A flaw of Christianity is its refusal to accept the pre-existence of the soul. There may be a reason for this. By focusing entirely on just this one life, you can potentially speed up spiritual development for the more passive form of consciousness that most human beings possessed before the expansion of egoic self-awareness undergone over the last few centuries. Also, the West had a specific path to tread, one that involved that expansion and the full development of individuality. The knowledge that you have a vast period of time to get things right could well lead to spiritual and worldly stagnation as it did in India. There is no sense of urgency.
Nonetheless, though it may be spiritually advantageous to believe this is your only life, it is false. It is also mistaken to think that the 'you' you seem to be now is the real you. Your current self is a composite of several things. We would all accept the genetic element inherited from our parents. There is also the strong influence from time and space, the when and where of our birth. Our experiences mould us in a certain way, and many people would accept the influence from the planets at the time of our birth, though influence is the wrong word to describe the subtle interchange between what is out there in the heavens when we are born and what already exists in our soul as a developmental pattern for the new life.
Behind all these, standing as the light of consciousness which they colour and make into a certain form, is the soul. These influences construct our personality for a particular life but this is not our true and real self. It is what the true self acts through for a period in order to learn the lessons it needs to learn and express itself through service of some kind or creativity or whatever.
You might imagine it in this way. The soul remains in the spiritual world but sends down a portion of itself to experience life in the material plane. That portion is clothed with the particular characteristics it requires to best develop from where it currently is. Remember, though, that souls are at different stages of development and that they come from different spiritual backgrounds. It is a facile truism to say that humanity is one. Life may be one but it is also very different in its myriad forms, and the same is true for human beings. Souls that are born here come from many different sources. That is one reason we often find it hard to get along.
Our fate is written in our horoscope. The horoscope is not determinant but it is descriptive. It is a collection of symbols, and these symbols can work out or be worked out in various ways. It may be true to say that the less conscious you are, the more your birth chart will describe you accurately and the more it will predict what happens to you. Take someone with Mars transiting their natal Sun. This describes an infusion of energy but whether that energy works in a constructive or destructive way depends on the subject and the degree to which he has mastered the forces within him. If he controls these forces he may be able to channel this energy in a positive fashion. If he is unconscious of them he is at their mercy, and this combination may work out as anger or even externalise itself in the form of an accident.
The point is that our astrology is our fate but we have the free will to determine what particular form that fate might take. You cannot escape your character nor can you escape your destiny, but within certain parameters you can mould the raw material into any form you wish. You can also choose how to respond to what you are or what happens to you. You are at all times free even if your freedom cannot be expressed absolutely. A materialist might claim that even your freedom is predetermined in that what you choose is dictated by what you are, but that is to misunderstand freedom. Your freedom comes from a deeper level than any character trait or destiny. It is inviolable. Although it cannot always be expressed absolutely, it is absolute.
The birth chart is a formulation of archetypes that describe both your character (for this life, not the quality of your soul) and your destiny, and you will inevitably be an expression of it. That is unavoidable. However, you can express this chart however you wish. Everything has a positive and negative side, and the free will comes in as to how the chart is expressed. Even bad fate can be avoided or certainly mitigated if one is fully conscious of the self through which one operates. The essential point is to know oneself.
Very interesting reflections. This is such an important matter - with so many ramifications!
ReplyDeleteI endorse your main point, that it is very valuable to acknowledge that we existed as spirits before this incarnation; and that there is something more to us than the physical manifestation.
Lacking this, the mainstream Christian theology is too easily assimilated to reductionist materialism - both share the idea that we each (as beings) popped into existence from nothing, sometime around conception or birth.
My understanding is that this mainstream from-nothing explanation of origin is contrary to the natural and spontaneous belief in pre-existence which I think we all share in early childhood.
This simple assumption of pre-existence is (presumably) part of the God-given knowledge which we bring into this incarnation - and which is intended (by God) to provide a true basis for later-in-life spiritual developments and discoveries.
I don't know if everyone has a natural and spontaneous belief in pre-existence but I suspect many do although it quickly gets forgotten as we adjust to life in this world. But the Christian view that we come from nothing makes no sense whatsoever. I don't see how anyone who believes in the spiritual can hang onto it other than they have so much invested in the belief system that proclaims it that they cannot accept that system may be wrong in some respects. But because it is wrong in that respect does not make it wrong in the essentials.
ReplyDeleteYou know this how?
ReplyDeleteKnow what? The pre-existence of the soul or the truth of astrology? The former is something I have always felt and confirmation was given as recounted in the Meeting the Masters book. The latter is something anyone can find out with a bit of investigation. But really people have to find these things out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. I was really intrigued by your comments about astrology, so I obtained my birth chart from three different websites which offered, according to an online search, the best free birth charts and horoscope interpretations (to be clear, I'm not against paying for a quality horoscope, but I thought it made sense to first check what is freely available, especially because the sites were recommended). Well, although there were several commonalities, there were also very important differences between the sites regarding aspects of my personality, career, etc... Now, I'm not saying that finding these discrepancies should make one doubt the validity of astrology, but, as someone wishing to learn about my fate, or archetypes as you wrote, this was a bit disheartening. I'm curious if you have any suggestions (I know that your blog is mainly about spirituality, so apologies if my question is slightly off-topic).
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I like your name!
ReplyDeleteSecondly, astrology is one thing but astrologers are another. Astrology is the interpretation of symbols so is an art as well as a science. The raw data is what it is but has a to be interpreted and it's best to have some context in which to interpret. This is not cheating but helps the astrologer see how the energies are manifesting in a particular case.
Really, the best thing is to learn a bit of astrology yourself. No one knows yourself better than you do but a study of one's birth chart can shed light on one's own character and give a deeper understanding of areas of strength and those of potential weakness. A professional astrologer might be able to give more detail because of experience but you will know yourself better than another person ever can. This doesn't mean there's no point going to an astrologer but I would suggest taking what they say as guides to your own more nuanced understanding. And don't ever think that your chart is an inflexible prison you can't escape. Even the most challenging aspects can be made to manifest in a positive direction if one works them out positively.