Man’s Higher Consciousness

by Hilton Hotema

  In the ancient Egyptian Mysteries man’s symbol was the Cube unfolding, and Six becoming Seven, or the Three crossways (female) and Four vertical (male). The Mysteries used the interlaced triangles, of the Six Pointed Star, as a symbol of generation, the union of fire and water, the male and female.

  The four phases or planes extending from God to Man were termed the Etheric Body by the Egyptian Masters.

  Flowing from the Godhead, each phase of the Etheric Body serves as a vehicle for the one next above, which order enables the Spirit to function on all planes. As the phases of the Etheric Body reach the limit of descent, as in the case of the dense physical body, it is via the last phase in the line.

  Nothing can reach the various planes, from the highest to the lowest, except from the plane next above. As the Etheric, in its four phases, is the one next above, all changes of the chemical body take place through the Etheric.

  Man’s physical or chemical body and his vitality are not derived from what he eats, but from the Etheric Body that flows from the Godhead, or Spiritual Sun, as the Ancient Masters called it. They did not worship the Sun as God, but as God’s primary representative.

  Man’s chemical body consists of three subdivisions, viz., solids, liquids, and gases.

  FOUR COSMIC BODIES

  The next higher and less dense body, as we ascend toward the Godhead, are the etheric planes, divided as to density into four phases as stated, each having a different function, and all reflected to the chemical body of man.

  Counting the phases from above downward as No. 1, and the lowermost next to the dense chemical body as No. 4, this fourth phase of the Etheric is known as the Chemical Ether. Through it operates the force that causes the animation and function of the dense chemical body.

  The third phase is the Life Ether. It controls the maintenance of the dense chemical body, and also the function of generation or propagation.

  The second phase from above is the Light Ether. It elaborates the blood in man and beast, and the fluids and coloring matter of vegetables.

  The first phase from above is the Reflection Ether. It is the medium through which Thought makes its impression on the brain. It reflects the Mind and records the Thought Pictures permanently from its corresponding subplane of the higher realms. Without the Reflection Ether, Mind and Memory would be absent.

  These four Etheric Planes, referred to often in the biblical allegories, constitute the Etheric or Infinite Body, from which vitality and substance flow to the dense chemical body of man.

  Ancient Science termed these four planes the Guardian Angels. They were symbolized as the Cherubim (Gen. 3:24). They are the four beasts of Daniel, and referred to in the Ezekiel as the Man, the Bull, the Lion, and the Eagle. Occult science lists them as the chemical, the etheric, the astral, and the mental planes.

  The Creative Circle appears in a drop of water, and the transformative processes that make cosmic substance visible in the form of water, ice, snow, steam, stone, are the same that make Man.

  Vibration alone determines the visibility and invisibility of substance. The radio intensifies the rate of vibration until we can contact radiations that are otherwise beyond the reach of our sense of hearing.

  As we vibrate so we five. Our rate of vibration determines the scope of our consciousness. As we become able to increase our rate of vibration, we extend our scope of consciousness. How that is accomplished we explain in the course IMMORTALISM.

  It is a limitation of consciousness in man that creates illusions which are not recognized by him as such. Otherwise he would know that Man is the image of God in Spirit, and that he exists in infinite space and time.

  Man was never created as that term is understood and as theology teaches. Man always was, and he always will be.

  Man is that part of Creation in which appears a complete microcosm. Man is a microcosm of the Macrocosm. All is in man as occultism asserts. He is formed on that pattern which exists in the Spiritual Realm, and that pattern is the Godhead.

  Man is the physical instrument through which God is apparent, manifest, revealed on the visible plane.

  RISE ABOVE THE MATERIAL

  We rise above the material level in our mind. As we learn more of the real Life, we cease to identify our self with our physical body and our material surroundings, and direct our thoughts to the Eternal which lies beyond the temporal.

  When the ethics of modern science require that everything must be considered and explained by a physical theory as physical scientists feel hidebound to do, instead of recognizing and considering the higher forces of Life, psychical and spiritual, we would be better off to remain ignorant.

  If we reject the Real, confine ourselves to the realm of illusion, and limit our vision and knowledge to the physical aspect of being, as modern science does, and judge all things from the basis of material experience, then we can never reach a clear conception of the higher realms of Life. For the result of searching for a physical theory will produce nothing but chaos and confusion, such as that which prevails at present in modern science.

  It may be correctly considered as a Resurrection of sleeping man when the Light of Knowledge based on Truth penetrates his foggy Mind and thus raises him up from the Grave of Materiality and Ignorance.

  PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY

  Ancient Arcane Science held that man contains within himself all the universes, systems, planets and globes. He is the microcosm of the macrocosm, partaking of all life. He is constituted to correspond with the visible and invisible world, the spiritual and the terrestrial, the eternal and the temporal.

  This man, this superior living being, medical art and modern science regard as a purely physical entity, and have twisted practically every fact of existence in the attempt to reduce man to the low level of physics and chemistry. Modern science stubbornly refuses to accept the doctrine of a Principle of Life and of Intelligence.

  Carrel discovered enough in his work with the living organism to realize that man is much more than a physical entity. He wrote:

  “The illusions of the mechanists (and physicians) of the 19th century, the dogmas of Jacques Loeb, and the childish physico-chemical conceptions of human beings, in which...physiologists and physicians still believe, have to be definitely abandoned” (P. 108).

  That would mean the abandonment of all medical theories and writings as to man and of the treatment of his maladies.

  INTELLIGENCE

  Carrel worked hard and twisted many statements in his attempt to support the theory of science that “the world is composed of blind and unknown forces.”

  He made that statement on page 16 of his Man The Unknown, and then on page 121 he said, “the existence of Intelligence is a primary datum of observation.”

  These statements definitely conflict; and when two statements do not agree, it is certain that one is erroneous.

  Carrel made the first one to support the theory of “medical science,” while the next is an admission of fact that was forced upon him by his own positive findings.

  His conflicting statements concerning the basic principles of Life and Living lessen the value of his work and reveal the distorted condition of his mind, which is the common result of medical training.

  Sound and certain conclusions are reached only by rigid consistency of thought, which demands that we proceed in our processes in a direct and undeviating course through infinite time to infinite results.

  If there is definite evidence of the existence of a Principle of Cosmic Intelligence so patent as to be a primary datum of observation, then the world is not composed of blind and unknown forces. In regard to the Cosmic Principle of Intelligence existing, Carrel said:

  “The body perceives the remote as well as the near, the future as well as the present” (P. 197).

  “An organ is engendered by cells which, to all appearances, have a knowledge of the future edifice (structure) (P. 108).

  “The innate knowledge of the part they (the cells) must play in the whole
(body) is a mode of being of all the elements of the body” (P. 107).

  “The cells (of the body) seem to remember their original unity, even when they have become the elements of an innumerable multitude. They know spontaneously the functions attributed to them in the organized whole” (P. 106).

  “Individual cells appear to act in the interest of the whole, just as bees work for the good of the hive. They seem to know the future; and they prepare for this future by anticipated changes of their structure and functions” (P. 226).

  “Cells (of the body) are like bees erecting their geometrical alveoli, synthetizing honey, feeding their embryos, as though each one of them understood mathematics, chemistry and biology, and unselfishly acted for the interest of the entire community” (P. 107).

  A world in which its parts so definitely exhibit their patent and uncanny powers is far from being “composed of blind and unknown forces.”

  When Carrel made that statement, he meant that the world is devoid of Intelligence. Then he proceeds to show that his statement was erroneous by declaring that a definite Intelligence appears in the operation of every part of the body, down to the invisible cell.

  A force is neither blind nor unknown when its work is so obvious and orderly as to be a datum of observation. In that case the mysterious, invisible force may be clearly seen in the mind, being understood by what it produces and the kind of work it does (Rom. 1:20).

  To hold that such Force is blind and unknown is self-imposed ignorance. In this case, it is a position taken in order to avoid the necessity of acknowledging the existence of a Supreme Principle of Existence.

  Professor W. F. G. Swann, director of the Bartol Research Foundation, recognized the existence of Cosmic Law and Order, and said,

  “Viewing the Universe as a whole, I cannot escape the fact that it is of intelligent design.”

  It seems inconceivable that scientists deny the existence of Supreme Intelligence and then declare that “the Universe is orderly, understandable, and of intelligent design.”

  FOURTH DIMENSION

  The Spiritual Power of the Cosmos seems to be Omniscient. As one scientist expressed it: Every part of the Universe acts as if aware of what is going on in every other part.

  Einstein’s theories, now generally accepted in principle, indicate that the Cosmos does not operate according to purely mechanical laws. It appears to act according to the power of One Omniscient Mind.

  The mechanical, materialistic theory of science as to the Universe, depicted it in three dimensions—length, width and height.

  Our minds and words are unable to picture four or more dimensions. The law of relativity and kindred theories now show that the Cosmos cannot be limited to three dimensions. Four dimensions, sometimes seven, are required in the mathematical calculations of scientists.

  This kind of mathematics was formerly considered an abstraction—a plaything for mathematicians, having no application to the Universe. Now it is found to be the Law of the Governing Mind by which the Universe and all its parts are directed.

  We learn that space and time are not what they seem. All materialistic conceptions are erroneous. Words have not yet been invented that can describe the actual facts of existence. That is why recent discoveries can be understood only by advanced mathematicians and cannot be explained to others.

  The average layman can know only that time and space, man and the Cosmos, as we know them by our five physical senses, are illusions.

  One noted astronomer wrote that all objects “exist in the Mind of an Eternal Being.” Then we are simply atoms in the Mind of that Being, and, like the atom, simply a center, somewhat more elaborate, of His thoughts.

  Scientific discoveries are bringing us back to the doctrine of the Ancient Masters, that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God....And the Word was made flesh” and the flesh was man, made in the spiritual image of God and so described in the ancient scriptures.

  That is all there is. That is all that remains of man and every material object when traced by science to ultimates. As we trace material substance to its origin, it fades and vanishes into the Great Invisible World.

  Modern scientists and evolutionists and medical doctors are definitely atheistic. They had rather grope in darkness and self-imposed ignorance than acknowledge their error by recognizing the existence of a Supreme Principle of Life and Intelligence.

  Having denied the existence of God and declared that the Spiritual World of the Ancient Masters is gross superstition, they have no alternative but to assume that the world is composed of blind and unknown forces.

  SO-CALLED LAW OF GRAVITATION

  Opinion and presumption are not science. At best they are only theory. Yet men of relatively little knowledge accept the theories, opinions and presumptions of greater men as though they were established laws, when they have already been discarded by the scientists who first suggested them.

  A typical case of this kind appears in the so-called Law of Gravitation.

  Oil poured into water floats on the surface; poured into alcohol, it sinks. In a mixture of the right proportions of water and alcohol, the oil remains in the middle of the liquid and assumes the form of a perfect sphere, the size of an apple or so, if the quantity of oil is sufficient.

  Such a simple experiment shows that the Newtonian theory of gravitation does not apply in the least, but that the principle of buoyance must predominate, as we can also see if we study colloidal chemistry and emulsions. Smoke is a colloidal suspension, only possible by a buoyant force.

  Modern science considers the so-called law of gravitation as an established fact, and thus applies the law to its work, as a result of which it encounters many difficulties and much confusion.

  The so-called law of gravitation was stated by Newton in his book published in 1687. The real formulation of the law is as follows:

  “There are observed phenomena between two bodies in space that can be described as “presuming that two bodies attract each other with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance separating them.”

  The formation of the law as recognized by modern science is as follows:

  “Two bodies attract each other with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distances separating them.”

  In the second formation, as recognized by modern science, the fact is conveniently and entirely forgotten that the force of attraction is merely a fictitious quantity accepted only for a description of phenomena.

  In his text-book of Physics, Professor Chwolson wrote:

  “The tremendous development of celestial mechanics, based entirely on the law of universal gravitation taken as a fact, made scientists forget the purely descriptive character of this law, and see in it the final formulation of an actually existent physical phenomenon” (Vol. I, P. 182).

  And thus it goes with Science. Newton never established the matter as a fact that bodies are actually attracted by one another, nor did he establish the reason why they are attracted or through the mediation of what.

  One student asks, “How can the sun influence the motion of the earth through the void of space?” “How in general is it possible to conceive action through empty space?”

  The so-called law of gravitation does not give an answer to these questions, and Newton himself was well aware of that fact. He and his contemporaries, Huygens and Leibnitz, gave warning against attempts to see in Newton’s theory the solution of the problem of action through empty space, and regarded this theory merely as a formula for calculation.

  In the first half of the 19th century the idea of action at a distance reigned supreme in science. Faraday was the first to point out the impossibility of the admission that a body should, without mediation, excite forces and produce motion to a point where that body is not situated. Leaving aside the question of universal gravitation, he turned
special attention to the magnetic and electric phenomena and pointed out the supremely important part played in these phenomena by the intervening medium which fills the space between the bodies that appear to act upon one another without mediation.

  We have discussed this matter somewhat at length to show the student that even the so-called law of gravitation, recognized by modern science as positive and definite, is nothing more than a presumption, a fictitious quantity, advanced by Newton only for a convenient description of phenomena.

  END OF CREATION THEORY

  Darwin’s work put an end to the unsound theory of creation according to modern theology. But he merely reverted to the doctrine of ancient philosophy. The Ancient Masters held that “man is related to the animal.”

  These Masters said that man sums up and crowns the series of beings, reveals all the divine thought in the harmony of his organism and the perfection of his form. For he is the living image of the Universal Soul or active Intelligence.

  Consolidating all the laws of evolution of the whole of Nature in his own body, man dominates and rises above physical nature, in order to enter freely and in full consciousness into the boundless kingdom of Spirit.

  Experimental psychology, which is grounded in physiology, has shown a tendency to become a science again, as in the days of the Ancient Masters. It has brought contemporary scientists to the threshold of another world, the Spiritual World, in which spiritual laws hold sway, but without the analogies ceasing to hold good.

  We are hearing the mention of medical investigations and discoveries of animal magnetism, somnambulism, and all the various mental states of the sub-conscious self from lucid sleep through double vision on to a state of trance.

  So far modern science has been merely feeling its way into this mysterious domain, where Ancient Science went straight for the goal because it possessed the necessary principles and interpretations.