The Coming New Man By J. van Rijckenborgh
I-5 No bridge exists between natural and spiritual man
''You have probably understood that dialectical man is
equipped with a threefold consciousness, a threefold ‘I’. Therefore, it
is absolutely imperative that we are always in a position to ascertain
which of these three ‘I’ s is active at any given moment when we observe
our fellow human beings and are obliged to make contact with them,
which happens all the time.
These three states
of consciousness in man are not just metaphorical or philosophical
distinctions but are scientifically, organically demonstrable.
Thus
there exists a central consciousness or ‘I’ residing in the
head-sanctuary.This consciousness employs the brain centers and can be
explained out of their construction. All our intellectual faculties, and
their training, result from the activity of this ‘I’. It is therefore
able to perceive the things and values of life intellectually in the way
in which they present themselves to this ‘I’, to draw intellectual
conclusions therefrom and to make intellectual decisions.
This
consciousness of the head-sanctuary is furthermore equipped with a
faculty of will.The vibration emanating from this faculty impels the
blood, nerves and muscles to action.
Thus, from
the furbishment of this center of consciousness, we can perfectly
understand that many people are primarily ruled by this consciousness;
due to heredity or training they stand almost completely under the
direction of this consciousness.
In a case like
this we speak of the intellectual person. To a certain class of this
central head consciousness type belongs, amongst others, the occultist.
We
recognize the second state of consciousness in the heart-sanctuary. In
principle this consciousness too, works independently of the other two.
Organically it is situated in the sevenfold heart but you should
carefully note that this consciousness has nothing whatever to do with
the spiritspark atom in the right heart ventricle.
This
central consciousness of the heart-sanctuary runs the whole gamut of
human emotional life.
The emotional life is a perfect instrument of
consciousness, capable for example of functioning independently of the
head-sanctuary. Indeed man can think with the heart ; the word
‘thinking’, however, awakens direct associations with the intellectual
faculty. So perhaps it is better to say that the heart consciousness is
capable of perceiving or fully considering life and its various factors,
and of making decisions based thereon.
This
consciousness of the heart-sanctuary is also equipped with a faculty of
will, which may be indicated as emotion or sentimentality. Man is also
urged by the vibration of this faculty will to action. Persons who
primarily live from this central heart-consciousness are termed mystics,
to which group we may also reckon all those who stand entirely in
natural religious life.
The third state of
consciousness is situated in the pelvic sanctuary or, more exactly, at
its apex, and is organically connected with the
liver-solar-plexus-spleen system, already discussed in detail.This
central abdominal consciousness is the most fundamental of the three
natural egos. It determines the character we bring into this world; all
our hidden or visible inclinations, the whole of our karma, is anchored
in this ego. This ‘I’ of the liver-spleen system exercises a strong,
dominating influence upon the other two egos, and it is with this ‘I’
that we tread outside at night and gather our nocturnal experiences.
The
head- and heart-egos can be dialectically cultivated up to their
natural limits. The abdominal ego, however, cannot be subjected to any
culture whatever. This ego is the true dialectical man, obliged to show
his real self, unadorned, naked. And, inasmuch as it dares not show
itself, it generally hides behind the more or less cultivated pretense
of the head- and heart-centres. Then we sometimes hear unctuous and
exalted words, overflowing with intellect and love of mankind, but
behind this hides the bellowing, primeval beast, ready to pounce.
The
abdominal consciousness, too, possesses a perfectly equipped deductive
faculty in the structures of the solar plexus, and also possesses a
will. The will of the abdominal consciousness is called passion and all
of us know that the human being driven by passion, also proceeds to
action.
When a human being lives out of this
third ego, primarily and utterly unbridled, he represents primeval man,
genuine, unrestrained natural man, the brutal materialist,
the crude seizer of possessions.
Upon
reflection, it should become clear that all dialectical experiments in
the realm of civilization, culture, religion and magic may be accounted
for as countless attempts to bring order and stability to the functions
and aspects of the three natural egos. But no doubt you will also
understand that in precisely this manner a great deal of insincerity
arises, moreover, that in this way dreadful, almost unbearable, tensions
develop in human life. All the diseases afflicting mankind are caused
by the disharmony and tensions between the three egos of the head, heart
and abdomen.
When the primeval instincts of
man break out, he reverts to a life-conduct so disastrous that a general
demonism obtains supremacy over him. In every period of mankind, his
leaders endeavor to check this basic danger by subjecting the head- and
heart-egos to various educational methods. But as soon as
individualism, self-maintenance, the norms of life, are threatened
(which in dialectics is a natural law), the third ego, because of its
nature, enters the fray and the world becomes a raging hell, man a
ferocious beast of the wilderness.
No attempt
by the head and heart to cover, disguise reason or muse away this
situation, can belie reality: there is no bridge between natural and
spiritual man.''
Fragment from :
The Coming New Man By J. van Rijckenborgh
2nd revised edition 2006 - Rozekruis Pers - Haarlem - Netherlands
Translated from the Dutch - Original title : De Komende Nieuwe Mens
First Dutch edition 1953
http://www.lectoriumrosicrucianum.org/
http://www.amazon.com/The-Coming-New-Man-Rijckenborgh/dp/9067323039
