Theos-Talk Archives (January 1994 Message tl00092)

Because we are at a point in our evolution where the natural course of
events is to seek the spiritual, it is easy to confuse the spiritual
with good, and the material with evil. But the distinction is wrong,
and can be seriously misleading.

The general sweep of human evolution is upward, along the Upward Arc
leading to eventual existence on a higher plane, as humanity will one
day, in many millions of years hence, find itself existing on Globe E.
The natural direction of evolution is upwards, towards the spiritual,
and that is what is stressed in the many cultures and societies that
we will incarnate into.

Looking about us, at the billions of men and women going through their
lives, we see this sweep of evolution at work. There is the ideal of
the spiritual, and the great religions teach us to become less concerned
with material things, to dwell within, to stress an inner life over
one that emphasizes our interaction with concrete, physical forms.

The material, though, is not evil. It would be wrong to call the
Downward Arc, into matter, as evil, and the Upward Arc, into higher,
more spiritual planes, as good. The nature of good and evil is
independent of any particular plane, or degree of spirituality. We can
have something much more material than our physical earth, on yet a
lower plane, and yet we could be, compared to it, evil. Or there could
be a being on a far higher plane, a being of spiritual evil, that
we were much more good than.

The duality of spirit and matter has to do with the materiality of
expression, the degree of concreteness to the forms that we take on.
It is unrelated to our ethical consciousness, to our ability to
discriminate between good and evil and make choices. The duality of
good and evil, the spectrum of consciousness that it represents, is
another, entirely different manner of the experience of life than
what plane we are on or how spiritual we have become.

When we are on the Downward Arc, and our evolutionary goal is to become
yet more material, our whole orientation in life would be different.
During this time, we would be seeking existence on lower planes, and
striving to attain more concrete expression to our consciousness.
When the human lifewave is on the Downward Arc, moving through Globes
A, B, C, and to D, it takes on this orientation. And when we, if we
were to exist, apart from the lifewave, on one of those globes, would
experience that downward sweep, as part of our experience of life.

There are a number of levels of experience of good and evil. One is
if we function in an ego-centric point of view, where we interpret
everything in terms of its effect upon our personality, and anything
agreeing with it is good, and anything in opposition to it is bad.
Another is if we function with more awareness of others, and consider
as evil the making of choices for selfish ends, without regard for the
common good.

When we consider what is right for us, at this point in time, it would
depend upon what is appropriate to further our evolution. Considered in
a collective sense, our evolution is towards the spiritual at this time.
Considered individually, we are either with humanity, or racing ahead,
on the Path. And if we are racing ahead, we are either finishing the
Upward Arc of the Fourth Round, developing a more spiritual Kama, or
starting the Downward Arc of the Fifth Round, developing a Manas that
seeks concrete expression.

There are two points that we might consider. The first, which we have
discussed so far, is that the spiritual is not necessarily associated
with the good, and the material with the bad. That is, good and evil is
experienced regardless of plane, and involves the power of choice, the
consciousness of morality, and is an integral part of experience.

The second point is that our purpose in existence is to give full
manifestation to our essential nature, to become fully self-conscious
and expressive of the life within us. Regardless of whether we are on
the Downward Arc, on worlds where the rush of life is downward, towards
greater materiality, or on the Upward Arc, on worlds where the rush
of life is upwards, towards increasing spirituality, we still have the
responsiblity to become fully manifest.

Regardless of the flow of life on the globe that we are on, we are
responsible to complete our evolution. And that evolution requires us
to fully clothe ourselves in all our seven principles or elements of
consciousness, and to give expresssion to the very highest parts of
ourselves, utilizing all our principles and having an effect in the
world.

A certain fullness of consciousness, and a completeness of expression
is required on any globe, before we evolve to the point of moving on
to the next one in the Round.

At this time, the human kingdom is on Globe D. Only a small population
of the elect of humanity exists on the other globes. Known as the
sishtas, a Sanskrit word meaning remainders, they preserve the nature
of human life on the other globes, until the human lifewave returns
to them, when they will be the parents of the returning humanity.

The only others that may incarnate--or rather embody, since they aren't
taking on bodies of flesh--are Chelas and Mahatmas, seeking experience
on the other globes. A certain amount of time is needed to take on a
body, and develop a personality from scratch, and they wouldn't likely
do so unless taking time off from incarnating on our earth, Globe D.

When we pass through the other globes, we are perhaps asleep, in our
after-death states, or undergoing initiatory experiences. Except for
the initiatory experiences, our passage would not be self-conscious,
we would be in a dreamlike state or devachan, and we would not take the
time to take on a body and clothe ourselves in the entire seven
principles of consciousness. The likely experience would be in the bosum
of the Monad, where we've clothed ourselves in the higher triad,
Atman-Buddhi-Manas, and not acquire a human personality for any of the
other globes.

For us, speaking in general terms, the spirtual path is engaged while
we are here on Globe D, in full embodiment, existing in our full
constitution, with all of the Skandhas brought together and the various
Monads that make us up in active association. After our physical death,
we are not our full selves, but pass through a kamaloka and devachan
in which we are exhausting the unspent psychological and spiritual
energies of the that has finished. We do not, as human Egos, go into
active, manifest existence elsewhere. We are asleep, in a way, and
dream.

Seeking existing on other, higher planes is not the spiritual path.
Fulfilling our current evolutionary lessons is the spiritual path. And
our human evolution is here, on Globe D. When we are able to somehow
avoid physical existence, we only avoid the experiences that we need to
progress. We are not ready for experiences on other globes until we
have mastered those of this globe, and to master them requires our
ability to fully express the spiritual in our lives. The spiritual has
to be come the very fabric of our consciousness before we are ready
for existence on the next plane, on Globe E. We must elevate our
consciousness, and give it expression in our lives, and become in a
sense an impersonal force for good in the world--this world--before
we're ready for the next world.

There are some philosophies that teach that physical existence is a
bad, inferior thing, and we should use all means at our disposal to
escape it. They teach that we are somehow stuck in this hell world,
and only need to find out how to escape it, and we'll just naturally
be ready for higher existences, for the heaven worlds.

Were we to go to the other globes right now, we would not be able to
understand or appreciate them. We may not have the necessarily degree
of development to be able to associate with humanity on those globes,
the human sishtas, anymore than we would be permitted to visit
Shambhala on our globe. And we might not be able to function, without
some external forces to shape and fashion our personality for us.

On those globes, where the human lifewave is not present, there are no
human Root Races, subraces, or various cultures or collective psyches
to give form and shape to us as human personalities. Unless we were
able to function on the globes in our individualities, in the higher
human Ego, we would be simply non-functional.

In addition, the other kingdoms of nature have their lifewaves on the
other globes. If we went to Globe E, for instance, and the Animal
Kingdom predominated there, we would find a hard time getting out of
its way, and not being subject to its activities. It wouldn't exactly
be like being a caveman, running away from dinosars, but there might
be something analogous to it.

Being in the beginning of the Upward Arc, we find that external nature
is starting to move in the direction of increasing spirituality. We
find it easier to express things and to live in a more refined,
abstract, lofty, spiritual manner. Even so, we face the continual
struggle between good and evil, experienced in different ways in
different parts of our nature. From the personality, it is a battle,
a conflict, a struggle. From a higher vantage point, it is experienced
as the lessons for growth that life brings us, a continual challenge
providing us great opportunities to develop selflessness, to raise
our consciousness from the personal to the impersonal.

Let us come into life ready for the challenge, with eager minds, an
unveiled spiritual perception, and a willingness to take on the
experiences that we, through our karmic connections, draw to us in
the world. We exteriorize ourselves, we evoke out of life those
people and situations needed for our development and that need our
help and support. And we apply ourselves, learning and growing and
making a contribution to life, or we fail, and leave much good undone.

Our life here in the world, in mother nature, on Globe D, is the
school. Let us complete this term with honors, and not slack off in
our studies or drop out! Let us set an example for others, and help
our fellows also complete the course with success! Let us take our
place among the helpers of humanity, and do the good work!

                  Eldon Tucker (eldon@netcom.com)