Part One: The Soul and Its Milieu by Staff

Part Two: The Soul as Energy by Shaku Tokusen

Part One: The Soul and Its Milieu

The word �soul� is used in many different ways, but it always tends to describe an immaterial essence, animating principle or spiritual identity. In the Ageless Wisdom teachings the soul is specifically the consciousness aspect. It is not the originating life essence (often called the First Aspect), nor is it the combined body, emotional nature and mind of an individual (often called the Third Aspect). The soul is the Second Aspect, the mediator between the other two. It is also the seat of the spiritual consciousness and is the immortal Identity that persists from incarnation to incarnation.

Soul also governs the spiritual expression of the other kingdoms in nature. Animals, plants and even minerals have souls, although the consciousness of the latter is so much slower than human consciousness that it doesn�t seem to be alive.

Nevertheless there are different levels of soul expression in all kingdoms. Higher consciousness in the mineral kingdom is expressed through radiation, and in the plant kingdom through perfume. The more advanced units in the animal kingdom are oriented toward human companionship and domestication. It is through interaction with the human kingdom, specifically cultivation and domestication, that further and more rapid spiritual evolution is stimulated in these other forms of life.

There are many different levels of soul expression among people also. These levels range from the consciousness of the spiritually enlightened servers of the world to that of the totally materialistic and criminal-minded. But this does not indicate differences in soul quality. The difference lies in the vehicles the soul has assembled for a particular incarnation - the mind, the emotional nature and the brain/physical body. All human souls are part of the One Soul, and as such share in the spiritual consciousness of this Second Aspect of humanity. What differs is the relative transparency of the vehicles to the high spiritual energy of the soul.

Generally speaking, the less spiritually evolved the individual is, the more opaque the personality vehicles are to soul input. Each incarnation�s gains are recorded and stored by the soul (in the so-called �permanent atoms�). As the soul overshadows a gestating human being it influences the type of vehicles for that incarnation, infusing them with the stored up gains in the permanent atoms. Over a long series of lives, a gradual spiritual evolution takes place and the personalities become increasingly expressive of the soul in the �three worlds� of human life - mental, emotional and physical.

Once again, the soul is the real spiritual Identity, and is an embodied human being, even though it may seem immaterial to us. Not only does the soul have a body, it also has higher attributes corresponding to the emotional and mental natures. As such it is a complete human being, possessing both Life (First Aspect) and consciousness (Second Aspect). This is the natural state of the human being during the intervals between incarnations.

Why then does the soul continually handicap itself by becoming involved with the dense and challenging world of matter? Because the entire universe is engaged in a gigantic project of evolution, as the second part of this article will explain. The soul is a result of this and - most important - it plays a central linking role in the process. Therefore it must do its part in redeeming the matter of the lower planes by projecting a fragment of itself into them. Ergo - the human being as we know him or her!

Part Two: The Soul as Energy

An acquaintance, who belongs to the same group as I do for the study of the esoteric side of religion, told me one day that his wife had died after a long illness. �Her physical body has died but the real Self continues on forever,� he explained. �Her real Self is the Soul, which is an energy body or unit. Matter and energy are the same thing, as Einstein�s famous equation shows and the atomic bomb proved, and matter and energy cannot be destroyed.� My friend was a teacher of physics, hence his particular approach to the subject of the Soul and its longevity.

That an energy unit can last for ages should come as no surprise, even though we might think of some energy units, such as the flame of a match, as of short duration. The particles that make up the atoms are energy units and nothing else. These and photons of light, for example, are known to exist for billions of years. Thus it shouldn�t be difficult to conceive of the Soul as enduring and that the Soul, because it endures, is Reality.

The body is not Reality, contrary to the misguided attention paid to it even after its death by those who reluctantly bury it and then focus on the gravesite rather than on the late departed�s Soul, the real Identity.

One theory is that there are some tiny ultimate particles (and some very small units are known, if perhaps not the ultimate ones), and these energy units make up the atoms and all else. These little units originated some ages ago, and all of existence - including us - is derived from their chance evolution. This implies that each of these units (from some unknown source) is so extremely intelligent that, given time, all that we know in this physical world - including us - has been created by them. Could this be true?

It has been known for ages, though not widely circulated, that the opposite of this theory is the truth. Consider, instead, the total of all energy in the solar system, remembering that matter is energy somewhat condensed. This immense energy has the properties of Beingness, Will and supreme intelligent consciousness beyond our ken.

The agnostics are correct: we are not bright enough to truly know this supreme energy unit, or the nature of the substances in the types of energy we know already, or much more subtle and as yet unknown energy substances. This supreme energy is therefore an Entity and has a popular name � God, or Deity, as I would prefer to call It. The states of being of this Entity include the few we know about in the lowest state or plane, the physical: solid, liquid, gas and an ionized state (acknowledged by a few scientists already), and a bio-plasma state. Two more states exist on the physical plane that are the phenomena of magnetism, which includes light, and the state of the ultimate physical atoms.

Beyond this are many more states or planes in the body of the Deity. The next finest is the sevenfold plane of desire, then the mental plane, and four more. All above the physical are finer states than we are readily aware of, and as they get finer they can best be described as becoming more spiritual.

The Supreme Energy, Deity, chooses to manifest as three Aspects. The first is Will or Beingness, the very essence of life itself. The second is Consciousness, a state beyond our possible conception, which is responsible for the creation and shape of forms. The third is Matter or substance, no matter how fine or coarse, which the other two Aspects of Deity utilize. It follows that everything is alive and conscious.

These three energies go outward from the Deity, descending (becoming less fine) and involving. At the least spiritual point, that of greatest density, the two energies of consciousness and matter form the ultimate physical particles. The first Aspect does not descend directly that low, but utilizes lesser entities than Itself to impart Life into everything. There is nothing that is not life, and since the second energy or Aspect of Deity is in all, everything has some degree of consciousness, from the slowest mineral state to the superhuman.

At the very densest point of the physical plane the Life Waves of the Deity turn and start to return to the Source. This is Evolution. Throughout the long ages the Deity has utilized multitudes of forms for Self-expression and experience, much of which we can see in archeology and history and about us now. The evolution of life and the forms it uses are directed from above according to a Plan and a pattern. Evolution is not by chance. True, there is a bit done by natural selection, mostly for modifications so that the forms of the day can adapt to environmental changes and survive. But this only allows for minor modifications. Higher beings create the major changes and do so according to Their knowledge of the Plan.

Eventually forms evolve, and the first Aspect descends. It cannot descend lower than the third major division from the bottom, the mental plane. A line of evolution using the second and third Aspects evolves until it meets the first descending Aspect on the mental plane. The uniting of the three Aspects creates the human Soul. This Soul is unique in that it integrates the three main energies or Aspects of Deity. As the Christian Bible says, �Know ye not that ye are gods? The kingdom of God is within you.� This energy form, the human Soul, is the Realty. The body it uses in an incarnation is not the Reality and is of little import, other than to allow the Soul to gain access to the physical world for experience there. The body dies, and then the Soul reincarnates after a period of rest, and this process is continued until perfection is achieved. After that the Soul�s Soul, the Monad, continues on in another line of evolution until, after vast ages, there is a reunion into the Source, the Deity of the system, and �the dewdrop slips into the shining sea.� This does not mean annihilation, as some misinterpret the Buddhist view of Nirvana, but rather that the Monad enters finally into the Deity�s consciousness with full and final realization that it is Deity (God, Allah, etc.) and always was. Each unit of consciousness that has reached the superhuman state eventually takes its place as the Deity of its own system.

The concept of Soul, from the esotericist�s point of view, is that the brain does not create Soul or consciousness - they are already there; the Soul uses the body and brain as its instrument in order to function on the physical plane. That one cannot normally see the Soul is not an argument against its existence. We cannot see magnetic energy, but it is all around us, and we utilize it when we turn on a radio or TV set. Magnetic lines of force are invisible, but hold a magnet against a TV screen (when turned on, and against a bottom corner, please) and the lines of force are clearly seen as they emanate from the metal of the magnet. Better use an old TV set, as the effect can stick on the screen for a week before being burned off. 

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