World of the Soul
Author's Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for Truth
Chapter 2: The Soul
Chapter 3: Life and Form
Chapter 4: The Constitution of a Human Being
Chapter 5: Awakening to the Soul
Chapter 6: Masters of the Wisdom
Chapter 7: Spiritual Hierarchy
Chapter 8: Hierarchies of Life
Chapter 9: History of the Soul
Chapter 10: The Path of Initiation
Chapter 11: First Initiation
Chapter 12: Second Initiation
Chapter 13: Third Initiation
Chapter 14: The Continuity of Revelation
Chapter Two
The Soul
There is a subjective, hidden aspect within ourselves, a consciousness that is the heart of our very being. There is an indefinable essence, self-awareness, and capacity to observe that is above and behind our physical form. For lack of better terms, we call this our soul, our inner consciousness aspect. This is our higher self, as opposed to our lower self that is identified with the body, the emotions, and the concrete mind.
The soul is the inner director of our lives, hidden behind all outer form, emotions, and thought. It is our consciousness, as opposed to the form. It is the subjective observer, perceiver, and actor. The soul is the inner thinker, knower, and seer of all things.
Let us examine how the soul manifests in ourselves, in humanity, and in the universe. We will see how the soul is the guiding Light and Love behind all our daily affairs. We will examine how the soul influences the development of humanity. We will see how the soul of each human being is a part of the world of the soul. We will see how each soul is united with all souls everywhere.
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The soul, it would seem, is an immaterial, invisible aspect of our human nature. It is not visible to the physical senses or detectable with current scientific instruments. We cannot point somewhere and say, "There is the soul!" We can, however, identify the soul in our own life when we consider our own identity and ask ourselves who we really are.
Are we our bodies? Many people think so. Yet we do not have the same body that we had when we were a baby. Nevertheless, as a baby we were the same being that we are today. How could the body of the baby and the body we have today be the same being, the same self? Surely, if the body has changed, yet we are the same being, then we cannot be only that body. There must be some aspect, beyond the physical body, where our permanent identity resides. There must be a self or soul that is beyond the physical form nature.
Are we our feelings and desires? Most people live a life that is filled with desires, hopes, dreams, wants, and feelings. Yet the desires we had as a child are not the desires that we have today. What we desired yesterday is not what we want today. So if we are our desires, how can there be a self that remains constant throughout our life? Surely, then, we are something beyond and higher than our desires, for we say, "I want to have that" and "I feel happy" implying, in each case, that there is a transcendent "I" that wants and feels, but is not itself our wanting and feeling. Thus the soul is beyond all desires and feelings.
Are we our thoughts and ideas? There are many people who live in a realm of thought, yet in truth we are not that thought itself. Again, we do not have the thoughts that we had as a baby, and our thoughts of today are obliterated by the thoughts that arise tomorrow. The thoughts we have now are much different than the thoughts we had even an hour ago. How, then, could we continue to recognize ourself as being the same person as we were before if we were only our thoughts? Indeed, when we say, "I have an idea" we recognize that there is a transcendent Thinker, an "I" that has that idea, and yet is not that idea. Thus the soul, the inner thinker and knower, is beyond all thoughts and ideas.
The soul, then, is something beyond the body, beyond feelings, and beyond thought. It is, in other words, consciousness rather than form, awareness rather than substance, and being rather than expression. The soul is the living self-awareness that resides in every human being. The soul is that which allows us to know that we exist. The soul is the One that constantly observes all thought, all emotion, and all forms throughout our entire life.
The soul is Light, an inner light that can illuminate our lives so that we can see clearly. In that light we can see the whole trend of our personality nature — our thoughts, emotions, and actions are all revealed to the inner Seer. In the radiance of that inner light our personality problems and issues dissolve and are dissipated, just as the sun dispels the mists of the morning. We can learn to see others in the light of the soul and thus help and aid them more readily. We can turn the light of the soul toward all human problems — the problems of the individual, the family, the city, state, nation, and even the entire world — and see that inner light dissipates the illusions, the misunderstandings, the hatreds, and the separateness of all people. For the soul reveals all things as they truly are. No lie can persist in the light of the soul; no deception can mislead it — the soul is the truth about all things. Few have the courage to face the truth of their own actions, desires, and thoughts, yet this is the heritage of the soul life.
The soul, our true self, is that onlooker that makes and shapes our destiny. We may feel that we are guided — it is our soul who guides. We may feel that events "just worked out" — it is our soul that makes them work out. We may imagine that we have a purpose, a calling, a destiny, a goal in life — it is our soul that inspires us to that purpose and goal. We may see that we have particular creative talents, perhaps in writing, art, music, dealing with people, making things, leading organizations, or running businesses — it is our soul that is that talent, and our creativity is the means by which the soul expresses itself in our lives.
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If we admit that the soul exists within ourselves and that it is our true, essential nature, then we must likewise admit the existence of the soul in every other human being. If we as individuals are directed by what we, as souls, think and feel, then all humanity is likewise directed by the soul. If we can see that the soul is a powerful force in our own individual lives, we can see that the power of the soul is even stronger in the life of all humanity.
The soul is working its subtle influence on all people everywhere to make this a better world. There is a saying that "human nature never changes," but the growth of humanity over the last few thousand years — even the last few hundred — proves the saying untrue. Humanity as a whole is evolving, growing, and changing.
Looked at narrowly, this progress is hard to discern. Over one single lifetime it is difficult indeed to imagine that human nature is improving, but looked at over thousands of years the difference is clear. For example, even over the last 200 years we can see progress made in abolishing slavery, reducing religious prejudice, and ending racial discrimination. The influence of the soul in humanity can be seen in the growth of women's rights in both the home and in society. Humanity has also learned that it is necessary to care for and love the planet as a whole, as demonstrated by the environmental movement and the protection of animals and rare species. Many things that were tolerated and approved of hundreds of years ago are no longer tolerated today. This is not to say that things are all perfect — there is a long way to go in every area. But the change in human consciousness, in human awareness, is there. The soul is making its impact upon humanity.
Again, in the arts and sciences we can see an outpouring of creativity and new ideas over the last few hundred years that have never been equalled in history. That this creativity has been misused is sadly true; that it has been prostituted for political and economic ends is unfortunately the case. Nevertheless, the increasing creativity of humanity is the guarantee that the soul is coming more and more into expression, and that a new era of beauty, joy, and freedom is inevitably on its way.
Humanity, then, is evolving toward soul consciousness, toward greater soul expression, and toward the manifestation of the world of the soul. This spiritual evolutionary process has been going on for ages and will continue to do so, for nothing is static in this universe; everything is changing and growing.
The human state of consciousness is not the peak or the end of the evolutionary effort. In all the millions of years of human evolution it is hard to imagine that there will not be additional millions of years of further progress. If so, then we are only at an interim point, an intermediary state in the development of humanity. We are in a transition period between a humanity that is dominated by the desires of the personality and one that is dominated by the purpose of the soul. We are in a twilight age in which the material world of the little self is waning and the spiritual world of the soul is waxing. We are living in a dark age of materialism, and the pendulum must eventually swing from the one extreme of worship of matter, money, and mammon to a worship of spirit, energy, and soul life.
The conflict during this transition period, both inner and outer, has been great, and the end is not yet in sight. Many people are still living lives that are dominated by the separative and selfish personality. On the other hand, millions of others are now awakening to the existence of their own soul, and even more importantly, the existence of a world of souls, with its own laws and principles.
The strengthening of the soul life in millions of human beings is changing human life everywhere. This is the subjective cause of the speeding up of all events and daily living — the soul is making its impact, and the result is a stimulation of all aspects of life. This is the fundamental cause of the explosion of scientific knowledge in the world. This is the reason for the inflow of new music, art, and philosophy over the last few hundred years. One day we may expect that the soul will radiate its Light and Love through every human heart. Then the long-prophesied golden age will have dawned.
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We have seen that we are in truth the soul, which guides us and directs our lives — which is, in fact, our true self. We have seen that the soul works its subtle influence for good through all people, races, cultures, nations, and indeed all humanity down the ages. We can now look and see a still wider picture of soul influence, for consciousness — the essential nature of the soul — is not a quality that is restricted to human beings. It is the heritage of every living form in all the kingdoms of nature.
Each kingdom of nature emerges out of the lower one — so science tells us. The plant kingdom arose out of the mineral, the animal kingdom evolved out of the plant, and humanity evolved out of its original, animal consciousness. This evolutionary progress, however, is not simply the changing of the material form into another more complicated and advanced form. Evolution is in fact the result or effect of the Spiritual Will of the soul. All of nature is a driving forward to greater soul life. All forms are manifestations of the soul, and are the means by which the soul expresses itself. The soul experiments in a variety of different forms, attains experience of one kind or another, and thus achieves greater soul expression.
In the first, or mineral kingdom, the soul expresses most strongly through the refined form of matter, through gems and fine metals. In the second, the plant kingdom, the soul manifests especially in the flowering plants and great trees of the world. In the third, or animal kingdom, the soul manifests most strongly in the domesticated animals and their love for humanity. In the fourth, or human kingdom, the soul manifests through human creativity, through service to others, and through the transformation of the human being into a true exponent of intelligence, spiritual light, and compassionate love.
If evolution is indeed progressing, we can therefore expect the emergence of a fifth kingdom in nature. This kingdom will evolve out of the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of humanity, just as humanity, in its turn, evolved out of a more primitive form. This fifth kingdom that is emerging is the kingdom of the soul. Soul consciousness is emerging out of the purely human consciousness. The quality of soul will no longer be hidden by the form and trapped by personality limitations, but will reach its full expression. This soul consciousness will eventually transform humanity, bringing new creativity, new ways of living, and new opportunities for spiritual expression.
It must be emphasized that the soul is not something that is added on to a human being. The soul is not an appendage like an arm or a leg, nor some artificial construction of the human mind. The soul is just as much a part of nature as the oceans and the mountains, just as much at home among the trees and the rivers as it is in each human heart. The world of the soul is simply the fifth kingdom in nature, and is a normal part of nature and our planet. There is nothing supernatural about it.
Every human soul is a part of the kingdom of souls. This is the case just as every human being is a part of humanity, every animal is a part of the animal kingdom, and every plant a part of the vegetable kingdom. No one is left out. Insofar as we unfold our true nature — our soul — we are expressing the qualities of the kingdom of souls. Insofar as humanity expresses the quality of the soul, it is giving birth to a new consciousness, a new kingdom of nature.
The kingdom of the soul is in essence a unity, a vast spectrum of awareness from the lowest to the highest. Each human soul is part of this vast spectrum of awareness, and therefore all souls are one with all other souls, and all humans are one with all the kingdoms of nature on the planet. All forms express this fundamental inner unity.
The Kingdom of Souls has existed for thousands of years throughout the entire existence of humanity. It is an ancient kingdom of nature, but it has remained unrecognized due to the small numbers of those who truly represent its nature. Of the billions of human beings who have lived and who are living today, only a few thousand, perhaps, have awakened within themselves the full powers of the soul. These few then taught humanity in their own words what they had experienced — the words always varying due to the culture, mentality, and energies present at the time. We might perhaps consider some of the outstanding examples of this kingdom of souls to be Socrates, Buddha, Christ, Einstein, and Krishna. Many, many more could be mentioned. Nevertheless, all of us must find our own way to the soul, must travel our own path, and find our own truth.
The whole process of evolution may in essence be called the evolution of the soul, the growth of consciousness, and the revelation of the indwelling spirit. This evolution proceeds in many inner realms, and upward from the human to spiritual realms and kingdoms. The lower kingdoms of nature only dimly express the consciousness or soul aspect. In the human being, through trials and great effort, that consciousness aspect flowers forth as the spiritual soul. When that soul becomes dominant over the lower personal nature, when spirit and body are united in a human being, then a still higher point of evolution is achieved, and we say that a great teacher, a guru, a Master, or an Arhat has appeared. Still further the process of evolution unfolds, still onward the growth of consciousness continues, until we can say that a great being such as the Christ or the Buddha has appeared. The consciousness of such a Being has broadened and expanded beyond the bounds of any human life to include the whole planet, and yet includes that individual human life. Even in these Beings, the process of evolution — which is in truth spiritual evolution — has not ended, and indeed it has no end. The potential of life for expression in form is infinite.
Therefore, only a few people down the ages — those who we might refer to as mystics, sages, prophets, or spiritual scientists — have dared to explore with their own inner eyes the kingdom of souls. They have used their spiritual perception to explore that inner world and have brought back to us messages of encouragement, hope, love, and illumination. Like brave explorers encountering a new continent, they have travelled on an inner journey. Their consciousness has then sailed back to earth to report to us of a new realm of living — a new way of life, culture, and civilization that few would dare to believe exist.
There are endless religions, sciences, and philosophies that attempt to describe the nature of the soul and the world of the soul, but while each presents a part of the truth, no teaching can present the whole truth about the soul, for the true nature of the soul is beyond all mental concepts. It is beyond anything that the human mind can directly grasp. All that we can say is that here and there are great teachings that are representative of the wisdom of the soul, and great individuals who have shown humanity the way to soul consciousness.
We therefore choose to study the subjective and hidden aspects of the universe and of the human being. We have decided to penetrate into this inner world and see for ourselves what it is like. We can follow in the footsteps of those seekers and teachers who have gone before us, and make our own penetration into the realms of consciousness and being. The unfoldment of the consciousness of our soul is only the beginning of a universal quest for truth, light, love, and joy.
Thus the purpose of life is the unfoldment of our own soul, the expression of our inner nature, and the revelation of our true being.
We are learning, therefore, to build inwardly, and not outwardly. This building that is erected within is the "Temple of the Lord," the "Kingdom of God," or the realm of Being. We learn to create inwardly, using the material of our own nature — our own thoughts, feelings, and actions. This building process is often symbolized by the spider that weaves its web out of the substance of its own body. In a similar way, we build a thread from our own individual consciousness upward to the soul. We build a bridge of golden light that connects ourselves to our higher self, our spiritual soul, and in turn, the world of the soul. We create an image of the world of the soul out of our own consciousness, and when that image synchronizes with the inner reality, we become one with it.
We seek, then, to penetrate into the subjective realm of the soul, and work directly with the energies and forces that are found there. We will study the nature of the human being and its connection to the cosmos. That is, the human being is studied as the reflection and image of the macrocosmic universe, and the macrocosmic universe is studied as the cause and essence of the microcosmic human being. This places the emphasis upon the relationship between the human being and the vast whole of which we are a part. The human being and the cosmos are in fact seen as one unit, where humanity exists as one link in a great chain of kingdoms and evolutionary lives. We will study the laws and principles of the cosmos, and their relationship to the human being.
We will learn to think about ourselves and the universe in a new way. Most people think of the world and of themselves in terms of appearances. They focus upon the form and the outer effect. They look at babies being born, wars waged between nations, the course of the planets around the sun, and the eventual disintegration of their bodies, and perceive only the activity of the form. They see nothing beyond the material world, and do not, therefore, perceive causes. We shall, on the other hand, learn to think in terms of energy and force. We will try to perceive the inner cause rather than just the outer effect. We will try to see into the essence of things and the meaning of world events. We will see, therefore, that a baby being born is not a beginning, but an end result of the process of manifestation of an inner soul or spirit. We will see wars among nations as the working out of planetary causes and world karma — as human emotional glamor and mental illusion working out on a worldwide scale. We will see the planets revolving around the sun as a manifestation of a subjective, universal Life that pervades all things. We will see the disintegration of our bodies and our physical death as only the beginning of a journey into subjective and higher realms of being. We will constantly look beyond the form, beyond appearances, and try to discern the meaning and significance of things. We will thus seek a wider perspective and a more balanced view of life in which there is less to bedazzle the mind or sweep away the emotions into wrong action or poor decisions. We can then see more clearly and act more wisely in our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual natures.
We will see all that exists as energy in action, and learn to identify, control, and direct these energies in accordance with the purpose of our soul. We will seek to develop the powers and capacities of our soul, so that the soul may take control of our instrument, the personality, and align and integrate all aspects of our personality into our true soul nature. Still later, we will seek to identify the energies of spirit — the innermost aspect of the human being, the Monad, the One — and bring all three aspects — personality or the form aspect, the soul or consciousness aspect, and the Monad or the spirit aspect — into a single functioning whole.
We will then be practical mystics, or rather, people who scientifically experiment with life and existence in order to consciously and deliberately achieve the mystical state. Once this has been achieved, we can enter the world of the soul at will. Then we can fully express the Light, Love, and Power that is our heritage and more effectively work for the betterment of humanity and the planet.
Previous — End of Chapter Two — Next
Author's Introduction
Chapter 1: The Search for Truth
Chapter 2: The Soul
Chapter 3: Life and Form
Chapter 4: The Constitution of a Human Being
Chapter 5: Awakening to the Soul
Chapter 6: Masters of the Wisdom
Chapter 7: Spiritual Hierarchy
Chapter 8: Hierarchies of Life
Chapter 9: History of the Soul
Chapter 10: The Path of Initiation
Chapter 11: First Initiation
Chapter 12: Second Initiation
Chapter 13: Third Initiation
Chapter 14: The Continuity of Revelation