The soul and her “vehicles” / Auras, Chakras, Glands and the rest ….
(Part 2)
“I am a Soul and i have a Body”
Yes, this is how i see it, no doubt about it!
And Soul is immaterial, unseen, untouchable.
And Body is ….. well, there we know what it is.
We can see, touch, feel and even smell him/her/it ; )
But where is the seat of the Soul, does it dwell in the body?
Or does it dwell somewhere around or above it?
And how does it interact with us as seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, feeling, thinking bodies?
All this has always interested me to quite a lot.
In some way i know it is not really essential to know it all in a thinking-way-of-knowing.
We can also know it in a direct, intuitive way.
Or even in a simply-being-kind-of-way, like a young child often does.
But me, yes i confess that i like to know it in all the possible ways : )
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Now, where is the Seat of the Soul, how does she connect and interact with matter, the body, the worlds?
Some sources say that the Heart is it.
Some say the Pineal Glad in the center area of the brain.
Some say that there is a 8th Chakra somewhere above the head thru which the soul is connecting.
Personally, i have the feeling (and some experience) that all the three are true.
And i will try to explore that a bit more later on.
To do that i may have to first try a general outline and picture of what i know about the different Planes of Existence, the Aura and her Subtle Bodies, the Energy Centers / Chakras and the Endocrine Glands and Nerve-centers associated with them.
Also of interest will be to get clearer what we mean when we talk about The Psyche and The Mind and The Ego.
Uff, this sounds like a lot of work, a lot of mental effort!
~~~
Once again i want to stress that i see All Of What Is as a Oneness, a unity of interpenetrating elements rather than separate pieces of a puzzle fitting together somehow.
Puzzle pieces they are only when we using words to try to define them for our mind to understand them.
Since we have a mind and the ability to understand things (at least a little bit) we should not deny that.
But above and beyond that, i feel strongly that we shall understand that All That Is is one in consciousness, different frequencies of the same stuff ; )
It is maybe a lot to digest if you are not familiar with such kind of things or if the terminology is alien to you. But i guess it may be interesting for anybody who has a natural curiosity about how life works and how we actually function the way we do.
And i promise to be concise, brief but hopefully comprehensive and understandable for anybody.
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The Planes of Existence
You and me, we are most used to see ourselves and everything in terms of material 3Dimensional objects moving thru Time and Space.
I guess the priests, the Shamans and Yogis and the Sufis as well, they say that in a little bit different way.
And people with clairvoyant abilities definitely know that there is more to reality than our eyes can see.
Even little children often talk about seeing moving Lights, Angels, Elves, little People and such.
They even talk and communicate with those unseen companions : )
We adults usually call it phantasy.
But is it really … just a childish phantasy?
Well, back to what i understand about The Planes of Existence/Reality:
The worlds that we can see, our Earth, Solar System, Milky Way galaxy and beyond … the whole material universe, the 3th Dimension is composed of 5 Elements.
This is what many Ancient and Classical Wisdom Keepers thought, just the words and interpretations varied:
Water, Earth, Fire, Air and Aether (or Ether)
Of course, modern time science has discovered many – more than 100 – chemical elements that constitute matter.
But also modern science is considering matter to have 4 states: solid, liquid, gas and plasma.
Traditional science – obviously focussed on what can be observed and measured – has generally not acknowledged the existence of Ether, the mysterious “Fifth Element”, the immaterial element, that thinkers of the Classical Period postulated.
In ancient texts of the East, Ether has been named as Akasha, as the element that penetrates the whole Universe and is a channel for Prana or Chi, the Universal Life Force that enlivens all there is in form.
The Akasha is also considered as the element/sphere that keeps the record of everything that has been, something like a cosmic memory bank, so to say ; )
In modern times (the 1980s) the British biochemist and researcher Rupert Sheldrake came up with the concept of a Morphogenetic Fields and Morphic Resonance. Although it was not accepted by the Scientific community, it became a popular term that makes sense when we think about the field of Akasha, the Etheric field.
Morphogenetic fields – according to Sheldrake – can be seen as etheric “blueprints” for everything that has a material form.
In accordance with this blueprint – that encodes the material DNA of the first cell – a baby develops from this cell that divides and divides again and again to grow into a fully grown body.
A body that has all the archetypical attitudes of a human but … with some distinctly individual features.
Without going into more details about Morphic Fields (that i don’t fully understand ; ) i will go on about the Planes of Existence.
White light is the combination of vibrations within a frequency spectrum that manifests as the rainbow colors that we can see with our eyes.
From Red thru Green to Violet.
Everything that vibrates slower – Infrared – or higher – Ultraviolet, we can not see. But it is still there and can be detected with the right kind of equipment.
The same is true for the sounds that we can hear. We humans can perceive sound frequencies between 20Hz to 20000 Hz, that is approximately from the lowest to the highest key on a Grand Piano.
But several animal species are able to hear frequencies well beyond the human hearing range. Some dolphins and bats, for example, can hear very high frequencies up to 100,000 Hz. Elephants can hear very low sounds at 14–16 Hz, while some whales can hear infrasonic sounds as low as 7 Hz.
Those examples make it clear that – if we are fixated just on what we can perceive with our five senses, we can “see” only a very limited “picture” of Reality.
When i “picture” Reality / The Oneness of Existence, i see it as the continuous Vibratory Spectrum of Consciousness, from the densest Elements of Matter to the Highest Vibrations of the Spirit.
Just like the white light is manifesting into the rainbow colors of the visible scale for the eye to see, so i imagine Consciousness to manifest into the different Planes of Existence that are mentioned in the Creation Myths of different cultures, in religious and spiritual texts of all ages and specifically in the writings of the Rishis, Sages, Saints, Yogis, Clairvoyants and so on.
Very specifically those Planes are described in texts from Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Gnostic origins.
Unfortunately – very unfortunately for us indeed – most of all of that is absent in our everyday life and awareness now, rarely talked about in our media, movies and mentioned in our songs.
I think we – most – contemporary western civilized people live in a very limited and caged-in universe ; )
But for our Inner Senses, our undeveloped ability to perceive beyond 3D, there still is so so much to discover and explore!
And for us grow up into.
I think we have not even scratched the surface of our potential as human beings.
What are we waiting for?
A short overview about The Planes of Existence
Most occult and esoteric teachings are in agreement that seven Planes of Existence exist. However, many different occult and metaphysical schools label the planes of existence with different terminology.
I suggest to use such kind of knowledge and teachings rather lightly and not as rigid categorization or fact.
It is a huge theme and i will just shortly outline what i know and have integrated into my view of things.
If you are really interested, at the end of this article i can direct you to some specific books that you may find interesting.
In my eyes it is not really essentially important to know about any of that or to even believe what is said in different traditions about those Planes or Spheres of Existence.
My reason for even mentioning those esoteric concepts of the Planes of Existence is simple:
Our human aura fields and chakra systems are closely related to the Planes.
And we – as Souls – navigate those Spheres unconsciously in our waking and sleeping states, in trance states, when we have near-death-experiences and after we leave the body in death.
The Physical Plane
The Physical Plane, physical World, or physical universe refers to the visible reality of space and time, energy and matter.
The physical universe in Occultism and esoteric cosmology is the lowest or densest of the inter-penetrating series of Planes of Existence.
As i already mentioned, subtler than the Physical Plane is the Etheric Plane and both of these planes are connected to make up the first plane.
Theosophy teaches that when the physical body dies, the etheric body is left behind and the soul forms into an astral body on the astral plane.
The Etheric Plane
The plane of the vital Life-force that holds the form of all material bodies and maintains it with Prana.
Clairvoyants – and often also the little children – can perceive this vital world inhabitant by Fairies, Nature Spirits and Elementals.
En-livening the Mineral and Plant Kingdoms.
No kidding ; )
The Astral Plane
The Astral Plane, also called the Astral World, is where the individualized Consciousness goes after physical death.
According to occult philosophy, all people possess a Astral Body.
The Astral Plane is the world of the planetary spheres, crossed by the soul in its Astral Body on the way to being born and then again after death.
Generally it is said to be populated by “lower angels”, spirits of the deceased loved ones and also by other not-so-very-nice entities.
Many of whom have been imagined by writers and painters of past ages.
According to occult teachings the Astral Plane can be visited consciously through astral projection, meditation, near-death experience, lucid dreaming, or other means.
Individuals that are trained in the use of the Astral Vehicle can separate their consciousness in the Astral Body from the physical body at will.
When the person dies, one becomes fully conscious in the Astral Body of the Astral World.
After a certain “time”, the Astral Body disintegrates, and the individualized consciousness then becomes aware on the Mental Plane.
While we sleep, we “live” in our Astral Bodies and experience the Astral Sphere, either fully conscious and active – in lucid dreaming states – or just vaguely conscious and half remembered as dreams.
Depending on our state of inner development.
When we “awake”, the physical and the higher bodies are interlocked again with the Astral Body and we cease to be inhabitants of the Astral World.
Some Spiritual Teachers state that nearly all individuals enter the Astral Planes after death.
There they work out the seeds of past karmic acts by re-living them in involuntarily repeated astral incarnations – what the Biblical Religions calls that the “burning away of our sins in Purgatory”.
Or – if their Karma requires it – they return to repeated earthly incarnations for further development and refinement.
After this transitional stage, the Soul may then move upward to the more subtle Mental and Causal Spheres, where many incarnations allow them to further refine, until final unification.
The Mental Plane
On this plane, Consciousness is working as thought-forms.
Not the thoughts of the mind that we know from our everyday thinking – the lower mind that works through the brain – but pure thought.
In the Mental World one formulates a thought and it is instantly transmitted to the higher mind of another without any expression in the form of words.
That’s what we might call Telepathy (very practical, no phones needed : )
The Buddhic Plane
The Buddhic Plane, also sometimes called the Causal Plane is described as a realm of Pure Consciousness.
According to Theosophy the Buddhic Plane exists to develop Buddhic Consciousness, which means to become unselfish and resolve any idea of the ego.
On the Buddhic Plane man casts off the delusion of the separated self and enters a realization of Unity.
Buddhist Teachers describe the Buddhic Plane as a ever persistent, fully conscious spiritual awareness.
In my view, the Soul “lives” here on the plane.
The Spiritual plane
Supposedly – cause i have not been there yet ; ) – on these planes live Spiritual Beings who are more advanced in development and status than ordinary man, actually a completely different evolutionary line than the rest.
Never separated from the awareness of God/Unity.
Arch-angles, Cherubs and Seraphs and a whole hierarchy of heavenly hosts have been depicted in Biblical Iconography as well as Buddhist Thangkas.
I have nothing to add to that but a couple of pictures ; )
The Divine Plane
According to some occult teachings, all Souls are originally born on the divine plane as Sparks of God/Brahma and then descend “down” in Consciousness through the lower vibrational planes.
However, all souls will – thru many incarnations – ultimately grow in awareness of the original Unity and develop their way back to the Divine Plane.
On the Divine Plane the Soul is open to conscious communication with the sphere of the Divine known as the Absolute / Brahman / God and receive knowledge about the ultimate nature of reality.
The Logoic Plane
The Logos, the “highest” plane, it has been described as a plane of total Oneness, the “I AM Presence”, complete Unity with God.
The Monadic Plane
I guess you will have to ask somebody else about that : )
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As i already stressed, i’d ask you to take what i have expressed here about the Planes of Existence with a “grain of salt”. It is my own quick overall view about some quite esoteric Teachings of the Ages.
It really helps to provide a context for my exploration of the Human Aura and the Chakra Systems.
Our Subtile Energy Bodies.
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The Human Aura, our Subtle Energy Bodies
Its there – the so called Aura – some people have trained their perception so they see it, with the help of Kirlian Photography we can even picture something that can be interpreted as the subtle energy fields of the human body.
Nice & colorful, but a more systematic knowledge is to be found in the teachings of Mystery Schools, Theosophic writings and of course from the studies that some clairvoyant researchers and healers provide.
Again, the terminology is not always the same, but “you’ll get the picture” ; )
The colors in the Aura that the Clairvoyant can perceive and the coherence of the overall field is dependent on the level of development that this person – and furthermore this soul in the sum of its development and refinement throughout all its previous incarnations.
Depending on the Soul’s developmental stage, the Subtle Bodies participate more or less consciously in the respective Sphere of Existence that i have outlined before.
All the subtle bodies of the Aura interpenetrate each other and the physical body and are interacting with each other by way of the Chakras, which can be perceived, even seen and felt as energy vortexes in the front and the back of the body.
How our Subtle Bodies, our Chakras and our physical Glands and Nerve Centers work together
(more or less ; )
Again, it is just an outline to get an idea of “the whole thing” that is us.
Chakra is a Sanskrit word and it means “Wheel” or “Vortex” because that is what it looks like when Clairvoyants look at it.
Each Chakra is like a ball, a whirlpool, a swirl of energy interpenetrating the physical body and the subtle bodies.
The Chakras are not physical, they are the vibrations of consciousness in the same way that the Subtle Bodies are aspects of consciousness. The Chakras can be felt as being denser than the Auras but not as dense as the physical body.
Chakras connect and interact with the physical body through two major systems, the Endocrine System and the Nervous System.
Each of the seven main Chakras is associated with one of the seven endocrine glands and also with a particular group of nerves called a Plexus.
For example: the Solar Plexus.
In this way, each of these Chakras can be associated with particular parts of the body, organs and particular functions within the body controlled by that Plexus or that endocrine gland associated with that Chakra. And similarly this region of the body corresponds to a specific Sphere or Plane of Existence.
The Endocrine System is part of our body’s main control mechanism and it comprises a number of glands that produce hormones.
By adjusting the hormone levels, the endocrine system works to maintain the body in a state of optimum health and function.
The Chakra’s are linked with the glands that are responsible for creating the hormones.
Chakras located in the lower part of our body effect the instinctual side of our personality and the highest ones effect our mental and spiritual side.
When a chakra is open, it functions as the energy channel between all the already activated Subtle Bodies and Planes of Existence.
Ideally – in a fully realized person – all Chakras would be open and balanced with one another and contribute to the overall perfect function of our being on all levels.
The instincts would work together in alignment with our feelings and thinking and higher intuition and inspiration.
But usually this is not the case. Some Chakras are not open enough (being under-active) and to compensate, other chakras are over-active.
Energy Healers – people who can feel the energy flow – can feel the state of a Chakra or even see it.
And they might be able to help to balance the Chakras.
Now a little bit about the different Chakras and their respective Glands and their influence on our physical organs.
And which areas of our actual daily life they influence and regulate:
I owe much of that knowledge to some of my teachers and specific thanks to Barbara Brennan for her great systematic approach to the “invisible worlds” of us.
BASE / ROOT CHAKRA
Base of the spine
Energy color Red
The Root Chakra is associated with the Adrenal glands. It is the centre of physical energy, grounding and self-preservation. The Root Chakra governs the back, feet, hips, spine and legs.
The Root Chakra is about being physically there and feeling at home in situations. If it is open, we feel grounded, stable and secure. We don’t unnecessarily distrust people. We feel present in the here and now and connected to our physical body. We feel that we have sufficient space and territory.
If you tend to be fearful or nervous, your Root Chakra is probably under-active. You probably would easily feel unwelcome.
If this Chakra is over-active, we may be very materialistic and greedy. We are probably obsessed with being secure and resist change.
SACRAL CHAKRA
Below the navel
Energy color Orange
The Sacral Chakra governs the sexual organs, Ovaries / Testicles, bladder, bowel and lower intestine.
This Chakra is about emotional feelings and sexuality.
When it is open, your feelings flow freely and are expressed without you being overly emotional.
You are open to intimacy and you can be passionate and lively. You have no problems dealing with your sexuality.
If we tend to be stiff and unemotional or have a poker face most of the time, the Sacral Chakra is under-active. We are not very open to people.
If this Chakra is overactive we tend to be emotional all the time. We will feel emotionally attached to people and can be very sexual.
SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA
Above the navel
Energy color Yellow
The Solar Plexus Chakra governs the stomach, upper intestines, upper back and upper spine.
This Chakra is about asserting yourself in a group. When it is open, you feel in control and you have sufficient self-esteem.
When this Chakra is under-active we tend to be passive and indecisive. We are probably timid and don’t get what we want.
If this Chakra is overactive we tend to be domineering and probably even aggressive.
HEART CHAKRA
Heart region
Energy color Green
The Heart Chakra is associated with the Circulatory System and Thymus Gland.
It is the centre of Compassion, Love, Group Consciousness and Spirituality.
The Heart Chakra governs the heart, lungs, blood and circulation.
The Heart Chakra is about Love, kindness and affection.
When it is open, you are compassionate and friendly, you work at harmonious relationships.
When your Heart Chakra is under-active, you are cold and distant.
If this Chakra is over-active, you are suffocating people with your Love and your Love probably has rather selfish reasons.
THROAT CHAKRA
Adam’s apple area
Energy color Blue / Light blue
The Throat Chakra is associated with the Respiratory System/Thyroid Gland.
It is the centre for sound, communication, speech, conceptual writing and expression of thoughts.
The Throat Chakra governs the throat, thyroid, mouth, teeth, tongue and jaw.
This Chakra is about self-expression and talking. When it is open, you have no problems expressing yourself and you might be doing so in a creative way.
When this Chakra is under-active, you tend to not speak as much and you probably are introverted and shy. Not speaking the truth may block this Chakra.
If this Chakra is over-active, you tend to speak too much, usually to domineer and keep people at a distance. You are a bad listener if this is the case.
BROW OR THIRD EYE CHAKRA
Between both eyes
Energy color Dark blue / Indigo
The Third Eye Chakra is associated with the Autonomic Nervous System/Pituitary Gland.
It is the centre of psychic power, spirit energies, higher intuition and light.
The Third Eye Chakra governs the pituitary gland, pineal gland, skull, eyes, brain, nervous system and the senses.
This Chakra is about insight and visualization.
When it is open, you have a good intuition. You may probably also have an active Fantasy ; ).
If it is under-active you are not very good at thinking for yourself and you may tend to rely on authoritative people. You may be rigid in your thinking, relying on beliefs too much.
You might even get confused easily.
If this Chakra is over-active, you may live in a world of fantasy too much. In excessive cases hallucinations are possible.
CROWN CHAKRA
Top of the head
Energy color Purple/violet
The Crown Chakra is associated with the central nervous system/Pineal gland.
It is the centre of enlightenment, higher dynamic and creative thought, truth and oneness.
The Crown Chakra governs the top of the spinal cord, brain stem, pain centre and nerves.
This Chakra is about wisdom and being one with the world. When this Chakra is open, you are unprejudiced and quite aware of the world and of the different aspects of yourself.
If it is under-active, you are not very aware spiritually. You are probably quite rigid in your thinking.
If this Chakra is over-active, you are probably intellectualizing things too much.
You may be addicted to spirituality and probably ignoring your bodily needs.
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In Eastern Spiritual and Esoteric Teachings the Chakras are always depicted with having “pedals”.
I find this a wonderful metaphorical picture of a flower with its pedals opening and closing to the sunlight.
And in a very literal sense – of the flowing of life energy from the higher vibrational subtle bodies thru the Chakras into the Physical Body, the Soul is bringing live and light into our body.
The energy of higher levels of Consciousness coming from the Soul Level is activating and interacting with all our Subtle Bodies “down” to our Physical Body, our glands, nerves, blood and muscles.
Now, after all of that esoteric detailed knowledge, i would like to come back to my original question:
Where is the Seat of the Soul, how does she connect and interact with matter, the body, the worlds?
Considering all i know, experienced and intuit, my view at this moment is that the “seat” of the Soul as Atman, her living room so to say ; ) is on the Causal Plane, also called Buddhic Plane.
In my own system i feel her/myself as a Energy Center of Pure White Light somewhere quite a way above my head.
Just for myself i also call this sphere the Christ Chakra, but please don’t ask my why, i would not have an answer : )
I think that the dynamic aspect of Soul as jiva-atman works thru the Buddhic Plane and the Buddhic Subtle Body into all the “lower” bodies to develop and refine all aspects of “me” – My Whole Self.
By channeling impulses, setting up special circumstances called synchronicities and cosmic coincidences and so on.
Generally nurturing the longing for “home”.
“ET wanna go home” ; )
The impulse for spiritual searching.
The patience and persistence of Spiritual Practice.
The systematic curriculum of expanding awareness and refinement of consciousness and the continuum of it all thru endless reincarnations and the ever-onward movement of inner development.
Soul Development.
Or shall we better call it Soul Un-veil-opment.
Because to me thats The Great Paradox anyway – and maybe The Great Mystery of it all:
That Soul – as Atman – is at the same time already one with All/God, whatever …
And on the other hand Soul – as jiva – is going thru endless incarnations, kind of pretending to forget its Unity and slowly, slowly opening its eyes again to The Truth that she was never separated in the first place.
Well, it blows my mind when i try to wrap my mind around this thing ; )
And i guess i will leave you with that – never ending ending …
Thank you for going on this journey with me!
SOUL-MATE
ps: I am aware that this have been a lot of words (4541 ; ) …
And still it is just a soft-focused broad overview of what it all is.
And much is left unsaid yet.
So if you have some specific questions, please use the COMMENT box to voice them.
I will do my best to answer asap.
And then there is one very important theme left out yet:
How to phone “home” to the Soul from “here in exile”?
ET wanna go home!
But that will be something for another day : )
……… this is a work in progress
please come back later on for the rest