Wednesday, December 06, 2006
John White on the Body of Light
The following excerpt comes from an article by John White reprinted on the site for the journal "What Is Enlightment?" See http://www.wie.org.j21/white.asp (spring/summer edition, 2002 on Spiritual Evolution). John White writes on kundalini and the evolution of consciousness.
Sacred Traditions for Higher Human Development
If there is an inner unity or transcendent common core to world religions and sacred traditions, we should expect that the human potential for transubstantiation would be understood by all of them. Indeed, that is just what we find. Some of the names given to the body of light are as follows:
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is called "the resurrection body " and "the glorified body." The prophet Isaiah said, "The dead shall live, their bodies shall rise" (Isa. 26:19). St. Paul called it "the celestial body" or "spiritual body " (soma pneumatikon) (I Corinthians 15:40).
In Sufism it is called "the most sacred body " (wujud al-aqdas) and "supracelestial body " (jism asli haqiqi).
In Taoism, it is called "the diamond body," and those who have attained it are called "the immortals" and "the cloudwalkers."
In Tibetan Buddhism it is called "the light body."
In Tantrism and some schools of yoga, it is called "the vajra body," "the adamantine body," and "the divine body."
In Kriya yoga it is called "the body of bliss."
In Vedanta it is called "the superconductive body."
In Gnosticism and Neoplatonism, it is called "the radiant body."
In the alchemical tradition, the Emerald Tablet calls it "the Glory of the Whole Universe" and "the golden body." The alchemist Paracelsus called it "the astral body."
In the Hermetic Corpus, it is called "the immortal body " (soma athanaton).
In some mystery schools, it is called "the solar body."
In Rosicrucianism, it is called "the diamond body of the temple of God."
In ancient Egypt it was called "the luminous body or being" (akh).
In Old Persia it was called "the indwelling divine potential" (fravashi or fravarti).
In the Mithraic liturgy it was called "the perfect body " (soma teilion).
In the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, it is called "the divine body," composed of supramental substance.
In the philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin, it is called "the ultrahuman."
There probably are other traditions that have analogous terms, and I would be glad to be informed of them. As I see it, these are different terms for the same ultimate stage of human evolution. (I feel quite tentative about Teilhard de Chardin because he is not specific in his writings about the somatic changes which lead to the evolved human. I have excluded Nietzsche's ubermensch altogether for that and other reasons.)
The traditions speak of the process in different ways. Is the immortal body created or released, attained or manifested? Is it preexistent within the individual and the gross matter of the body simply "burned " away? Or is the gross matter of the body altered through a process not yet recognized by physical science, which changes the atoms of flesh into something unnamed on the Periodic Table of Elements? Is there more than one route to the final, perfected form of the human body-mind? Is it necessary to actually die biologically, or is there an alternate path to the light body that bypasses physical death? These are provocative questions which remain to be explored. However this state is achieved, the perfected individual is then capable of operating within ordinary space-time through that altered vehicle of consciousness which is immortal. That vehicle of consciousness is no longer carbon-based as is biological flesh. Rather, it is composed of a finer, more ethereal form of energy-substance unknown to conventional physics, but long known to metaphysics and higher mysticism. That condition is, for the individual, the most exalted stage of higher human development; for humanity in general, it is the final stage of evolution.
Sacred Traditions for Higher Human Development
If there is an inner unity or transcendent common core to world religions and sacred traditions, we should expect that the human potential for transubstantiation would be understood by all of them. Indeed, that is just what we find. Some of the names given to the body of light are as follows:
In the Judeo-Christian tradition, it is called "the resurrection body " and "the glorified body." The prophet Isaiah said, "The dead shall live, their bodies shall rise" (Isa. 26:19). St. Paul called it "the celestial body" or "spiritual body " (soma pneumatikon) (I Corinthians 15:40).
In Sufism it is called "the most sacred body " (wujud al-aqdas) and "supracelestial body " (jism asli haqiqi).
In Taoism, it is called "the diamond body," and those who have attained it are called "the immortals" and "the cloudwalkers."
In Tibetan Buddhism it is called "the light body."
In Tantrism and some schools of yoga, it is called "the vajra body," "the adamantine body," and "the divine body."
In Kriya yoga it is called "the body of bliss."
In Vedanta it is called "the superconductive body."
In Gnosticism and Neoplatonism, it is called "the radiant body."
In the alchemical tradition, the Emerald Tablet calls it "the Glory of the Whole Universe" and "the golden body." The alchemist Paracelsus called it "the astral body."
In the Hermetic Corpus, it is called "the immortal body " (soma athanaton).
In some mystery schools, it is called "the solar body."
In Rosicrucianism, it is called "the diamond body of the temple of God."
In ancient Egypt it was called "the luminous body or being" (akh).
In Old Persia it was called "the indwelling divine potential" (fravashi or fravarti).
In the Mithraic liturgy it was called "the perfect body " (soma teilion).
In the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo, it is called "the divine body," composed of supramental substance.
In the philosophy of Teilhard de Chardin, it is called "the ultrahuman."
There probably are other traditions that have analogous terms, and I would be glad to be informed of them. As I see it, these are different terms for the same ultimate stage of human evolution. (I feel quite tentative about Teilhard de Chardin because he is not specific in his writings about the somatic changes which lead to the evolved human. I have excluded Nietzsche's ubermensch altogether for that and other reasons.)
The traditions speak of the process in different ways. Is the immortal body created or released, attained or manifested? Is it preexistent within the individual and the gross matter of the body simply "burned " away? Or is the gross matter of the body altered through a process not yet recognized by physical science, which changes the atoms of flesh into something unnamed on the Periodic Table of Elements? Is there more than one route to the final, perfected form of the human body-mind? Is it necessary to actually die biologically, or is there an alternate path to the light body that bypasses physical death? These are provocative questions which remain to be explored. However this state is achieved, the perfected individual is then capable of operating within ordinary space-time through that altered vehicle of consciousness which is immortal. That vehicle of consciousness is no longer carbon-based as is biological flesh. Rather, it is composed of a finer, more ethereal form of energy-substance unknown to conventional physics, but long known to metaphysics and higher mysticism. That condition is, for the individual, the most exalted stage of higher human development; for humanity in general, it is the final stage of evolution.
