It will be clear that in doing so also all kinds of side-paths have been travelled. One cannot seek without walking on side-paths, or, if you prefer: a detour, otherwise the seeking would no longer be seeking but just following a well-trodden path.

Searching also presupposes a goal. Immediately, several directions emerge that nevertheless have a shared denominator. A certain group sought and continues to seek ways to prolong life by any means possible. Others sought and continue to seek wealth, gold. Gold gives power in this world. But there was and still is a group that sought gold in a different way. Not the gold that provides power but the gold as a mirroring of the original, spiritual being.

Here too, there is a conflict. On the one hand, there is the seeker of spiritual gold that can be applied in this world and thus give power and prestige over and among others. On the other hand, there are those who regard themselves as bearers of a golden treasure which cannot be revealed in this world. The Gold of the Spirit. For one, it is utopia, for another a reality.

This urge to search explains all other searches throughout the centuries. This urge stems from an inner drive that, regardless of the natural consciousness of man, compels human beings to search for an answer.

Parallel to this is the quest for the philosopher’s stone. The philosopher’s stone is a legendary alchemical substance believed to transform base metals (such as lead) into gold, thereby forming the Elixir of Life for immortality. Often depicted as a red stone or powder, it was central to medieval alchemy and symbolized perfection and spiritual rejuvenation. The search for this substance had a major influence on the development of modern chemistry and pharmacology

It is the feeling of being incomplete. The feeling of not being able to respond to the actual goal of the human existence. This urge exists and it will remain for as long as humanity exists on this world, for as long as every potential gold bearer has not yet answered to his or her exalted vocation.

This urge has led – and still leads – towards all kind of experiments and manners to find an answer in and outside our reality. There is a certain knowing within a person, which cannot be filled by the present consciousness.

So, one of the most evocative methods therefore was ‘alchemy.’ There are still countless legends and stories that are widely discussed, albeit in a rather one-sided manner.

The charlatans and fortune seekers are pushed to the forefront, but those who are truly seeking depth are hardly given a chance to speak.

Alchemy refers to the unity of everything and all. Based upon this, the thought has grown that a connection must exist between the lowest and the highest, both in a material and in a spiritual sense.

Lead was seen as the lowest material substance, gold as the highest.

So a method needed to be developed, a purification, in order to transform the lower into the higher. The lead could be transformed into gold.

As evidenced by scientific explanations, this quest continues today with the most modern techniques and regardless of the idea ever being profitable. More as a curiosity, therefore.

In the CERN in Switzerland in the meantime one succeeded to transmute lead into a tiny sparkle of gold. [1]

Just enough to show that it is possible. However, this was not an alchemic process.

With the current standard of chemical science, it is for the time being impossible to transform lead into gold. Still quite a few discoveries can be made in this ‘chemistry’, which are connected with the original alchemy. Of course, we naturally assume the symbolic value that is hidden in a process.  That was the case in the past and will remain so.

The galvanic process

The process that we want to describe further is the galvanic process. Galvanising is described as a method in which a thin layer of zink, nickel, aluminium, chrome or magnesium is applied to steel or iron, in order to prevent corrosion.

The thin layer is applied by submerging the metal object in a chemical solution of the protective metal. A different kind of galvanizing uses precious metals such as gold, to prevent oxidation, thus preserving the conduction of contacts for electricity.

An electrical direct current is used in both applications, thus establishing the connection/adhesion between the metals.

This is also called the electrolytic process. The word galvanizing stems from the Italian physician Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) who invented the process.

Some basic information is needed to explain the galvanic process. First of all, a bath is needed in which an electrolyte is stored, for example a chemical copper solution.

The object to be electroplated, for example a printed circuit board, is called the cathode. It is placed in the middle of a bath. Anodes consisting of the material to be deposited on the printed circuit board, the printed circuit board itself, and the supply of copper, in rod form, are suspended on the sides of the bath.

A direct current is sent from the cathode to the anode. This causes copper ions to move in the opposite direction, in this case from the anode to the cathode. This current must be adjusted to the surface to be galvanized.
The cathode is thus coated with copper. See drawing.

An electric current goes from the cathode (ME) to the anode (CU).

The metal ions (in this case copper) follow the opposite path, thus covering the cathode with the ions, thus encapsulating it.

This process is ideally suited to compare it with the actual purpose of the alchemist, more on that later.

The Anode could be translated as an ODE to the ANimal-state. The cathode as the death (THODE) of the Soul (KA or Ca). In essence, the confinement of the soul, preventing it from expressing itself.

It might cause some confusion when looking up these terms in the etymologic dictionary, because in those days people THOUGHT that the activity was different.  It is important that we do not limit ourselves to the event in the electrolytic bath, according to the interpretation of the author of this article.

This leads to the following comparison. When the soul (cathode or kathode) is focused on the animal-like state, the soul is being encapsulated. Perhaps it is clearer to say that, when the soul of the personality is focused on the animal-like state, or also called the ordinary-natural state, it is impossible for the Ka or CA to express itself.

The more impure the anode (lead), the more impure the focus, the faster, the stronger, the encapsulation will be.

Here we need to delve a bit deeper as to the high objective of the serious alchemist, who was striving for transmutation and transfiguration.

A human being who completely and automatically lives from and out of this nature which is ours, is therefore completely one with this nature. This is not necessarily negative. There are, according to our social/humanistic standards, very good people on this earth.

However, for the alchemists there was a different world, a world from a different dimension than ours.

Those worlds differed from each other as …. lead and gold.

Gold was moreover regarded as crystallized Spirit.

The other world, the world of the Spirit, therefore had a golden lustre. It is that lustre that the true alchemists try to accomplish.

It was therefore assumed that the appearance should have a golden glow, so attempts were made to convert this leaden radiance into a golden radiance through a ‘process’

Hence the misconception that the alchemists endeavoured to create a golden metal from lead as material metal.

No doubt there will have been certain persons who have used the naivety of authorities to live a life of luxury and to present from time to time a ‘hopeful’ development, in order to free some goodwill again from their sponsors. Goodwill to be translated as financial means.

Gold, not of this world

What more does the chemistry of galvanizing teach us?

We saw that when the personally exclusively focusses on this nature, it is impossible for the new soul to manifest itself, but it is as it were encapsulated. The silent voice of the original can then not be heard. This can go on for incarnation after incarnation, until the moment arrives that the urge to seek becomes so pressing that the personality as it were is forced to start listening to the inner voice, which never stops resounding. However, it is possible to react to that urge by even deeper focussing on nature and its peculiarities.

Eventually the personality will, exhausted of all this seeking and looking, withdraw their attention from the natural and then something logical happens in the galvanic process. There is no longer any attention for the animal-like state, so there is no longer a current from the cathode to the anode. In the context of this perspective, it should be noted that the cathode here has two parts. This dissolves the grown layer again in the electrolyte. The core of the cathode is formed by a gold-radiating atom, entirely in accordance with the seeking human being. The shell surrounding that core will also dissolve in the electrolyte. The gold-radiating atom is thus completely freed from its constraints. This ties in beautifully with the saying: ‘To make gold, you must have gold.’

The soul is liberated again, referred to in the Gospel as the birth of the child Jesus.  It will be clear that this ‘child’ still is in need of the necessary care. Within the galvanic context the cathode is then placed in a chemical gold bath, the anodes of which are formed by carbon sheets.

Carbon as a symbol of the nature of death. Then, one no longer cherishes this nature. In this bath the gold is admitted from outside, as dissolved gold crystals.

When a direct current now emanates from the cathode, that is: the steady desire, those gold ions come down on the Cathode, thus the golden glow of the Ca is intensified. After some time the carbon sheets will split. In the words of the Gospel: the veil is torn.

The nature of death has now completely lost its attractiveness to the personality. The cathode, the Ca, is then sufficiently independent to go its own path. The human being has fulfilled his or her task.

Thus the ancient quest of the alchemists teaches us, translated into modern language, that it was far more than searching for a method to turn lead into gold. It was and still is searching for an answer on the inner urge of the remnant of a soul, Ca, who once was the Soul of the original human being.

The original human being, then seen as a form of consciousness, is impossible to describe in our present state of consciousness. Thus, the alchemy of medieval times is still very modern.

To us the task to end the form of the ode to the animal-state, in whatever form, and continue to a life state in which the Ca is no longer in a sleep of death, but able to revivify again its original soul.

Obviously this is a procedural event. Becoming less apt to the own inner nature and so creating an opportunity for the other One within man, and to attire the other One with a golden glow, not of this world.

[1]  Proton emission in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions at TeV | Phys. Rev. C

Individuation or becoming oneself, is the fundamental idea in C.G. Jung’s analytical in-depth psychology. Jung understands this as the development process that leads to the actual core of the human being, the SELF, as he calls it. However, psychology and individuation should not be equated. Psychology can only be the beginning of the path to individuation, only a tool for a temporary psychological pacification so that the SELF can finally unfold.

The psyche is our biologically created centre of consciousness. Jung distinguishes it from the SELF, the actual core of the human being. This core being must be revived so that it can take over leadership in the life of the human being.

The SELF is the instance of consciousness that stands hidden behind the psyche, embracing it without connecting or interfering with its movements. It could be said that it is the silent and neutral observer of our ego and emotional states. The psyche determines thoughts, feelings and actions with all the conflicts, contradictions, paradoxes and tensions that are  experienced in everyday lives. The most important characteristic of the psyche is its identification as  ego. It can only experience itself through that identification. It has its own individual view of things. Identification makes it difficult to tolerate other perspectives and thus limits itself. On the other hand, identification is necessary in order to accept this life.

Therefore, humans face a paradox at the moment of their birth. They need an identity in this world, but at the same time it binds them and determines their actions. This is where individuation begins for Jung. It also includes freeing oneself from the limitations of identification that result from the respective inner psychological structure. The psyche is nevertheless the prerequisite for a conscious development of the SELF. However,  the SELF grows beyond the psyche.  The perspective of consciousness thus undergoes a fundamental structural change.

Although psychotherapy can lead to a change in perspective, it can only help to replace one perspective perhaps with a better or more appropriate one. The person thus remains trapped in the haze of its own limitations. This is so because this modified perspective is in turn accompanied by an identification that will serve as a new truth and a new basis for a future life. Something truly new cannot develop if the starting point in the structure of the human psyche has not been abandoned. In this case a new starting point is required, a point outside of the change of perspective, outside of any construction of reality in our psyche, in order to experience what lies behind it, what constitutes the reality of the human being at a higher level.

“Give me a fixed point in Space and I will unhinge the world,”

Archimedes said 2,200 years ago.

For this reason, the cultural anthropologist Jean Gebser [1] spoke of a necessary leap in consciousness. He called it the leap into “A-perspectivity”, that humanity must make to ascend into a new dimension of consciousness. This “freedom from all perspectivity”, as Gebser also calls it, does not exclude different perspectives, it elevates them to a state that does not stop at a single perspective.  It goes beyond, uniting all opposites and realities.

The person who decides to take the path of individuation becomes a stranger in this world in a certain sense, as he consciously turns inwards to discover the SELF within himself, instead of seeking the causes and cures for the difficulties in his life outside. But this alienation is special: not in the sense of renunciation, asceticism or social withdrawal. For it does not exclude a life in the world, but adds a new quality to it. It is an integration of the outside and the inside, uniting opposites and thus opening up the essence beyond. This can happen when the psyche no longer identifies exclusively with the outside, but when it withdraws, becomes neutral and no longer loses itself in judgment, exclusion and blame. This brings a different, very subtle focus into life: it is “in the world” and at the same time “not of the world”. “In the world” – as a life in the here and now, being in the moment, and “no longer of the world” – as resting in the SELF that no longer needs identification, but at the same time does not exclude its possibility to enter into a relationship with the outside. It is becoming one with oneself, a whole. Everything that had previously taken the place of the SELF, the enticing diversity of the world, loses its grip on the human being.

Being-in-the-world becomes even more intense on such a basis of foreignness: free from attachment to the past and to the future, grounded in the here and now. In addition, the highest aspect of the soul, the SELF-not-of-this-world, that has now taken over the leadership of the personality, radiates in the new way of thinking, feeling and acting. In this way, the feeling of being a stranger in the world initially leads us on a journey to ourselves, to our SELF.

What happens when the individuation process is complete? Then the alienation is not present any more. The soul with its highest aspect, the SELF, is now at home in both worlds, the earthly and the soul world. It can now turn to the earthly sphere and work in it without the limitations of identification. It is “in the world and not of the world”. It is free from being bound to the world and can still live in it for the blessing and benefit of many. Above all, it can help others find solid ground..

C.G. Jung says:

“But what does the Self gain? It becomes apparent[…], that by taking hold of us it also enters into ourselves and thus passes from the […] state of unconsciousness into that of consciousness[…]. What it is in the unconscious state, we do not know; but now we know that it has become a person, it has become ourselves.” [2]

In the next step, the soul-SELF can open itself to the connection with a dimension of consciousness existing above it, the All-One.

We live on the surface of existence and have the opportunity to become aware of the depths of our being. Let us use this opportunity to allow the outside and inside to come together to form a new wholeness.

[1] Jean Gebser: Ursprung und Gegenwart, Teil 2 (The Ever-present Origin, Part 2): Die Manifestation der perspektivischen Welt, Versuch einer Konkretion des Geistigen, München: dtv, 2. Auflage 1986

[2] Blauth/Bahemann/Gawlitta/Haase/Packhäuser: WERDE DER DU BIST (Become who you are), Rosenkreuz Verlag, Birnbach 2024

The self-becoming of the absolute takes place in the thinking process of the human being.

At the beginning of the 19th century, G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831) developed his philosophy of Spirit, which became the basis of his further thinking. He designed a comprehensive philosophical system that makes a high claim. For in human thought, according to Hegel, the self-becoming of the Absolute takes place, God’s self-consciousness develops.

Hegel’s system consists of three parts; they relate to

• the Being of God before the creation of the world,
• God externalising Himself into the opposite, the other, the manifold nature (matter),
• the return of God from his creation to Himself.

We can easily recognise Hegel’s famous scheme of thesis, antithesis and synthesis in these three stages. In the second stage, the Spirit and nature (matter) stand opposite each other in an antithetical way in a tremendous contradiction. For Hegel, the principle of dialectical development takes place here: the movement resulting from the contradiction. It is the engine for God’s dynamically developing process of self-discovery in man.

The structure of reason

Hegel’s train of thought takes place in a dialectic three-step process in the spiritual reason of man. It is formed by two opposing poles: the being of the absolute and, in contrast to it, the alien, the manifold nature or matter and, thirdly, connecting them both, the divine self-consciousness in man. The subject (the Spirit) and the object (nature, matter) are standing opposite each other and are related to each other by a third pole: consciousness.This is where the cognitive process develops.

Human consciousness awakens by relating itself to the opposing poles and connecting them with each other. This is how self-awareness develops, this is how the human being experiences himself ever more deeply.

‘This describes the meaning of Hegelian dialectics: it separates the ego and the object, which is the source of all distinct knowledge and at the same time constantly creates the unity of growing consciousness […]. In this dialectical process, according to Hegel, consciousness must ultimately become fully aware of itself as reason and enlighten itself in its own essence, bringing itself into the light of spiritual existence.’ [1]

History as progress in the awareness of freedom

The essence of the Spirit is freedom, and all its properties exist only through its freedom; freedom is the truth of the Spirit. The substance of matter, on the other hand, is heaviness, since it has no centre. It is essentially composed, consisting of many individual parts and drifting towards a centre. The Spirit, on the other hand, is in itself, and this consciousness is its self-awareness. This is ist sense of freedom, which makes it free. The Spirit is also not finished, but rather active.

‘It is […] the activity of coming to itself and thus bringing itself forth, making itself into that which it is in itself.’ [2]

Of world history Hegel says,

‘that it is the representation of the Spirit, how it acquires the knowledge of what it is in itself; and how the germ carries the whole nature of the tree, the taste, the form of the fruit, so also the first traces of the Spirit virtualiter contain the whole story.’ [3]

The application of the principle of freedom to the respective worldly material state determines the long course of human history. The engine that drives this process is the human being’s spiritual self-consciousness, which overcomes the dialectical contradiction between Spirit and matter bringing the two into ever new integration.

Let us take the French Revolution as an example to illustrate this process of development. Jean Jacques Rousseau is considered her early pioneer. His cultural criticism is based on the central idea of a natural development of man. The resulting cultural inequalities among people are one of the main problems: „Man is born free, but everywhere he goes in chains,“ Rousseau stated. He developed a social contract (Contrat social), which unites the “will” of the people in a “total will”. Rousseau’s idea of the fundamental freedom of man had a significant influence on the call of the French people (and subsequent peoples) for „liberty, equality, fraternity“ and led to the French Revolution.

Immanuel Kant was so enthusiastic about it at first that he emphasised that it had never happened before in the history of humanity that an entire nation had overthrown its government.

The revolution ended tragically; people had not yet grown into their demand for freedom.

Albert Camus reminded man in the 20th century with the following words of their inner greatness:

‘Nothing is given to people as a gift, and the little that they can conquer must be paid for with unjust deaths. But it is not in this that man’s greatness lies, but in his will to be stronger than the c onditio humana. And if the conditio humana is unjust, he can only overcome it by being just himself.’ [4]

The poet Friedrich Hölderlin, a friend of Hegel’s and, like the latter, at first, himself an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution, had recognised in this possibility the inner divine fire of freedom in man:

‘Of course, life is poor and lonely. We live down here, like the diamond in the shaft. We ask in vain how we came down to find our way back up again. We are like fire that sleeps in a dry branch or in a pebble, and we struggle and search every moment for the end of our narrow imprisonment. But they come, they make up for eons of struggle, those moments of liberation, when the divine breaks out of the dungeon, when the flame breaks free from the wood and rises victoriously above the ashes, when we feel as if the unleashed Spirit, having forgotten its suffering, its servile form, in triumph returns to the halls of the sun.’ [5]

‘World history is progress in the awareness of freedom […]’

said Hegel,

‘it is […] the only purpose of the Spirit. This end is what in world history has been worked towards, to which all sacrifices have been made on the wide altar of the earth and in the course of long time.’ [6]

So what is our freedom? we can ask. How can it come together with the freedom of God? It is possible because in our depths we possess a divine aspect, a divinity ‘in prison’, as Hölderlin says. It stirs, can break out, and we can follow its impulses. To experience this and to trust this inner voice, which is an aspect of the world will, therein lies the ‘spiritual path’ that is given to man. In the interaction with his true self, man unites his own with the divine freedom. He unfolds and liberates the divine within himself and transforms himself in the process. At the same time, the self-awareness of the absolute is realised and revealed through and in man.

[1] G.W.F. Hegel, Die Struktur der Vernunft (The Structure of Reason), in: Texte der Philosophie (Texts on Philosophy), Munich 1972, p. 36

[2] Hegels Bestimmung des tätigen Geistes (Hegel’s Definition of Active Spirit), in: Die letzte Epoche der Philosophie, (The Last Epoch of Philosophy), Stuttgart 1974, p. 15

[3] Ibid. (footnote 2)

[4] Albert Camus, Verteidigung der Freiheit (Defence of Freedom), Hamburg 1986
[5] Friedrich Hölderlin, Des Lebens Bogen, Ein Hölderlin Brevier, Munich 1970, p. 14

[6] See footnote 2, p. 16

Philosophizing revolves around the question: What is man? In this case, the approach is to self-knowledge.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics (meta = above/after, physics = the material) deals with what holds the world and life together at its core. What is real in the literal sense, and what affects us and the world. Every coming to oneself means consciously experiencing metaphysics.

However, metaphysics is also the unrecognized area justified by reason. There is an insurmountable limit for reason: it is knowledge on one hand and belief on the other. The metaphysical realm of faith is characterized by great ideas: God, soul immortality, freedom, as well as harmony, justice, peace, and absolute love. These particular concepts have no content because there is no external sensorial perception. We can only approach them through imagination and faith.

This is surprising, because an opinion of these concepts may exist, and we may even think we know exactly what they mean. However, there is no “true“ definition. Augustine once said, “I know exactly what this concept means, as long as you don´t ask me.“ We only have an idea of ​​what these concepts might mean.

When Leibniz was 15, he decided to study mathematics despite his great interest in philosophy.  He wrote: “But when I investigated the ultimate reasons for mechanics and the laws of motion, I was quite surprised to see that it was impossible to find them in mathematics and that I had to return to metaphysics. This led me back to [Aristotle’s]  entelechies, i.e., from the material to the formal, and finally brought me […] to the realization that monads or simple substances are the only true substances. Material things are nothing but appearances that  are well-founded and interconnected.“

Leibniz wanted to find out what and why the world is as it is. He was one of the rationalists who wanted to understand and to explain the world through thought. The basis of the world is metaphysical and lies beyond things. Since it cannot be recognized, metaphysics is a mind speculation. It requires faith through the heart. According to Leibniz, it is the source of great ideas and of what is always there, but cannot be learned or invented, as it constitutes man’s core being. These ideas that the mind receives from the heart are few and great.

Leibniz recognized that ideas are positive. There is no such thing as the idea of ​​evil, of lies. To achieve inner harmony between heart and mind, there must be a positive basis for unity. The conflict between heart and mind must be resolved to achieve innate ideas.

Leibniz was not naive, believing that everything is good. He grew up after the Thirty Years’ War and knew about the misery, destruction, and torment of war. His turn to a worldview determined by the idea of ​​harmony was not a defense against this evil. It was his inner realization that this misery cannot be the truth.

The world can be explained by metaphysics, with as little speculation as possible. This is achieved by orientation towards ideas. Great ideas form the basis of rational metaphysics. This is made possible by reason, as the synthesis of heart and mind. The heart provides impulses for evaluation. The mind processes ideas, makes them conscious, and combines them into unity.

There is a method for laying the foundations of metaphysical philosophy. For Leibniz, this is the principle of sufficient reason, which states that everything has a reason. If we ask ourselves why something exists and have an answer, then we can ask again for the reason for this answer, and so on. This works until we get to the root of knowledge. Ludwig Wittgenstein had a nice image for this: the basis is where the spade bends. If we now ask” Why?“ again, we come to metaphysics.

Monads

The theory of monads concerns the answer to the question: Why is there something and not nothing? Why is this something like this and not otherwise? This something includes living beings and the entire universe. Consider findings from physics and chemistry: An oxygen atom has chemical and physical properties only because there is a substance that determines these properties, which is the reason for its existence. This metaphysical substance, called a monad, is infinitely small and cannot be broken down into parts. There is an infinite number of monads, all of which are different.

The term “monad” comes from Giordano Bruno, who took it from Pythagoras. Monad (literally “one“, “unity“) is a living unit. God created it and it exists forever.

A monad is infinitely small. This means it can be made clear by a mathematical interpretation: If we add an infinitely small number A to a number 2, the sum is still 2, even though A is greater than zero.

Leibniz also assumed that everything can be divided as often as desired. Atoms are divisible. If we base our calculations on modern quantum physics, then even the strings that make up atoms are divisible. There are no atoms in the sense of existing, indivisible spatial building blocks. Everything consists of a continuum of infinitely small monads that form a huge sea. There are also no jumps, just gentle transitions.

Space and time are created by monads, which themselves remain outside time and space. The sea of ​​monads is the actual substance that creates the universe and keeps it existing. This sea can also be imagined as the Gnostic Pleroma.

Everything has a monad that contains all properties of behavior in the past and in the future. It determines the body or the soul and can be seen as the current mental state or its essence.

The monad of an oxygen atom contains all the physical and chemical properties of this atom. If the monad changes, then the oxygen atom also changes.

Harmony

A monad has a state that determines the current properties of the atom, e.g., its weight. It is harmoniously connected to the atom, to its body. There is no causality nor determination, but both, of their own accord, behave in the same way. Leibniz calls this mutual coordination, or pre-established harmony. It is established with the creation of the monad and lasts forever.

For Leibniz, the idea of ​​harmony is the basic concept that can only be conveyed by images. Let us imagine two people who have no sensorial perception; who are deaf,  blind, with no sensation of touch. To the sound of music, they both begin to dance the tango, improvising but perfect – just like that, without any communication. That is harmony, and that is exactly what the monads do with their atoms and with each other.

Each monad has the urge to modify its state, which is then shown through harmony in matter. These changes are subject to natural laws known in physics and chemistry. If two hydrogen atoms with their monads are added and combined with oxygen to form a new unit, another monad begins to determine the now composed aggregate (H2O, water). Water properties cannot be deduced from the properties of its components. This is because the new monad conceals some of these properties and determines new ones. The composite is then more than the sum of its parts.

This creates a hierarchy. Compositions are determined by their own monads, which in turn are parts of larger, comprehensive aggregates. This encompassing continues up to the highest monad, God. God encompasses everything and thus brings everything into unity. Just as the comprehensive monad gives identity and new properties to the aggregate, so God does to everything. Since God only seeks good, all monads strive for good and thus for perfection (entelechy).

If we look at the interaction of monads from the outside, there are relationships, e.g., causality, repulsion, attraction, creation, and dissolution of aggregates. All monads and thus everything are connected. Regarding monads themselves, there are no interactions; they behave on their own accord as if they were interacting. The entire universe is a huge, harmonious dance. Monads are completely independent, i.e., free from one another, and act in the sea of ​​harmony. Each monad, therefore, simply does everything that really defines it – and ultimately only what is inherent – without taking anything else into account, and that is precisely why everything runs harmoniously.

For nature to run smoothly, everything is present in each monad. The entire universe, including the past and future, lies in monads, which, however, only have a limited view. They only see what they need to exist. Leibniz says that monads have no “windows“. The divine primordial monad sees everything clearly and distinctly, but every other monad only has an image or a limited mirror of the universe, a certain individual view. This means that all consciousness is a special mirror of the universe.

Everything is contained in everything, so everything can become God. A monad can change its properties from within itself. Our oxygen atom can therefore also become an ether atom or an astral,  spiritual element. The further the monad moves away from the material, the clearer its mirror of the universe becomes, and the closer it comes to God.

The drive is to change one´s state or to create something new, harmonious, and determined by God’s wisdom and goodness. Since God himself is a monad and all monads exist in harmony with one another, everything is in harmony with God. Since God is absolute love, all monads are expressions of this love. The being and development of everything is determined by harmony and the respective inner law, by the idea of ​​a thing or a living being. Leibniz could therefore say that we live in the best of all possible worlds; a better one is perhaps conceivable, but currently unachievable.

This brings us to living beings who also have a monad: their soul. It comprises the aggregate of the body, consisting of monads, which themselves form smaller aggregates, e.g, liver, stomach, and bones. The soul has a consciousness with a relatively clear view of the universe. The closer a soul is to God, the more conscious it is, and the more it can see in its mirror of the universe.

All souls, therefore, can consciously become one with everything and thus also one with God. What is stopping us from doing this?

Every state of the monads corresponds to rules that serve as the basis for harmony. A breach of these rules is always possible through freedom, but it leads to disharmony, to the darkening of the mirror, and to the abolition of unity. The community of monads, however, has the urge to restore harmony. This is called the law of karma. Disharmony creates suffering, harmony creates clarity in the mirror, and thus happiness.

Since everything strives for good and urges to become more divine, more conscious, and more loving, God, the all-encompassing monad, guarantees that this is always possible. However, a decision against this is always accepted. This also means that the living being in question then receives a darkened view of the universe and falls into suffering.

Plants and animals are not aware of these possibilities. However, through reflection, humans can recognize the possibilities of their soul monad and determine what is holding them back from God. By removing disharmony, they can consciously bring their monad to a state closer to unity while maintaining individuality. Leibniz, therefore, speaks of a realm of grace. All conscious souls are granted the right to recognize God and the entire universe.

Leibniz was bound to the church of his time. He knew the fate of René Descartes and of his escape to the Netherlands, so he emphasized that there is no reincarnation, only transformation. He left open what happens to the immortal souls after death, when the soul monad lets go of its body. Since all monads have an eternal existence, for logical reasons, life can only continue after death, either through direct entry into the highest dimension or with a new incarnation, the creation of a new body. Only then can the path to goodness be completed, i.e., becoming one with everything.

God’s love makes this possible.

Is it possible to draw a parallel between mathematics and spirituality? Is there a common denominator that allows such a comparison?

Mathematics is a science based on a rational method; spirituality is founded on faith and intuition. Mathematics is objective, while spirituality is subjective.

The scientific method requires experimentation that allows precise data collection, enabling reproducibility of experiments by different researchers [1]. In spirituality, experiences are internal and cannot be guaranteed to be repeatable or even comparable to others.

The language of the exact science is clear, rigorous, and precise; in spirituality, the inner experience cannot be fully expressed in words.

Scientific knowledge is contingent; truth or falsity can be determined through experiments. In spirituality, the only and universal Truth is inherent to Divinity, and the boundary between true and false in the transient reality in which humans live is imprecise.

Science is predictive: it establishes laws, theories, and models that allow predictions. Spirituality is surprising, disconcerting, and unpredictable.

In short: scientific knowledge is verifiable, and anything that cannot be proven is nothing but a hypothesis – which automatically excludes the possibility of any comparison with spirituality.

However, Gödel’s first incompleteness theorem tells us, in summary, that in arithmetic there are absolute truths that cannot be proven [2]:

 “Any effectively generated theory capable of expressing elementary arithmetic cannot be both consistent and complete. In particular, for any consistent and effectively generated formal theory that proves certain truths of basic arithmetic, there exists an arithmetic statement that is true but not provable within the theory.”

On the other hand, a geometric explanation of the concept of Divinity is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus [3]:

 “God is an infinite sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”

Infinity is a concept that interests both mathematics and spirituality, and we propose some unpretentious reflections on it, given its incredible complexity.

The concept of infinity interested Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor, a 19th-century German mathematician who worked to facilitate its understanding. Cantor claimed that there is not just one “infinity”, but several “infinities”, including the absolute understood as God (this theory was opposed by the church, which considered it a challenge to the unique infinitude of God):

 “Infinity always arises in three contexts: first, when it presents itself in its most complete form, in a supernatural entity completely independent, in Deo, which I call Absolute Infinity or simply the Absolute; second, when it occurs in the eventual, in the created world; third, when the mind understands it abstractly as a mathematical magnitude, number, or type of ordering.” [4]

Cantor became famous for developing the set theory [5]. A set is a well-defined collection of objects, called elements, that share a common characteristic. Thus, the letters of the alphabet form a set, but so does the collection of cups in your kitchen or socks in your drawer – all are sets with clearly defined characteristics.

Among his various works, we want to mention the comparison the famous mathematician made between two sets: the set of natural whole numbers and the set of real numbers.

Natural whole numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on, meaning their set contains an unlimited quantity of characters.

Real numbers include rational and irrational numbers, encompassing positive and negative numbers, integers, fractions, decimals, and repeating and non-repeating decimals [5]. To study the infinitude of this set, Cantor used the numbers between 0 and 1 – all starting with zero point something – but with a special characteristic: they all have an endless quantity of digits after the decimal point. For example, dividing 1 by 3 gives a repeating decimal with infinite digits: 0.3333… However, dividing 1 by 2 gives 0.5, a finite number of digits after the decimal; in this case, to participate in Cantor’s study, an infinite number of zeros is added after the last digit, resulting in: 0.5000….

These two sets are certainly infinite, but are they the same size?

Cantor proposed a simple criterion for comparing sets: they are equivalent if they have the same number of elements. He also developed the so-called “diagonal argument,” available for further study in various sources [5, 6].

Thus, he demonstrated that there are more numbers in the set of real numbers than in the set of natural whole numbers, namely, an uncountable infinity and a countable infinity, respectively..

Isn’t it curious to know that there are more numbers between 0 and 1 (uncountable infinity) than the sum of all whole numbers (countable infinity)?

What do these numbers represent in esoteric language?

In Benita Kleiberg’s article [7] on the number of God, we read the following statements:

“Therefore, in Jewish mysticism, the divine is described as the unfathomable Ain Sof, literally meaning ‘without end.’ This spiritual non-existence of Ain Sof is the source from which all life emerged. In Jewish mysticism, this life is schematically represented by the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, which form the plan of creation. In other words, we can understand the divine Ain Sof as the number 0, a nothing from which everything originated.”

 …

 “Therefore, the monad, the unique plan of the spherical form, the number 1, is the quintessential symbol of Divinity expressed in our world, as the first emanation.”

We can understand that the set between 0 and 1 would represent the unfathomable and unknowable God and His hidden manifestation, which will become the number 1, the first emanation.

Divine creation, represented by the set of natural numbers, is infinite and countable, encompassing the universe and celestial bodies, our planet and all living and non-living beings, continents and oceans, plants, animals, and human beings.

The hidden God is Ain Sof, literally “without end”, an uncountable infinity from which everything originated.

Reading the eighth book of the Corpus Hermeticum [8], we can reflect that the things not created and kept in silence would be an uncountable infinity. And the things that were made and manifested are a countable infinity.

 “Who could praise You enough according to Your worth? Where shall I direct my eyes to praise You? Upward, downward, inward, or outward?

 …

 “And why should I sing Your praises? For what You created or for what You did not create? For what You manifested or for what You keep hidden? … Even what does not exist, You are. You are all that came to be and all that has not yet been manifested.”

In his work on set theory, Cantor reached surprising conclusions that frightened part of the 19th-century mathematical community and earned him criticism from colleagues and former professors.

For example, when verifying the properties of infinite sets (compared to finite sets), Cantor and his friend Richard Dedekind found that: in an infinite set, the whole can be equal to one of its parts [5]. In spirituality, we could understand this statement as the mathematical expression of divine Omnipresence, of the point at the center of the infinite sphere – which is God – that is everywhere. This point is also at the center of the human being, as the manifestation of Divinity, in the form of an atom of the Spirit’s spark; finding this atom within oneself is the same as seeing the Unknowable and its grandeur. At that moment, the part, which is us, encounters the Whole, discovers its origin and destiny; time becomes eternity and space becomes infinity.

Studying the numbers he called transfinite, Cantor concluded that the number of points in a line segment just 1 millimeter long is the same as the number of points in the entire volume of the universe! This leads us to reflect that the true inner path of spiritual liberation — leading us from the transient reality in which we live to the infinite fields of pure Universal Truth—may be less than one millimetre long, and that, mathematically, we could traverse it in the blink of an eye.

Although we feel limited in space and time, spirituality tells us – and mathematics suggests – that we are part of a countable infinity. Still, we carry the immeasurable within our hearts.

But only when our analytical mind steps aside and gives away to a deeper understanding — one that shines at the inner core of our being — can our awareness recognize that the finite and the infinite, the countable and the uncountable, mirror and weave into one another in a reality of breathtaking and unspeakable beauty. Only then do we understand that we belong to this reality and, with profound gratitude, allow our hearts to echo Hermes’ hymn of praise in the following words

 “And how would I sing Your praise? As if something belonged to me, as if I possessed something of my own or were anything other than You! For You are all that I can be; You are all that I can do; all that I can say. For You are everything, and there is nothing beyond You!”

References:

[1] LAKATOS, Eva Maria; MARCONI, Marina de Andrade. Metodologia científica. 2. ed. São Paulo: Atlas, 1985.

[2] Mathematics. Avaible at:  logic – Explanation of proof of Gödel’s Second Incompleteness Theorem – Mathematics Stack Exchange Accessed at: 2 August 2025.

[3] REEGEN, Jan G. Ter. LIBER VIGINTI QUATTUOR PHILOSOPHORUM – O LIVRO DOS VINTE E QUATRO FILÓSOFOS. Veritas (Porto Alegre), [S.L.], v. 47, n. 3, p. 441-452, 30 dez. 2002. EDIPUCRS. LIBER VIGINTI QUATTUOR PHILOSOPHORUM – O LIVRO DOS VINTE E QUATRO FILÓSOFOS | Veritas (Porto Alegre)

[4] Absolute infinite. Avaible at: Absolute infinite – Wikipedia Accessed at: 2 August 2025.

[5] George Cantor and transfinite numbers. Avaible at: Transfinite number – Wikipedia Accessed at: 2 August 2025.

[6] BOUYER, Florian. O conceito de infinito e seu uso na matemática. 2022. UNESP para Jovens. Avaible at: Unesp Para Jovens | O conceito de infinito e seu uso na matemática. Accessed at: 2 August 2025.

[7] KLEIBERG, Benita. God as number. LOGON, 28 fev. 2024. Category Science. Available at: God as Number – LOGON Accessed at: 2 August 2025.

[8] VAN RIJCKENBORGH, Jan. The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis and its call in the eternal present – Part 2.  Rozenkruis pers, Haarlem 2020

This whole is not static but evolving, developing consciousness and moving toward the source from which it once originated. Through the “World Soul”, the Spirit becomes aware of itself within form, an intentional unfolding woven throughout the universe.

What is the soul and what does it look like?

The German physician and founder of cellular pathology, Rudolf Virchow, famously said:

I have dissected many corpses and never found a soul.

This statement, however, begs the question: What did he imagine the soul would look like? His discovery might have led him to consider, “Is my idea of the soul correct?” Such a question would reflect a scientific approach. Perhaps that is why so little – not to say nothing – can be heard about the soul from the natural sciences. It is not denial, as theologians and esoteric thinkers may assume, but rather an inability to define or characterize the soul in positive, specific terms.

Serious scientists who have glimpsed the mysteries of nature and life often adopt a humble stance in the face of the vast unknown. The quantum physicist Niels Bohr, for example, stated:

It is a mistake to think that the task of physics is to find out how nature is. Physics is about what we can say about nature.[1]

Does Bohr’s statement suggest that we are encouraged to go beyond what can be said, to allow ourselves to be enchanted by the ineffable? Science opens windows that enable us to glimpse nature, yet we are responsible for interpreting what we see.

A look at Nature

Quantum physics, for example, is grounded in a simple yet profound observation: every object interacts with its environment. Without such interaction, we would be unaware of the object’s existence. As Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker noted, speaking of “isolated” objects is fundamentally nonsensical[2]; in quantum physics, interacting objects form a whole, where their interactions drive the internal dynamics of this greater whole.[3]

What sounds complex can be easily understood with a simple example: water consists of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms (H₂O), yet the properties of water cannot be explained solely by oxygen and hydrogen.[4] What we call “water” is the result of the interaction between these atoms—the internal dynamics of the water molecule, or the cooperation of its parts. “Water” thus transcends its material foundation (oxygen and hydrogen) and exhibits entirely different properties. Through the cooperation of the two hydrogen atoms with the oxygen atom, the conceptual “idea” of water gains a substantial form. In the water molecule, we observe a kind of trinity:

(1) The conceptual “idea” of water (in the sense of Plato’s theory of forms),

(2) the material substance composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and

(3) the dynamic inner life with force and movement.

The hydrogen and oxygen atoms are “submerged” within the quantum entity of water. This does not mean they no longer exist; they simply do not currently appear as separate oxygen or hydrogen. They “sacrifice” their individuality to allow for a molecular existence that transcends their atomic reality.

Does this not mirror the interplay of spirit, soul, and body? The spirit inspires the soul, which, with its unique life force, expresses the spirit’s impulse through material form – In our example, the water’s properties.

On an atomic level, similar principles apply. When examining a hydrogen atom, we see the interaction of a proton and an orbiting electron, creating the atom’s properties. The proton, in turn, exists through the interaction of quarks within it. As we look deeper, the “material” basis continually recedes, prompting Max Planck to declare in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force that brings the atomic particles into vibration and holds this minute solar system of the atom together. Since there is no intelligent or eternal abstract force in the whole universe, […] we must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious, intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter. It is not the visible but perishable matter that is the real, true, actual […], but the invisible, immortal spirit is the true![5]

On a larger scale, the same principle holds. Molecules form cells, cells form organs, and organs form living beings. Biologists recognize ecosystems that self-regulate through feedback loops, much like nature as a whole. Weizsäcker generalizes, saying:

An object could not exist in the world without being connected to it through interaction. Therefore, strictly speaking, it is not really an object at all. If there could be something that truly exists as a quantum-theoretical object, then it would be the entire world itself.[6]

A look at the Soul

Thus, nature presents a picture of unity, a cosmic structure in which everything cooperates, held together by a spiritual bond. This whole is not static but evolving, developing consciousness and moving toward the source from which it once originated. Through the “World Soul”, the Spirit becomes aware of itself within form, an intentional unfolding woven throughout the universe. Aristotle termed this process “entelechy”, a calling that resonates through the cosmos:

Become what you are![7]

This sense of cosmic unity also suggests that nothing and no one exists solely for themselves. Every being depends on its environment and is, in turn, obligated to serve it. This “duty to serve” can create inner conflict. If we set aside idealistic notions of unity and are honest, we must admit: our reality does not reflect this envisioned unity! Instead, our worldview is shaped by notions of separation, turning wonderful simplicity into complex chaos.

American physicist David Bohm captured this dilemma:

As previously stated, people who are guided by such a fragmented world view inevitably end up trying, in the long run, to break themselves and the world into pieces through their actions, consistent with their habitual way of thinking. Fragmentation primarily represents an attempt to extend the analytical division of the world into separate parts beyond its appropriate scope, essentially attempting to divide what is, in reality, indivisible. The next step, then, is to attempt to unite what, in truth, cannot be united. […] True unity within individuals, between humans and nature, and among humans themselves can only be achieved through a form of action that does not aim to destroy the wholeness of reality. […] As mentioned, we attempt to divide what is one and indivisible, and the next consequence of this is that we try to equate what is different.

Thus, fragmentation is essentially a confusion regarding what is different and what belongs together (or is one), yet clearly understanding these categories is necessary at every stage of life. Those who confuse what is different with what is not bring everything into disorder. It is therefore no coincidence that our fragmented way of thinking gives rise to a broad spectrum of crises: social, political, economic, ecological, psychological, and more, both on an individual level and in society as a whole.[8]

The common diagnosis that humanity’s crises stem from selfishness is certainly correct. However, egocentrism cannot simply be replaced with an idealized altruism. Many people work selflessly in organizations, be they family, company, state, or society. Recognizing that we are egocentric does not imply we are evil, ruthless, or unsocial; we may even be highly cultivated and humanitarian—according to our ideals. Yet, these ideals differ across individuals, making us appear as stubborn egoists. Our institutions reflect the same character, and so systemic solutions from leadership cannot be expected.

We will, therefore, have no choice but to resolve our confusions ourselves. Nature aids us in this, as the mistaken notions of separateness act as unconscious blocks and complexes that bind psychic energy, as psychologist C. G. Jung observes. The parts torn apart by our thinking of separation naturally strive for reunification. Therefore, if we wish to maintain our illusion of separation, we are forced to continuously expend energy—psychic energy. Thus, we live in a self-generated emotional tension of opposites. This tension seeks balance—the dissolution of separation. It is a natural force and, therefore, only partially controllable by rational considerations.[9] Jung describes the psychological process that unfolds here as the process of individuation (“Become who you are!”). At the end of this process, consciousness ultimately reaches, in a state of complete detachment, the true center of the soul, which Jung characterizes as the “non-ego center.”[10] This non-ego center is, therefore, that point within the human psyche that corresponds with the unity of nature, the unity of all. It is, in a sense, the connecting point of spirit—the One Spirit.

These fundamental principles are imprinted on the soul through various archetypal images. For example, Christian terms like the “seed of Christ” or the “only-begotten Son” refer to the archetype of the soul enclosed within the body, an idea already present in Plato’s Phaedrus.[11] After a thorough study of alchemical symbolism, C. G. Jung came to the surprising conclusion that the alchemists of that time actually intended to create a transfigured resurrection body—a spiritual body.[12] Hermetic philosophy, even at the beginning of our era, saw in matter a spirit hidden and awaiting redemption. It is the “spirit spark” within us that calls upon the soul to entrust itself to it, so that it may transform the soul—like the caterpillar in its cocoon—into a soul attuned to the level of unity. This is the union of body, soul, and spirit to which humankind is called. In this spirit, Hegel taught his students:

Our task is to partake in redemption by renouncing immediate subjectivity (shedding the old Adam) and becoming aware of God as our true and essential self.[13], [14]

The true essence of love lies in giving up ego-identity, losing oneself in another Self, yet in this surrender and forgetfulness, truly finding oneself for the first time.[15]

---

[1] Bohr, Niels, quoted in Arendes, Lothar: Das Realismusproblem in der Quantenmechanik (The Problem of Realism in Quantum Mechanics), p. 24.

[2] Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich von: Die Einheit der Natur (The Unity of Nature), XX, p. 164.

[3] Weizsäcker, Carl Friedrich von: Die Einheit der Natur, p. 485.

[4] according to B. Russell in: Vollmer, Gerhard: Evolutionäre Erkenntnistheorie (Evolutionary Epistemology), p. 82.

[5] Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Archive for the History of the Max Planck Society), Section Va, Record Group 11 Planck, No. 1797.

[6] Ibid., p. 486

[7] Aristotle: Metaphysics IX, 8

[8] Bohm, David: Fragmentation and Wholeness. In: David Bohm, The Implicate Order – Foundations of a Dynamic Holism, pp. 36–37.

[9] Jung, Carl Gustav: On the Psychology of the Unconscious, §§ 77–78.

[10] Jung, Carl Gustav: The Tavistock Lectures: On the Fundamentals of Analytical Psychology, § 379

[11] Plato: Phaedrus, 250

[12] Jung, Carl Gustav: Psychology and Alchemy, § 511.

[13] Hegel: Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences, Volume 1, The Lesser Logic, § 194, Addition 1.

[14] Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:45

[15] Hegel: Lectures on Aesthetics, Part II, Chapter III, I, 2a,: Concept of the Absolute as Love.

There are aspects of the personality that are not well known. The vibrations of words, music, ideas, images, and desires affect these dark, unconscious parts. The danger does not come so much from the Divine Word: It calls, but does not compel. There is freedom in the Divine Word. Possibilities are or are not offered. It becomes different when people start using the Word. Influencing the masses, stirring up fear, manipulation, and advertising are examples of the binding power of the laws of vibration. Magic is very real, and every human being deals with it, consciously or unconsciously.

Mysterious experience

Amidst this raging ocean of energetic waves in this chaos of vibrations, a moment of openness, clarity, and insight sometimes unexpectedly appears, like a bolt of lightning splitting the dark sky.

During World War I, a British officer experienced something strange. One evening, while out walking, he was overcome by a mysterious experience lasting 30 seconds. Harmonious echoes seemed to come from the sky. “That’s the harmony of the spheres,” thought the officer. Then he saw celestial bodies that produced both light and music. “I stood still on the towpath and thought: How wondrous it would be to die at this moment,”.^[1]

A truly remarkable experience. It is also understandable why the officer contemplated death at that moment, as he was familiar with the concept of ‘the harmony of the spheres’.  This concept dates back to Pythagoras, whose sublime spirituality, combined with his scientific mind, led to his comprehensive view of the cosmos and man. It is said that Pythagoras heard heavenly chords, and that the ears of his soul were attuned to the sounds and vibrations of the planets and stars.

Coherence and Proportion

What stands out strongly in Pythagoras’ vision is the harmony of the universe, the coherence and proportions between things. Whole numbers from one to ten express spiritual realities and mutual relationships. He conducted experiments with strings and discovered the cosmic principles underlying what is called harmony or disharmony. Why is experience considered harmonious or disharmonious?

A person experiences something as harmonious when it corresponds and resonates with their inner being. It is about correspondence. In Universal Teaching, the universe is referred to as a system of seven spheres, seven fields of life, also known as seven cosmic realms. As earthly beings with a time-space consciousness, this is hard to imagine. That says more about human beings than about the universe. Our I-centered consciousness is not in harmony with the whole of creation.

Nevertheless, both Pythagoras and the British officer experienced the harmony of the spheres. One permanently, the other for a brief moment. How can this be explained? It is only possible if the sevenfold nature of the universe is also fundamentally and structurally anchored in the human being as a whole. There is a structural harmony between the human being as a microcosm and the universe as a macrocosm.

And Jesus said, Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good. Now, all created things have colours, tones, and forms of their own; but certain tones when mixed, though good and pure in themselves, produce inharmonies, discordant tones.^[2]

Disharmony

Both humans as microcosms and the universe are creations of the seven spirits and are therefore good. However, when observing the destruction and chaos of the planet, something is not right. There is disharmony. The tones have been mixed disharmoniously.

Humans face a dual problem that is essentially the same. First, being out of harmony with the universe; second, disharmonious within and suffering from inner division.

Within our inner being, there is disharmony between our head, heart, and hands. In other words, the primary functions of thinking, feeling, and willing are chaotic. Spiritually speaking, the harmony and coherence between spirit, soul, and body have been broken. Being unaware of the spiritual structure of our microcosm leaves the soul adrift and causes it to mix all kinds of sounds and vibrations experimentally. The result manifests itself in the body and hands.

Psychologists have noticed this inner anarchy and have tried to bring some order to it. This is possible to a certain extent with earthly means and therapies.  The personality, which is useful in social life, can be stabilized. However, the fundamental disharmony of I-consciousness cannot be overcome in this way: the harmony of the spheres will not reach the inner ear.

Why not? The I-centered consciousness sees itself as a separate being and pursues personal interests. How could such a consciousness hear the totality of the harmony of the spheres? How could a dissonant note resonate in the heavenly symphonies?

Death and rebirth

A profound and structural transformation is necessary to hear the harmony of the spheres. It is a process that can be described as dying and being reborn, whereby both processes are seen as inner transformations.

The story of the British officer has interesting characteristics. It is war. The collective result of all I-centered people. Struggle, pain, hatred, misery, and grief. The I-consciousness undergoes the hopelessness of its existence and falls silent. It ceases its activity. The officer thinks, ‘how wondrous it would be to die at this moment’. Inwardly, he had died for a moment. The timeline became a dot, a focal point of eternity. He stood in the harmony of the spheres. He became aware of the heavenly light and sound that is eternal and omnipresent. Pythagoras, with his enlightened soul and his personality attuned to it, permanently experienced the harmony of the spheres. His I-centered consciousness had definitively died and been replaced by a spiritual soul consciousness. After a brief moment,  the British officer’s I-consciousness resumed its old position of power. It was war again.

Order and place

Harmony deals with the connection between different elements, in the right place and order. When looking at the solar system, the Sun is at the center, and the planets orbit around it. The planets relate to the Sun and each other in a certain way. There is harmony, order, and rhythm.

The Earth also has its place and task. The problem with I-consciousness is that neither the place nor the task of its earthly existence can be determined. It sees itself as being at the center; it dreams itself to be the Sun. The I-centered consciousness, the leading factor of the personality, moves outside its orbit. In this way, the relationships become disrupted, resulting in chaos and struggle.

Just as the solar system has a central source of life, so too does the divine universe have a central Sun. Jesus spoke of the ‘great first Cause and the seven spirits.’ Everything that comes from their hands is good.

The spiritual Sun and the seven spirits are immaterial. It is a mistake to regard matter as the essential, as the I-consciousness does. We pay a high price for this lack of understanding because it is confusing. The macrocosm and solar system, as well as the microcosm and atom, have a sevenfold structure. The microcosm also has a spiritually centered Sun. It is the spiritual idea of the true human being of whom it can be said, “God created man in His own image.”^[3]

Mixing

Influences and rays emanate from the inner spiritual Sun. The material self cannot process these influences properly because it lacks the appropriate vehicle, the necessary intermediary. Nevertheless, these influences work in a hidden and distorted way in the astral body of a human being. This leads to mixing. An example: when the inner Sun emits a radiation described as ‘love’, the physical person translates this radiation to his level. He seeks a partner with whom to share his love. Spiritual and material influences are mixed, converting spiritual radiation into earthly desires. If the spiritual center emanates rays that have to do with truth and wisdom, then science prevails

The true goal hidden in the spiritual rays remains unattainable in this way. As material beings, the wrong answer is given. One continues to search, run, and strive.

Catharose de Petri writes:

Certainly, it is not only evil that is being absorbed into the human system. That was never the point. As a nature-born being, he demonstrates a mixture of good and evil. These twin forces are present in his life as an inextricable tangle resulting in great fatigue, misunderstanding, sickness, crystallisation and death.^[4]

Matter has its laws. Atoms are bound together in forms and then dissolved again into atoms. Beginning and end; end and beginning. True spiritual ideas, eternal harmonious creations, cannot be realized in matter.

Higher octave

Nevertheless, both the microcosm and the atom contain the structural possibilities for the regeneration of spiritual life. The microcosm in its totality consists of seven fields of life, and the material manifestation is only a fraction of the whole. It is a matter of putting things in their proper place, of seeing the right proportions.

Consider the image of the solar system: the Sun, the planets, and the moon. It is important to penetrate the spiritual meaning of both the outer and inner universe.

The central spiritual Sun is the source of power, wisdom, love, and life. There is a distance between human beings on Earth and the Sun. It is more a difference in vibration than in kilometers. The planets function as intermediate stations, as transformers of spiritual radiation. They radiate forces that can be assimilated and used as building stones for the soul. Planets can therefore be considered in their higher, spiritual octave.

To be clear, there is no reference to the influences described in astrological systems. Astrology analyzes the workings of the planets in their lower, time-space octaves. Spiritual teachings and astrology both have their place, and it is important to understand the difference. Astrology describes how planetary influences happen through the energetic threads of karma, how the past works itself out in the present, and determines destiny. The spider web of the past, which is present as a personal auric sphere, forms a birth chart. This auric sphere determines how the universe is experienced.

The higher, spiritual octaves of the planets seek to destroy the auric web of the past, so that the planetary forces can be reached directly and in their pure state. Direct and pure means, not distorted and transformed into time-space forces. Astrology is about understanding the past, but true spirituality is about liberation from the past. When attuned to spiritual forces, freedom from the Earth and a new universe will be opened. Experiencing the harmony of the spheres means perceiving the higher spiritual octaves of the solar system.

New consciousness

To build a new consciousness, a soul is reborn by using the wisdom and knowledge of Mercury, the love of Venus, the vigor of Mars, the revelations of Jupiter, and finally by passing through the gate of Saturn.^[5] This soul can directly assimilate the rays of the spiritual Sun. Then there is harmony of the spirit, soul, and body. Everything is in its right place.

This coherence gives the impression of the harmony of the spheres.  Heavenly symphonies and planets singing in their orbits can be heard.

Through the structural similarity between the cosmos and the microcosmos, the Earth, planetary spheres, and the spiritual Sun exist within us. If the new soul can connect directly with a spiritually centered heart, then the door to the inner temple is opened. The veil is torn, and there appears the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is kept.

And in the Ark, the magic wand of prophecy lies waiting for your hand; it is the key to all the hidden meanings of the present, future, and past. And then, behold, the manna there, the hidden bread of life; and he who eats shall never die.^[6]

The ‘magic wand of prophecy’ symbolizing the renewed serpent fire lies in wait, which means that the sounds of the harmony of the spheres can also be used. It is a power that brings harmony and peace. He who possesses this inner prophet’s staff speaks the Word. He speaks and acts through the totality of the sevenfold universe. The seven primordial sounds resound in him and through him. The harmony of the spheres reveals itself on Earth as healing streams of etheric forces. It is the Word that carries the harmony of the spheres within itself.

^[1] Alister Hardy, The Spiritual Nature of Man, Oxford 1979. (Quoted from this article)

^[2] The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, 39:11-12

^[3] Genesis 1:27

^[4] The Living Word, chapter ‘The Secret of Gnostic Magic’

^[5] See “Dei Gloria Intacta”

^[6] The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, 40:22-23

In mathematics, a root or square root is related to the length of a side of a square and its area. 3 x 3 = 9 and √9 = 3.

In this article, an intuitive approach to the concept of ‘root’ and the mathematics of the soul will be discussed.

The root of creation starts with Genesis 1:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

It begins with the divine trinity. God’s spirit, the masculine aspect, hovered over the waters, the feminine aspect, and from this union came forth their creation: the child, the son-daughter, Light. This fundamental tri-unity exists in various cultures. I.e. in the ancient Egyptian civilization there is Osiris – Isis – Horus/Father – Mother – Child.

In sacred geometry, the divine trinity is represented by two circles that meet at their centers.

This symbolic representation is called the ‘Vesica Pisces’: the vessel of the fish. Throughout the ages the seekers of truth such as Pythagoras, have studied this seemingly simple image. They discovered that the Vesica Pisces conceals an overwhelming wealth of meaning. They became aware of these spiritual treasures by highlighting certain aspects: √2, √3, and √5. These roots of creation are indicated in the images below, but first, consider the following.

Mathematics teaches that √2, √3, and √5 are irrational numbers. 0.5 is a rational number because it can be expressed as the ratio ½. With √2, √3, and √5, this is not possible since they have an infinite and non-repeating series of digits after the decimal point. If irrational numbers are approached intuitively, they cannot be expressed in their entirety in matter. There is no ratio, no fraction, that can contain them. The spirit of eternity and infinity lives in these roots.

√2 – Right proportion

Let’s start with √2, Osiris and Isis: the spirit of God which hovered over the waters.

The circle, the Source, multiplies itself and the Vesica Pisces is created. There are then two principles, the masculine and feminine aspects, with which an exchange of energy takes place. When the masculine and feminine principles meet at a right angle, their relationship, the sloping side of the triangle or diagonal of the square with sides ‘1’, is √2 according to Pythagoras’ theorem. The right angle symbolizes the objective relationship, the right proportion, on which the divine universe of order and harmony is based.

At all levels of creation there are always two principles. There is a masculine, impulse-giving force and a feminine, receiving and manifesting force. Yin and Yang come together to form unity. However, in today’s world of material creation, Yin and Yang cannot form a unity because they remain polarized, in opposing aspects. In the relative time-space order, the relationships are subjectively colored by personal vision and desire. The proportions change from day to day.

√3 – Light

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

√3 is the unity, the son-daughter, the child, universal love, the Christ. It is the perpendicular connection between the two intersections of the circles. It is the bright light, the revelation of the objective relationship between the masculine and feminine principles.

It is this sacred connection, this completely new ensoulment that brings unity.

Behold, I make all things new. ^[1]

That is why Christ is called the Savior. Cosmically speaking, the son-daughter is an eternal reality, a transcendent greatness. It is the Light that shines in the darkness. The world is experienced as ‘dark’ because subjective experience is always partial: there are blind spots. What is  needed is the unifying, illuminating aspect of universal love. To transcend the current condition, universal love must descend into the inner being. Christ must become immanent.

√5 – Life

√5 is the human mystery because the number 5 is connected to the reborn human soul. It is the Word becoming flesh. In other words, the right relationship between masculine and feminine principles revealed as light, can now prove itself as life. It is the path from Bethlehem to Golgotha and beyond. It is an immense mystery because eternity is about to reveal itself in time.

√5 is the liberating path of the two fish, of the two squares; the path of the cross and of the ninefold human being.

In the figure above, there are two squares intersected by the diagonal √5. Two semicircles form the fish. The male and female aspects are united. When viewed in man they form a connection of three focal points (√3), the luminous serpent-fire column. If we add up all the points, we get the number 9 (3 groups of 3). Nine is the number of humanity and also of the perfect human being. Think of the disciples who went fishing. When performing their work in the right way, they caught 153 (= 9) fish. So they worked for the regeneration of the perfect human being. It became dark when Jesus died on Golgotha: from the sixth to the ninth hour. Jesus, the soul-man who had conquered the body (3 + 3), was transfigured and transformed into a spirit-soul-man, into a 9 (3 + 3 + 3). After three days, the tomb was empty and his physical body was no longer to be found. The zodiacal sign ‘Pisces’ is therefore symbolically represented by two oppositely directed fish connected by a cross, as well as by the connection between the six and the nine.

However, the mystery of Easter or the mystery of the resurrection, is preceded by a path from Bethlehem to Golgotha. √5 points to this path. Five is a number associated with the reborn soul. The new soul body is often depicted as a pentagram. This new ensoulment, although latently present in the center of our being, must become concrete and active in our personality.

That is why the liberating path, the golden path (√5), begins in matter and continues through the cross (4) until the day of resurrection. It is the golden path of the rose and the cross.

When a person is a seeker of truth, his focus and his longing for a higher life open the door to the spiritual center. Then a spiritual heritage is found, the root of existence. The spiritual rose blooms and forms a new aura. It is the egg-shaped field found  around the √3, the beginning of a new ensoulment. If the seeker of truth goes further and renounces his I-centered nature, then the way of the cross is found. Then an I-central person is made smaller and smaller, so that a new soul receives living space and increases in power. From the auric egg of the golden astral light forces, new etheric streams of life flow into the personality. When these new etheric forces overcome the resistance of earthly life, the soul pentagram or the new human being reveals itself. Then the path of the Vesica Pisces, √2, √3, and √5 has been followed. The two fish, the spiritual man and the earthly man, have found each other, and the earthly one is slowly dissolved into the spiritual one. The six gets transformed into a nine.

For the sake of completeness, numbers 7 and 8 also have their rightful place when the 6 is transfigured into a nine. Among other things, the number seven relates to the sevenfold spiritual structure of our microcosm (circle), revealing itself in a new soul (triangle) and a transfigured body (square). Before us is the symbol of the School of the Golden Rosycross:

Number 8 is associated with the gateway to liberation, with the transition to a new field of life.

The Golden Ratio

In the Age of Pisces, Christ manifested himself on earth in a human body. Jesus of Nazareth proved the spiritual possibilities of a human being.  He received Christ in his inner being and became Jesus the Christ. The Word became flesh. There are √5 points to the path of liberation, the way from Bethlehem to Golgotha that Jesus pointed out.

It is significant that the Golden Ratio (𝜑) is found on the basis of √5. The Golden Ratio or ‘divine proportion’ is expressed by the formula:

𝜑 = √5 x 0,5 + 0,5

𝜑 = 1,618033…

The Golden Ratio (𝜑) is an irrational number that indicates the ratio between line segments, whereby the largest part is approximately 1.618 times larger than the smallest. A perfect Golden Ratio cannot be expressed in nature, but the ratio looks approximately like this:

Source: Golden rectangle – Wikipedia

People throughout history continue to be attracted to this ideal proportion and it will be seen why later. The Golden Ratio has been used throughout centuries in architecture, painting, and music. The Pyramid of Giza and the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are perhaps the best-known examples. Nature also likes to create according to the golden ratio spiral from snail shells and sunflowers to galaxies.

The Eye of God

The golden spiral can be graphically represented by dividing a rectangle according to the Golden Ratio, then dividing the smallest area in the same way, and so on. Theoretically, this can be done to infinity. If a spiraling red line is drawn through these rectangles, the following image is revealed:

Source: File:LogSpyr 4.jpg – Wikimedia Commons

The intersection of the diagonals (blue lines) is also called the ‘eye of God’. An interesting designation that indicates that there is a mystery. Meister Eckhart’s statement,

The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me,

also applies to this mystery spiral. The golden ratio spiral is derived from 𝜑 and therefore from √5. √5 symbolizes the liberating path: the descent of the divine into man. It is the path on which the eye of our soul is opened, the eye of Horus, in order to live in unity with the divine universe.

Longing of the soul

As previously indicated, nature cannot express spiritual values in their entirety. Nature cannot work with infinite values: in earthly life, everything has a beginning and an end. However, nature’s aspirations can approach the golden ratio or divine proportion. This approximation is called the Fibonacci sequence. Fibonacci was an Italian mathematician who lived in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the sequence of numbers named after him, each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, … Later Johannes Kepler discovered that this sequence approximates the golden ratio. From 8 / 5 (= 1.600) onwards, the Fibonacci sequence approaches the golden proportion. Intuitively, our new soul (5) must pass through the gate of liberation (8) in order to reveal the gold of inner alchemy.

The descending spirit-soul can therefore connect with the approaching nature. It is eternity in time. While walking the path of liberation, the mystery spiral of spiritual forces penetrates the heart of our material atoms. Then the light of the spirit-soul shines through the personality and our atoms are absorbed into a process of transformation. Paul called this

Death has been swallowed up in victory ^[2].

A seeker of truth longs for eternity, perfection, and the overcoming of death. His eternal soul yearns for liberation from the limitations of a life in the material world. That is why a seeker of truth is attracted to the Golden Ratio: it is the longing of his soul for the path to liberation, for the ideal relationship between God and man.

Adam

This article reflects the wealth of knowledge gathered by seekers of truth throughout the centuries. All souls longing for freedom can and may stand on the shoulders of their brothers who preceded them. Famous or unknown, great or small, it does not matter. All seekers of truth are invited to take their place in the great human edifice. It is a pyramid, a temple, which slowly but surely ascends into the heavens. All seekers are invited to discover the insights outlined in this article within themselves. Inner realization, that is what it is all about!

Concluding with Michelangelo’s fresco ‘The Creation of Adam’ from the Sistine Chapel and a quote from Jan van Rijckenborgh from the book “Elementary Philosophy of the Modern Rosycross,” both speak for themselves.

Source: https://kunstvensters.com/2018/01/29/wat-is-de-gulden-snede/

In the Bible, man enters the stage as A.D.M.; three sounds that are translated as Adam. These three sounds taken in succession represent spirit, soul and body. Cabbalistically, they stand for the number 1440 (= 9). The letter A is Aleph, equivalent to the number 1, which indicates genesis, manifestation, the source from which everything comes forth, the spirit. The letter D is Daleth, equivalent to the number 4, which means ‘equalizer’ or ‘door’ — typical indications of the functions of the soul. The letter M is Mem, equivalent to the number 40, which refers to the finisher, the fulfiller, the executor, the bodily figure. The word ‘Adam’ therefore never indicates an individual, but mankind in its entirety, in its manifestation as spirit, soul and body.

^[1] Revelation 21:5

^[2] 1 Corinthians 15:54

The spirit within it says: As it was, so it will be again. Future impulses come solely from the living, active thinking and willing of people in the here and now.

Symptom

A youth hostel in the Harz Mountains is large, modernly equipped and offers young people a huge, partly wooded play area, a sports field, some table tennis tables, etc. It is ideal spring weather, the sun is shining, and the air temperature is pleasant. The hostel is fully booked. 210 young people have found accommodation but the huge grounds are only being used by one class. All the other students are sitting outside or inside, busy with their smartphones. And why is this one class behaving differently? Quite simply: the children had to leave their smartphones at home; their class trip is mobile phone-free!

This incident, which was reported by a visibly shocked teacher, is one of the many obvious symptoms that show that the younger generation – and not just them – is becoming alienated from real life and migrating to the virtual world.

World 2.0

In the shadow of ChatGPT, another significant development was presented but it attracted much less attention than the text generator. The IT company Apple presented its Vision Pro mixed reality glasses in June 2023. In this MR headset, people have two high-resolution screens just a few centimeters in front of their eyes, which provide them with a stereo image. This gives the person the impression of seeing a three-dimensional world. Two stereo loudspeakers above the ears support this illusion. They believe they can see their surroundings, in which the content of a computer display is integrated. The Apple device contains several microphones and twelve cameras that record the outside world live as well as track eye movements, hand movements and finger movements. This makes it possible to control the processes on the two screens using hand gestures and gaze alone, as well as by voice. Apple’s MR headset can be paired with another computer so that you can see its screen in large format in the room in front of you. You can now do all sorts of things with this device: work on the screen, surf the Internet, 3D photography, cosy cinema evenings with 3D films, computer games, etc.

With this device, Apple took another technical step in the direction that Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, described in 2018 as the goal of his company and others:

‘Using mixed reality, we’re creating the ultimate computing experience, where your field of vision becomes the computer surface and your digital world merges with your physical world’ (Nadella 2019, p. 7).[1]

Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen, the Danish government’s representative to the global tech industry, believes:

‘The external devices for experiencing VR [virtual reality, EH], AR [augmented reality, EH] and MR [mixed reality, EH] will continue to develop inexorably over the next few years and could eventually become obsolete and be replaced by technology integrated into the body (‘wetware’)’ (Engtoft Larsen 2019, p. 258).[2]

By this, Engtoft Larsen means that it will one day be possible ‘for VR to be controlled from the brain’ (Engtoft Larsen 2019, p. 258). Although this is not yet feasible, experiments have been underway for several years to connect people’s brains directly to computers.

Yobie Benjamin, co-founder of the company Avegant (USA), also describes the goal of this development very clearly: ‘In the end, the differences between AR and VR will probably disappear’ (Benjamin 2019, p. 262).[3] This means that we will no longer be able to distinguish between virtuality and reality in World 2.0 – but this is nothing other than a loss of reality.

Division

This loss of reality is serious because it is based on a kind of division of the human being. What does that mean?

With a little attention, you can notice it in yourself when you watch a film, for example. After just a short time, you are completely absorbed by the film and lose sight of everything around you – including yourself. This can be observed in extreme cases when you ‘enter’ a virtual room with the help of a VR headset. In this case, the eyes and ears are completely immersed in a computer-generated realm of experience, while the other senses, especially those through which the body is anchored in the real world (sense of touch, sense of warmth, sense of movement, etc.), continue to experience the real world. What the eye and ear experience have nothing to do with what the other senses experience. For example, you can be near the North Pole in virtual space through Google Earth while you are actually sitting in your warm room and not realize that you are sweating. The human sensory organism is split.

Consciousness is filled with the experiences of the virtual world, while the bodily experience sinks into the darkness of disregard. Man loses his body, so to speak.

Neglect of the body

What the computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum already reported in the 1970s about compulsive programmers (Weizenbaum 1978, p. 160f.)[4] was confirmed in the 1990s by the psychologist Christel Schachtner in a study of software developers and young people who spend a lot of time with computers. In her study, she found clear evidence that people who spend a lot of time with computers and have an intensive relationship with them lose a sense of their bodies. They have less interest in good nutrition and physical activity – their own body is forgotten in front of the computer (Schachtner 1993, p. 152ff.)^[5].

Inspired by Schachtner’s study, the theologian and computer scientist Anne Foerst undertook a similar investigation in the USA. She found similar effects and summarized,

‘that the sense of disembodiment that has characterized people in the Western world for centuries is often reinforced by the daily use of computers’ (Foerst 2008, p. 98).^[6].

The neglect of the body, the forgetting of the needs of one’s own body are widespread today. Current research findings indicate that even children and adolescents do not heed their bodies’ alarm signals during the long hours they spend in front of screens, as many of them complain of health problems: 33% complain of neck pain, 24% of dry and itchy eyes, 19% of pain in the forearms and hands. Intensive users of digital devices have impaired perception of their bodies, double the risk of depression, a significantly higher risk of an anxiety disorder and a higher risk of experiencing loneliness (Bauer 2023, p. XX).[7] Other studies show that children and young people are moving less than in previous decades and, as a result, their ability to move their bodies skillfully is also declining.[8]

When people become alienated from their bodies, they also become alienated from the world. Because body and world are inseparable. ‘The body is the nature that we ourselves are’, said the philosopher Gernot Böhme (Böhme 2003, p. 63);[9] the phenomenologist Merleau-Ponty put it poetically: “One’s own body is in the world like the heart in the organism: it is what keeps all visible spectacle incessantly alive, nourishing and animating it internally, forming a single system” (Merleau-Ponty 1966, p. 239).[10]

Balancing weights

Screen technologies are part of our culture. They offer enormous possibilities if we know how to use them sensibly and become dangerous for human existence if we fail to practice balancing skills through our own initiative. These are, for example, the discipline to be able to renounce the temptations of screen spaces, the ability to observe something attentively and to be able to develop an honest interest in life’s processes. You could also say that being able to love the phenomena of the real world is the balancing weight that helps us to withstand the temptation to be alienated from the world.

Above all, however, we must develop an awareness of the fact that everything that a person carries out as a mental-spiritual activity always has a subtle effect on the body. Salutogenesis, developed by the medical sociologist Aaron Antonovsky, is based on the discovery that the sense of coherence – the feeling of being able to understand and handle the world and to perceive one’s own life as meaningful – has a healthy effect on the body.

This aspect is enormously important for everyday use of IT technology. In addition to paying attention to external aspects of health, it is also very important to cultivate an active mental and spiritual inner life for a sense of coherence. This is because we can not only become alienated from the perceptible world, but also from the world within ourselves, as the emergence of AI is increasingly tempting us to unlearn our independent thinking.

Artificial intelligence

The age of universal devices that mechanize human thought began with the construction of the first computers. In the computer programs, which run on the hardware in a precisely predetermined manner, the structures of the logic living in human thought solidify and these are written onto the universal structure of the hardware, so to speak.

As early as the 1940s, the first ideas emerged on how to imitate not only human logic by machine, but also the physical processes in the brain. This led to the construction of so-called artificial neural networks, i.e. computers whose programming imitates the stimulus transmission of the human nervous system in a very simplified way. These networks are currently the basis of so-called artificial intelligence (AI). Today, they are huge computer systems that, like ChatGPT, for example, have billions of variable parameters. Neural networks are programmed in such a way that these parameters first mustbe adapted to given data before they can be used. This means that these networks still have to be trained. By repeating data input millions of times, the system is made to gradually adapt its parameters more and more to the hidden structures of the external data until it is finally able to react meaningfully to new data input.

The Internet has made it possible for billions of people to exchange their thoughts and feelings in the form of texts, images, films or sound files or to display them on the Internet. This is all stored on large data storage devices that are part of the network. This is used to train the artificial neural networks. In other words, humanity is working on the creation of artificial intelligence, usually without realizing it. In what appears as so-called artificial intelligence, we therefore encounter nothing other than the collected and networked past thinking of mankind. People’s thoughts have materialized in the devices: Computers are congealed ‘thought ice’.

Artificial intelligence is dead intelligence. In principle, no future impulses come from it, no matter how ingenious it may seem. The spirit within it says: ‘As it was, so it will be again’. Future impulses come solely from the living, active thinking and willing of people in the here and now.

Dawn of a new consciousness

The now global power of computer systems demonstrates the world-shaping significance of human thought, because all of these systems originated from human thought, or more precisely: human intellectual thought. This first developed in ancient Greece and is now – to put it comparatively – overripe. It challenges people to develop a new level of thinking that goes beyond mere reason.

The cultural phenomenologist Jean Gebser spoke of a new consciousness beginning to develop in the transition to the 20th century: an aperspectival or integral consciousness. His detailed phenomenology of this change in consciousness culminates in the thesis that humanity as a whole is on the way to breaking through to a new consciousness. And for him, this breakthrough is a shining through of the divine, an experience of the reality of the Christ. At the end of his work, he writes about our present:

‘The profound truth of Christianity of the transparency, the diaphaneity of the world becomes perceptible. The loud intrusion of the beyond into this world, the presence of the beyond in this world, of death in life, of the transcendent in the immanent, of the divine in man becomes transparent. The incarnation of God has not been in vain’ (Gebser 1953, p. 379)[11].

The anthroposophist Rudolf Steiner also drew attention to this fact and emphatically pointed out that one can expand one’s thinking consciousness to other forms of consciousness. He showed from the most diverse aspects which paths one can take in order to gradually expand intellectual thinking to higher forms of consciousness.

The necessity of inner development

Gebser’s repeated warning that people would fall back into old forms of consciousness that had become decadent if they avoided the demands of the new age can also be found in Steiner. He repeatedly warned that complete decadence, even barbarism, would be imminent if not enough people decided to add an inner development of their own accord to the external technological development. He saw it as an existential necessity that technical progress must be counterbalanced by a realization of the spiritual world. In the last essay he wrote, he explicitly points out that humanity has entered a technical realm with its everyday actions, which he describes as sub-nature. Humans must come to terms with this sub-nature, but they can only do so in a meaningful way if they also gain access to a super-nature:

‘The sub-nature must be understood as such. It can only do so if man ascends in spiritual realization at least as far to the extraterrestrial super-nature as he has descended in technology to the sub-nature. The age needs a cognition that goes beyond nature because it must inwardly come to terms with a dangerous life content that has sunk below nature.’ (Steiner 1998, GA 26, p. 257)[12].

We are integrated with our bodies into a technical world: We operate a wide variety of apparatuses, move with the help of machines, look at screens, etc. This harbors the danger of becoming alienated from the visible world. The past human intelligence hidden in the devices threatens to alienate us from the spiritual world to be found within us. This situation is the fate of the times. Today, it is the individual’s responsibility to want to cope with it by embarking on an inner, for example meditative, path of development. This does not take place in a ‘vacuum’ but also has an effect on the body. Just as technology has a disruptive effect on the body, inner development places the body in an overarching spiritual wholeness from which healthy forces emerge.

Epilogue

It is important for the upcoming generation to find as many adults as possible who can be role models for them in this respect and who also have the courage and strength to put a stop to the seductive pull of digital devices for a while. Children need free spaces in which they can experience and explore the real world enough to become a friend to the world.

This idea does not mean that we are anti-technology, but rather that we are in favor of young people learning to stand firmly in the real world and being able to master its challenges. Only when they have established a solid foundation in the reality of life on earth can they integrate the virtual world into their outer and inner biography in a meaningful way.

[1] Nadella, Satya (2019): As a preface. In: Klaus Schwab with Nicolas Davis: The Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How we are shaping the digital transformation. Munich: DVA.

[2] Engtoft Larsen (2019): Virtual and augmented reality. In: Klaus Schwab with Nicolas Davis: The Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How we are shaping the digital transformation. Munich: DVA.

[3] Benjamin, Yobie (2019): The interface: the be-all and end-all. In: In: Klaus Schwab with Nicolas Davis: The Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How we are shaping the digital transformation. Munich: DVA.

[4] Weizenbaum, Joseph (1978): Die Macht der Computer und die Ohnmacht der Vernunft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp edition

[5] Schachtner, Christel (1993): Geistmaschine. Fascination and provocation at the computer. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp.

[6] Foerst, Anne (2008): Of Robots, Man and God. Artificial intelligence and the existential dimension of life. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

[7] Bauer, Joachim (2023): Loss of reality. How AI and virtual worlds possess us and threaten humanity. Munich: Hayne.

[8] A summary of current findings can be found in Zdražil, Tomáš (2024): The living and health situation of children and adolescents – a stocktaking. In: Thomas Damberger/Edwin Hübner (eds.): Strengthening children in times of digitalisation. Developing reflexive energy in crises. Opladen, Toronto: Barbara Budrich.

[9] Böhme, Gernot (2003). Being a body as a task. Philosophy of the body from a pragmatic perspective. Zug/Switzerland: Die Graue Edition.

[10] Merleau-Ponty, Maurice (1966): Phenomenology of Perception. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter &Co.

[^11] Gebser, Jean (1953): Origin and Presence. Vol. 2: The manifestations of the aperspectival world. Attempt at a concretion of the spiritual. Stuttgart: DVA.

[12] Steiner, Rudolf (1998): Anthroposophical Guiding Principles. The path of knowledge of anthroposophy. The Michael Mystery. GA 26, Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag.

In the Hebrew language, all letters have a numerical value. In that language,the world of words and the world of numbers are not separated. A book there is called ‘Sepher‘ and our word ‘cipher’ probably comes from that. The worlds of words and numbers are closer to each other than appears to be the case.

In the middle of the infinite divine primordial substance, or the golden egg, the Spirit of God created the hierarch of the coming universe: the macrocosmic Adam Kadmon, which is symbolized by a point in a circle.

From this macrocosmic Adam Kadmon, ten heavenly hierarchies emanated and created a universe that was one with the primordial divine substance. All this can be seen as the point in the center of the circle, since the circle is nothing but the enlarged point.

Sphere

The circle is the archetype of the two dimensions; from it the sphere and the platonic solids develop. The spherical shape is the archetype of three-dimensionality.

If we had to choose a shape for the Original Unity, it would be best to do so with a spherical shape.

In principle, the sphere is the absolute unity because, whether we stand inside the sphere or observe it from the outside, the same thing can be seen on all sides for everyone.

In this situation, the Original Unity represented by the sphere also proves that the above is equal to the below!

First manifestation

God wanted to share His love with an ally and created man in His Image.

In earlier cultures, the number 1 was seen as the representative of God himself and not as an ordinary number. He was holy and unspeakable; just like the Hebrew letter aleph. The principle from God cannot be expressed in words in physical nature: it is a mute letter.

Everything came from the number 1; it has no gender like all other numbers. The number 2 is the first feminine number and the 3 is the first masculine number. More about this later.

The symbol of the aleph is indicated by a jod above the wav and a jod below the wav. The aleph has two drops as the visible below: the earth, and the hidden: the heaven, above. They are, as it were, two tears or two drops of blood. It is heaven and earth in one image.

In this context, the aleph represents the divine universe because the upper jod reflects itself purely in the very beginning of creation, of the nature of Adam Kadmon. The jod above the wav is equal to the jod below the wav. Heaven and Earth, above and below, are one!

Physical world

On its journey through the physical world, the soul receives a small spark of the original nature. This primordial atom will remind him of his divine nature: it is the God who hides himself as the primordial atom in the heart.

Symmetry

Pythagoras and Plato called the Platonic forms ‘the perfect bodies’. They regarded them as the most elementary building blocks of our physical realitywhile, through their series of shapes, they reflect in a special way the human soul development in its passage through matter.

The five platonic solids all have perfect symmetry:

1. All faces have the same size
2. All ribs are the same length
3. All vertices have the same dimension
4. In a sphere all vertices are touched

Tetrahedron

The first platonic solid is the tetrahedron and it is formed by four regular triangles. Another leap in quality has now been made because the sphere has one face and the tetrahedron has four. The original world of the sphere relates to the physical world from that point of view as 1:4.

Matter is indicated by the number 4, because the tetrahedron is composed of 4 triangles and is the representative of the spiritual and the material, as the numbers 1 and 4. If the circle, or spherical shape, was the unity of the original world, the tetrahedron is the first body in the physical world and represents the human fall into it.

At least four faces are needed to create a spatial shape.

In principle, the tetrahedron repeats the trinity of the previous order, the closed sphere, now in an outward-facing form.

At that time the Divine Trinity lay within the form, the sphere, now we see Matter carries the number 4 and this 4 is the physical revelation of the spiritual, masculine 3.

In principle it is a new unity, but in another dimension: the material world. So, the 4 faces that make up the form are the foundation stone of the physical world. The number 4 is duality squared, the 2². Further development within our world is not possible. This would just be a repetition.

A simple example of this is:

Father, mother, child are 1, 2, 3 and the child starts a new cycle, which is the same as the first and is a repetition.

Magical Hebrew Language

The Hebrew word for father is ‘AB’, aleph and beth, numerical values 1 and 2. They belong in the closed Father world of the circle or the sphere. The word for Mother is ‘EM’, written as aleph and mem, numerical values 1 and 40. Contact with the Divine world is therefore indicated by the aleph, the 1, because she was the first divine manifestation.

Numerical values

AB = Father

Alef-beth as 1 and 2

EM = Mother

Alef-mem as 1 and 40

1 is the divine world

4 and 40 the material world

For example, the first man is called Adam and in Hebrew it is written aleph, daleth and mem 1-4-40. The number 1 indicates the Divine world and the numbers 4 and 40 indicate the physical world (the zeros are of secondary importance.)

Man is born out of God, but lives in the material world.

First man Adam

Alef-daleth-mem

1-4-40

Was connected to God

Another striking example is the word ‘truth’, alep-daleth-thaf, 1-4-400.

The Truth is born of God, because it carries the 1 within itself. However, if we omit the 1, it says ‘dead’, 4-400. After all, the lie kills the truth, because it breaks contact with the Divine unity!

Truth and Death

Alef-daleth-thaf

1-4-400

Death

Daleth-thaf

4-400

The lie kills the truth

Relationship between divine and material nature

When one connects the sphere, representative of the divine unity, with the number 1, the 4 symbolizes the physical world, since 4 faces are needed to form a body in space. You can’t do anything with 2 and 3 faces.

Hence the number 4, of the tetrahedron, is the absolute number of the material world.

Moreover, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is thaf, numerical value 400. Life in matter has reached its end here. There is no typeface for the 500: everything above 400 is again in the world of silence. Jan van Rijckenborgh says in the Alchemical Wedding that the number 40 (read 4) is the indication of the completeness of revelation in the light of eternity.

Plato connected each body to the basic elements, the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas and ether.).

The surface of the tetrahedron encompasses the smallest volume and is therefore the most mobile of all platonic solids. It is in step with the moving FIRE or LIGHT and in line with the first day of creation when God called the light into existence.

All symmetrical polyhedrons are, in principle, constructed from tetrahedrons and all, therefore, have this ‘fire inspiration’ inherent in them as the spiritual force that works through matter.

Cube

The six regular squares form the cube. The cube is connected to the feminine number 4. The 4 is the foundation of the mater materia, the physical world. The 3, the masculine number of the tetrahedron, preceded it as the spiritual principle. In the 4, the 3 becomes manifest as the concrete and plain, which is completely consistent with the tetrahedron (four triangles).

The essence of the number 3 pervades all matter as a spiritual force. After all, the cube can be formed by two tetrahedrons (in projection). The cube is the unambiguous symbol of matter, because the number 4 appears everywhere in matter. For example, there are 4 protein bases that, with their variants, are the builders of all living organisms. There are 4 aggregates and in the cosmos we find 4 cardinal directions.

The mineral world is the representative of matter par excellence. Many minerals crystallize in a tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, icosahedron (impure) or as a dodecahedron.

The basic element of the cube is very strikingly EARTH.

The feminine principle of the 4, like the cube, is receptive to the masculine principle of the 3. The cube is made up of 6 squares and in this form the 4 hooks to the 6 (6 is very strikingly sex in Latin). In the human body, the square of the cube reflects the four-leaf root chakra, from which reproduction originates.

The feminine principle of the 4 is capable of producing new life, but this is always accompanied by suffering: the laboring of childbirth.

On a spiritual level, we see the union between soul and spirit. Here, too, there is a certain suffering; without purification there is no liberation, without death there is no resurrection.

The tetrahedron and the cube form a new body: the octahedron.

Octahedron

The third platonic solid is the octahedron and can best be described as two pyramids joined together. This shape, like the cube, is made up of two (projected) tetrahedrons. Furthermore, we also find here a merger of the masculine and the feminine in the triangle and the square, respectively, located exactly in the middle. The square is where the two pyramids meet and where the triangles are located.

The octahedron has six vertices and through the six (sex in Latin) the masculine and feminine unite and a new life or consciousness arises.

The new dimension is expressed in the octahedron in both pyramid points. We go up to the top of the pyramid via the four raised lines. This point, the 5, expresses the potential new state of consciousness, the new soul state, which man himself realizes.

Or, in other words, on the square of construction (the center of the octahedron) the trigonum igneum is erected, through which the connection with the original kingdom can ultimately be realized at the top of the pyramid (as point 5). The number of 5 is realized through the transfiguration. This will be discussed further below.

The octahedron can rotate freely when we hold it by the two vertices and is mobile and movable. Its basic element is AIR or GAS.

Icosahedron

The fourth body in the series is the icosahedron and it has the largest number of faces. It is made up of 20 equilateral triangle and compared to the previous bodies, this is a special feature: this represents another threefold increase in quality.

Firstly, this shape has lost some of its angularity and leans slightly towards the original spherical shape.

Secondly, it is not formed by two tetrahedrons, as with the cube and the octahedron, but by four tetrahedrons. The number of tetrahedrons has therefore been squared.

Thirdly, we are confronted with the significant number 5. The icosahedron has 5 side views, while the tetrahedron, octahedron and cube have 3 and 4 sides respectively.

This threefold leap in quality indicates important developments.

Transfiguration precedes transmutation and this can also be observed in the regular bodies.

There is friction within the icosahedron because the four tetrahedrons inside cannot be called completely pure. Although the triangles are in harmony on the outside, the projected longitudinal axes are in tension with each other; there is too little space, it is too narrow and it appears that the limits have been reached.

In short, there is a tension within the icosahedron and the harmony is disturbed. Moreover, in the foregoing it was discussed that the number 4 is the ultimate limit of material nature. Further development is always a repetition.

If we now connect the condition of the icosahedron with human soul development, we can also observe this field of tension. When man is at the lowest point of matter, he also reaches the limit of his existence. Does man remain in the old situation, or does he break his cycle and enter a new state of consciousness?

The number 5, which shows the sides of the icosahedron, indicates that there may be a change in quality. Which of the two natures does man give priority in his system?

We can also see that there is a crisis situation based on the Platonic Solids. A merger took place between the male number 3 of the tetrahedron and the female number 4 of the cube. Then, after some time, a new phase arises, that of crisis, represented by the icosahedron with the number 5.

If we add the numbers of the sides of the tetrahedron, the cube and the icosahedron, the 3-4-5, we get the number 12 which is an extremely important number! This number implies a certain fullness: the time has come, and it is now or never. Do you dare to greet the 13th, the total New State of Consciousness, or do you remain in the 12th, in the old and known. The latter signifies a new cycle in the material world!

The 5 finds its exaltation in the number 12. As an example, we take the first miraculous feeding, a story from the Bible. Here 5 loaves of bread were increased to feed 5000 people and after the meal there appears to be 12 baskets of bread left over. The 5 expresses itself in every part of the 12.

The most striking example, however, is the dodecahedron with its 12 regular pentagons, which will be discussed in the next solid.

At this point, the Platonic solids show another special fact. One counts the faces of the tetrahedron, the cube, the octahedron and the icosahedron together, then one obtains: 4+6+8+20= 38.

This number corresponds to the number of years a paralyzed person spent at the Bath of Bethesda. He lay there for 38 years waiting till someone would throw him into the water of the healing pool when an angel descended into it and offered healing. Here, we see a man who has reached the utmost limit of his existence on earth and is crippled in relation to the higher things. He needs healing.

Furthermore, the Bath of Bethesda had 5 colonnades, and this number is mentioned very explicitly. Well, on the outside of the icosahedron the 5 is visible in the number of side views.

It is as if redemption is present, but man, fixated on his own problems, cannot yet clearly perceive it.

When man encounters the Christ power at the pool of Bethesda, the Living Water washes over him from above and below. This crucial moment also shows the icosahedron through the two opposite pentagrams in the interior.

This is how we see the water principle in the icosahedron. It is linked to the element WATER.

Dodecahedron

The last regular solid consists of 12 pentagons.

Plato regarded the dodecahedron as something unique. To him, she was the symbol of Heavenly Matter.

The appropriate aggregate for this body is the invisible ETHER.

In the school of Pythagoras, it was strictly forbidden to speak to profanes about these bodies and especially about the dodecahedron.

When this did happen, it was accompanied by death, according to Neoplatonic scholar Iamblichus of Chaklis (ca. 250 – 330 AD) because the dodecahedron contains secrets for the future of man, for which profane man was not prepared.

The dodecahedron consisting of twelve faces, fits perfectly with the final phase of human soul development. In the foregoing, it was noted that the 12, the number of fullness, is awaiting the completely new revelation of the 13th. In addition, the number 5 is prominently present. The dodecahedron cannot only be built from 5 tetrahedrons, but it also has 12 pentagons on the outside. While the four tetrahedrons were still pinched in the icosahedron (reflecting the human crisis situation), there is no friction in the dodecahedron.

In the dodecahedron the crisis has been overcome and the 5 has emerged and is visible to everyone.

This body represents the clean and pure dimension of the pentagon, the pentagram. After all, the other solids carry triangles and squares.

We can therefore say that there has once again been a fundamental leap in quality.

The number 5 corresponds to the fifth vehicle of man. When the rose of the heart begins to blossom, the Manas, the thinking ‘son of the god’, comes into development.

The dodecahedron strongly inclines towards the spherical shape of the original father nature. It is the least angular, in contrast to the tetrahedron, the cube and the dodecahedron; less so in the case of the icosahedron, which is the predecessor of the dodecahedron. In the dodecahedron, the angularity is completely blunted and approaches the spherical shape most strongly.

Number 50

In view of the foregoing, the course of development of the spiritual man in the material world runs along the first four Platonic bodies, which have their origin in original nature. There, man lives as Adam Kadmon, in the Garden of Eden.

In the dodecahedron, the 5 is subtly present in the top and bottom vertices. In the icosahedron, these vertices have descended through purification and transformed into two opposite pentagons or pentagrams inside the shape itself. However, the 5 is fully expressed in the dodecahedron.

When man opens his heart to the Living Water, the healing Light forces flow into his being. He is immediately able to break free from his paralysis. He leaves behind the confines of the physical world and enters a new state of consciousness. In the dodecahedron, this condition is depicted by the fundamental quality jump, the 5 that we can clearly see on the outside.

Man’s path runs through the Garden of Eden, the garden of the gods, via his passage through the dust to the heavenly Jerusalem, that is a city.

Previously, man lived in unity with the divine nature but was unconscious. After his stay in the physical world, he now returns to the original field of consciousness; he has now become conscious and an autonomous entity, revealing the divine.

The element of the dodecahedron is the invisible ETHER.

In this context, the spherical shape is representative of the Garden of Eden. Man grinds his angular, rough stone into a sparkling gemstone, the dodecahedron. This shape is representative of the Grail Jewel, the New Jerusalem.

Through purification, man has transcended material nature, represented by the 38 faces of the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron and icosahedron. The image of the 12 faces of the dodecahedron is then added to the 38 faces, showing that 38+12=50, the mysterious number, the 7×7 stages, plus 1.

In Jewish theosophy, the number 49 indicates that man has fulfilled his task in the world. Now man has been liberated, this redemption is represented by the 50, that is the 8th day, the day of the outpouring of the holy spirit, the feast of Pentecost. Man has cut his rough, angular stone into the heavenly dodecahedron, which he carries into the heavenly city like a sparkling diamond.

Sources:

Rijckenborgh, J. van, De Egyptische Oergnosis en haar roep in het eeuwige nu [The Egyptian Arch-Gnosis and its call in the eternal present]

Rijckenborgh, J. van, De Alchemische Bruiloft van Christiaan Rozenkruis [The Alchemical Wedding of Christian Rosycross]

Weinreb, F., Letters van Het leven [Letters of The Live]

Stelzner, M., Die Weltformel der Unsterblichkeit [The World Formula of Immortality]