International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 20 | Issue 1 Article 11 1-1-2001 A New Look at Theosophy The Great Chain of Being Revisited H. David Wenger East Lansing, Michigan, USA Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Wenger, H. D. (2001). Wenger, H. D. (2001). A new look at theosophy: The great chain of being revisited. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 20(1), 107–124.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 20 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ ijts.2001.20.1.107 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A New Look at Theosophy The Great Chain of Being Revisited H. David 'Wenger East Lansing, Michigan, USA This paper presents an exploration of the evolution and multidimensional nature of human consciousness. It first establishes a context for this exploration in the Great Chain of Being (a central concept ofthe Perennial Philosophy-the core of philosophical wisdom common to the world's religious traditions). Next, certain constructs from the teachings of Theosophy are summarized, shown to be consistent with the Great Chain of Being, and then used as a model for exploring the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions of consciousness. Finally, implications of this model for a spiritual psychology are discussed. Vast chain of being! which from God began, somewhat obscure body of philosophical/spiritual Nature's ethereal, human, angel, man, thought known as Theosophy, a system that Beast, bird, fish, insect! what no eye can see, applies the Great Chain of Being with precision No glass can reach! from infinite to thee ... and detail, is then used as a lens through which From nature's chain whatever link you strike, to view the unfolding of human consciousness. Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain Finally, the resulting implications for a spiritual alike. psychology are discussed. First, however, I will - Alexander Pope1 very briefly review the history of the Great Chain of Being as a philosophical construct. ms PASSAGE from Pope's An Essay on Man illustrates the extent to which the idea of Historical Review T the Great Chain of Being pervaded eighteenth-century thought prior to the advent HE GREAT Chain ofBeing is regarded by Wilber of logical positivism and scientific reductionism. T (1993) as a central component of the broader The view described by the Great Chain of Being, philosophical theme called the philosophia the conception that holds the universe to be perennis, or the Perennial Philosophy, said to multidimensional, consisting of an infinite underlie all religious traditions throughout number of links ranging in hierarchical order history. Although the term philosophia perennis through every possible grade, was for centuries has been used in Western philosophy for one of the most well-known views in Western centuries, it was popularized more recently by philosophy, science, and literature. Although this Aldous Huxley (1944) who defined it, in part, as perspective eventually fell on hard times, the term "the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality was revived in the modern era by Arthur Lovejoy substantial to the world of things and lives and (1936/1961) in his book The Great Chain ofBeing, minds; the psychology that finds in the soul and the idea was more recently examined by Ken something similar to, or even identical with, Wilber (1993) in his essay of the same name. divine Reality" (p. vii). Huxley goes on to say that In the present paper, the Great Chain of Being "rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be is conceptualized as a foundation construct for the found in the traditional lore of primitive peoples study of consciousness. The esoteric and now in every region of the world, and in its fully The International journal ofTranspersonal Studies, 2001, Vol. 20, 107-124 107 © 2001 by Panigada Press developed forms it has a place in every one of the In recent years the language used to describe higher religions" (p. vii). In ordinary language, the the Great Chain of Being has evolved. Arthur essence of the Perennial Philosophy is simply some Koestler (1968) coined the terms ''holon" to denote form of a belief in God, an Absolute, or a Divine a thing that is whole at one stage but part of a larger order. It is called "perennial" because it is common whole at the next, and "holarchy," defined as a to all peoples at all times. And despite the opposing hierarchy of holons. Wilber (1993) then borrowed perspective offered by postmodern, contextualist Koestler's terminology and applied it to the Great schools of thought (see Ferrer, 2000; Wilber, 1998), Chain ofBeing. In later writings, Wilber (1998, 2000) the Perennial Philosophy is arguably the dominant refers to the Great Chain as a "Great Nest of Being," worldview underlying contemporary transpersonal in which the levels are conceptualized as concentric theory.2 holarchical spheres nested within themselves in a Lovejoy (1936/1961) calls the Great Chain of hierarchy of increasing wholeness. Wilber (2000) Being "one of the half-dozen most potent and further describes the Great Nest as representing "a persistent presuppositions in Western thought" (p. great morphogenetic field or developmental space­ vii). Until approximately the beginning of the stretching from matter to mind to spirit- in which nineteenth century it was "probably the most widely various potentials unfold into actuality'' (p. 12), familiar conception of the general scheme ofthings, (which is essentially an updated version of Plato's ofthe constitutive pattern ofthe universe" (Lovejoy, principal of plenitude and Aristotle's principles of 1936/1961, p. vii). According to Lovejoy (1936/1961), qualitative continuity and unilinear gradation, as the idea of the Great Chain of Being is rooted in mentioned above). Wilber's modern terms are useful Plato's principle of "plenitude" (Lovejoy's term), reformulations of the original expression, and for Aristotle's principle of"qualitative continuity," and purposes of this paper, I find his integration of Aristotle's principle of "unilinear gradation" Koestler's (1968) terminology to be especially useful. (Lovejoy's term). Very briefly, what Lovejoy calls Accordingly, I will use "holarchy of being" or Plato's principle of plenitude says that if a thing "evolutionary holarchy'' interchangeably with "the can exist, it wilP Aristotle's principle of qualitative Great Chain of Being." continuity posits that if a thing exists it can be graded on a continuum of excellence (Lovejoy, 1936/ 1961, pp. 55-56); and what Lovejoy refers to as Consciousness Evolution Through the Aristotle's principle of unilinear gradation, holds Holarchy of Being that a qualitative continuum can be applied not only to matter, but to "powers of soul" as well (Lovejoy, T HAS become commonplace in contemporary 1936/1961, pp. 58-59). I society, and particularly in holistic medicine To summarize, the Perennial Philosophy holds and psychology, for people to be regarded as that the fundamental substratum, or "ground" of multidimensional beings, having levels of reality is spirit, or consciousness, and that this expression in addition to, but equally as important fundamental reality known variously as God, as, the physical. Evidence of a widespread Brahman, or Tao manifests itself as the physical acceptance of this concept can be seen in the many universe. Additionally, the multidimensional current book titles that include the words soul or universe posited by the Great Chain of Being spirit, or some combination of the words mind, describes a hierarchy, as Wilber (1993) puts it, body, soul, and spirit (e.g., Jessel-Kenyon, 1999; "reaching from the lowest and most dense and least T. Moore, 1992; Myss, 1996; Zukav, 1989). This conscious to the highest and most subtle and most holistic, multidimensional perspective is nothing conscious" (p. 53); or, a spectrum of consciousness new. It is consistent with a view of humankind with matter at one end and spirit at the other. In planted squarely in an evolutionary holarchy, in Wilber's (1993) words: a Great Chain of Being, and is taken directly from the world's primary wisdom/religious traditions. The central claim of the perennial philosophy Although the language used varies from tradition is that men and women can grow and develop (or evolve) all the way up the hierarchy to Spirit to tradition, the dimensions of being are, quite itself, therein to realize a "supreme identity" simply, the levels of holarchy as they appear in with Godhead-the ens perfectissimum toward these traditions. Partly following Wilber (1993), which all growth and evolution yearns. (p. 54) who summarized the terms used for the levels of 108 The International journaL ofTrampersonal Studies, 2001, 1/0L. 20 developed forms it has a place in every one of the In recent years the language used to describe higher religions" (p. vii). In ordinary language, the the Great Chain of Being has evolved. Arthur essence of the Perennial Philosophy is simply some Koestler (1968) coined the terms ''holon" to denote form of a belief in God, an Absolute, or a Divine a thing that is whole at one stage but part ofa larger order. It is called "perennial" because it is common whole at the next, and "holarchy," defined as a to all peoples at all times. And despite the opposing hierarchy of holons. Wilber (1993) then borrowed perspective offered by postmodern, contextualist Koestler's terminology and applied it to the Great schools of thought (see Ferrer, 2000; Wilber, 1998), Chain ofBeing.