OUTLINE METAPHYSICS II
(draft by GB on class as given by MBM)
Comparison of metaphysics with physics. Wide field originally included in physics. Narrowed later to substances and energies of the physical world.
Wrong use of the word metaphysics. Our course on the metaphysics of man. Teachings in Wisdom lore re bodies of man in addition to the physical. Names for the material world. The self and the environment on different planes. (Chart illustrating physical, vital, psychic) The etheric (lavender) only a small part of the whole. Touched via mediumship. Danger of considering it the whole.
The five points in regard to metaphysics which should always be borne in mind: (1) Substance — variety, qualities; (2) Energies — many types; (3) Functions — the specific responsibility of groups or parts of being, – differentiation; (4) transformation: analogies with physical processes, e.g. air taken into lungs. In the objective world, movement of earth in relation to sun and the alternation of the seasons. Necessary to all forms of life which have not reached the state of perfection. (5) the larger objective, or the role of that which we are examining in relation to tho whole.
The progressive pattern of the kingdoms: (1) Mineral — solid, fixed, least equipped to evolve. (2) Vegetable — capable of moving in one direction, up and down; fixed yet free; capable of making changes on the raw material that is given it; cannot travel, the sending out aeed. (3) Animal — more complex, capable of more organic changes; more evolved, more differentiated. Ranges within the three kingdoms. All within the physical world, and to be seen in relation to the five points. (4) Human — addition of mind, and the areas of functioning and greater freedom it makes possible.
Vegetable kingdom has organic life, which makes the particles into a unit; an etheric existence, which belongs to our study of subtle bodies. Early or simple forms of it. Drawing on this power in phenomena. Etheric body further developed in animal kingdom, but still gross. Affected by a new quality which the animal world adds to the vegetable – violence, for animal must be aggressive; must reach out. Its type of conduct affects the etheric. Humblest forms of psychic life, and of psychic body. Different qualities in animals; e.g. rabbit vs. crocodile.
With human rung another type of body, mental, in rudimentary state. In turn affects psychic; psychic affects etheric, and that in turn the physical. Octaves of life interrelated, as links in a chain. Principle used in New Thought.
Great variety of phenomena which support the thesis of the actuality of a world of metaphysics. Metaphysics study the logical background of all religions. ChristianScience takes in only a small part. Church talks of other worlds, but if there is a world beyond, it can be clarified by the five points first listed. Can’t have a world without them. They are not mentioned in the field of religion except in a most general way.
List of some of the phenomena: telepathy, prevision, hunches; mysticism and mystical experience; principles on which religions are founded; prophecy; magic; occultism; incubation, voodoo; blessing; curses; visions; illumination; mediumship; theses on which alchemy, astrology are built; effect of the moon on tides; healings; answer to prayer; dowsing; processes of initiation; development of soul consciousness; Yoga and other systems; dreams of a trained dreamer; recollections of previous life; medicine man; dancing dervishes.
Metaphysical world implies entitles inhabiting it. Facilities by which that world is perceived and which can affect that world, especially in the metaphysics of man. Metaphysical aspects of man’s higher being; his higher equipment. What does Wisdom-lore teach about it? Illustration of the cups to show relation of the subtle bodies.
METAPHYSICS II
Lecture 3
MBM January 2, 1942
Need to be conversant with many traditions. Subtle bodies in the Hebrew and Greek traditions; comparison of names. References to the bodies by Plato in the Phaedrus; two steeds the two natures; the earth and water in you have no mind; mind alone orderly. The order in nature not intrinsic, but in great Mind that has ordered nature. Charioteer, the highest intelligence, which is to bring these two into balanced harmony. Each has a form, “horse” in Plato. Philosophers always knew there must be a form or substance of the evolving life. The world illogical in believing substance only physical, altho we begin to talk of other stages of being. Form and substance always go together. Rational soul body. Irrational soul body.
Gnostic tradition. Three-fold division. Choic or hylic is the vegetative; (2) psychic; (3) pneumatic (nouma, nous).
Hermetic tradition relation to Egypt. Time, just before the Ptolemies. Five-fold division: physical, spiritous, soul body, reason body (lower mind) and higher mind (nous). List of names for spiritous body, or counterpart of the physical (the best known of the bodies) other than physical. Quotation from the Hermetic: “Mind is vehicled in reason, reason in soul, etc. Illustration of the cups. Exchange between substance and energy — energy to this plane is form to next. Halting place of the physicist. Physical matter which they study disappears into energy, and they cannot follow it to where it becomes the substance, ether, of the next plane. This energy assembled makes the simulacrum. Need of understanding the interchangeability of the planes. Just coming to see that there are different types of electricity, as in the physical world different types of energy. Quote from Pistis Sophia: When a child is born. …. eateth of the delights of the world of the Rulers (lower planes). Pleasures that come with experience. Each of the bodies profits by that which belongs to it in experience. Ordinarily the lower bodies get the greatest amount of food. Higher ones also need food. See “Prayer of Jesus.”
Quote from Plato’s Phaedrus: “There was a time when they, men, behold beauty in all its brilliance…. ” From this tradition has come the Augoeides body. (Hebrew Shekinah) References in many philosophical writings, – Plato, Porphyry, Plutarch. Modern, – Zanoni by Bulwer-Lytton. Marcus Aurelius refers to the behavior of this body, – “Does not extend itself, etc.” (quote.) We are conditioned by the bodies and motions of the physical world, hence difficult to conceive. Practice concentration.
Wet and dry terms used in the Greek and Hermetic tradition. Alchemical terms. Soul filled out with moisture, heavy. Descending soul becomes more solid, thick; to ascend you become dry. Earth, water vs. fire, air.
Quote from Porphyry: “When the soul is in a pure condition, it has cognate with it a body that is nighest to the immaterial state, the aetherial, etc (not etherial). Three octaves above that “On the way down …the moist exhalations the desires to experience . . . the higher is obscured.” Greek philosophers saturate with idea of the subtle bodies. Are on the borderline between the secret tradition and the multitude.
Certain conclusions we may come to regarding the subtle bodies: may be separated one from the other (Homer speaks of Hercules being in two places at one time. Beware of hasty conclusions in the study of metaphysics.
Where now is your higher life? Ponder on that. In order for anything to function to your consciousness you, in your consciousness, have to be rapport with that particular plane. Your higher life in abeyance while you are here, in rapport with the lower planes. As with Hercules. What is happening those many nights when you do not remember what you have been doing at night. To keep you from a literal idea of the cups. The bodies separable from one another, particularly after development. If you have become to any degree a conscious dreamer, that is in itself an evidence.
Second concept: That these bodies each are capable of change and growth. A process.
Third: That the change and growth is dependent upon the character of that particular plane. What is good for one body is not necessarily good for the other. That is why the problem of the Sphinx still awaits solution. That which feeds this body may not be at all that which feeds the next. Build that on up.
METAPHYSICS II
Lecture 4
MBM January 8, 1942
The problem of duality and the friction it has caused, especially in the Christian Church, because their doctrine of life is a One. Church dogma lacks a metaphysic. Docetai an illustration of the difficulty. Their teaching re the two bodies of Jesus and the Crucifixion; second body given at time of baptism. Implication of this teaching on Christian dogma. Why it became a heresy. The problem can be solved only through a consistent Wisdom-lore, implying many stages and many bodies.
References to subtle bodies in stories of the childhood of Jesus (in Pistis Sophia — gnostic) these references being mostly outside the orthodox tradition. Reference in Genesis to Adam and Eve being naked when cast out of the Eden state (not yet having the physical body.) Later reference to “wedding garment”. Five-fold division of bodies in the Vedanta. Names. Undulating pentad. Vibrating pentad — division between the irrational life (desire, psyche, earth-water) and the rational (fire-air). Culmination in the Anandamaya-kosha (body of bliss.) Three bodies belonging to the state of Buddha, so progressions there too. Lowest state the body of those who, having received enlightenment, come back to serve. Names of these vestures.
Chart showing different stages of growth, relative to body: psyche, mind, spirit. Problem of whether the body corresponds to a stage is there or not. Paradox not solved by rational means. These bodies, as they progress in development, are bodies we take on and off (reference in early part of Bhagavad-Gita). Bodies progressively grown. Illustration of chart with links in different colors, indicating the progressive development of metaphysical bodies. Upper half of each link animating lower half. Physical link complete, but still being improved upon qualitatively. Seed of next body nested within form of the one next below. To complete a link, that which is just above it must be united with it, as fire to water, the fire beginning the upward movement. The subtle body of the psyche being dependent for its health and strength and development of abilities and faculties upon those things that we call the emotional and the desire world. Hence, teachings about “clean your hearts”; “seated between the opposites.” The psychic body filled with earth desires cannot go beyond the green. When fire is there, it does not mean that it is yet refined or in its full stature; cf. body of babe.
Next great octave of the blue — cradled in the fire, as the green was in the “prana”. Again the half link — the mind that is incomplete with reason, intellect, ordinary comprehension. Completed by the upward moving force, symbolized by the yellow. One who has grown that far has a series of bodies he can use, that are qualitatively with him. These concepts fourth and fifth dimensional. Limitation of material science. The higher subtle bodies developed by exercise, practice, as with the physical. Techniques. Masterhood reaches the whole span of bodies, extending “from earth to heaven”. Not only control over all the bodies, but also in relation to environment. Wherever there is a body there must be a world objective to it, corresponding to it in nature.
Second chart, showing progression of stages in earth, projected to help us to the other changes; evolving of the physical body as a key to the evolving of the others. Implies metaphysics, because you can’t get power except through something, and you must have the receptors. The practice of conscious living in the being whose mind is the important factor. Fire of the soul is dynamic, – no longer the human heart. The body becomes the means, not merely the tool as in earlier stages. The conscious man is the babe in the body of Nous.
The syzygy always there, – body and the quality of the entity in it. Duality an explanation, not a heresy; a key to that which is beyond this particular plane.
METAPHYSICS II
Lecture 5
MBM. January 15, 1942
GB outline
Nature of the etheric body; link with mineral; span of life included; variation in quality; and in type of substance. Varying states, as gaseous, liquid, solid, corresponding to mineral matter. Slowing down and speeding up of frequencies related to descent and ascent. Etheric plane, next to ours, has a higher wave frequency than ours. Not more advanced. Life alternates between the two over vast ages of time. Wide range within it, as with the physical.
Researchers materially minded and cannot perceive these characteristics without an “instrument.* in effort to bring down to material plane. So block their own development. 5 states of etheric matter. Proof of survival thru exact resemblance to physical. Entelechy, – complete plan or pattern. That of etheric identical with that wh. shapes the physical. Fingerprints, gloves” Interesting from the point of view of survival. Work of the Crandons. Our interest rather re the metaphysic, wh. implies that the lowest etheric body is identical with the physical, shaped by the entelechy, or magnetic lines of force, pulls on the substance wh. is hardening. Purpose and government of these “strains and stresses” in all things. “Gisrves” prove that the substance can return from the more solid to the less solid states. In liquid state somewhat like protoplasm of the physical, but also different. The more solid, the more the characteristics of this plane.
Etheric body, freed from physical, is freed from many regulations of this plane. Change of size. Can absorb chemicals from earth’s^atmos. to solidify. Fr. humans and plants, wh. have ectoplasmic body. In leash while in the physical, but has extraord. capacities in its own world.
Etheric body holds together elements of the phys. Link bet. phys. and emotional and mental world. Thru it impressions made on the phya. and personality marks set. Phys. continually moulded by etheric. That can be worked in various ways.
Magnetic field round etheric body, the aura. Capable of giving back impressions. These at^ennae of etheric enable animals to react to stimuli of wh. humans know nothing. Range of impressions received by this etheric body and its mag. field. Of higher rate than phys. and its sense organs. Great octave of impressions around us, of these higher frequencies, wh. phys. does not register, yet of which evidences increasingly available. Must develop corresp. sense organs in the etheric.. Some registered thru external mechanisms.
Aura radiations; outward, strong personality; introverted, personality not conspicuous- Magnetic field a matter of small development with average person. Phys. or animal magnetism. Actresses and “oomph”. -early stage of this vitality. Many types of magnetism. On the higher levels there is mastery of the human individuality,can control in extrav. and introv ; power to turn on and off. Magnetism of first etheric dependent on physical vitality; extroverting it may become a habit On a high octave, the power of Jesus to “gray out * Never misused the magnetic power on any level.
Impressions on the etheric independent of the physical; non-physical stimuli. Esp. powers of etheric when not as^oc. with phys. body. Raps. Moving objects in this dim, if sufficiently solidified. Can affect the etheric in you by thought, idea or emotion, if etheric in you is directionally open to the incoming impression. Many other/ powers of etheric: among them dowsing. Electric and magnetic characteristics are intimately connected with the etheric body. Many discoveries to come. Experience of Flammerion in tracing criminals. Subtle intrumment for subtle traces.
METAPHYSICS II
Lecture 6
MBM January 22, 1942
GB outline
Must come to understand and learn to use metaphysical body; corresponds to use of physical energies. Extending that correspondence into fields of observation that have been fairly well accepted, such as magic, alchemy, astrology, mysticism, telepathy, etc.
Mysticism: Paul: “Spiritual things spiritually perceived.” Mystical development brings with it developMENT of metaphysical body. St. Therese. Natural man functions through physical body and its five senses. Sense organs of etheric body cultivated by practice. Translate mystical experience into metaphysical terms. Experience in higher bodies may be accompanied by sense impression upon the etheric.
Magic Rites, ceremonials, practices which affect the ethers; bring about changes out of relation to activation on physical plane. Different types of. Use of forces inherent in the etheric world which have a quasi intelligence. Movements made in the physical plane which have their correspondence on the etheric; bring about changed condition. Physical senses misleading. Example: American Indian, medicine man. Theremin. Modern world on boundary of discovering control of etheric forces. Magnetized field, etc. at the beginning of observations of what this adjacent field makes possible. Overcoming distances. Forces and substances of the etheric world real. Books by Seabrooke, Rosita Forbes. 25th Man.
Healing Etheric body predecessor of physical. Has become passive and often victim. Can become positive and change condition of physical. Lourdes; other centers. Importance of positive attitude; generates magnetism; preventive. Importance of faith recognized by medical world as a curative factor — a practical, not a metaphysical realization. Value of themes, mantras, determination. Etheric master over the physical, once it has been set in that relation. Not miraculous, when more is understood.
Astrology Etheric media involved in the effect of the moon on tides, as example of other phenomena within this field. Movements of the heavenly bodies sustained by means of operations through the ethers. Physicists do not speak of the mechanism by which it is accomplished. Cosmic rays and other types of rays. Many sources.
Alchemy Whether with physical metals or with the soul, same general concept. All these fields that are on the boundary of life are to be understood in terms of metaphysics. That component gives the clue to what is taking place.
Theurgy Science of the soul. Wherever the soul is evolving there is a superfine etheric affect taking place. Those things belonging to the higher aspects of man have an etheric activity far beyond ours, but are still to be seen metaphysically. Continual duality of energy and substance.
Imagination Mechanism of image making; etheric stuffs; ephemeral only in a sense; energies behind the images continue. Imbued with life they become more permanently congealed. Advantages and disadvantages. Metaphysics name elementals. Themes and subjective exercises can serve in this way. Trauma in modern psychology an elemental that dwells in the subconscious and tortures the conscious personality over years. Dissolving fixations is breaking up these old forms. Psychologist notes effect, not stuffs. Occultist operates on it in terms of its own realm; psychologist in terms of ideas.
Subjective exercise Taking posture, relaxing, seeing black, etc. the normal entree into the etheric consciousness. Silence to three-dimensional emotions, thoughts, to become aware of another world. Visualization — playing on the boundary of another world. Control of images beginning to shift from natural law to mind law in that world. Interpreting a state of consciousness metaphysically. Could not change your consciousness without accompaniment of metaphysical activity.
METAPHYSICS II
Lecture 7
MBM January 29, 1942
Egyptian tradition of subtle bodies; wide and complicated; links with it through objects found in tombs of Tutankhamen; four canopic jars, sacred to the four sons of Horus: bull, lion, eagle, man. Parts of the body assigned to these respective figures, signifying powers within the subtle bodies corresponding to these planes. Bull, physical. Earth, fire, air, aether; water omitted. Lion, fire. Water already conquered by the being who is developing to higher planes. The fire is that of the heart, or of the soul. Names of the bodies imply also their powers.
Chart showing the bodies beginning with Khat (physical), Ka, Khabit; Ab, Ba; Hati; Khu, Sahu.
Khabit: double that moves away from physical; not just one ether belonging to the physical but several; e.g. fakir who remains buried for perhaps weeks; one ether remains with the physical body; linked cell by cell into organic whole. Subjective exercises include first movement of the second ether. Egyptians also speak of a “dream body”. Dissociate from the lower etheric and the shade is able to travel. Egyptian tradition three etheric bodies. Why flowers and fruit in tombs. Corresponds to seance room. Khabit is conditioned by the kind of life that is lived.
Ba, the soul; man-headed hawk. Intrinsicaily light-spark, but first a soul. Two aspects of Ba: Ab, the heart, that is weighed, desires; it is through the Ab that the movement goes up. Hati is more the soul of the heart; the side that is weighed in the more advanced being. Every “end” a judgment; rhythm; according to where you are in that development. Indication of duality Ab-Hati; so with the lower bodies.
Khu, Khus Life moving upward, dissociate from the physical meets condition known as Khu. Khus are used in two ways. “Shining Khus” may mean that which shines as gold. Other meaning: the resplendent ones, i.e. the fiery part of the soul, which belongs to the upward going economy. These said to be 9 cubits high — completing the soul evolution; working within that power of the 3×3; become like unto; growing wheat and barley with Horus (bread and wine). Is near the regions of the next great plane. Below it, still connected with earth and physical body; from here on independent of physical body.
Sahu(body) and Sekhem (power) Body of Light, – not the fiery body; worn when the passage is possible above the Great Firmament. “He hath eaten the knowledge of every god.” Duration of his life eternal. Has attained mastery; wear any garment he chooses; master of all he has passed through. He has a mighty power — Sekhem (sometimes associated with the Khu), because the Khu is beginning to develop the Sekhem, found in full in its later state. No sharp divisions.
Whole metaphysical evolution is seen in terms of bodies and powers. Subtle bodies referred to by many names, not usually as metaphysical bodies. Represented in drawings as crescent moon, or figures in boat. Golden Fleece (Sahu) sought by Jason and the wise youth of Athens. The fluid in the veins of the gods. Robes (purple, golden, white, fleecy, cloudy, etc. all references to metaphysical bodies.
Your etheric body begins to extend a little further, and according to your stature that increases; not just set as physical. Begins to be perceptive via the field of magnetism.
Modern presentation in the book by F.W.H.Myers, through Miss Cummings. Describes various forms and planes by abstract terms. Plane of Illusion, bodies according to wish of that entity. Plane of Color; of Flame. Difficulty of describing. Form as we know it begins to cease. (Illustration of cube.) Plane of Light. Then Out Yonder.
GUIDING QUESTIONS to THE METAPHYSICS OF MAN
By the Director
Lecture 1. What is the real field of metaphysics? Correct certain erroneous popular beliefs regarding this. (2) List ten types of phenomena which give proof of the existence of a metaphysical field. What are the five subdivisions of a philosophical study of metaphysics? The subject of this lecture series focusing metaphysical study on man himself (therefore subjective), what is the logical conclusion of question 2?
Lecture 2. Give a “working definition” of reality which shall meet the demands of physical science as well as metaphysical science. What are sheaths and vestures? List quickly not less than ten references to vestures or metaphysical bodies in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. What is meant by the following: Chariot or Merkabah? Shechinal? Ruah? Nephesh? Theshining face of Moses when he descended from the mountain? Wedding garment?
Lecture 3. Discuss the similarity between the exoteric Hebraic and Greek teachings of metaphysical bodies. What is the vapor which the Greeks say envelops the soul and which it then uses for a vehicle? What is the famous allegory of Plato on this subject and where is it found? What is the fivefold division of bodies (Greek)? Name Greek philosophers and writers who knew and taught concerning these bodies. What is taught in the Hermetic Tradition about metaphysical bodies?
Lecture 4. What is the problem of duality of which the orthodox have fears? Who are the Docetae? What do you know of their teachings regarding the metaphysical bodies of Jesus? Turning to India, what are the five bodies as taught in the Vedantic schools? What are the three transcendent Vestures in the tradition?
Lecture 5. Turning to “survival” after death, what is the evidence gathered by research (modern) regarding the body “worn” after death? What may be said about the law of entelechy in proving survival? Make a list of the likenesses and also the differences between the functioning of the physical and the first metaphysical body. What phenomena can you name which points to being caused by a metaphysical body?
Lecture 6. It is a fact that logical thinking must conceive metaphysical bodies as implicit in telepathy, clairvoyance, mystic experience, magic, healing, astrology, alchemy, – AND THAT IT UNDERLIES ALL RELIGIOUS IMPLICATIONS (whether or not this is taught with the religion). Try then to formulate a convincing argument to that effect. What relation has image-making (imagination) to metaphysical bodies? Untangle the knot between: state of consciousness, higher dimensions, projection, and non-space. Are these different or alike? What is the relation of certain phases of the Subjective Exercises to metaphysics? in particular: relaxation of the body; silence; change of polarization and certain specific exercises?
Lecture 7. What can you tell of the metaphysics of man as taught in ancient Egypt? What mystical and metaphysical teachings are connected with the placing of the viscera in four (canopic) jars? What have you learned from a modern book “The Road to Immortality” (Myers-Cummins) of the Planes to which the metaphysical bodies correspond? What is the condition of the metaphysical bodies in average man? In yourself? What should you do?