Spirituality and the vertical dimension
Underlying topic(s):
- By John Eagles, May 31, 2006.
- This page is part of an ERW course, Divine Principle, section The Triune Ideal.
As i promised you, i shall elaborate on another dimension of the cosmos to put spirituality into context. This will help us to get a better understanding of the concept of spirituality.
In a former entry I described spirituality as one direction in a dimension in that it is placed together with the physical world. The spiritual world and the physical world constitute one dimension of the cosmos. In my understanding, this dimension can best be described as one of depth. The dimensions I am speaking about refer to a concept used to explain the structure of the cosmos, the structure of all that exists. We are used to think of three dimensions in the realm of space. Time is often added as a fourth dimension.
The three dimensions of space are external. They refer to the visible form of things and their extension in space. Space is related to matter as is physical time. Einstein has taught us about that. There exist also three more internal dimensions, dimensions of the deeper structure of all that exists. Just like space relates to time, exists in time, so also the three structural dimensions exist in time and relate to time as a fourth dimension.
It will take several articles to give you a first explanation of the three structural dimensions. So please bear with me until the major principles have been explained. The main dimension in the universe, in my understanding the very axis of the cosmos, is the vertical dimension that has as its poles God the Creator at the upper end and all created beings and things at the bottom end. It is the axis that begins with love and ends with created beings and things. Love expresses into thoughts and feelings and plans. Thoughts, feelings and plans express into actions and actions express into created things.
This axis could be described in several ways. The shortest description is that on this axis there are God - man - creation. A longer presentation is: God - heart - mind - body - creation. In the latter case, man could be seen as heart-mind-body. Each of these items on the axis corresponds to a certain level of existence. In God is what I would call original love. In the heart of man and the heart of all beings and things is what must be called love. The functions of the mind are: thinking, feeling and planning. For the mind of animals this would be a kind of instinct. The mind of plants and things and minerals could be described as a kind of inner nature that does not imply free will but nevertheless corresponds to the mind of man. Bodies perform actions. The creation exists out of things with a form and shape.
Bringing the depth dimension of spiritual-physical into relation with the vertical dimension, one has to say that the units God-heart-mind-body-creation each have both a spiritual and a vertical aspect. To formulate it differently: God has a spirit and God has a physical aspect. Man has a spirit and man has a physical existence. All created things do not only have a physical appearance but they also exist in the spiritual dimension.
The vertical dimension of God-man-creation is the central axis of the universe. God created the universe from God's love. God's love is in everyone and everything. The central force in the universe is the original love of the Creator. All that exists is an expression of the Creator. While a stone expresses only some of God's characteristics, a plant or animal express more of them. Man is created to express all of God's characteristics. Some religious texts phrase that man was created in the image of God. All living beings show an image of God. Non-living things show us particular aspects of God. Things are created as symbolic representations of God, yet they also do carry God's love in them.
The Creator expressing into the wide cosmos first of all put love in everything. All beings and all things can relate to each other or one another through love. This is the meaning of the first axis or dimension. To express this axis into the reality we experience, there is a second dimension that determines the range of the spiritual and the physical. A third dimension expresses the first two dimensions into creations with a form. The third dimension is that of form and will be explained in the following article.
Comments
- You need to be logged into your Facebook account to post comments
