num_pages: 368
description: Any attempt to explain the mysterious connections between consciousness and matter and self-consciousness in particular necessarily involves much complexity. Because all levels of relative reality are present here and now the human being embodies the whole hierarchy of the a microcosm of the macrocosm to use an insightful Renaissance expression. Besides the physical human body there is the dynamic structural plan of that body (called the astral body) the desire nature the life force that permeates all living creatures consciousness involved in sense perception and practical operations consciousness capable of universal thought and awareness and pure consciousness manifest in pristine intuition. Above these six principles of human nature broods the luminous spirit called the Atman. Many people are seldom aware of anything more in themselves than the first five of these principles although many also have intuitive glimpses of universal understanding often as transcendent experiences which cannot be sustained. Because understanding cannot be separated from experience and experience cannot be divorced from the way we live think feel and have our being various spiritual traditions have offered practices to nurture these inner awakenings to our higher natures and to a greater awareness of spiritual reality. Theosophy connects together how we live our lives what we think and how we focus our attention the bold exploration of our inner natures how we react to what comes to us (karma) and how we can build depth of awareness across lifetimes with Enlightenment. Theosophy therefore connects ethics and action including both physical action in the world and the action of our own thoughts. Where we are ignorant of all the dimensions of our circumstancesand short of Enlightenment we are all ignorantmotive for thought and action is fundamental for altering ones karmic trajectory and future incarnations. The selections from The Secret Doctrine in this book are gathered with a focus on the consciousness exhibited in Nature its origin and destiny and on human self-consciousness in particular. This book therefore explores one vital current in the Ocean of Wisdom that is Theosophy. A thoughtful and persistent reading of these texts will radically transform ones understanding of the unity of self-consciousness and the world around us and of ones place in the greater scheme of things.
language: English
title: The Origins of Self-Consciousness in The Secret Doctrine
publisher: Theosophy Trust Books