The Rosicrucian
Cosmo-Conception
by Max Heindel
(Part 2)
II. The Four
Kingdoms
The three Worlds of our planet are at
present the field of evolution for a number of different kingdoms of
life, at various stages of development. Only four of these need concern
us at present, viz.: the mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms.
These four kingdoms are related to the three Worlds in different ways,
according to the progress these groups of evolving life have made in the
school of experience. So far as form is concerned the dense bodies of all
the kingdoms are composed of the same chemical substances — the solids,
liquids, and gases of the Chemical Region. The dense body of a man is as truly
a chemical compound as is the stone, although the latter is ensouled by mineral
life only. But even when speaking from the purely physical standpoint, and
laying aside all other considerations for the time being, there are several
important differences when we compare the dense body of the human being with
the mineral of the Earth. Man moves, grows, and propagates his
species — the mineral, in its native state, does none of these things.
Comparing man with the forms of the plant kingdom, we find that both
plant and man have a dense body, capable of growth and propagation. But Man
has faculties not possessed by the plant. He feels, has the power of
motion, and the faculty of perceiving things exterior to himself.
When we compare man with the animal we see that both have the faculties of
feeling, motion, growth, propagation, and sense-perception. In addition, man
has the faculty of speech, a superior structure of the brain, and also
hands — which are a very great physical advantage. We may note especially the
development of the thumb, which makes the hand much more valuable than even
that of the anthropoid. Man has also evolved a definite language in which to
express his feelings and thoughts, all of which places the dense body of the
human being in a class by itself, beyond the three lower kingdoms.
To account for these differences in the four kingdoms we must go to the
invisible Worlds, and seek the causes which give one kingdom that which is
denied to another.
To function in any world, and express the qualities peculiar to it, we
must first possess a vehicle made of its material. In order to function in
the dense Physical World it is necessary to have a dense body, adapted to
our environment. Otherwise we should be ghosts, as they are commonly
called, and be invisible to most physical beings. So we must have a vital
body before we can express life, grow, or externalize the other qualities
peculiar to the Etheric Region.
To show feeling and emotion it is necessary to have a vehicle composed of
the materials of the Desire World, and a mind formed of the substance of the
Region of Concrete Thought is necessary to render thinking possible.
When we examine the four kingdoms in relation to the Etheric Region, we
find that the mineral does not possess a separate vital body, and at once we
see the reason why it cannot grow, propagate, or show sentient life.
As an hypothesis necessary to account for other known facts, material
science holds that in the densest solid, as in the rarest and most
attenuated gas, no two atoms touch each other; that there is an envelope of
ether around each atom; that the atoms in the universe float in an ocean of
ether.
The esoteric scientist knows this to be true of the Chemical Region and
that the mineral does not possess a separate vital body of ether. And as it is
the planetary ether alone which envelops the atoms of the mineral, that makes
the difference described. It is necessary, as we have shown, to have a
separate, vital body, desire body, etc., to express the
qualities of a particular realm, because the atoms of the World of Desire, of
the World of Thought and even of the Higher Worlds, inter-penetrate the
Mineral as well as the dense human body, and if the inter-penetration of
the planetary ether, which is the ether that envelops the atoms of the
mineral, were enough to make it feel and propagate its inter-penetration by
the planetary World of Thought would also be sufficient to make it think. This
it cannot do, because it lacks a separate vehicle. It is penetrated
by the planetary ether only, and is therefore incapable of individual growth.
Only the lowest of the four states of ether — the chemical — is active in the
mineral. The chemical forces in minerals are due to that fact.
When we consider plant, animal, and man in relation to the Etheric Region
we note that each has a separate, vital body, in addition to being penetrated
by the planetary ether which forms the Etheric Region. There is a
difference, however, between the vital bodies of the plants and the vital
bodies of animal and man. In the vital body of the plant only the chemical
and the life ethers are fully active. Hence the plant can grow by the action
of the chemical ether and propagate its species through the activity of the
life ether of the separate, vital body which it possesses. The light ether
is present, but is partially latent or dormant and reflecting ether is lacking.
Therefore it is evident that the faculties of sense-perception and memory,
which are the qualities of these ethers, cannot be expressed by the plant
kingdom.
Turning our attention to the vital body of the animal we find that in it
the chemical, life and light ethers are dynamically active. Hence the
animal has the faculties of assimilation and growth, caused by the
activities of the chemical ether; and the faculty of propagation by means of
the life ether — these being the same as in plants. But in addition, it has
the faculties of generating internal heat and of sense-perception. The
fourth ether, however, is inactive in the animal, hence it has no thought
nor memory. That which appears as such will be shown later to be of a
different nature.
When we analyze the human being, we find that in him all four ethers
are dynamically active in the highly organized vital body. By means of the
activities of the chemical he is able to assimilate food and to grow; the
forces at work in the life ether enable him to propagate his species; the
forces in the light ether supply the dense body with heat, work on the nervous
system and muscles, thus opening the doors of communication with the outside
world by way of the senses; and the reflecting ether enables the spirit to
control its vehicle by means of thought. This ether also stores past
experience as memory.
The vital body of plant, animal, and man, extends beyond the periphery of
the dense body as the Etheric Region, which is the vital body of a
planet, extends beyond its dense part, showing again the truth of the
Hermetic axiom "As above, so below." The distance of this extension of the
vital body of man is about an inch and a half. The part which is outside
the dense body is very luminous and about the color of a new-blown
peach-blossom. It is often seen by persons having very slight involuntary
clairvoyance. The writer has found, when speaking with such persons, that
they frequently are not aware they see anything unusual and do not know what
they see.
The dense body is built into the matrix of this vital body during
ante-natal life, and with one exception, it is an exact copy, molecule for
molecule, of the vital body. As the lines of force in freezing water are
the avenues of formation for ice crystals, so the lines of force in the vital
body determine the shape of the dense body. All through life the vital body
is the builder and restorer of the dense form. Were it not for the etheric
heart the dense heart would break quickly under the constant strain we put
upon it. All the abuses to which we subject the dense body are counteracted,
so far as lies in its power, by the vital body, which is continually
fighting against the death of the dense body.
The exception mentioned above is that the vital body of a man is female or
negative, while that of a woman is male or positive. In that fact we have
the key to numerous puzzling problems of life. That woman gives way to her
emotions is due to the polarity noted, for her positive, vital body generates
an excess of blood and causes her to labor under an enormous internal pressure
that would break the physical casement were not a safety-valve provided in the
periodical flow, and another in the tears which relieve the pressure on
special occasions — for tears are "white bleeding."
Man may have and has as strong emotions as woman, but he is usually
able to suppress them without tears, because his negative vital body does
not generate more blood than he can comfortably control.
Unlike the higher vehicles of humanity, the vital body (except under
certain circumstances, to be explained when the subject of "Initiation" is
dealt with) does not ordinarily leave the dense body until the death of the
latter. Then the chemical forces of the dense body are no longer held in
check by the evolving life. They proceed to restore the matter to its
primordial condition by disintegration so that it may be available for the
formation of other forms in the economy of nature. Disintegration is thus
due to the activity of the planetary forces in the chemical ether.
In texture the vital body may be crudely compared to one of those picture
frames made of hundreds of little pieces of wood which interlock and present
innumerable points to the observer. These points enter into the hollow
centers of the dense atoms, imbuing them with vital force that sets them
vibrating at a higher rate than that of the mineral of the earth which is not
thus accelerated and ensouled.
When a person is drowning, or falling from a height, or freezing, the
vital body leaves the dense body, the atoms of which become temporarily inert
in consequence, but at resuscitation it re-enters the dense body and the
"points" are again inserted in the dense atoms. The inertia of the atoms
causes them to resist the resumption of vibration and that is the cause of
the intense prickly pain and the tingling sensation noted at such times, but
not ordinarily, for the same reason that we become conscious of the starting or
stopping of a clock, but are oblivious to its tick when it is running.
There are certain cases where the vital body partly leaves the dense
body, such as when a hand "goes to sleep." Then the etheric hand of the vital
body may be seen hanging below the dense arm like a glove and the points cause
the peculiar pricking sensation felt when the etheric hand re-enters the
dense hand. Sometimes in hypnosis the head of the vital body divides and
hangs outside the dense head, one half over each shoulder, or lies around
the neck like the collar of a sweater. The absence of prickly sensation at
awakening in cases like this is because during the hypnosis part of the
hypnotist's vital body had been substituted for that of the victim.
When anesthetics are used the vital body is partially driven out, along
with the higher vehicles, and if the application is too strong and the life
ether is driven out, death ensues. This same phenomenon may also be
observed in the case of materializing mediums. In fact the difference between
a materializing medium and an ordinary man or woman is just this: In the
ordinary man or woman the vital body and the dense body are, at the present
stage of evolution, quite firmly interlocked, while in the medium they are
loosely connected. It has not always been so, and the time will come again
when the vital body may normally leave the dense vehicle, but that is not
normally accomplished at present. When a medium allows his or her vital
body to be used by entities from the Desire World who wish to materialize,
the vital body generally oozes from the left side — through the spleen, which is
its particular "gate." Then the vital forces cannot flow into the body as
they do normally, the medium becomes greatly exhausted, and some of them
resort to stimulants to counteract the effects, in time becoming incurable
drunkards.
The vital force from the sun, which surrounds us as a colorless fluid, is
absorbed by the vital body through the etheric counterpart of the spleen,
wherein in undergoes a curious transformation of color. It becomes pale
rose-hued and spreads along the nerves all over the dense body. It is to the
nervous system what the force of electricity is to a telegraph system.
Though there be wires, instruments, and telegraph operators all in order, if
the electricity is lacking, no message can be sent. The Ego, the brain, and
the nervous system may be in seemingly perfect order, but if the vital force
be lacking to carry the message of the Ego through the nerves to the muscles,
the dense body will remain inert. This is exactly what happens when part
of the dense body becomes paralyzed. The vital body has become diseased and
the vital force can no longer flow. In such cases, as in most sickness, the
trouble is with the finer invisible vehicles. In conscious or unconscious
recognition of this fact, the most successful physicians use
suggestion — which works upon the higher vehicles — as aid to medicine. The
more a physician can imbue his patient with faith and hope, the speedier
disease will vanish and give place to perfect health.
During the health the vital body specializes a superabundance of vital
force,which, after passing through a dense body, radiates in straight lines in
every direction from the periphery thereof, as the radii of a circle do from
the center; but during ill-health, when the vital body becomes attenuated,
it is not able to draw to itself the same amount of force and in addition the
dense body is feeding upon it. Then the lines of the vital fluid which pass
out from the body are crumpled and bent, showing the lack of force behind
them. In health the great force of these radiations carries with it germs
and microbes which are inimical to the health of the dense body, but in
sickness, when the vital force is weak, these emanations do not so readily
eliminate disease germs. Therefore the danger of contracting disease is
much greater when the vital forces are low than when one is in robust health.
In cases where parts of the dense body are amputated, only the
planetary ether accompanies the separated part. The separate vital body and
the dense body disintegrate synchronously after death. So with the
etheric counterpart of the amputated limb. It will gradually disintegrate as
the dense member decays, but in the meantime the fact that the man still
possesses the etheric limb accounts for his assertion that he can feel his
fingers or suffers pain in them. There is also a connection with a buried
member, irrespective of distance. A case is on record where a man felt severe
pain, as if a nail had been driven into the flesh of an amputated limb, and he
persisted until the limb was exhumed, when it was found that a nail had been
driven into it at the time it was boxed for burial. The nail was removed and
the pain instantly stopped. It is also in accordance with these facts that
people complain of pain in a limb for perhaps two or three years after the
amputation. The pain will then cease. This is because the disease remains
in the still undetached etheric limb, but as the amputated part disintegrates,
the etheric limb follows suit and thus the pain ceases.
Having noted the relations of the four kingdoms to the Etheric Region of
the Physical World, we will next turn our attention to their relation to the
Desire World.
Here we find that both minerals and plants lack the separate desire
body. They are permeated only by the planetary desire body, the Desire
World. Lacking the separate vehicle, they are incapable of feeling, desire,
and emotion, which are faculties pertaining to the Desire World.
When a stone is broken, it does not feel; but it would be wrong to infer
that there is no feeling connected with such an action. That is the
materialistic view, or the view taken by the uncomprehending multitude. The
esoteric scientist knows that there is no act, great or small, which is not felt
throughout the universe, and even though the stone, because it has no
separate desire body, cannot feel, the Spirit of the Earth feels because it is
Earth's desire body that permeates the stone. When a man cuts his finger,
the finger, having no separate desire body, does not feel the pain, but the man
does, because it is his desire body which permeates the finger. If a plant is
torn up by the roots, it is felt by the Spirit of the Earth as a man would
feel if a hair were torn from his head. This Earth is a living, feeling
body, and all the forms which are without separate desire bodies through
which their informing spirits may experience feeling, are included in the
desire body of the Earth and that desire body has feeling. The
breaking of a stone and the breaking off of flowers are productive of pleasure
to the Earth, while the pulling our of plants by the root causes pain. The
reason is given in the latter part of this work, for at this stage of our
study the explanation would be incomprehensible to the general reader.
The planetary Desire World pulsates through the dense and vital bodies of
animal and man in the same way that it penetrates the mineral and plant, but
in addition to this, animal and man have separate desire bodies, which enable
them to feel desire, emotion and passion. There is a difference, however.
The desire body of the animal is built entirely of the material of the denser
regions of the Desire World, while in the case of the human being
a variable amount of the matter of the higher Regions enters into the composition
of the desire body. The feelings of animals and many human beings are
almost entirely concerned with the gratification of the lowest desires and
passions which find their expression in the matter of the lower Regions of the
Desire World. Hence, in order that they may have such emotions to educate
them for something higher, it is necessary that they should have the
corresponding materials in their desire bodies. As man progresses in the
school of life, his experiences teach him, and his desires become purer and
better. Thus by degrees the material of his desire body undergoes a
corresponding change. The purer and brighter material of the higher Regions
of the Desire World replaces the murky colors of the lower part. The desire
body also grows in size, so that in a saint it is truly a glorious object to
behold, the purity of its colors and its luminous transparency being beyond
adequate simile. It must be seen to be appreciated.
At present the materials of both the lower and the higher Regions enter
into the composition of the desire bodies of the great majority of mankind.
None are so bad that they have not some good trait. This is expressed in
the materials of the higher Regions which we find in their desire bodies.
But, on the other hand, very, very few are so good that they do not use some of
the materials of the lower Regions.
In the same way that the planetary vital and desire bodies
inter-penetrate the dense material of the Earth, as we saw in the illustration
of the sponge, the sand and the water, so the vital and desire bodies
inter-penetrate the dense body of plant, animal, and man. But during the
life of man his desire body is not shaped like his dense and vital bodies.
After death it assumes that shape. During life it has the appearance of a
luminous ovoid which, in waking hours, completely surrounds the dense body, as
the albumen does the yolk of an egg. It extends from twelve to sixteen
inches beyond the dense body. In this desire body there are a number of
sense centers, but, in the great majority of people, they are latent. It is
the awakening of these centers of perception that corresponds to the
opening of the blind man's eyes in our former illustration. The matter in
the human desire body is in incessant motion of inconceivable rapidity.
There is in it no settled place for any particle, as in the dense body. The
matter that is at the head one moment may be at the feet in the next and
back again. There are no organs in the desire body, as in the dense and
vital bodies, but there are centers of perception, which, when active, appear
as vortices, always remaining in the same relative position to the dense
body, most of them about the head. In the majority of people they are mere
eddies and are of no use as centers of perception. They may be awakened in
all, however, but different methods produce different results.
In the involuntary clairvoyant developed along improper, negative
lines, these vortices turn from right to left, or in the opposite direction to
the hands of a clock — counterclockwise.
In the desire body of the properly trained voluntary clairvoyant, they
turn in the same direction as the hands of a clock — clockwise, glowing with
exceeding splendor, far surpassing the brilliant luminosity of the ordinary
desire body. These centers furnish him with means for the perception of
things in the Desire World and he sees, and investigates as he wills, while
the person whose centers turn counter-clockwise is like a mirror, which
reflects what passes before it. Such a person is incapable of reaching out
for information. The reason for this belongs to a later section, but the
above is one of the fundamental differences between a medium and a properly
trained clairvoyant. It is impossible for most people to distinguish
between the two; yet there is one infallible rule that can be followed by
anyone: No genuinely developed seer will ever exercise this faculty
for money or its equivalent; nor will he use it to gratify curiosity; but
only to help humanity.
No one capable of teaching the proper method for the development of
this faculty will ever charge so much a lesson. Those demanding money for
the exercise of, or for giving lessons in these things never have anything
worth paying for. The above rule is a safe and sure guide, which all may
follow with absolute confidence.
In a far distant future man's desire body will become as definitely
organized as are the vital and dense bodies. When that stage is reached we
shall all have the power to function in the desire body as we do now in the
dense body, which is the oldest and best organized of these bodies of
man — the desire body being the youngest.
The desire body is rooted in the liver, as the vital body is in the
spleen.
In all warm-blooded creatures, which are the highest evolved, and have
feelings, passions and emotions, which reach outward into the world with
desire, which may be said to really live in the fuller meaning of the term and
not merely vegetate — in all such creatures the currents of the desire body
flow outward from the liver. The desire stuff is continually welling out in
streams or currents which travel in curved lines to every point of the
periphery of the ovoid and then return to the liver through a number of
vortices, much as boiling water is continually welling outward from the source
of heat and returning to it after completing its cycle.
The plants are devoid of this impelling, energizing principle, hence
they cannot show life and motion as can the more highly developed organisms.
Where there is vitality and motion, but no red blood, there
is no separate desire body. The creature is simply in the transition stage
from plant to animal and therefore it moves entirely in the strength of
the group-spirit.
In the cold-blooded animals which have a liver and red
blood, there is a separate desire body and the group-spirit directs the
currents inward, because in their case the separate spirit (of the
individual fish or reptile for instance) is entirely outside the dense
vehicle.
When the organism has evolved so far that the separate spirit can commence
to draw into its vehicles then it (the individual spirit) commences to direct
the currents outward, and we see the beginning of passionate existence
and warm blood. It is the warm, red blood in the liver of the organism
sufficiently evolved to have an Indwelling spirit which energizes the outgoing
currents of desire stuff that cause the animal or the man to display desire and
passion. In the case of the animal the spirit is not yet entirely
indwelling. It does not become so until the points in the vital body
and the dense body come into correspondence, as explained in section XII. For this reason the animal is not a
"liver," that is, he does not live as completely as does man, not being
capable of as fine desires and emotions, because not as fully conscious. The
mammalia of today are on a higher plane than was man at the animal stage of his
evolution, because they have warm, red blood, which man did not have at that
stage. This difference in status is accounted for by the spiral path of
evolution, which also accounts for the fact that man is a higher type of
humanity than the present Angels were in their human stage. The present
mammalia, which have in their animal stage attained to the possession of
warm, red blood, and are therefore capable of experiencing desire and
emotion to some extent will, in the Jupiter Period, be a purer and better type
of humanity than we are now, while from among our present humanity there will
be some, even in the Jupiter Period, who will be openly and avowedly wicked.
Moreover, they will not then be able to conceal their passions as is now
possible, but will be unabashed about their evil doing.
In the light of this exposition of the connection between the liver and
the life of the organism, it is noteworthy that in several European
languages (English, German, and the Scandinavian tongues) the same word
signifies the organ of the body (the liver) and also "one who lives."
When we turn our attention to the four kingdoms in their relation to
the World of Thought we find that minerals, plants and animals lack a
vehicle correlating them to that World. Yet we know some animals think, but
they are the highest domesticated animals which have come into close touch
with man for generations and have thus developed a faculty not possessed by
other animals, which have not had that advantage. This is on the same
principle that a highly charged wire will "induce" a weaker current of electricity in
a wire brought close to it; or that a man of strong morals will arouse a like
tendency in a weaker nature, while one morally weak will be overthrown if
brought within the influence of evil characters. All we do, say, or are,
reflects itself in our surroundings. This is why the highest domestic
animals think. They are the highest of their kind, almost on the point of
individualization, and man's thought vibrations have "induced" in them a
similar activity of a lower order. With the exceptions noted, the animal
kingdom has not acquired the faculty of thought. They are not
individualized. This is the great and cardinal difference between the
human and other kingdoms. Man is an individual. The animals, plants and
minerals are divided into species. They are not individualized in the same
sense that man is.
It is true that we divide mankind into races, tribes and nations,
but that is not to the point. If we wish to study the characteristics of
the lion or the elephant or any other species of the lower animals, all that is
necessary is to take any member of that species for that purpose. When we
learn the characteristics of one animal, we know the characteristics of the
species to which it belongs. All members of the same animal tribe are alike.
That is the point. A lion, or its father, or it son, all look alike;
there is no difference in the way they will act under like conditions. All
have the same likes and dislikes; one is the same as another.
Not so with human beings. If we want to know about the characteristics of
Europeans, it is not enough that we examine one single individual. It would
be necessary to examine each individually, and even then we will arrive at
no knowledge concerning Europeans as a whole, simply because that which was a
characteristic of the single individual does not apply to the race collectively.
If we desire to know the character of Abraham Lincoln it will avail us
nothing to study his father, his grandfather, or his son, for they would
differ entirely. Each would have his own peculiarities quite distinct from
the idiosyncrasies of Abraham Lincoln.
On the other hand, minerals, plants, and animals are described if we
devote our attention to the description of one of each species; while there
are as many species among human beings as there are individuals. Each
individual person is a "species," a law unto himself, altogether separate and
apart from any other individual, as different from his fellow men as one
species in the lower kingdom is from another. We may write the biography of a
man, but an animal can have no biography. This is because there is in each
man an individual, indwelling spirit which dictates the thoughts and
actions of each individual human being; while there is one "group-spirit"
common to all the different animals or plants of the same species.
The group-spirit works on the all from the outside. The tiger which
roams in the wilds of the Indian jungle and the tiger penned up in the cage of
a menagerie are both expressions of the same group-spirit. It influences
both alike from the Desire World, distance being almost annihilated in the
inner Worlds.
The group-spirits of the three lower kingdoms are variously located in
the higher Worlds, as we shall see when we investigate the consciousness of
the different kingdoms; but to properly comprehend the positions of these
group-spirits in the inner Worlds it is necessary to remember and to clearly
understand what has been said about all the forms that are in the visible
world having crystallized from models and ideas in the inner Worlds, as
illustrated by the architect's house and the inventor's machine. As the
juices of the soft body of the snail crystallize into the hard shell which it
carries upon its back, so the Spirits in the higher Worlds have, in a
similar manner, crystallized out from themselves the dense, material bodies of
the different kingdoms.
Thus the so-called "higher" bodies, although so fine and cloudy as to be
invisible, are not by any means "emanations" from the dense body, but the dense
vehicles of all kingdoms correspond to the shell of the snail, which is
crystallized from its juices, the snail representing the spirit; and the
juices of its body in their progress towards crystallization representing
the mind, desire body and vital body. These various vehicles were
emanated by the spirit from itself for the purpose of gaining
experience through them. It is the spirit that moves the dense body where it
will, as the snail moves its house, and not the body that controls the
movements of the spirit. The more closely the spirit is able to enter into
touch with its vehicle the better can it control and express itself through
that vehicle, and vice versa. That is the key to the different states of
consciousness in the different kingdoms. A study of
Diagram 3 and
Diagram 4 should give a clear understanding of the vehicles of each
kingdom, the manner in which they are correlated to the different Worlds
and the resulting state of consciousness.
From
diagram 3 we learn that the separate Ego is definitely segregated within the Universal Spirit in the Region of
Abstract Thought. It shows that only man possesses the complete chain of
vehicles correlating him to all divisions to the three Worlds. The animal
lacks one link of chain — the mind; the plant lacks two links; the mind and
the desire body; and the mineral lacks three links of the chain of the vehicles
necessary to function in a self-conscious manner in the Physical World — the
mind, the desire and the vital bodies.
The reason for the various deficiencies is that the Mineral Kingdom is
the expression of the latest stream of evolving life; the Plant Kingdom is
ensouled by a life wave that has been longer upon the path of evolution; the
life wave of the animal kingdom has a still longer past; while Man, that is to
say, the life now expressing itself in the human form, has behind it the
longest journey of all the four kingdoms, and therefore leads. In time, the
three life-waves which now animate the three lower kingdoms will reach the
human, and we shall have passed to higher stages of development.
To understand the degree of consciousness which results from the
possession of the vehicles used by the life evolving in the four kingdoms, we
turn our attention to
diagram 4, which show that man, the Ego, the Thinker, has descended into the Chemical Region of the
Physical World. Here he has marshaled all his vehicles, thereby attaining
the state of waking consciousness. He learning to control his vehicles. The
organs of neither the desire body nor the mind are yet evolved. The latter is
not yet even a body. At present it is simply a link, a sheath for the use of
the Ego as a focusing point. It is the last of the vehicles that have been
built. The spirit works gradually from finer into coarser substance, the
vehicles also being built in finer substance first, then in coarser and
coarser substance. The dense body was built first and has now come into its
fourth stage of density; the vital body is in its third stage and the desire
body in its second, hence it is still cloud-like, and the sheath of mind is
filmier still. As those vehicles have not, as yet, evolved any organs, it is
clear that they alone would be useless as vehicles of consciousness.
The Ego, however, enters into the dense body and connects these
organless vehicles with the physical sense centers and thus attains the waking
state of consciousness in the Physical World.
The student should particularly note that it is because of their
connection with the splendidly organized mechanism of the dense body that these
higher vehicles become of value at present. He will thus avoid a mistake
frequently made by people who, when they come into the knowledge that there
are higher bodies, grow to despise the dense vehicle; to speak of it as
"low" and "vile" — turning their eyes to heaven and wishing that they might
soon be able to leave this earthly lump of clay and fly about in their
"higher vehicles."
These people generally do not realize the difference between "higher"
and "perfect." Certainly, the dense body is the lowest vehicle in the sense
that it is the most unwieldy, correlating man to the world of sense with all
the limitations thus implied. As stated, it has an enormous period of
evolution back of it; is in it fourth state of development and has now
reached a great and marvelous degree of efficiency. It will, in time, reach
perfection, but even at present it is the best organized of man's vehicles.
The vital body is in its third stage of evolution, and less completely
organized than the dense body. The desire body and the mind are, as yet,
mere clouds — almost entirely unorganized. In the very lowest human beings
these vehicles are not even definite ovoids; they are more or less undefined
in form.
The dense body is a wonderfully constructed instrument and should be
recognized as such by everyone pretending to have any knowledge of the
constitution of man. Observe the femur, for instance. This bone carries the
entire weight of the body. On the outside it is built of a thin layer of
compact bone, strengthened on the inside by beams and cross-beams of
cancelated bone, in such a marvelous manner that the most skilled bridge or
construction engineer could never accomplish the feat of building a pillar of
equal strength with so little weight. The bones of the skull are built in a
similar manner, always the least possible material is used and the maximum
of strength obtained. Consider the wisdom manifested in the construction of
the heart and then question if this superb mechanism deserves to be despised.
The wise man is grateful for his dense body and takes the best possible care
of it, because he knows that it is the most valuable of his present
instruments.
The animal spirit has in its descent reached only the Desire World. It
has not yet evolved to the point where it can "enter" a dense body. Therefore
the animal has no individual indwelling spirit, but a group-spirit,
which directs it from without. The animal has the dense body, the
vital body and the desire body, but the group-spirit which directs it is
outside. The vital body and the desire body of an animal are not entirely
within the dense body, especially where the head is concerned. For
instance, the etheric head of a horse projects far beyond and above the
dense physical head. When, as in rare cases it happens, the etheric head of
a horse draws into the head of the dense body, that horse can learn to read,
count and work examples in elementary arithmetic. To this peculiarity is also
due the fact that horses, dogs, cats and other domesticated animals sense the
Desire World, though not always realizing the difference between it and
the Physical World. A horse will shy at the sight of a figure invisible to
the driver; a cat will go through the motions of rubbing itself against
invisible legs. The cat sees the ghost, however without realizing that it has
no dense legs available for frictional purposes. The dog, wiser than a cat or
horse, will often sense that there is something he does not understand about
the appearance of a dead master whose hands it cannot lick. It will howl
mournfully and slink into a corner with its tail between its legs. The
following illustration may perhaps be of service to show the difference between
the man with his indwelling spirit and the animal with its group-spirit.
Let us imagine a room divided by means of a curtain, one side of the
curtain representing the Desire World and the other the Physical. There are
two men in the room, one in each division; they cannot see each other, nor
can they get into the same division. There are, however, ten holes in the
curtain and the man who is in the division representing the Desire World can
put his ten fingers through these holes into the other division, representing
the Physical World. He now furnishes an excellent representation of the
group-spirit which is in the Desire World. The fingers represent the
animals belonging to one species. He is able to move them as he wills, but he
cannot use them freely nor as intelligently as the man who is walking about
in the Physical division uses his body. The latter sees the fingers which
are thrust through the curtain and he observes that they all move, but he does
not see the connection between them. To him it appears as if they were all
separate and distinct from one another. He cannot see that they are fingers
of the man behind the veil and are governed in their movements by his
intelligence. If he hurts one of the fingers, it is not only the finger
that he hurts, but chiefly the man on the other side of the curtain. If an
animal is hurt, it suffers, but not to the degree that the
group-spirit does. The finger has no individualized consciousness; it moves as
the man dictates — so do the animals moves as the group-spirit dictates. We
hear of "animal instinct" and "blind instinct." There is no such vague,
indefinite thing as "blind" instinct. There is nothing "blind" about the
way the group-spirit guides its members — there is Wisdom, spelled with
capitals. The trained clairvoyant, when functioning in the Desire World,
can communicate with these spirits of the animal species and finds them much
more intelligent than a large percent of human beings. He can see the
marvelous insight they display in marshaling the animals which are their
physical bodies.
It is the spirit of the group which gathers its flocks of birds in the
fall and compels them to migrate to the south, neither too early nor too
late to escape the winter's chilly blast; that directs their return in the
spring, causing them to fly at just the proper altitude, which differs for
the different species.
The group-spirit of the beaver teaches it to build its dam across a
stream at exactly the proper angle. It considers the rapidity of the flow,
and all the circumstances, precisely as a skilled engineer would do, showing
that it is as up-to-date in every particular of the craft as the
college-bred, technically-educated man. It is the wisdom of the
group-spirit that directs the building of the hexagon cell of the bee with
such geometrical nicety; that teaches the snail to fashion its house in an
accurate, beautiful spiral; that teaches the ocean mollusk the art of
decorating its iridescent shell. Wisdom, wisdom everywhere! So grand, so
great that one who looks with an observant eye is filed with amazement and
reverence.
At this point the thought will naturally occur that if the animal
group-spirit is so wise, considering the short period of evolution of the
animal as compared with that of man, why does not the latter display wisdom to
a much greater degree and why must man be taught to build dams and geometrize,
all of which the group spirit does without being taught?
The answer to that question has to do with the descent of
the Universal Spirit into matter of ever-increasing density. In the higher
Worlds, where its vehicles are fewer and finer, it is in closer touch with
cosmic wisdom which shines out in a manner inconceivable in the dense
Physical World, but as the spirit descends, the light of wisdom becomes
temporarily more and more dimmed, until in the densest of all the Worlds, it is
held almost entirely in abeyance.
An illustration will make this clearer. The hand is man's most valuable
servant; its dexterity enables it to respond to his slightest bidding. In some
vocations, such as bank teller, the delicate touch of the hand becomes so
sensitive, that it is able to distinguish a counterfeit coin from a genuine in
a way so marvelous that one would almost think the hand were endowed with
individual intelligence.
Its greatest efficiency is perhaps reached in the production of music. It
is capable of producing the most beautiful, soul-stirring melodies. The
delicate, caressing touch of the hand elicits the tenderest strains of
soul-speech from the instrument, telling of the sorrows, the joys, the
hopes, the fears and the longings of the soul in a way that nothing but music
can do. It is the language of the heaven world, the spirit's true home, and
comes to the divine spark imprisoned in flesh as a message from its native
land. Music appeals to all, regardless of race, creed, or other worldly
distinction. The higher and more spiritual the individual the plainer
does it speak to him and even "the savage breast" is not unmoved by it.
Let us now imagine a master musician putting on thin gloves and trying to
play his violin. We note at once that the delicate touch is less subtle; the
soul of the music is gone. If he puts another and a heavier pair of gloves
over the first pair, his hand is hampered to such an extent that he may
occasionally create a discord instead of the former harmony. Should he at
last put on, in addition to the two pairs of gloves already hampering him, a
pair of still heavier mittens, he would, temporarily, be entirely unable to
play, and one who had not heard him play previously to the time he put on the
gloves and the mittens, would naturally think that he had never been able to
do so, especially if ignorant of the hampering of his hands.
So it is with the Spirit; every step down, every descent into coarser
matter is to it what the putting on of a pair of gloves would be to the
musician. Every step down limits its power of expression until it has become
accustomed to the limitations and has found its focus, in the same way that
the eye must find its focus after we enter a house on a bright summer day.
The pupil of the eye contracts to its limit in the glare of the sun and on
entering the house all seems dark; but, as the pupil expands, and admits the
light, the man is enabled to see as well in the dimmer light of the house as he
did in the sunlight.
The purpose of man's evolution here is to enable him to find his focus in
the Physical World, where at present the light of wisdom seems obscured. But
when in time we have "found the light," the wisdom of man will shine forth
in his actions, and far surpass the wisdom expressed by the
group-spirit of the animal.
Besides, a distinction must be made between the group spirit and the
virgin spirits of the life wave now expressing itself as animals. The
group-spirit belongs to a different evolution and is the guardian of the
animal spirits.
The dense body in which we function is composed of numerous cells, each
having separate cell-consciousness, though of a very low order. While these
cells from part of our body they are subjected to and dominated by
our consciousness. An animal group-spirit functions in a
spiritual body, which is its lowest vehicle This vehicle consists of
a varying number of virgin spirits imbued for the time being with the
consciousness of the group-spirit. The latter directs the vehicles built
by the virgin spirits in its charge, caring for them and helping them to
evolve their vehicles. As its wards evolve, the group-spirit also evolves,
undergoing a series of metamorphoses, in a manner similar to that in which we
grow and gain experience by taking into our bodies the cells of the food we
eat, thereby also raising their consciousness by enduing them with ours for a
time.
Thus while a separate, self-conscious Ego is within each human body and
dominates the actions of its particular vehicle, the spirit of the separate
animal is not yet individualized and self-conscious, but forms part of the
vehicle of a self-conscious entity belonging to a different evolution — the
group-spirit.
The group-spirit dominates the actions of the animals in harmony with
cosmic law, until the virgin spirits in its charge shall have gained
self-consciousness and become human. Then they will gradually manifest
wills of their own, gaining more and more freedom from the group-spirit and
becoming responsible for their own actions. The group-spirit will influence
them, however (although in a decreasing degree), as race, tribe, community, or
family spirit until each individual has become capable of acting in full
harmony with cosmic law. Not until that time will the Ego be entirely free
and independent of the group-spirit, which will then enter a higher phase of
evolution.
The position occupied by the group-spirit in the Desire World gives to
the animal a consciousness different from that of man, who has a clear,
definite waking consciousness. Man sees things outside of himself in
sharp, distinct outlines. Owing to the spiral path of evolution, the higher
domestic animals, particularly the dog, horse, cat and elephant see objects
in somewhat the same way, though perhaps not so clearly defined. All other
animals have an internal "picture consciousness" similar to the
dream-state in
man. When such an animal is confronted by an object, a picture is
immediately perceived within, accompanied by a strong impression that
the object is inimical or beneficial to its welfare. If the feeling is one
of fear, it is associated with a suggestion from the group-spirit how to escape
the threatened danger. This negative state of consciousness renders it easy
for the group-spirit to guide the dense bodies of its charges by suggestion, as
the animals have no will of their own.
Man is not so easily managed from without, either with or without his
consent. As evolution progresses and man's will develops more and more, he
will become non-amenable to outside suggestion and free to do as he pleases
regardless of suggestions from others. This is the chief difference between
man and the other kingdoms. They act according to law and the dictates of
the group-spirit (which we call instinct), while man is becoming more and
more a law unto himself. We do not ask the mineral whether or not it will
crystallize, nor the flower whether it will or will not bloom, nor the lion
whether it will or will not cease to prey. They are all, in the smallest as in
the greatest matter, under the absolute domination of the group-spirit, being
without free will and initiative which, in some degree, are possessed by every
human being. All animals of the same species look nearly alike, because
they emanate from the same group-spirit, while among the fifteen hundred
millions of human beings who people the Earth no two look exactly alike, not
even twins when adolescent, because the stamp that is put upon each by the
indwelling individual Ego makes the difference in appearance as well as in
character.
That all oxen thrive on grass, and all lions eat flesh, while "one
man's meat is another man's poison" is another illustration of the
all-inclusive influence of the group-spirit as contrasted with the Ego which
makes each human being require a different proportion of food from every
other. Doctors note with perplexity the same peculiarity in administering
medicine. Its acts differently upon different individuals, while the same
medicine will produce identical effects on two animals of the same species,
owing to the fact that animals all follow the dictates of the group-spirit
and Cosmic Law — always act similarly in identical circumstances. Man alone
is, in some measure, able to follow his own desires within certain limits.
That his mistakes are many and grievous, is granted, and to many it might
seem better if he were forced into the right way, but if this were done, he
would never learn to do right. Lessons of discrimination between good and
evil cannot be learned unless he is free to choose his own course and has
learned to eschew the wrong as a veritable "womb of pain." If he did right
only because he had no choice, and had no chance to do otherwise, he would be
but an automaton and not an evolving God. As the builder learns by his
mistakes, correcting past errors in future buildings, so man, by means of
his blunders, and the pain they cause him, is attaining to a higher (because
self-conscious) wisdom than the animal, which acts wisely because it is
impelled to action by the group-spirit. In time the animal will become human,
have liberty of choice and will make mistakes and learn by them as we do
now.
Diagram 4 shows that the group-spirit of the plant kingdom has its lowest vehicle in the Region of Concrete Thought. It is two steps removed from its dense vehicle and consequently the plants have a consciousness corresponding to that of dreamless sleep. The
group-spirit of the mineral has it slowest vehicle in the Region of Abstract
Thought and it is, therefore, three steps removed from its dense vehicle;
hence it is in a state of deep unconsciousness similar to the trance
condition.
We have now shown that man is an individual indwelling spirit, an Ego
separate from all other entities, directing and working in one set of
vehicles from within, and that plants and animals are directed from
without by a group-spirit having jurisdiction over a number of animals
or plants in our Physical World. They are separate only in appearance.
The relations of plant, animal and man to the life currents in the
Earth's atmosphere are symbolically represented by the cross. The Mineral
Kingdom is not represented, because as we have seen, it possesses no
individual vital body, hence cannot be the vehicle for currents belonging to
the higher realms. Plato, who was an Initiate, often gave esoteric truths.
He said "The World-Soul is crucified."
The lower limb of the cross indicates the plant with its root in the
chemical mineral soil. The group-spirits of plants are at the center of the
Earth. They are (it will be remembered) in the Region of Concrete Thought,
which inter-penetrates the Earth, as do all the other Worlds. From these
group-spirits flow streams or currents in all directions to the periphery of
the Earth, passing outward through the length of plant or tree.
Man is represented by the upper limb; his is the inverted plant.
The plant takes its food through the root. Man takes his food through the
head. The plant stretches its generative organs towards the sun. Man, the
inverted plant, turns his towards the center of the earth. The plant is
sustained by the spiritual currents of the group-spirit in the center of the
earth, which enter into it by way of the root. Later it will be shown that
the highest spiritual influence comes to man from the sun, which sends its
rays through man, the inverted plant, from the head downwards. The plant
inhales the poisonous carbon-dioxide exhales by man and exhales the
life-giving oxygen used by him.
The animal, which is symbolized by the horizontal limb of the cross, is
between the plant and the man. Its spine is in a horizontal position and
through it play the currents of the animal group-spirit which encircle the
Earth. No animal can be made to remain constantly upright, because in that
case the currents of the group-spirit could not guide it, and if it were not
sufficiently individualized to endure the spiritual currents which enter the
vertical human spine, it would die. It is necessary that a vehicle for the
expression of an individual Ego shall have three things — an upright walk,
that it may come into touch with the currents just mentioned; an upright
larynx, for only such a larynx is capable of speech (parrots and starlings
are examples of this effect of the upright larynx); and, owing to the solar
currents, it must have warm blood. The latter is of the utmost importance to
the Ego, which will be logically explained and illustrated later. These
requisites are simply mentioned here as the last words on the status of the
four kingdoms in relation to each other and to the Worlds.
Reference: The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, by Max Heindel (1865-1919)
This web page has been edited and/or excerpted from reference material, has been modified from its original version, and is in conformance with the web host's Members Terms & Conditions. This website is offered to the public by students of The Rosicrucian Teachings, and has no official affiliation with any organization.
