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Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
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ZAGREUS, THE MYSTIC DIONYSUS
A symbol of the involved Higher Self, or
Archetypal Man.
"The myth which took a central position in the Orphics' creed is
known as the legend of Dionysus Zagreus. As the son of Zeus and
Persephone, Dionysus was still a child when his heavenly father
entrusted him with the empire of the world. He was persecuted by the
Titans, who had formerly been worsted in their struggle with Uranus.
The divine boy escaped from their wily attacks in divers shapes and
forms, till he was finally caught by them in the form of a bull,
whom they tore to pieces and devoured. His heart alone was rescued
by Athene, and Zeus presently swallowed it in order to create from
it 'the new Dionysus.' To punish the Titans for their crime, Zeus
struck them with his thunderbolt. Out of their ashes rose the race
of mankind whose nature contained both elements-the Titanic and the
Dionysic springing from the blood of Zagreus. The Titans are the
embodiment of the principle of evil, Dionysus of the principle of
good, and in their fusion were contained the seeds of that conflict
between the godlike and the ungodlike which occurs but too
frequently in the human breast.". - T. GOMPERZ, Greek Thinkers, Vol.
I. p. 128.
The buddhic emotion-nature (Persephone) fructified by the Supreme
Spirit (Zeus) brought forth the Soul or Self on the buddhic plane to
be the ruler of the lower nature. The Self being subjected to the
primal laws and conditions of manifestation (the Titans) which ruled
and limited him on every side, passed through the various stages of
involution until he was perfected as the matrix of all forms and
qualities (the bull). The primal laws then brought about his death
and dismemberment of qualities, in preparation for the new cycle,
that of evolution. Then intervened between the two cycles a period
of rest and withdrawal of life, when the primal conditions were
unapparent (Titans destroyed). "Zeus swallowing the heart" signifies
that the inner life of the Spirit on the buddhic plane (Athene) was
preserved within the Soul to manifest subsequently as the incarnate
Self (the new Dionysus) in the souls of humanity. Through the
potential conditions of nature (ashes of Titans) were then gradually
evolved the astral, physical, and mental bodies of the races of
mankind. The human being is made up of both natural and spiritual
elements; the spiritual springing from the life (blood) of the
incarnate Self within. The natural or lower qualities (Titans)
attract out-wardly and so become the antagonists of the spiritual
which attract inwardly. "The stainless, indivisible Self is in that
last bright sheath, the heart it is the pure light of lights that
they that know the Self know." – Mundaka Upanishad, II. 2.
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