Opening Remarks
It is the very nature of life to expand. This mid-world through which the soul must pass also seeks to expand itself in every direction without regard to good and evil. The conceptions of good and evil are born with the advent of mind. In the life world they do not exist as such. Each power of life is allowed its full play in this larger life world.
Sin too is a divinity
All powers of Life towards their godhead tend
In the wideness and the daring of that air,
Each builds its temple and expands its cult,
And Sin too there is a divinity.
The conception of sin comes with the mind. It does not exist in the vital worlds. There each element and movement seeks its ultimate power and joy. It is by this constant expansion that these powers hope to reach their Godhead. And as its powers grow and expand each builds its own empire where it is lord and sets the rules for its followers. Many religions and cults are born of this world and attract many followers since they have the powers to fill man’s life with objects he desires.
Assumes the world’s throne
Affirming the beauty and splendour of her law
She claims life as her natural domain,
Assumes the world’s throne or dons the papal robe:
Her worshippers proclaim her sacred right.
The cult-worshippers affirm their greatness and seek to actively convert others to their belief. It is the very nature of life to expand and all cults that seek to do so by converting others through fear and lure are essentially under influence of this larger vital world. Each of these cults claims that it is the best while often denouncing others, each claims its followers to be privileged and blessed. Little do they realise that they are simply trapped in this intermediate zone where larger and mixed life forces reign.
Slay the soul
A red-tiaraed Falsehood they revere,
Worship the shadow of a crooked God,
Admit the black Idea that twists the brain
Or lie with the harlot Power that slays the soul.
Though these cults and religions use the word God but this god is often an Asura, a being of the vital world who feeds on their desires and expands his net of falsehood to trap more and more souls. Thus it seeks to make the soul captive of a crooked shadow it calls God, worship the kings of darkness and their diabolic energies that seek to slay the soul.
Idol of Power
A mastering virtue statuesques the pose,
Or a Titan passion goads to a proud unrest:
At Wisdom’s altar they are kings and priests
Or their life a sacrifice to an idol of Power.
Divinity is replaced there by hardened virtues and power with violent unrest born of arrogance and self-will. Often we find these beings officiating as priests on the altars of world-religions but their real allegiance is to power. They are worshippers of power and nothing else. Whatever they may proclaim their real aim is to satisfy ambition through the divine power.
Artists and Artisans
Or Beauty shines on them like a wandering star;
Too far to reach, passionate they follow her light;
In Art and life they catch the All-Beautiful’s ray
And make the world their radiant treasure house:
Even common figures are with marvel robed;
A charm and greatness locked in every hour
Awakes the joy which sleeps in all things made.
This world express itself in and through Art and architecture, wherein it tries to capture something of the All-Beautiful and turn it into a radiant treasure. This is their source of joy, to make of everything, even the most common, an object of beauty and charm.
The dual energy
A mighty victory or a mighty fall,
A throne in heaven or a pit in hell,
The dual Energy they have justified
And marked their souls with her tremendous seal:
Whatever Fate may do to them they have earned;
Something they have done, something they have been, they live.
Whatever else may be but the realm of life is intense and extreme. It is like a wave that takes delight in a great upsurge but also the deep fall. Through all this the power of life advances and expands and grows. It goes through various kinds of extreme experiences until it is ready to go further beyond itself or deeper into its inmost heart.
Closing Remark
These are some of the characteristics of the vital world, expansion, taste of the extremes, seeking for power and joy. The larger vital, the greater life grows through these things towards its great goal.
