The soul is essentially three-fold. It is consciousness, being, and will. These are the three aspects of a soul, which is a micro-reflection of the One Being (of Consciousness and Will). Mostly the soul is understood as being. We say that we have a soul, or a soul is in us; which are ways of speaking about our soul as a being, and this being has qualities of character, the qualities of our soul-ness. Yet the soul also is a power of consciousness and will; so we can also speak about the soul as an individualized consciousness or also as an individualized will. We could say that a soul has consciousness or has will; but we could also say that a soul is consciousness and is will. There is no point in quibbling over these minor semantics, because both perspectives are right in their own sense. It is easiest to simply understand that the soul is three-fold combination of all these. And in turn, each of these aspects are discussed because each are important to understand.
Putting all of these into one unitive description, the soul is a spiritual substance with purposeful consciousness, which is a partial substance of the whole Universal Substance, or whole Being of Absolute Consciousness. Thus, the soul is an independent being, or spirit, within the One Great Being Spirit. It has a certain boundary and limitation, in relation to the Greater Whole, but it is still pervaded by and reflective of the Whole. Each soul is actually inter-related with all other souls, since the Universal is pervading through all. Thus, each soul is both independent and inter-related.
The soul is a being, a presence, a cohesive substance of spiritual light, consciousness. And each soul-being is more or less expansive, in relation to the infinite Universal Being. That is, there are very expansive souls and less expansive souls.
Each soul-being exists within a greater soul-being, its 'Over-soul', which again exists within an even greater Over-soul. This is forms the hierarchy of souls, whereby each soul exists within a greater Soul, and in turn, that Soul exists within an even Greater Soul, and so this goes on in an ever expansive way; while all souls exist within the One Being of God. The esoteric journey of each soul is an expansion into its greater soul, its Over-soul -- which can also be understood as a soul's greater being, as yet realized. The Over-soul is like the greater potential of a soul. The Over-soul is the greater consciousness and being of a soul, which that soul would be if it were to expand or discover more of its true nature. This Over-soul is itself an existing soul within the greater hierarchy of Being, and it is an 'Over-soul' only in relation to those souls coming into its lighted being. For otherwise, this over-soul as well has the One above it, within whom it has its being.
In mystical religious terms, the soul is a limited reflection of God, or a partiality of God' s Being Consciousness, and the soul's journey is to expand into the God-consciousness and discover more of its pervading spiritual Essence. To truly know thyself is to truly know thy God; for in essence there is only God. But since God is the infinite Being-substance and Universal Consciousness, the soul-journey is relatively infinite. Or we might say, there is infinite potential within each soul: a potentially infinite consciousness, a potentially infinite pervading presence or being, and a potentially infinite creative power. So as the soul journeys more and more into God consciousness and being, it is becoming evermore expansive within the Total Whole. But there are stages along this journey, stages that might take awhile to progress through and onto the next level of expansion. These stages are the levels of hierarchy.
The journey is through God and toward God, yet it is also through the hierarchy of souls and Over-souls. Each step of expansion is into the soul's Over-soul, and this Over-soul can be thought of as the higher self or guiding presence of that soul. The present state of expansive and inclusive consciousness is the soul, while the future or next potential state of expansive consciousness is the Over-soul.
The Over-soul can also be known as one's Group-soul or Group-consciousness, because each soul is intimately related within a collective group of souls, thus being part of a collective group which is sometimes called an 'ashram' of souls, with the Master being the whole Group-consciousness or Group-unity. The Master, or Guiding Light, is the Over-soul or Self-potential for all those in this group. The Over-soul, the Master, the Soul-guide, is the next leap, as it were, on the spiritual journey toward absolute and universal Consciousness. This next leap of realization and expanded soul-being is already a living potential or reality, but as-yet unrealized by the present state of the soul.
Consciousness is a knowing, a gnosis. It is pure knowing. But more precisely, consciousness is the expansive and pervasive light which makes possible immediate knowing or direct intuition. It is not exactly the form of knowing, or the knowledge, or the thoughts, the feelings or the experiences. But rather, it is that which pervades and makes possible this knowing or this experience. It is the knower, the experiencer. It is the real essential you, the one in which this experience and knowing has purpose.
The light of consciousness pervades all experience, and without any consciousness this life, as we know it, would be not, since life as we know it depends on experience and thus consciousness . Having no consciousness, or having absolute un-consciousness, would mean no experience. Total unconsciousness, like being forever asleep, even without dreams, is equivalent to no-self. One can imagine everything in the mind being emptied or newly fresh, and one can imagine living life in a different body, but one can never imagine 'being oneself' without any consciousness. If you are a yogi or deep meditator, you might experience being just-consciousness without a body or even without thoughts, but you could not 'experience beingness' without any consciousness. Experience is impossible without consciousness, and what would be the point of an un-experienced enlightenment? So a complete end of consciousness is the complete end of you. Thus, any meaningful purpose of this universe is unintelligible without consciousness.
Without consciousness there is no experience, of oneself or of the world. So, consciousness is truly the fundamental essence of who we are and it is the necessary prerequisite for any experience, any thinking, any feeling and any sensation. If your material body were to remain alive while you were completely unconscious and undreaming, then what would life be? Who are you if there is no consciousness? Without consciousness, what use is this material body? Just this material body is surely not 'you', since if 'your consciousness' were always to be asleep or dead, even if your material body were to remain alive, 'you' would care not about this body. You would cease to be. So consciousness is your essence, and consciousness is the necessary essence of all knowing and all knowledge, just as light is the necessary essence of all seeing. Without light there cannot be seeing. Without consciousness there cannot be experience. Sure, things can still occur, events can still happen, but what meaning or purpose would exist if there were no consciousness of these things and events?
Nothing but consciousness stands out so clearly as the very essence of oneself. One could imagine waking up one morning with a different body, different patterns of emotions, and maybe even different beliefs, and yet here is this same consciousness, this same I, the experiencer, ever ready to take on a new day, discover new things, find some interest or work to do, or simply enjoy this given life.
Consciousness exists, both universally and individually. Universally, it is a pervading essence of the universe and of everything. In this sense, consciousness is everywhere. So we capitalize this as Consciousness, and this also means the Divine Consciousness. Yet consciousness can also be individual. It can be localized and have a center, as it were. It is still the universal essence Consciousness, but in this individual mode there is a plurality of consciousness', and each individual consciousness exists as an individual light-body. So there are these two modes, one being a universal energy-substance and the other being individual energy-bodies. Thus, we can speak of consciousness either as a substance or as a 'body'.
We say the soul is three-fold in its nature, but this is only in relation to our mental comprehension and the soul's functioning powers in the three bodies or in the world of experience. The soul in-itself is essentially one unitive reality. It would seem most correct to describe the soul as an individualized consciousness, but then it must be recognized, as well, that this consciousness has creative power and also is a 'living substance', or beingness, which gives it a permanent body within universal space. If we say that the soul is essentially consciousness, which is generally true, then we also need to acknowledge that consciousness is a coherent substance, something very real within the universal space-time continuum. It is as real as matter, or material substance. It is an energy-substance, much like physical light but not the same, and it cohesively sustains itself and pervades spaces like light.
We might picture a body of light, or a definable area where there is a certain light, and this will help one comprehend the soul as a light-substance body. This soul-body, composed of spiritual light-substance, or consciousness, has a continuance in the space-time continuum, even if it has no definite connection with a mental body or personal life. We say the soul exists within the dimension of souls, which is the dimension of consciousness, and this dimension pervades spaces even if undetected by physical senses or instruments. Remember that matter was once thought to be composed of solid and solidly compacted particles, but now we accept that material atoms are mostly spaces, so we could say that there is a lot of inner space to pervade.
Your consciousness is an individual light-body within the Universal consciousness energy. This is your soul. And it is this individual soul-body of consciousness that pervades your experience in the mental, emotional and physical spheres. Consciousness, and conscious experience, is not simply an effect of brain activity. It is not a phenomena without energy or substance in itself. Rather, it is substance-like, but of a different frequency and 'form'. As well, it is a cohesive living being, like the physical or personal body, but not physically dependent and materially solid. Once we comprehend our consciousness as a 'living being', as a 'substantial body', or 'energy-field' of light, then we are closer to knowing the reality of the soul as a being-of-consciousness. Soul-consciousness is a clear consciousness of one's pure being, the absolute knowing of who I am, the essential being, independent of thought, emotion or physical senses. In this soul experience, there is consciousness, being, and creative expressive power.
In essence there is only one consciousness, for consciousness is a form of universal energy. But we say that a soul is 'a' consciousness because this is a partiality or a limited expansiveness of the one infinite consciousness. It is this fact that this consciousness has some limitation or boundary that we say it is 'part of' and not the whole of universal consciousness. Being a 'part', or partiality, or limited expansion, of the infinite whole, means that this consciousness is a sort of 'body', a body of light or consciousness. This soul-body is composed of light substance, the same as spiritual consciousness, which is the same as the essential spiritual energy. And like light in the physical world, this spiritual light has a certain intensity or strength of illumination' and it has a certain expansiveness which is limited by its strength or power. In effect, this spiritual light, or consciousness, only spreads out so far, becoming dimmer at the periphery of its 'body', until finally it is all but not, and because of this expansive limitation we say the soul-body has a certain boundary, though the possibility always remains for it to expand or contract. It's expansion is called soul-expansion.
This soul-body of consciousness is a light-substance, though not of the lower frequency as physical light detectable by physical instruments. And being an energy or 'substance', the soul can only expand by an increase in energy. This increase in energy comes from a transmutation of lower energies into the higher form of energy which composes the soul. These needed energies come from the three bodies, the 'lower bodies', or essentially from the 'lower worlds' of mental, emotional and vital-physical energies. These lower bodies or lower worlds were originally created from transformed spiritual light, from 'higher energies', essentially created from the One infinite frequency of spiritual energy transformed into lower energy frequencies and fragments of the One substantial Being. Thus, the transmuted energy is like a return toward the original higher energy. We conveniently use the term 'transmutation', rather than the general scientific term of 'transformation', to distinguish the direction from lower to higher, while reserving the term 'transformation' for describing the direction from higher to lower.
All these energies are, of course, the same essential universal energy but range in different frequencies and 'quantum forms' which we relatively distinguish as higher and lower. The higher the form or energy, the more extensive is its creative effect. The lower the form or energy, the more limited and localized is the creative effect. The 'creative effect' is the effect of any energy on lower forms. This effect is limited by the creative power from the level above and also limited by the potential conditions of the affected lower form. This is a fundamental law governing all creation. Appropriate words are difficult to find, so the student must rely on their intuitive intelligence.
The soul is a substantial being with creative power. Or it could be said that consciousness is a living presence with creative power. This power is creative, or effective; in relation to itself, to other souls, and in the three creative spheres of life. So, the soul is creative in three ways. It will also be seen that the soul has a three-fold power, which we describe as a power to expand through the universal consciousness, a power to manifest through the three bodies and three spheres, and a power to communicate with other souls and other 'light bodies'.
The power to expand is through the transmutation of energies. Transmuted lower energies from the three spheres feed the soul-energy, strengthening the soul-substance or soul-consciousness, and by these energies the soul expands and becomes more universal. The transmuted energies provide the power-of-sustenance, the sustaining power-to-be a permanent soul-consciousness. Besides the soul's power to transmute energies from the lower three spheres for its own sustained being and expansion, the soul also has the power to transmute its own energy-substance, thus creating a higher energy form of soul-consciousness. This the soul can accomplish by a certain type of meditative work, via the mental body and transmuted lower energies. This can be accomplished only after the mental body and soul-consciousness have effectively fused together, whereby the individual mind is capable of sustaining the greater intensity of higher energy or light. An esoteric law is that soul expansion actually requires a mental instrument which provides both extra needed energies and a 'reflective ground' for the increase in soul energy-frequency.
Of practical importance, the mental body or mind must be pure and under the control of soul-consciousness. Essentially, the mind must be completely infused with the light of soul. Then, from this sustained consciousness, the soul intentionally sacrifices itself, sacrifices its boundaries of individuality or I-ness, which is self-transmutation. This is a 'giving up' of the present individual consciousness, the present body-of-light, to be assimilated by the greater unitive consciousness, the greater universal mind, the Master or Over-soul. Essentially, this is a sacrifice of self-consciousness to the Universal, Absolute God-mind. Or rather, it is one sacrificial leap in that infinite direction. But although we call this a sacrifice of the present self-consciousness, the outcome, or what remains from this sacrifice, is not a death to consciousness, not an unconsciousness. Instead, the soul-consciousness finds itself to be more expansive, more universal. It has come to be what was previously beyond its limitations.
Some teachings have called this an ascension to a 'higher station', and it should be remembered that this new station or level of soul-consciousness is very often just temporary and insightful, for this higher level or frequency cannot be permanently sustained by the mental body or through the personal life. Yet, at least a greater connection has been made, whereby higher energies spontaneously transform the lower bodies and make them more capable of reflecting the higher. So, even though a higher station has been 'contacted', or temporarily brought into being, there is a gradual work of more permanently sustaining this in our mental experience, and allowing this to transform the whole personal experience and active life. This would mean a more permanent wider consciousness and spiritual power in the three spheres.
Also, to sustain this higher consciousness, and become more permanent in it, there needs to be an increased degree of transmuted energies, over time, from the three bodies. This gradual, practical work is, essentially, a sustained meditative reflection within the highest, most expanded and most inclusive consciousness, a reflective understanding in the mind, a reflective feeling in the emotional heart-centre, and reflective creativity in the physical world. By allowing and reflecting this greater consciousness into the three personal bodies and three planetary spheres, a widening spiritual connection is made, and more energies can be transmuted for the 'sustained conscious being' at this new soul-level. With the general outline of this science and practical work, it is hoped that you will begin to experience all this first hand and thus be guided by your own spiritual wisdom. The power of our soul working through our mind
The other creative power of the soul is directly to do with the three bodies and also the three spheres of life. Soul-consciousness has the power to pervade and be active through the three bodies and also be effective in the three spheres. As the soul grows stronger in its energy-substance, it is more capable of pervading, or sustaining its presence, through the bodies, especially through the mind. This creates a greater or more pure reflection of soul-truth and soul-qualities, in the personal life and thus into the world. The soul powerfully reflects itself in the bodies, though this is a gradual process because of limitations and obstacles present in these bodies and because the transformation of lower energies takes time and sustained effort. We call this a creative process of soul-expression, through the three bodies and three planetary spheres.
Soul first works through the mind, or 'mental body'. Through the mind, the soul reflects upon its inherent truth and qualities of being, as well as reflecting upon the universal reality, or truth of the pervading universal Being, including the principle facts and purposes of the One Great Spirit. The universal ideas and ideals become known, through this spiritual light reflecting in the personal mind. So, begin reflecting upon the universal Being, which already pervades the primary essence of mind. This reflection is greater or lesser, depending on the ability of the mental body and the limited consciousness of the soul. Reflect upon the essence of yourself, the essence of your conscious being, and let the mind understand the essential truths and qualities of your pure being, an understanding which requires the subtle formation of intelligent thoughts and symbols to reflect this soul-intuition or gnosis.
We can draw a useful distinction between soul-intuition (clear gnosis of one's soul) and the mental thought-forms and symbols regarding the soul. Soul intuition is a clear and immediate knowing of who I am. It is a direct experience of the soul's essence or quality. But most of our understanding about the soul will be in mental thought-forms and symbols, which is a representational understanding rather than direct knowing. Yet nonetheless, these thought-forms and symbols are needed to better connect the soul-intuition with our practical mind and social language. Thus, knowledge of soul-truth, spiritual qualities and ideals, is a gradual formulation of 'higher' thoughts and ideas from the intuitive consciousness. The soul-consciousness transforms worn-out and false thought-forms, as well as 'creates' or 'reflects into mental understanding' higher thought-forms, symbols, and ideals.
Spiritual knowledge is higher thought-form, or higher ideas, as comprehended by our soul and then reflected in the mind. We can also understand this as mind reflecting soul knowingness. These spiritual thought-forms, or spiritual knowledge, then become part of the whole planetary mental sphere, or what can be called 'the mind of humanity', which is an evolving human understanding of the Universal Being, of which each mental body is an effected and affective part. This mental sphere, as well as our mental bodies, are composed of thought-forms and 'thinking energy'. These thought-forms can be imagery-symbols, beliefs, ideas, or ideals.
Many of these thoughts, in the mental sphere of humanity, govern and sustain particular emotional desires and patterns, for each emotion within the planetary emotional sphere is partly structured by corresponding thought-forms, by beliefs or ideals. This fact will become clear if you simply notice how every emotion or desire has at least some corresponding belief or ideal, which if eliminated would dis-integrate the emotional reaction. Thus, psychological transformation of emotional patterns will be seen to involve both a safe catharsis of imploded repressed energies and a reasonable conscious reflection on the underlying thought-forms or thought-structure which sustains these patterns and reactions.
Our emotional life can evolve and be refined by this transformative healing work, by gaining insight into the governing thought-forms of one's personality and sensitive life, and by rejecting the validity of these thought-forms when they are seen to be false or stupid from the view of one's greater consciousness or soul-insight. This 'personal work', involving an increase of consciousness in the mental and emotional life, and which should only proceed from some degree of soul-consciousness and a wider view of reason, produces effective transformations in the mental, emotional and even physical structures, and this also helps transform and evolve the planetary spheres more than you would probably think possible. Remember the inter-connection between all the bodies and all the spheres.
One important aspect of the 'self-work to be done' is a conscious viewing, or observation, of our present thoughts and emotions and physical behaviors, which comprise our personality-in-action. This helps to bring consciousness and also self-understanding to our lives, which for the most part tends to be in an automatic mode -- whereby our thoughts, emotions and even behavior tends to be a repetitive pattern, like a repeating computer program working on automatic. It is only when consciousness is added in that our soul has a chance to be present and to bring our soul qualities into running.
This conscious viewing of oneself brings insight into the causes and principles behind the workings of our ordinary experience. It also brings higher conscious energies into the lower forms and creates an opportunity for transmutation and healing. Also, this conscious independent viewing, not being sucked into the usual reactions or patterns, has the power to dissipate worn-out mental and emotional forms, as they arise, thereby releasing mental and emotional energies for the creation of more truthful and beautiful forms. So, this release, or transmutation, of energies can be used for the second aspect of self-work, which is conscious reflection and intentional creation within the mental and emotional bodies.
This is the spiritual work of mentally reflecting upon and comprehending the truths and qualities of one's essential being. This is a building of truth and spiritual knowledge. It is spiritual intuition reflecting in the mental body of thought. It is the transformation of mind into a truer reflection of soul-insight. Within the emotional body, this creative work is an allowing of spiritual qualities to be sustainably felt, via the breath and the heart-centre, and these qualities of our essential-being filter their energies through the whole of the emotional body and finally into the physical realm, thus transforming those bodies. So, this is the creative work of mental reflection, emotional feeling and physical manifestation, as the soul intentionally incarnates and expresses its truth and qualities through the person and into all the worlds, bringing a higher degree of truth, goodness and beauty into the personal life and into the world. Thus, expressing and fulfilling the universal creative purpose.
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(footnote)
The question might arise for philosophers as to why there are different levels or expansions of souls. Why, in the cosmic purpose, are there many souls and not just one unitive Spirit? Why so many fragments of The One? The answer might be that without this existing relation between the many and the One, there would not be any cosmic play or wonder-full journeys of discovery and expansion. And the other answer might be that without this plurality and 'levels of soul-consciousness', there would not be the spontaneous diversity of expression and manifestation in the world of experience, because these different levels of consciousness and creative power naturally produces different kinds of expression and manifestations. A full answer would have to assume, as well, that the Universal Being enjoys a diversity of creativity and the wonderment of soul-journeys, even though some manifestations might produce problems and pain.
Speaking of ultimate cosmological purposes is a vast subject, yet, one might recognize that there is an ultimate creative power and universal consciousness, of which the universe is its creation. But the Oneness is fragmented in this creation, because each part of the universe is limited in its immediate realization of the greater whole and thus may act inharmoniously and without universal conscience, though a greater realization is always possible.
From the view of a metaphysical science, creation is a transformation of the One Pure Spirit, and once the Spirit is transformed into a plurality and diversity of lesser energies or lesser frequencies, these lower forms of energy-substance can begin to act with some degree of independence from the higher or 'Original Will'. Then these forms become affectively influenced by other forms close to their own frequency and surrounding them in space. Various systems or complex-relations of forms sometimes build and sometimes dissolve, and these act as somewhat independent forms in themselves.
Thus, throughout the creation there comes to be various independent forms, within the 'dimension of souls', and within the three spheres of life, as physical, emotional and thought forms, and each of these forms build relations with other forms. In effect, the various parts or portions or relations or levels of the creation can act and maintain themselves with some degree of independence from 'higher influences' or 'original purposes'. Thus, the Universal Consciousness and Creative Will loses Its Unitive Power in this fragmented creation, to varying degrees, and cannot simply control the plurality of manifesting forms, as these various forms enjoy certain degrees of freedom from the Universal Consciousness and Higher Will. Because of this freedom there can be surprise, discovery and spontaneous creative expression, but also because of this freedom there can be unnecessary disharmony, suffering, and divergence from the original spiritual purpose. And because of this freedom there can be voluntary love, cooperation and service, and the joy of an independent journey toward unitive Realization, rather than mere mechanical or predestined love, discovery, expression and realization.
Freedom becomes the essential factor in creative diversity and self-discovery. We can think of freedom as part of the divine plan, that essential part of the plan which negates any possibility of absolute predestination or 'fixed plan', and which also allows for problems and unnecessary disharmonies in the person and in the world. You might also recognize that freedom pervades creation, because all of the essence-qualities of the Universal Creative Being pervades creation and freedom is one of these. You might also recognize that although forms of creation are somewhat independent and free from higher guidances, these same forms are very un-free from their own inertia and often un-free from influences on their own level. In other words, the degree of freedom enjoyed by these forms, or these bodies, very often results in a 'mechanical bondage' and 'self-inflicted inertia'. Thus, the form, or person, must free itself from this bondage by voluntarily opening up to a higher consciousness, or spiritual energy, which can then guide the life. Also, this higher consciousness will be found to be a higher degree of freedom. This is not paradoxical once you grasp this truth by experience.