Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00016)

>>Does not seem to be true. The borderline between the rupa and the arupa
>>is somewhere in the middle of mental plane, so even manas (higher
>>subplanes of the mental) is in the arupa, not to speak about buddhi.
Jerry S:
	You are obviously speaking here of the CWL/AB Model.  But
I think that even here the separation at the mental plane level has
only to do with our thoughts, which turn into formless ideas.  Anyway,
it all depends on the model we want to use.  But the Abyss, the demarcation
between the upper 3 and lower 4 planes, is generally believed to
separate the form (rupa) from the formless (arupa) worlds.  This is
sometimes called the Great Outer Abyss to distinquish it from the
lesser or inner Abyss located between the 4th and 5th subplanes
of the mental plane.   The Great Outer Abyss addresses the
macrocosm, while the inner Abyss between higher and lower manas
addresses the microcosm.

>As Jerry is using Kabbalist (or Qabalist) terminology, I am jumping in
>here to kind of agree with Maxim (I think).  In the full system of the
>Kabbalist "Jacob's Ladder" the "causal plane" would relate to the
>Briatic world.  That which is subject to imagery would be present in the
>lower half of Briah, which "overlaps" the upper part of Yetzirah
>("higher astral") but the upper part of Briah cannot contain any kind of
>imagery.  The "Abyss" symbolism belongs to the "single tree" version
>promulgated by the Golden Dawn, but disappears when the fuller version
>is known and used.  There would be a kind of "borderline," to use
>Maxim's term, at Tiphareth in Briah.
>
	The use of the 4 Kabbalistic worlds is another model
altogether.  But the junction of each is nonetheless a Ring-Pass-Not.


>Sorry folks for the technical stuff, but I do have to read a lot of
>Indian and sanskrit terminology - why shouldn't you suffer a bit as well
	Agreed.  Its something that we all need to dip into sooner
or later.

	Jerry S.
	Member, TI