Theos-Talk Archives (January 1995 Message tl00129)

Jerry Schueler

This note is in partial reply to our discussion last week
regarding the purpose of existence.

The Place of Evolution in Our Lives -- Eldon Tucker

There are various levels to our inner nature, various ways of
experiencing and appreciating life. Going inward and upward to
the top, we reach the Unknowable. As we move away from that
Mystery, step-by-step closer to coming into existence, we take on
different types of limitations, each bringing with it a different
manner of the experience of life. Each step that we take in
coming into existence is another veil put on over our ultimate
nature. These veils make up the twelve principles of
consciousness; we need them all to be fully-embodied and manifest
on a plane, down and through the physical body or a mind-created
substitute (Mayavi-Rupa).

It is true that if we go deep enough within, we reach a stage or
level where we are perfect, above evolution, and not lacking for
anything. But this does not mean we are free of the necessity of
evolution. There is a deep part of us that transcends time and
existence; it is not subject to evolution. But there are other,
"lower" parts of us that are both eternal and subject to the
demands of evolution over time. There is a part of us that
transcends existence, yet participates in time, and is subject to
growth, change, iteration, self-feedback, evolution,
self-genesis.

Following is a list of the twelve principles. For purpose of
discussion, names are given to those usually unnamed; these names
are not taken from a theosophical authority, and could be
considered arbitrary.

Label ##   Name
F     11   Tat (Mystery)    can never know by either
                            negation or attribution
E     10   Parabrahman      unconditioned perfection,
                            beyond need to exist or not
                            exist, not looking down upon
                            the world
D      9   Swabhava         ideal nature, beyond time,
                            ever-present, unchanging as
                            we know change
C      8   Auric Egg        karmic treasure, beyond
                            space, form, or existence,
                            non-being but looking upon
                            manifest world
B     1-7  Atma to Physical our seven principles of
                            conscious existence
A      0   Tat (Mystery)    unknown root materiality

Let's go over this table. The seven principles (B) are as we
have learned in Theosophy. They are the basic ingredients of
manifest consciousness. We take on Atman in coming into
existence, and clothe ourselves in all the other principles as we
become fully-embodied. Without these seven principles, we still
*are*, but continue in a state of non-being, of
non-manifestation, of being formless and out of relationship with
conditioned existence.

Why do we come into existence? There is a periodic desire for
manifestation, a thirst for life, sometimes called "tanha." A
positive experience may be desired, where we seek adventure and
have an urge towards creativity and self-expression.

Outside of existence, what are we? We are the remaining, higher
principles. In (C) we have our essential nature as of this
moment in time. It is the transcendent part of us that is
subject to time. It contains the fullness of ourselves, as
compared to that small portion that is emanated in any single
existence. It is the Auric Egg, and contains as its contents the
karmic seeds or treasury of our previous spiritual evolution.
This part of us transcends existence, but looks down upon the
waters of space and is the silent observer of our manifest
existence. It is this part of us that is subject to spiritual
evolution, that grows and changes over time.

How can we go higher than this? Into timelessness, into a manner
of perfection that has no room for improvement, into a part of
ourselves that is our unique, personal, essential nature or
Swabhava (D). This part of us never changes, but is still unique
and individual. It is the Monad. It is perfect, but of a type
of perfection that is concerned with the imperfection of the
world. It is a downward-looking perfection, like Avalokitesvara;
it is a nurturing Inner God. This principle of consciousness is
the driving force behind our personal evolution; it compels us to
ever strive to be more truly ourselves, to strive to better and
better express what we are in our heart. It is the heart that
seeks expression, whereas in the Auric Egg (C) we have the
eternal pilgrim on the never-ending trek.

With Swabhava, we have risen above both space, and manifest
existence, and above time, or being subject to change. How could
we possibly go higher? With Parabrahm, or Paramatman (E), we
reach *beyond* ourselves. There is not a sense of our ideal
nature, but rather of embracing everything. And it is the part
of us that is too perfect to be concerned about manifest
existence. Paramatman is absorbed in stillness or absolute
motion. It is the realm of absolutes, where they take on a
literal reality because there is no limitations due to
conditioned existence. In this part of ourselves we are too
perfect, too near the ultimate root of all, too far-removed from
the outer world to care about it in any way. We are in absolute
peace, without concern for outer existence, inward at our core,
beyond any relationship whatever with the drama of life.

Now if Paramatman (E) is the highest we can experience, what of
Tat, the Mystery, (F)? What do we experience of this part of
ourselves? Nothing. Not a word can be said about it, either as
an attribute or by negation. It is both a part of us that is
inseparable and yet never-knowable. It is simply the Grand
Unknown. It is both the highest and lowest principle of
consciousness, both (F) and (A).

Coming back to the idea of evolution, it is an eternal urge.
When we drop out of our Ideal Nature (Swabhava) into
participation in time (Auric Egg), a dynamic tension is created.
That tension arises from the loss of our timeless perfection,
which we are ever seeking after, in an endless evolutionary
journey. We are thrown into the process of self-becoming,
self-expression, self-unfolding over time. This evolution is not
"jumping through hoops." It is not something arbitrary, something
to be escaped from as a trap. And it is not something that is
every ultimately completed. To rise above evolution, we shift
our consciousness into our highest principles, above those that
participate in time; to redescend into evolution we shift our
consciousness back into the lower principles. There never comes
a time where the part of us subject to evolution over time can
say "I'm done!"