Levels of Selfhood

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Most religions and many philosophies interpret Man [1] as a single consciousness or soul or spirit in a physical body. But, although an improvement over gross Materialism[2], this interpretation is actually extremely naive, for it ignores all the manifold aspects and dimensions that human consciousness includes.
A more sophisticated understanding is that the so-called individual is made up of a multiplicity of "souls" or levels of being. The human entity (and for that matter, every evolutionary entity) is thus a synthesis of a number of elements of being, corresponding to different dimensions or planes of existence. In the present essay, these various levels of body, soul, and spirit can be defined as follows:

Table 1. The various levels of self and corresponding planes of existence

Level of being or self ('microcosm")	World or Plane ("macrocosm")	Associated experience
Unmanifest Absolute	Unmanifest Absolute	Shunya, Sachchidananada, etc
Transcendent Higher Self	Manifest Absolute	Eternal Consciousness
Immanent Higher Self	Inmost Being	Inner Divine Consciousness
Spirit	(Noeric Ideational) Plane (Spiritual/ Angelic)	Inspiration, gnosis, wisdom
Soul	Imaginal Plane (Higher Psychic)	Intuition, Love, Spiritual purpose
Double	Astral Plane (Lower Psychic)	Dreaming, Imagination, "Astral travelling"
Physical Psyche	Etheric Plane (Subtle Physical)	Physical Consciousness
Physical Body	Physical Plane	Body Consciousness

One can use Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Kabbalistic terms to supplement the imprecise and ambiguous English equivalents like "spirit" and "soul". If you look at other esoteric [3] teachings, you will notice all use pretty much the same schema, although differing in details and terminology.  A few examples of these inter-doctrinal equivalences are given as follows:

Table 2. The various levels of self in different esoteric systems

Level of being or self ('microcosm")	Egyptian equivalent	Taoist equivalent	Neoplatonic equivalent	Sufi equivalent	Blavatsky Theosophical equivalent	Theosophical equivalent (Adyar School & others influenced by)	Aurobindo equivalent  (Integral psychology)
Absolute Self	?	Tao	The One	?	not represented	not represented	Paramatma?
Transcendent Higher Self	?	?	Henad	Divine Name	Atma	Monad	Jivatma
Immanent Higher Self	"Memphite Theology" (Old_Kingdom) Ka;  New Kingdom Khu (in part)	Shen - immortal spirit	Augeoides	ayn thabitha	Immortal Ego	Soul; Higher Triad (Atma-Buddhi- Manas)	Psychic Being (Chaitya Purusha)
Spirit	Khu (in part)	Hun (Spirit)	Noetic Soul	aql (intellect)	Buddhi Manas	Higher Mental (Causal)	Mental (in part)
Soul	Ba (soul) Ab (heart)	Hun (Spirit)	Soul	qalb (heart)	Kama Manas	Higher Emotional/ Astral	Vital (in part)
Double	Sahu; Ka (Double)	P'o (yin nature)	Irrational Soul	nafs (soul)	Kama rupa	Lower Emotional/ Astral	Vital (in part)
Physical Psyche	Ka (in part)	Ch'i	Vegetative soul	nafs (soul)	Sthula	Etheric body	Subtle Physical
Physical Body	Khat	body	Physical	Physical	Sukshma	Physcal body	Gross Physical

Physical, Spiritual and Causal

Taking the five "lower" principles in Table 1 - the Body, Psyche, Double, Soul and Spirit - these each correspond to a particular "vertical" Plane or stratum of existence, from pure "matter" to pure "spirit" (the higher three principles do not lie on the Spirit-Matter axis at all).   In addition to this "vertical" axis, there is a "horizontal" one, which constitute a sequence of "frequency octaves" equivalent to the energy levels in an electron orbital shell around an atom's nucleus
Just as there are an infinite number of possible quantum energy levels in an electron's orbit, so there are an indefinate number of "vibratory" or "frequency" levels of consciousness on each plane. In Indian Vedantic and Tibetan Buddhist metaphysics, these frequency levels are grouped into Gross, Subtle, and Causal [4]; whilst Western Esotericism [5] refers to Physical, Psychic and Spiritual.
 Table.3 illustrates the relation between the "horizontal" and the "vertical" gradations of manifestation, and gives the terms used here.

Table.3. The Frequency octaves in the Physical Body, Physical Psyche (or "subtle bodies"), Double, Soul, Spirit, and higher grades of existence.

Pure Spirit						:	:
Higher Planes						:	:
Spirit						Spiritual Being	...
Soul					Ba	Spiritual Ba	...
Double					Ka/Astral double	Spiritual Ka	...
physical psyche		Etheric body	Emotional body	Mental body	Psychic Bodies	Spiritual Bodies	...
physical body	external physical	Organic (wholistic) Physical	Emotional Physical	Mental Physical	Psychic Physical	Spiritual Physical	...
:	physical mechanical	Physical subconscious	Emotional subconscious (= Jungian shadow)	Mental subconscious (= Jungian shadow)	Psychic subconscious (= Collective Unconscious)	Spiritual subconscious (= the Jungian "Self")	...
:	physical mechanical	inconscient	inconscient	inconscient	inconscient	inconscient	...
:	pure matter	<-------------	-------------	-------------	-------------	------------->	pure spirit
		gross (outer)			subtle (inner)	very subtle
	Body		Emotion	Mind	Spirit

Unfortunately, many esoteric teachings tend to confuse the "vertical" series of planes, the "horizontal" frequency series, the "inner-outer" sequence from Higher Self to ego, and the Absolute Self, collapsing everything into a single set of planes of consciousness. That is why it so hard to match up the different systems; they use similiar language and concepts to describe totally different things.

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Notes

[1]. The term "Man" as used here is, it hardly needs to be pointed out, gender neutral. Because of patriarchial overtones, feminists have suggested that the term be replaced by a gender-neutral one like "Person". However, the word "Person" comes from the Greek persona, meaning a mask used in theatre, whilst "Man" is derived from the Indo-European root mn, from which we also derive "mind"; hence Man literally means "a thinking being". Since the only way the human species can be distinguished from the rest of the animal kingdom is in our superior intellectual devlopment, I feel that this is a more appropriate term to use here.
[2]. "Materialism" here refers not to a particular lifestyle based around material goods, but a sceptical way of looking at things, that denies all realities beyond those that are currently known to physical science. This is a reductionist perspective that actually constitutes a specific meme
[3]. "Esoteric" means the inner or hidden meaning of things, the occult, the metaphysical; as opposed to "exoteric", the outer meaning, conventional knowledge or reality
[4] The division "gross, subtle, and causal" is derived from Indian Vedantic philosophy, specifically the Mandukya Upanishad), which speaks of four states of consciousness, the waking, dream, dreamless sleep, and transcendent state. These were later identified with the five koshas [see note 5 below]. Tibetan Buddhism refers to a similiar three-fold distinction as "gross", "subtle", and "very subtle" [Table 3].
[5] By "Western Esotericism" is meant the occult and spiritual teachings that have developed in the West in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; such as Theosophy, Hermetic Qabalah, Rosicrucianism, and Thelema. The division of being into "body, soul, and spirit" is central to the teachings of the Christian theosophist and clairvoyant Rudolph Steiner.

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My philosophical viewpoint.

   (Godel was arguably the worlds greatest logician, but he held some "unusual beliefs." RS)


-- Kurt Friedrich Godel c. 1960.

1. The world is rational.
2. Human reason can, in principle, be developed more highly (through certain techniques).
3. There are systematic methods for the solution of all problems (also art, etc.).
4. There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind.
5. The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived.
6. There is incomparably more knowable a priori than is currently known.
7. The development of human thought since the Renaissance is thoroughly intelligible (durchaus einsichtige).
8. Reason in mankind will be developed in every direction.
9. Formal rights comprise a real science.
10. Materialism is false.
11. The higher beings are connected to the others by analogy, not by composition.
12. Concepts have an objective existence.
13. There is a scientific (exact) philosophy and theology, which deals with concepts of the highest abstractness; and this is also most highly fruitful for science.
14. Religions are, for the most part, bad-- but religion is not.

Comments by Hao Wang:

"Godel lists fourteen items which appear to be an attempt to outline his fundamental philosophical beliefs. These are optimistic beliefs and conjectures. They go far beyond `what is possible before all new discoveries and inventions' as Wittgenstein requires of philosophy. Unfortunately we know very little of  Godel's reasons for holding them. Undoubtedly the centrepiece is his belief that the world is rational. This key belief is an empirical generalisation from his interpretation of human experience, but what is known of his arguments is hardly convincing."


Published: Hao Wang: Section 9.4: `The meaning of the world: monadology and rationalistic optimism' in Chapter IX: `Godels's approach to philosophy' of `A logical journey: from Godel to philosophy', The MIT Press, Cambridge, USA, 1996, p. 316.      

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Godel, Einstein and proof for God

Vithal C Nadkarni, Mar 25, 2010, 06.44am IST The Economic Times /India.

Kurt Godel used to walk every day with his friend Albert Einstein at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton. Einstein told a colleague that in the later years of his life, his own work — which had married space to time and spawned the atom bomb — no longer meant much to him and that he used to come to the institute merely "to have the privilege to be able to walk home with Godel."
If Einstein had upset our everyday notions about the physical world with his theory of relativity, his younger friend had had a similarly subversive effect on our understanding of the abstract world of mathematics. Godel , who has often been called the greatest logician since Aristotle , seemed to be unfazed by Einstein's reputation and did not hesitate to challenge his ideas.

Although Einstein and Godel seemed to hover on a higher plane than the rest of humanity, they had also morphed into 'museum pieces' , to use Einstein's words. Einstein did not accept the quantum theory and Godel believed in ghosts, rebirth and time travel and thought that mathematical abstractions were every bit as real as tables and chairs, a view that philosophers had come to regard as laughably naive.
"Both Godel and Einstein insisted that the world is independent of our minds, yet rationally organised and open to human understanding. United by a shared sense of intellectual isolation, they found solace in their companionship," writes Jim Holt in Time Bandits, his profile of the two mega-scientists in The New Yorker.
Of course their politics differed . Einstein supported Adlai Stevenson and Godel voted for Eisenhower in 1952, which prompted the genial relativist to exclaim that his brilliant companion had "gone completely crazy".
As usual, Einstein turned out to be prophetically right, but only after his death. After Einstein's demise, Godel became ever more withdrawn. At some point, he tipped over the edge. Fearful of being poisoned, he would have his wife, a former cabaret dancer, test his food. And when she was no longer there, he succumbed to malnutrition. Along with inventing "proofs" for the existence of God, Godel's work also ushered in a unique philosophy of mind that challenges reductionists and those trying to mechanise it with mindless programs. For all his quirks, Godel also showed that the truth (satyam) could be both beautiful (sundaram) and transcendent (shivam).



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Emanations

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Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the First Reality, or Principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. Emanationism is a transcendent principle from which everything is derived, and is opposed to both Creationism (wherein the universe is created by a sentient God who is separate from creation) and materialism (which posits no underlying subjective and/or ontological nature behind phenomena being immanent).

Contents  [hide]  1 Origins 2 Occultism 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Origins

Emanationism is a cosmological theory which asserts that all things "flow" from an underlying principle or reality, usually called the Absolute or Godhead. Any teachings which involve emanation are usually in opposition to creation ex nihilo as emanation advocates that everything has always existed and has not been "created" from nothing.
(Kleinham, 2007) writes:

Underlying the worldview of traditional cosmology is the idea that the universe is an emanation of a unitary divine principle. Although this idea has been blended with the revealed creationist doctrines of the major monotheistic religions, orthodox theologians have generally regarded it with suspicion. They have relegated it to the shadowy spheres of mysticism, pantheism, and the occult, which have always been at odds with orthodoxy. The traditional view is summed in the doctrine of emanation formulated by Plotinus.^[1]

The primary classical exponent of emanationism was Plotinus, wherein his work, the Enneads, all things phenomenal and otherwise were an emanation from the One (Hen). In Ennead 5.1.6, emanationism is compared to a diffusion from the One, of which there are three primary hypostases, the One (hen), the Intellect/will (nous), and the Soul (psyche tou pantos). For Plotinus, emanation, or the "soul's descent", is a result of the Indefinite Dyad, the primordial agnosis inherent to and within the Absolute, the Godhead.^[2]
Another advocate of emanationism was Michael Servetus who was burned at the stake for his nontrinitarian cosmology.^[3]

[edit] Occultism

Emanationism is a common teaching found occult, esoteric and metaphysical writings. According to (Owen, 2005):

Theosophy draws on Neoplatonic emanationism, in particular the concept of separation from and return to the Absolute, and reworks the Eastern concepts of karma and reincarnation to provide an evolutionary theory of both humankind and the universe.^[4]

Theosophy teaches that human beings and all organisms including animals and all matter "flow" from a pure spiritual formation in the absolute to a material one over time to become materialised but later will return to the absolute after the cosmic cycle of life.
As Morgan summarises: "The Secret Doctrine laid out an emanationist view of the development of the physical universe, a process of ebb and flow in which spirit gradually unfolded itself in matter, attaining consciousness, and returning to spirit in a higher and more realised form."^[5] According to the emanationist cosmology of Madame Blavatsky all monads emerge from divine unity at the beginning of a cosmic cycle and return to this source at its close.^[6]
Blavatsky in her book The Key to Theosophy (1889) wrote that: "We believe in a universal divine principle, the root of all, from which all proceeds, and within which all shall be at the end of the great cycle of being."^[7]
Samael Aun Weor had taught emanationism from his studies with the Kabbalah and Gnosticism. He mapped out a complex esoteric cosmology with matter flowing from different planes of existence all existing in the absolute. As (Dawson, 2007) comments:

As with esoteric thought in general, Weor holds that the universe originated in the ordering activity of the absolute upon chaotic primordial matter, giving rise to (emanating) the subsequent planes of the created order (Pleroma).^[8]

[edit] See also

• Plotinus
• Enneads

[edit] References

1. ^ Robert Kleinman, Four Faces of the Universe: An Integrated View of the Cosmos, 2007, p. 186
2. ^ Michael A. Ogorzaly, Waldo Frank, prophet of Hispanic regeneration, 1994, p. 29
3. ^ Jerome Friedman, Michael Servetus: a case study in total heresy, 1978, p. 134
4. ^ Owen. A, The place of enchantment: British occultism and the culture of the modern 2005, p. 26
5. ^ Morgan. S, Women, gender and religious cultures in Britain, 1800-1940, 2010 p. 218
6. ^ John R. Shook, Richard T. Hull, The dictionary of modern American philosophers: A-C, Volume 1, 2005, p. 252
7. ^ Joy Dixon, Divine feminine: theosophy and feminism in England, 2001, p.47
8. ^ Andrew Dawson, New era, new religions: religious transformation in contemporary Brazil, 2007, p. 100

[edit] External links

• Neoplatonism and Emanationism Many articles on Emanationism
• Emanation and Ascent in Hermetic Kabbalah 1.4 Mbyte PDF - Colin Low 2004. Presentation and notes on emanation and the roots of Hermetic Kabbalah
• Emanationism
• Enneads

[show] v t e Theology

East and West...materialism, metaphysics and religion

Historically, metaphysicsin the Western (or Western and Middle Eastern) world has tended to maintain a tension between religionand secularism - between monotheisticreligions like Judaism,Christianity,Islam, and Bahai'ism on the one hand, and philosophical and humanistic materialism and scientismin the modern world on the other. The philosophical and metaphysical distinction between dualismand materialismthat has so much shaped Western thinking goes back to the ancient Greeks, Pythagoreanism andPlatonism representing the dualist position, Atomism and Epicureanism the Materialistic, and Aristotleanism and Stoicism as a sort of holisticor quasi-holistic "third way" between the two. To some extent this is also the case in China as well, although not to so great an extreme.
In India however, the tension has tended to be between Monismand Dualistic Theism. That is, between full-fledged Monistic mysticism in which God or Godhead is understood as non-different from the Self (e.g. Advaita Vedanta, Kashmir Shaivism), and dualistic mysticism and exoteric religionism in which God is seen - as in the monotheistic religions of the West and Middle East - as eternally separate from the self and matter. In this intellectual, cultural, and spiritual environment, Materialism and Atheism has played a very small part, and many atheistic philosophies - e.g. Buddhism and Jainism - are also profoundly mystical.
A secondary distinction in Western mystical and metaphysical understanding is between Theistic Dualismand Emanationism. In the former, Godcreates the Universeout of nothing. In the latter, the Cosmoscomes about through a series of gradual emanated stages from an unmanifest Godhead, a series of successive planes or worlds or angelic hierarchies, as represented in Gnosticism,Neoplatonism, Medieval Christianity, Sufism,Kabbalah, andTheosophy.
The counterpart of this in Indian thought is the distinction betweenstrict Monism (e.g. Advaita Vedanta) and emanationist Monism (e.g. Shaivite and Shakta Tantra). This is because in India, the emphasis is not primarily on the concept of a hierarchical reality and emanation such as characterises such Western-Middle Eastern mystical systems of thought as Neoplatonism and Kabbalah as on realising the formless Absolute beyond all manifestation, higher or lower.
In Chinese thoughtthe metaphysical tension seems to be between Materialism and Monism, the result being a Holisticunderstanding of reality not as a hierarchy or a duality, but as the complementary play of the bipolar forces of yin and yang. Although China assimilated foreign religions and ideologies like Buddhism, Marxism, and most recently Consumerism, she has shown little inclination or interest in the theistic religions of other lands, perhaps because their rigidly dualistic nature is at variance with the intrinsic Chinese tendency to holism.

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