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Preface
5 Planes of Existence
Introduction
Five Planes of Manifestation
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BIBLE VERSES
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RAINBOW
A symbol of the higher mental plane which forms a
bridge, as it were, between the higher and the lower natures (heaven
and earth). The rainbow is a peculiarly appropriate symbol of the
“bridge of heaven,” caused as it is by the reflection of the sun
(the Self) in the water-drops (Truth) forthpouring from the cloud (buddhi)
to the earth (lower nature). When the lower nature fully reflects
the higher, then the bridge may be traversed by victorious egos
returning to their home above.
“The god Oro fixed the rainbow in the heavens, one end of it resting
in the valley at the foot of the red-ridged mountain, the other
penetrating the skies, and thus forming his pathway to the earth. …
Every evening he descended on the rainbow, and returned by the same
pathway on the following morning to the heavenly regions.” – W.
Ellis, Polynesian Researches, Vol. I. p. 231.
The Higher Self throws from the higher mental plane to the plane of
the desires a bridge or pathway across which it may descend to the
lower planes. And at regular intervals descents—evening, night,
morning—marking periods of incarnation, would be made; after which
the Self, or ego, would again quit the temporary abode in the flesh
for the devachanic state.
“And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the bow shall be seen in the cloud.” – Genesis ix. 14.
And it shall follow that when Truth envelops the personality, the
bridge shall appear before the soul, by which it may effect its
escape from the lower nature.
“The bridge cannot be always the Milky-way. In at least one Sanscrit
hymn we learn,—‘Upon it, they say, there are colours, white, and
blue, and brown, and gold, and red. And this path Brahma knows, and
he who has known Brahma shall take it; he who is pure and glorious.’
Here the singer is evidently describing the rainbow. Now in the
Norse cosmology the rainbow had the same name as the Indian
pathadevayano, God’s path. The Eddas call it Asbru, the bridge of
the Æsir, or gods. Its other name Bifrost, the trembling mile, it
may even have inherited from the Milky-way, for that, when we look
at it, seems to be always trembling. Asbru, or Bifrost, then is the
bridge whereby the gods descend to earth. One end of it reaches to
the famous Urdar fount.” – C. F. Keary, Myths, etc., Cont. Rev.,
Oct. 1879.
“For the Rainbow is the sign and token of this Covenant, that man
was created out of Three Principles into an Image, and that he
should live in all three. For the Rainbow hath the colour of all the
Three Principles; viz. the colour of the First Principle is red and
darkish-brown, which betokens the dark and Fire world, that is the
kingdom of God’s Anger. The colour of the Second Principle is white
and yellow, signifying a type of the Holy world of God’s Love. The
Third Principle’s colour is green and blue; blue from the Chaos and
green from the water or saltpetre. … This Bow is a figure of the
last judgment, showing how the inward Spiritual World will again
manifest itself, and swallow up the Outward World of four elements.”
– Boehme, Mysterium Magnum, p. 207.
“I have set my bow in the cloud signifies the state of the
regenerate spiritual man. That the bow in the cloud represents
regeneration, no man can know unless it be given him to see and
therefore to know how it is:—When the spiritual angels, who were all
regenerate men of the spiritual church, are so presented to view in
the other life, there appears as it were a rainbow about the head
(Rev. x. 1). … The reason why the resemblance of a rainbow appears
is that their natural truths corresponding to their spiritual
present such an appearance.” – Swedenborg, Arc. Cel., n. 1042.
When the purified lower nature (natural) corresponds with the higher
nature (spiritual), then union of higher and lower is effected, and
the higher mind (rainbow bridge) appears in the consciousness. The
regenerate are the souls who have attained liberation from the cycle
of births and deaths.
“When a man becomes regenerate he then first enters upon a state of
freedom; before he was in a state of bondage.” – Ibid., n. 892.
“Then, mid dark waters, when the sun breaks out, though the cloud
may be dark, a bow appears amid the darkness; half a ring—half that
ring with which the regenerate soul is now married to the Lord, and
assured of endless rest with Him. The lower world yet hides the rest
of the ring; but on high a rainbow shall be seen in a circle round
the throne.” – A. Jukes, Types of Genesis, p. 129.
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