Journeys into the bright world

Next there comes the tripartite realm which we have come to call the bright world. One could say that the cosmatrix is like a supersaturated solution which is ready to crystalize when subjected to the catalytic action of the bright world. That is, the bright world precipitates the potential energy of the cosmatrix into the kinetic circumstances of the mundane plane. While the bright world is inherently subtle it contains the chemical formulas which underlie the dense elements of planet Earth. In other words the bright world is the numinous nexus of formative principles that are the precursors of bodily existence. It comprises the sum of the individualizing process which simultaneously reduces Spirit into Matter and transubstantiates Matter into Spirit. As such it can be identified with the anima mundi or "soul of the world" of which philosophers have long spoken.

It seemed to me that the bright world itself could be divided into layers which, curiously enough, correspond to the Hindu philosophical trinity of Sat-Chit-Ananda, a tripartite word usually (and inadequately) translated as "existence-knowledge-bliss." Having raised myself in the theosophical tradition I would have expected to have encountered a somewhat different layering of effects. As it turned out, there were also some correspondences with the higher astral, egoic, and causal realms of the theosophical tradition. However, to my surprise, the system of the Hindus came the closest to matching my personal experience. The qualities of Sat, Chit, and Ananda can be briefly described as follows:

Sat, being the first emanation from the power source which the Hindus call Brahman,

is concerned with the essences of all forms. It is the will-to-be which brings all things into existence and determines what they may eventually become.

Chit is the principle of mind which wisely conceives the archetypes of the various modes of being. As such, it involves the exercise of pure reason which makes the blueprints of the universe compatible with the properties of the material being molded, and which adjusts the psycho-genetic codes of all discrete entities.

Ananda is the expression of love which makes the fabric of creation right and good. We experience the bliss of Ananda through the beauty, orderliness and perfection of nature.

One might say, therefore, that Sat emits the original impulse, Chit is concerned with design making and Ananda

en-joys (literally puts joy into) these designs.

The outcome of this externalizing process is the sensate realm which the Hindus term Maya or illusion. It should be borne in mind, however, that the phenomenal appearance of the world is illusory only in the sense that the pictures projected upon a movie screen are delusive. What one sees may not be a great show but nonetheless the story told represents real happenings. The main thing to grasp is that the material world is only the end result of a chain of causation which stretches back through the various strata of a serial universe. Pondering these concepts I found that my private cosmology was beginning to look something like this:

During the course of thirty-five years of metaphysical investigations I have studied many different maps of consciousness. I have delved into the profundities of the twelve zodiacal signs, the ten Cabalistic sephiroth, the nine Catholic orders of angels, the eightfold wheel of the Buddhists, the seven rays of the theosophists, the six-pointed Soloman's seal of the Hebrews, the five elements of the Chinese, the four essences of the Greeks, the sacred trinity of the Christians, and the polarized duality of the Gnostics. In all these enumerations it has remained apparent that, as the Vedantists insist, "Truth is one; men call it by many names."

Now, however, I was no longer analyzing someone else's chart. I was actually navigating those oceans of being and seeing them with my own eyes. Moreover, these realities were being encountered at a level of truth at which preconceived notions were virtually excluded. What a relief! Never again would I have to remain content with someone else's warmed-over mysticism. I had gone avoyaging myself and walked those other shores. I knew these continents of the mind existed as surely as I knew that I had lived in Europe and India, even though my home is now in America. There was no way now that anyone could tell me that all this was merely my own imagining. It was no more "in my head" than Seattle was in my head. I was in it, to think that it was in me would have to be the sheerest egomania.