What Is A Microcosm?

[QUOTING]

An explanation is necessary to show how souls originate; a somewhat doctrinal, scholastic explanation, but you will be able to follow it if you keep in mind the facts you already know.

A soul is really nothing else than a microcosm. As you know, the Gnosis teaches that the Rose of the Heart is the soul-nucleus, the central point of the microcosm. The Rose of the Heart is not some mysterious physical organ, but the mathematical center of the microcosmic sphere. Around this center, around this soul-nucleus, is a field of manifestation, an open space which in turn is enveloped by a sevenfold auric being.

Take an atom, for instance. Every atom contains a nucleus around which various electrons orbit, like planets around a sun.

Similarly, the Microcosmic Atom, too, has a nucleus with a radiation-field, a field of manifestation around which seven 'microcosmic planets' rotate -- the sevenfold auric being. And the personality develops in the open space, the radiation-field around the nucleus of the Microcosmic Atom. The nucleus, or soul, of the microcosm then associates itself with the physical heart of the personality. In this way, we can also speak of the soul of the personality, or the soul which is in the blood, for the radiating power of The Rose not only develops in the heart, but is also manifested in the blood.

All this has often given rise to confusion. An ensouling power is indeed present in our personality. However, it emanates from the nucleus of the microcosm. Hereditary factors, too, play their part in the blood and endocrine system, and all the karma that has been stored up in the microcosm comes to us from the sevenfold auric being.

So the question we now need to answer is: How does a microcosm come into being? Where does it originate?

The microcosm originates from the Fundamental Nature. As we have seen, the Divine Nature comprises a twofold current, a stream of Being and Will, of Desiring and Activity. This stream is not God, but it originates from God.

This twofold, omnipresent, all-encompassing stream of the Fundamental Nature is a mighty, very fiery astral field which fills the entire All. A human-being creates his own astral body by means of his mental activity. When you produce thought-images, these cause certain astral activities to develop in your body. This enkindling gives rise to a sparking in the astral body, with all the result of the retrograde movement.

So perhaps you will be able to understand how the Divine Cognition, which is exterior to The Fundamental Nature, irradiates the mighty astral field of the Fundamental Nature with Its thoughts. In this way, too, life-waves come into existence, they are awakened and brought into manifestation by the Divine Cognition. That is why microcosms are also called Spirit-sparks, or Divine Sparks.

So a microcosm is an astral spark originating from the Fundamental Nature. All of us are therefore linked in the closest possible way with the Fundamental Nature. A microcosm, a Spirit-spark, bears Its characteristics, because that is where the Spark has originated.

Ethers are liberated within the Spark through the desiring and willing of the mother-field, for behind the Spark is the impulsion of the Divine Thought by which the mother-field is enkindled. A life-wave bursts into the All-Manifestation as if in an explosion of astral fire, and every Spark of that fire is irradiated with the Divine Thought. The ethers generated by the Sparks concentrate around the nucleus of the Microcosmic Atom, the Rose, the Soul of the Microcosm.

In the midst of this concentration of ethers a form-manifestation arises, a system of lines-of-force which model themselves into the human form. Through this process the Divine Thought is manifested around the Rose. In this way, the etheric cloud molds itself into a reflection of the Fundamental Idea present in the mother-field. Thus the True, Original Soul-Man, in whom the soul or nucleus of the mother-field is reflected, appears in a glorified etheric form.

Since this process develops in harmonious cohesion with the Spark-igniting Divine Thought, the Divine Thought is also connected with the soul-nucleus and the being of etheric-physical substance. Thus we see how in the pre-human being a complete unity exists between Spirit and soul. On the basis of this state, the living, Adamitic soul can progress to ever higher Good and ultimately become a life-giving Spirit.

We hope all this will have given you some idea of how the microcosm comes into existence and how a human-being is formed from such a microcosm, by a quite different process of birth and maintenance.

It will now be quite easy to imagine how much this glorious, Divine process has been disturbed with respect to nature-born man. For his personality has to be born by means of the earthly process of propagation and brought into connection with an emptied, powerless microcosm. By means of this emergency-order system that we know so well, an attempt must be made to restore the former existence, at least for some time, during which the Original etheric-physical form of the Soul-man is subjected to many crystallization processes. The Soul-man, together with the microcosm surrounding him, then constitutes nothing more than a faint glimmer of the Original intention of the Logos. Hence the cry: 'Return, O sons of the fire!'

Are you a child of the fire? Is the Original, Divine Spark not active in you? Return, then, O sons of the fire! And make full use of your time!

From "From Living Soul to Life-Giving Spirit" - The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis Vol. III - Jan van Rijckenborgh

[END QUOTING]

This is why it is known that God is within you. You carry a spark of the All, which has been dormant within your microcosm for ages and that you are trying now to awaken.

The Original True Divine Man was a self-realizing entity. Being in possession of both polarities and completely harmonized with the will of the All, we had the ability to generate a glorified etheric-physical body whenever necessary, as described in the post above. When humanity fell, that ability was lost. Sexual reproduction was then introduced as a substitute method of inserting a physical personality into empty and damaged microcosms. The aim of the Path of Return is to re-establish man's ability to self-realize.

The microcosm (Soul) is meant to be the intermediary between Spirit and Body. We have lost our connection with Spirit. In order to re-connect with Spirit (and thus with the All), the microcosm must be purified. This constitutes an important phase of The Great Work.

~ g
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