Initiatic science has always drawn an analogy between the universe – the macrocosm – and a human being – the microcosm.

Imagine how puzzling it would be for someone who knew nothing of human anatomy or of the structure that lies under the skin to try to understand what holds people together – what keeps them upright and makes them capable of walking, breathing and eating, what enables them to express thoughts and feelings.

You would have to explain that hidden by the skin there is a framework of bones to which are attached flesh, muscles, organs, blood and nerves. Well, this is also true, on a gigantic scale, of the universe itself.

The universe is a body, the body of the Creator. And our own physical bodies are created in its image. Just as our bodies are built on the framework of a skeleton – without which they would collapse – the universe itself hangs on a framework thanks to which all its constituent parts, from the galaxies to the minute particles of matter that make up the atoms, are held together in equilibrium. It is this framework that we call the world of principles. It is this framework that makes life possible.

If you want to understand how the universe is built and how it functions, you have to be able to see the whole skeleton of this cosmic body from head to toe. For years and years this is what I endeavoured to do. Through meditation and contemplation, I did my best to discover the laws that governed the construction of the universe. I would leave my physical body and rise to the highest peak, from which the whole edifice can be seen.

Obviously no human being can ever quite manage to see creation as the Creator sees it, but at least we can try to get as close to his point of view as possible. And the only way to do this is to free oneself from the material density and limitations of earth. For truth, first and foremost, is a point of view, and we can only acquire this point of view by distancing ourselves from the world that is constantly before our eyes.

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Izvor Book 235, In Spirit and in Truth (Read an extract or download as an eBook via this link)
Chapter 1 The framework of the universe