I have outlined the existence of subtle bodies that go to make up the complete human being. There are three broad categories of envelopes that a monad uses as it traverses the Human Kingdom. These are the Mental, Emotional and Physical bodies. The three bodies can be sub-divided. The mental body divides into a lower and a higher mental body. The latter is called the Causal body. The lower component is called the Persona. The physical body can also be divided into the Etheric and the Physical body. In this presentation, I wish to look at these subtle bodies in greater detail.
I have mentioned that each plane of matter is made up of one type of atom. These atoms are themselves made up of individual monads that cluster together in vast numbers. I gave you the staggering number that atoms on the 49th plane are made of. This number is 1.34e+81 monads.
The triad is a collection of six atoms and three molecules that are focal points of consciousness for the monad. These are the only places that the monad is conscious. Why do I mention this fact?
Each plane has one atomic level and six molecular levels. They are all vibrating at a specific frequency. The monad locates itself in one place. This is the top-most atomic or molecular level of that body. It, however, experiences vibrations on all the other levels of that envelope. The example of the Emotional body is represented here.
For most humans alive today, their monad focuses its gaze into the 48:1 atomic atom. The monad sits at the highest level of the chain of six molecules and one permanent atom in the emotional body. However, it may only be experiencing vibrations in the lowest four molecular levels. This is all a function of which molecules have been activated. The nobler the emotions, the higher the molecules that will start to resonate.
The Envelopes
The main components of any envelope are an outer membrane, seven sub-planes of vibrating matter and a permanent atom or molecule. Looking at a diagram of the subtle bodies of humans, it can be seen that it has three envelopes. These are shown in pink. The physical body is composed of two components. The first is the dense physical, which comprises the lowest three molecular levels, gas, water and solid matter. The higher four levels are called the etheric. The etheric body includes the atomic level of the whole physical body. This is represented by the black dot in that envelope. Next comes the emotional body with its permanent atom and finally the mental body with its permanent molecule.
All matter on a particular plane is composed of atomic matter of that plane, e.g., 48:1, for the emotional plane. In the case of the emotional and mental envelopes, the molecular contents of these envelopes start their evolutionary journey with a predominance of the lowest vibrating molecules. In the case of the emotional body, this would be 48:7 molecules. This equates to the feelings of hate, anger, loathing and the like. Over thousands of incarnations, the human, aka the monad, replaces the lower molecules with higher vibrating ones. This means that emotions such as kindness, love and compassion begin to make an appearance in the human’s persona. I just want to reiterate that a permanent atom or molecule of evolutionary tertiary matter, is ensouling the monad’s focal point of consciousness on that plane.
Where did these envelopes we possess come from? The etheric body of a human originally developed from the Etheric group soul shared with other monads in the mineral kingdom. It sounds odd talking about us and the mineral kingdom in the same sentence but this is how we got our etheric bodies. I will be explaining this in detail shortly but I wish to mention it here. The emotional body developed from the Emotional group soul shared from the plant kingdom. The mental body developed from the Animal group soul, shared from the animal kingdom. Lastly, the Causal body was acquired, but via a different route, which will be expanded upon in due course.
Lower Causal Body
Surrounding the three-fold envelope that goes to make up the human body of incarnation, is a fourth. This is called the persona and is an extension of the causal body. This is the final sheath in which all the other bodies dwell. This persona, also known as the lower causal body, is the character you are playing in this particular chapter of your continuing evolution. There is one interesting point to note. There is no permanent atom or molecule associated with this sheath. The permanent atom is located in the higher causal body. It always remains there. However, the sheath surrounding the three lower bodies eventually comprises all your causal matter. This does not happen until the human reaches enlightenment. At this time the lower and higher causal bodies unite. This leads to a whole number of radical changes in the way you live your life. These will be discussed in due course.
The implication of the lower causal body not having a permanent atom, is that it has nowhere to store its memories between incarnations. The persona is lost when the incarnation is over. It transfers what it has learnt during the incarnation, back to the higher causal body. However, those memories are not distinct to that particular persona. This is something to ponder upon when you hold very tightly to your current identity. This is not you. It is just a part you are playing in the movie of your own life. The monad has its own unique identity, which at present is being developed in the higher casual body. The string of incarnations that lead to its evolutionary growth should be considered as pearls that are strung onto a necklace.
Group Souls
The term soul can be thought of as the totality of being. It is a place where the monad sleeps between incarnations. This applies just as much to the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms, as it does to us. The soul is also the place where we store experiences we have gained, passing through a particular kingdom. The subtle bodies I have just been describing are where we develop objective consciousness, before graduating to the next kingdom. Again I wish to draw your attention to the fact that this applies to all kingdoms, not just our own. You may be surprised to know that rocks have objective consciousness as well. They are aware of heat and pressure. They develop it as they evolve through the physical plane of matter. I do not wish to go into the technicalities of exactly what is occurring in this series of presentations. I just wish you to keep these ideas in the back of your mind as we progress.
Humans have individual souls. These are called Causal Bodies. This is what differentiates humanity from the three lower kingdoms. The animal monad shares its mental body with others of its species. The plant kingdom shares its mental and emotional bodies with other plants of the same species. Finally, the mineral kingdom shares a common etheric body. What this highlights to the casual observer, is just how connected the lower kingdoms are. We, by comparison, seem very disconnected. This disconnection is not by accident and does serve a purpose.
Mineral Group Soul
The term Group Soul refers to the subtle bodies that groups of monads share, as they evolve through the three lower kingdoms. So to recap; the mineral kingdom shares three subtle bodies, the etheric, the emotional and the mental. However, only the etheric body is active. The other bodies are triggered into action as the monad passes into the next kingdom. In the meantime, a mineral group soul contains billions of monads. Gradually they each activate their share of the collective etheric body. This can be seen in the diagram as a faint dotted white line.
Plant Group Soul
In the Plant kingdom, an individual plant has an etheric envelope specific to itself. It however still shares its emotional and mental bodies with the soul group. In the case of plants, it begins to acquire its own emotional body. This emotional body gradually forms around an individual plant. Again this is shown as a faint white line. The mental body is shared with the plant group but inactive. Numerous studies have been done on plants that have indicated that plants somehow can respond to ‘feelings’. Just threatening to cut your grass may induce mass panic in your lawn! LOL
The Animal Group Soul
By the time you get to the Animal kingdom, the etheric and emotional bodies are individual to each animal unit. Now, only the mental body is shared. When incarnating, in the case of a mouse monad, it borrows a small portion of the group soul’s subtle mental body. It builds the etheric and emotional bodies for itself. It does not do this itself, the devas do it, but that is for another presentation. After the mouse finishes its incarnation, it shares its experiences with the whole of the group it belongs to. Slowly again, animals will begin to divide off part of the shared mental body from the group and move to the next level of consciousness.
Individual Animal Soul
Domesticated animals begin to show distinct personality traits. They develop these as they interact with humans. As humans, we play an important roll in the evolution of the lower kingdoms. This is especially the case for the advanced animal. The group mental body divides and coalesces around a single animal monad. This monad is readying itself for moving up into the 4th, the Human Kingdom. This, however, does not occur until the monad is given its own Causal body. This can only be provided by a guardian angel, called the Augoeides by Pythagoras.
The Human Soul
The final diagram in this series shows the individual human soul. This diagram is different from the others. Above the mental, emotional, etheric and physical envelopes, there are two other structures, which I have labelled as Guardian Angels. The first of these is the Augoeides. It has loaned us its causal envelope and this is what is termed as the soul, in Gnostic literature. During a human incarnation, the casual body divides itself in two. The bulk of it remains in the second triad. Triads were discussed in the previous presentation. A part of the causal body, for example say five per cent, descends and surrounds the four lower bodies. These being the mental, emotional, etheric and physical bodies. This part of the causal body is called the persona. This is what people usually identify as being themselves. It is not who you are. First notice that I have drawn in the physical permanent atom, located in the etheric body (49:1). I have also drawn the emotional atom (48:1). The dot in the mental body is not an atom, but a molecule and is called the mental molecule (47:4). The permanent mental atom ( 47:1), is located on the second triad, in the higher causal body. The persona surrounding the lower envelopes has no atom or molecule. It, therefore, has no permanent memory of itself. What the persona does is collect the life experiences of that particular incarnations. It then transfers it back to the higher causal body at the end of the incarnation.
In the diagram, you can see a neck of matter that links the higher causal body and the lower causal body, which is called the persona. The memories of the incarnation are stored in the mental atom (47:1), located in the higher causal body. The memory of the persona is effectively lost. The memories it collects are mixed into the general pool of the soul’s memories. This is why I gave an analogy a few presentations back about you looking at your life as a play and identifying with the character. That character is the persona. You are not the persona. Your memories are stored in the higher causal body. I would also like to make the point here, that you are not the soul either. The soul is just an envelope that is allowing your monad to experience an objective existence on the Cosmic Physical Plane.
I come to the monad’s position in all of this in a minute. For the time being look at the broken line between the mental atom (47:1) and the mental molecule (47:4). This is what we as humans have to strive to fix so that it is no longer broken. If you have ever heard the term “Rainbow Bridge”, you are looking at it here. This is what the 3rd Initiation is all about. More on that in another presentation.
Guardian Angels
Another point to note in the diagram is that in the causal sheath you can see a second atom. It links to another atom located in the structure, labelled Guardian Angel 1. This gives a clue to who or what is your soul as you evolve through the human kingdom. This is why in my second presentation I asked the question, who or what is listening to us? I answered; your guardian angel. You can see here the close connection between you and it. That angel resides in at least the 5th kingdom and is therefore much further evolved than us.
Proceeding further up the diagram, you can see that the line becomes broken again. This is the transition from the 2nd to the 3rd triad. Again another bridge has to be built and another guardian angel seems to be holding the fort for us. This time that angel is called a Protogonas by Pythagoras. Protogonas means firstborn. This angel is not aware of our existence at the moment, but once we activate our own causal body, it knows we are on our way up our triad and it guides us as we enter the 3rd triad. To achieve this, it loans us its ‘spirit body’ in the same way that the Augoeides loaned us its causal body. The Gnostic tradition often differentiates the soul from the spirit. Now you know why.
The line continues upwards until you finally come to the last broken line. This is the boundary of the Cosmic Physical Plane and when it is crossed, the journey of conscious evolution in the Solar System is over. The monad has now become conscious on the 43:1 sub-plane. It continues its journey through the next six cosmic planes as a monadic atom. Its need for a triad structure is over.
A summary of the activities of each group soul and how it relates to the four kingdoms on Earth are presented below.
What these diagrams are showing is that as monads gain experience, those of a similar nature form sub-groups and specialise. They split away from the larger, all -encompassing soul group. This process continues until the monad has its own subtle body.
This process occurs three times. Firstly, the monads activate their physical atom (49:1) and develop their own etheric body in the Mineral kingdom, as has already been explained. The next stage is when the monads activate their emotional atom (48:1) and develop their emotional bodies in the Plant kingdom. By the time you get to the Animal kingdom, the monad is ready to begin to activate its mental molecule (47:4). This allows it to develop its own mental body. This should not surprise you as you can see that squirrels can navigate all sorts of obstacles to get to the bird feeder.
In the next presentation I wish to go on and examine the refinement of the subtle bodies in greater detail.
The evolution of the Monad has been described as flowing through mammals to get to the human realm. Do the monads in fish, birds, lizards eventually evolve in mammals, or do they follow a different path?
What I know is that birds go into the deva evolutionary stream. Fish, being more primitive must be precursors to both streams. Reptiles evolved into birds, but does that mean they exclusively go the deva way? Not sure.
If i have understood you correctly, a goat, while it is being a goat, has a shared mental body, which as the goat evolves finally gets its own mental body and at the same time is adopted by a solar angel. But as that goat as a single monad evolves, does it move up the animal chain to a dog? And then from a dog to a human guided by a solar angel?
Or does it have to move up through a progressively more evolved specie of animal – goat – cow – water buffalo etc until it reaches the most evolved of the animal species (maybe an ape?)
The monad evolves through many intermediary stages in its evolution. The goat, with a shared goat mental body, will transition to a higher mammal. Whether it is a dog or a horse I do not know. What matters is that it has now got its own individual share of what was originally a shared goat mental body. At this stage, it is not under the protection of a solar angel, that happens later when the higher mammal causalises. This happens when a solar angel adopts that monad.
Apes are a different kettle of fish. We did not from them, they came from us! This is referred in the Secret Doctrine as the ‘sins of the mindless’, a fascinating story in itself.
One thing that came up for me reading this is where does the monad of a species of animal fit into evolution – say the specie of goat. One monad (a goat guardian angel) could be running maybe 10million particular type of goat. What sort of monads would be in the process of evolving below that of the guardian angel. When does that guardian angel leave – and does he as an individual monad just cross over into the human kingdom?
As monads evolve, they are always just a single monad. You can not have missions of goats sharing a monad. Each goat is a monad that has now reached a stage where it has its own etheric and emotional body. The mental body is still shared with all the other goats. There are still devic forces, which themselves are monads that will be managing all these goat monads in their collective envelope. How this level of deva hierarchy is organised I do not know. However, the goat needs to first gain an individual mental body before it is ready to be adopted by a solar angel. This is when casualisation takes place and the monad begins a long process of developing its own self-identity while remembering its past incarnations. This is not done consciously at first, but when the 3rd initiation is complete, the monad knows what it has experienced in its totality. In the Human Kingdom, the monad is responsible for its own actions. The goat is not, as its mental activity is shared and is also at a very low level.