_The Seven Principles of Man_ by Andrew Rooke

8/9/2019 _The Seven Principles of Man_ by Andrew Rooke

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The Seven Principles of Man" by Andrew Rooke

he Seven Prin ciples of Man

y Andrew Rooke

various times we all feel we are on a roller-coaster ride of emotions and thoughts. It is as if ur thought life is a multistory building, and we are riding uncontrolled up and down theyscraper -- one moment in the basement of our wants and desires, and next in thenthouse of our spiritual aspirations. How can such a variety of impressions and thoughts bentained in a single person? Why is it so difficult to control the elevator of our thought life?here do all these competing desires and aspirations come from? Why can't we as individualsd as a world community live in the pure atmosphere of our highest ideals for peace and

nderstanding?

he key to such perplexing problems lies in the study of our true nature and our relation toe universe. It arises from the fact that we are composite entities -- and we should meditateon what this means in its fullness. Picture the universe as a babbling mountain stream,

wirling with millions of tiny eddies and whirlpools as it cascades on its way down the side of aountain. Then picture men and women as the tiny whirlpools in the stream: individuals, yettegral parts of the stream, made up of its every level, from the muddy stream bed, throughe murky waters, to the clear sunlight on the surface. Truly each of us is like a whirlpool of ergies drawn from every one of the seven fundamental types of substance-consciousness of e manifest universe. Each is a combination of these seven planes or principles into which the

niverse may be divided, from the clear sunlight of our spiritual being to the murky streamd of our physical and astral levels, and every shade of consciousness in between. It is norprise, then, that we can transit rapidly between these different levels of ourselvescording to where we choose to concentrate our energies at any particular moment.

he concept of man as a composite entity is not peculiar to theosophy. Writers and artistsroughout the ages have drawn inspiration from the internal struggles we all have withrious phases of our being, and particularly from the triumph of the good and harmoniousvels over the dark and divisive aspects of our nature. From the Sphinx in ancient Egyptowing the combination of the animal (lion) and divine (human face), through Dr.kyll and Mr. Hyde,he Portrait of Dorian rey , and The Three Faces of ve , to Hollywood films churned out by the truckload, the contention between goodd evil within us is a perennial theme. In Hamlet William Shakespeareilliantly captured the human condition when he said:

What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! inform and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in

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apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? -- Act 2, scene 2

a question worthy of the asking indeed. If we turn to the world's great religious andhilosophical traditions, we see that the idea of man as a composite being is quite common.he following chart gives an overview of the theosophical scheme of sevenfold human natured comparable ideas from Christianity, Judaism, ancient Greek philosophy, traditional Africanligion, and Freudian psychoanalysis. With varying degrees of complexity, each defines ourmplex inner nature. Perhaps we are most familiar with the threefold division of Christianity:irit, soul, and body. The early Church Fathers, some of whom were said to be initiates of thecient Mysteries, were duty bound under their vows not to give the full explanation of ourner constitution, and so gave this simplified threefold explanation.

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omposite Nature of Man in Theosophy and Various Religious/ Philosophical Systems

THEOSOPHY ATMAN: Divine essence.BUDDHI: Compassionate spiritual nature.MANAS: Mind principle.KAMA: Desire principle.PRANA: Vitality.LINGA-SARIRA: Astral double.STHULA-SARIRA: Physical body.

JUDAISM (Qabbalah)NESHAMAH: The highest and most spiritual principle.RUAHH: Spiritual soul.NEPHESH: The astral or vital soul.GUPH: Physical vehicle -- the house in which all these others dwell.

CHRISTIANITY SPIRIT: The Divine essence within each human being.SOUL: Embraces the fields of desire, emotion, and mind.BODY: Equivalent to the lowest three principles in the theosophical configuration.

ANCIENT GREEK PNEUMA: Spirit -- literally "breath."NOUS: Intuition, higher mind, or "the Knower within."PSYCHE: Soul.SOMA: Physical body.



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AFRICAN (Yoruba)EMIN: Spirit.OKAN: Heart soul.IYE: Mind principle.OJIJI: Shadow (astral double).

ARA: Physical body.

PSYCHOANALYSIS (Freud)Freud's theories of personality development encompassed several levels of consciousness opening simultaneously with the Unconscious.

SUPER-EGO: The censor, or judge. Incorporates the value judgments of parents.EGO: Seeks to control the environment and mediate between the Id and Super-ego.ID: Primary energy seeking gratification of basic drives and avoidance of anxiety.

This concept of human consciousness, and Freud's theories of developmentalstages, have been developed by his successors, e.g., Erickson, Anna Freud,Reichman, and Karl Menninger.

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he essence of all these formulations is that spirit uses vehicles to express itself on thefferent planes of the universe, and these vehicles are the different principles -- separate but

ll one. Rather than three, seven, or even ten or twelve, as in some configurations, we mayink of the human principles as being like a pillar of light. Up and down this pillar of light ornsciousness are foci or "egoic centers" -- some higher and some lower on the scale of olutionary unfoldment -- manifesting different aspects of the principles at different times.e are not talking about a layer cake of principles, but a fluid whirlpool of forces combiningfferent energies from high to low throughout one's being.

he theosophical explanation of composite human nature focuses on seven principles. Noteat the diagram below divides the human constitution into the three main groups of Christian

adition, spirit, soul, and body, with the theosophical principles given in Sanskrit. The monada spiritual unit expressing itself through the higher triad, the intermediate duad orrsonality, and the lower quaternary.



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et's look very briefly at each principle in turn, starting with the spiritual aspects of our being,e higher triad of atman, buddhi, and the higher aspect of manas:

tman : means "self" in Sanskrit. Every being, no matter how small, is a self derived from theniversal self as a flame is derived from a fire or a droplet from the ocean. It is our sense of istence, the "I am" at the heart of us, which is universal. Unlike the ego or mind from whiche derive the sense of "I am I," different in every person, the atmic sense of pure selfhood, of ing alive and active, is the same in all beings, human or otherwise. Understanding this basic

niversal selfhood leads to the realization of true spiritual brotherhood and develops all ourghest (because spiritual) powers.

uddhi : from the Sanskrit root buddh , "to awaken"; hence the worduddha , "the awakened one." It is the first vehicle by which pure spirit "stepswn" its energies to the physical plane. It acts to awaken us to our true nature and oursponsibilities to a suffering world, manifesting as understanding, judgment, andscrimination. From our human standpoint it is a universal principle, the organ of impersonalve for all creatures, which is divine. This love is expressed by the "awakened ones" whove attained buddhic consciousness and come back to help mankind reach its full potential:

uddha, Christ, Zoroaster, Quetzalcoatl, and the highest teachers of other world religions.

anas : means "mind." A supremely important fact for us now is that manas is dual, with itsgher aspect linked with buddhi and thus forming the higher immortal triad, and the lowertracted to the principle of desire or kama, forming the personality or everyday self. It is ouruty and destiny to raise the lower mind to union with the higher. All our highest thoughts andtions -- compassion, self-forgetfulness, and aspiration -- are those which more rapidly aid usachieving this spiritual goal. The riddle of the Sphinx is answered in the conquest of animalture (the lion) by the truly human nature (the human head staring stoically across thesert, calling us on to our spiritual destiny).



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uch of the foregoing grouping may seem remote from our daily lives and from modernychology, but the lower quaternary of kama, prana, linga-sarira, and sthula-sarira is moremiliar territory:

ama : means "desire," the driving force in the human constitution, neither good nor bad. It ise seat of living electric impulses, desires, and aspirations considered in their energetic

pect. We are all painfully familiar with the lower aspects of kama that adorn our newspapersd entertainment. Most of humanity centers its consciousness in the lower manas and usese powers of kama for selfish motives. By turning kama in this direction, we inevitably createsharmonies based on separateness and incur the suffering we see everywhere. Comparehat we know of desire with the desires of Christ and Buddha in their compassionate self-dication to a better world.

ana : meaning "life principle" or vitality, is the ocean of universal energy in which we exist,eping our astral and physical bodies alive during life on earth. We all have a certain grant or

rtion of this life force given us at the beginning of each lifetime to sustain us and, strangelyough, death is caused principally by the prolonged wearing down of the physical organismy the streams of pranic energy flowing through it.

nga-sarira : the "model-body" upon which the physical body is formed. This astral body,hich we hear so much about, is a mold of near-physical matter into which the atoms of thehysical body are built and energized throughout life by prana. Though most people have notveloped the capacity to see the astral body, some clairvoyants can perceive its luminous,er-shifting coils. Like all the cosmic planes, the astral light is sevenfold in nature. Therefore,

cause someone can see auras or hear astral music doesn't necessarily mean they are highlyolved spiritually. In fact, it is a blessing for most of us that the physical body generallyields us from consciousness of the astral world. This condition will continue until we haveveloped, through lifetimes of testing, our ethical strength and clear inner sight to the pointat an awareness of the astral world and its wonders can be properly and safely appreciated.

magine, for example, what it would be like to read in their auras others' secret thoughts orate of mental and physical health if we did not have sufficient self-control to makempassionate use -- or no use -- of this knowledge.

hula-sarira : means "gross body," the word sarira also meaning "foamlike"easily dissolved." This is the much maligned physical body, which is like a spacesuit for thegher consciousness, enabling it to act in the lower material worlds. Through it we cannction as a complete entity across the entire seven planes of the manifest universe. We havee opportunity during earth-life to learn and progress in a way that is not possible when livinglely in our spiritual nature. For this reason highly spiritual beings like Buddha and Christ findlightenment while in their physical bodies before teaching and guiding others. The physicaldy is composed of myriads of lesser lives -- cells and atoms -- whose evolution is greatlycelerated by being associated with us, for we are like gods to them. Finally, because the



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hysical body is the offspring of the universe, it gives us the key to the workings of thesmos. "As above, so below," the old Hermetic sages said. The use of this law of analogy --the action of the nervous system, the circulation of the blood, the structure of the cells, andany other facets -- provides a wonderful tool for understanding deeper teachings regardinge structure and operation of invisible causal worlds. To many the body is a gross drag uponiritual experience, but in fact, when controlled and intelligently used, the body has its ownrt to play in the drama of evolution.

onsidering our composite nature, we can appreciate what the ancient Greeks meant wheney carved on their temples "know thyself." As a child of the universe, made up of all itsanes of being, we each are a key to the universe itself. We begin to understand that

niversal brotherhood is not a platitude, but a fact in nature. We can realize the importance of ntering our consciousness in the higher aspects of our composite nature in helping ourselvesd others develop spiritually, for "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." We can see theoblems that focusing our awareness in the lowest aspects of kama-manas has brought toe world. The wrongful centering of thoughts may also cause disjunctions between the

rious aspects of our composite nature, leading to some types of mental illnesses. We cangin to appreciate the true mission of religion -- from the Latin wordligio , meaning to bring back together that which once was one -- as aal mission in life and not just empty ritual. We can do our bit, each in our own separateays, to attack the causes of suffering by shifting the center of our consciousness to the far-eing and compassionate side of human nature, which is the only way to bring enduringace and harmony to a troubled world.

rom Sunrise magazine, April/May 2001; copyright 2001 Theosophical University Press)

uman Being Menu

Let the beauty we love be what we do. -- Rumi

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_The Seven Principles of Man_ by Andrew Rooke