Esoteric cosmology

Categories: Esoteric cosmology | Occult | Mysticism | Esotericism | Mystery religions

Esoteric cosmology is cosmology that is an intrinsic part of an esoteric or occult system of thought. It almost always deals with at least some of the following themes: emanation, involution, evolution, epigenesis, planes of existence or higher worlds (and their emanation and the connections between them), hierarchies of spiritual beings, cosmic cycles (e.g., cosmic year, Yuga), yogic or spiritual disciplines, and references to altered states of consciousness.

Such cosmologies cover many of the same concerns also addressed by religious cosmology and philosophical cosmology, such as the origin, purpose, and destiny of the universe and of consciousness and the nature of existence. For this reason it is sometimes difficult to distinguish where religion or philosophy end and esotericism or occultism begins. However, esoteric cosmology is distinguished from religion in its more sophisticated construction and reliance on intellectual understanding rather than faith, and from philosophy in its emphasis on techniques of psycho-spiritual transformation.

Examples of esoteric cosmologies can be found in Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Tantra (especially Kashmir Shaivism), Kabbalah, Sufism, the Sant Mat/Surat Shabda Yoga tradition, Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and the teachings of Jacob Boehme, Max Theon, Max Heindel (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception), Sri Aurobindo, Meher Baba, the Fourth Way propounded by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, and many current New Age teachings, to give only a few examples.

1 Emanationist Cosmologies
2 Dualistic Cosmologies
3 Kabbalah
4 Max Theon
5 Theosophy & Anthroposophy
6 Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception
7 See also
8 External links

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Emanationist Cosmologies

The teachings of later Neoplatonism (e.g. Iamblichus, Proclus) incorporate details of the emanation process, described in terms of a series of hypostases. Each higher hypostasis constitutes a more sublime deific state of existence. There is also a tendency in neoplatonic thought towards increasing transcendentalism and dualism. Although Plotinus saw spiritual ascent as leading ultimately to the One (The Absolute), in later Neoplatonism the best one can hope for is irridation of the Soul by the Nous above.

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Dualistic Cosmologies

Gnostic teachings were contemporary with those of Neoplationism, but more radically dualistic. Usually the higher worlds of Light, called the Pleroma or "fullness", are radically distinct from the lower world of Matter. The emanation of the Pleroma and its godheads (called Aeons) is described in detail in the various Gnostic tracts, as is the pre-creation crisis (a cosmic equivalent to the "fall" in Christian thought) from which the material world comes about, and the way that the divine spark can attain salvation.

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Kabbalah

Kabbalah combines orthodox Judaic, Neoplatoinic, Gnostic, and philosophical (e.g. Aristotlean) themes, to develp an elaborate and highly symbolic cosmology in which God, who is ineffable and unknowlable, manifests as ten archetypal sephirot, each with its own Divine attributes, and arranged in a configoration of interrelated paths called the Tree of Life. The original Tree gives rise to further trees, until there are four or (in Lurianic Kabbalah) five worlds or universes (Trees) in all, with the lowest sephira of the lowest world constituting the material cosmos.

This cosmology proved highly popular with occultists, and formed the basis of Western hermetic thought (e.g. the Golden Dawn and subsequent organisations), where it is associated with a form of astral travel called "pathworking"

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Max Theon

Max Theon developed a sophisticated cosmology, incorporating LUrianic Kabbalistic and other themes. This describes a number of divine and material worlds, and four or eight "states" (equivalent to the Theosophical Planes), each divided into degrees, each of which are in turn subdivided into subdegrees. The details of these various occult worlds, their beings, recognisable colours, and so on, were all laid out, but very little of this material has yet been published.

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Theosophy & Anthroposophy

H.P. Blavatsky in her Theosophical writings presented an extremely complex cosmology, in terms of a seven-fold series of cosmic planes and subplanes, and a very detailed sevenfold system of cycles and subcycles of existence. These ideas were adapted by later esotericists like Rudolph Steiner (Anthroposophy) and Alice Bailey, and made their way into New Age thought in general. However, popular versions are very much simpler than the original Theosophic teachings.

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Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

Max Heindel presents in his magnum opus The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (1909) an evolutionary process of man and the universe, correlating science with religion. This complex work of esoteric knowledge contains the fundamentals of the Rosicrucian Philosophy and it deals also with, among other themes, metaphysics and cosmology. The second part of the book contains the scheme of Evolution in general and the Evolution of the Solar System and the Earth in particular, according to the Rosicrucians. In the field of cosmology (Cosmogenisis and Anthropogenesis) it teaches about the Worlds, Globes and Periods, Revolutions and Cosmic Nights related to life waves and human development and also the constitution of our solar system and of the Universe: The Supreme Being, the Cosmic Planes and God.