For several decades now, you will have often come across terms such as the Age of Aquarius, the time of Aquarius, the call of Aquarius, etc. In the maze of various personal interpretations it is difficult to identify one dominant meaning of these terms. Many of us, however, intuitively sense that they are somehow related to searching for the essence of life, and therefore with attempts to understand the meaning of our everyday existence.
In publications related to this topic, one often comes across the belief that the time has come to get rid of your selfishness almost entirely. It is known, however, that this is not as simple as it may seem. Therefore, we will take a closer look at the associations evoked by the concept of egoism and the symbol of Aquarius. Let us add that it is not our goal to arrive at some objective truth about the meaning of this symbol, because in the case of symbols or ideas it is practically impossible.
For the sake of simplicity, we will generally omit statements such as “it seems” or “you might say that”, and the reader is asked to insert them where he/she thinks they should occur. In addition, we will use the following passage from the Bible (Mk 14: 12-16) as a support:
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?” And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’ Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.” So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.[1]
It may seem that this text is not related to our considerations, because although it mentions a man carrying a pitcher of water, the figure of which can easily be associated with Aquarius, its main part concerns something completely different, namely an event from the distant past that many believe to be real.
Let us try to understand why this character appears in this story and why he is mentioned in connection with the question of where to prepare the Passover.
Let us note for this purpose that there are references in the Bible to living water, which many people with esoteric inclinations identify with a certain kind of energy constantly permeating our world, both now and at the time when the New Testament texts were written. This energy is believed to be particularly intense these days – which is associated with the advent of the Age of Aquarius – and it is easy to think that it can be symbolized by a man with a pitcher of water.
As we have already mentioned, the message of the Age of Aquarius is generally associated with the desire to recognize the proper purpose of life in this world. What is this goal?
Simply put, it is a proper internal transformation. Both the New Testament and many esoteric texts published in recent years call us to move away from our focus solely on our own profit and safety and to look at these needs from a distance in order to change our attitude towards other people. We are constantly encouraged to go beyond routine reaction patterns intended to bring benefit mainly to us; to give up instinctive behaviors that perpetuate and become strengthened over time. It is mentioned in many places in the Bible; among others in such well-known statements as: ” He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first ” (Jn 8:7) and ” No one is good but One, that is, God ” (Mk 10:18), or in the parable about the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-37).
So it could be said that we are urged to work with selfishness; to understand its role in both our own and other people’s lives. Where does selfishness come from? To answer this question, we will use an abstract conception provided by Max Heindel[2].
In the All-revelation, we can distinguish seven planes of being, differing in the density of the matter from which they are made. The first six planes are the abode of very sublime Hierarchies, the activities of which – as well as of the activities of the Creator of the All-revelation and the Source from which He comes – almost nothing is said, because it is completely beyond our comprehension. We live in the densest, seventh plane of existence, which in turn is divided into seven levels, also differing in the density of their matter.
The first, subtlest level of the seventh plane is available only to the Gods of the solar systems and the Beings who direct the development of the planets of these systems. In the remainder of this text, we will limit ourselves only to our planetary system, in which these Beings are called the Seven Spirits before the Throne of God.
The God of our solar system (and at the same time its Creator) separated in Himself Beings called the Virgin Spirits, which are in the form of fiery sparks. They are located on the second, denser level of the seventh plane, which for this very reason is said to be the world of the Virgin Spirits.
Each of these Virgin Spirits can descend into three successive levels, denser and denser, creating Its three appearances on them, which in theosophical terminology are known as Atma, Buddhi, and Manas, or Spirit, Spirit Soul, and Mind. The resulting structure is sometimes called a microcosm. Its densest part – that is, Manas or Mind – is formed in the subtler part of the fifth level (called mental) and is also known as the Human Ego. It is this part that gives us the possibility of abstract thinking, and it is with it that the ordinary concrete mind of man – shaped as a result of earthly evolution – can make contact.
The three different names by which the Human Ego is labeled suggest that its role may be perceived slightly differently in different situations, depending on the prevailing point of view.
The consciousness of ordinary people is usually not able to function on the above-mentioned subtle levels of the microcosm, and therefore the influences coming from there are manifested in us only in the form of intuitive feelings, sometimes expressed as striving for higher values or some kind of empathy, expressing itself in paying attention to the fears and needs of others, whether they seem justified to us or not.
On the levels of the lower mind (concrete thinking) and emotions, the Human Ego (Manas) exerts certain influences that are perceived by people as the ordinary self (ego), that gives you a tangible basis for the sense of yourself. This influence generally takes the form of ordinary human egoism, that is, selfish concern for one’s own needs at the expense of other people.
[1] King James Bible (New Version)
[2] Max Heindel, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity. The Rosicrucian Fellowship.
