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Friday, September 7, 2012

The Functions and Archetypes of our Universe



Our universe is a balanced field of functions (laws) that originate in broader pre-universal mechanics. They are not yet the fundamental laws discovered by physics but something further upstream. The fundamental functions of our universe could be associated with the creative aspects of the Sephiroth – or, if you prefer, the Trigrams of the I Ching – and in microcosm with the system of the chakra.

Using other methods, perhaps more direct and radical, native populations and shamans describe, the same dynamics that we are summarizing here in their first-hand experience and ‘visions’ in altered states of consciousness[1], representing them through an archaic symbolism which is mysterious and yet immediate and absorbing.

According to Western esoteric tradition there are thought to be eight fundamental functions which once translated into time matrices and physical laws relate to one another by means of 24 archetypes.

There are various numerations and classifications: based on 2 or 4 (usually applied to the material and human world), based on 12 (on a cosmic scale, in the case of the eons of Gnostic tradition), based on 3 or 7 (usually applied to the divine dimensions in relation to human ‘types’) or based upon the omnipresent sequence of Fibonacci (applied to Sacred Geometry and the so-called Golden Section) and all their possible combinations. It is useful to take a look at those aspects which more or less act as a background to all the others.

  One of the most significant hermetic compendiums, the Kybalion[2], lists the following seven fundamental principles:

1.  Principle of mentalism, or ‘all is mind’.
2. Principle of correspondence: there is always a correspondence between the phenomena of various planes of existence (physical, mental and spiritual), in deference to the principle ‘as above so below’.
3. Principle of vibration: nothing is still, everything is in movement and vibration.
The differences between the material, the mind, energy and the spirit can be reduced to vibrational disparity: the higher the evolutionary level the higher the vibrational frequency. The All (the Absolute, the Supreme Mind) has an infinitely high vibrational level. The art of mental transformation rests precisely in the art of modifying the vibrational state: a result that is achieved through the exertion of the will.
4. Principle of polarity: everything is dual, everything has two poles, and everything has its opposite. Every thing ‘is’ and ‘is not’ at the same time, every truth is nothing more than a half truth and half falsehood at the same time. Opposites share the same nature but in different degrees, extremes touch one another and all possible paradoxes can be reconciled.
5. Principle of rhythm: in all things there is movement similar to that of a pendulum. This principle explains how there is a rhythm in every pair of opposites or poles and is therefore closely linked to the Principle of polarity.
6. Principle of cause and effect: there is a cause for every effect and an effect for every cause. Chaos does not exist: ‘chaos’ is just the name given to non-identifiable or perceivable causes.
7. Principle of gender: everything has a gender, masculine or feminine. This concept has nothing to do with sexual gender. Mental gender is in fact free and independent of the sexual or physical gender of a person. The masculine gender is active, projected externally, and its key word is ‘Will’. The feminine gender is receptive, creates new thought and ideas and its key word is ‘Imagination’. There has to be a balance between the two genders: In fact, the masculine if not balanced by the feminine, acts indiscriminately and inclines towards chaos, just as the feminine if not balanced by the masculine tends to stagnate. Masculine and feminine together create sound action that leads to success.

To these seven fundamental principles, which are obviously developed from the classical hermetic principles attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, I would add a more implicit, or if you prefer occult eighth: Synchronicity. The 24 archetypes are without doubt related to, but not only, the 24 Major Arcana of the Tarot (therefore not 22), a profound knowledge of which can be found by beginning with the classical deck of Eliphas Levi and then later studying the 22+2 Arcana of Crowley.

It is necessary to awaken the Consciousness in ourselves – or better still to wake up to that Consciousness. In order to do that we have to recover the lost archetypes, rehabilitate our Energy and our inner faculties and reconnect our spiritual parts to our soul. We have to recover the hardware (archetypes) and the software (energy, senses and faculties) emancipating ourselves from every limit and received conditioning through a process of transformation which is both mental and corporeal.

We can thus explore and evolve through the manifestations of reality, and all that is set out here will be seen as natural and evident. Our objective however, is not to become programmers of the illusion but to understand reality through all its possible illusions.

The eight functions or universal laws, set out in a conventional and logical sequence should be related to the principles listed below with their corresponding hermetic attribute:

1. Frequency – the principle of vibration
2. Interaction – the principle of cause and effect
3. Sacred Geometry – the principle of correspondence
4. Immanent consciousness – the principle of mentalism
5. Correspondence – the principle of rhythm
6. Synchronicity – the hidden principle
7. Chaos – the principle of polarity
8. Arrow of Complexity – the principle of gender

Every universe has its own ‘local’ laws, which in the case of our universe we calculate as being eight. Outside our field of interest it makes no sense to number something other than for allegorical representation. There is no point in numbering the primeval laws or the laws of another universe or the primeval emanations of Consciousness. At those levels the concept of numbers loses all significance.

From the eight basic functions, all the successive energetic, dimensional and space-time dynamics are triggered and therefore the laws that on our specific plane of existence are described, for lack of a more elegant and all encompassing formula, as electromagnetic, gravitational and strong or weak nuclear forces.

These metaphysics are a kind of pre-quantum physics rather than a transcendental physics.




Now consider the following table, which will be looking at again in the course of our assessment. You will see the fundamental functions of our universe (derivative laws) listed and their correlation to certain elements of different esoteric disciplines.


For a more in-depth look at the nature and functions of each derivative law please consult my book 'Soul and Reality', Appendix I. - http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dorofatti
 


[1] It would be true to say that the most altered state of consciousness is really that of our daily lives which is absurd in comparison to the states of ecstasy and meditation that undoubtedly correspond to more authentic perceptions of the self and reality.
[2] We are talking about an essay of Hermetic philosophy published in the United States in 1908, the work of ‘Three Initiates’, formally indicated as written by anonymous authors even though it is almost certain that they were William W. Atkinson (who had already published work under the pseudo name of Yogi Ramacharaka, (a name borrowed perhaps from his former oriental master), Paul F. Case (member of the Golden Dawn and founder of a schismatic movement) and Mabel Collins, the noted Theosophist and pupil of Helena P. Blavatsky, author of the fundamental occult treatise Light on the Path.

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