High-res version
In Lifetimes of the Soul Part I, we began our journey of gaining a deeper understanding of the soul’s migrations from one vessel into another upon the death of the physical body until is awakens and reunites with its source.
While most esoteric doctrines promote the transmigration of the soul, there is seemingly no common description of the period of time that the soul rests in limbo between each migration. One doctrine postulates thirty thousand years while another, a mere thirty seconds.
The soul has numerous incarnations until the vessel it is confined to comes in contact with mystical wisdom. Upon being introduced to this wisdom, nine lifetimes or incarnations are required for the soul to fully evolve.
Mysticism and Lifetimes
The concept of nine lifetimes may be found in Plato, as well as in the esoteric interpretations to certain passages in the Bible. And since man mirrors nature, perhaps it is reasonable to theorize that the nine months of pregnancy until birth corresponds to the nine lifetimes for the complete attainment or birth of the soul.
What follows is an abbreviated list, in no particular order, of the men and women who possessed a soul in its ninth life: Rembrandt, Socrates, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Homer, Virgil, Dante, Leonardo Da Vinci, Aristotle, Baal Shem Tov, Johan Sebastian Bach, Queen Elizabeth I, Marcus Aurelius, Abraham Lincoln, Meister Eckhart, Fra Angelico, William Shakespeare, Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, Hans Christian Anderson, Rabia, Hafiz, Rumi, George Gurdjieff, Peter Ouspensky, Plato, Benjamin Franklin, Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Luria, Meher Baba.
For the mystic, his most precious possession is the soul. However, to those who have yet to experience their inner divine realm, the soul remains a mystery that is often confused with the sensations or emotions when the lower self.
To quote the spiritually awakened second century Stoic philosopher, Epictetus:
Poor wretch, you bear God within you and you know it not.
In our search for a deeper understanding of that divine faculty that resides within each of us we come to an area that is beyond human logic and reason: The idea that the life we are living is a play, written by Higher Forces, for the purpose of creating an environment for the evolution of the soul.
In Psalms it is written:
What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
We have an imaginary idea of ourselves. We believe that we have come a long way from our prehistoric ancestors. And from a certain perspective we have, such as the advancements made in technology, science, medicine, etc.
Yet, with all these external advancements, the lower self retains the same psychological make-up and characteristics as those who existed tens of thousands of years ago.
For as much as technology has advanced our lives, perhaps a hundred fold, human nature has remained the same. And it is human nature that must be transformed into a divine nature if one is to further evolve spiritually.
This transformation is possible is only through higher or mystical wisdom. It is mystical wisdom that teaches man how to struggle against the mechanical manifestations of his human nature (i.e. the lower self) and to live his life from the divine realm – from his higher self.
Since this wisdom is of an order higher than man’s knowledge and understanding, only an order higher than man can bestow it. And those men and women who lived their ninth life who attained the full development of the soul, have shared this ancient wisdom through their particular talent such as, art, poetry, writing, music, architecture, fairy tales, philosophy, and teaching.
Higher Forces have beautified this planet with spiritual wisdom. Man has never existed without the possibility of attaining a higher level of life. However, higher wisdom – mystical wisdom – is sought only by a few in relation to the billions inhabiting this planet.
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Dear Reader,
The creation of our soul is our birthright. Yet, the Esau within each of us is eager to renounce this gift for a bowl of pottage.
The lower self values that which makes it comfortable and sated. It can function quite well without a soul. In fact the lower self has no desire for creating a soul since the efforts required to do so center around the struggle of limiting it manifestations.
Walt Whitman
The same inexorable price must be paid for the same great purchase.
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