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The Soul

Reijo Oksanen: Prelude

When we were planning the presentation to the All & Everything conference around the middle of January the subject and the meaning of the concept “soul” came up; whatever the reason, I don’t know, but it seemed to me to be important at the time. The question that suddenly popped up was simply: “Is the soul a Christian concept?”

My immediate answer to this question was: “yes, of course it is a Christian concept! I have got to know this word already when I was very young. The context where the word was presented was the Christian Church. The content of the message was that as a Christian I have a soul and when I die this soul will go to heaven.”

Since then I have tried to understand what this word “soul” means.

From Gurdjieff I got to know that we have no soul, but only one in the making, and that this job needs urgent completion.

The Orthodox fathers, saints and teachers say that the soul is impure and needs to be purified.

The purification of the soul and the making of the soul seem to me to be very similar activities and both concerned about the thoughts and emotions, which are said to be the contents of the soul.

So I asked Agi aloud: “Is soul a Christian concept?” and got her answer: “Of course it is not!”

Reijo: “Is the origin of “soul” then in the antique Greece or all the way to Egypt?”

Agi: “No, it is not!”

Agnes Hidveghy: The Experience

What is the SOUL?

With this question in my heart began my journey for a ten days retreat in Greece many years ago. I would have been able to write a whole book about the Soul, but something was missing. I studied different concepts about it, I had some experiences with it, but I missed a clear, direct insight on what the Soul is. I was looking for an understanding, in which light I would understand the nature of all kind of Souls: the individual one, the Soul of a group, of a religion or of a nation, the Soul of a planet or the universal Soul of Creation.

The days went on at the beautiful place on the seaside, but there was no sign that I would get nearer to an answer. The last day, the ninth, came, and I knew that early next morning I have to fly back – without a new insight.
I went rather late that morning to the bakers to buy some bread; the way back to the house I lived in was dusty. It was already very hot, and I was looking forward to get into the shade of the house in between the olive trees. And then it happened…

I saw the Enneagram with a special order of the planets and the two lights. It was a flash from nowhere, which touched me deeply. I thought that it is beautiful to have got this kind of insight, even when it is not the answer to my question. I needed about three weeks to understand that it is exactly the answer I was looking for. In the next month the Cosmogram opened more and more up.



What is behind this flash of insight?

Some basic questions

To understand the deep meaning of this connection we need to understand some astrological terms.

As Astrology is mostly used today for personal matters, just like the Enneagram of personality, the meaning of both as universal concepts is not really studied and understood. The elements of Astrology build a model of Reality: Astrology is a cosmological system. The study of Astrology on this level can be useful for understanding more about the laws of Creation. We could say, it is the energy structure of any cosmic system. With our growing understanding of the age of Aquarius we can also say: it entails the structure of the universal information-system, which creates different worlds of cosmic systems on every level. Plato called it the world of Ideas.

When this is understood to be true, then all of the elements of the Astrological system have validity in different Worlds, which refer to different dimensions of consciousness, as Gurdjieff emphasised it. There are no direct (linear) connections between different “levels” of consciousness. But there is the law of analogy, which can help us to find orientation in one system, with reference to another known system. Therefore it is of fundamental importance, that the cosmological Astrology is orientated towards the concrete phenomenon of the solar system; without it there would be no basis for this analogy.

Let us take an example. The orbit of the planet Earth is in between the courses of Venus and Mars. When we understand, what Venus means, what Mars means and what the planet Earth stands in us for, we can see clearly, how these three components relate to each other in us.

Venus is the unifying energy of Love. There is Love on every level. It appears as Gravity on the level of matter: Matter attracts matter. It is sex, it is emotional love, and it is the Love of the Creator to his Creation. As Venus is next to us in the direction to the Sun, this energy joins the planet Earth to the Sun. It is the centripetal force, pulling the planet towards its Creator to unify both. Another fact to be considered is that Venus is the only Planet in our solar system, which is turning around its axis in the opposite direction from all the other Planets.

Mars is the force of will, which strives to realise the individual. It is self-will, which enables every created cosmos to live according to its own laws. It is the will to live and say yes to life, to fight for the best conditions for realisation. The will of the first central appearance of consciousness of every cosmos is to realize its content. It is the centrifugal force, which enables everything to go straight on its “own way”. With only the centrifugal force the Earth would leave its orbit and get lost in the immense space of the universe.

The planet Earth is held between these two forces. The level of “Earth” is the level of personality. Essence is incarnated into the matter of the Planet Earth, it builds up its body of its substance and with the ingredients of the influences it builds up something that “it is not”: the personality. This new substance can become the food for Essence.

Are we not through our lifetime in the tension between “self-realization”, the influence of Mars, and the call of a “centre” in us with the longing for the “lost paradise”, the influence of Venus in us?

Let us take another example. Did you ever wonder, that the immense great Sun and the, in comparison with it, very small Moon are placed in space in such a way, that they both have the same size in our view? Do we understand what they both stand for? Is it a wonder that we consequently mix them up in us, as long as we are orientated by quantity and not by quality?

In the astrological practice of today the vertical dimension is altogether missing. It is significant for our time: we have no sense for hierarchic structures; neither in the concrete material world nor in ourselves. We bring everything into a horizontal order together. The orientation according to the Ray of Creation is very clear in Astrology, when we remain in contact with the structures of our Solar system. The cosmology of Gurdjieff is based on the concrete astronomical reality, and Astrology does the same – as there is only one reality.

Astrology	Gurdjieff
No subject in Astrology	The Absolute
No subject in Astrology	All Worlds
Our Galaxy – the fix stars	All Suns
Our Sun - the Zodiac (12 signs)	Sun (12 laws)
The Planets – the energy field of the Sun	All Planets
Ascendant – the Earth	Earth
Moon	Moon

Our Galaxy – the fix star constellations - All Suns

The astrological tradition says that “the idea of man lies in the Zodiac”. This is the entity of the twelve, the “12 laws of the sun”. But behind the twelve signs of the zodiac are the fixed star constellations, which mark energy fields in the galaxy, which created our sun. Their centre is the centre of the galaxy, and as science tells us, it is a “black hole”. This is called “the sun behind the sun” by the Sufis. Here lies the origin of man, which has been made visible by the re-creation of our Sun.

Our Sun - the Zodiac (12 signs) - Sun (12 laws)

The Sun and the Planets represent our essence, with the Sun as the “Centre of our essence”.

The Planets – the energy field of the Sun - All Planets

There is an energy field which is created by the rotation of the Sun and at the energy points of it are the orbits of the planets. Gurdjieff’ called this energy field of the Sun “All Planets” in his cosmology.

Ascendant – the Earth - Earth

Gurdjieff meant that Astrology deals only with our essence and not with personality. I don’t know more about this statement and can not see what it is based on. With the Ascendant and the system of the astrological houses the Energy of the solar system is projected on one point of the Earth; this determines the personality. Personality is built on the earth through the influence of the environment and the readiness given in the essence. The Ascendant and the twelve houses are related to personality, in contradiction to what Ouspensky wrote in “The Fragments”.

Moon - Moon

The Moon is mostly misunderstood. It is either made into the middle of our existence – as many psychological systems do - or it is denounced altogether. As long as we are under its laws, we are not able to see what it really is. It is definitely the lowest world, but this does not mean that it is less important than the higher ones. It has its strong function as the female pole to the male pole of the Sun.
The Moon in us is what we identify as the Soul. When we are identified – it is the Moon! Generally we have no idea what it consists of. What is its nature and how does it function? What we do not realise is that the given “soul” is bound to our lower – animal – nature and so to the existence and death of it. It is connected with personality (Earth) like the Moon is orientated towards the planet Earth. It is not connected with the centre of our Being, with the Sun. The philosophy of Ibn el Arabi can help to understand the nature of the Moon, as it is part of the Sufi teachings. Through the study of it I understood more about the different concepts of the Soul.

In the astrological tradition there is an important statement about the relationship between the Moon – the personality - and the Sun:
“As long as we are not conscious, the Ascendant feeds the Moon. When we live consciously, the Ascendant nourishes the Sun.”

It could not be formulated more clearly.
But I understood this statement in its depth after teaching it for about 40 years only with the help of the Enneagram.

The Exaltation of the planets.

The Zodiac is a fixed system of ideas about man beyond time. The two lights (Sun/Moon) and the planets transmit the 12 different energies of it into dynamic processes in time. The connections between the signs of the Zodiac, the lights and the planets are called ‘homes’, which have a clear logical structure. The astrological Tradition assigns for the two lights – Sun and Moon – and the five classical planets also so called places of exaltation. This connection between the planets and the signs of the Zodiac has seemingly no logical significance. The horoscope Astrology tries to make sense of it, but can not find a sensible order in the system.

According to the view of cosmological Astrology the system of exaltation gets a deep meaning. It is the key to understanding how a cosmic system functions – or even more important - to understand how we can build up our inner world, which is able to survive the death of the body. In other words: how to create a Soul, which is independent of life and death.

The order of the exaltations can only begin with the Sun, the creator of its own cosmos. (On the left the planet and on the right the sign of the exaltation.)



The rows are built up as follows:

Sun

The “Sun” on each level is the beginning of all existing cosmoses. In other words: every cosmos has its own “sun” on its own level, in which the cosmic information - Idea – appears as consciousness. This is the centre of its being, the creator and coordinator of its existence and through it the cosmos is joined into a higher order of cosmos. Through the nucleus a cosmos becomes a part of a higher order, like our solar system is a part of the galaxy, the Milky Way. That is why the place of exaltations begins with the sun. Sun in the sign of Aries, the beginning of the Zodiac, is the experience of I AM. This is the only possible beginning of the “creation of a new world.”

Mars

The Sun is exalted in Aries which is ruled by Mars. Mars is the will of the nucleus to build up its cosmos around it. The will to realise the idea which is entailed in the flash of consciousness. Mars is the external-turned part of consciousness. It is the ability to realise the content of consciousness. In Capricorn it deals with matter, it brings the Fire of Aries to the Earth. “Creation happens between Element Fire and Earth”, as Plato puts it in Timaeus. An idea, coming from beyond the Sun (Element Fire) has to be realised in the concrete.

Saturn

Mars is exalted in Capricorn. The ruler of this sign is Saturn, which stands for every kind of structure and through this, for limitation. Every cosmos has its limitation in space and time. Its own laws define already limitations, the space it can use and the time it has been given from the beginning of its existence. Saturn represents law generally. In Libra this Law becomes a vehicle of development and serves the way to freedom. “Law is the manifestation of Freedom in the spiritual world”.

Venus

Saturn is exalted in Libra, where Venus rules. The whole system of a cosmos needs Love, to bind the parts together and to enable it to communicate its idea. The Libra-Venus is the active side of Love, which works on every being to bring it back from the separation to unity; it is the unifying force. Love brings us back, to the end of fulfilment, to Unity. That is why Venus is exalted in Pisces, in the last sign of the Zodiac. In Unity there is only One; duality disappears. “God would die for you to become one with you. But He can not die. It is why it is necessary that you die.” The process of dying is always a dissolving of a kind of duality.

Jupiter

Venus is exalted in Pisces and Jupiter is the ruler of this sign. Through the unifying force of Love beauty and harmony comes into being. This makes possible the “harmonious development”, the joy of being, fulfilment. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, in the closed world of “being human”. It means to find fulfilment within normal life, and not to try to escape like a balloon. There is no fulfilment apart of life.

The Moon

Jupiter is exalted in Cancer, where the Moon rules. Moon is the principle of “the many”, the parts, from which a system is built up. When the whole cosmos is built up harmoniously, the parts – according to the principle of the Moon – can function automatically in it. The parts are held by the whole system. In Taurus, in the most female sign, this idea is fully realised, down to the form in matter. It is the crystallised pattern which is established in the bones and in the cells of the body. It works from there automatically.

The Moon is exalted in Taurus. This is the passive side of Venus: the Love of Earth. This Love makes possible, that a WAY in time can exist. The Love of the Earth binds us to matter, to “Heavyness”, to the body, to the “lower” pole of existence. And Venus leads back to Pisces and through it to Jupiter again. There a closed circle of life increases; in which a cosmos is locked up in its own world.

The cosmic world is created and it is held in balance by the Sun. The creation of The Sun, “in the name of the holy Fire of Aries”, the most male energy of the cosmos ends with the Moon, in the “name of the holy Earth of Taurus”, the most female energy.

The question is: how can a human being, as a “cosmic world” get out of his locked prison? Is there a possibility to get back to the forces, which created and locked him – by the help of Saturn - into his “normal” life, which “damned” him to a cosmic sleep? To get through the barrier would be the only possibility to get to the creative sources which are needed to be able to create a “new world”.

In this system of exaltation Mercury is missing. According to the tradition of Astrology it has no exaltation – which in connection with this table makes a lot of sense. On the other hand the classical Astrology mentions a “primary Mercury”, beyond Mercury. As Mercury is the energy of communication – using an expression of our time for it: of information – it can be used by all other instances for all kind of purposes. When it can move freely and it is not bound into the system; it works like a catalyst, which enables all the necessary processes. This agent would be the Witness – or Observer – in the inner process of liberation. With Mercury, the winged messenger, which can move free through the border, the locked door of the prison can be unlocked. In the Sufi tradition it is the dervish, who has this role: dervish means threshold (in Buddhism it is simply attentiveness).
At the threshold Venus – Libra forms the bridge. Venus in the manifestation and in the process in time – as the planets transform an idea beyond time into dynamic process of changing – and gives us the possibility to experience Love in its manifestations, on the most different levels. These are appearing and going, we are longing for all of them. Behind these manifestations is THE IDEA OF LOVE in one of the twelve rays of the sun: in Libra. “Look not for Love but for the source of Love”, as Reshad Field emphasised so often. Look for the Idea of Love, beyond time, beyond manifestation. Understand Love and be not content with its manifested forms.

We have not the place and time for it now, but the study about the places of Fall of the lights and the planets is very interesting. This row begins with adaptation and imitation – what Gurdjieff called “do what others do” and ends in hypnotism and aggression as in the closed prison.

How the Soul comes into Being?

Let us look once more at the Enneagram:



It shows the order how the six elements of the exaltations are related to the six points of the Enneagram. The two lights and the four planets are connected to the inner dynamic of a process. How can this combination be interpreted? I will relate the interpretation mainly to the inner process of “Becoming of Being”, as the process of realisation of the cosmic potentialities in every Human Being. In the short time available I concentrate on the inner dynamic structure and not so much the process of the octave in time.

The triangle with the Do, point 0, is for our consciousness not manifested “Sun behind the Sun”, the creative source beyond consciousness. The first manifestation of it is Re, the Sun, point 1; pure consciousness, which is the beginning of a new creation. That is what a Sufi saying means: “There is no Creation in the world of appearances, only the becoming of Being”.

The will, Mars, the “tool” of consciousness is Fa, point 4: the clear aim. It is the carrier of the energy for realisation. Energy itself has no direction, only in connection with an aim it can become creative.

The limitations for the action of free will are always given, that means the Saturn stops the free flow of energy: the landing at Mi, point 2. It does not help to try harder, to say, “I have to will it more”, the greater effort alone does not open the way to realisation. We meet the threshold, the closed door, the barrier.

When we are stuck at Mi and do not have the power to continue the octave, then it is time to ask for help. It has been said: we get all the help we need, but we have to ask for it (for example: Bunyan’s “Pilgrim & His Progress”). We can open us for the Unknown, to the Highest possible. With this we swing to Love of the unknowable Creator beyond consciousness, who “created this world of Love”. We ask for help in our need, then “He gave the need into every created being to join everything together”. Through that we invoke a descending octave which comes from above to help us. I can prove it: every SOS in my life was answered within 24 hours. Of course not in a way I wanted it or I could imagine it. But a clear help came always from outside or from within me. This is Si, the Venus at point 8.

This leads to Sol, Jupiter, at point 5. These are the Moments of inner fulfilment, of a feeling of the abundance of Grace and being held by Unity. I could use the word “happiness”, but it is more than ecstatic joy. It is the wine which became blood in our veins – the wine of Dionysos, of Christ or of the Sufis.

This fullness, inner wealth, the pure substance without darkness, can be the food for the growing Soul, of the Moon, at La, at point 7.

The growing Moon will be part of the next “creation”, in the new consciousness. The new octave entails the substances of the Soul, which is “Knowing substance”, as Reshad Field defines Soul. The first manifestation of consciousness comes of Unity. The more knowledge unity entails, the greater, the more complex, cosmos can be created. Through the growing Soul gets the Do of every next octave more intelligence, more substance, more possibility. Through every new beginning and “getting stuck” at Mi gets the descending octave more and more substance and more possibility to “help” to finish the ongoing octave.

Creation, as it is shown in the order of exaltations is so to say a “one way” process. Through the connection with the Enneagram it becomes a closed circle, in which the “Rays”, sent by the Sun, do not disappear in the endless space, but partly “come back” to it to feed it. The circulation of the dynamic process will go on unless the Moon – as the female partner of the Sun – becomes an equivalent partner to it.
Through every fulfilled octave the Soul – the Moon - will grow. Every octave leads necessarily from the new idea through the will (Mars), through suffering by the limitations (Saturn), getting in contact with the Higher Reality (Venus), fulfilment (Jupiter) and growing through experience in knowledge and ability. We always suffer due to our limitations, but – as I understood through this diagram – we would not turn to the Higher if we did not come to it through the suffering.
This presentation may give some new impulses for understanding, what Gurdjieff meant by the Moon and why he spoke about the “building of a new Moon”. It is a long process, going through a great number of new octaves, again and again. Only then the quality of our inner Moon is growing to become the partner of the inner Sun. Only then it is possible, that Sun and Moon can meet each other to melt together in UNIO MYSTICA.
This is the teaching of all spiritual traditions.

There remain a lot of questions unanswered. Of course, I do not have all the answers ready in my pocket. But the more we understand, the more we see: all real understanding lead to the same Source. Everything is bound together with everything. LIFE is a network like a piece of fabric: when we lift it at one point, the whole is hanging on this point and comes with.

LIFE is greater, than we are. We can not grasp and control it. What we can is to take full heartedly part in it and than we get some insight into its real nature. It will nourish us with some Ray of the TRUTH, which is UNITY.

“Except love of the most beauteous God everything, though (outwardly) it is (pleasant like) eating sugar, is (in truth) agony of spirit.

What is agony of spirit? To advance towards death and not grasp the Water of Life.

People fix both their eyes on earth and death: they have a hundred doubts concerning the Water of Life.

Strive that the hundred doubts become ninety (may decrease): go (towards God) in the night (of this world), for if you are slumber, the night will go (from you).

In the dark night seek that (shining) Day: put in front (follow) the darkness-consuming reason.

In the evil-coloured night there is much good: the Water of Life is the mate of darkness.”

Rumi, Mathnawi, Book 1 verses 3686-3691 - Translated by R. A. Nicholson

Agnes Hidveghy 2005