Creation as a Mirror

There are many stories in the world that tell how creation came into being. Few, however, tell what the purpose of creation is, its why and where to.

Creating in the broadest sense of the word means ‘bringing something into being’. Artists work creatively, be it in painting or sculpting, or in music, dance or language. The goal is usually to express an emotion or a feeling. 

Sometimes it arises merely from the need to bring beauty into the world, or from the drive to create something that will touch the hearts of others. A creative person feels the need to express himself in matter by means of creating something that did not exist before -- or we should rather say: did not yet exist in matter. As an idea, feeling or concept, it had already been present in the astral sphere for a long time. After all, a human being can only create what he knows, consciously or subconsciously.

 An old Sumerian proverb says: ‘Last night’s life is always the same.’

 In the Spiritual School of the Golden Rosycross, we participate in renewal conferences. We believe that the goal of our existence is ‘to walk the path of renewal, the path to life’. This implies that there is indeed something new under the sun; that ‘last night’s life may have totally changed the next day’. How is it possible, in our world, in our society, to bring about a total inner change leading to a radical renewal of our being? This is what walking the path intends.

 MAN DETERMINeS THE WORLD, THE WORLD DETERMINeS MAN  One of the possible ways to find an answer to this question is by looking into the mirror that creation itself holds up to us. We know the expression: ‘as within, so without; as above, so below; as the macrocosm, so the microcosm’. One mirrors the other.

When we speak of creation, we usually refer to the world in which we are living. We are bound to it and cannot leave this sphere. Everything and everyone together shape this creation, in an inseparable unity, and we cannot step outside of it, even though humanity attempts to do so.

It is human beings who determine which course rivers will follow, with all the ensuing consequences; it is humans who determine that forests are cut down and burnt because this brings in money for a few; it is humans who determine that there has to be a vaccination for innocent childhood diseases, so that our immune system becomes ever weaker. It is human beings who decide that crops and animals for human consumption have to grow faster and therefore, substances are used that kill insects, change hormones and manipulate crops.

The effect of this is that insects, bacteria and viruses adapt and become resistant at an incomprehensible rate, and that crops and the meat of animals, manipulated so disrespectfully, will increasingly harm and undermine human health.

Because humanity increasingly intervenes in nature and is inclined to pollute its environment, a shortage of clean air, water and an unbalanced habitat for plants and animals is developing, so that the natural balance between the different species is seriously disrupted. Unmistakably, creation thus shows humanity, through animals and nature, what the consequences are of its consumptive dynamism.

DEVELOPMENTS ON THE PLANET  However, there are also ongoing developments that are not directly or entirely caused or influenced by humanity. The melting of the polar caps as well as the ice and snow in the higher parts of our planet is only partly caused by human behaviour. A great deal is also the result of natural developments. The temperature zones of our planet change periodically, and whether we accept it or not, we are currently in the middle of such a period.

Humanity can influence this to the extent that it can accelerate this process by its way of dealing with nature. It is clear that this is a period of great and profoundly radical changes.

Momentarily, a certain degree of dematerialisation is taking place, also manifesting itself in humanity. For some time now, we are witnessing that a part of humanity, particularly those living in the western world, need increasingly stronger stimuli to anchor themselves in their physical body, to remain in conscious contact with their body.

Another aspect of this increasingly poor contact with the physical body is that there is only a very short period of a few months between the moment that a serious disease, like for instance cancer, is discovered and the moment of death. This development, by the way, has been visible for quite some time now.

Here we can draw a parallel between the ‘internal environment’ and the ‘external environment’. We detect our own serious diseases (internal environment) at an ever later stage, and the same applies to the diseases and health of our external environment. We also see the influences of dematerialisation with regard to mental health. It is not unthinkable that we will see an enormous increase of psychoses, because we will have to deal with the consequences of social isolation and separation generated in this century by frequent participation in a virtual world. People lose contact with physical reality. In addition, there is such an enormous increase of constant, external stimuli that our senses can no longer absorb them and our brains are no longer able to process this excess arousal of impressions. Then the fuses literally blow or people begin to suffer from dissociation, and our consciousness falls to pieces as a result.

This is something we see in severely traumatised children, who for this reason possibly develop a multiple personality, which may bother them for the rest of their lives. The number of traumatised children increases rather than decreases.

LOOKING AT OURSELVES  What kind of society have we created for ourselves? Is it a battlefield or an amusement park, or is it a mirror intended to make people conscious of themselves and their role in all of this?

Do we still think that this society is compatible with the original plan of creation? When we look at creation, we are looking at ourselves. Do we see creation as a coincidence, as a sort of ‘nothing’ that exploded and in which eventually man evolved from atoms, molecules and gases, man who, as a superior creature, is lord and master of a malleable world? If this is the case, then creation will reflect this image within ourselves, in nature, in the animal kingdom and in our creations, which are reflections of our consciousness. However, the person who sees creation as a unity, as a conscious plan, based on a goal, and who experiences himself as part of this creation, will sooner or later see through the illusions of this malleable society. In the mirror of creation, he will see the suffering and the harm that man inflicts upon himself, nature and animals, and then he can only reach the conclusion: this is not the way; it is a false track. The person who has reached this conclusion will begin to search for the purpose behind the plan of creation. Here it also applies that: state of consciousness is state of life.

We are part of creation. Society is our creation; it shows who we are, from whence we came and where we are going. This sounds familiar. As long as humanity has existed, the same questions have been asked: ‘Man who are you? Where do you come from? Where are you going?’ Everyone can answer these questions on a personal level. But how will the seeking human being, who sees creation as a conscious plan based on a higher goal, answer these three questions, when he looks into the mirror and sees himself as a part of creation? On the basis of an awakening soul consciousness, he will understand that it is patently murder of the soul to continue on the materialistic path of ‘ever more’ and ‘ever faster’. As soon as he takes the first step on the path to the original life, the inner other one will make itself known within us. And this may be the beginning of a total change, leading to a radical renewal of our being.

 THE ANSWER FROM THE DEPTH OF OUR SOUL  The answer to the first question: ‘Man who are you?’ resounds from the depth of his being: ‘I am the spirit-spark, lost in this world, the prodigal son.’

When, at a certain moment, a human being confronts the second question: ‘Where do you come from?’ he will know from within: ‘I come from the unity, from the divine Light, fallen and trapped in this dark world of suffering.’

And when, finally, the third question resounds: ‘Where are you going?’ the personality may answer all kinds of things, but whatever he may think, he is not going anywhere; he remains trapped in the cycle of this world of life and death. However, in the depth of his being, the prodigal son then answers: ‘I am going the path to the divine Light of the original unity.’

   The photographs in this article show the impressive, but barren and isolated steppes of the Gobi. In this region, the universal teachings say, ‘the planetary ethers are so transparent and concentrated as to cause the chemical sphere and the etheric sphere of the material world to almost unnoticeably pass into each other.’ J van Rijckenborgh stated: ‘All metaphysical impulses toward regeneration were and are sent forth from this heart of the world, to spread in rays over the world, and leave their traces everywhere. It is the seat of the Siddha, the universal brotherhood.’ 

 © Lectorium Rosicrucianum 2009.

From Pentagram No 3, 2008