21 Alice A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul (1927; and Practice (New York: Random House, reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing Compa- 1970), 179. ny, 1978), 57. 43 Leon Festinger, A Theory of Cognitive Disso- 22 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 183-184. nance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University 23 Robert Eisen, The Book of Job in Medieval Press, 1957), 3. Jewish Philosophy (New York: Oxford Uni- 44 Diamond, In Search of the Primitive, 288. versity Press, 2004), 48. 45 Habel, The Book of Job, 391. 24 Zuck, “Job,” 724. 46 Nancy B. Detweiler, “Lesson 9,” A Metaphys- 25 Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 197-198. ical Interpretation of the Biblical Book of Job 26 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 584. (2002), 27 Tremper Longman, “Disputation,” in Tremper http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/chapel/le Longman and Peter Enns (eds.), Dictionary of sson9.html (accessed September 10, 2012). the Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: Inter- 47 The Hebrew phrase ruach hakodesh, which is varsity Press, 2008), 108. translated as “Holy Spirit” in the NKJV, is 28 Ibid., 109. used only three times in the Hebrew Bible

(Psalm 51:11 and Isaiah 63:10, 11), but is (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, found frequently in the Jewish Talmud and 1993), 93. Midrash. 69 Alice A. Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation 48 Henry L. Ellison, “The problem of Job,” in D. (1922; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing R. W. Wood and Ian H. Marshall (eds.), New Company, 1974), 337-338; Annie W. Besant, Bible Dictionary (Downers Grove, IL: Inter- Psychology (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Pub- Varsity Press, 1996), 590. lishing House, 1919), 62; Charles W. Lead- 49 Buddha Dharma Education Association, “The beater, Talks on “At the Feet of the Master” Second Noble Truth” (2008), (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing http://www.buddhanet.net/e- House, 1922), 264. learning/buddhism/bs-s04.htm (accessed Sep- 70 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 100. tember 10, 2012). 71 Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, 50 Zuck, “Job,” 751. vol. I (1944; reprint; New York: Lucis Pub- 51 Ibid., 754. lishing Company, 1976), 91-92. 52 Habel, The Book of Job, 445. 72 James A. Wharton, Job (Louisville, KY: 53 Jacques Ellul, Freedom, Love, and Power Westminster/John Knox, 1999), 174. (translated by William H. Vanderburg; Toron- 73 Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, vol. I, to: University of Toronto Press, 2010), 103- 92. 104. 74 Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, vol. II, 54 Charles Fillmore, The Metaphysical Bible 398. Dictionary (1931; reprint; Unity Village, MO: 75 Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, vol. I, Unity School of Christianity, 1995), 191. 92-93. 55 ACIM, vol. I, 488. 76 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 170-171. 56 Jiddu Krishnamurti, Commentaries on Living, 77 Alice A. Bailey, The Soul and Its Mechanism First Series (1956; reprint; Wheaton, IL: The- (1930; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing osophical Publishing House, 1970), 82. Company, 1976), 99. 57 Alice A. Bailey, Glamour: A World Problem 78 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 29. (1950; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing 79 Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 357. Company, 1973), 145. 80 Alice A. Bailey, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire 58 Bailey, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 271. (1925; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing 59 ACIM, Psychotherapy (Mill Valley, CA: Company, 1973), 690. Foundation for Inner Peace, 1976), 4. 81 Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 183. 60 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 82. 82 Bailey, Glamour, 21. 61 Steven J. Lawson, Holman Old Testament 83 Ibid., 26. Commentary: Job (Nashville, TN: B&H Pub- 84 Ibid., 88, 125, 184. lishing Group, 2004), 318. 85 Ibid., 242. 62 Herbert Lockyer, All the Divine Names and 86 Bailey, From Bethlehem to Calvary, 69. Titles in the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: 87 Bailey, Glamour, 149. Zondervan, 1988), 294. 88 Habel, The Book of Job, 566. 63 Emanuel Swedenborg, Apocalypse Explained, 89 Bailey, Glamour, 139. vol. 2 (1757-9; reprint; Central, Hong Kong: 90 Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, 283. Forgotten Books, 2008), 523. 91 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 121. 64 Geoffrey Hodson, Hidden Wisdom in the Holy 92 Bailey, The Light of the Soul, 19-21. Bible (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing 93 Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, vol. I, House, 1993), 76. 69. 65 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology (1951; 94 William B. Stevenson, The Poem of Job: A reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing Compa- Literary Study with a New Translation (Lon- ny, 1979), 618-619. don: Oxford University Press, 1947), 21-22. 66 Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 39. 95 Bailey, The Soul and Its Mechanism, 111. 67 Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, 96 Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, 154. vol. II (1955; reprint. New York: Lucis Pub- 97 ACIM, vol. II, 26. lishing Company, 1972), 397. 98 Matthew G. Easton, The Bible Dictionary 68 Leo G. Perdue, “Wisdom in the Book of Job,” (1897; reprint; Central, Hong Kong: Forgotten in Leo G. Perdue, Bernard B. Scott, and Wil- Books, 2007), 106. liam J. Wiseman (eds.), In Search of Wisdom 99 Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, 150.

100 Bailey, Esoteric Healing, 185. 105 Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, 200. 101 Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. II 106 Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age, vol. II, (1942; reprint; New York: Lucis Publishing 532. Company, 1981), 527. 107 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 394. 102 Helena P. Blavatsky, The Key to Theoso- 108 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. II, 488-491. phy(1889; reprint; Pasadena, CA: Theosophi- 109 Alice A. Bailey, The Reappearance of the cal University Press, 1972), 8. Christ (1948; reprint; New York: Lucis Pub- 103 Bailey, Glamour, 175. lishing Company, 1978), 125. 104 Bailey, A Treatise on White Magic, 595. 110 Bailey, Esoteric Psychology, vol. II, 539.

The Spiritual Significance of Silence: Two Writings

Roberto Assagioli and Vincent Beltran Anglada Introduction and Translations by Mike Malagreca, Gail Jolley and Carmen Barber

he significance of silence has been high- When communion is established, words are T lighted in practically all spiritual and eso- forthwith used, and mantric law assumes its teric traditions around the world since the very rightful place, provided that the One com- beginnings of time. In the impossibility of do- municates the words and the three remain ing justice to all of these traditions, let us be in silence. When response is recognized as content with just a few. In many of the differ- emanating from the three, the One, in si- ent forms of Christianity, the ritual of trans- lence, listens.2 muting bread and wine into the sacrament of Historically, however, we live in a time that the Eucharist during the Holy Mass is preceded seems to undervalue, if not fear, silence. Ours by a period of expectant and silent prayer. The is a time characterized by communication Sepher HaSh'tikah or The Book of Silence is a strains. We suffer the risks of mental conges- sacred Kabalistic text whose teachings begin tion from an excess of information technology, by exhorting the reader to “learn the fine art of industrial noise and the many other forms of silence” as the first step in the acquisition of noise pollution. It seems difficult to reconcile wisdom. Vipassana meditation, which comes the perennial wisdom with our current empha- from the tradition of Theravada Buddhism, sis and passion for noise. Yet, it might be a combines breathing techniques and silence to time of transition only. Fourth Ray Humanity, help the practitioner reach a state of awareness still in its adolescence, probably needs to ex- of the impermanence of existence. Inner si- perience an excess of noise before reaching a lence, Castaneda tells us, is what indigenous stage of equilibrium when it will sound its note sorcerers are after in most dramatic shamanic harmonically. rites, reaching the threshold of silence, a moment when the world “stops” and everything The two texts that follow provide us with im- ceases to be what it has always been. H. P. portant clues about the lost art of silence. The Blavatsky’s The Voice of Silence opens with a first one, written by Roberto Assagioli, is an reference to the Soundless Sound, the voice of English language translation of an unpublished Nada: manuscript by the Italian genius who developed psychosynthesis. The article is based, in These tears, O thou of heart most merciful, part, on his own direct experience with Age- these are the streams that irrigate the fields less Wisdom teachings and the Tibetan’s work of charity immortal. Tis on such soil that in particular. Assagioli needs little introduction grows the midnight blossom of Buddha to the English-speaking readership, and we are more difficult to find, more rare to view certain much will be learned from his usual than is the flower of the Vogay tree. It is didactic exposition and practical approach to the seed of freedom from rebirth. It isolates the topic. The article reproduced here appeared the Arhat both from strife and lust; it leads in the October 2012 issue of the Journal of him through the fields of Being unto peace Psychosynthesis. We thank the Institute of and bliss known only in the land of Silence Psychosynthesis in Florence for granting and Non-Being.1 permission to reprint, and we encourage our Silence is abundantly elaborated on in the readers to visit the journal website: works of the Tibetan as well. In a Treatise on http://www.psicosintesi.it/, which publishes all White Magic, for instance, a passage of the Old its articles in Italian and English. Commentary expresses:

The second article is by Vicente Beltran Ang- opposites, the two poles of speech and silence lada. The English-speaking audience is proba- aren’t antagonistic; they don’t exclude each bly less familiar with the work of this Spanish other, and both are necessary. The problem lies writer. Anglada was a loving, extraordinary not in suppressing one of them, but rather in human being and a person of advanced spiri- the wise regulation of both of them; this is one tual stature. He was a devoted teacher, an ar- aspect, one important application of the Law of ticulate public speaker, a secretary for the Ar- Right Relations. cane School in Geneva, a prolific writer and Let’s begin, then, by examining this topic from dedicated server who touched the heart of the point of view of the relationship between countless people in Europe and Latin America. silence, on the one hand, and speech and sound While his work touches on several topics, he is on the other. What I’m about to say is not most commonly identified with the develop- meant to disturb the silence, but merely to ment of Agni Yoga and books on the Deva serve as a guide to the “Temple of Silence.” kingdom. Anglada had a special sensibility to interpret the mysteries of the Angelic kingdom Silence follows sound, and each sound or crea- and was given the task of writing a series of tive word should come from silence. Thus, the books that would help bring together the Hu- first type of right relationship between silence man and Deva Hierarchies—a task he accepted and speech is that of using them in right pro- humbly and to which he devoted his entire in- portion. I don’t need to talk at length here carnated life until his passing in 1988. We about the enormous disparity that exists nowa- translate this work from a conference with the days between silence and sound ... or noise. kind permission of the Asociacion Vicente Our civilization has been called the culture of Beltran Anglada: noise; all kinds of noises bombard us in what http://www.asocacionvicentebeltan- has been called “the jungles of the West.” Con- anglada.org/. tinuous noise is actually harmful for physical health, and the worst thing is that present-day It should be noted here, that there are a number humanity, especially young people, not only of points of similarity between these writers. become used to noise; they actually desire it, Both Assagioli and Anglada lived in post-war so much so that they produce it when there is Europe, both were very close to the Tibetan’s none, for example, by turning up the radio foundational group, both wrote and spoke pub- when they become unable to bear the silence. licly on the same Teaching, both had students and both developed—in their own ways— This last point refers to noise and sounds from methods for spiritual unfoldment. And both outside, but the situation isn’t any better re- were silent about their occult mission: Assagi- garding sounds that come from within us, es- oli insisted throughout his life in keeping his pecially idle talk or nonsense. If there were psychological approach separate from his link instruments to measure the amount of energy with the Tibetan; Anglada kept a secret diary wasted in vain and harmful words, we would about discipleship that only recently became a be really shocked, but of course, we don’t need book. Most importantly, both Assagioli and much imagination or a special word counter to Anglada are remembered by their students as understand this. The habit of speaking too being true to themselves; apparently, they were much and too negatively has been encouraged ordinary individuals who quietly helped trans- by what may be called the modern cult of ex- form our noisy world. pression, the right to self-expression. This has been a reaction to the excessive repression of The Art and Technique the nineteenth century, but, like all reactions, it of Silence went to the opposite extreme, and now there is Roberto Assagioli an urgent need to reduce the current excessive, unregulated “expressionism.” t might seem a contradiction in terms, or at I least a paradox, to talk about silence, but Here too the solution lies in proper regulation, actually, it isn’t. As with many other pairs of which simply means to think before we speak,

78 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 to consider whether what we are about to say that sounds,” and it has been said that it is a has any value or serves any good. It has been characteristic of someone who knows and ap- said that “Humanity as a whole needs silence preciates the values of the Spirit. now as never before; it needs to reflect on and Another fact even less recognized is that si- perceive the Universal Rhythm.” lence is an Entity; there is a Spirit of Silence in This need is particularly great and urgent for the same way that there is a Spirit of Love, a those who are spiritually oriented, and this Spirit of Light, a Spirit of Beauty. To our ma- leads us to consider another type of silence, terialistic mind, this seems strange and difficult more subtle but no less to conceive. Yet all the vital and necessary, and Silence” is not just refrain- attributes and qualities of that is, inner silence. ing from talking. There is God are Beings; they are His Angels, His “Silence” is not just no real silence when emo- Messengers; they are refraining from talking. tional storms are raging living and conscious There is no real silence Forces. Everything in the when emotional storms within us, when we find Universe is alive, and in are raging within us, our mind constantly chat- all religions, the faithful when we find our mind turn to the Angels, constantly chattering to tering to itself. Silence is Spirits, or Higher Beings. itself. Silence is not just not just refraining from Our Souls, which have refraining from speaking, speaking, but also abstain- been called “Solar but also abstaining from Angels,” are Living certain lines of thought ing from certain lines of Beings that work on the and eliminating reveries thought and eliminating higher planes where the and the unhealthy use of reveries and the unhealthy qualities or keynotes of the imagination. use of the imagination. the Spirit exist as Living There are different types Beings. Recognizing this of inner silence, and it could be said that every gives us a wonderful sense of the Universal sphere of life has its own silence. We all know Life that is the One and the Many manifested the wonderful silence of nature on a summer in myriads of entities hierarchically ordered. afternoon, or especially during the night: the Thinking of Silence as an Entity can be par- silence of a starry sky. Then there is the silence ticularly beneficial. It helps us understand His of the emotions—of desire, fear and imagina- positive and active nature, and it allows us to tion—which is a positive step toward peace understanding that Silence is the not mere the and serenity. Silence at the mental level con- absence of sound or speech, which is what sists of slowing down the mind and curbing its most people usually think. Silence is a positive activity. and spiritual energy, and if we want to practice There is also a “silence of the will,” i.e. the silence this can be facilitated by invoking the personal will, which means the dedication of Spirit of Silence, by entering into communion one’s will and its unification with Spiritual with Him, and hence by becoming receptive to Will. The highest form of silence is that the impressions that come to us when we are, achieved and maintained through contempla- metaphorically speaking, “enfolded in His tion. On the religious and mystic path, this is wings.” There is a close relationship between called “the prayer of quietude,” and in all re- silence and higher telepathic reception; it has spects, contemplation is the highest form of been said that the Science of Receptivity is silence because it encourages and includes all based on various kinds of silence. other forms. Now I will say something about the practice, Joy is an aspect of silence that is generally not or technique, of this art of silence. As with the taken into full consideration. Joy has been development of any spiritual quality, an easy given an interesting definition; it is the “silence and useful preparation is to first “set the

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 79 The Esoteric Quarterly mood” by reading something on the subject. ates the necessary conditions for any revela- Among the writings suitable for this purpose I tion. would point to the fine essay on silence by M. Everything that has been said so far refers to Maeterlinck in the book Le Trésor des Hum- individual silence, but it can and actually bles and the celebration of silence in T. Car- should be applied as well to silence in groups lyle’s book On Heroes. Also, the Quakers have and to the silence of the group. Group gather- written extensively on silence because they ings should utilize the practice of silence, not base their religious practice on silent meetings just because it provides an opportunity and for worshiping.3 satisfies a need to be in silence, but also be- We can also find encouragement in the exem- cause it creates an imperceptible but indeed plary lives of those who have practiced silence. real communion among a group of people, as A modern example would be Aurobindo, who well as between two people who sit together in used to remain silent for 360 days a year for silence. In The Little Flowers of St. Francis, many years. During that time, he would write a there is an anecdote that shows how well the lot while keeping absolutely quiet. Another Franciscans knew the value of silence. less extreme example is that of Gandhi. Once a Soon after the death of Saint Francis, Saint week, on Monday, he used to observe 24 hours Louis King of France set off to Perugia to of silence. see Brother Giles in person. He arrived at After this preparation, we then have to “main- the convent gate as if he were a poor un- tain quietness” internally, and this can be known pilgrim, but having been revealed to achieved through the various stages of medita- Brother Giles that the pilgrim was the King tion. First of all, direct the attention from “the of France, he left his cell in haste and ran to periphery to the center,” then raise the center the gate without asking any questions. They of consciousness by moving from feeling to both knelt down and embraced each other aspiration, and direct the attention of the mind with great reverence and many outward toward the Soul or, generally, toward the world signs of love and charity, as if a long of Spirit and Reality. It’s important to move friendship had existed between them, through the emotional-imaginative level though they had never met before in their quickly so as not to get distracted by any psy- lives. Neither of them spoke a word, and af- chic impressions that might come through if ter remaining clasped in each other’s arms we linger too long on this plane. for some time, they separated in silence. Then, when the other brothers found out Consciousness must be kept at a high point of who the pilgrim was, they bitterly com- inner tension. This tension—which is a vigilant plained to Brother Giles. He answered: form of awareness, a spiritual attitude of “be- “Beloved brothers, be not surprised at this, ing present” to ourselves—is the essential pre- that neither could I say a word to him, nor requisite for any spiritual conquest. It can be he to me; for no sooner had we embraced seen as a combination of Intention and Atten- each other than we saw into each other’s tion. Intention urges us to penetrate into higher hearts, and knew far better what we had to levels of consciousness; Attention is the con- say than if we had explained in words that centration or “centeredness” of consciousness which we felt in our hearts. For so imper- and the act of keeping it fixed at the level fectly the tongue of man reveals the secret reached. mysteries of God, that words would have Notice that spiritual tension is different from been to us rather a hindrance than a conso- personal tension. They are, in fact, two oppo- lation.” (Chapter 1, XXXIV).4 site conditions. The second is an obstacle to The effects of silence on the personality in- the first, as spiritual tension can best be clude the replenishment of energy, a sense of achieved in a state of physical relaxation and reinvigoration, and a true process of regenera- mental and emotional calm. This tension is tion of all personal aspects. Another effect of followed by silence, a living silence that cre-

80 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 group silence is that of harmonization. When those who behave wrongly. Too often they do there are conflicts or disagreements within a very bad things very well, while we often do group, or simply differences of opinion about good things not well enough! Remember, in some decision to make, or about which activi- the Gospel it is said that Christ will come “like ties to undertake, the best thing is to maintain a thief in the night.” silence, to spend some quiet time together (this Another benefit of maintaining a zone of si- of course implies that all group participants lence—a state of dis-identification or medita- know and appreciate the art of silence). After a tion that can be maintained as we perform period of silence spent together, it’s easier to daily activities, investing in them the needed understand each other because we will have energy and attention level (but not more)—is considered the problem from a higher imper- to be able to listen carefully and recognize sonal perspective. The separative personalities those insights, messages and inner forces that will have been silenced, and the participants can often be more easily accessible when we will have symbolically gathered in the Temple are externally active and thinking of other of Silence. There, after having aligned more things, rather than in moments of deep reflec- closely with the Soul and uniting with the tion. Souls of everyone else, they will see the points of agreement, of contact, and of understanding I think these quick notes might be enough to with each other. encourage us to put into practice or intensify But the beneficial effects of silence are not the practice of silence. Let us consider ourselves, individually and in our groups, as limited to this. Along with the practice of si- “Friends of Silence,” serviceable followers of lence, what gradually develops has been called “the double life of the disciple,” meaning the the Spirit of Silence. ability to maintain a “zone of silence” during On Silence daily life amid noise and turmoil: “The silence Vicente Beltran Anglada of the center preserved within the worldly noise.” Here too there is an encouraging ex- here is an esoteric axiom that every stu- ample, that of Brother Laurence of the Resur- T dent has to bring about in his or her life: rection, who was able to keep a sense of the “To know, to dare, to keep silent.” An exegesis presence of God while he was busy in a noisy of this ancient esoteric saying would require kitchen. volumes in order to analyze in depth each of these three verbs that, through the ages, have Another positive effect of the practice of si- been presented to the consideration of every lence is learning to act quietly, without fuss aspirant on the Path. Therefore, we will only and noise. consider herein the third one: TO KEEP SI- In Maria Montessori’s educational approach, LENT. there is an exercise that is used to train chil- The first thing we notice is that keeping silent dren to move carefully in attentive silence. has two possible meanings: to keep a secret, or They do this willingly, and in so doing, they to simply remain silent. This last meaning is learn self-control. the one we will be commenting on. A similar exercise, but with a very different purpose, is performed by hotel thieves, who Apparently, in the eyes of ordinary people— are able to steal silently into a hotel room and we mean this with no disrespect—silence without waking up the guests! In doing so, is not valued and is discredited in society to they are actually practicing a form of yoga. In such an extent that people strive not to be fact, up to a certain point, certain skills devel- alone. They continuously seek the company of oped in yoga can be used both selfishly or un- others and prefer to live among noise and selfishly and beneficially. sound, including the background din of radio and television, which, often unheeded, The difference lies in the motive, not in the “keeps them company.” technical skill. Hence, we can learn much from

When it is time to go through the door that back to the heart of our consideration of si- leads to the Inner Planes, every disciple is lence. Each one of us is, within the limitations stunned to experience the profound Silence of our own small scale, an analogy of a Creator that reigns in these places, an absolute cosmic Logos. Countless small lives (devas) make up silence in which are immersed the most August our dense, emotional and mental bodies, and Logos as well as the disciple or initiate who the note they emit together is our own note— has decided to enter the the note that we Way of Salvation. The [An] attentive state not only contribute to the Logos. Law of Silence is a These small lives, each Cosmic Law, and is an facilitates control over the with their own unique aspect of that state of elementals, but it also pro- notes, are constantly perpetual meditation in duces a quiet expectation, “talking,” trying to which everything that tread their own path exists is submerged as which makes them aware of with no consideration beings within the the calm they lack. This will of the larger whole, continuously flowing without respecting the Life stream. It is only in slowly result in the bodies pauses, rhythms or our lower spheres of becoming more luminous. silences that the manifestation that we They will emit a soft and sub- Consciousness (Soul) have noise and or Life (Monad) dissonance. Silence tle sound that will, paradoxi- aspects try to impose doesn’t mean the cally, allow us to hear the upon them during their absence of sound, but it Voice of Silence. karmic evolution. is never noisy and Esoterically, we know dissonant. We have heard more than once that all the devas forming a body of manifesta- about the music of the spheres — the great tion build up a strong elemental. Our major chord emitted by the planes, each with its elementals—our physical, emotional and men- characteristic note in honor of the Creator. The tal elementals—have become very powerful whole of existence—the human, subhuman, due to the great length of time in which they deva kingdom, etc.—issues its own specific have been exerting their own will. So logically note within the whole of Creation. These notes it is very difficult to force them to work in a together comprise only one octave out of the way that differs from the one they are used to. many octaves contained within the Logos. Ex- These elementals follow their own evolution- tending this analogy further, we might intuit ary path, which is on a lower or involutionary the great Cosmic Symphony that plays con- arc. This is why it has been—and continues to tinuously within the Universal Great Silence. be—so difficult for many people to subjugate themselves to the discipline of the Soul. Each Logos seeks to harmonize the infinite number of lives inhabiting their bodies and It is generally believed, when speaking of si- forming their body of expression. Evolution is lence, that it is a physical discipline requiring the sum total of efforts that each life makes in that one remain quiet and not speak or make order to emit its own corresponding note audible sounds. And while this is indeed si- within the chord of Logoic Life. Evolution is lence, it is not everything silence is. We may merely the realization and fulfillment of the suppress our desire to talk, but our mind keeps incommensurable Cosmic Destiny of the Lo- manifesting endless thoughts. We may be able gos, and in the process all that exists within the to limit the dissonance of our physical elemen- Logos is simultaneously transformed. tal by imposing external silence, but our emotions continue to bounce around unchecked. It may seem that the above considerations stray Additionally, our mind may send forth a note from the initial idea and purpose that we had in quite different from the one the Thinker is try- mind to write about here. Yet this is far from ing to produce, causing the personality to be at the case. The Law of Analogy will bring us odds with the Consciousness and Life aspects.

To a great extent, the disciple’s work involves a silent, yet sonorous, Universe; we are made silencing the three elementals that make up the up of minuscule lives that need to be kept si- personality and getting the lunar pitris to be- lent so that they may be transmuted into a come radiant points of light that emit their given sound. This work is the responsibility of own corresponding note. Personal evolution is the Consciousness and Life aspects of our Be- the alchemical process of transmuting Light ing. When it becomes a reality in our lives, we and Sound. But personal evolution is meaning- will be rendering an important service to the less if it isn’t taking place within a larger Plan that the Masters know and serve. May group, which in turn is part of other Larger SILENCE pour forth as a nectar of Groups, and the whole process disappears in PEACE to our HEART. the vastness of Space. Only through the Syn- thesis achieved at the Third Initiation does The Angels of Silence each of the three bodies become radiant and There is a kind of devic sensitivity that comes emit the exact note needed to produce the per- from the highest subplanes of the astral plane, fect triadic chord composed of the personality, and its impact on the mystical life of humanity Soul and Monadic notes. can be measured in terms of peace, quietness and self-communion. Hence, the angels who We often refer to Agni Yoga and its character- live and move and have their purpose on such istics—quiet expectation and attention—but levels are esoterically called “Angels of Si- we may not have noticed that they are the con- lence.” This reality is difficult for our concrete sequence of Silence. It would be impossible to mind to accept because it is constantly subject reach a state of quiet expectation if the desires to the pressure of objective and tangible ob- of our lower quaternary are in constant discord and generating tremendous noise. We will not jects. But when the psychological life of a human being has deeply developed “divine love,” be able to maintain constant attention if we are which is very different indeed from what we incessantly assailed by our elementals. call “human love,” the idea discussed above Therefore, we have to keep the elementals begins to have a full and absolute meaning. quiet, in utter stillness, if we want to live by This leads to a clear and conclusive under- the rules of Agni Yoga. Yet it is also interest- standing that meditation and the usual tech- ing to note that the best way to keep them quiet niques to achieve mental silence will only have is to cultivate a state of constant attention. This true value and effectiveness if the heart is free attentive state not only facilitates control over and detached from the things of the world, and the elementals, but it also produces a quiet ex- also from spiritual ambition. pectation, which makes them aware of the The Angels of Silence are invoked by the si- calm they lack. This will slowly result in the lence of the heart, and this requires “dispas- bodies becoming more luminous. They will sion.” This dispassion can only be achieved emit a soft and subtle sound that will, para- when, as a result of our spiritual search, we doxically, allow us to hear the Voice of Si- leave behind “bits and pieces of our conquered lence. self” in every fold of the mind and at every This is true esoteric silence. In the Ancient turn of the path. This is the “residue” of the Mysteries, the aspirants and the candidates for things we have outgrown. initiation had to remain silent for years; it was Nevertheless, the silence of the heart is not the one of the tests they had to pass as well as be- result of a struggle or resistance to life, but ing a rite of purification. Such a measure had a rather an impulse of sacred understanding that rationale: it was intended that the candidate, by allows us to triumph over all the obstacles in means of quietness, attention and observation, our path. Humans usually understand struggle would reach a point of effective control over the lesser lives. We have seen how, from a Cosmic perspec- as a reaction against something or someone, tive, Silence is inherent in our lives; we are in but that concept will never bring us to the

Abode of the Angels of Silence. What we the meaning of life, by facing the immediate really need is to recognize—without struggle present calmly and with indomitable energy. or resistance—that certain thoughtforms, emo- Obviously, this will require a great deal of at- tions and other things no longer have a place in tention and observation. But thanks to the in- our lives. The aim shouldn’t be to stifle or de- tensity that this approach generates the accu- stroy them, but just to observe them so that mulative self, who creates all our problems, their underlying meanings and causes can be gradually stops interfering and finally disap- revealed. pears altogether from our field of consciousness. Once the true meaning of something is discovered, it disappears from our conceptual field of It is when we arrive at this point that the previ- consciousness without any struggle or conflict, ously described removal of psychic residue to and leaves us free from the karmic wheel of the periphery of our magnetic or etheric aura the capricious whims and futility of human takes place. And the subsequent activity of the reasons. Then a wonderful devic action takes Angels of Silence, whose main task is to clean place within the ether that helps dissolve the our magnetic field, is to facilitate in this way residue left in our magnetic aura. Natural Si- the outpouring of resplendent energies over the lence implies “auric sharpness,” and no one planet Earth. These energies, still unknown to will be able to really enjoy its extraordinary the vast majority of people, will produce and impersonal benefits if the etheric aura is an “etheric redemption” and will introduce full of karmic residue. The root of this karmic a new social order in the life of humanity, residue can be found in our crystallized pos- more in harmony with the sacred laws of the sessive desires that condition and impoverish Hierarchy and with the holy purpose of Sham- our behavior. balla. Future esoteric psychology will be based on the deep and sustained individual observation of one’s personal reactions to life and events 1 Helena. P. Blavatsky, The Voice of Silence and not, as now, by continuing to follow the (Theosophy Trust, 2006), 18. 2 Piscean method of dredging up the countless Alice A. Bailey, Treatise on White Magic (New memories we have accumulated over time that York, NY: Lucis Trust, 1951), 75. 3 See, among others, Nico Varo, L’Arte del constitute what is called the “subconscious,” Silenzio e l’uso della Parola (The art and use of the basis on which all psychological com- speech) (Rotondi Ed., Rome, 1969); C.H. plexes and human traumas are created. Herper The Fellowship of Silence (London, Mac True psychological healing is brought about Millan, 1915); L.V. Hodkin, Silent Workship precisely by “disassociating” from these (London, Swarthmore, 1919); G. Hoyland, The Use of Silence (Wallingford, Pondle Hill, 1961). memories, and not by bringing them back and 4 NT: Assagioli’s account of the vignette is reliving them in order to find the causes for our slightly shorter than the actual passage. For the psychic disturbance. whole vignette, see: Esoterically speaking, true psychological sal- https://www.ewtn.com/library-/MARY- vation comes about when we begin to grasp /flowers.htm

An Interview

With Rev. Susan Hamilton

ev. Susan Hamilton, D. Min., served heart wrenching as it was. Second, the op- R for fifteen years as pastor of Parkside portunity arose for me to become Dean at Community United Church of Christ, a Sancta Sophia Seminary, my alma mater, multicultural congregation in Sacramento, and it felt “right.” There was a part of me California. Then in February 2011, she that long ago sensed that I could be in- was appointed Dean of Sancta Sophia volved as one of the next generation to Seminary in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. Dr. carry the work forward. The third syn- Hamilton earned a bachelor’s degree in chronistic component related to my moth- psychology from California State Univer- er, who had devotedly served the semi- sity. She received her ministerial certifi- nary for 27 years and was aging. Moving cate from Sancta Sophia and was ordained to Oklahoma to be near her during the last in the Light of Christ Community Church years of her life was additional motivation in 1992. Hamilton earned Master of Di- for change. Little did I know that my vinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees mother would make her transition one from San Francisco Theological Semi- year after I arrived. nary. EQ: Who were your most important Dr. Hamilton’s doctoral dissertation de- mentors as a student at Sancta Sophia and veloped into her recent book Seeking So- later at San Francisco Theological Semi- phia: 33 Lessons for Discovering the Di- nary? In what ways did they influence vine Feminine. Its stated purpose is to you? provide a curriculum to lead church peo- SH: During the early and mid-90’s when ple to understand the presence of the Di- I was a student, there were the five wise vine Feminine in Hebrew and Christian women of the Village; founder, Carol Par- Scriptures and to increase their awareness rish, Grace Bradley, Marjorie Stuth, Sally of the universality of Sophia in creation Brown, and my mother, Betty Carper. and creativity. They were recognized as being the pillars Esoteric Quarterly: You left the pastoral of the institution and community. Mature ministry to return to academia. Can you spiritually and chronologically, these share some insights into what motivated women guided students with firm hands that career change? gloved with grace. So many of us were molded and shaped by their wisdom, wit, Susan Hamilton: I see synchronicity as a and living example. clear working of the Spirit. Three things came together in this career change. First, At San Francisco Theological Seminary, I there comes a time in a pastor’s tenure was astounded that a traditional seminary when he or she has taken the congregation could be so accepting of what others con- as far as it can go, and it is best for both to sidered heresy! Since SFTS was a mem- grow in new directions. While my minis- ber of the Graduate Theological Union in try was successful and flourishing in Sac- Berkeley, my enrollment afforded me the ramento, it was time for me to move on— opportunity to attend classes at any of the

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 85 The Esoteric Quarterly other eight seminaries on “Holy Hill” as it cause they contain the timeless truths of was called. This ecumenical broad consor- all sacred writings. Yet I also believe tium provided me a rich and diverse spir- there are contemporary writers and teach- itual community that nurtured my educa- ers who are revealing wisdom that is as tion and spiritual formation. Specific pro- valuable as Bailey, Besant and Hodson. fessors were instructional in their field of EQ: Much has been written about esoter- specialty; Dr. James Noel and Dr. Jana ic Christianity, but there have been few Childers refined my skills in “preaching” signs that the major western or Eastern while Hana Matt expanded my education Orthodox denominations have embraced and appreciation of mysticism in the its tenets. Do your think esoteric Christi- world religions. anity is destined to remain focused in EQ: Were Alice Bailey, the Theosophical fringe denominations like the Unity writers like Annie Besant and Geoffrey Church and the Liberal Catholic Church? Hodson, and great writers in the western SH: I would be hard-pressed to describe esoteric tradition important to you? anyone’s destiny, let alone the entirety of SH: When I was directed by Spirit Esoteric Christianity! However, ortho- (through a mystical experience) to attend doxy is once again being given an oppor- Sancta Sophia, I knew nothing of the eso- tunity to change. As in the past, the ac- teric traditions. Despite my mother’s own ceptance of new teachings (esoteric or deep involvement, she did not share these otherwise), will most likely still be a chal- teachings with me. She wanted me to fol- lenge to all spiritual leaders. Some will low my own path through my involve- “understand” and some, not ready for the ment in mainline Christianity. Admittedly, new, may cling instead to the known and I struggled at first with some of the con- therefore, to more comfortable tenets and cepts presented in Bailey’s and Besant’s theology. There is an increased ac- writings as they did not “fit” with tradi- ceptance of reincarnation as a viable spir- tional doctrine. However, I had always itual concept, and metaphysical interpreta- raised questions which my pastors could tions are fairly common in some progres- not answer, so the more I read of the An- sive Christian congregations. Full esoteric cient Wisdom the more it made sense to interpretations are still considered “here- me. My Soul recognized the Truth even sy” by western denominations. By defini- while my personality strove to find bibli- tion, heresy opposes and challenges or- cal validation. The Ageless Wisdom has thodoxy, yet we have seen how today’s its own systematic theology which an- heresy becomes tomorrow’s orthodoxy. swers such questions as: What is the na- So, with the change from the Piscean to ture of God? How was the world created? Aquarian era, we may see a radical evolu- What is the relationship of humans to the tion of all forms of spirituality and reli- Divine? And how do we explain evil and gion. Those of us in the esoteric commu- suffering in the world? Each culture in nity may find ourselves equally as chal- each era has sought to find the answers to lenged by new truths as are those in major these questions and has structured and western Christianity and Eastern Ortho- shaped their spiritual practices and doc- dox groups. trines accordingly. The esoteric traditions, EQ: The Divine Feminine Sophia evi- however, present the “larger picture” of dently has meant much to you, and you creation and humanity’s evolutionary pro- have helped promote awareness of her in cess. The teachings are called ageless be-

86 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 your writings and teachings. How do you EQ: In a liturgy for Advent, you wrote: view Sophia—as compared, say, with “The Holy Mother and the Holy Father Mary the mother of Jesus or the Buddhist live within us.” Can you be precise in ex- Kwan Yin—as a guiding principle for the plaining what that means? Aquarian Age? SH: I am drawing on the Jungian con- SH: Sophia is the current nom du jour for cepts of the anima and animus in our psy- the Divine Feminine in western Christi- che as well as theological principles. We anity. She has gone each have masculine and by many names in All serious seekers natu- feminine energies and ca- various cultures be- rally find themselves out pabilities within us, just as fore: Isis, Shekina, we have positive and neg- Maat, Quan Yin, of step with some ortho- ative energies in our body Mary, Pachemama, a doxy or another. Ques- systems and cellular struc- plethora of Hindu tions are met with every- ture. Extrapolating from goddesses, and many thing from suspicious the physical to the meta- more. While always physical and spiritual, we present, the recogni- glances to, at worst, di- have the divine feminine tion of Her im- rect punishment. As we and divine masculine portance has paral- develop spiritually, we within us. Judeo- leled the dawning of eventually outgrow any Christian scriptures hold the Aquarian Age. that we are created after The astrological and all “congregations.” the image of God. There- glyph for Aquarius is And if we settle into one, fore, we contain the the two wavy lines of it is the one which of- mother and the father water. Turned on end, fends us the least. within us. Our spiritual they represent the two work is to balance our- equal poles of masculine and feminine selves, to bring the polarities into harmo- energy; a key component of the Aquarian ny, right relation, and right use. We are to Age. In the esoteric teachings, we have develop the Divine Masculine and the Di- the axiom “As above, so below” so we see vine Feminine potential within ourselves, the balanced masculine and feminine di- to become like Christ-Sophia, to harmo- vine energies being manifested (recognize love-wisdom. nized and valued) on the earth as evidence EQ: You have written some elegant poet- of the incoming Aquarian influences. The ry. Did you start composing poetry when return of the Sacred Feminine in the Unit- you were a child? Do you feel that poetry ed States has coincided with the women’s offers a way to express esoteric insights movement which began in force in the that might otherwise be impossible? 1970’s. Feminist theologians and biblical scholars challenged the orthodox patriar- SH: I confess that my poetry is unbidden chy and laid the foundation in traditional and unpredictable. There have been times Christianity for the acceptance of God as of great pain in my life in which the best feminine and masculine. She (Sophia) is way to express my feelings was through being welcomed and honored, and I would poetic language. Likewise, feelings of re- venture to say “restored,” to Her rightful lief and joy have been expressed poetical- place. ly. Poetry is a creative expression. It is the result of one of Sophia’s creative muses at

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 87 The Esoteric Quarterly work! The writers of spiritual poetry are way, I suppose it was. No one offered me often mystics such as Hildegard of Bing- the support to find the answers within, nor en, Theresa of Avila, Meister Eckhart, and could they lead me into the mystery, for Julian of Norwich. The world of the mys- they did not know how. tic can be difficult to describe and is often EQ: What form do you think organized best articulated through poetic words. religion will take over the next century or However, poetry is only one medium of two, and what will be its relationship to expressing esoteric insights. I know great esoteric studies and practice? painters of inspiring visual art; others who write moving music of the song of the SH: Would that I had a crystal ball to see Soul; still others who offer spell-binding centuries into the future. What I see hap- dance; and there are those who drum to pening now; despite the polarization we connect with and express their unique re- find between the extremes of fundamen- lationship with the Divine. talist religion and secular atheism is a sincere desire on the part of the next genera- EQ: You were raised in the United tion for genuine spiritual connection to the Methodist Church, spent some time as a Divine. The youth of today, as far as I can Southern Baptist and Presbyterian, and tell, want it “real.” By that I mean that finally came to the United Church of they are not satisfied with simply learning Christ. Did you encounter any theological doctrine. What they accept are the teach- or other road bumps along the way? Did ings they can validate through personal you feel impulses towards esoteric Chris- spiritual experiences and live by to help to tianity early in this spiritual journey? create a better world. They are not inter- SH: Yes, of course! All of us encounter ested solely in mental experience, nor these bumps along the way. Certainly, no simply an emotional experience, or a so- one on the spiritual journey progresses cial justice application—they want all without challenges to their beliefs, their three. If the teaching, preaching and “wor- stability, their relationships, or their sense ship” does not connect in all three arenas of sanity. That is the nature of the path. and provide them with a transcendental My journey through eclectic ecumenism is encounter, they will sniff it out as inade- not unique. Others have taken circuitous quate. The youth of today want to be part routes on their spiritual journey as well. of creating and leading the collective evo- All serious seekers naturally find them- lution. Group work—another hallmark of selves out of step with some orthodoxy or the Aquarian Age—is what they seek. another. Questions are met with every- Leadership is essential and yet paying at- thing from suspicious glances to, at worst, tention to the voices of everyone is equal- direct punishment. As we develop spiritu- ly important. ally, we eventually outgrow any and all There will always be a need for “church- “congregations.” And if we settle into es” of some kind, since the corporate ex- one, it is the one which offends us the perience of worship, learning, and serving least. As I shared earlier, the questions I is a basic requirement for humanity. raised as a youth in the Southern Baptist However, the churches of the future will church, and the ones I raised in the United not look like the churches of the 1950s; Methodist Church as an adult, were not they will need to change as society chang- welcomed and went unanswered by the es and develops. Indeed, this is already clergy. I wanted to know more; I sought taking place. For example, spirituality and gnosis. Was that an esoteric impulse? In a

88 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 mysticism have become mainstream in SH: I feel satisfaction as I recall my years some progressive congregations. of pastoral ministry and the growth I was But the transformation does not end there. privileged to witness in the lives of mem- The esoteric community will also need to bers at Parkside Community Church. change. To be relevant to present and fu- Serving as the Dean of Sancta Sophia, ture generations, our congregations, eso- brief as it was, also gives me a sense of teric organizations and study groups will accomplishment. However, the work that need to blend their heady intellectual warms my heart with a realization that teachings and mental body disciplines “yes, you’ve done a holy work” are the with a heart-centered compassion. If we times I’ve gently helped to open someone are to be effective with the youth of today, up to a new understanding; the times we will need to find a way to engage in when I’ve been a loving and listening tangible ways with the evolutionary pro- presence with someone who is emotional- cess of humanity. The elitist stance taken ly or spiritually hurting; and the times I’ve led a playful, creative, and joyful worship by some esoteric Christians that allows them to focus solely on their own spiritual service from which people left smiling development or soul-infusion is not with the love of God and each other. enough. While it is true that this work im- EQ: What advice would you give your pacts the consciousness and development students and other young people embark- of all humanity, there is more we can do ing on careers in the ministry? to be of service. Further engaging and SH: The classic advice to those embark- connecting our empathetic heart and phys- ing on careers in ministry, which many of ical body with our mental body aspirations my colleagues would corroborate, is: “If will make us more whole and balanced you can do anything else but the ministry, and “real” to the youth. do it!” Ministry is very hard work, unless I see a future in which esotericism and one is doing it as a hobby while having a traditional western religions can interface full-time career in some other area. The well. Because mysticism has become ministry demands a great deal of energy more widely accepted in Christian, He- with very little reward or adequate pay. brew, and Islamic expressions, we esoteri- Think of being a teacher or home caregiv- cists now have greater common ground er or daycare provider or all three com- for discussion, and we are in a position to bined. At the same time, if one is called, offer guidance and direction to aspiring then one is called. Despite the hard work, mystics. That work has already begun, as low pay, and long hours, there are those evidenced by the recent students enrolled sacred moments of privilege, as I noted at Sancta Sophia who were involved in earlier, when one feels that they are stand- traditional Christian churches and were ing upon holy ground. It is those sacred finding language to bridge their two moments that re-energize a person called worlds. The systematic theology of eso- to ministry, and they know their “yes” an- teric theosophy will likely still be chal- swer to God was the right one. lenging to any other faith’s cosmology. EQ: Sancta Sophia’s demise must have EQ: What do you consider your greatest been a terrible blow to you—as it was to accomplishment on your spiritual path the many other people associated with the thus far? seminary. Do you think there will be opportunities for other institutions to offer

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly 89 The Esoteric Quarterly similar programs in the foreseeable fu- this will be the description of Sancta ture? Sophia in the future; her graduates will SH: Closing the seminary was not what I establish franchises in their local areas to came there to do. And yet, if we accept carry on the work. the teachings that all is in divine right or- EQ: Is there anything else you would like der, and the universe is unfolding as it to tell readers of The Esoteric Quarterly? should, and nothing is ever wasted, and SH: Briefly, I would like to say some- that we are doing exactly what we are thing about the future of Sparrow Hawk supposed to be doing at any given mi- Village, the church, and the seminary. At nute—,then I guess I did come to close the this point, we are open to Spirit’s guid- seminary, heart-breaking as it was. ance. The world is different than it was I’ve spoken to some of our graduates re- then 30-plus years ago when the Village cently who are considering forming their was founded. The era into which we have own schools with colleagues nearby, and been called will demand something differ- I’m excited about their potential. Fr. John ent from us in terms of education and ser- Dominic Crossan, a progressive Christian vice. Members of our community are theologian, describes the difference be- working together and with renewed ener- tween John the Baptist and Jesus. He lik- gy and unity to redefine our future. We ens John the Baptist to a monopoly and are in dialogue with groups who are inter- Jesus to a franchise. John the Baptist had a ested in spiritual and sustainable living, monopoly on his work because none of holistic healing, and true communal life. his students set up baptizing stations along And we have readied and sold a number the rivers or lakes. Everyone came to John of new wooded lots to people who want to for baptism. When he was beheaded his be a part of the Village and its possibili- movement died, and his followers dis- ties for the future. We invite others to join persed. When Jesus led his disciples, he us in this adventure. empowered them to do as he did so that EQ: We very much appreciate your tak- when he died the work carried on in mul- ing the time for this interview. We wish tiple locations—like a franchise. Perhaps you every blessing for the future!

Book Reviews

The Russian Cosmists: The Esoteric Futurism historical setting, showing Fedorov’s links to the of Nikolai Fedorov and His Followers, by Russian tradition of spiritual sages who com- George M. Young, Oxford University Press, bined Russian Orthodox beliefs with shamanistic 2012. or yogic practices and equally his links to Rus- sia’s abiding fascination with the esoteric and he Russian Cosmists, by George M. Young, the occult. In fact, esoteric teachings underlie is an enriching and comprehensive contri- T much of cosmist thought even though they are bution to an area about which most Western mostly unacknowledged. scholars and esotericists are singularly ill- informed. Not only its scope but the depth of his Some readers of the Esoteric Quarterly may be analysis is a testimony to the author’s decades- familiar with the figure of the Siberian sage, An- long engagement with his subject. astasia, whom Young does not include in his survey. What they may not realize is how deeply Young is keen to immediately disclaim any per- embedded she is in this very Russian tradition, sonal endorsement of the material he presents, which combines science, technology, art, the so- insisting that many of these ideas in the wrong cial order, religion and spirituality—and touches hands can be dangerous and are for “mature au- on everything in between. Readers of Anastasia diences only.” With that warning in hand, the will be familiar with her concepts of kinship, her reader is immersed in an engaging historical and shamanistic siddhic powers (such as regulating cultural appraisal of a fascinating intellectual, her body temperature), her belief in the power of philosophical, scientific and spiritual landscape the Word and in directing matter through largely unknown in the West. Cosmism was a thought, her involvement in technology and sci- submerged tradition in Soviet Russia as well, ence. Anastasia hearkens back to a Russian Ve- though since the demise of Communism (which dic Golden Age of kinship with all life, and for- some of its proponents idealistically endorsed ward to an active evolution that embraces the only to fall victim to it themselves) it is being full potential of “Man” (chelovek), with Russia embraced with a nationalistic fervor as an exam- taking on the role of spiritual wayshower for the ple of a distinctly original Russian tradition. rest of the world as the place where this paradise While Western esotericists will clearly be famil- is to be first realized: all of these are very Fedo- iar with the work of Madame Blavatsky or the rovian and cosmist ideas as we shall see. Roerichs, how many have honestly heard of Ni- What strikes one from the outset is the very Rus- kolai Fedorov, the reluctant guru to the likes of sian nature of Cosmism, which also gives it its Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Pasternak in his Doc- challenging and, at times, disturbing originality. tor Zhivago? Not to mention the likes of Ver- Fedorov was one of many Russians who be- nadsky, phenomenally gifted as a linguist and lieved in Russia’s special spiritual Destiny at the one of the great figures of Western science who intersection and confluence of East and West, was also one of the first scientists to state that showing a Third Way, echoing back to Mos- science proves what mystics and poets have long cow’s supposed role as the Third (and final) experienced, or Tsiolkovsky, the inventor of Rome with Russia taking its place at the center rocket science who believed in channeling, or of a universal Christianity. This mission led the the Russian Orthodox philosophers and poly- Cosmists to all kinds of speculations as to how maths Solovyov, Bulgakov, Florensky, Ber- this destiny and the ideal society it was to en- dyaev? And there are many more. gender were to be achieved, ranging from be- Nikolai Fedorov (1829-1903) is at the corner- nevolent autocracy (a favorite of Fedorov’s) to stone of this whole movement and so he is the the willing surrender of the individual to the cornerstone of this book. Young provides the communal good. Given that Russia does not

Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. 91 The Esoteric Quarterly generally share western evaluations of the rights or political level. Once we get past the initial of the individual as inalterably above the collec- shock of the challenge we are jolted into a more tive, the subjugation of the individual’s interests nuanced understanding of our own values and to the “common good” or to a benevolent auto- ideas. However, the question cannot help but be cratic government becomes a viable alternative. raised as to the extent to which such a mindset The fact that this scenario does not sound quite made Russia fertile ground for being taken over so alarming to many Russians is something by the Communists who appeared to express a which a study such as this helps to clarify. For similar ideology and operational model for soci- instance, the book helps us to understand what is ety. The very real question remains as to wheth- meant by a surrender of individuality to society er the experience of Communism means that at large. What is crucial to cosmist thought is the such a model does not work. lack of separation between disciplines or be- The second striking factor about Cosmism is the tween areas of human experience. Thus, the po- number of fields of human endeavor and experi- litical cannot be separated from the spiritual. ence, which most of the Russian Cosmists Rodstvo—kinship—is at the heart of Fedorov’s sought to explore, to contribute to and integrate thought, and it is a concept that remains at the into a truly cosmic vision. These men were not heart of Russian culture. Rodstvo is what links only “jacks of all trades;” they were masters of us to “the other” in a sacrosanct and unbreakable most. Science, art, philosophy, religions are not chain. Our prime responsibility is to this link, approached as distinct fields but seen in relation this kinship, which ultimately we experience to each other and the whole. The Cosmists offer with all of humanity and the entire natural world. an alternative that is the very opposite of the in- Fedorov aspires to a perfect brotherhood which creasingly narrow specializations and empiri- would obliterate the need or the desire for equal- cism of the West. Theirs is a truly multi- ity or for a self-serving definition of freedom disciplinary phenomenon looking for a totality through the recognition of oneself as part of the of vision and a new unity of art, science, philos- greater whole. In essence, this is like looking for ophy and spirituality. an ideal fusion with the will of God. The Cos- mists see another way in which this can be The third and possibly most important point is achieved, and that is through finding one’s right- that, disparate as these thinkers are, they share a ful place within the greater whole. The ultimate belief in the continued active and self-directed model for this is the Holy Trinity in which the evolution and perfectibility of the human being. Three are One and yet Three, neither separated This gives rise to an implicit optimism about the nor fused. In fact, much cosmist thinking, most future which is a refreshing alternative to the notably that of Florensky (whose extraordinary doom and gloom scenarios of environmental accomplishments made him a Russian Leonar- degradation. While the Cosmist thinkers do), eschews the “either/or” model of thought in acknowledge the extent of the problem, they al- favor of “both/and.” For Florensky truth is both so assume that human beings are capable of and something and its negation, the thing and its oth- have the responsibility to solve any problem er, and his new paradigm of discontinuity in they have caused. This is not a disembodied so- mathematics and in reason is being borne out by lution – technological advances are very much the paradoxes of the new physics. part of the picture. Paradise itself is not disembodied or sought in a different dimension—it The upshot is that Western sacred cows such as includes matter as well as spirit, albeit an in- progress, freedom, equality, diversity and de- creasingly spiritualized matter, for the Cosmists mocracy are dismantled in favor of an alterna- seek nothing less than the transformation of the tive worldview of kinship, brotherhood and con- world into the Kingdom of God on earth. Not nection to the All. Young’s research helps us to surprisingly, the recognition and experience of appreciate the extent of the challenge of this al- Sophia as the underlying truth of reality and as ternative worldview, as well as giving us a an aspect of the Holy Trinity, becomes of prime greater understanding of the nature of Russian importance to some of the Cosmists, notwith- politics, in itself a valuable contribution for any- standing Fedorov’s own strictly patriarchal body seeking to engage with Russia on a cultural

92 Copyright © The Esoteric Quarterly, 2013. Spring 2013 thought in which eros is an exclusively negative view them as attainable concretely in this world force (inspiring Tolstoy’s Kreutzer Sonata). In and research them in a scientific way. In fact, fact, it is just possible that it is the inclusion of there is ongoing research in Russia into psychic the Divine Feminine principle itself in their powers, telepathic communication (enhanced by thought which could save the Cosmists from the the Kozyrev Mirror), the aether, time travel and totalitarian interpretations they invite. the like, all of which fits well with Russia’s continuing obsession with the esoteric and the oc- Going further, many Cosmists believe in the cult. evolution of a new form of humanity in its ascension to a higher mode of functioning. This This book is in itself exhaustive of cosmist leads to discussions of increasing longevity (no thought, but can also be used as a launching pad longer such an extreme idea), curing aging, us- into the writings of any of the thinkers whose ing machines as extensions of limbs, regenerat- work is examined. Its material is enough to ing organs, and ultimately, attaining immortality. tempt anyone seriously interested in the future Once again, many of these ideas are beginning evolution of humanity. In addition, the Cos- to sound less extreme thanks to technological mists challenge models of the future and of fu- advances, with technological enhancements of ture government and society, they challenge bodily functions through machines already tak- human capability and the necessity of death, and ing place, while even scientific immortalism is they provide alternative models for a functioning being discussed in more mainstream publica- harmonious society. They are also responsible tions, to say nothing of the Cosmists’ dreams of for transforming knowledge hidden in alchemy space travel and the colonization of the cosmos. and archaic occult traditions into respectable Some of their pronouncements are bold to the theology and science bringing it into conven- point of ludicrousness – Fedorov’s Common tional thought, akin to the work of Deepak Cho- Task after all is the physical resurrection of the pra, who brings ancient Vedic knowledge into fathers by the sons going back all the way to the mainstream. Adam—yet who knows which of their imagin- The “Russianness” of Cosmist thought should ings and visions are destined to be manifested as no longer be a barrier to discovering and appre- part of our reality? ciating its bountiful offerings. And this book is a The book is rich in extracts and quotations and very valuable introduction to this rich and large- provides a wealth of challenging perspectives ly unknown tradition, which needs to be discov- for esotericists, cultural and religious philoso- ered and engaged with. phers, and historians. Make no mistake—these Young makes an important point at the close of thinkers offer a different way of approaching his book: “Perhaps the most important contribu- both material and spiritual issues, not that they tion the Russian Cosmists have made to modern would mostly adhere with that distinction in any intellectual life, however, is to offer a centered, case. Thus Fedorov himself, for all his endorse- directed, positive vision in a largely uncentered, ment of technology, states clearly that it must be rudderless, negative time.” (p.241) For this allied to spiritual development if we are not to alone, the Russian Cosmists are worth discover- end up in a machine regulated hell. Science and ing. art must both be linked to spirituality if evolution is to take place. Dr. Irina Kuzminsky Eaglemont, Australia The Cosmists’ big achievement is also to bring esoteric topics into the mainstream – they simply

Quiet Horizon: Releasing Ideology and Em- conversion rate of so many people to both east- bracing Self-Knowledge, by Greg Jemsek. ern religions and to fundamentalist Christian Trafford Publishing Co., 2011, 322 pages. List groups. He saw that this wholesale buying into a price US$24.95. Available in hardcover and pa- religious ideology in the 1970s was similar to perback from online and other booksellers. the rebirth of materialism in the 1980s, which is still with us today. The pursuit of self- he author’s experience with the cult of knowledge turned into the pursuit of prosperity. T Ananda Margra (the Path of Bliss) in the 1970s, led him to analyze the attraction of re- Jemsek explains that ideologies must spring strictive ideologies, not only religious ideologies, from meta-narratives—grand persuasive story but also political and social systems of belief. He lines embedded in a society’s self-identity, the wondered why people would be willing to give assumptions they cherish—because persuasion up their intellectual freedom and unquestioning- is easier when people have taken certain ideas ly accept the dogma of the ideology. for granted all their lives. We buy into particular beliefs from the moment we are born into a spe- Jemsek refers to ideological conversion as a cific cultural milieu. Through repetition, meta- “swoon,” and he says it is as intoxicating as fall- narratives eventually lead to unconscious ac- ing in love. It engenders a willingness to believe ceptance. Events are interpreted in such a way that the secrets of life will be made clear as long that they seem to confirm these ideas. Ideologies as the dictates of the organization are religiously pick up on these belief systems and use them to followed. persuade others of their authenticity. In the author’s case, his susceptibility to the ide- The author gives as an example the Protestant ology of Ananda Marga was increased due to his Reformation and Puritanism. Puritanism, along lifelong desire to re-enter the “golden world” he with its religious descendants of today, was so discovered during a mystical experience in his successful in imposing its interpretation of the youth. He also points to the “narcissistic damage” Reformation meta-narrative on U.S. society behe experienced as a youth and his desire to because people were (and continue to be) capable long to a loving family of like-minded people. of accepting the idea of surrendering their per- He was impressed by the forcefulness exhibited sonal sovereignty in exchange for the abstract by a group of committed and organized people promise of salvation. Another example in U.S. who seemed to have a handle on spiritual trans- society is the frontier meta-narrative with its formation. However, conversion was required in ideas of limitless possibilities, individualism, order to achieve this promised transformation. and the self-made man. The conversion process takes place on what From this discussion of meta-narratives and their Jemsek calls a “persuasion continuum.” Calcifi- influence on humanity’s willingness to accept cation is the first tipping point on this continuum, ideologies, the author next discusses themes that where theories turn into certainties, and belief are relevant to the individual process of seeking overrides direct personal experience. The door to meaning. Jemsek admits that he conflated the open-mindedness slams shut. The second tipping experience of intense transcendent moments point is when the ideology is wholeheartedly with the idea of transformation. Eventually, he embraced. Then the third tipping point is the de- realized they are two separate things, and that scent into fundamentalism, absolute certainty, a what he really needed was transformation rather prohibition of dissent, and the acceptance of than rediscovering that transcendent golden rules to explain every aspect of existence. Criti- world of his youth. Transformation, he says, re- cal thinking is completely closed off. quires having the strength to act upon the human While recognizing that ideologies contain valua- knowing each person already possesses. It also ble lessons, the author says that their dark side is requires resisting the temptation of ideological their insistence that everyone must subscribe to visions of the world, especially when these vi- the ideology or else be doomed. Jemsek wonders sions are associated with intense or uplifting whether some sort of psychological dynamic moments or compelling meta-narratives. was present in U.S. society that fueled the high

To accomplish transformation, ideologies would system. What’s important, he says, is to be able have us believe that we need to give up the per- to embrace uncertainty, believe in the uncertain- sonality and adopt an identity that is in accord ty of life, and allow identity to emerge rather with the ideology’s belief system. To counter than adopting it to cover up the cleavages in our this assertion, he cites Ken Wilber’s “pre-trans persona. His signposts to healthy empowerment fallacy,” which is the belief that we have to ditch and transformation are: building a solid identity, the personality before it has even had a chance relating to others authentically, being willing to to establish and get to know itself, thus avoiding meet the world in the present moment. the difficult work of learning to be fully in the Jemsek states that we must be mindfully present world, warts and all, no matter that identity is to pursue self-knowledge. Accessing the de- ultimately illusory. tached witness begins through exercising the The discovery of one’s personal identity is a personal will and having enough confidence in necessary first step to transformation, according the solidity of one’s identity to be willing to cre- to Jemsek, and it must be done in a mindful way, ate a distance from it so that it can be perceived. in ordinary everyday environments, under ordi- We access broader levels of awareness through nary circumstances. He admits that ordinary liv- the witness, he says, and sustaining that aware- ing is much grittier than the pursuit of trans- ness broadens and deepens our experience of the cendent experiences, and people usually prefer world. to look for an easier, more interesting path. Nev- According to the author, authentic relationships ertheless, coming to terms with limits is how a are based on a willingness to be vulnerable, a person moves from a malfunctioning narcissism curiosity about others and the courage to disa- to a healthy self-confidence. And one must also gree. We interrupt the gradual descent into ideo- develop self-compassion and give up puritanical logical thinking by witnessing one’s life with notions of needing to be perfect. greater mindfulness. With this work, we can be- To develop an authentic identity, all ideas need come a force in the world to expose the danger to be weighed against something reliable in one- of ideology. This is important work in a world self. Jemsek asserts that sustaining a mindful where, as Jemsek points out, it is becoming in- presence provides all the self-knowledge a per- creasingly difficult to sustain trustworthy, in- son needs. Beliefs give us focus and conviction, depth dialog in public arenas. the author says, but they constrict our perspec- The Quiet Horizon, Jemsek says, is the present tive of the wider world, and although a narrow moment, and he invites readers to take the nec- focus may be necessary to get anything done, essary steps to wake up from their personal con- sometimes the shortsightedness causes one to do version swoon. the opposite of what was intended. Gail Jolley Jemsek asks if there is a way to be empowered Asheville, NC by belief without being a slave to it, and his answer is that it is impossible within an ideological