The three triads can be compared to a ladder
which the monad climbs on the first stage of its evolutionary
journey from plane 1–7. This ladder is mentioned in the Bible in
Genesis 28:12: "[Jacob] had a dream in
which he saw a ladder resting on the earth, with its top
reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and
descending on it".
The First Self or Persona
The mineral, plant, animal and human kingdoms all
operate through the first triad. Our etheric bodies were first
acquired when our monads passed through the mineral kingdom, and
were built up in the plant kingdom. Our emotional bodies were
first acquired when we passed through the plant kingdom, and
were built up in the animal kingdom. Our mental bodies (minds)
were first acquired when we passed through the animal kingdom,
and are being built up now in the human kingdom. In the human
kingdom we also have to refine these three subtle bodies and
build up our next body, the causal body, so that we can bridge
the gap between the first and second triads.
When a monad becomes a self-conscious individual
(between the animal and human kingdoms) it can be described as a
"self". The
first triad or persona is the "self"
we all identify with. The persona includes our mind (mental
body), emotions (emotional body) and feelings (etheric body),
all of which operate through our physical body. The physical
body and three subtle bodies are all enclosed in the lesser
causal body. The greater causal body is actually part of the
second triad, but the part that descends can be considered part
of the persona. The five bodies that comprise a human being are:
-
Physical body (or flesh body)
1:1–1:3
-
Etheric body (or energy
body)
1:4–1:6
-
Emotional body (or astral
body)
2:1–2:6
-
Mental body (or intellectual
mind)
3:1–3:4
-
Lesser Causal body (field
of awareness or conceptual
mind)
3:5–3:6
Because each one is more subtle than the
previous, the bodies easily inter-penetrate each other. The
etheric body is the energy template around which the physical
body is formed. Consequently, it is exactly the same size and
shape as the physical body, but with an aura that projects
slightly beyond the skin. The emotional body also has a
counterpart that corresponds with the physical body. Around 99%
of the matter in the emotional body is contained
"within" the
emotional counterpart to physical body, and the remainder forms
an ovoid aura which projects about 2 feet (60cm) from the body.
The same is true of both the mental and lesser causal bodies,
with 99% of the matter "within"
the physical body and the remaining 1% forming an aura. The size
of the human aura is determined by the size of the lesser causal
body. It is an ovoid shape which typically extends 2–3 feet
(60–90cm) from the body and acts as a kind of protective shell.
There are some very good illustrations of man’s subtle bodies in
Barbara Brennan's
book Hands of Light, although she has
devised her own names for them (see Figure 6e).
Consciousness cannot function directly through
the physical body, which is little more than a garment that
enables us to function in a physical environment. The physical
body must be controlled via the etheric body; without it the
physical body is unconscious and immobile. The physical and
etheric bodies are therefore two halves of a whole, known as the
physical-etheric body, which are only completely separated at
physical death.
As we evolve our level of consciousness rises
higher and higher through our subtle bodies, until eventually
our first and second triads unite – this process is described
fully in Chapter 8.
Figure 6e – Man’s Subtle Bodies
The Second Self or Soul Triad
The second triad is composed of the mental atom
(3:7), the unity atom (4:7) and the spiritual molecule (5:4). As
evolution proceeds the monad builds bodies around these
successively higher centres of consciousness, and as soon as it
has a body it can seriously begin to develop consciousness on
that plane. Prior to this, only subjective consciousness can be
developed. A second self consists of four different
bodies/beings. The highest, the upper spiritual body (5:5–5:7),
encloses the lower three just as our causal body encloses our
persona. The lower three bodies of a second self are the causal
body (3:5–3:7), the unity body (4:1–4:7) and the lower spiritual
body (5:1–5:4).
The combined consciousness of these subtle bodies
is sometimes called the higher self, but the higher self of the
average human is not fully developed and generally only includes
the causal body. Even our causal body is not our own, but is on
loan from our guardian angel. The guardian angel can therefore
be considered our caretaker higher self until we enter the fifth
kingdom and actually become our higher self.
In the first triad the matter aspect is the most
dominant – everything is focussed around life on the physical
plane. In the second triad the consciousness aspect is the most
dominant, but the consciousness of our second triad can only be
subjectively perceived until a direct link has been built
between the two triads. This is completed at enlightenment (the
3rd initiation), but it is not until the 4th
initiation that we enter the fifth kingdom. At that moment the
primary guardian angel is released, the borrowed causal body
destroyed and the monad instantly creates its own. The
individual self-identity developed in the human kingdom is
retained in the fifth kingdom, but consciousness also expands to
become part of a collective.
The fifth kingdom is a group of
"superhuman"
beings that have already passed through the human kingdom. They
no longer need to incarnate into physical human bodies but a few
occasionally do so in order to teach humanity. When they do
incarnate into human bodies they are invulnerable to any kind of
disease. The fifth kingdom is known as the "Kingdom
of God" because its members are
omniscient on planes 1-4 and are the nearest thing to God that
humans will ever know. Some of its members guide the evolution
of humanity and implement the divine plan on Earth – they are
known as the "planetary hierarchy".
In years gone by, larger numbers of the planetary
hierarchy regularly incarnated to guide and teach humanity (they
gave us esoterics). To the ancient humans they would have seemed
liked gods, even though they are not. Around 12,000 years ago,
humans mistakenly thought they could manage their own affairs
and the planetary hierarchy were banished – we have been
fighting amongst ourselves ever since. At the present time the
planetary hierarchy conducts its business behind the scenes, on
the etheric plane. They periodically release esoteric
information to advanced disciples who will publish the
information openly; there are no official "channels",
no secrets, no cults and no sects.
The Third Self or Spirit Triad
Theosophists mistakenly call the third triad the
monad. This mistake should be obvious because a monad can have
only one part and a triad must have three. A further consequence
of this error is that they incorrectly call the sixth plane the
monadic plane.
The third triad is composed of the spiritual atom
(5:7), the divine atom (6:7) and the monadic molecule (7:4). A
third self consists of four different bodies/beings. The
highest, the upper monadic body (7:5-7), encloses the lower
three just as our causal body encloses our persona. The lower
three bodies of a third self are the upper spiritual body
(5:5-7), the divine body (6:1-7) and the lower monadic body
(7:1-4). The combined consciousness of these subtle bodies is
sometimes called the “divine self”, but the divine self of a
human being is completely undeveloped.
In the first triad the matter aspect is dominant,
in the second triad the consciousness aspect is dominant and in
the third triad the energy aspect is dominant. Third selves have
already mastered matter and consciousness and they now need to
master energy. Since "Will =
Consciousness + Energy", the energy
aspect is often called "will power".
They hold the senior posts of the planetary hierarchy and they
use their will power to guide the evolution of the lower
kingdoms. They know the future because they help to create it –
everything that occurs on the physical plane has its origin in
the subtle planes. Events are conceived and set up on the subtle
planes long before they manifest on the physical plane. Destiny
will be discussed more fully in Chapter 16.
Third selves share the collective consciousness
of the solar system whilst retaining their individual sense of
identity and character. Once a monad achieves active
consciousness on a specific plane, it shares the collective
consciousness of all the lower planes and can therefore be said
to be omniscient on those lower planes. A third self’s mastery
over the energy aspect means he can also be said to be
omnipotent on the lower planes.
Beyond the Third Triad
A monad (49-atom) is involved in a 7-atom for its
entire journey through the solar system, but the journey does
not stop there. Once a monad has fully awakened its
consciousness in that 7-atom it can dispense with its three
triads and continue its evolution beyond the solar system. The
monad’s 7-atom contains all the forty two higher kinds of atoms,
therefore a chain of atoms can be said to connect the monad with
all the forty two higher planes of existence. This chain of
atoms is the "ladder"
which the monad will climb on the cosmic stage of its
evolutionary journey. The monad passes through six cosmic
kingdoms, which correspond to the upper six cosmic planes (8-14,
15-21, 22-28, 29-35, 36-42 and 43-49). When the monad has
evolved all the way up to plane 49 it has come full circle and
is once again a fully liberated 49-atom. It began its journey as
an unconscious atom of primary matter and has evolved into a
fully-realised quaternary monad whose field of consciousness
embraces an entire galaxy. The final challenge that faces the
monad is to leave the universe it "grew
up" in and go off into the Infinite to
create its own universe.
Father, Son and Mother (Holy
Spirit)
Many Christians believe that the only way to get
to heaven is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
our saviour (whatever that means). This false belief stems from
a misunderstanding of the old Gnostic terminology, which was
always symbolic:
-
The Gnostics used the term
"Father" to denote the
third self or spirit triad. So when Christ said “the father
and I are one” (John 10:30), he meant he was united with his
Spirit, or more accurately that his monad was centred in his
third triad.
-
The Gnostics used the term
"Son" to denote the second
self or soul triad. So when Christ said "no
one knows the Father except the Son"
(Matthew 11:27), he meant that we need to become second
selves before we can even begin to comprehend what a third
self is.
-
The phrase: "No one
comes to the Father except through me"
(John 14:6) originally read "no
one comes to the Father except through the Son".
Since humans are centred in our first selves, we must
therefore pass through the Son (second self or soul triad)
to get to the Father (third self or spirit triad).
-
The Gnostics used the term
"Mother" to denote the
first self or Persona; the lowest aspect of our being that
incarnates into the physical body. The word
"mother"
originates from the Latin "mater",
and it is no coincidence that the word "matter"
shares the same root. The Mother (persona) gives birth to
the Son (soul), and the son goes on to become the Father
(spirit). Or as the bible puts it: "It
is sown a soul body; it is raised a spiritual body"
(1 Corinthians 15:44). The term "Mother"
later became confused with the "Holy
Spirit".
-
"Holy
Spirit" actually refers to our own
personal guardian angel who stands in for our soul and
guides our development until our soul is fully activated. We
each have our own guardian angel so there literally billions
of them but they are united because they share a collective
consciousness. Our guardian angel can be considered our
personal Holy Spirit or our personal "god"
because it guides us, inspires us, protects us, knows our
every thought and hears our prayers. The Holy Spirit is very
active amongst the born-again Christians. They
"speak in tongues"
when their guardian angel communicates with them on a
super-conscious level and they are healed when their
guardian angels send down higher energies. This often causes
them to faint because their brains are not used to the
higher energies.
Body, Soul and Spirit
Many religions consider man to be a collection of
spiritual principles, rather than a single "soul"
or "spirit".
The names of the various aspects of being are listed below
in Figure 6f:
Figure 6f - Various names for Body, Soul and Spirit
Figure 6g is a diagrammatic
overview of everything discussed so far (plus a bit more):
Figure 6g – An Overview of Everything Discussed So
Far
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