The Basis of Non-Separateness

The use of the creative imagination is of value here. It may not give a true picture on all points, but it will convey one great reality. The reality to which I refer is that there is no possible separateness in our manifested planetary life - or elsewhere for that matter, even beyond our planetary ring-pass-not. The concept of separateness, of individual isolation, is an illusion of the unillumined human mind. Everything - every form, every organism within all forms, all aspects of manifested life in every kingdom in nature - is intimately related each to each through the planetary etheric body (of which all etheric bodies are integral parts) which substands all that is. Little as it may mean, and useless as it may appear, the table at which you write, the flower you hold in your hand, the horse on which you ride, the man to whom you talk, are sharing with you the vast circulatory life of the planet as it streams into, through and out of every aspect of the form nature. The only differences which exist are those in consciousness, and peculiarly so in the consciousness of man and of the Black Lodge. There is only the ONE LIFE, pouring through the mass of forms which, in their sumtotal, constitute our planet - as we know it.

All forms are related, interrelated and interdependent; the planetary etheric body holds them together so that a cohesive, coherent, expressive Whole is presented to the eye of man, or one great unfolding consciousness to the perception of the Hierarchy. Lines of light pass from form to form. Some are bright and some are dim; some move or circulate with rapidity, others are lethargic and slow in their [149] interplay; some seem to circulate with facility in some particular kingdom in nature and some in another; some come from one direction and some from a different one, but all are in movement all the time; it is a constant circulation. All are passing on and into and through, and there is not one single atom in the body which is not the recipient of this living, moving energy; there is no single form that is not "kept in shape and livingness" by this determined inflow and outflow, and there is therefore no part of the body of manifestation (which is an integral part of the planetary vehicle of the Lord of the World) which is not in complex but complete touch with His divine intention - through the medium of HIS three major centers: Shamballa, the Hierarchy, and Humanity. In the multiplicity of the forms of which His great composite vehicle is composed, there is no need for Him to be in conscious touch. It is, however, possible, should He so desire it, but it would profit Him not, any more than it would profit you to be in conscious touch with some atom in some organ of your physical body. He works, however, through His three major centers: Shamballa, the planetary head center; the Hierarchy, the planetary heart center; and Humanity, the planetary throat center. The play of the energies elsewhere (controlled from these three centers) is automatic. The objective of the circulating energies - as it appears to us when we seek to penetrate divine purpose - is to vivify all parts of His body, with the view of promoting the unfoldment of consciousness therein.

This is basically true from the angle of Shamballa "where the Will of God is known"; it is partially true of those Members of the Hierarchy Who sense the Purpose and formulate the Plan and then present it in an understandable form to the lesser initiates and disciples and aspirants. These two groups work entirely on the consciousness side, which motivates and directs (as needed) the moving, [150] circulating energies. This is not true of the bulk of humanity, who are conscious but only conscious within their ring-pass-not, and are therefore fundamentally separated off by their emphasis upon form as it exists in the three worlds - the dense physical levels of the cosmic physical plane. On the lowest of these levels, the outer physical form reacts and responds to the circulating energies through the medium of the etheric energy which comes from the lowest of the four levels of the etheric plane.

Gradually the consciousness within these forms reacts to the nature of the outer vehicle as it is impulsed from etheric levels, and a profoundly significant development takes place. This development - to make a wide generalization - falls into three categories: The outer form changes under the impact of the etheric energies entering in, passing through and disappearing from (ceaselessly aeon after aeon) the form. The energy that is there one minute is gone the next.

This ceaseless play of energy varies in time and space, and moves lethargically, rapidly or rhythmically according to the type or nature of the form through which it is at any moment passing. The energy of the etheric plane changes considerably as the aeons pass away, according to the direction or the source from which it comes. The directing energy alters significantly as evolution proceeds. Students have been apt to speak simply of the etheric body as an entire integral entity and as constituted solely of etheric substance, forgetting that the etheric body is the medium for the transfer of many types of energy. They forget the following facts: [151] That the etheric body is itself composed of four types of substance, each of which is definitely specialized and found on one or other of the etheric levels.

That these substances, functioning actively in any particular etheric body, create a network of channels; they produce fine tubes (if I may use so inappropriate a word) which take the general form of the dense material or tangible form with which they may be associated. This form underlies every part of the physical body and can be seen extending for a certain distance outside of the recognizable form. This etheric body is not in reality an ovoid (as the older occult books teach) but usually takes the form or general outline of the physical vehicle with which it is associated. When, however, the head center is awakened and functioning, then the ovoid appearance is far more frequent. These channels or tubes - according to the type of energy they carry - pass to certain areas of the body, via three main stations: The seven major centers, of which you have heard much. The twenty-one minor centers, which I outlined for you earlier. (A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. IV., pp. 72-73.) The forty-nine focal points, scattered all over the body. All these centers and focal points for the transmission of energy are connected each with each by larger channels than the mass of channels which constitute the etheric body as a whole, because many lesser channels and lines of force or energy merge and blend as they near a center or a focal point. [152]

The mass of the smaller channels or the channeling tubes of energy eventually create in all forms that layer of corresponding nerves which are not yet recognized by medical science but which are like an intermediary web or network. These relate the etheric body as a whole to the entire two-fold nervous system (cerebro-spinal and the sympathetic nervous systems) which science does recognize. It is this system underlying the nerves which is the true response apparatus and which - via the brain - telegraphs information to the mind or, via the brain and the mind, keeps the soul informed. It is this system of nadis which is used in full consciousness by the initiate who has related the Spiritual Triad and the soul-infused personality, and has therefore seen the soul-body, the causal body or the egoic lotus totally disappear, being no longer of any true importance. There is a peculiar and at present inexplicable relation between this system of nadis and the antahkarana when it is in process of creation or is created.

The physical body, therefore, like so much else in nature, is itself triple in design. There is: The etheric body. The substantial nadis. The dense physical body. These form one unit and in incarnation are inseparable. The centers in their totality and the many focal points of contact found in the etheric body are responsible for the creation and preservation of the endocrine glandular system in a form either limited and inadequate, or representative of the spiritual man and entirely adequate. The nadis, in their turn, [153] are responsible for the creation and precipitation of the twofold nervous system. This is a point most carefully to be borne in mind and is the clue to the problem of creativity.

The type of the etheric substance "substanding" any form is dependent upon two factors: The kingdom of nature concerned. Basically the four kingdoms draw their pranic life each from one or other of the four levels of etheric substance, counting upwards from the lowest: The mineral kingdom is sustained from plane 1. The vegetable kingdom is sustained from plane 2. The animal kingdom is sustained from plane 3. The human kingdom is sustained from plane 4.

That was the original condition; but as evolution proceeded and there was an interacting emanation established between all the kingdoms, this automatically changed. It was this "esoteric emanating change" which, aeons ago, produced animal-man. I give this as an illustration and a key to a great mystery.

Curiously enough, in the human kingdom (and only in the human kingdom) the etheric body is now composed of all four types of etheric substance. The reason for this is that eventually (when mankind is spiritually developed) each of these four planes or types of etheric substance will be responsive to the [154] four higher levels of the cosmic physical plane - the etheric levels, to which we give the names: the logoic level, the monadic, the atmic level and the buddhic. This will happen as a result of conscious growth and initiation. It must also be remembered that the substance of which these etheric channels or channeling tubes are composed is planetary prana, the life-giving, health-giving energy of the planet itself. Through these tubes, however, may flow all or any of the possible energies - emotional, mental, egoic, manasic, buddhic or atmic, according to the point in evolution which the man concerned has reached. This always means that several energies are pouring through these tubes, unless the point in evolution is exceedingly low or unless one is dealing with a cleavage; these various energies are fused and blended together but find their own focal points in the etheric body when entering directly within the circumference of the dense physical body. Just as it can be said of the soul or of the Deity, so it can be said of the energetic or vital etheric body or entity: "Having pervaded this whole universe with a fragment of myself, I remain."

The word "prana" is almost as much misunderstood as are the words "etheric" or "astral." It is this loose connotation which is responsible for the great ignorance prevalent in occult circles. Prana might be defined as the life-essence of every plane in the sevenfold area which we call the cosmic physical plane. It is the LIFE of the planetary Logos, reduced within limits, animating, vivifying and correlating all the seven [155] planes (in reality the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane) and all that is to be found within and upon them. The cosmic sutratma or life-thread of the planetary Logos enters His manifestation on the highest of our planes (the logoic plane) and, through the instrumentality of the informing Lives to be found in Shamballa (which, I must remind you, is not the name of a locality) is brought into contact with, or is related to, the matter of which the manifested worlds are made - formless, as on the cosmic etheric planes (our highest four planes), or tangible and objective, as on the lower three planes.

The fact that we call only that tangible which we can see or touch and contact through the medium of the five senses is entirely wrong. All is regarded as belonging to the world of form which is found on the physical plane, the astral plane and the levels of the lower mind. This lower mental plane, referred to above, includes the level on which the causal body is found - the plane in which "the lotus of love is floating," as the Old Commentary puts it. All that lies above that on mental levels, and on up to the highest of the cosmic physical planes, is formless. These distinctions must be most carefully borne in mind.

There is within the human body a wonderful symbol of distinction between the higher etheric levels and the lower so-called physical levels. The diaphragm exists, separating that part of the body which contains the heart, throat and head, plus the lungs, from all the rest of the organs of the body; these are all of them of the utmost importance from the angle of LIFE, and that which is determined in the head, impulsed from the heart, sustained by the breath and expressed through the apparatus of the throat determines what the man IS. Below the diaphragm are found organs whose use is far more objective even if of great importance; though each [156] of these lower organs has a life and purpose of its own, their existence and functioning is impulsed, determined and conditioned by the life and rhythm emanating from the higher part of the vehicle. This is not easy for the average man to comprehend, but any serious limitation or physical disease above the diaphragm has a compelling and serious effect on all that is found below the diaphragm. The reverse is not the case to the same extent. This symbolizes the potency and essentiality of the etheric body, both microcosmic and macrocosmic, and the macrocosmic expression of the fourfold Life conditions all living forms.

Each of the four ethers, as they are sometimes called, is intended - as far as man is concerned - to be a channel or expression of the four cosmic ethers. At present this is very far from being the case. It can only truly be so when the antahkarana is built and acts, therefore, as a direct channel for the cosmic ethers to which we have given the names of universal life, monadic intensity, divine purpose and pure reason. Ponder for a while on these types of energy and creatively imagine their effect when, in due course of time and spiritual unfoldment, they can pour unrestrictedly into and through the etheric body of a human being. At present, the etheric body is responsive to energies from: The physical world. These are not principles but are the feeders and controllers of the animal appetites. The astral world, determining the desires, emotions and aspirations which the man will express and go after upon the physical plane. The lower mental plane, the lower mind, developing self-will, selfishness, separateness and the direction and trend of the life upon the physical plane. It is [157] this directive instinct which, when turned to higher matters, eventually opens the door to the higher cosmic etheric energies. The soul, the principle of individualism, the reflection in the microcosm of the divine intention and - speaking symbolically - being to the entire monadic expression that which "stands at the midway point," the instrument of true sensitivity, of responsive ability, the spiritual counterpart of the solar plexus center which is found at the midway point between that which lies above the diaphragm and that which is found below it.

When the antahkarana is constructed and the higher three are directly related to the lower three, then the soul is no longer needed. Then, reflecting this event, the four etheric levels become simply the transmitters of the energy emanating from the four cosmic etheric levels. The channel is then direct, completed and unimpeded; the etheric network of light is then of great brilliance, and all the centers in the body are awakened and functioning in unison and rhythm. Then - corresponding to the directly related Monad and Personality - the head center, the thousand-petalled lotus, the brahmarandra, is as directly related to the center at the base of the spine. Thus complete dualism, in place of the previous triple nature of the divine manifestation, is established:

Monad - Personality. With the threefold soul no longer needed. Head center - Center at base of spine. With the intermediate five centers no longer required. [158]

The Old Commentary says, in this connection: "Then the three that ranked as all that was, functioning as one and controlling all the seven, no longer are. The seven who responded to the three, responding to the One, no longer hear the triple call which determined all that was. Only the two remain to show the world the beauty of the living God, the wonder of the Will-to-Good, the Love which animates the Whole. These two are One, and thus the work, completed, stands. And then the Angels sing." [159]