CHAPTER V.

THE RELATION OF MAN TO GOD.

IN the preceding chapters we have been considering
man in relation to three of the five Worlds which
form the field of his evolution. -We have partly de-
scribed these Worlds and noted the different vehicles of
consciousness by means of which he is correlated to them.
We have studied his relation to the other three king-
doms— mineral, plant and animal — noting the difference
in vehicles, and consequent difference in consciousness,
between man and each of these kingdoms. We have fol-
lowed man through one life cycle in the three Worlds
and have examined the operation of the twin laws of
Consequence and Rebirth in their bearing upon the evolu-
tion of man.

In order to understand further details as to the prog-
ress of man, it now becomes necessary to study his relation
to the Grand Architect of the Universe — to God and to
the Hierarchies of Celestial Beings which stand upon the
many different rungs of the Jacob's ladder of attainment
that stretches from man to God and beyond.

This is a task of the utmost difficulty, rendered still
more so by the indefinite conceptions of God which exist
in the minds of the majority of the readers of literature
dealing with this subject. It is true that names, in and
of themselves, are not important, but it matters greatly
that we know what we mean by a name ; otherwise misun-

177

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THE RELATION OF MAN TO GOD 179

derstanding will result, and if a common nomenclature is
not agreed upon by writers and teachers, the present con-
fusion will be worse confounded. When the name "God"
is used it is always uncertain whether The Absolute, The
One Existence, is meant; or The Supreme Being, Who is
the Great Architect of the Universe; or God, Who is the
Architect of our Solar System.

The division of the Godhead into "Father," "Son" and
"Holy Ghost'' is also confusing. Although the Beings
designated by these names are immeasurably above man
and worthy of all the reverence and worship he is capable
of rendering to his highest conceptions of Divinity, yet
They are different from one another in actual fact.

Diagrams 6 and 12 will perhaps make the subject clear.
It must be kept in mind that the Worlds and Cosmic
Planes are not one above another in space, but that the
seven Cosmic Planes inter-penetrate each other and all the
seven Worlds. They are states of spirit-matter, permeating
one another, so that God and the other great Beings who
are mentioned are not far away in space. They pervade
every part of their own realms and realms of greater
density than their own. They are all present in our world
and are actually and de facto "nearer than hands and
feet." It is a literal truth when we say "in Him we live
and move and have our being." for none of us could
exist outside these great Intelligences Who pervade and
sustain our world with Their Life.

It has been shown that the Etheric Region extends
beyond the atmosphere of our dense Earth ; that the De-
sire World extends out into space further than the Etheric
Region; also that the World of Thought extends further
into inter-planetary Space than either of the others. Of
course, the Worlds of rarer substance occupy a larger space

180 BOS1CBUC1AN COSMO-CONCEPTION

than the denser World, which has crystallized and con-
densed, thus occupying less space.

The same principle is operative in the Cosmic planes.
The densest of them is the seventh (counting from the
top downward). It is represented in the diagram as
larger than any of the others, the reason heing that it
is the plane with which we are most intimately concerned,
and it was desired to indicate its principal subdivisions.
In reality, however, it occupies less space than any of the
other Cosmic Planes, although it must be borne in mind
that, even with this camparatively restrictive qualification
as to its extent, it is still immeasurably vast, far beyond
the utmost power of the human mind to conceive, com-
prising within its limits millions of Solar Systems similar
to our own, which are the fields for the evolution of many-
grades of beings of approximately our own status.

Of the six Cosmic Planes above our own we know
nothing, save that we are told they are the fields of
activity of great Hierarchies of Beings of indescribable
splendor.

Proceeding from our Physical World to the inner and
finer Worlds and up through the Cosmic Planes, we find
that Go4, the Architect of our Solar System, the Source
and Goal of our existence, is found in the highest division
of the seventh Cosmic Plane. This is His World.

His Realm includes the systems of evolution carried on
in the other planets which belong to our system — Uranus,
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Earth, Venus, Mercury, and their
satellite?.

.The great Spiritual Intelligences designated as the
Planetary Spirits, which guide these evolutions, are called
the "Seven Spirits before the Throne." They are His
Ministers, each presiding over a certain department of the
Kingdom of God — which is our Solar System. The Sun

THL: RELATION OF MAX TO GOD igi

is also the field of evolution of the most exalted Beings
in our Cosmos. They alone can endure and advance by
means of the terrific solar vibrations. The Sun is the
nearest approach we have to a visible symbol of God,
yet it is but n veil for That which is behind. What That
is cannot l>e uttered publicly.

When we try to discover the origin of the Architect of
our Solar System, we find that we must pass to the highest
of the seven Cosmic Planes. We are then in the Realm
of The Supreme Being, Who emanated from The Absolute.

The Absolute is beyond comprehension. No expression
nor simile which we are capable of conceiving can possibly
convey any adequate idea Manifestation implies limita-
tion. Therefore, we may at best characterize The Abso-
lute as Boundless Being; as the Root of Existence.

From the Root of Existence — The Absolute — proceeds
the Supreme Being, at the dawn of manifestation. This
is THE ONE.

In the first chapter of John this Great Being is called
God. From this Supreme Being emanates The Word, the
Creative Fiat "without whom was not anything made,"
and this Word is the alone-begotten Son, born of His
Father (the Supreme Being) before all worlds — but posi-
tively not Christ. Grand and glorious as is Christ, tower-
ing high above mere human nature, He is not this Exalted
Being. Truly "the Word was made flesh," but not in the
limited sense of the flesh of one body, but the flesh of all
that is, in this and millions of other Solar Systems.

The First Aspect of the Supreme Being may be char-
acterized as POWER. From this proceeds the Second
Aspect, THE WORD; and from both of these proceeds the
Third Aspect, MOTION.

From this threefold Supreme Being proceed the seven

lS$-> HO8ICBUCIAM COSMO-CONCEPTION

Great Logoi. They contain within Themselves all the
great Hierarchies which differentiate more and more as
They diffuse through the various Cosmic Planes. (See
diagram (i.) There are forty-nine Hierarchies on the sec-
ond Cosmic Plane; on the third there are 343 Hierarchies.
Each of these is capable of septenary divisions and subdi-
visions, so that in the lowest Cosmic Plane, where the
Solar Systems manifest, the number of divisions and sub-
divisions is almost infinite.

In the Highest World of the seventh Cosmic Plane
dwells the God of our Solar System and the Gods of all
other Solar Systems in the Universe. These great Beings
are also threefold in manifestation, like The Supreme
Being. Their three aspects are Will, Wisdom and Activity.

Each of the seven Planetary Spirits which proceed
from God and have charge of the evolution of life on one
of the seven planets, is also threefold and differentiates
within itself Creative Hierarchies which go through a
septenary evolution. The evolution carried on by one
Planetary Spirit differs from the methods of development
inaugurated by each of the others.

It may be further stated that, at least in the particular
planetary scheme to which we belong, the entities farthest
evolved in the earliest stages, who had reached a high
stage of perfection in previous evolutions, assume the func-
tions of the original Planetary Spirit and continue the
evolution, the original Planetary Spirit withdrawing from
active participation, but guiding its Eegents.

The foregoing is the teaching relative to all the Solar
Systems, but coming down to the particular System to
which we belong, the following is the teaching which the
sufficiently trained Seer can obtain for himself by per-
sonal investigation of the memory of nature.