The four bodies of man and the Trinity

1.

I've been reading Nicoll lately. In vol. 1 of his Commentaries - the Four Bodies of Man Paper II - he quotes G.:

"According to an ancient teaching, traces of which may be found in many systems, old and new, a man who has attained the full development possible for Man, a man in the full sense of the word, consists of four bodies. These four bodies are composed of substances which are finer and finer, mutually interpenetrate one another and form four independent organisms, standing in a definite relationship to one another but capable of independent action. The reason why it is possible for four bodies to exist is that the human organism, that is, the physical body, has such a complex organization that, under certain conditions, a new independent organism can grow in it, affording a much more convenient and responsive instrument for the activity of consciousness than the physical body."

Notice where he says "and form four independent organisms."

Remember, the Bible says we are created in the image of God. I've never associated this with the trinitarian nature of God though. But, why not?

The Work is speaking of four bodies, but the fourth is the consolidation of the other three. Kind of like there are three Persons in the Godhead, but always speculation of it all being one at a higher level. (Impossible not to sound heretical on the Trinity when writing like this, but I am orthodox.)

Those 3 chapters in that vol. 1 on the Four Bodies of Man are worth reviewing.


2.

I've had several instances in my past (and probably when I was more active with Work) where a person has said you were just here, when I wasn't. Or, I was just talking to you, when they weren't.

It made me at the time think doppelganger. A mischievous spirit mimicking me to maybe cause trouble or embarrass me. Kind of like lies or false witness in a visual, holographic sense.

Now I'm wondering if maybe one of my higher bodies was out and about, and, as G. described inner bodies: "...four independent organisms, standing in a definite relationship to one another but capable of independent action." Inner bodies capable of independent action.

This would also give insight into how God can use us as actors capable of operating above mechanical laws and to effect things in the theatre of redemption, the stage of this world...battlefield...all of it. I.e. it is our inner bodies that can be separately operating in events. Our job is to enable it by our effort with the two conscious shocks.

So even though we may feel we can't do much regarding working and soldiering for God, we don't realize the full picture of what is happening and what can be happening when we make real efforts to build our inner bodies.

+++++++++++++++++

From: Simon of Australia
Subject: RE: Four bodies of man and the Trinity 2

Re this, you can see that the fragments of the ancient teaching about bodies definitely found its way into the Vedanta / Shaivism schools (or came from there) and exists today in modern yoga circles, usually described as:

Physical body
Mental Body
Causal Body
Astral Body

or other varations such as this:

http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/images/jiva.png
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/c2/94/21/c294214bf7a0c56fdc80581c7f13483a.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9Hr-U64buB7-AXl_C1CNyDF3483LY03ROEreDhD5E6hECRLJCLGXpE32pQ3q1T9o_XLXFsf0lB_yxHzT8RKhYTdDnLEZZZabpIv9fK2JPyELoAYJUbkRZBpnLlzmjOfbh0KgF/s1600/body.JPG

etc etc ad infinitum

If you google such things you find about a million diagrams (all different as people embellish and add things), but the general gyst is there. The primary distortion of course that they teach that you already have all of these bodies (the usual distortion, such as you already have full consciousness).

That in itself could be how the spirit of the devil distorts - "you already have it...."

_____
MY REPLY:
Yes, the Christian, or biblical, explanation is that we *had* it but it got defaced, or buried, or distorted, or cut-off at the Fall of Man in the Garden.

So, to say we "have it" is the same as denying original sin and active sin and the fallen nature within fallen man. That is something universally denied by asleep humanity.

But then a mistake by establishment Christianity is to say we don't do anything to get it back. Once regenerated we have *ability* to makes such efforts. Before regeneration "man cannot do", or we experience inability to change our state. It's God-reliant effort, yet it is effort none-the-less.

Thinking about this subject, the parallel between the Trinitarian nature of God and we being created in the Image of God and what that means. So I asked myself, what, or how, does the spiritual body breathe? We know how the physical body breathes and what it breathes, and how breath itself is so important, a kind of demarcation between this life and the different mode of existence we call death.

I came to the answer that the Work tells us: the spiritual body breathes impressions. (I'm having difficulty seeing G.'s terminology vis-a-vis Christian language, i.e. he has the Corporeal Body then the Natural Body then the Spiritual Body then the Divine Body. So how is the Natural Body different from the physical, or corporeal? Anyway... I think in biblical lingo spiritual body refers to both the two inner bodies and then the fourth might actually be the Glorified state.

So the spiritual body 'breathes' impressions creating MI 12. And then the more inner spiritual body breathes at the second conscious shock.

Self-remembering is conscious breathing for the inner spiritual body. Then non-identifying at the point of the second conscious shock is breathing for the further internal spiritual body. This is all real. Just start it up again and see the engine begin to sound and to move. - C.

ps- So how do we survive the death of the physical body in a *conscious* way (because we probably survive it no matter what, conscious or asleep)? We survive the death of the physical body by being able to breathe in the spiritual body. Breath via not just the effort, but the *state* - the third state of consciousness - that is self-remembering. In that medium, that spiritual world, impressions are probably very direct. And also what causes the second conscious shock is probably very strong, thus inner command comes into play. But that is breathing 'there', in that spiritual realm. Now we can also think about how we can do that NOW, while here in the flesh. Not just when we die. - C.