Theos-Talk Archives (October 1995 Message tl00392)

Alan B.:

>> This is a small point, but I see life as an expression of consciousness
>> rather than the other way around. Thanks again,

>> Jerry S.

> Methinks 'tis a BIG point, like kind of *essential*

I agree. But first comes the void, or utter sense of completion. Then
arises consciousness, clothing itself in various sheaths and ultimately
in a physical form. Consciousness brings about external life, rather
than being a by-product of it. And the objective nature of the external
world is *created* by the action of mind.

This is why I'd say that the contents of mind or Manas, for instance,
are of "mental stuff". The contents of thinking are thoughts, and *not*
forms on a "mental plane". Mind has its own "stuff", arising out of the
operation of consciousness. Physical "stuff" arises out of the senses
and sense perception. Mental "stuff" arises out of the action of mind.
But the contents of Manas aren't images, shapes, colors, and other
"mental plane forms", but rather thought, in our minds, as we know it.

When we go to a higher plane, and exist there, we clothe ourselves in
the seven principles. That includes sense perception and possibly a
physical form. The sense perception is the Linga Sharira of that plane,
and the physical form of that plane is the Sthula Sharira. Thought per
se on that higher plane is as intangible as on this plane, because its
contents are based upon understanding life from the standpoint of a
fixed ego or personal self.

The idea that the higher principles are but bodies and their actions
on other planes objectivizes the subtle actions of consciousness, and
seems to me to be a subtle form of materialism. (That is, consciousness
arises through the action of material bodies, but now we put some of
those bodies on higher planes.) Consciousness arises in its own right,
regardless of plane, and is not derived from the action of bodies. It
may express itself through senses and external bodies, but is not
*caused by* such action.

-- Eldon