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posted 08-26-2005 01:34 PM
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Please forgive the long post, some background info...
http://www.ghosthunter.com/tutorials/deathAndDying.htm Death and Dying
Section 1.
Introduction
The subject of this article is the discussion of death and the processes of dying.
Invaluable information will be given about life and death, from Theosophical sources, and a way will be shown how to verify the given information. This verification is possible because sleep and death are virtually identical processes, a subject about which you can read more in section 7.
The connecting thread throughout this article will be the concept of man as a stream of life-consciousness, using various vehicles ('souls') for manifestation of this stream. For an extensive discussion about this concept I kindly refer the reader to my article 'The psychological key to man', also available at this server site.
Section 2.
Traditional views of death don't encourage us to think about it
In Western culture death is largely a taboo subject. Most of us don't like to think about the fact that one day we will die. Many people hold to the point of view that we live only once, and that after death there is either an eternal 'heaven' or 'hell' or there is 'nothing' at all.
Both these points of view are something of 'an easy solution'. If we have some fixed prospect then there is no need anymore to think about it..
Philosophically spoken, the concept of 'heaven' and 'hell' as static states is a bit childish. Nature herself shows that everything is in a constant change of flux, motion, change. Change is the essence of life. Also, remember the biblical quote: "There are many mansions in my Father's house". Indeed, many spheres and states of consciousness are there in this universe of ours.
Plato provides some interesting food for thought in his 'Phaedo'. Socrates argues in that dialogue that everywhere in nature we can observe the play of opposites: day and night, sleeping and waking, life and death, etc. Regarding the pairs of opposites he notes that everything has the possibility to pass into its opposite state. Every pair of opposites has transitionary forms, e.g. good and bad have as transitions: getting better and getting worse. Night comes forth out of day via twilight, and day comes forth out of night via dawn.
Sleep comes forth out of being awake and being awake out of sleep. With each of these pairs of opposites one can find transitionary states or forms. Moreover, one can understand that these opposites and transitional forms are always a state of something and that the appearance of this something is only a transition from one state to another.
If this applies to all pairs of opposites then the question arises whether life and death are also such a pair of opposites. If so, then it would be logical that there are transitionary states for life and death too. Death is certainly opposite to manifest life, so let's start searching for transitionary states. One gets into life by birth. One gets into the state of death by dying. One can only die because one lives now. Analogous, one can only get into life because one has been dead before.
Conclusion: life and death come forth out of each other and pass into each other via transitional states. A very plausible reasoning indeed! One has only to observe the processes of nature to see endless cycles going on and on.
The key question is what is it exactly that is going through these changing states? Answer: it is CONSCIOUSNESS. Man is consciousness, and specifically gifted with the power of reflection, thinking. The personality (persona = mask) is a temporary vehicle (bundle of energies) builded by the real human monad in order to express itself on the outer planes of life. The higher aspects of thinking can be brought into expression on this outer planes too, thereby providing the means of verifying the truth of reincarnation (see section 7).
Section 3.
Why knowledge of the processes of death is useful
The conclusion of the foregoing section is that any real knowledge of the processes of death, in fact of LIFE ITSELF, is lacking in this world.
Yet, we can find certain clues in some religions as to what happens when we die (see section 6). Since the old Wisdom-Religion was reframed in Theosophy by H.P. Blavatsky, we are given a lot of valuable knowledge about death and the processes involved. Now, having said that this information is available to this world, this doesn't imply blind belief! Rather, Theosophy encourages everybody to investigate the processes of nature and the structure of the universe him/herself. How this can be done is briefly outlined in section 7.
Besides satisfying our curiosity, knowledge of the processes of death is really knowledge about the processes of life itself and about the structure of the universe. Why is this so? Because life and death are, contrary to how we ordinarily see them, two phases of an ever recurring type of cycle in nature: the cycle of manifestation of consciousness on the outer planes of life, preceded and followed by the withdrawal of consciousness from the outer into the inner planes of life.
This cycle can be described in a general form as:
birth, outer life, death, inner life, reincarnation.
Now, if we proceed from the viewpoint of reincarnation, then naturally the question rises what/how/who will we be in our next life. In what circumstances will we be born? These may seem interesting questions - indeed they are to a certain extent - but the most important question is: what will be our character in our next life? Why is this such an important issue? Because our character is a decisive factor, not only regarding which family we will feel attracted to, but also how our entire look upon life will be and how we will live our lives. I tried to explain questions of character and how to refine it by developing one's higher faculties in my previous article.
The point is, that we ourself decide NOW what our character will be in our next life! By necessity, our character in its main aspects cannot differ very much from our character we have build during this lifetime. So we have to work now at ourselves, get some feeling for what we really are, deep inside and bring some spiritual light in our character and express it in our life. No one else will do that for us. You can't buy a wholesome character. The only way to develop it is through selfless service and trying to understand the deep meaning of life and death. One of the 'tricks' is starting to live in the NOW, to just be yourself, dynamically doing what we feel and understand is necessary to do and go on. Don't expect too much fruits of your labor. Your mind will get trapped in expectations (a form of attachment!). If you get a feeling for this, your life will gradually change into a more holistic one. You will feel more connected to the whole, the supreme spirit, including mankind. Your appreciation of nature and her wondrous works might raise considerably.
So, knowledge of the processes of death is really knowledge about the processes of Life and is important for our everyday life.
As your understanding of the inner states of life and consciousness, and how these connect to daily life, expands, verification of the information that is provided here, and in my other articles, becomes possible. See also section 7.
A short clarification:
The circles within the egg-scheme symbolize so-called 'monads': sparks of the universal life-force. These are pure spirit. The stream of consciousness, that flows from the Supreme Spirit at the top of our hierarchy (= most spiritual level in our hierarchy) down to the 'grosser' states of consciousness-matter manifests itself through pairs of souls/ego's. A soul is a 'carrier' of consciousness. An ego is a center of consciousness, a facet of the stream of consciousness, using an appropriate soul (form consisting of minor beings, called lifeatoms - the building blocks of nature). The soul/ego pairs arise out of the interfacing of spirit and matter.
Our personal consciousness is centered in the personal ego. The reincarnating, personal, ego emanated by the personal monad, contains a ray of consciousness emanated from the higher human monad. This is one of the mysteries of the human being: his thinking faculty is dual in character. Man can concentrate his thinking on almost exclusive personal affairs, but on the other hand (s)he can direct his/her attention on high ideals, giving expression to spiritual energies.
The higher human monad has evolved the thinking faculty to an almost perfect degree and the faculty of understanding, the enlightenment principle, to a reasonable degree.
Death occurs as the link between the personal soul/ego and the parent soul/ego, the higher human ego/soul, is broken. The reason for this break is simple: the old 'vehicles' are not longer useful, nay, become an impediment for the parent ego to manifest its qualities. Time to change clothes!
Somewhat rephrased: the 'voltage' has become too high for the lower vehicles to bear. Rememember, the stream of consciousness is a mighty vital, psycho-magnetic stream, the 'voltage' of which must be stepped down all along from the divine planes or states to the grosser states.
One point is exceedingly important to keep in mind when we study scheme's as the above: we should not separate all the planes, states of consciousness, ego's, etc. in any absolute sense. In reality, all these seven states interpenetrate each other, giving rise for example, to the sevenfold division of thinking I discussed at length in my previous article. In other words: the small mirrors the large in some respect. The small contains elements of the whole! So above, so below. The old Hermetic axiom (a master key to understanding !).
Because one IS the seven principles of manifestation (see tables in my previous article), one does not have to look somewhere else for 'enlightenment', etc. One is also what/how one thinks (compare the writings of Marcus Aurelius). Realize your potential and just BE yourself, not forcing yourself into a cramped mental state. Use the faculty, power, of Imagination to form images of Siblinghood, Brotherhood, Sisterhood, cooperation, etc, and these images will concretize into a living reality, touching the minds of those who are spiritual seekers. A persistent effort and discipline is required of course. Remember also: thoughts are living beings!
As to the name 'egg-scheme' I could add that it is derived from the concept (and reality) of the Auric Egg, which was a secret teaching among the Brahmans in India. The Auric Egg is the basis for the commonly known human aura, which last one is only it's grossest form! More info about this mysterious subject can be found in the esoteric instructions of Godfried the Purucker (see lit. #3b).
Section 5.
Death is a gradual process
What happens near the end of our life?
To answer this question we should first of all recognize the fact that we feel a certain attraction to outer life. We want to play our role on the stage of this world. The stream of consciousness manifests itself because there is a certain characteristic within this stream that is attracted to the outer planes of life. If we be honest with ourselves then we can easily be aware of this fact.
In the course of life this attraction gets a bit less strong. We have witnessed many events and see a repetition of the same old patterns over and over again, wherever we look. The attraction to the inner planes or states in the stream of consciousness gets stronger for us. Bit by bit we loose the interest in outer life. We start having periods of absentmindedness. The stream of consciousness flashes up and down, so to speak, between the outer and inner planes or states of consciousness. The 'turning point' has been reached for our personal soul.
This period of the lessening of our attraction to outer life usually takes a couple of months, varying with each individual of course. One more word about the stream of consciousness. This stream is a strong psycho-magnetic vital current that is being transformed by each of the vehicles (souls) it uses to manifest itself. Each vehicle or sheath is similar to a resistance or fuse in an electrical circuit. When the body, the outer vehicle, wears, it will breakdown in the end. The fuse melts.. The stream is interrupted. Compare an ordinary lightbulb. A similar process is going on there (a crude analogy).
This break occurs between the personal human soul and the higher human soul (see egg-scheme). Now that the lower or more outward vehicles are not longer fed by the energy of the stream of lifeconsciousness, these vehicles start disintegrating. The 'overlord' (the higher human soul) doesn't hold the composing cells any longer together..
This leads us to the consideration of afterdeath states.
Section 6.
After-death states according to Theosophy
The following info about the processes of death will be a bit sketchy. A mere outline will be given here. One thing that I don't discuss here is the presence of spiritual guides for the just deceased. Let's just say that I know there are such guides on the subtle planes to help the confused dead, whether it is in times of disaster or not. Of course there are invisible helpers, also helping people where possible while they are still alive on this planet.
I refer the interested reader to the esoteric instructions of dr. Godfried the Purucker (lit. #3a) where (s)he can find more details such as about suicides, fatal accidents, etc.
The last couple of hours before brain-death are spend on the so-called 'panoramic vision', a process that involves the review of the life about to be ended. This review is like an extremely accelerated movie of all the events of life, seen in the light of the CAUSES behind these events.
The personal human ego sees the justice of all that has happened, just because its consciousness is in an extremely altered state and is thus able to understand its past life in the light of karma or the correlation of cause and effect. (But see also my remark about collective karma later on in this section) You could call this panoramic vision a teaching or instruction for the personal human ego.
After physical death of a person there's the following situation:
There is the physical body which is decomposing. The model body, sometimes called: 'etheric' body, is decomposing as well.
The personal soul and animal soul are separated from the physical and model body. They are clothed in a kind of astral body. Together this complex is called: 'kama rupa' (kama=desire, rupa=body or form; hence: body of desire) More discussion about this complex will follow shortly.
The two highest monads that were connected to the personal egoic center of consciousness (through their radiance or rays) follow their own pathways along what is called the circulations of the cosmos: the divine monad withdraws, flashes back to its parent-star from which it is a ray, the spiritual monad starts its travel through the solar system (it is a ray from the sun). The higher human monad is withdrawn in the 'bosom'of the spiritual monad.
Many mysteries are connected with these circulations and it is safe to say that we know very little about it, except what has been stated about it in the writings of Gottfried de Purucker.
(the next couple of paragraphs are more directly involved with the topic of ghosts)
The life energies, the vital streams, disperse into space; they go back to the realms where they belong.
Let's pay some more attention to the kama-rupa complex. It is held together by the force of desires that we collected during our earthly life. The lower human ego/monad is still connected to this complex, working to free itself from the influence of the magnetic earthly desires/energies. The kama-rupa exists also during earth-life, but then it is more fluid, constantly changing since our desires, passions and aspirations, change and evolve during our life-time and consequently the kama-rupa does so too since it consists just of these desires in one's psyche (on the astral plane). The kama-rupa, during life, is the personality pattern, the persona or mask, the lower qualities or merely personal qualities of the human Ego.
Now, where is this kama-rupa to be found? Obviously not in the material world. Theosophy teaches that it remains in a quasi-material world, called: kama-loka (loka=place or state, hence: place of desire). This is a familiar notion in many religions. The Roman Catholics call this place the purgatory, the Greeks called it Hades, the ancient Egyptians called it Amenti (see Egyptian book of the Dead), the Tibetans call this the Bardo (actually a subdivision of the Bardo; see Tibetan book of the Dead and lit. #3a).
[Regarding the Egyptian book of the Dead we could add that it describes esoterically the processes of Initiation, a thing which is related to the processes of death. Death, sleep and initiation are similar processes, varying in degree only.]
We ourselves determine the duration of the kama-rupa state (in which the personal ego is in an unconscious state, thanks heaven!) by the way we live our lives now! If we lead a spiritual life, serving our community, our personal ego-soul will have a short stay in kama-loka varying, say, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks.
If we live otherwise, paying a lot of attention to our personal status, filled with selfish ambitions, paying little attention to the needs of others, then we will have a much longer stay in the kama-loka varying, say, from a couple of years to a much longer period. In some cases (of really vile people) there's a possibility of loss of soul - a mysterious teaching, but important to know - a thing that is clarified by H.P. Blavatsky (see: Blavatsky Collected Writings, Vol. XII, Theos. Publishing House, Wheaton, Il.)
Well, you could say, what does it matter if my soul stays long in the kama-loka or not? One answer to this lies in the dangers for the kama-rupa to be attracted to seances. Theosophy teaches that necromantic practices are unhealthy and dangerous, both to the medium and participants as for the deceased. For the latter especially if the deceased's soul is still in the kama-loka as in cases of accidental death. It may very well be impressed with the unclean vibrations of the medium and of other forces, attracted to the seance.
H.P. Blavatsky and others have repeatedly warned against these practices (see lit. #3a, #7 and #8).
Leave the dead undisturbed! If you have deep love for a deceased what better respect could you pay to him/her than to live according to the highest ideals of that person? By identifying with these ideals and the highest qualities/characteristics of the deceased you will actually incorporate these qualities in your own character!
Speaking about the dying person, esoteric teachings state that one should not disturb this person by being overly emotional. I realise that this may sound harsh towards the relatives, etc. but in truth it is a sound advice. The dying has other concerns; (s)he prepares for the panoramic vision and needs quietness, peace, around him/her.
Coming back to the issue of the kama-rupa: when the human monad of the deceased one has released itself from the lower desires then the SECOND DEATH occurs.
This implies the absorption of the higher aspirations (higher desires), all the noble qualities developed during earth-life, into the higher human ego-soul-monad. This marks the end of the kama-loka state of the personal ego. Better phrased: these spiritual and intellectual qualities, higher aspirations, are precisely what remains of the personal ego and this is the best part, the truly human being, sometimes called the 'spiritual aroma' and that part enters into a new state of consciousness:the devachan (deva=god, chan=world or place; hence: 'world of the gods' or 'heaven-world'), not so much a 'world'but a STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.
It is an excalted dreamy state of spiritual fulfilment of all the ideals the personal ego cherished during lifetime and can also be seen as a kind of reward for undeserved miseries on earth. These miseries are a consequence of collective deeds and thoughts of the human race, so from the point of view of the personality these miseries are not deserved. Yet, being part of humanity, it cannot escape all the stupidities and violence in this world. Of course this includes its own follies as well.
It is not only that. It is also a state of weaving the spiritual elements in the character of the reincarnating ego - a ray of the parent monad: the higher human monad. The personal egoity (a bundle of energies, consciousness) is now dreaming-sleeping 'in the bosom of the higher human monad into which it is drawn up' - a sleep which can endure for many centuries. The higher human monad has its own activities, of course, in its own respective spheres of manifestation. Esoteric teachings state that this monad travels or moves in/trough the 'higher' planes or worlds connected to the earth-system and after that travels through the solar system in the bosom of the spiritual monad, visiting the seven sacred planets.
The kama rupa is now an 'astral corpse'.
In it's next eartly life the personal ego will commence with an improved character. So you see why it is important to know these things. You sow the seeds NOW for your next life. We determine the character of our next life partly by what we do now, by how we live now. How just this all is! How can we be different from what we make of our selves? We can't. Of course, collective karma plays an important role during our life and will do so during our next life. This can be no excuse however for not exercising one's own powers of the mind. Nor should this lead to indifference to the lot of others.
All the ancient peoples of the world believed in the reality of reincarnation and a majority in this world still does. Buddhists, Hindus, Druids, Celts, Britons, Gallics, Platonists, Pythagoreans, many gnostic Christians, are only some of the people that hold to this doctrine. Add the Inca and Maya civilizations, the old Egyptians, the Roman poets Vergil, Lucretius, Horatio, the Stoics, and the list is still not completed! Also the Jewish Sohar, the famous Kabbalistic book, contains references to reincarnation.
The Christian Bible contains some implicit references to this doctrine (see gospel of John(9)). The famous church father Origines was very familiar with this doctrine. Eusebius was one of the church fathers who helped to eliminate the doctrine of reincarnation from the Christian faith (which was more a sort of collection of sects). Needless to say that Nature doesn't go along with this decision..
Reincarnation is the 'lost thread' in our society. Understanding this key to life, together with that of Karma, would change fundamentally the way we live. It would bring some order in this chaotic world.
One question about reincarnation, namely: 'why don't we remember our past lives?' can be shortly answered here. The point is that we get a new brain in our new life. This new brain doesn't hold the memories of the past lives. Well, you could ask, where are these memories kept? Answer: in a certain part of the human constitution called the 'auric egg', and also in the astral light of our earth.
The astral light is the all pervading 'fluid' which was known among many mystics (Boehme, Swedenborg, etc.) and even to some of the scientists in former centuries, and, of course to sensitive people in our era. It is the 'magical agens', correlating all the forces of nature, carrier of our thought currents, elementals of nature and much more. The human will can exert a powerful influence on and through this light (see lit. #8, chapter V). The auric egg is composed of Akasha-Cosmic Aether- 'invisible' Light - a relatively conscious substance!
The more spiritual parts of the auric egg are composed of celestial light which is the building substance of our spirit; the less spiritual parts are composed of astral light, formative substance of our psyche. The auric egg is fundamental life. It also contains the karmic records of all our thoughts and deeds.. This will undoubtedly lead to many more questions and the best I can do is to refer the reader to the books of Blavatsky, Judge and De Purucker (lit. #3a,3b,7,8,9).
Another question about memories from previous lives is whether reincarnation therapy or hypnosis can help us to get these memories back. Esoteric teaching is quite clear to this: no, they won't. As to the 'memories' people experience during reincarnation therapy, these are most probably impressions from the astral light, or, to some extent, impressions from the therapist him/herself unconsciously projected into the aura of the client and unconsciously perceived by the client whilst in a state of regression.
Regarding hypnosis, it is stated in esoteric literature (lit. #7) that it can be dangerous to a person. Hypnosis brings about a temporary separation of the higher principles in our constitution (notably the higher aspects of the thinking faculty) and the lower principles. This is an unhealthy situation. Many people have suffered from participating as a volunteer in hypnotic shows. Needless to say, a very pure motive and wisdom are necessary attributes for the would-be therapist to exercise his/her mesmeric powers on others, in order that no impure thoughts enter the aura of the client!
Why don't we study the structure of the universe and especially man first, before we engage in such activities? The same advice applies to euthanasia. Are we wiser than nature? No! Using pain-killers is o.k., often already shortening the period of dying. But to actively end one's life by lethal injection is quite another thing.
The last ten years or so there has been a rising interest in so-called 'near-death-experiences'. Since I'm dealing with the topic of death and dying it seems pertinent to say a little bit on NDE.
Some people who had a NDE think they have seen deceased relatives. >From what I know from the esoteric philosophy I gather that these people have been experiencing their own images, pictures, of these deceased ones. Unaccustomed to the psychic (astral) world and its inhabitants it is easy to mistake thought-forms for live human beings. The deceased ones, however, do not remain in the kama-lokic sphere, which is after all but the dregs of the earth-sphere. They have long passed into devachan, normally speaking (i.e within a couple of months after physical death), which is more spiritual in nature. Their kama-rupa or astral remains may last for some time, maybe this is seen during NDE sometimes.
To end this section, we can ask ourselves what happens with the kama-rupa, the astral corpse, after the second death has taken place. Little is left of this corpse after second death. The lower desires are slowly dissipated, somewhat analogous to the afterglow of an electric stove when the electricity is switched off.
It disintegrates and the elements composing it return to their own realms; these elements just cycle back to the realms where they belong (earth to earth, water to water, air to air, fire to fire). These elements are not so much the earth, water, etc. we are accustomed to, but rather the root-substances which are used by nature to build the complex matter we call earth, water, air, etc. But that's an entirely other story.
The lower desires are destroyed in their form-aspect. There remain, however, impressions, karmic consequences ,'germs', in or on the astral light. Some of those germs are activated when the reincarnating ego manifests itself again in this world. Parallel with this the energies (working through these lower desires and astral forms) re-enter the auric egg of the personal ego which has entered devachan. See lit. #9 on the subject of skandhas and lit #3a, chapter on kama-loka and the second death.
For more...
http://www.vipassana.com/resources/dharmapala/an11.php http://www.gnostickabbalah.com/Genesis/gen%2003a.html http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/death/de-gdp4.htm http://www.experiencefestival.com/kama-rupa http://blavatskyarchives.com/deathml.htm http://www.lcc.cc/mva/appendix1.PDF http://www.yeatsvision.com/Theosophy.html The Theosophists’ astral plane is experienced largely unconsciously in dream through the Desire Body by ‘a man of average intellectual development’, but is available to conscious experience ‘in the highly evolved man’ (SPM 23).
After death, the persistence of the Desire Body is analogous in many ways to that of the Husk or Passionate Body, since ‘the higher part of man dwells for a while in the desire-body’ entirely naturally and it will briefly continue independently beyond this as an emptied shell. In less evolved natures it may linger far longer as ‘an altogether objectionable entity, often spoken of as a ‘spook’’ (SPM 23), potentially haunting séance rooms and vampirising the energy of the living, and a similar phenomenon attends the persistence of the Husk or Passionate Body (see the After Life).
The Manas, in contrast, ‘is the immortal individual, the real ‘I,’ that clothes itself over and over again in transient personalities, and itself endures for ever’ (SPM 29), in which it has strong affinities with Yeats’s Spirit, the permanent, moving and determining Principle of the individual soul, which he refers to as ‘mind’ (AV B 187). Just as the Theosophists view Manas as having a dual allegiance during life, and often divide it into a lower and higher form, the former cleaving to Kama and the latter remaining a distinct part of the Spiritual Triad, so Yeats’s Spirit cleaves in life to the Passionate Body, and weans itself from the association during the first two stages of the after-life, until it then turns towards the Celestial Body. There is a major difference between the two systems, however: Theosophy treats the linkage between Manas and Kama as a necessary evil, since Manas ‘still requires experience, through its personalities, of the things of earth’ (SPM 37), but this Lower Manas is treated almost as a hostage of Kama and there is a struggle for supremacy between the higher and lower aspects, in which the higher is the only possible preference for the student of Theosophy; Yeats treats the immersion of Spirit within Passionate Body as the natural bias of incarnate life which is then relinquished during the after-life for the natural bias of discarnate life, and although, sub specie aeternitatis, the latter prevails, it is right for the living to devote their energies to the phenomenal world. At least for the antithetical person, to be ‘attracted by the vividness of the material life-impressions, swayed by the rush of the kamic emotions [i.e. from Kama], passions and desires, attracted to all material things, blinded and deafened by the storm-voices among which it is plunged’ (SPM 38) is not to be divorced from the spiritual reality but to be engaged in the proper activity of living. The spiritual asceticism of Theosophy is, for Yeats, a primary bias, which seeks to condemn the desire for worldly achievement and to subdue individuality:
The Seven Planes and the Principles Functioning Thereon
Principles Planes
1 Prana. Etheric Double. Dense Physical Body. Physical
2 Kama/Desire Body Astral
3 Manas/Human Soul Mental
4 Buddhi/Spiritual Soul Spiritual
5 Atman/Self Spiritual
6 X transcendent
7 X transcendent
[element] (cf. YVP 3 370) quarter later names
‘Planes’ ‘in a sense’
1 (Earth) Physical Physical Physical Body = 1st Husk
2 (Water) Passionate Passionate Passionate Body = 2nd Passionate Body
3 (Air) Spirits of Dead Spirits of Dead Spirit Body = 3rd Spirit
4 (Fire) Celestial Body Celestial Body Spiritual Body = 4th Celestial Body
5 Guides etc.
6 Angels
7 Invisible
http://www.yeatsvision.com/After.html Life and the After-life
excerpt
During the first stage, at the Meditation, the ‘Husk and Passionate Body disappear’, but disappearance is subordination not erasure. The Husk survives in the Record, cast off like ‘the husk that is abandoned by the sprouting seed’ (AV B 191), and the Passionate Body is involved to some extent in the following stage, and necessary to it. This stage does, however, normally eliminate the Faculties, since Yeats later refers to ‘the Faculties having gone when the Husk and Passionate Body disappeared’ (AV B 227). Even the submersion of the two Lunar Principles may be incomplete, since they ‘may persist in some simulacrum of themselves’, as also may the two Lunar Faculties ‘the Mask and Will in primary phases’ though the reasons are not clear (AV B 224). When the Husk persists in this strong form, its hunger for perception also persists and it traps the Spirit in a sensuous state and together they become the material for ghosts, ‘a fading distortion of living man, perhaps a dangerous succuba or incubus’. As long as the Passionate Body has not disappeared, the Spirit is locked in ‘long and perhaps painful dreams of the past’ (AV B 224) in the Dreaming Back of the Return; the difference between this persistence and the Dreaming Back (which is an inevitable stage for the Spirit to absorb life’s experience properly) seems to lie in whether or not the Passionate Body is subordinated to the Spirit.
Both these forms of persistence produce ghostly phenomena, a subject of perennial fascination for Yeats, considered more fully in AV A than in AV B. Though many phenomena are products of after-life experience, necessary to the progress of the dead soul, these cases are regarded as undesirable, aberrant products of wrong thinking or a violent death which renders the individual incapable of recognising its true state: the Spirit trapped by its Husk is ‘the true ghost . . . . dangerous to the living and a hindrance to the dead’, sometimes witnessed by the living but not really dependent upon them and with no benefit to either party (AV A 228). Even within the normal course of spiritual progress, outworn Husks persist as discarded shells within the Record, incorporated into the fabric of Anima Mundi (AV A 222), and their memories may be retrieved either by the dead spirits or living mediums (AV A 250-51). In contrast to the abnormal adherence of the Husk, the Passionate Body’s persistence is regarded as an imbalanced variation of the natural process of the Dreaming Back (when the Spirit uses the Passionate Body as a memory through which to explore its life) and which accounts for ‘Most of the spirits at séances’ (AV A 226), those summoned or drawn by ties established during life, or who seek to use the living to achieve their catharsis. The scenario for the ‘ghosts’ of Swift and Vanessa in The Words upon the Window Pane appears to derive in part from this latter condition, since the ‘Swift’ ghost relives passion, guilt and memory, appears tied to the place, caught in the image of his body in old age, and the guide spirit comments that the ‘Bad old man does not know he is dead’ (VPl 951).
The Return also accounts for more spontaneous phenomena, ‘many hauntings, many inexplicable sights and sounds’ which actually form part of the healthy spiritual economy of interchange between dead and living, since they are provocations to the living to cause inquiries that help ‘the dreamer to perfect its knowledge’ in the Return (AV A 227-28). The object of the Return is the exploration and understanding of the life to its sources, in three connected processes: firstly, the sequential Return itself, which traces cause and consequence through time, and therefore with some objectivity; secondly, the Dreaming Back, which explores the ‘events that had most moved it’, and therefore entirely subjectively; and thirdly, the Phantasmagoria, which seeks to complete the implications of the life, extending them as far as they will go in themselves, without new material. This description of the process in A Vision B is undoubtedly more considered than that in A Vision A, where the Return is seen as comprising two conditions, ‘a Waking State and a Sleeping State which alternate’ (AV A 224), which are given subsidiary names of ‘phantasmagoria’ and ‘Dreaming Back’ respectively, but the nomenclature points to the Upanishadic parallels and emphasises how relatively close the consciousness of the dead is to that of the living.
The dead are reliant on their own memories and the living to achieve the goal of the Return as a whole. They can only achieve a certain proportion of their task through their own Principles, in conjunction with their Daimon and the intervention of Teaching Spirits, however, since there can be no new elements; if the ‘knot’ or equation requires a further element for its resolution, it must be sought through the living. The interrelation of the living and dead is fundamental to Yeats’s thinking, since the dead join the incarnate Daimon in the unconscious mind of the living, but whereas human and Daimon form a permanent symbiotic nexus, the dead are visitors, who come for a specific purpose and can range from mind to mind. During the Return, the living minds that the dead seek out are those which it has affected during life and primarily motivated by the search for data; Yeats considers the plight of a solitary ‘Robinson Crusoe’ without ‘even a Man Friday for witness’, who would be able ‘get the necessary information from his own Husk’ but, deprived of the minds of living associates, ‘his Dreaming Back would be imperfect’ (AV B 228n). Later on, in the fifth stage of the Purification, the links established between the spirits and the living are impersonal and determined by ‘some affinity of aim, or the command of the Thirteenth Cone’ (AV B 234) so that the inspiration offered is more abstract. The dead and the spirits also continue to be attached to their own Daimon during the after-life, and with a variety of other spirits in the non-physical world, ranging from those who are in the non-human lifetimes of the New Moon and Full Moon, the Teaching Spirits and other Spirits of the Thirteenth Cone, the unseen world is crowded with a complex economy of interaction. The living are compassed about not only with a great cloud of witnesses, but also of confederates, abettors and instigators, to run the race that is set before them. It is a fine distinction between inspiring action and originating it, but the inspiration of the dead can certainly lead to actions which would not otherwise have taken place; since the incarnate Daimon controls the access of the dead, it seems that such intervention cannot be harmful to the living person (though the Daimon can certainly bring danger), being at worst innocuous and at best inspiring great art or action.
Once the second stage of the Return is completed, the dead no longer require the aid of living minds, since ‘the events of the past life are a whole and can be dismissed’, the Lunar Principles are entirely purged and their essence is distilled within the Spirit’s intellect. Having drawn on its own memories and the minds of its living associates, however, the life is only whole within the value-system of ‘the code accepted during life’ (AV B 231), so that this must then be set in the wider context, particularly one devoid of good and evil, in the third stage of the Shiftings. However, this stage is analysed in an elusive way that is unsatisfying to the reader.
The first two stages (Meditation and Return) are dealt with in some detail, though the exposition is not always clearly set out and inevitably the subject matter leads to a certain nebulousness of expression. The following two states (Shiftings and Beatitude) are dealt with in a single section in AV B which are extremely compressed. The general tendencies are relatively clear, the shift of the Spirit’s association from the Passionate Body to the Celestial Body and increasing attachment to the latter, but the writing is allusive, often failing to clarify its references, and crabbed in its explanation of the processes envisioned. Yeats was clearly uncertain about the details, and these stages are those furthest removed from incarnate life, since the dead have no contact with the living and, centred on the Solar Spirit and Celestial Body alone, are in some ways the most abstract states.
It is evident that Yeats was more concerned with accuracy than fluency, since he had written more fully in AV A, and it is as if these states had previously been marked on the map with the features of travellers’ tales and logical but unconfirmed suppositions but are now marked as largely Terra Incognita.
In the Shiftings the Spirit is alone with the Celestial Body, which manifests directly, and the Husk and Passionate Body, roughly sensation and emotion, have now been shed, so that ‘there is no suffering’ in this exploration of amoral reality (AV B 232). In AV A it is clear that the dead spirit is seen as entering into a Daimonic existence, ‘for all now is intellect and he is all Daimon’ and ‘he thinks not as man thinks but as Daimon thinks’ (AV A 231), and Yeats also writes of the dead spirit communicating with the living through intermediaries. In AV B he appears to have rejected this thinking and confines himself to a truly cryptic sequence of phrases and references, so that the reader feels rebuffed and is probably more than ready to accept the inaccurate clarity of AV A in place of the rebarbative brevity of AV B :
The Spirit lives—I quote the automatic script—‘The best possible life in the worst possible surroundings’ or the contrary of this; yet there is no suffering: ‘For in a state of equilibrium there is neither emotion nor sensation’. In the limits of the good and evil of the previous life . . . [sic] the soul is brought to a contemplation of good and evil; ‘neither its utmost good nor its utmost evil can force sensation or emotion’. I remember MacKenna’s translation of the most beautiful of the Enneads, ‘The Impassivity of the Dis-Embodied’. This state is described as a true life, as distinguished from the preceding states; the soul is free in the sense that it is subject to necessary truth alone, the Celestial Body is described as present in person instead of through ‘Messengers’. (AV B 231-32)
A
few points are relatively clear, such as the absence of suffering, which is expanded by the idea of the dead spirit’s having reached a state of equilibrium, and it also follows that if sensation and emotion are dependent upon Husk and Passionate Body no extreme of good or evil can excite these in a being where they are absent. Good and evil must be transvalued, since they are largely dependent upon the Tinctures rather than absolute categories: the ‘antithetical tincture is noble, and, judged by the standards of the primary, evil, whereas the primary is good and banal’ (AV B 155), so that in reversing the polarities, the process is also completing the Tinctures with their opposite, and changing the motivation of or perspective upon action. Furthermore, the soul’s freedom appears to allude to the union of Spirit and Celestial Body, since the Celestial Body can be described as ‘necessary truth’, which may therefore be the definition of ‘a true life’.
[ 08-26-2005, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: unknown ]
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Posts: 1756 | From: Pontiac, MI. Oakland | Registered: Mar 2005