AD: on the Mandala, the One and Synthesis. [Supp. page 596]
Those of us who are students of the philosophic life are required to impersonally investigate the various philosophic traditions and disciplines which have been bequeathed to us. To the alert neophyte the abundance and proliferation of these varied systems of thought is the cause of many sleepless nights and anxious days spent in the attempt to vitally grasp their depth breadth and height. Even assuming that a modicum of accomplishment is possible, there is the further difficulty of making a significant whole of all these inspired words. It cannot be possible or even conceivable that the great masters and teachers of mankind could be in such disagreement, except for minor details, as their students or disciples purport them to be. The great sages--Buddha, Plotinus, Lao Tzu, Shankara--one and all pointed out that there was a great fundamental truth that mankind had to realize.
Nonetheless as philosophic neophytes we are confronted with the appearance of the disparity of the various systems or traditions and their mutual and reciprocal disagreements! Not to mention the difficulty of trying to grasp the fundamental features of each system and organizing them into a meaningful whole.
Although we are acquainted with and thankful for the remarks made in favor of the "Prima" philosophia by many of our contemporaries, we nonetheless feel a definite hiatus between the claim that there is a fundamental doctrine that is co-eval with the foundation of the world and the same teaching as continuously manifesting itself through an organized body of thought which they offer for our inspection. To italicize our observation: we need to organically relate those presuppositions or reasons that the sages of various traditions offer us into a scheme that harmoniously and correctly juxtaposes them into a celestial opera, that includes us as participants and spectators.
Is there a totally comprehensive schema or symbol that will permit us to combine the varied and many facets of truth that are to be found in each tradition, to sort out those basic and truthful presuppositions into a working hypothesis which will also aid the philosophic student in the investigation into the truth of his/her life? Such a schema does exist, and it can be used in helping us to resolve some of the most abstract problems of metaphysics as well as those emerging crises of the everyday life. Philosophy has conceived the experiment: astrology in its most inclusive context goes on trial.
[Supp 622]
The symbolism proffered to us in the cosmic mandala is the most comprehensive and integral approach to philosophy that at present is available. Within the compass of our discursive understanding--yet transcending it limitations and revealing the possibility of a more universal language. Includes the subject-object dichotomy yet suggestive of a more intimate resolution. Its amplitude may resolve some of the most perplexing and profound problems of existence and knowledge. Its very nature demands that human preconception be put aside. The attempt to perceive through this manner produces thought that forces us to exclude boundaries. Truly a trying to understand rather than a claim to have done so. Philosophy as wonder--and the insight into that wonder--will produce for us the inspiration for our daily and ordinary lives.
The varied and many philosophies that have claimed the devotion and allegiance of so many, must be deserving of more than criticism from rivals. Surely there must be some justification for all these speculative experiment and points of view. The ground of their possibility must exist somewhere and somehow. and account for them. "Error" may prove an important scaffolding in the growth of reflective self-consciousness and be some sort of truth.
[Supp 625]
Perhaps the most comprehensive symbol bequeathed to man in his attempt to penetrate the formless is the cosmic mandala or horoscope. The meaning of symbol here must be taken in the largest sense. Firstly, it is multivalent (by this we mean it has many frameworks included within one comprehensive framework and vica versa, that one would be included in the many). Secondly, the symbol is a revelation of reality-through it reality speaks to us. Yet another meaning of the symbol is that of a vehicle for the transformation of the lower empirical mind to higher stages of abstraction. A good beginning to this notion has been given to us by Jung in his concept of the transcendent function. The symbol is an approach to the realm of the formless.
FRAGMENT 1
The One or the absolutely transcendent can be conceptually more available when the cosmic mandala is fully expanded and amplified. Where the totality of significations are spread before us in pictorial form with their assigned meanings, then and only then will a unified presentation of men's rich philosophic inheritance become usefully depicted. The implications are profound, and descend even into the subterranean recesses of our functioning--its value observable until man's intuitiveness had sufficiently evolved to dispense with it. The one is to be thought of as a continuum within which diaresis may be conceived without sundering the unity.
[Supp 636]
Many of us who try to penetrate deeply into the thought of Plotinus find the spread of this ideas too vast and intricate to grasp with out limited mental sight. Some method has to be found to 1) itemize and isolate the principles from one another for individual study 2) follow these same principles thought the various interrelations that exist in and among themselves, i3. the spiritual universal relativity 3) how they are involved in universal manifestation and 4) to spread out the whole system in such a way to provide a comprehensive birds eye view of the totality.
We have in mind a visual schematization that would somewhat stabilize all of the above notions and include the elusive nuances of paramount importance that anyone must face who wishes to have anything more than a passing acquaintance with Plotinus. At the same time we will to some extent be reconstructing the philosophic presuppositions of astrology. Through this procedure we hope to fathom the depths of implication buried in familiarity.
[Supp p. 640]
Our attempt to indicate something of the meaning of each and every element within the mandala will force us to search out sources and hunt down clues scattered in many different texts. In the final analysis it will be possible to demonstrate that the hidden meanings that went into the formation of the mandala are available in a body or as a total in Plotinus and are the underlie, the philosophy of astrology.
That the mythology attached to the zodiacal belt can be ultimately traced back to the Logos, or the sacred wisdom has been hinted at in many and varied religions, that there could be a correspondence between the various "ideas" and the houses of the chart may seem farfetched and absurd to our critics. Nonetheless we intend to show that it is applicable, with certain qualifications, even to an adventitious unity such as we find in the sensible world, and that the meaning of the houses--the soul's self-portrait--or our perceived world, is ultimately derived from the ideas.
FRAGMENT 3:
We are at a time in world history where there is an intense need for a principle or principles to provide a unifying background to the rich complexity and variety of philosophic and religious traditions mankind has inherited and is developing. So overwhelming is the proliferation of knowledge that unless we find encompassing principles our mental balance is in jeopardy. If we dare to pursue the glimpses offered by Plotinus we may arrive at a workable hypothesis as to what that philosophy might be. The pyramiding complexity of knowledge must be boldly faced. What is the principle, Plotinus asks, that is the giver of wisdom to the soul. And he responds by saying "the veritably intellectual, wise without intermission..." (V, 9,2). And further, "It is an Intelligence which is in actuality and in eternity."
This intelligence -- the Intellectual Principle, he refers to as an aggregate, or the Total of the ideas, and each One of these Ideas is the entire Intellectual Principle in a special form. It is to this notion that we will direct our attention by positing our initial premise of correlating the zodiacal signs with those Ideas. The effort that is required of us now is to attempt to understand this notion in a much more detailed way. We are going to try to understand how each idea -- which we have located in their corresponding house 1 through 12 -- can be shown to be a unique and special version of the entire Intellectual Principle. That is, one Idea at a time is put in the first house of the chart of Being and the entirety of the other 11 ideas are applied to it in such a way that the unity of the Being of that Idea is amplified and expounded by the others. So, for example, if we use the seventh house idea and put it in the first house and then systematically apply to this idea the meanings provided by all the other ideas we should come out with an absoluteness that makes this idea the source and origin of all explanations. When this is repeated a dozen times we should have twelve absolute philosophies, each one legitimately claiming for itself finality, despite the juxtaposition of the Intellectual principle in its totality.
That the World Idea is involved in such complexity is revealed by the persistence and validity of many differing schools of thought which would at the same time indicate the simultaneity of their (the Idea's) presence. It is not possible to understand one of the ideas by itself -- all the others are implicit in it. The consequence is that each can be taken to be absolute. We also have here an illustration of how the Transcendent One itself provides us with a perfect model of how a One can be a many and its uniqueness not sundered in the process. The pregnant variety and the rich sources of inspiration inherent in such a schema could certainly be the broad and vast substratum that would help in our appreciation and understanding of the war of ideas where the future battles of the mind will be fought. An ocean of possibilities concerning the meaning of the Idea of Man becomes available
[Supp 195]
Among the many symbols used in astrological lore, the circle--for the Greeks the most perfect of the geometrical forms--in its appearance resembles zero, sunya or the void for the Buddhists. This form, like the others, perpetuates those properties that make it especially suitable as a support for our thoughts in depicting those principles that Plotinus spreads out before us in his writings. Difficulties that constantly arise have to do with the incredible wealth of meanings that develop as the web of interconnections and relations pyramid. For many of us who wish to penetrate deeply into his thought find this vast web of ideas too proteus transforming themselves in the very process of understanding them.
Some method had to be found to
a) isolate principles one from another
b) follow these principles as they related to others in forming a network of different degrees of reality which previously did not exist.
c) to be able to spread out for viewing the total.
This pictorialization has a stabilizing effect on the illusiveness that must face anyone who wishes to have something more than an acquaintance with Plotinus.
[Supp 232]
Iamblichus speaks of the non-separability, even non-distinction, between the statues of the Gods and their higher aspects--ie their immediacy.
[Supp 638-640] (quote V.1.10)
Now if we take a circle, which was considered by the Greeks as the most perfect of geometrical forms, divide it into 4 equal quadrants and label them successively 1,2,3, and 4, we will generate a simple static representation of the meaning of this passage. First quadrant will stand for the One, the second for the I.P. and the third for Soul. The fourth quadrant will represent the entire system of Nature.
We could also pictorialize this passage by means of 4 concentric circles: the outermost circle representing the Intellectual -Principle, followed by the separative intellect which is also part of the IP, the third ring stands for Soul, and the Fourth for Body, or the entire System of Nature. For the present we will let pass this seeming discrepancy--explanation would be premature at this point.
The static integrity of each of the quadrants permits us to speak of it as substance (ie intelligence) whereas the four circular forms represent the dynamical or the functioning of this intelligence. Taken in themselves, either of these points of view is an extreme, and our method is to superimpose or to fuse the two images to as to produce a symbol that contains both points of view simultaneously, expressing the paradoxical nature of reality.
Now further on in V.1.8:...
We will associate the Primals with the first quadrant, and the "King of All" about which they are gathered must be sought in the same locus. Similarly, the secondaries are associated with the second quadrant, an the tertiaries with the third. The fourth quadrant will be used to represent those spiritual agencies at work within the system of Nature. (leave out on IV.4.17)....
Additional astrological correspondences to these primals, secondaries and tertiaries can be provided by filling in the ring structure of the diagram with the traditional rulerships, exaltations, detriments and falls of the classical astrological wheel. [Note: put a note here about what this means: the assignment to the planets of special powers and functions within certain of the signs.] The rulershops are assigned to the outer ring, the exaltations to the second, the detriments to the third, and the falls to the inner ring. These dignities (rulerships, exaltations, detriments/falls) that fall within the first quadrant correspond to the primals, those found within the second quadrant correspond with the secondaries, and those in the third quadrant correspond with the tertiaries.
For the present, we cannot give a sufficient justification for the distribution proposed above, it would seem that rejected members from various sources of traditional knowledge are being brought together haphazardly. Only in retrospection will we be able to perceive a logical reason or justification, so we ask the readers to bear with us until more of the picture comes into focus. Our attempt to indicate something of the meaning of each and every element within the mandala will force us to search out sources and hunt down clues scattered in many different texts. In the final analysis it will be possible to demonstrate that the different meanings that went into the formation of the mandala are available in a body or as a total in Plotinus and are the underly of the philosophy of astrology.
[Supp 201]
(figure of rings and quadrants side by side.)
Combined this allows us to conceive both viewpoints functional and substantial simultaneously.
1) The One revealing itself through substance and function.
OR
2) the double act, non dual in the One as immanent ie. we can see the double act when substance (quadrants) as underlie and rings superimposed manifest the ground--but the levels of reality are spread out for us to view them.
3) The wheel as revealing the metaphysical and ontic frames simultaneously is another double act.
4) the pure principles in themselves and combined with the system of nature us a double act.
***
Looking into Mind Copyright 2019