‘Now, let us look at the way our lower Self, the personality, was formed. Originally, it was an emanation, a secretion of the Spirit. When the Spirit wished to express itself it had to form an appropriate vehicle for each one of the spheres through which it had to pass in its descent to earth… vehicles which we call bodies.
Continued…
Going from the subtlest and finest vehicle down to the densest and coarsest, these are the Atmic, Buddhic and Causal bodies which constitute the higher Self, the individuality, and the mental, astral and physical bodies which constitute the personality or lower Self. The mental body (seat of our thoughts), the astral body (seat of our emotions) and the physical body (the material plane) are reflections, respectively, of the three higher bodies.
The bodies comprising our Lower Self are a reflection of those comprising the Higher Self
Someone will ask, ‘But why, if the personality reflects the individuality, is it so weak, why is it so blind and limited, so subject to error?’ The answer is that the individuality, which is common to all human beings, is divine indeed, all-powerful and entirely free in the heavenly regions where it bathes permanently in light, peace, and happiness… but it is unable to express itself in the dense regions of the material world except to the extent it is permitted to do so by the personality, or the three lower bodies.
Thus it is possible for someone to be weak, ignorant and cruel on earth and at the same time to be full of wisdom, love and power on the higher planes… limited and ineffectual below, and quite the opposite above. We are told by esoteric science that humans are beings who possess a great variety of riches, that they are far more complex than they appear.
Official Science studies mainly the Physical Body
This is where the esoteric science differs from the official science, which says, ‘Man is what you see, you can study him, learn all there is to know about him, by dividing him into so many organs, cells, chemical substances, all numbered and designated by name… that is the whole man… no more, no less.’
It will take time before the Lower Bodies are capable of expressing the qualities of the Individuality
Esoteric science recognizes the existence of other bodies in man beside the physical. The individuality, wishing to manifest itself in the dense and dark regions of the personality, is for the time being extremely limited.
It will take time and more study and experience, more development, for the lower bodies or personality to be capable of expressing the qualities and virtues of the individuality. When it does, the mental body will have become subtle and penetrating enough to understand the divine Wisdom; the astral body will be capable of feeling more noble, more selfless emotions and the physical body will have the power to act as it wishes, with nothing standing in its way’
To be continued…
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Complete Works Vol. 11, The Key to the Problems of Existence
Chapter 1, The Personality
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