Each stage of existence has its level of truth.

HIERARCHY

 

660. There is no hierarchy in the Centre and from the Centre; but this is much more the case with the realisation of the Centre.

 

661. The grades in the sphere of beings are the grades of the withdrawal from the Centre of Being and the grades of the returning to the Centre of Being.

 

662. Being superior is being more archaic, i.e. being closer to the arkhé.

 

[The Greek arkhé means »beginning« and »dominion« at the same time.]

 

663. Superiority means being close to the spirit; being close to the spirit means being close to myself, and »being close« means that forces arising from the direct contact with myself pervade states and processes of consciousness just as they pervade the context of being - the being itself - emerging from the states and processes of consciousness.

 

664. Every hierarchy is gradual, but not every graduation is hierarchical, since only those grades can be considered hierarchical which, on the one hand, are stages on the path leading from the general forms of existence and consciousness toward transcendence, and, on the other hand, which are stages on the path of becoming leading from transcendence toward the world in esse.

 

665. The superior precedes the inferior both in essence and in time, but not especially in essence and not especially in time, because »temporalness« is only a projection of essentiality.

 

666. Superior things never originate from the inferior. Everything that came into existence is manifested by the descent of the superior.

 

667. The hierarchy of castes: the ativarna brahmana is both polar and solar; the brahmana is polar and lunar; the ksatriya is solar; the vaisya is lunar; the sudra is terrestrial; the pañcaka is subterrestrial; and the avarna is subterrestrial and infernal.

 

[The ativarna brahmana is the proto-caste above all the castes, where the brahmana and the ksatriya compose an integral union. The brahmana is the sacerdotal, the ksatriya is the noble, the vaisya is the craftsman-merchant, and the sudra is the workers’ caste. The pañcaka (»the fifth«) is the collective name for the subcastes below the casts. The avarna is the extra-casteness in the sense of subcastesness. Polarity is the manifestation of the celestial and extra-samsarian origin, while solarity represents the regal and ruling power over the conscious forces.]

 

668. The advancement of a technical civilisation does not assess superiority. Superiority can only be measured by the relation to the origin, beyond the origin to the beginning, and beyond this to the unbegun.

 

669. Each stage of existence has its level of truth.

 

670. The hierarchy of existence corresponds to that of consciousness.

 

QUALITY AND QUANTITY

 

672. The quantitative approach will emerge and gain importance as soon as the capability for considering the essence of things declines and ceases in man.

 

673. Quantitative aspects have no value at all, because value is, essentially, attached to quality.

 

674. The potentia passiva pura is neither quantity, nor quality - but actuality that transfers to the pure passive potentiality by the abandonment of its actuality in quality.

 

675. Each loss of quality drifts towards the »nothing«, because the pure quantity, that is, the potentia passiva pura, the prima materia, or the nirguna mula prakriti is considered »nothing« from the side of actuality.

 

676. Quantity is by the side of chaos.

 

677. In the cosmos - right because it is cosmos - quantity cannot gain full control.

 

678. (René Guénon) If there were absolutely no qualitative difference between two beings, there would be no quantitative difference between them either, i.e. the two beings would be one.

 

BODY - SOUL - SPIRIT

 

679. Spiritus est regulator. Anima est mediatrix regulationis. Corpus est regulatum.

[Latin: »Spirit is the ruler. Soul is the mediator in the rule. Body is under rule.«]

 

680. Spirit is not an entity, and even less is it a substantial entity. Spirit: subiectum in actu - is the self-postulating Subject in action.

 

681. Spirit is the light of Consciousness. (Spirit is the central relation of being.)

 

682. Spirit is subiectum in actu, i.e. subject in action. The more it is subiectum, the more it is in, and the more it is actu, the more it is spirit. Spirit is untouchable not because it is so fine and subtle that one cannot touch it anymore, but because it cannot be mentally perceived either, viz. there is nothing palpable in it. The spirit is a relation in fact; moreover it is the most internal relation. The spirit is the central relation of being.

 

683. The true understanding in understanding is the direct presence of the spirit.

 

684. Spirit qua spirit cannot fall sick, but the relation of spirit and soul can become sick, which is called pneumatosis.

 

685. There are many people who are almost completely healthy bodily and psychically, but who suffer from an advanced phase of pneumatosis at the same time.

 

686. The idea of »spiritual soul« means that the spirit controls the soul. The spirit that works as a »council of state«, a parliament or a central committee cannot rule the soul. Spirit can only function monarchicly towards the soul, just like a king. The person who cannot realise the monarchic rule of the spirit in his soul by rights cannot be considered a man. He seems to be one, but he is not a man at all.

 

687. Man is conscious in his soul, but he is conscious by virtue of the spirit.

 

688. Soul is my soul, but I am not identical with my soul. Soul is an environment; moreover it is the closest environment of my self-postulation, i.e. that of the spirit. My balance, my self-control means that I cannot allow my closest environment to become disharmonious with myself. This can be realised in one way only: when my closest environment and circumstances do not govern me, but I control them.

 

689. Inner life or the state of mind is one of the strongest antagonists of the spirit that manifests in the realm of soul. Inner life is nothing other than spirit in the state of subjection by psychic activities. The self that manifests in the soul is not the subject, but the endurer of emotions.

 

690. Body in its deepest sense is not a figural reality, but a state of mind, viz. such a state of mind that limits and exterminates all the other states of mind. Body is an internal wall.

 

691. Body is the denial of the spirit.

 

692. Body is where the spirit as spirit gradually extinguishes.

 

693. Among body, soul and spirit, body has fallen from the highest to the lowest.

 

694. When body becomes unlimited, i.e. fully pervaded by the spirit up to a stage where it turns into consciousness, this is called the »resurrection of body« in various traditions. The resurrection of body as body is the conquest of the body as a border.

 

695. The resurrection of body is but the re-placement of the body onto a grade in the hierarchy, which is appropriate to its original rank.

 

696. When man turns more and more to the quantitative world rather than himself, then he practically turns to nothing. By losing spirit man kept his soul, which still had some spiritual properties. After this he kept only the body, which still has some psychic properties; and slowly he will come to the nothing, which will only have some somatic properties.

 

Done