In our investigations into the envelopes that surround a monad as it evolves, we have identifies three planes of matter specifically. These are the physical plane, the emotional plane and the mental plane. We have also discussed the existence of triads. These are the atoms and molecules that the monad uses to focus its consciousness into the Cosmic Physical Universe. The name triad implies the number three. I wish now to look at another way of delineating three levels or stages of development.
The Three Selves
One way to visualise the 1st, 2nd and 3rd triad is to think of them as a ladder. This ladder is used by the monad to climb from the 49th and lowest plane of matter to the 43rd plane. These are the seven planes that make up our Solar System. These seven levels can be thought of as rungs of a ladder. The Bible called them “Jacob’s Ladder”.
Another way to conceptualise the progression of the monad through the Solar System is to view the process from the consciousness perspective. Rather than having three triads, made up of physical atoms and molecules, you have what is known is Esoterics as three “Selves”, the First, Second and Third-self.
The First Self or Persona
Minerals, plants and animals operate through the 1st triad. The acquisition of our three bodies has been a two-stage process. Our etheric bodies were acquired when we were in the Mineral Kingdom and were subsequently build up in the Plant Kingdom. Our emotional bodies were acquired in the Plant Kingdom and built up in the Animal Kingdom. Our mental bodies were acquired in the Animal Kingdom and are in the process of being built up now. In the Human Kingdom, we are in the process of refining our three subtle bodies and building up our causal body. In the process of doing this, the gap between the 1st and 2nd triads is bridged.
When a monad becomes self-conscious, between the animal and human kingdoms, it can be described as a “Self”. Prior to this it was a Group self. The whole 1st Triad, in the case of humans, is called the Persona. This can also be called the ‘self’, the First-Self. The persona includes our mind found in the mental body; our emotions present in the emotional body, and our feelings or senses, present in the etheric body. These three bodies all operate through the physical body.
The physical and three subtle bodies are all enclosed within the Lower Causal Body. The Higher Causal Body is located on the 2nd Triad. The part of it that descends into the 1st Triad is called the persona.
The five bodies that comprise the human monad are:
It should be remembered that the subtle bodies interpenetrate one another. In a previous presentation, I have stated that the etheric and physical body are both considered ‘physical’ in esoteric parlance. This is because they constitute one unit and are not separated during an incarnation. To do so would result in death. The etheric vibrates at frequencies that at present are not visible to most of humanity. This will change in time. The etheric is a physical template around which the physical body coalesces. The ‘aura’ of the etheric extends marginally beyond the boundary of the physical body. This aura is what is photographed using Kirlian photography. The etheric can also be considered an energetic grid.
The emotional body interpenetrates the physical and etheric bodies, in the same manner, the etheric penetrates the physical. Ninety-nine per cent of the emotional body is to be found within the periphery of the physical body, with only one per cent protruding past it. This can extend to about two feet. The same model applies to the mental body and the lower causal body.
The size of the aura is determined by the size of the lower causal body and this body is ovoid. Consciousness can not function through the physical body. It is the etheric body that controls the physical vehicle. As previously stated, the physical and etheric bodies are two-halves of a whole and only completely separate at death. In previous presentations, we talked about various grades of matter. It should be noted that the physical-etheric body is composed primarily of evolutionary tertiary matter. The emotional, mental and lower causal body are composed mainly of involutionary secondary matter, with a little evolutionary tertiary matter at their centres. The envelopes of the bodies are also made from tertiary matter.
Now here is something to ponder; each body posses a collective consciousness of its own. It is, therefore, an individual being. This could go a long way to explain why people can sometimes feel overwhelmed by their emotions, as though they are being ruled by an alter ego. However, it should be noted that the inherent consciousness of our subtle bodies is very low. Nevertheless, they can influence us and they do.
Secondary matter, also known as elemental essence, is involving into lower states of vibration. It is moving towards the plane of physical matter. How it gets there is a topic for a subsequent presentation. The descent of secondary matter can be expedited by experiencing negative emotions. Weak-willed people give into ‘temptation’, which is great for the elementals essences, but bad for ‘us’, the persona.
Tertiary matter found in the physical-etheric body, possesses a higher consciousness than secondary matter or primary matter. It does not work against us like secondary matter, as it is evolving like we are. Secondary matter is involving. Simply put, secondary matter is going down and tertiary matter is going up. Tertiary matter can learn patterns of behaviours. We set this up by repeating things and imprinting this on our tertiary matter. “Practice”, really does make “perfect”. What then results is that repeated activities can be carried out with little input from the conscious mind. This allows us to daydream while we are doing repetitive tasks. Even though we are composed of five separate bodies during an incarnation, they are integrated so that we feel we are a single person.
The Second or Soul Triad
The Second Triad is composed of the Mental atom (47:1), the Unity atom (46:1) and the Spiritual molecule (45:4). As evolution proceeds, we build and develop bodies round these successively higher centres of consciousness on that plane. Prior to the construction of what are physical envelopes on their particular plane, consciousness on these higher planes is only subjective. We are able to subjectively perceive half a plane of consciousness above where we are objectively consciousness. Currently, the vast majority of humanity is objectively consciousness only on the lower rungs of the emotional plane (48:4 & 48:7). Even this is only possible during the sleep state or upon death.
The Second-Self is comprised of four bodies or beings. The highest, the Upper Spiritual body (45:1-45:3), encloses the lower three, just as our causal body, enclosed our persona. The lower three bodies of the Second-Self are the Causal body (47:1-47:3), the Unity body (46:1-46:7) and the Lower Spiritual (45:4-45:7).
Notice how the pattern is repeated that was seen in the 1st Triad. You have two atoms and a molecule on the 2nd Triad. The permanent unit of consciousness in the lower spiritual body is a molecule, not an atom.
The combined consciousness of the subtle bodies found on the 2nd Triad is called the “Higher-Self”. The higher-self is not fully developed in the vast majority of humanity presently on the planet. It is only the higher causal body that is currently active. In reality, even our causal body is on loan. It is loaned and controlled by our guardian angel. This remains the case until we evolve into the 5th Kingdom. At this time, we become our “higher-selves”.
We have discussed that every monad is composed of three components. They are matter, motion and consciousness. However, these three aspects do not necessarily display in equal quantities in all monads. In the same way, each plane of matter has a tendency to resonate to each of these three components in varying strengths. Looking at the 1st Triad, the matter aspect is dominant. This is not surprising as we are dealing with the lowest planes of matter. Looked at more closely, there is even a gradient in the 1st Triad, with the physical plane being the most engaged with matter, the emotional plane, less so and the mental plane, the least of any of the three planes.
In the 2nd Triad, the consciousness aspect is dominant. There is a gradient to be seen in this triad as well. The Causal Body is the densest and most material in this aspect. The Unity Body is more focused around the conscious principle and the Lower Spiritual body is more focused on the energy aspect of creation.
At present, the second triad can only be subjectively perceived and then only at the causal level. We have to build a physical connection between the 1st and 2nd triads. This happened when we gain “Enlightenment”. The process is known as the 3rd Initiation.
Even after passing the 3rd initiation, the monad is still in the 4th Kingdom. It is only after taking and passing the 4th initiation does the human monad enter the 5th Kingdom. It is at this time that the primary guardian angel is released from its duties and the borrowed causal body is dissolved. The monad is now evolved enough to create its own causal body, which it does in short order.
On entering the 5th Kingdom, the monad continues to refine its self-identity. Its consciousness expands to become part of a collective. This we called the Soul Group in the last presentation. This transition is traumatic for the monad at first. It has spent aeons developing its self-identity only to release it, seemingly leaving it behind, as it enters the 5th Kingdom. This is not the case, despite some of the commonly held views about ‘Nirvana’. Consciousness may be shared, but self-identity is definitely not lost.
Once a monad reaches the 5th Kingdom, it has cleared its personal karmic ‘balance sheet’. It no longer needs to incarnate onto the physical plane to experience a material existence. The 5th Kingdom is known in Gnostic literature as the ‘Kingdom of God’. The human being is now ‘super-human’. If it chooses to incarnate, it does so as an act of service. The monad usually comes as a teacher of humanity, which is still struggling through the 4th Kingdom. Members of the 5th Kingdom are omniscient, all-knowing, on planes one, two and three. At this time, members of the 5th Kingdom may choose to join the ‘Planetary Hierarchy’. This group of monads have evolved well past the Human Kingdom but still choose to serve Humanity in its evolution. In the past this hierarchy guided humanity, but 12,000 years ago, humanity collectively banished them through our misuse of our psychic powers. We have not been abandoned. Now the Hierarch work with Humanity but only coming as low as the etheric level of matter. They also work through incarnate adepts. These are advanced human monads, who have selflessly aligned their egos to the Will of the Hierarchy. These adapts carry out tasks set them. In this way they fulfil their small part in the totality of the Divine Plan for the evolution of life on this planet.
Third or Spirit Triad
We now reach the 3rd Triad. It is composed of the Spiritual atom (45:1), the Divine atom (44:1) and the Monadic molecule (43:4). Again the pattern is repeated for this triad, housing two atoms and one molecule. As above, so below.
The Third-Self consists of four bodies. The Upper Monadic body (43:1-43:3) encloses the Lower Monadic body (43:4-43:7), the Divine body (44:1-44:7) and the Upper Spiritual body (45:1-45:3). As was the case with the higher causal body in the 1st-Self, the Upper Monadic body is providing the envelope that contains the combined consciousness of the next three lower bodies. This self is called the ‘Divine-Self’. This is completely undeveloped in the human monad at present.
As has already been discussed, in the 1st Triad, matter is dominant. In the 2nd Triad, consciousness dominates. In the 3rd Triad, it is the turn of Energy to be dominant. The Third-Self has already mastered matter and consciousness. It now has to master energy. It is difficult for us to even begin to imagine what it must be like to have a state of being that is beyond consciousness itself. But there is and we will come to know it someday.
WILL = CONSCIOUSNESS + ENERGY
Therefore the energy aspect of being is called WILL-POWER. It is at this level of consciousness that the senior members of the Hierarchy reside. They use their Will to guide the lower kingdoms. They know the future because they help create it. I hope it is now becoming apparent that events on the physical plane have their origins on the more subtle planes of matter.
Third-selves are the collective consciousness of the Solar System. Once a monad achieves the collective consciousness of a plane, this happens when it enters the 5th Kingdom, it shares the collective consciousness of all the lower planes. It is now omniscient, all-knowing. Mastery of energy gained as the monad evolves through the 3rd Triad, makes the Third-Self ‘omnipotent’, all-powerful, on all the lower planes of consciousness and matter.
Beyond the Third Triad
A monad is anchored in the 43:1 atom for its entire sojourn in the Solar System. A fully awakened 43-atom dispenses with the three triads and continues to evolve through the six cosmic kingdoms above the Cosmic Physical.
I have repeatedly mentioned that all higher planes of matter, inter-penetrate the lower planes. They occupy the same space but do not conflict with one another, due to the different frequencies they vibrate at. I have also mentioned that there are 49 planes of matter. In the Solar System, the monad evolves through seven planes of the lowest grade of matter. This is known as the Cosmic Physical Plane. The monads sitting on the 43rd plane still has 42 planes of matter to evolve into. The 43rd atom of the monad contains all 42 higher kinds of atoms. They are already there, it is just that they have not been activated yet. This is really where the Adventures of the Monad begin.
The ladder back to the 1st Plane, back to the ABSOLUTE, comprises another 42 planes. These are numbered as follows for the whole Universe.
Upon reaching plane 1, the fully liberated monad has come full circle. It has gone from being
unconscious primary matter, to being
fully conscious quaternary matter.
Its consciousness now embraces the entire Galaxy. The final challenge is to ‘grow up’ and leave the Universe and go into the INFINITE and create its own universe! In the next presentation I wish to look into the topic of Gods and Angels.
Thanks Kazim 🙂
Just one more in the series ‘Humans & their envelopes of incarnation’. A short test paper to follow! LOL