We ended the last presentation by starting to look at the six aspects of the basic building techniques to construct a “Rainbow Bridge” and their esoteric and creative significance. Number one on the list was “Intention”. This was a process similar to the way our logos created our solar system. First, you create a ring-pass-not of energy in your mental envelope. Then you focus that energy and hold it in a state of tension. Think of this as mixing the paint before you start creating a picture. You have to get the correct hue to paint with and five steps were outlined on how you go about doing this. Now you are ready to start painting but before you do, you have to visualise what you are going to paint. So, step two is called:
2. Visualisation: So far, in step one, we have been talking about a process that has been occurring in the Mental envelope. Creative imagination has not, to any great extent, been called into action yet. Think of the disciple focused in their mind, neither looking ups to their Causal envelope nor down to their Emotional envelope. Up and down is a figurative way of thinking about the process. Energy has been gathered in a ring-pass-not and this reservoir is sufficient to take the next step. Using our picture analogy, before you paint a picture, you sketch a cartoon. Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon of The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist is one of the most famous creations in art and it is not even a finished product. Where does this creative potential come from to sketch this blueprint? It comes from the Emotional envelope. Take note, all you mentally focused individuals, who think you are well shot of all your emotional distortions. Don’t write the envelope off just yet. You need it to build your Antahkarana.
Imagination is seated in the Emotional envelope, sometimes called the Sensitive Vehicle. We are not talking about the base emotional thoughts you are used to, but the highest possible realms of imagination. This imagination is the lowest aspect of intuition, don’t forget this. Think of this sensitivity as being one end of a pole, the other end being attached to the Unity (46) envelope, on the 2nd triad. You can see the close relationship between these two planes when you see that one plane is represented directly over the other in our diagram of a triad. There is a method for the presentation of the triad in this format. Once the disciple has refined their imaginative faculties sufficiently, they become responsive to impressions from the Unity World, as well as intuitive impulses from their causal envelope. The quality and accuracy present in the blueprint under construction, is going to be determined by the responsiveness of the Emotional envelope, (48), to the Unity envelope, (46).
You have a pool of energy sitting in the Emotional envelope, but the bridge to be constructed has to start from the Mental envelope. There is, therefore, a need to step up the vibration of this emotional energy so that it affects the pool of energy in the mental ring-pass-not. What is being described here has great esoteric significance. The creative activity of the imagination, located on Plane 48, is the first organising influence to work upon the energy gathered in the ring-pass-not on Plane-47, in the Mental envelope. Here you have accumulated energy, held in a state of tension by the “Intention” of the disciple, started in step 1.
We have a point of tension in the Mental envelope. Below this, we have creative imagination in the Emotional envelope. This creative energy is at the highest levels possible to be found on Plane-48. This energy needs to be drawn up into a relationship with the energy, which remember is substance as well, held in the ring-pass-not in the Mental envelope. This happens through the process of “Visualisation” and the tension of the substance on the metal plane becomes more potent. What determines the strength and beauty of the Rainbow Bridge is largely dependent on the clarity of the visualisation process in the envelope below. It can be summarised that Visualisation is a process whereby creative imagination is rendered active and becomes responsive to and attracted by the point of tension created on the mental plane.
Where have we got to so far? We have the disciple occupied with two energies so far. One is quiescent and held within a ring-pass-not. This energy is at a point of extreme tension. The other energy is active, picture-forming, outgoing and responsive to the mind of the bridge-builder. It was mentioned earlier that there was a need for the services of the Emotional envelope if the disciple wished to proceed further along its evolutionary path. Note here that the second aspect of the Divine Trinity is the form-building aspect and by the Law of Analogy, it is the second aspect of the personality, the emotional body and the second aspect of the Spiritual Triad, which are becoming creatively active. This also happens to be the second stage of the process of building the Antahkarana. Do you see the numerical significance here? The disciple has to work slowly and methodically, picturing the eventual outcome and why the process is happening in the first place. The disciple needs to be aware of all the stages that need to be completed and what the results of this work are going to be. There has to also be an appreciation of the materials that need to be used in the construction process. This is why a “cartoon” is sketched out first. Visualisation envisages the whole process and it is by this means that a rapport is set up between the Unity envelope (46) and the Emotional envelope (48).
Where have we got to so far? We have the impression of the Unity envelope (46) on the Emotional envelope (48). We have tension created in the ring-pas-not, in the mental (47) envelope. This is where the energy/substance is held and is the point of projection of the to-be-constructed Antahkarana. We have engaged the creative processes of the emotional envelope. These are three processes going on simultaneously. When the disciple has trained themselves to be consciously aware of these processes, they go ahead almost automatically. This is the power of visualisation and what it brings to the party. A current of force is set up between the Unity (46) and Emotional (48) envelopes. To get from the Unity (46) to the Emotional (48) envelope, the current has to pass through the Mental envelope (47). It is here that the reservoir of force is held. The current passing through it produces an interior activity in the ring-pass-not and an organisation of the substance present. This steadily builds in potency until a third stage is reached and the work passes out of the phase of subjectivity into that of object reality. This objectivity is viewed from the point of the monad.
That is quite enough for today. Ponder what has been discussed. It is significant and lies at the heart of the whole process of bridge construction. The paint has been mixed. The cartoon has been drawn, so a blueprint has been fashioned that reveals the final end product. A current is now circulating through three adjacent envelopes. It appears on the triad diagram that there is a short-circuit from the Unity envelope (46), through the Mental envelope (47:4-7), to the Emotional envelope (48). This is not the case. Remember, the Causal Envelope (47:1-3) is just an extension of the mental envelope and this whole process of bridge construction is about uniting the two halves of this envelope so that they function as a single unit and allow the monad to move its focus into the 2nd triad structure. We are now ready to move onto step 3, this stage is known as “Projection”. See you at the next presentation.
Hi Kazim – trying to keep up with the meaning and application of each lesson as they build towards a composition is not an idle activity, e.g., an outing to a Saturday matinee. It’s a whole-being workout!
I felt the other day, after the usual esoteric study, like a kid catching a peek through a knothole in a boarded fence at a ballgame. I know there is wonderful action happening; however, the full impact is not being registered. This is not a complaint, but an observation of the process, much like that of an athlete in training. I am not in a hurry to Buddhahood, however, knowing that I am an immortal monad makes the training bearable. But I must say, the cake recipe is quite daunting. Mixed metaphors?
Imagine discussing with the checkout person at the market about the energy reservoir of the ring-pass-not… If only!
Today I read a random section from the Lars material, which seemed to fit my mood perfectly, my slight slacking in spiritual intensity. It had to do with the aspirant’s conviction that they were not the evolutionary envelopes. Yes, that notion is certainly a certainty. To be kicked out of the customary status of mundane comforts, knowing they no longer do the trick, one is left in a predicament. The Garden of Eden story, right? Can’t go back, and the road ahead is rocky; perhaps some black magicians are lying in the bushes with dark intentions, or something less dramatic. The only solution is forward!
I can see why there are warnings given to aspirants about imprudent spiritual practices. Insanity? I used to doubt it was a possibility before; not so much now. Dark night of the soul?
Balance, humility, humor, and prayer are great tools – I try to keep them in good repair. And not to be in a hurry to win some fool’s race. So, thanks for your content, nothing like it that I’ve found. Peace! -william
Hi William
Once you decide to actively tread the path, the coursework” can seem daunting. However, Nothing worthwhile comes easily. I feel there is no rush to get anywhere. If you things because you think you should be doing it, you will fail. How many people go vegetarian because they think it is good for the planet, their social credibility or some other external factor? When the time is right, everyone will go vegetarian. If you seek meat substitutes, you are being performative. The same goes for walking the Path. When you are ready, there is no other path to walk and travelling along it is a joy.
The Garden of Eden is a metaphor that people misread continuously. From a Hylozoic perspective, the Garden of Eden is best read as a symbol of humanity’s original state of living unity with nature, spirit, and divine life—not a lost real estate location. It points to an inner condition of consciousness in which human beings are still integrated with the whole, before self-separation, fragmentation, and moral dualism dominate experience.
In this reading, Eden represents an evolving relationship between the human and the divine order, not a static paradise that was simply “lost”. The garden is a living image of nature as spiritually meaningful, where growth, participation, and transformation are central themes rather than punishment or exile alone. The two trees symbolize a deeper polarity in consciousness: life in unity versus knowledge grasped through separative self-awareness.
Hylozoic thought treats reality as alive and permeated by meaning, so Eden becomes a metaphor for the soul’s original participation in a living cosmos. The “fall” then signifies not merely disobedience, but the shift into a more divided mode of awareness in which humans experience themselves as separate from the living whole. Read this way, the story is about consciousness, relationship, and return—not just a historical eviction from a garden.
The spiritual point is not nostalgia for a vanished place, but recovery of a more integrated way of being: attentive, participatory, and in harmony with life’s deeper order. Eden thus functions as a map of human potential, showing what it means to move from separation toward wholeness.
The dark night of the soul is a completely different story. From a hylozoic perspective, the dark night of the soul is an inner crisis in which the first self loses its usual emotional and mental supports so that consciousness can move beyond its old identity toward a higher mode of being. In Laurency’s hylozoics, the self is not identical with its envelopes or reactions; it is a monad that develops through successive layers of consciousness, and growth often means detaching from the lower ones.
Hylozoics treats reality as living matter, with consciousness as something present in and through matter rather than separate from it. In that framework, a dark night is not a random breakdown but a phase where the lower envelopes of the person, especially emotional and mental, become unreliable because they are no longer sufficient for further development.
Subjectively, this can feel like emptiness, disorientation, loss of meaning, and the collapse of old beliefs or identities, which matches broader descriptions of the dark night as a stripping-away process. Hylozoically, that distress is interpreted as a necessary loosening of identification with the first self, not as the destruction of the real self.
The purpose is integration and ascent: the monad learns to express consciousness more independently of the lower envelopes and gradually aligns with a more stable, higher selfhood. So the dark night is best understood as a transitional purification in which what is false or too narrow falls away, making room for clearer consciousness and a wider horizon of life.
In simple terms, hylozoics would say the dark night happens when your old way of being can no longer carry your development. It feels like loss, but it is really a forced reorganisation of consciousness toward a more enduring self. It should be pointed out that the monad feels this “Dark Night” most intensely when it transitions from the 4th to the 5th Kingdom of Nature and becomes a 46-Self.
Thank you Kazim – I suppose there is latent esoteric knowing of some sort in my past. Otherwise I would be involved in something else. I have read a bit of Laurency and Lars, and viewed a good portion of your coursework – a newbie! But there is much joy – and after reading the chapter from The Way of Man, describing an approaching aspirant, much sober thought sprouted. Lifetimes!
Your thorough light on the meaning of the Garden of Eden is refreshing, if I may use that term. I will reread it several times.
I’ve read recently from Laurency, that the seeker brings much baggage to the path of truth. He says it takes at least 2 years of dedicated study to get a basic understanding. And understanding is not a guarantee. Study and application – I’m giving it a heartfelt go.
Fortunately, there is more joy than daunt-ing. But there is plenty of the latter to be sure! The more reading, the better I feel inside, knowing a whole world, a universe is available for those willing in the earnest. An opportunity to receive Truth, that is worth all effort and all dark evenings!
There is no going back… perhaps there is much going forward. Peace! -william
I agree, William. There is no point in going back. We always have the option of standing still, and many people choose to do just that. Going forward carries risks, but so does farting! Has that ever stopped anyone?