ROTAE I Trumps 0 to 7Initiation and Reality
Hommage to Franz Bardon
During a discussion in Moscow, 1915, after having listened to a lecture on hidden Central Asian knowledge and wisdom-systems, a gentleman stood up and asked:
"This knowledge surprises me. How did it come to be hidden? Why was I not able to find it, though I have been searching for years?"
The lecturer answered: "Ah, but you are now capable of understanding? Is that not also a new fact? How come, that up to now you never crossed its path, why weren't you told so before? Is it not that you yourself have been preparing yourself in all manner of way to finally accede to something that you never expected to exist?
You say that this knowledge was hidden. This is not true. It was simply beyond the scope of men and women to understand. They were incapable, because the ground-work had not been laid out. Without preparation, even the most simple things seem strange. If Man remains at this station of perplexity, unable to fathom any hidden meaning behind the most simple words, then it is not because this meaning is hidden, but because access to it was obstructed. By too many words, by useless things that deviated attention from what is true."
There is a certain level, below which nothing can be transmitted. All is turned to banality.
A boat, for example, is seen only as a means for transport, not a thought is wasted on its build, on its uniqueness, nor on the crew that manoeuvres it. Then, when a storm strikes, the passengers are afraid, they have not observed if this particular boat is sea-worthy or not. They don't know whether the captain and the crew are capable of steering it into calm waters again. They are simply perplexed, and out of their depth. Will the boat capsize? Maybe, these unreflected, mindless passengers cannot know, nor even guess. They board a boat as if it were the safest thing in the world. In the harbor, this is probably true. Yet on the open ocean, maybe not. The only passenger to guess correctly, to have an idea and an intuition of what will occur in the midst of a storm, is the one who has taken a good look of the boat before boarding it. Is it of good construction, not too old? Does it have cracks and leaks, does the crew inspire confidence? Does the captain show a natural grasp of all eventualities, does he form one harmonious group with the crew, or are they possibly at variance? These and many other questions can be intuitively answered in no time, if the passenger just takes a few minutes to reflect on what vessel he or she is boarding. Even if he or she is not interested in boats at all, a short inspired look will show the inherent qualities and/or faults in a glance. Then the storm is seen differently altogether. Then the passenger is not as a mouse which will survive or drown without being able to do anything about it. Then he or she may actually help the crew, may perhaps calm the other nervous, unminded passengers. Such a difference of approach is immediately recognised by any experienced captain. Thus his own self-confidence also either mounts or descends, owing to the make-up of the group of passengers. For frantic unminded passengers will also unnerve him, possibly, and he must use restraint to actually ignore their unminded reactions. In case of accident, the captain is in the worst place, if no one on board has any understanding and self-control. If all passengers have taken the boat, the crew and the captain into account, then the captain may even faithfully delegate some functions, trusting that everyone will remain calm and collected, even though the storm may be dangerous.
Thus G.I. Gurdjieff, when asked about the strange and hidden origin of some of his teachings, answered: "Thanks to this knowledge itself, and to your personal work, you are now able to understand what I have been saying. If we spoke again of the same knowledge in a years' time, then you will not have waited for it to miraculously reveal itself, you will have searched further. Thus your understanding will have deepened. We will speak of the same knowledge, but it will not surprise you anymore. Instead, maybe you will have found something, that could be of interest to me also. We will both see the same thing from a deepened or heightened perspective, and this interplay of different levels will have interest all by itself. Our understanding will have changed, evolved. As long as people are incapable of understanding, it is of no use to speak. It is of no help to descend to the listeners' level, for then even I will lack the right words, for my words in his language will be incomprehensible, both to him and to me."
For certain ideas there are too few words. So we look for images, for symbols, for subtle double-meanings. These are then sometimes perceived as veiled, hidden on purpose. This is not so, strange words or unfamiliar images and symbols have been used, because the meaning of what was intended to be transmitted could not be formulated otherwise. If the words themselves only serve to describe the well-spring from which they flow, if for example the Nothing is tried to be shown as not being Nothing, but no other words are available, then this Nothing must stand as un-nothing Nothing, which is meaningless, yet still somehow shows that this Nothing is not seen as completely void, it is not an absolute vacuum.
What is really called hidden and secret, is so due to the fact that one cannot give anything that Man is incapable of accepting. To stress the complexities of certain ideas, then, is actually an effort to stir an interest, to give an impulse furthering individual study and understanding. All can be said in simple words and some simple images. If that is the level employed, then it remains there, for there is nothing left to discover. If the bird is painted one-dimensional, sitting on a branch, then the bird is static and means simply bird. Two-dimensional, it has a form, some of its qualities are revealed. Three-dimensional, we see the potentials of the bird, as also of the branch it is sitting on. By its plumage, mass, lightness or weight, by its attitude, we perceive some qualities of the bird. Four-dimensional, it is seen as both sitting on the branch and also flying through the air. Five-dimensional, it is still the bird and the branch, but now we know the qualities of the tree, not only of the branch, and we see that the flying bird is in the air, above the earth, in the sky, and we have a notion of what may lie beyond the atmosphere. The sitting bird, at the same time, will be seen in the direct stage of its development, to what extent it is unique among the birds, what makes its own species unique, in this special individual as well. And the dimensions go on, until, as in Zen meditation, a picture of a bird on a branch begins to encompass all, from Creation to Disintegration. On the way, many things have been learned, and the onlooker is not the same as the one having first perceived the one-dimensional picture.
Some people say: "I want heaven, illumination, God, now, today, tout-de-suite." That is partially possible, if all preparative work had been done. Instant inspiration, enlightenment, can be attained in one day, if the individual has prepared for a long time. But will it last? Will it not be as a passing trip, very high today, less high tomorrow? It is better to be high today, with the confident certitude of being higher tomorrow. Never lower, always higher.
Others wait all their life for the perfect Siddha-Guru, the perfectly illumined Sheik. They expect their blessing or transmission of Baraka to liberate them instantly, once they have found this person. This, by all accounts is false hope. The most famous, and also well observed and studied, Gurus and Holy Beings, and the list is so long we will not even mention one of them, did not transmit total bliss and instant enlightenment.
They taught the path of the Heart, they transmitted blessing powers, they took burdens and obstacles away, they made false thought disintegrate, they healed physical obstacles, they showed the right way to meditate, they showed the aim of meditation, they exemplified the Yoga which had led to their own exalted state. But they did not, nor could they, make instant transmission of Self-Realization. This, as the name states, is the task of every single individual: to find, harmonise, purify and finally totally integrate the Self, which is then also transcended.
This is also the teaching of the Tarot. That is their innermost meaning. That is the path suggested by the hieroglyphic pictures, from The Fool to the Universe, and back again. The magical powers, the Hindu Siddhis, the supernatural gifts bestowed upon the purified Yogi, they also appear within the Tarot. But they are not the succinct aim and goal. They, as in all correct "religious" systems, are side-products.
They arise from the inner station Man accedes to. If they are invoked, or also evoked, then they do not last. Such "powers of one night" only serve as impulses for a certain well-determined task, for a short moment of alchemic transmutation. Then they are discarded, or rather simply disappear, for at a later moment in time they will not be the specific Siddhi required, a different power will be needed. In all teachings, the magic powers are pure and seen as a divine gift.
They are associated with two great warnings. The first is: "Beware the individual who twists and bends a divine gift to base ends". The outcome will be total loss of all attainment up to this point, the individuals' evolution not only ends but tends to spur a disintegration of the individual as a whole. The second warning is that magical gifts, divine Siddhis, if dwelt upon for too long, prove to turn into a major hindrance, an obstacle on the individuals' path towards enlightenment. Remaining with the Siddhis, even using them in a pure unselfish sense, is a pause along the way. Thus all accomplished Yogis have at all times said: "Discard what you know. Forget the Buddha, otherwise He cannot come !" Nothing new can be learned and integrated, as long as the prime attention rests with the Siddhis. They should be relegated to occasional use, if at all, and actually forgotten. They will arise by themselves, when there is any need. Thus the lives of the Magicians, as bright, "white" and pure as they may be, represent only one aspect, even a rather narrow aspect, of human life. Should an individuals' attention rest within the "magic sphere" of the Siddhis, then he or she is actually taking a break between lives. Inquisitive, inspirational, intuitive life has then ended, it will resume within a further reincarnation.
Some will say that the perfected Quabbalist is both a highly accomplished adept of Magic, and also far advanced towards liberation from the Wheel of Dharma. This may be so or not, but beyond a certain stage only the individual can decide what is actually true or false. The Occultist and Alchemist do not seek Siddhic Powers. They sometimes use them. If this is done spontaneously, within Lila, the spontaneous, intuitive action that is not accumulative of Karma, then this is all right. The same applies to the Quabbalist. In all three cases, the magic powers are clearly seen as being transient, only one aspect of Polarity. The accomplished Magician should see this too, thus advancing beyond limited aspects within and without.
Truly great men should be approached as one approaches a mountain. It is self-evident that they stand beyond any fathomable scope. They are like mountains, and their peaks of attainment may reach into unbounded space, Ain Soph in Hebrew. But they are on earth like everyone else. Otherwise they are called "ascended Masters' , and inspire individuals from an invisible realm. Their own development, and how they relate to temporal conditions, is something to observe with awe. Man should not expect any instant blessing power to emanate individually from such men or women. They have either passed the threshold of Polarity or it is still their aim to do so. Contact with humanity, their fellow men, is their own choice, it should be observed with care, but nothing may be asked or called for. This would be profound disrespect. A glimpse of their fantastic inner and outer life should serve as a sublime inspiration only. Thus the devout Hindus and Buddhists demand only "Darshan", the sight of the holy person. Demanding more would mean to consciously tax the perfected man or woman, and is thus in fact an evil act, unworthy of the aspiring student or even adept. Approaching such persons, and it is clear that only very few are actually approachable, is therefore also fraught with danger. For the single individual will automatically be put to the test, his or her actual purity of intention, of the Soul, will be revealed. But this is a great good, for were there to remain serious lacunae in the persons' individual development, they would certainly be exposed. There is never any need for shame, when this occurs. It is a mighty impulse to set things right, to straighten out any creases in the double-luminous body that the sincere searcher for truth needs be develops "along the way".
In any practical sense, it is preferable to "approach" a high Being of Accomplishment from afar. It is permissible to ask for guidance and protection within the invisible realms. These are much more tangible than the physical approach. A Holy Man can act far more efficiently in the astral and mental spheres, undisturbed by the flux of changing "reality". As the "ear-to-ear" and "hand-to-hand" transmissions have become ever more difficult to maintain, within the population explosion of these last hundred years, the foul atmosphere of the cities, the poisonous vibrations of the moving masses, the incessant bombardment with idiosyncratic impulses bare of any inner sense and meaning, this higher approach has turned out to be almost the only one tangibly possible. It may be good and beneficent to visit and live for a while with the Gurus and the members of the Sangha (the Buddhist monks), it is certainly beneficial to directly work together with an accomplished Quabbalist or Alchemist, but these occasions tend to be rarifying, even though they are visibly spreading. This is a paradox, for never since about 2.000 years ago, with the exception of Central Asia, Tibet and China, have esoteric groupings flourished as they do today. The quantity of oral and written transmissions has reached a peak, even this study is but one of many thousands in circulation today. Many Gurus, Zen Masters, Occultists, and even some Quabbalists, have made their physical appearance. But now it is this quantity that is a hindrance, for it is increasingly difficult to stay long enough with one single teacher to wholly grasp his or her very particular transmission. A looser contact is on the rise, after the confusing multitude of teachings has taxed too many individuals, thus giving rise to esoteric hitch-hiking, moving from one master to another. Even group-travels gave access to thousands of encounters, a whole network of esoteric voyaging. As this is a source of serious money to be earned by the organisers, it will continue to be propagated.
But in the quantity the individual necessarily loses his or her inner one-centredness. In other words, it is the rank or station of the individual that is on the rise, the subtle realm of step or elevation must necessarily be on the decrease.
The innermost path, as also the lofty aims to achieve a merging of the higher Chakras, must needs be relegated to a secondary search, when an equalising of rank and station is the foremost aim. This nonetheless is of "Aquarian" inspiration, where Man no longer thinks and acts exclusively for his or her own good alone. The spreading of a certain spiritual level, niveau, can be seen as a self-less act, beneficent and furthering the abolition of all inhibitions. Thus the collective psyche undergoes a process of purification. In the mass-society of today, this is good. For the individual, he or she must see beyond this also, for Man is not an animal that lives in herds. Groups, functionable groups, must of necessity remain small. Too many individuals within one group with a certain aim in mind, dilutes the quality of the original impulse. 60 is most commonly allowed to be the maximum for a practically working group. The best number is the most limited, yet 13 individuals are also the minimum, less than that applies to "one-to-one", ear-to-ear, hand-to-hand. Whichever way is best for the individual psyche is the choice of each one only, and maybe, by direct appeal through the invisible spheres, any arrangement can be found, here and in the beyond. Fate and intuition are always the best guides. The individual is reminded again that totally accomplished Masters or Adepts are always very few in number only. As single mountains, we see that there are not so many on this planet, that is why they stand out visibly to be seen from way afar.
When such Holy Men appear, it is as a shudder traversing the subtle realms. Anyone with a developed intuition is aware of them. Examples are, in newer times, historically to be checked upon: In China, masters Han-shan (1546-1623) and Xu-yun (Empty Cloud), who lived from 1840 to 1959. In Tibet, master Tsong Khapa ( 1357-1419), and the sublime Yogi Milarepa (Milaraspa), who lived from 1052 to 1135. In India or rather Bengal appeared Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who renewed the teachings of the Krishna Avatar (1486-1534). The Near and Middle East have only two Masters of this importance: Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mahomed. It is from the latter that a whole line of highly accomplished Masters follows, yet not in Arabia.
The Moslem impulse stretched into Central Asia, finally touching upon the Chinese and Mongol empires. In the region of the two rivers, Syr-Darya and Amu-Darya, eastern Turkestan or ancient Transoxania, a blending of the Great Spirit of the Mongol steppes and of Chinese shamanism occurred: it blended with the Taoist and Ch'an, early Zen, "religion", Tibetan Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, and finally with Islam, the new conquering force, based on total submission to Allah. Thus Islam is really the Arab version of Bhakti Yoga (the Yoga of Submission and Devotion), but in Central Asia it took the aspect of Jnana Yoga, the Yoga of Wisdom.
The Great Spirit ruled supreme, though, and was supported by the Chinese "Open Sky", Ch'an. Tibetan Buddhism gave the impulse for highly dynamic mental work, total concentration. The mental preoccupation from Tibet was balanced by the devotional aspects of Islam and the necessary submission to the Great Spirit, who is so great in scope as to have no name. This blending of impulses in Central Asia led to the appearance of men so great as to be called "axis of the world" at their time. They radiated all over Asia, and their impulses were felt even in Europe. The most fore-standing are Abd al-Khaliq Ghudjuwani (died 1220), Ahmed Yesevi (died 1169), Bahauddin Naqschbandi (1318-1389), Ala ad-din Attar (died 1400) and Ubaidallah Ahrar (died ca.1404-1409).
The eternal, immortal man named Khidr, the Green One, stands invisibly behind each one (in the image of the protective Dhyani-Buddhas), and the whole list of known accomplished masters is long. Their main influence continues to this day. For the lost traditions of ancient Egypt (as mentioned in the foreword) had escaped the spiritual disintegration of later Greece and the Roman Empire, were not affected by the Dark Ages that followed in Europe and the Near East, and reconstituted themselves within the merging and blending of spiritual traditions in Central Asia. This is also true of Astrology, the "science of the sky". Here also, the compilation of ancient sources was undertaken far from the violent times in the West. As the occidental symbols of Astrology stem directly from Egypt (see the astrologic calendar of Dendera, dated to at least 2.600 B.C. - though intrinsically related to more than 32.000 BC), what has finally re-emerged is this system of symbols combined with the Hindu adjudications of "Houses" and "Stations", "Moon-nodes", etc. China maintained its own astrologic system, but certain philosophic considerations were added to this within the mingling and merging that took place in Central Asia.
What then reappeared in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean, and then flowed northwards to Western and Central Europe, forms today the very basis of Occidental Thought, Science and Philosophy. Alchemy gave rise to Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Medicine. "Magic" gave rise to Philosophy, as developed since the Renaissance, and later to Psychology and the Social Sciences. The feudal and later kingly courts were influenced to curb their excessive oppression by the chivalrous, "decorative" aspects of Humanism, which is wholly a reflection of the magnanimity, equanimity and compassion furthered in the Arab, Turkoman and Persian fiefs and Kalifates. Finally, the ancient science of Astrology gave rise to Astronomy and Astro-Physics.
India had many Holy Men, mainly Caitanya, but in fact only the eternal, immortal Babadji Avatar, having manifested from about 1800 onwards, has the world-rippling scope of the men mentioned above.
Mahatma Gandhi also gave a world-wide stimulus, yet less so within the long-lasting spiritual realm. Today, some people believe that Bhagavan Sai Baba of southern Andhra Pradesh is a chosen Avatar or Divine Manifestation, and his impulse is certainly felt all over India. If he can claim to be a world-teacher of highest scope is an unknown, some say yes, some no. This was not the case with all individuals mentioned up to now. Europe has had no individuals of such universal influence, or at least their attributions have been kept as closely guarded secrets. For in Europe the advent of highly destructive forces, practically from Napoleon onwards (as also before), forced highly accomplished Adepts of the scope of a Franz Bardon, and earlier individuals like Fulcanelli and the Count of Saint Germain, to visibly retire from the outside world as much as possible, pursued by prison, torture and death.
Yet Europe and Asia, for the first time in known human history, have had world-shattering evil incarnations. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and Mao Tse Tung certainly shuddered the world. The great political leaders of the 20th century are the first of their kind to actually influence all the world. Before, this was restricted to Holy Men only. The exceptions, Tschingis Khan, Tamerlane, Alexander the Great, maybe Darius and Assurbanipal, maybe Caesar and Trajan, were not of the evil intent ascribed to the 20th century monsters. Close study reveals them as at most cruel and extremely ambitious, but they all aimed to restore human cohabitation, albeit after having destroyed the previous order. In America, in the 20th century (as also Franz Bardon in Europe), born 1939 in Long Island, New York, Bubba Da Free John may be an exception. From Alan Watts to the Zen masters of the USA to the bishops and cardinals of the emancipated "free" churches, they all accorded him "Atavar status". We believe that he is or was the divine agent utterly needed to bring about the beneficial turn of events as perceived from about 1960 onwards. Of course, he did not chase the money-lenders from the temples, he did not intervene to bring the high and mighty down, but the whole spread of the "esoteric wave" may well have its true inner origin in this single human being. His devotees certainly claim him as a unique "world-teacher", an Avatar. He teaches the Way of the Heart, the access to divine bliss via the purest vessel of Amrita Nadi, the essence of all Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism. He may, intrinsically, even be associated with the true origin of this study, as it certainly is placed under the blessing powers of divine protective agencies. Yet this is not "automatic writing", today called "channeling", but only a final synthesis of long years of search and research. But an adherence to primal Buddhist principles is here followed, namely to place "action and the fruit of action" under the auspices of the high ethereal realms, thus finally relinquishing all terrestrial achievement and placing it as a simple offering at the feet of the "Divine Masters".
Had the proponents of Theosophy, Madame H.P. Blavatski and Alice Bailey foremost, correctly followed these precepts, admitting to an inspirational blessing-power instead of claiming the Secret Chiefs, the Hidden Masters of Tibet and Mongolia, as the origin of their work, then Theosophy may have maintained its spiritually overwhelming status. Instead, it split into differing groupings. The magically oriented members of the Theosophical Society went on to found the mystery schools of the Golden Dawn, BOTA (the Builders of the Adytum), Aurum Solis, and also the Rosicrucian AMORC. Others formed Anthroposophy, based on the transcendent, yet highly practical ideas of Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Finally, the old Druid Order was also re-established, and the Nordic and Celtic-Hyperborean mystery-schools reappeared. Quabbala made its sudden appearance in published form, in 1900, and rapidly spread. Today, groups like the Servants of the Light propose regular study-courses. Finally, the old pagan schools of mystery re-emerged all over the world, under the most diverse names and guises, but they are all united into what may correctly be called The Secret Commonwealth. Central Asia, the Americas, Australia, Polynesia and of course Africa are the centres for this shamanic rebirth of the Great Spirit.
In the 20th century, within the general return to the pagan roots, also began a systematic search for the long-lost myths and legends. As they were uncovered and flowed from their diverse geographic regions of the world towards Europe and America, various attempts were made to join or concentrate their intrinsic meanings and symbolism. A very popular synthesis of various origins was published by J.R.R. Tolkien, in his trilogy "The Lord of the Rings", "The Hobbit" and "The Silmarillion". Necessarily interested in the symbolic setting, and by the relations exposed within an interweaving of all myth and legend, a synthesis of Tolkien's work is added within this study as Appendix 3: Creation Myth: J.R.R. Tolkien. It is also referred to within Trumps 15 and 16, which deal with the ethereal world of higher dimensions.
The Tarot, reconstructed from the hieroglyphic and symbolic remains of Egypt's "First Time", Zep Tepi, before the flood and global cataclysm, coincides with all above-mentioned aspects. For the Great Spirit, it is the fusion of Ch'an (later Zen) with Shamanism and the traditions of the Americas. For the Central Asian remnants of the Sufis, it is the secret book they took away from Egypt. For the Astrologers, it is fused within the same hieroglyphic transmission that originally stems from a time preceding all known forms of civilisation and culture. For the mystery-schools of Europe and America, it is the very foundation of their knowledge and practice, renamed Quabbala, Alchemy, Occultism and Magic. The more the 78 cards unfold, and many unfathomable cards remain to be opened, the more the Tarot will thrive. It is now of prime importance to secure the purification of its inherent spiritual functions, to see ritual as an inner way towards self-perfection, to re-establish the pure functions of ritual invokation and evokation in accordance with the dynamic changing flux of time, to restore what has been confounded, to uncover what has consciously been secreted away. We can see clearly now that there are no secrets attached to the Tarot. When correctly approached, they will show an accessible spiritual path, reminiscent of the search for the Grail and of the spiritual practices of Yoga. When correctly asked, they will answer. It depends on the height of step, on the purity of inner accomplishment, to put spiritual practice into effect, and also eventually to state the scope and intent of any questions correctly. With patience and faith, sooner or later the intuitive inspiration of the Tarot will manifest.
But: "Confound those, who willingly choose to secret away supposed secrets, only to use them for their own aggrandizement." For this already led to the downfall of Egypt, when the priesthood refused to spread the precepts, knowledge and wisdom freely, "keeping it to keep control". But the secret reveals itself, no Man may touch it.
The basic principles reigning Man and terrestrial Creation, the five elements, the quadripolar nature of both the manifest Universe as also of Man, some aspects of the so-called Astral, Psychic-Astral, Vital-Emotional, Mental and Noëtic Worlds or Spheres have been discussed within the opening chapters. Their further detailed description and possible application are an integral part of the Major Arcana, indeed of all 78 pages of the Book of Wisdom.
To explain some further commonly used terms, mainly stemming from Aryan-Hindu and later Alchemic and Theosophical writings, the following is aimed to throw more light on the inner and outer functions of Man (and most likely also, by analogy, of the planetary bodies).:
The study of the Tarot may be greatly furthered and rendered more simple, when certain basic concepts, usually linked to Philosophy and "metaphysic speculation", are clarified. The following sub-chapter deals with the concepts of Soul, Spirit, Mind, Spirit (Spiritus) and Prana, Pneuma, Shakti, Ether.
Man is essentially a Spiritual Being. The two aspects of Conscience are proof of this. The conscience shared with all living Beings, of perceiving, integrating, acting and reacting, is the all-pervasive life-giving quality of Pneuma, Prana. The conscience peculiar to Man, not shared with other physically manifest Beings, which weighs and reflects upon Man's actions and thoughts, is what since antiquity has been called Spirit (Spiritus) and Anima (Soul). In Man, these two qualities, which together form a quintessence, manifests as the Life-Force, Shakti.
Pneuma and Prana are the life-giving energies that Man integrates, "inhales", absorbs from without. Pneuma would correspond to the two "lower Ethers", the Chymic and Vital; Prana to the Luminous and Reflective Ethers. Together, called Akasha, they manifest as these four-fold qualities of Ether (Akasha), each quality linked to a specific function in Man, be it more physical or more spiritual. Yet their nature is both physical and spiritual, within whichever plane or sphere they are active.
Spirit and Soul are the inner qualities of Man. By integrating the energies "inhaled" and absorbed, Man transforms them according to his/her inner qualities. Thus the Spirit transforms Akasha and its four-fold Ethers, whereby it "exhales" and emanates the "products of Man's inner transformation". It is these qualities that Man "returns" towards the world without. And thus, by his or her emanations, the inherent qualities of each individual extends beyond Man's physical body. The higher the "inner vibrational rate", the stronger the emanations of each individual. The purer the "inner transformationary functions", the more beneficent and sublime the quality of each individuals' emanations.
What is called The Body of Light, the double-luminous essence of Man, the Spiritual Being, is the most inner transformatory agent, which may be defined as "Soul-Mind". Spirit, Soul and Mind, though each reflective of a certain human quality, an aspect of Man's "Being", have largely become fused into one pervasive "meaning". Thus, Soul is sometimes equated with Mind, and Mind with Spirit. In the subsequent study, Soul is used in the sense of "eternal, individual Life", the "divine spark of God", undying, and passing from life to death to life. Spirit and Mind are used to qualify the inner transformatory agents within Man. Thus, Mind - or Spirit - are employed to signify the quality of each Man's Being, of how he or she transmutes the energies of Pneuma and Prana and therefore changes their qualities when they leave the physical body, either through the sense-organs or through more subtle spiritual channels.
In this view, Spirit and Mind are "used" by the Soul to transform the qualities of the Life-Force, Shakti, and made to consciously integrate Pneuma and Prana in order to liberate the physical and psychic-astral limitations, inhibited by an impure transformation process. This "mind prison", in which so many human beings live, is therefore to be cracked by using the energies of Prana and Pneuma as stimuli, which can only function through the integration of the totality of Akasha, Ether. Thus, their four-fold qualities, as a first step to their total integration, are meant to be harmonised, equalised, evaluated, seen to be fluctually changing spiritual agents, whose integration depends wholly upon the inner equilibrium of each individual. Man, as an internally balanced and harmonious Being, reflecting the basic virtues of compassion and benevolence, can but transform the in-coming energies in just such an equilibrated way. And thus his/her emanations towards the without, which must be seen as the Universe at large, must be of beneficent nature. This, it is to be sincerely hoped, should constitute each individuals' inner aim, towards himself and towards life. So integration of Pneuma and Prana simply depends on the inner qualities of each individual, and the Soul may rest "with good conscience" if it has directed its "agents", Spirit and Mind, to apply the most benevolent and harmonious attitudes, for in this way each individual Soul, Man as such, interacts with the Universe, both as Microcosm and as Macrocosm, for these in reality are just the same.
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