In our quest for self-consciousness, this is one of the most fundamental questions we must ask. It is doubtful whether many of us know the answer to this question. The fact that not many people know the answer to this question is attested to by what we see before us on earth today, in the chaos and the confusion that reign supreme. It is a shame that a being who claims to know as much as we do, who even claims he has learned to master nature, does not even know anything about his origin and the purpose of his life. What foolishness alone lies in this fact? Yes we have technology, we have science, in spite of all these however, one could almost say that we have failed as human beings; we have failed in those aspects which are human; the family, religion and so on. Those aspects that are concerned with the inner core of man. We have knowledge but we lack the right kind of knowledge and this deficiency is what manifests in all the wars we have fought and the wickedness that have prevailed. It is doubtful whether the knowledge we have has made us into better human beings. It has not prevented history from repeating itself. What we have is intellectual knowledge which does not allow us to see into the souls of our neighbours and attend to the needs of other human beings. It does not allow us to live to the joys of others and to create works which will generally benefit mankind. This intellectual knowledge only recognizes how we can exploit our neighbours for our own material improvement, it allows us to act in such a way as not to realize that we are harming others with our actions. That is what intellectual knowledge does because it is not concerned with human beings or their welfare because the intellect which is lifeless cannot cope with matters which are living. Spiritual knowledge by contrast is concerned with life itself and its improvement; with human beings and their welfare.

What therefore is man? Various creation stories of differing peoples could be examined, but the one that closely represent to some extent the nature of the happening is that given in the Bible. One thing we must bear in mind however, is that man is more than the flesh we see with our physical eyes. Man represents more than the flesh. The physical body is nothing more than what we need in order for us to function here on earth. It is nothing more than an implement, a tool that we need in order for us to be able to live here. In fact in any realm in the entire creation, man needs the essence of that environment in order for him to make himself understood and really live in that environment. That indeed is the natural thing. Therefore, in order for us to live on earth, we need the substance of the environment of the earth, which of course is the physical body. Many of us indeed have realised the fact that the human being as such could not just be the physical body. The reality within us speaks to the contrary even though the scientists, forever overlooking the real process always try to convince us otherwise.

The nature of our experiences if we are attentive is proof enough that we could not just be the physical body. Many of us fortunately have attained this conviction. Since Creation as a whole is divided into many realms, each complete in itself and each of a different nature, we would therefore so to speak have to clothe ourselves with the essences of these differing realms in order for us to journey through them. Man has the bodies of all the layers that Creation is composed of in him telescoped into each other but his core, his essence, his being, is SPIRIT. Spirit therefore is what he is. It is that immortal spark which animates all the bodies that he bears. The bodies therefore are lifeless coverings needed in order for us to be able to live and work in the various realms of creation and which fall behind whenever we leave these realms just like we drop the physical body behind on earth at earthly death. Therefore, all the bodies that man bears with him are mortal, lifeless and nothing but animated instruments or tools of man.

What however animates these bodies is the spirit. It is this spirit that forms the core of man; it is this spirit that needs to travel through all the layers of Creation in order to experience and to learn. It, however, being of a different consistency must clothe itself with the essences of the various environments. The spirit of man originates from a special part of the vast Creation which is non-material and is called the Spiritual realm or PARADISE. It is of an entirely different consistency and lies far above the material creation. The essence of man therefore, is a special substance called spirit, which originate from a special realm above the material part of creation. The details of the various layers of Creation can be found in the book “In the Light of Truth” the Grail Message by Abd-ru-shin but it suffices to say here that Creation can be broadly divided into three parts:

The Primordial Spiritual part
The Spiritual part
The Material part

We will leave the first out of our consideration because this concerns a layer that lies above the origin of the human spirit. We will only concern ourselves with that layer from which we derive our origin; the spiritual part. This part is where the core of man, his essence, in short where man originates. It is the realm to which he automatically returns after all his wanderings in the material part. The spiritual part has subdivisions however; we as human beings on earth only originate in the lowest part. We originate as unconscious spirit seeds or germs who are in need of development into self-consciousness or self-awareness. We originate in the spiritual realm but we were created in such a way that we could not immediately become conscious of ourselves and our environment. In the spiritual realm itself we could only exist as germs, as seeds, unconscious of self, whereas still within the spiritual there exist other spirit creatures who could already develop immediately into self-consciousness and therefore do not need a process of development through experiencing that we human beings need.

We human beings therefore, in order for us gradually to awaken to self-consciousness need to go through a long process of experiencing, which experiencing gradually help to awaken us to the consciousness of self, to responsibility. We are more or less like infants, even worse who need to go through a long process of development through experiencing in order finally to come to awareness of who we are, what we can do and what powers lie at our disposal. We were like seeds who had been sown in the soil of the world of matter, in order gradually to germinate, then grow into a tender plant and then gradually over a long period through resistance into a strong tree. It is exactly the same process whether it concerns the material seeds of the earth or spiritual seeds. We are therefore, nothing more than seeds which have the potential within to become trees, spiritual trees, but before these potentials can be realised, we need to go through a gradual process of development which consists of experiences. These experiences however, which we need for our development, which we absolutely need on our path to self-consciousness can only be gained in the material part. The material part of creation is made up of two big components:

The world of Ethereal Matter
The world of Gross Matter

The former comes before the latter, yet it is still matter. This is what has been broadly referred to as the Beyond. It is different in consistency, lighter and as such lies higher than the gross material part. Both are matter and are therefore lifeless. We must realise that the spiritual realm from which the human spirit originates is immortal, therefore the spark within man is also immortal, that is, it has life within itself. The material however, is transient in that the forms changes with time. There is always the process of growing, ripening and decay after which comes a disintegration of the existing forms and the formation of other forms through new combinations. Therefore, the world of matter in general is transient. This huge world of matter, in which man (the spirit seed) has to descend in order for it to gain the experiences he needs is however at the beginning without form. top

The various elements and materials are there but these have to be combined in different ways in order for forms to appear. But before we go further, one must realise that the gross material world and the ethereal world also have subdivisions; proceeding from above we have

The world of fine Ethereal Matter, which is lightest in consistency
The world of medium Ethereal Matter and
The world of dense Ethereal Matter

All these refers to realms or layers in the Ethereal world. The world of Gross Matter can be broadly divided into three:

The world of fine Gross Matter which is of the finest matter,
The world of medium Gross Matter and
The world of heavy Gross Matter

This last layer consists of the earth and all the celestial globes we see with our physical eyes and with the help of material aids such as telescopes and so on. The world of medium gross matter cannot normally be seen with our physical eyes because it is of a different consistency and as such requires the eye of the same substance in order for it to be seen and this applies to all the layers. Therefore, the stars, the planets, the asteroids and nebulae and so on only belong to the world of heavy or dense gross matter. The billions of stars and galaxies that we see only belong to this lowest rung of Creation! How vast indeed Creation must be. All these however, at the beginning were without definite form. All the celestial bodies and all that they contain had to be formed, had to be shaped into the form they have today. Without this forming and this shaping, the world of matter would remain only nebulae, gas and dust. All these elements had to be aggregated into planets. The planets had to accrete. The elements had to be combined in so many ways to form what we see before us today.

It will indeed be impossible for us to descend into material creation to commence our journey of experience if the latter is not prepared beforehand to receive the human spirit. A suitable environment had to be prepared for it, otherwise it would be impossible for it to live in this part. A body had to be prepared through a long process of evolution. Therefore for man to commence on his journey at all, he needed to have both the ethereal and gross material worlds prepared to receive him. Scientists already know about the accretion of planets. But what lies behind it? Who prepares these worlds? This is where we introduce a special realm of Creation which is called the Animistic realm. In this realm exist beings referred to as the elemental beings whose responsibility it is to prepare the way for the human spirit.

The world of matter therefore was formed through the activity of the Animistic beings who are also called the forces of Nature and without whose activity it would be impossible for the human spirit to gain the experiences he so much needs for the attainment of self-consciousness. He would have had to remain only a spirit seed without the possibility of ever realising his potentials. The world of matter being lifeless and without inherent movement, these are the beings who bring movement and heat into it. This layer however, where the elemental beings originate completely surrounds the world of matter and separates the latter from the spiritual realm. In order for us however, to become self-conscious, we had to traverse all the layers of Creation that lies below our point of origin. On our journey down to this earth, we have had to pass through all the realms below the spiritual.

This involves firstly the Animistic realm, then the various subdivisions of the Ethereal realm and the all the subdivisions of the world of gross matter until finally we find ourselves on this earth. The spirit seed, being foreign to all these layers lying below it had to cover itself with all the essences of these realms in order for it to pass. What matters more is that we had to pass through and experience life on everyone of these layers. For this to happen however, it is absolutely necessary that we acquire a body of the essence of each region; just as it is impossible for a man to really live and experience on earth and make himself understood without the use of a physical body.

Each of these layers of Creation has its own special characteristics, its special law which forms part of the whole. The human spirit however, has to pass and live through each of these layers to learn exactly how things are and how the Laws of God operate in each region. He has to, through experiencing become conscious of all the laws of the Creator as they manifest on each level of Creation and this experiencing and knowledge is what brings to him after a long period of time, the self-consciousness which is his goal. He would have gained a lot of experience, he now becomes knowing. He knows himself, his fellow men and his environment, he now knows how the laws operate and how the household of Creation is organised. He is fully aware of his powers and nothing in Creation is strange to him anymore . By the time he goes through all these realms of Creation and is able to return home to Paradise, he would have completed the cycle of his wanderings which he started when he first left as a spirit seed so long ago; only this time he does not return as a spirit seed but as a fully matured human spirit aware of himself and his responsibilities.

The human spirit therefore makes two journeys: the downward one from Paradise to this earth and the upward one from the earth gradually to Paradise at the completion of the cycle of experience. On coming downwards he acquired all the cloaks, the bodies of the different regions including the physical body of the earth. On going back however, he drops the layers, body after body until in the spiritual realm he becomes a fully matured spirit without all the material bodies, but not a spirit seed. In his journeys downwards and then upwards, the core, the spirit seed gradually changes from just being a seed, germinates and gradually takes on the human form which is the form taken naturally as a result of increasing self-consciousness. This happens gradually until he returns to the spiritual realm as a human spirit in a human form. This form it did not have when it left Paradise. This form was gradually acquired through increasing self-consciousness or self-awareness brought about by his experiences acquired by passing through all the layers that Creation is made of. The purpose of life is already clear from this. It is to gain self-consciousness through recognising by experiences all the Laws of God. To recognise through experiencing, to come to know the Work of the Creator and through this gain an idea of His Greatness. Come to recognise Him through an experiencing and knowledge of His Work which is Creation. No other way is open to the human spirit. These experiences finally give us that recognition of the Creator which is the purpose of our lives. That is what self-consciousness is.

There is no other way to the proximity of God. There is no other way to understanding Him other than to come to know these steps down from Paradise layer by layer to this earth and then back up there layer by layer. This is what guarantees knowledge of Him through His Works. The purpose of life is thus clear to us: to recognise the Creator through His Works. To gain self-consciousness through the experiencing of His Works. Finally we attain a likeness of the image of God. On our way back home however, not a single step must be missed, otherwise a rung will be missing on our ladder of self recognition. Self-consciousness consists of these rungs, these steps, an experiencing of each layer of Creation in an upward direction from this earth through medium and fine gross matter, through the various divisions of the Ethereal and Animistic realms and finally back to the spiritual. Every single step must be thoroughly experienced and absorbed as an integral part of our being. Every single step will be examined but before we do that the evolution of man and his descent from Paradise must be examined. top

Man’s Descent and Evolution

The descent of man from his home, Paradise in the unconscious state was prompted by an inner urge, an inner desire to become self-conscious, an inner desire to experience which at a particular stage forced the expulsion of such ambitious spirit seeds out of Paradise, their home. Now since such germs cannot be expelled in the upward direction, they had to go in the only way open to them which is in the downward direction, the world of matter. In any case only in the world of matter after having been prepared by the elemental beings hold the possibilities of maturing through the experiences it offers. This happening is referred to as the expulsion from Paradise, which is mentioned in the Bible but has generally been confused with the fall of man. These are two separate events which must not be confused with each other. The Fall of man is an event that stands entirely on its own and occurred as a consequence of man making a specific decision which goes against the natural ordinance and the expulsion from Paradise was not the consequence of the fall of man. We could not have fallen in Paradise since we are told that no sin could ever enter into Paradise.

The fall of man therefore did not occur in Paradise, because this fall is a sin which is something not possible in Paradise. If however we continue to insist and then say that the Paradise mentioned was on earth, then it still does not answer the question of the driving away from an earthly Paradise while those driven out are still on this same earth. If we still insist then we will probably say that it was probably another earth that was referred to. The only reason why we continue to stick to conventional explanations is the unwillingness to progress further in our knowledge and as such exert ourselves. Therefore there can be no question of a fall in a spiritual Paradise since no sin can enter into this; and there can be no question of a driving out from an earthly Paradise because those (human beings) driven out are still here. How then do we reconcile the biblical picture story? We are the ones who must make the effort to do this. We always want ready-made answers but this has never being so in spiritual matters. There has always been a demand for human beings to exert themselves and contribute to their understanding of these matters.

This is the same with the Bible stories. They refuse to allow themselves to be taken up lazily. They are there, they contain undreamed-of treasures but we have to be the ones to unearth these treasures for ourselves. If these stories are taken as they are lazily, then we will never be able to understand and make an end to our inquiries. Therefore let us make the effort and discover what the Bible stories have in store for us. The expulsion from the spiritual Paradise, because there is nothing yet like an earthly Paradise was nothing more than the natural process of the ejection from our home to begin on our journey towards self-consciousness. This ejection or expulsion was brought about through the urge that was inherent in the spirit germ, which urge allowed it to have a certain degree of ripeness which now made it possible for it to start on its journey towards self-consciousness. The spirit germ, existing in the state of irresponsibility as it were had the urge burning within it also to become conscious and it was this urge which brought the expulsion about to start on a journey of struggle and this is even implied in the Bible story when it is said that man will eat bread in the sweat of his brows. This refers to the life struggles and the difficulty he must face in his various experiences in material creation.

The journey of the human spirit took it through the layer of the Animistic beings, then the various layers of the worlds of ethereal and gross matter until finally it finds itself on this earth. On each step, he was confronted by various kinds of vibrations or influences which aroused within him the desire to taste this or that vibration, which vibration served to awaken him more and more. Therefore, he moved about tasting of this or that and finally reaching a stage where he could actually choose which vibration he wanted, which vibration, in its nature would later have such a deep effect in the forming of his character and also on the conditions and the circumstances under which he would incarnate on earth. Mark us that in the intervening world of ethereal matter, he allowed himself to taste, experience this and that vibration because in this world there are different kinds of influences which approach him as vibrations, which attract him and he could decide to let himself be attracted by them and thereby in experiencing them came to know what they were. If he was pleased with a particular vibration or influence he could decide to continue to allow himself to enjoy or experience that particular vibration or if it displeased him could change his volition and allow himself to be attracted to another vibration.

Only through experiencing these vibrations however, will he be able to differentiate, to discriminate and choose. Only through experiencing what each vibration offered could he be in a position to gain a knowledge of them and then make a final decision for a particular vibration, which decision has a deep impact in the forming of his character. He has absolute free will to decide for himself after having tasted of so many vibrations, the particular vibration that most suits him. Those vibrations to which he clings for a long time as a result of his decision to indulge in this type send their emanations to him in unimpaired strength, which in turn determines his character and his circumstance and how he fares on earth. Already here the beginning or the origin of the diverse characteristics in human beings can be seen.

These characteristics are entirely determined by us and they are the result of the roads we have chosen to follow within Creation. The origin of fate or karma is also already clear here because the vibrations which we cling to influence the forming of our characters and as a result determine the nature of our experiences on earth and the conditions under which we incarnate. If after incarnating on earth and through our experiences, the consequences of the former decision brought only displeasure for us, at least through these experiences we would know that we had made a mistake in our choice of vibrations and as a result decide to change and so gradually learn to choose, which is the beginning of self-consciousness (coming to know through experiencing). Through our experiences, whether good or bad we have come to be wise, we have come to know how to choose and that indeed is a big step for us. Therefore man can only come to know a particular thing through the experiencing of the consequences of the particular decision.

The human spirit therefore, leaving the spiritual realm as an unconscious germ passes through in the downward direction first the Animistic realm, later he descends further down and enters material Creation and passes through its various layers becoming heavier as it does so because in its descent he adds layer after layer of garments until finally he reaches the earth. Where he finds himself on earth as indeed in any other part of material Creation is determined solely by him through his desire to enjoy many of the varied vibrations existing. In other words, through the use of its free will to choose which type of vibrations or rather experiences he wants to indulge in, these experiences or vibrations in turn sends their influences back to him in the manner of radiation which he must absorb and this strongly influences his character or his nature. If he has chosen vibrations or characteristics which are homogenous to the abilities which he carries within himself, then these vibrations or influences stimulate these his abilities buried within him to begin to germinate and grow. These influences strengthen his abilities.

This indeed is the only way the abilities we carry within us can grow and blossom forth, the development of which abilities is the purpose for which we are here in Creation. One thing that must be borne in mind is that these vibrations mentioned above are of various kinds, but in their nature are mainly qualities or virtues which appear as vibrations in Creations but have their origin from the Luminous Heights. The human spirit however, carries abilities or virtues within himself albeit in an undeveloped state, hence the reason for his unconsciousness. In order for the abilities which he carries within himself in an undeveloped state to develop however, he needs to attract homogenous currents from within Creation, which currents act as radiation which feeds and as such allow his abilities to grow.

In the beginning, before the fall of man, he was able to uninterruptedly absorb only the good vibrations, the good virtues which are ever present in the work of Creation but with the entrance of the evil principle, other vibrations were introduced in which human beings could also indulge. These other vibrations however, do not find homogeneity within the germ of the human spirit. They are not able to stimulate the abilities of the human spirit to grow. They will not be able to do this because a basis for the connection is lacking which rests in the homogeneity that must lie between the abilities of the spirit germ and the virtues that proceed from the Luminous Heights. The vibrations of evil, instead of stimulating the abilities of the spirit germs choke them, they overgrow them. It is like the human spirit, in addition to the abilities which he carries within himself, which abilities he received from his home, Paradise acquires other abilities which are impure and has no homogeneity with his own. These therefore, choke his own abilities and prevent them from developing.

These other qualities were introduced by Lucifer into Material Creation and many of us have acquired these other qualities which are not provided for in the natural order of things and the result is that nothing of the qualities of the spirit can be seen; they remain buried beneath these other qualities which now determine the character of those who subject themselves to them. The consequence of acquiring these other qualities is the inability to fulfil the purpose of our existence which is to develop our abilities through the attraction of homogenous currents naturally provided in Creation. As a result, self-consciousness will never be attained and our cycles will remain incomplete because the gradual development of these qualities within the spirit germ serves to attract it gradually back home.

Evil qualities he has acquired in the world of matter, he did not bring them with him from the Luminous Heights. Just because of this fact, he is not able to go back or ascend to where he came from because these other qualities hold him back in the world of matter, since this is where they originate and this is where they must be lived off. He remains behind until he relinquishes these unnatural qualities. If he does not do this on time however, he runs the risk of being destroyed in the disintegration which is the process that normally takes place in the world of matter for renewal and rebirth. The personality which he had developed up till then because it had been developed in the wrong direction must be torn to pieces so that the undeveloped spirit germ will become free and ascend back to where it came from without being fully developed. The self-consciousness he had gained up till then as a result of nourishing these impure qualities will be torn down because it is a personality that is not in accordance with the Will of God. What will then be left in the process will be the spirit germ which had been imprisoned in the various bodies and had been prevented from developing through the choking effect of those impure qualities.

The human spirit germ goes through all the layers of Creation which lies below his origin until he reaches the earth which is the turning point for him. He must go back anyway to his origin but the question is whether he goes back as a fully self-conscious human spirit or again as a spirit germ depending on the road he chooses. If he decides to keep the impure qualities he has acquired in the world of matter, which qualities must keep him chained here in matter, he runs the risk of being dispersed and therefore returning only as a spirit germ. If on the other hand he decides to cultivate those qualities which were originally given to him, then he returns with those qualities fully developed thereby fulfilling the purpose of existence, which is to attain self-consciousness.

The question now is, how does a human spirit make his way back to his origin after his descent to this earth? What are the steps involved in his upward journey? What does it entail? The entire developmental history of the human spirit lies in this. The entire natural history of mankind is involved here. The development of the various cultures and so on has their origin through the recognition gained on this upward climb. The human spirit must develop from below upwards and in his journey upwards he passes through steps or stages which are the developmental stages which every human spirit germ yearning for the recognition of God must go through. Being encased in several bodies alien to his, he must break through each of these layers in his quest for recognition. Before we go further into this question, we must examine further his descent and then on the other side, the happening meanwhile in the world of matter including the earth. He cannot descend into the latter without this being prepared beforehand, as indeed this applies to the entire world of matter. He cannot without further ado enter without having a physical body already prepared for this purpose, because he could not enter for example into the body of a dog or a cow. A body had to be prepared and the conditions on earth have to be ripe in order for him to be able to commence with his experiences and as such fulfil his destiny. Since we have already examined the creation of man in Paradise it is fitting also for us to examine how the world of matter is prepared for the human spirit by the Animistic helpers. How the world of matter itself is formed through the help of the Animistic forces and how indeed the earth went through the various evolutionary stages before the advent of man.

Man’s Descent

In the great work of Creation, not only man arises as a spirit germ, and as such in need of development. Animals with which we are familiar on earth are also in need of development and exist as group souls in their realm, the Animistic. In this realm also exist special kinds of animistic germs who also need to come to material Creation and gradually attain to a kind of consciousness of what their function should be. They also need to come here in order to work but before they can start working they need to go through a maturing process at the end of which they take on human forms with special functions. These are the various nature beings with whom we are familiar: elves, nixies, salamanders, gnomes, sylphs and so on. In addition to these, there are also those in the Animistic realm who do not need this process of development but immediately took on form in that realm. There are many of these and they are the great Animistic beings with many special functions such as the accretion of planets, formation of various celestial bodies and the control of their courses.

The human spiritual could not unfold itself in the spiritual realm. The urge to do so however lies within it and this urge was like a prayer that arose to the Creator and He was merciful. He granted the formation of a realm for the human spirit and other creatures below it who also need a process of development. Therefore, the world of matter arose as an extension or a copy of the original Creation which is Spiritual, brought about by the need of the human spiritual to have a realm for itself in which he can forever develop itself and work. Without the granting of this request by the Creator, it would have been impossible for the human spiritual to achieve the goal of self-consciousness, which goal he can only achieve down below in the world of matter.

Hence a special realm, the world of matter was formed for the human spirit and other animistic germs which like the human spirit also need this realm for their development. This realm is called “Subsequent Creation.” This is so because it arose only subsequently as an automatic copy of the Spiritual creation that lies above it. This subsequent creation however, had to be formed before human spirits could enter it. This forming was done under the direction and through the volition of the Primordial Beings. The hands however, that shapes the forms in subsequent creation belongs to the Animistic beings. These radiations were impelled across the boundary of the Spiritual realm into lower lying worlds of the Animistic and the Material. The latter however, at the beginning had no form. These radiations, having passed through or through the process of passing through the Animistic realm were broken down into very small particles which are called spirit particles or motes. Each particle becomes enclosed with the essence of the Animistic and the same process repeats itself in the Material both ethereal and gross matter.

These particles however, known to us on earth as “atoms” are the elements which are used eventually by the Animistic forces to shape the world of matter. With the help of these particles, the various environments in the ethereal or in the “Beyond” as well as the world of gross matter were formed, the planets and so on and all the things in them. All these however, were done by the Animistic beings. The human spirit could then begin his journey after all the environments have been formed including the material globe of the earth. He did not however, enter the earth without further ado. The earth after having been destined to support human life in the universe had to go through a special development, a special evolutionary process. The life that it must support had to evolve in the natural course of events, it just could not happen that any steps could be missed in the process and as such begin to appear without further ado higher animals without the basis for this been formed beforehand.

Everything therefore, had to evolve from scratch. The body that the human spirit would use on earth had to evolve from scratch. From simple forms, it gradually formed taking many millions of years. The gradual development of life forms on earth finally led to the development of the highest animal which are called by different names and which already stood erect and used various means for its defence and in gathering and hunting. This highest animal which already stood erect formed the basis for the entrance of the human spirit on earth. The first human spirits that incarnated on earth at the very beginning of the entrance of the human spirit into the earth, entered or incarnated into these animal bodies and only gradually through millions of years of evolutionary development could this body be transformed into what it is today, the human body. The world of gross matter, with the appearance of the highest animals had brought forth the highest it could through the working of the animistic beings and standstill would have ensued if the human spirit had not entered to continue the development of the world of matter so that the latter could be raised to a higher state.