Climbing the Spiraling Circle of Existence

Briefly, there were many universal cycles preceding this one in which we are living. They were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man, just as it is in this cycle. The circle of existence is the same circle; it returns.

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 219)

In one of His talks at table ‘Abdu’l-Baha stated: “The Theosophists believe that man on the arc of ascent [i.e. the circle of existence] will return many times until he reaches the Supreme Center; in that condition matter becomes a clear mirror, the light of the spirit will shine upon it with its full power, and essential perfection will be acquired. Now, this is an established and deep theological proposition, that the material worlds are terminated at the end of the arc of descent, and that the condition of man is at the end of the arc of descent, and at the beginning of the arc of ascent, which is opposite to the Supreme Center. Also, from the beginning to the end of the arc of ascent, there are numerous spiritual degrees. The arc of descent is called beginning, [literally “bringing forth”] and that of ascent is called progress.[literally “producing something new” ] The arc of descent ends in materialities, and the arc of ascent ends in spiritualities. The point of the compass in describing a circle makes no retrograde motion, for this would be contrary to the natural movement and the divine order; otherwise, the symmetry of the circle would be spoiled.” (Some Answered Questions: 285-286)

Now, when ‘Abdu’l-Baha says that the “circle of existence is the same; it returns”, and the Theosophists say that a human being “returns many times until he reaches the Supreme Center” a difference in meaning about “return” exists. First, return has nothing to do with either the endless repetition of natural cycles or the reincarnation of the human soul, as many believe. The circle returns, but as spiritual movement it is also progressive, since, as ‘Abdu’l-Baha says: There is no limitation to the spirit of man, for spirit in itself is progressive”, (The Promulgation of Universal Peace: 101) and since the purpose of the return of the circle is “the evolution of spiritual man.”  Putting “return” together with “evolution” gives us the image of cycles—the same yet different.

Hence movement around the circle is more like a spiral—which can be demonstrated in three-dimensions, but not two.  The purpose is to move toward a perfect state, i.e. the “Supreme Center” which must be the highest point on the circle, otherwise “the beginning of the arc of ascent”, which is also the end of Arc of Descent, would not be “opposite to the Supreme Center”—the top of the circle in two-dimensions, the top of the spiral in three.

‘Abdu’l-Baha shows the fallacy of thinking that perfection can be achieved through the simple return of something: “If we say that this reincarnation is for acquiring perfections so that matter may become refined and delicate, and that the light of the spirit may be manifest in it with the greatest perfection, this also is mere imagination. For, even supposing we believe in this argument, still change of nature is impossible through renewal and return. The essence of imperfection, by returning, does not become the reality of perfection; complete darkness, by returning, does not become the source of light; the essence of weakness is not transformed into power and might by returning, and an earthly nature does not become a heavenly reality….Therefore, it is evident that returning and coming back to the material world does not become the cause of perfection. This theory has no proofs nor evidences; it is simply an idea. No, in reality the cause of acquiring perfections is the bounty of God.” (Some Answered Questions: 285)

From another view, the circle of existence is actually two arcs joined, moving in opposite directions to each other, one down, one up, but as one movement when fitted together as a circle.  They join because, as the little homily goes, “opposites attract.”  Too, when they knit together a magnet and field, i.e. the circle, is formed.   The Arc of Descent and the Arc of Ascent meet twice in direct connection to make the circle of existence: once at the bottom of the arc of descent, ending in materialities, which means the material world or world of being, and again at the top of the arc of ascent, which is complete knowledge of being.  It is what James Joyce calls in Finnegans Wake, “double-ends joined”.  The circular form of Finnegans Wake itself, with the last word of the last page connecting with the first word of the first page, being a literary union of the B and the E, the beginning and end which join.

The circle of existence as the union of the Arc of Descent and the Arc of Ascent also presents the progressive creation of being, (i.e. the Arc of Descent) from inward to outward, and the progressive human knowledge of being, (i.e. the Arc of Ascent) from outward to inward, ending in heavenly knowledge.

The circle as two arcs is “these two are the same, yet they are different”, another example of the principle of complementarity, not just as structure but also as process in movement, because each is in the other and moves toward its opposite and finds its realization in the other.  The Yin/Yang symbol is such an image of the structure of complementarity.  It is opposites united.

We have already discussed the two direct connections, the double joining and knitting together of the B and the E.  Spirit is joined with and is infused into matter at the end of descent, and matter unites with spirit through divine knowledge, at the end of ascent.  Traditional Christian theology, and also alchemy, believed that spirit was, through a series of descending dimensions, or emanations, imprisoned in matter, and the way to salvation lead up through the various grades of knowledge of being, often seven in number, (see Baha’u’llah’s discussion is the Seven Valleys) which progressively releases spirit from its prison—knowledge releasing in reverse order to the stages of spirit's materialization.  While descending along the Arc of Descent was progressive materialization, moving up the Arc of Ascent was progressive etherealization.  Descending was an externalization process, ascension was the internal process of progressive enlightenment. 

Let us take the image of the arcs of descent and ascent, not as a metaphor for the creation of the cosmos and humanity’s knowledge of it, but, as the opening quote states, as a metaphor for historical cycles.  Here also, as the Master says, “the circle of existence is the same circle: it returns.”  But their purpose was, again, not mindless repletion, but to progressively move humanity toward achieving a universal cycle and, having achieved this, these cycles were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man.  At the center, or heart, of the dual arcs of rise and fall of civilization that form any cycle of history is the Manifestation of God for that time.  The center of the centers, (i.e. the Supreme Center) is Baha’u’llah.  The sphere of influence that He draws, i.e. the effective range of His laws, which is the entire planet, comes from the supreme power released by His Revelation, which elicits a response from all humanity, however unconscious at first.

Each circle of existence draws the boundaries of a field of life.  It has a locus, or center point, which is the highest point and the nexus of all interactions in the field, so progressive movement around the circle, while presented as a spiral upward, is actually inward toward the inmost heart.  We must always remember that, spiritually, inward is not downward, but, metaphorically, upward--it is not directional but of greater or lesser value. Hence the purpose was to reach the “Supreme Center” which is the highest state of the Self possible for that time, which is not God or His Manifestation, but the image and likeness of God within the mid-most heart of the human reality,.  One picture for all this is the wheel of life mandala which, some believe, was first painted by the Buddha Himself.  Similar mandala images were used in alchemical literature to depict the stages of their work, and Jung used mandalas as symbols for the wholeness of self.

Spiritually, moving around the circle of existence has to be an upward/inward spiraling movement since “any movement animated by love moveth from the periphery to the centre” (Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha: 197) and because, as the Master explains: “In the world of spirit there is no retrogression. The world of mortality is a world of contradictions, of opposites; motion being compulsory everything must either go forward or retreat. In the realm of spirit there is no retreat possible, all movement is bound to be towards a perfect state. ‘Progress’ is the expression of spirit in the world of matter.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: 90)

Inside the Direct Connection

Moreover, entrance and exit, descent and ascent, are characteristics of bodies and not of spirits—that is to say, sensible realities enter and come forth, but intellectual subtleties and mental realities, such as intelligence, love, knowledge, imagination and thought, do not enter, nor come forth, nor descend, but rather they have direct connection.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions: 108)

As part of my on-going exploration of what the Bahá’i Writings call the science of the love of God, a few posts ago I presented the notion, following the statement of ‘Abdul-Baha above, of direct connection between and upon levels of reality.  I have been thinking more about it, and here is where I am at the moment.

Direct connections, as I am using the term, are special connections of completion.  In its largest example direct connection is the joining and knitting together by the Manifestation of God of the archetypal opposites B and the E, eternity and temporality, distinction and unity, to configure creation.  In modern language, for Baha’u’llah’s phrase “joined and knit together” might be substituted the “making of coherence” between spiritual and material levels of reality. 

Direct connection is the point and moment of the uniting, that fusing, of opposites, making manifest the condition of these two are the same, yet they are different. Historically, it also marks the time when the end of one order occurs so that a new one may appear, which is the linking of disparate historical ages into a temporal succession that progressively manifests the “religion of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future”.  The connection itself is always characterized by chaos and turbulence, because it is where complexity is built.  It is the process of something changing into its opposite, both in order that each become complete and in order for both to continue and progress, to gradually crystallize chaos into a new order.  Joining and knitting together B and E into one means that at every level and kind, direct connection of opposites crosses in meaning and structure, inverts, incorporates, and reverses flow.  Even the simple mirror-image appears as the reverse lateral polarity of the object being reflected.   Changing into the opposite is accomplished through the movement called chiasmus, a word which means crossing—to be discussed in a later post.

This is also the process of transformation, for all transformation is done by strengthening the weak points of any structure or process.  This upsets the equilibrium of the structure which destroys the first structure as a new one is built.  Hence, as the Bible says, the last become first and the first last under the guidance of a new organizing quality.

I see three fundamental kinds of direct connection of opposites, each kind of connection corresponding to one of the main levels of reality: physical, mental, spiritual. 

Direct connections in the physical body are readily seen and understood—I previously gave the examples of the connections between the arteries and veins and the respiratory and circulatory systems. It is the coupling of actual material entities and things.  I also said in passing that connections between higher and lower orders of reality are more complex and harder to perceive, for the levels are operating at different frequency domains.  When speaking of direct connection between higher and lower levels of Reality, the challenge is to find a way to capture in words the counter-interactive flow between these orders of being, different states of the universe, one material, one immaterial; one temporal, one eternal.

At the level of mind and intellect it is the joining together of thought and thing into knowledge through resonant energy, via harmony and vibration, the commingling of waves and frequencies, and an isomorphism of structure between the object of knowledge and its reflection in the mirror of the mind—after passing through the chiasmus of the retina. The mind is what it beholds, knows the thing by becoming the thing, being immaterially what it perceives materially.  It can do this because: “…all these planes and states are folded up and hidden away within him.  Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form, when within thee the universe is folded?” (Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys: 33)

This sort of direct connection is metaphorically captured in the example ‘Abdu’l-Baha uses of the sun, its light, and the mirror on which the imprint of the image of the sun becomes manifest: indeed all things on earth are a kind of mirror of the sun’s light.  The physical actuality is an analogy of the intellectual Reality.

He applies this analogy to the mind’s acquisition of knowledge:  “For example, knowledge, which is a state attained to by the intelligence, is an intellectual condition; and entering and coming out of the mind are imaginary conditions; but the mind is connected with the acquisition of knowledge, like images reflected in a mirror.” (Some Answered Questions: 108)

But still higher is the joining and knitting together of Divine Spirit and human soul.  Here the metaphor is named appearance, again similar in some of its aspects to the light-image appearing in a mirror.  But this is pure metaphor, and the process inverts.  It is not like a physical object appearing in a physical mirror by passing through the medium of light, which is a commonplace phenomenon in physics.  Neither is it just like a spiritual light appearing in a nonphysical mirror, like the acquisition of knowledge, though the analogy remains fruitful. 

‘Abdu’l-Baha explains: “The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God and the luminous rays which emanate from the Manifestations; for the focus of the rays of the Sun of Reality was Christ, and from this glorious focus, which is the Reality of Christ, the Bounty of God reflected upon the other mirrors which were the reality of the Apostles. The descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles signifies that the glorious divine bounties reflected and appeared in their reality….Therefore, as it is evident and clear that the intellectual realities do not enter and descend, and it is absolutely impossible that the Holy Spirit should ascend and descend, enter, come out or penetrate, it can only be that the Holy Spirit appears in splendor, as the sun appears in the mirror.” (Some Answered Questions: 108)

The sun appearing in the physical mirror, and knowledge appearing in the mirror of the mind, indicate some initial condition of “separation” and “movement”—the first physical, the second intellectual—between the “object” and the mirror, and the movement ends in a union of two become metaphorically one. Sensible realities “enter and come forth”—i.e. they move through physical space. The discussion on acquiring knowledge indicates that it is the mind that moves toward union with “another”, whether person or thing.  That is, levels of knowledge, because they are there for the mind to discover, point to mental movement since “knowledge is a state attained to by the intelligence”.  Once union is attained, detailed knowledge of that state is then acquired and learned: deficit is transformed into asset; absence becomes presence.

In the spiritual situation, (i.e. the image of the higher appearing in the reality of the lower to animate it and establish its influence) direct connection is formed from the higher communicating with itself as its own image and likeness.  I have called this state of knowing “recognition by direct perception", especially of the soul’s recognition of the Manifestation of God.  About it the Bab wrote: “No one hath ever been able befittingly to recognize Him nor will any man succeed at any time in comprehending Him as is truly meet and seemly, for any reality to which the term 'being' is applicable hath been created by the sovereign Will of the Almighty, Who hath shed upon it the radiance of His Own Self, shining forth from His most august station. He hath moreover deposited within the realities of all created things the emblem of His recognition, that everyone may know of a certainty that He is the Beginning and the End, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Maker and the Sustainer, the Omnipotent and the All-Knowing, the One Who heareth and perceiveth all things…”(Selections from the Writings of the Bab:111-112)

Here it is the heart that moves by the power of attraction and longing for connection to Higher Reality within it.  Here it is not union with another but reunion with oneself that is the purpose.  The higher reality is unveiled, becomes manifest.  An example of this sort of direct connection, of the higher communing with its own image that is the center of the lower, is this statement from Baha’u’llah: “Whensoever the light of Manifestation of the King of Oneness settleth upon the throne of the heart and soul, His shining becometh visible in every limb and member. At that time the mystery of the famed tradition gleameth out of the darkness: "A servant is drawn unto Me in prayer until I answer him; and when I have answered him, I become the ear wherewith he heareth...." For thus the Master of the house hath appeared within His home, and all the pillars of the dwelling are ashine with His light. And the action and effect of the light are from the Light-Giver; so it is that all move through Him and arise by His will. And this is that spring whereof the near ones drink, as it is said: "A fount whereof the near unto God shall drink...." (The Seven Valleys: 21)

For the soul, the higher consciousness within it can only appear when the lover of has made an effort to connect with God.  That effort is the giving up of self.  Prior to that, though the higher was present it was not apparent.  Baha’u’llah tells us that achieving the condition of spiritual direct connection requires one thing: “Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee. Know this, O servant.” (Arabic Hidden Words #5)

In the spirit, direct connection is pre-established potential, though latent, unconscious and inactive.  The process is not acquisition, but, rather, bringing forth.  The soul is drawn to God in prayer in longing and attraction.  When He answers He Himself becomes the organ of hearing His own answer.  Thus direct connection in the heart is established consciously and reunion is attained.