On the process of Manifestation
The Great Process of Manifestation
(The Way of Man) 1.26 Manifestation
(1.26.1) What has of old been called “creation” is not one single act of creation but a continuous process, which in esoterics is called the “great process of manifestation”.
(1.26.2) The whole cosmos makes up one single continuous process of manifestation in which all monads participate with their consciousness expressions, unconsciously or consciously, involuntarily or voluntarily. The higher the world and kingdom the monad has attained, the higher the kind of consciousness it has acquired, the more the monad contributes to the process of manifestation.
(1.26.3) The whole cosmos is in respect of consciousness a gigantic process of development, in which every monad acquires an ever greater share in the cosmic total consciousness until it has reached the goal: cosmic omniscience and omnipotence.
(1.26.4) The great process of manifestation is divided into the process of involvation and evolvation, the process of involution, and the process of evolution. “Involvation” is the term of the monads’ composition to form atoms of different kinds and the atoms’ composition to form molecules of various kinds. “Evolvation” denotes the corresponding process of dissolution.
(1.26.5) After being introduced into the cosmos from chaos, the monads go through the countless involvations in the current of atomic circulation (the basic cause of the development and existence of material forms and the basic cause even of motion) during thousands of eons. Thereupon the monads go through the process of involution, finally to embark on their process of evolution in the mineral kingdom.
(1.26.6) The monads acquire collective consciousness in the process of involution and individual self-consciousness in ever higher worlds in the process of evolution.
(1.26.7) The process of involution implies for the monads that they automatically acquire passive consciousness. The process of evolution implies for the monads that they activate their consciousness themselves.
(1.26.8) Involution starts with primordial manifestation (non-involved monads), atomic world 1, and is divided into 48 ever lower worlds of ever more composed atoms. The physical world is world 49, the lowest world.
(1.26.9) Evolution starts in the physical world and is divided into twelve natural kingdoms of which the mineral kingdom is the lowest or first kingdom and the twelfth is the highest kingdom. The lower six natural kingdoms exist within the solar systems and in the lowest seven atomic kinds (43–49). The higher six natural kingdoms exist in the cosmos outside the solar systems, are therefore called “cosmic kingdoms” and comprise: the seventh kingdom atomic worlds 36–42, the eighth kingdom worlds 29–35, the ninth kingdom worlds 22–28, the tenth 15–21, the eleventh 8–14, and the twelfth natural kingdom atomic worlds 1–7. From the fifth natural kingdom, evolution is also called “expansion”.
(1.26.10) It is seen from this how the mathematical terminology simplifies enormously the description of the cosmos with its worlds and kingdoms and affords an unsurpassable exactness.
(1.26.11)
1–49 cosmic atomic worlds
43–49 atomic worlds of the solar system
46–49 atomic worlds of the planets
(1.26.12) The higher the world, the deeper the insight into and the larger the overview of the pretty well countless processes of manifestation entering into the four fundamental processes (those of involvation–evolvation, involution, evolution, and expansion). In the lowest four natural kingdoms, there are also the continuous processes of involvation into a temporary life-form and evolvation from it (“cycles of rebirth”). The matter aspect dominates in the processes of involvation-evolvation and involution; the consciousness aspect, in the process of evolution; and the motion, energy or will aspect, in the process of expansion.