Anthony J. Fisichella...
Worlds Within Worlds
From the unknowable, indefinable, formless, infinite "God of no Name" was born the vast galactic Star Systems that dot the vault of heaven and beyond, each undergoing its own evolutionary development. Each is the expression of an internal Ruler, the Sovereign Agent who earned this right of passage. Knowledge of the inception and nature of the "First born" of these systems goes beyond the horizon of our understanding. We pick up the process countless ages into its unfolding. It is the Process itself we are trying to grasp, not its chronology. That's enough to tax the greatest of intellects among us. One such system involves a grouping of closely related stellar constellations. There are numberless constellations within the heavens, but I am attempting here to establish Earth’s specific pedigree.
As a center of Force within this celestial grouping reside a number of Cosmic Deities, one of whom (the Logos), is expressing Itself through a constellation of seven solar systems. Can we even begin to contemplate a Being and Consciousness of such magnitude and power? Well, if we have been presumptuous enough to contemplate God, as we have since time immemorial, I suppose we can be that presumptuous now. For those familiar with the term chakra (wheel) within the Hindu system of thought, we might suggest that these seven systems represent and function as the seven major chakras (focal points or vortices of energy) within the body corporate of the Cosmic Logos under consideration, as we suggested earlier with respect to our Planetary Logoi within our solar system.
Within this system resides, among others, the Solar Deity of our system, the Creative Agency or Solar Logos expressing Itself through the medium of our solar system and its planetary schemes. Within this system is also to be found our home base, spaceship Earth, an expression of our Planetary Deity. Thus, the Heart of our planetary scheme, working behind the scene and providing the impetus for evolutionary growth upon the good ship Earth, presides this Heavenly Being, the Planetary Logos, the Lord of the World. It is "in Him we Live and move and have our being... We too belong to His race" (Acts 17:28).
Worlds within worlds, within worlds, all interrelated and interdependent. As high as the imagination can stretch and beyond, and beyond the beyond, reaching in all directions, upward and downward, inward and outward, on every comprehensible and even incomprehensible plane of reality, we will find an endless stream of life-forms, as Life works Its magic, from the unimaginably large to the inconceivably small, all playing out their part in relation to each other, each expressive of a level of consciousness, each providing an avenue of approach to the Divine and each an integral part of an unfathomable WHOLE. We are co-evolving with the earth, not merely upon it. We are co-evolving with the Solar System, not only within it. With Christ, we compose a great, spiritual, family of brethren. We are all evolving as the “One Solitary Life”, not simply because of It.
We may carry this concept out to infinity. The process will remain ever the same. Each microcosmic life lives within and contributes to the existence of a greater, encompassing, macrocosmic life form which, in its turn, provides the environment within which the lesser may undergo their evolutionary changes. Part of the miracle of my being, and yours of course, is that we provide the field of evolution for living entities whose consciousness is less evolved. The consciousness of my cellular structure is part of the unity of that consciousness that is my animal soul, as my consciousness forms part of the Unity of Logoic Consciousness. The Universal Self is manifesting through countless beings, some of whom are awakened to such an exalted level so as to be perceived as gods. Each is the informing Sovereign Entity of a system, commensurate with Its developed stature. The informing entity of the system that is me is the soul of my Self (Monad), informed by the Planetary Logos, in Its turn, informed by the Solar Logos, and this, ad infinitum.
Please, don’t be distracted or misled by such terms as greater, or lesser. Greater and lesser are merely words used to convey a sense of evolutionary status within the cosmic scheme, more like older or younger, or, more or less awakened, as opposed to better or worse. An adult is no better than a child, just older. An acorn is not less than an oak, which is its ripened being. Accordingly, cosmically speaking, man is, in essence, no better or worse, no more or less important than a bug and yet, a god incarnate.
In truth, all forms are deified. All are projections and expressions of the One, made from, by and of the One, ensouled by the One, living within the One and ultimately reducible to the One. The predicament is our inability to define, of which “One” are we speaking? First there is the Infinite One, which as we have suggested is not a One at all, but formless and truly unknowable. Then there are extraordinary Cosmic Lives manifesting logoicly through vast, numberless, stellar systems in space. Of which One shall we speak? Our Solar Logos, the Oversoul of our solar system? Is that the One we are referring to when we speak of the One? The planetary Life of our planet, its Oversoul, the Planetary Logos? How about the Spirit of the Self that is your Divine Nature, the Monad? That is your unified Self.
Mankind’s tendency to be reductionistic, if followed to the extreme, would inevitably reduce all forms to the same essence, the formless Unified Force, still being pursued by science. Quantum physics is now closing in upon this Reality. I envision this Force as the “One Solitary Life”, slumbering, initially, in the “Void” and permeating the vast regions of Absolute, Unknowable Space within the Cosmos, later to be found at the heart of every manifested atom. This fact will soon be validated by science. Apart from denying God and destroying the belief in God, modern science is on the verge of revealing God. The trick is to go beyond appearances to that which underlies the forms. This is where science hits the proverbial brick wall. Science deals with definable, measurable quantities. The Infinite Force at the heart of creation is beyond measure and definition.
Though the Infinite is without beginning and without end, and is unchanging, the forms through which It has unremittingly manifest and expressed Itself have finite beginnings and definite ends. In the finite world of form, the only constant, is change. The mechanism through which these varied forms manifest and the means by which change occurs, is motion, vibration or rhythmical movement, poetically called the “Dance of Shiva”.
Forms may come and forms may go, solar systems are born and dissolved, universes ebb and flow, but the One Solitary Life, the Living Presence that creates, sustains and pervades it all and will ultimately re-absorb it all, persists eternally. And behind the One is the None. As long as we identify with the forms through which we, as undifferentiated aspects of the One, manifest in a differentiated consciousness, we shall be subject to the liabilities of form – birth, preservation and death – for the Divine Essence shines forth as God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Destroyer. The worlds of form are the ever changing expressions of the Unknown. My wife gave me an interesting spin on the trinity using the term God. Generation – Organization – Degeneration.
As with Christ, we may each state, emphatically, “I and the Father are One.” Equally, we are One with the Mother. More accurately, we are one with That which is the Essence of both, Infinite Life. This is the guarantee of immortality for all beings in the cosmos. Nothing or no one ever truly dies; only change is certain. Conversely, in the illusory world of form and separation, if that is where we perceive our identity, we are on a path of relative death, for the material world and all within are impermanent. Here we find the rationale of Buddha’s assertion that the unavoidable concomitant of living in the world is suffering. We identify with the things of the world that are here today and gone tomorrow, including our own forms. The world changes while we struggle to resist. We tend to see ourselves as traces of life surrounded by a sea of dead matter. Even Emerson referred to matter as “dead mind”. This is one of the few times I find myself at odds with his august teachings. In effect, the reverse is true; in our material state we are relative specks of death suspended within an infinite ocean of Life governed by the overshadowing presence and guidance of the Universal Mind. Within this context, Christ dying for humanity takes on an entirely different and more powerfully significant meaning.
It is all a question of presumed identification. That which shows and acknowledges God within, fortifies us and validates our immortality. That which emphasizes God without, as does any identification with the world of form, and as do so many of the worlds religious systems, diminishes us and implies our mortality. And in that diminished state of being and consciousness we are susceptible to all manner of mischief.
Forms may change, but the Life within the form persists eternally. Like all else, death too, is an illusion. One day, as fully realized beings, we shall learn to pass into the Immortal as gently as we now awaken from a dream. Death will be “swallowed up in victory” (I Cor.15:54). This is why the Adepts are often referred to as the Immortals. This is no empty, trivial or clichéd title. And this is the promise of the future for us all. We will then know that, Life is the one and only Reality! In Its pristine state It is indefinable and indestructible. In Its manifest state It appears the antithesis. In Its virginal Nature, the Eternal is Life. In our homogeneous Essence, we too are infinite Life. In the world of appearances, however, our Living Essence is held in servitude to form. As were the children of Israel, we are held in bondage in the land of Egypt – the material world. But God will have Its prodigal children set free though hell should bar the way. If hell is a thought form you have created and one to which you give credence and attention, it most assuredly will.
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