• From: closer to god
  • Registered: 2005-03-06

Re: body symbolism

hi all

http://www.zianet.com/earth/essay4.htm

ok Poffo, this is the link for the tail quote. i'm kinda new to posting so i don't know how to quote with names in it yet.

don't have time for a long post, but i will say, i'd love to meet the guy at your work. a picture even....hmmmmmm....

and Pictus, it sounds like that tingling feeling is right on. i tried connecting all those points and you're SO right on about that!!  thanks for the clue, but don't laugh too hard, my wife is in some of those pictures!!  mad

peace all

"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
                                       --Mohandas 'Mahatma' Ghandi

Man as he is now is asleep.  In order to change, we must first awaken.
                                       --Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff
  • Registered: 2005-12-20

Re: body symbolism

After reading montalk’s book suggestion of Initiation Into Hermetics by Franz Bardon I decided to check it out.  While the original intention of the suggestion was in relation to the energy body and it’s polarity it turned out to be unexpectedly fruitful in another way.  Though most of the book is about “magical” practice, the beginning portion contains some very meaty Hermetic theory regarding the so-called Elements and the bodies. Here’s the relevant excerpt from IIH:

Franz Bardon wrote:

Adepts of all periods never described the effects of the elements in particular, probably to avoid any misuse, but they did know very well all about it. They divided man in three basic conceptions, attributing the head to the fiery principle, the abdomen to that of water, and the chest to the airy one as the mediating principle between fire and water. How very right they were with their dividing man becomes obvious at the first look, because all that is active or fiery takes place in the head. In the abdomen it must be the contrary, the watery, the secretion, the work of the saps, etc. The chest underlies the air and has a mediating part, because here breathing takes place quite mechanically. The earthy principle with its cohesive power or ability of holding together represents the whole of the human body with all its bones and flesh.

Here is my spin on it….So we have from top to bottom:

The head is Fire (+) – the eyes are organs for “light” which is the illuminating aspect of fire.  The brain as the organ of consciousness and mind is positive or electric.

The chest is Air (= ) – the lungs and heart control the animating force of air and neutralize the functions of the head and abdomen

The abdomen is Water (-) – the centre of the processing, reuptake, and removal of water. 

Then there is the Earth element which is slightly more mysterious.  Bardon basically cites the function of the Earth element in the body as being the total meat-suit that we know and love, the vehicle for our journey through time and space.  This makes sense as Earth is said to contain and interact with the 3 main elements, but I think we can take it a step further…

While he doesn’t mention it specifically, I think it can be logically deduced that the “place” of the symbolic form of the Earth element in the structure of the human body fits directly under the location of the Water element(abdomen) and exists as the physical counterpart of the 1st or Root chakra in the location of the lower pelvis (anus).  It girds the 3 (+/=/-) above it as the foundation of the body which is held by the legs.  The legs represent our bipedal connection (with freed up hands for manipulation/creation) to the earth and are the natural extension of the material consciousness of the root chakra, literally connecting us with Earth.

As the 1st chakra/centre relates to 1st density which is the realm of the confluence and cohesion of matter and bodies (physical things) in general it makes sense that Bardon explained its (Earth element’s) manifestation as the body itself (allowing for the interaction of Fire/Air/Water), but I think this idea can be merged with one that portrays the physical symbol of the good old digestive “end of the line” as the physical representation of the metaphysical Root chakra.  It is literally where the matter that you have consumed is processed and returned back to the Earth as fertilizer.  Though, with the modern Western diet I’m sure our fecal matter would at this point intoxify instead of nourish the Earth wink 

As I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread, the throat centre or 5th chakra being the location of the lower intellectual centre and speech has a direct relation to the “3 foods” of the 4th Way system.  Actually, I’ve just realized as I’m typing this that there are indeed 4 foods and they correspond to the respective elements.

The 3 foods are air, food, and impressions while water is the 4th (unmentioned by Gurdjieff). Impressions are processed mentally as Fire, air and water are obvious, while physical food is related to Earth.  The eyes and other senses take in impressions, the nose takes in air, and the mouth takes in water and food.  These are all located from the middle of the head down towards the throat.  All of the “foods” are initially processed in this.   They are all digested in some form with impressions being the “highest” and physical food being the “lowest” in terms of density or “hardness”.

While all of this is just a working theory, it’s the best I can figure out at this point.  Any constructive criticism and/or suggestions are very welcome and appreciated!

  • Registered: 2005-12-20

Re: body symbolism

There was another interesting quote from Initiation Into Hermetics that piqued my curiosity:

Franz Bardon wrote:

Man has been fitted with the five senses corresponding to the five elements, of which the astral body or the soul, with the help of the bodily senses, makes use to receive perceptions of the physical world. Our immortal spirit realizes this receiving and operating of the five senses through the astral and the material body.

I’m not sure why he only mentions it in passing and never describes the correlation between the elements and senses.  I tried to find a suitable explanation to no avail so I decided to give it a go myself...

All of the senses (in the human anyway) are contained on a small scale in the head, and on the large scale as the portions of the whole body mentioned in the previous thread.  As mentioned earlier in this thread the head itself is a micro-body representation of the creator (as are the other 4 bodies of the 2 hands and 2 feet).  So what is the relationship between the senses and the elements?  I came up with this chart to help me explain it to myself, but maybe this will help someone out that has the same curiosity:

Facial Aspect     Sense    Element

                Eyes       Sight           Fire
               Nose       Smell             Air
              Mouth       Taste        Water
                Ears    Hearing         Earth
                Skin       Touch      Akasha

Akasha (AKA Ether) is said to be the elusive 5th element that the 4 elements are generated and contained by.  I figured that the Akasha element is symbolically the skin as it contains and allows for all the other elements within itself. Also, “touch” is able to receive all 3 main elements (through the fourth, Earth) as the sensations of hot/cold and dryness/moisture (air is the mediating factor between fire and water that creates both of these dual states) 

The eyes being the organ of the sight sense are related symbolically to Fire as light comes from fire and is received physically (and some might say projected) by the eyes. 

It seemed to make sense that Air represents the nose and thus relates to smell.  Now, to attempt to understand the symbolic importance of smell to Air (spirit) is something else entirely…

The mouth was obviously water as it is the centre of saliva production and follows in the established elemental pattern of:

Fire (+) [eyes]
Air (= ) [nose]
Water (-) [mouth]
Earth (+= -) [ears]

[BTW, does anyone know of a symbol that represents the combination of the 3 three forces of +/=/-?]

Earth was hard to figure out until I realized that I had already investigated and posted about the connection earlier on this thread (post #4):

I wrote:

[…]The reflex for eyes and ears lie right at the bottom of the four fingers at the webbing in between.  The eyes are located at the web between the index and middle finger going as far as the midway point of the web between middle and ring fingers.  The ears are located at the web between the pinky and ring finger to the midway point between ring and middle.  Picture the vulcan hand salute. 

Based on this info, and on the idea that the fingers represent the limbs, I figured out that the first two fingers (index/middle) represent the arms specifically, and the last two (ring/pinky) represent the legs.  This is based on my personal observation that without eyes you would "see" with your hands through physical sensation input.  Without ears you would "hear" through your feet running up your legs into body to be vibrationally "felt" and thus "heard".  You may notice that the first two fingers are more intelligent than the last two and can move more independantly of each other than the last two which are very connected.  This makes sense if you consider the relationship of "body intelligence" between the arms/legs.  In this model, the arms as mentioned in the first post are representative of a the intelligent expression of the human form.  The legs are what we balance on and what grounds us physically and energetically to the earth/mother/feminine aspect of creation.  They allow us to traverse the physical world[…]

Arms are extensions of our intellectual expression (literally extended from just under the 5th chakra/centre), therefore used to “see”, while the legs as previously mentioned connect straight into the lowest chakras and serve as the “standing ground” of the body, allowing one to “hear” the physical world.  The head is the “5th body” (after both arms/legs) of the physical structure and contains all functions within while also being mainly the symbolic expression of the consciousness and essence/personality (facial expression and “readout” of current “status” as microcosmic Creator).

The other interesting observation I had about the ears is that if they are indeed analogous to the Earth element which contains and is the result of the first 3 elements then it’s peculiar that they are located on the side of the head whereas the main 3 are all on the front in the logical progression of +/=/- going from top to bottom.

Something else I noticed is that the sum of all the openings of the head equals 7 (2 eyes + 2 ears + 2 nostrils + 1 mouth).

To sum it up, the head represents the macrocosmic Creator mind that creates the body (the universe).  That being said, it can be seen that in the whole picture of the body the head only represents the intellectual or firey aspect of the "Body of God" that is the microcosmic intelligent and sentient "meat-puppet" that we are in 3D.  Because it is also a complete body unto itself the head contains all the elements that later govern the rest of the body. When considered only as a single part of a larger whole (the total body) it primarily expresses the element of Fire, but as a body in and of itself it expresses all 5 elements.  This is an example of the holgraphic inheritance of the "All" of the Creator in every aspect of its Creation, or the Infinite in the finite.

As always, these ideas are a work in progress and by no means set in stone.  At best they are only a symbolic "understanding" of higher principles of Creation that ultimately remain truly unknowable to those in this realm of awareness.  I look forward to any relevant input.  Thanks for your time!

Keep it "real" and stay awake!

L/L,
Poffo

  • Registered: 2005-12-20

Re: body symbolism

Here's some more body symbolism I've been working on:

The head is the physical symbol of the Father or positive creative aspect of the Creator.  It is the primary physical seat of consciousness with the brain and eyes being the two main organs of consciousness in the head, the other sense organs filling in the rest.  The “head” of the Father symbolically creates the physical Mother part of the universe represented by the torso.  The word torso actually derives etymologically from the Greek “thyrsus” which means “stalk/stem of a plant”.

A thought is had in the mind (head) of God.  It resonates in and is "spoken" (the Word) through the throat (5th chakra) which creates the material creation (torso).

The spinal column that connects the upper and lower bodies is the central vertical axis that communicates between the head and the rest of the body.  In the tree of life it would be the middle pillar that connects the upper and lower sephira.  The spinal column is also the symbolic pole upon which the chakras reside as etheric representations of the relation to the seven densities of a particular entity, culminating in the unique readout or general summary of the 7th chakra.

The last centre of materiality and the first centre of consciousness is the heart which is located in the 4th position (out of 7), in between and uniting the upper and lower chakras or densitites/realms of creation.  The heart is the last major centre before the first centre of consciousness that is the throat (unites head and torso).  The neck/throat being directly above the heart acts as a connecting tube between the bodies representing consciousness (head) and matter (torso).   While the throat/5th chakra is the first true centre of consciousness (going up), the heart combines/unites both consciousness and matter which is why it is under the neck but at the top of the torso.

I hope that makes some sense.  This info would be optimized by diagrams but I must make do with text at the moment.  As always, constructive criticism and feedback is always welcome.  Thanks for your time!