‘This table contains a unified, coordinated picture of the principal elements of our physical and, especially, our psychic life, which are usually scattered and disconnected. Of course there are a certain number of notions that you will not find in it, but you can, at least, see where the different levels or degrees of consciousness fit in: the unconscious, the subconscious, consciousness, self-consciousness and the superconscious.’

Continued from yesterday’s post…

‘The Intellect (or The Mind) – Light, Knowledge
The intellect needs to be illuminated; it seeks light, knowledge. The food of the intellect is thought. The money with which it can buy the best food is wisdom, and the activity through which the intellect earns wisdom is meditation. Only wisdom is capable of nourishing your mind with the very best thoughts so that it can obtain the light it seeks.

The Soul – Space, Immensity
The ideal of the soul is space, immensity. The human soul is a tiny particle of the universal Soul, and it feels so constricted and hemmed in within the human being that its one desire is to be allowed to expand in limitless space.

In order to attain this goal, the soul too needs nourishment to keep up its strength, and the particular type of food that suits it best is all the qualities and virtues of the higher consciousness: impersonality, self-denial and self-sacrifice.

The coin with which it buys this food is ecstasy, fusion with the divine world, and the work which enables it to earn this fusion is the work of prayer and contemplation. Yes, the specific activity of the soul is contemplation.

The Spirit – Eternity
The ideal of the spirit is eternity, for the essence of the spirit is immortal; it transcends time. But in order to attain eternity, the spirit too needs food, and the food of the spirit is freedom. The soul needs to expand in space, and the spirit needs to break its bonds and free itself. Truth is the coin with which the spirit purchases freedom.

Every truth, about anything whatever, is liberating. Jesus said, ‘Know the truth and the truth will set you free’ Yes, it is truth that sets us free, and the activity that puts us in possession of truth is identification with the Creator.

Those who identify with the Creator become one with him, possess the truth and are free! When Jesus said, ‘My Father and I are one’, he summed up in those few words this whole process of identification.’

Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Read More in Izvor Book 222, Man’s Psychic Life, Elements and Structures
Chapter 2, The Synoptic Table