Written and published on 16 February 2014; revised

Dear Ones,

This description of the physical body and the higher ego (or higher self) is curiously similar to Peggy Black’s description of the relationship between our physical body and our spiritual ‘team’ … beings of light, angels and archangels, ascended masters, Elohim, and so on …

Link: Peggy Black … https://www.peggyblack.com/ …

It also reminds me of Dr. Suzanne Lie’s description of the relationship between our physical body and our body of light …

Link: “Multidimensions,” by Dr. Suzanne Lie … www.multidimensions.com ..

Of course, it is far from an exact match; more like a hint or a faint echo of life as a fully embodied human.

Arthur Powell’s description of a man putting his finger in a hole in the wall reminded me of accounts by Lightworkers, where they described inviting their spiritual guides to ‘try on’ their physical bodies for a while, and how difficult the light beings found it to relate to reality through the limitations of the human senses.

I also read an account … I think it was by Dr. Suzanne Lie …of her being in the fifth dimension for a while, at a Temple, learning the ascension skills she would need, and then returning to her physical body … and how constricted and uncomfortable she felt in it for a moment or two.

In love, light and joy,
I Am of the Stars

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THE PHYSICAL BODY AND THE HIGHER EGO

“Regarding the ego [i.e., the higher ego, or higher self] as the real man, and looking at him on his own plane, we see him to be indeed a glorious being. The only way in which down here we can form a conception of what he really is, is to think of him as some splendid angel. But the expression of this beautiful being on the physical plane may fall far short of all this: in fact, it must do so: first, because it is only a tiny fragment; secondly, because it is so cramped by its conditions.

“If a man puts his finger into a hole in the wall, or into a small metal pipe, so that he cannot even bend the finger, it is obvious that he could express but very little of himself through that finger. Much like this is the fate of that fragment of the ego which is put down into this dense body.

“We may carry the analogy a little further, by supposing that the finger has a considerable amount of consciousness of its own, so that, shut off as it is from the rest of the body, it temporarily forgets that it is merely a part of the whole body. Forgetting the freedom of the wider life, it tries to adapt itself to the hole, it gilds its sides and makes it an enjoyable hole by acquiring money, property, fame and so forth, not realising that it only begins really to live when it withdraws itself from the hole altogether, and recognises itself as a part of the body. Clumsy as is the image, it may yet give some sort of idea of the relation of the personality to the ego.

“Other, and more picturesque analogies are to be found in certain ancient myths. Thus Narcissus was a youth of great beauty, who fell in love with his own image reflected in the water, and was so attracted by it that he fell in and was drowned, and was afterwards changed by the gods into a flower and bound to earth. This of course refers to the ego looking down upon the waters of the astral plane and the lower world, reflecting itself in the personality, identifying itself with that personality, falling in love with its image, and being bound to earth.

“So also Proserpine, while picking the narcissus, was seized and carried off by Desire to the underworld; and although she was rescued from complete captivity by the efforts of her mother, yet after that she had to spend her life half in the lower world and half in that above: that is to say, partly in material incarnation, and partly out of it.

“Another old mystery-teaching was that of the Minotaur, which signified the lower nature in man — the personality which is half man and half animal. This was eventually slain by Theseus, who typifies the higher self, or the individuality, which has been gradually growing and gathering strength, until at last it can wield the sword of its Divine Father, the Spirit.

“Guided through the labyrinth of illusion, which constitutes these lower planes, by the thread of occult knowledge given him by Ariadne (who represents – intuition), the higher self is enabled to slay the lower, and to escape safely from the web of illusion. Yet there still remains for him the danger that, developing intellectual pride, he may neglect intuition, even as Theseus neglected Ariadne, and so fail for a time to realise his highest possibilities.”

–excerpted from Citation: “The Causal Body,” Ch. 24, “The Ego and Reincarnation,” by Arthur E. Powell, , public domain, available at www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com …

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ego, Theosophy, true self, Arthur E. Powell, physical body, Suzanne Lie, Peggy Black, causal body, cause and effect, ascension team, body of light,