Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00346)

>>And again, that fundamental premise, it seems to me, is that Undifferentiated
>>Consciousness comes FIRST.
>
>Do we know what we mean by that statement? Yes - you read it in Theosophical
>articles again and again. But what does it really mean?

This lamentation is exactly what the "process" theosophists have been
saying as to the problem with "core" theosophists--book learning only
goes so far.  When you actually raise consciousness beyond the
human and corporeal condition, e.g., when you bring the thinking
process to a stop, instead of death or nothingness, there is a very
intense consciousness.  In psychological terms, this is shifting
consciousness from the ego to the self (Jung's definition here, as the
central archetype of the psyche).  So, if consciousness survives
body, then it stands to reason that it must be more fundamental, and
thus must "come first."  But until this is experienced, it simply has
to be taken on faith.  BTW, Jung taught that the psyche pre-exists
the ego-body and post-exists them as well.  Our ego is born with
the body and dies with it.

> The idea that some
>"conscousness" whatever that is, incarnates or controls a body?
>How does it do this?

	By a process of self-expression.  One of the inherent
characteristics of the Divine Monad is its creativity--it has an
innate desire to self-express.  But it is the Ego that does it, not
the personal ego.  The ego-body relationship is two-way, while
the Ego--body relationship is one-way.  Think of it as buddhi vs
manas, if that makes it any better.  The body is an expression of
atma-buddhi, but manas is its expression too and so there
is a sharing of control between manas and the physical body.

>How does an incorporeal mind control a corporeal entity? Through
>Psychokinesis?

	It never does.  Manas and the lower principles enter
the fetus at conception (actually the fetus is their first physical
expression) and mind is therefore corporeal from the start.


>Does this happen on a microscopic level, like the mind
>controling atoms, and if so - why is this process so difficult to duplicate
>in the laboratory.  Has anyone thought much about this?

	Yes but not atoms, which are too large.  Rather mind
controls via the subatomic particles that make up the atoms.  It can't
be duplicated in the lab yet, because these particles only exist
as such in particle generators for tiny time periods.  These
subatomic particles, including virtual particles, are very susceptible
to thought and emotion (no, I can't prove this in a laboratory).

	Jerry S.
	Member, TI