The Triune Man Part 1

Hi All

Over time many of the earliest topics from our past have been forgotten a very good example of this is the concept of the Triune Man and the closely linked view held by the Spiritists’ of the "perespirit". It seems that we have nearly forgotten this as Spiritualism has accepted the concepts of Chakras and Auras introduced from Eastern traditions by the Theosophists. The shame is that there is a clear link from the Triune concept to aura’s and chakra’s but this is rarely done and the older idea clings on mainly in the Spiritist movement.

I have adapted this from research which Lis produced and which I used as part of a talk one Sunday. I hope that it is useful to see again the concepts of this as developed in the earlier days of Spiritualism. The picture included here, of the Triune Man, is as depicted for the book "Spirit Intercourse. Its Theory and Practice" written by J Hewat Mckenzie published June 1916 his wife was Barbara Hendry, Principal of the British College for Psychic Science and editor of it's journal "Psychic Science". She was a major Medium of the time.

Lis wrote
"Few have any idea of these concepts now but I would like to quote E W & M H Wallis from their book ‘A Guide to Mediumship & Psychic Unfoldment’ Part 1 Mediumship Explained, Spirit, Soul & Body, p 15.

"The spirit is connected with the body by means of the soul, or psychical body, which in turn affects the brain, the nerves and muscles of the outer body, through the agency of which it expresses itself. The quality and extent of such expression will depend upon the degree of responsiveness and psychic development in the individual concerned.

‘For of the soule the body forme doth take;

For soule is forme, and doth the body make.’"

The authors of this well regarded Spiritualist book, published in 1903, also write (on page 208) of ‘Man a Triune Being’. Triune is a word and a concept that is less remembered today but is one that I believe expresses the understanding that I hold. Again I quote:

"By their phenomenal manifestations spirit people have demonstrated that man is a spirit, acting upon, and functioning through, the physical brain and body by means of the intermediate agency of a spiritual body, or psychical organism – sometimes denominated the ‘astral body’. While the physical form is a microcosm, containing, representatively, all the forces and substances of the world to which it belongs, the spiritual body – or soul – is the vitalizing archetypal form, which preserves the integrity of the outer organism, in spite of the disintergration and renewal which are continually going on in its constituent elements.

The spirit….is the real self – the center of consciousness, power, thought, and emotion – an Intelligence, becoming aware of its own nature and powers but always above its own comprehension."

And on page 209,

The soul, or the spirit’s body, has frequently been seen by clairvoyants, and has been described as ‘the counterpart’ of, or a silver lining to, the physical form. It is the agent immediately employed by the spirit in all reception of sensations from, and the expression of its thoughts, feelings, and purposes on, the outer plane."

The author’s go on to refer to those who would use the term ‘perispirit’ (the Spiritists) to indicate this subtle body, and how this perispirit, this double of the body, was known to the Greeks and to the Egyptians, and the alchemists and others. Quoting M Gabriel Delanne these words are recorded:

"The perispirit is the model of the body, and contains the immutable design of every part of the organism;…..the nervous force being precisely the intermediary by which the sensations act upon the perispirit….Today, science has established an intimate and absolute co-relation between physiology and psychology. Spiritualism by demonstrating the existence of the perispirit, has shed an intense light on the problem of the soul. Thanks to this imponderable envelope, all recollections are fixed in this imperishable body."

The authors add, under the heading ‘Spirit and Soul’ that the

"terms spirit and soul are frequently used interchangeably"….."to designate the inner individual who survives physical death, but"…..(quoting a Mr St George Stock, and with my emphasis added) "The trichotomy, in the ascending order of body, soul, and spirit, is the genuine doctrine of Spiritualism."

Then is quoted a passage from Justin Martyr that I find most apt:

"The body is the house of the soul, and the soul is the house of the spirit." (page 210)

And, there is Andrew Jackson Davis who says:

"Spirit is all in all, and is not subject to imperfection or disease; Soul, the intermedial reservoir of psychical potencies, is subject to ethers, fluids, foods, time, space, motion, temperature, temptation, disorder, disease, and the change termed death; the body, the outermost material garment, evolved from the soul elements, is subject by induction to each and every condition and alteration which is natural to and inseparable from the soul – in this rudimental sphere."

My position is, therefore, that the Spirit is and remains perfect. The body is the house of the soul and the soul is the house of the spirit. When the body dies, the soul, having been subject to all that the body has experienced, may be, on first entering into the realms of spirit, ‘in need of 'recovery' , but that vehicle (the subtle body – soul) is not the spirit – it is its form of manifestation in both the physical and the spiritual realm. Eventually, as the spirit evolves in understanding and experience, achieved by the experiences of existing through the soul and the physical body, it will discard even that second body, or double, of the physical form, and be manifestly what it always was, ‘pure spirit’, pure ‘light’.

The thing is, whether we call it the astral body, the subtle body (or bodies), the soul, or even the spirit, the part that manifests into a physical lifetime is not the spirit as such. It is a vehicle that is ‘animated’ by the spirit – and for a purpose – the spirits evolution."

A little more to follow
Jim

I'm glad you are typing it, Lis, rather than me! I have the Wallis's books but I have only quoted from them when teaching mediumship to students in Sweden and Iceland.

Keep up the good work - it deserves a wider audience.

Z

Hi All,

Funny I said a little more will follow well here was where the further debate took this subject.

That in fact the use of the terms spiritual body, psychical organism, psychical body, astral body, spiritual body, perispirit, spirit's body and soul can frequently be different terms for the same thing. I tend to find the early work seems to make a lot of sense to me.

I find it fascinating, at this stage of my understanding, I feel that this is the core issue, the physical - etheric interface is provided by the chakras and the aura is the energy emanation of the totality of the interplay of the amazing energies involved. All of this is explainable in one overall package.

Much of this is indebted to reseach by Lis, equally the etheric physical interface I have in mind is an amazing drawing she created as part of her Healing course, “Awakening Healing Light” which is the foundation for healer registration at our mission. This shows the etheric body with its vital linkage with the Chakra system and creates a holistic view where I can see the physical body soul/spirit concept fitting. Equally in my own mind I can see the intense energy this would generate as the emanations of the Aura.

However we then get to discuss the nature of the soul. Another interpretation of the segment saying: "It (meaning soul)is the agent immediately employed by the spirit in all reception of sensations from, and the expression of its thoughts, feelings, and purposes on, the outer plane."

It was interesting that another interpretation of this was made from a differing views of Spirit with one proposition that Spiritualism defines Infinite Intelligence/God as a neutral impersonal power, a creative, intelligent force – Spirit – the source of the life force in all things. If this is so, and our source as humans is this neutral, impersonal power, then the core of our being – spirit – is also a neutral, impersonal, creative, intelligent life force. The soul then would be that part that, as we said earlier "is the agent immediately employed by the spirit in the reception of all sensations from the outer plane. AND the soul is the agent immediately employed by the spirit
in the expression of its thoughts, feelings and purposes on the outer plane." Like Andrew Jackson Davis said "It is a vehicle that is 'animated' by the spirit - and for a purpose - the spirits evolution."

This is an interesting concept but I felt that Spirit is compassionate towards us both a part of its creation and animated by a spark of its own divine light. Indeed it is possible that we, as individual parts of Spirit, are more directly involved than we expect. Maybe as we grow then our learning and the gains we make from our individual experiences are expressed throughout spirit. Our process of development also allows Spirit as a whole to progress, the evolution of Spirit.

In fact although the compassionate nature was never agreed on a compromise was proposed wherein it was maintained that Spirit is the neutral, impersonal power I stated above, and that it is the capacity of the soul to 'experience' that provides Spirit with its intelligence. How can a neutral, impersonal power have compassion? But a soul has the capacity to learn compassion through its experience in life, therefore perhaps Spirit has the knowledge of compassion but without emotional attachment.

It did seem clear that it seems to be the purpose of the soul to receive and transmit information from Spirit to matter, and from matter to Spirit as it gathers experience and understanding.


The natural questiom was 'IF' God/Spirit created souls, what exactly was created? i.e. how do we define/describe that word soul? And secondly when (in time) were souls created? Is there something about the soul that makes it related to conscious awareness, a certain degree of mindfulness. Do only humans have souls? Animals have spirit - as Edgar Cayce said, spirit is the life..., and we certainly see them in the spirit world - but do animals have souls? Perhaps it depends on how mindful they are.

Then another question was raised is the mind a part of spirit or is it a part of the physical matter the Brain? Or is it actually the interface?

A final part to follow

Jim

The final part unless others join in

In many of the other definitions, which have been suggested for the Soul, we deal with just phraseology or words for an abstract idea. In the word, mind, I am sure that we cross over into an area where many will think of the brain. I do understand that science has not yet defined how the mind fully relates to the brain this area also was researched by William James, father of psychiatry in the USA and a dedicated Spiritualist, come in. A recent review from the American Humanist society approaches this subject and suggests that this is one of the wonders that science is about to unlock for us so, maybe we are on the verge of discovery. I am aware that I am a relatively new boy around thoughts about how the brain works having only touched upon it when working on my Management Postgrad thesis, in organizational psychology, some 25 years ago. I guess that some here will have gone well beyond this so I apologise if the following information seems excessive.
I notice that much of the work concerning the “mind” currently seems to revolve around an area which has been dubbed the Limbic System. To quote from an article by Rnawn Joseph, Ph.D. of The Brain Research Laboratory “THE LIMBIC SYSTEM is buried within the depths of the cerebrum and consists of a collection of ancient brain structures which are preeminent in the mediation and expression of emotional, motivational, sexual, and social behavior. The limbic system is involved in learning and the formation of new memories, monitors internal homeostasis and basic needs such as hunger and thirst, controls the secretion of hormones involved in pregnancy and reactions to stress, and even makes possible the ability to experience orgasm, depression, fear, rage, and love.
Broadly, these limbic system nuclei include the hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, septal nuclei, and cingulate gyrus. Also related to limbic system functioning are portions of the reticular activating system, the orbital frontal and inferior temporal lobes, as well as parts of the thalamus and cerebellum. Indeed, the limbic system is not only exceedingly ancient but originally provided the foundation for the development and evolution of much of the brain.”
It’s fascinating that my research on this draws me across to similar research in regard to Ancestral memories. Luckily this whole area has much available on the internet as people seem willing to share information, especially on the Hippocampus because of its relevance to a cure for Alzheimer’s, because this is a totally new region for me.
Obviously, the hypothalamus is virtually unchanged over evolution and is, to quote “fully functional at birth and is highly involved in all aspects of endocrine, hormonal, visceral and autonomic functions and mediates or exerts controlling influences on eating, drinking, the experience of pleasure, rage, and aversion. The hypothalamus is the central core from which all emotions derive their motive force. The hypothalamus is also sexually differentiated. That is, structurally and functionally the hypothalamus of men and women are sexually dissimilar. “
Of the others the amygdala is ”In contrast to the primitive hypothalamus, is preeminent in the control and mediation of all higher order emotional and motivational activities, including the capacity to form emotional attachments and to feel love……. the amygdala has come to be involved not only in emotion, but attention, and learning and memory, for multimodal assimilation of various sensory impressions occurs in this region”.
The hippocampus is a small structure deep in the brain supposedly shaped like a seahorse and is needed for the creation of new memories. It is key to episodic memory – recall of events and personal experiences – and the creation of internal spatial representations of the outside world. The hippocampus thus seems to play a crucial role in creating the spatial context or environmental setting that provides the backdrop for remembering what has happened to us in the past – and also, it now seems, for imagining what might happen to us in the future. Recent research indicates that specific cues(words, names, pictures etc.) cause individual neurons in the hippocampus to react as the mechanism to recall or store. Common among all London Taxi drivers, who have to learn the “knowledge” is a much larger than normal Hippocampus. Alzheimer’s attacks the Hippocampus first, epilepsy affects it, as does schizophrenia, depression has a major impact upon it.
There are other areas and from this whole section of the brain vocalization started, “the original impetus to vocalize springs forth from roots buried within the depths of the ancient "limbic lobe" a term coined by Papez in 1937. Although non-humans do not have the capacity to speak, they still vocalize, and these vocalizations are primarily limbic in origin being evoked in situations involving sexual arousal, terror, anger, flight, helplessness, and separation from the primary caretaker when young.”
So we have an ancient area of the brain where so much of our key behaviour is derived. It remains a part of the body being created from cells encoded by our DNA. We are at the primal emotional, instinctive area which includes spatial, emotional and verbal memories. Much of it is common among species and most of us acknowledge the natural intuitive psychic abilities of Animals. Is it not possible that this is the area that the psychic abilities lie. If that is the case then is it the bridge between spirit, soul and physical. If so is the mind not part of the Soul but the bridge between the Soul and the Brain.
It is clear that people can move through this entire life without a realisation that the soul and spirit exist as an integral part of their entire being. They appear to be entirely driven by the mechanics of the physical life and it is clear that the physical body is entirely capable of functioning in this manner. In their life seems little expression of the soul and yet it is hard to find them lacking in consciousness or a mind. At this stage I cannot seem to get much further than this. They are fascinating thoughts but I need more information because the area is so far outside my knowledge base.
Now I also want to walk back to a few other ideas raised, is the infinite intelligence compassionate or an impersonal power. Now I believe in the ability of the creator to help in healing so I feel compassionate. However, how long ago was the universe created? I see that the very latest theory is not a big bang but a big bounce. The universe imploded at some stage in the past because science now suggests the current cosmos may be built on the remains of a past one. It is now claimed to be just a bounce because in the implosion matter became too dense.
If that is the case does it say anything about creation, about the foundation of the existence of the Spirit’s that exist on our earth? For how many years was our Creator alone in the universe? Is it possible that angels, which spiritualism accepts but not in the manner of the current fads and as a different strand of evolution, were Spirit’s original companions?

When the first humans appeared, at what stage were we animated by a spark of spirit, or does the existence of us and everything in the universe suggest it is all animated by a spark of spirit. In reality we acknowledge this spark of spirit in all things. Now, if that is the case, what truly is a soul? Walking backwards in time did the Neanderthals have a soul? Do animals & plants have souls? These were here long before our distant ancestors. Additionally how, in the face of the ever expanding numbers that walk on our planet, can we ever insist on reincarnation? Indeed this issue becomes more obvious as we look back, when the very humans we feel have a “spirit” unique to the other life forces on our Earth will have been so few yet are now so many. Where do all the new souls’ come from?

Then just a thought, if all things on their journey live and take back to spirit their experiences and we all grow on the journey does that not mean that our growth is also a part of the development of the Great Spirit?

When I started the debate upon this I said that I was pushed by Spirit to voice said to me to walk the boundaries to find the reality of our spirit. This could be a long walk!

Jim

It is a walk which has no end as indeed it had no beginning!

What an excellent, thought-provoking piece! I printed it as reading onscreen is too tedious for me. Apart from the technical stuff concerning the brain most of what's in the piece is how I understand matters. Some of the vocabulary was somewhat dated but was actually what I read and learned years ago. I loved the piece "The body is the house of the soul and the soul is the house of the spirit." I'd read this before but totally forgotten the simple but precise description.

I like, also, the reasoning for the notion of compassion in an otherwise seemingly-impersonal creator spirit. I have no sense, however, that the creator spirit experiences such emotion, vicariously or otherwise.

You ask, Jim: "When the first humans appeared, at what stage were we animated by a spark of the (creator) spirit?" I'd say at the same stage that any lifeform is animated by the spirit. What's the difference between then and now? "Did the Neanderthals have a soul?" Is there any reason that they shouldn't?

You ask: "Do animals & plants have souls?" They are animated by the same spark of the creator as ourselves - why would they not have a soul?

You ask: "Additionally how, in the face of the ever expanding numbers that walk on our planet, can we ever insist on reincarnation? Indeed this issue becomes more obvious as we look back, when the very humans we feel have a “spirit” unique to the other life forces on our Earth will have been so few yet are now so many. Where do all the new souls’ come from?" I don't feel we have "have a “spirit” unique to the other life forces on our Earth" As I understand the situation, earth is but one physical dimensions where spiritually-enlarging experiences may be had. This leads on to "Where do all the new souls come from?" Is there a limit to the number of souls, 'new' or 'old' ? Not as I understand the position. As the character and environment of our earth developed it would have become more attractive to those who might be living elsewhere in the multiverse. Such individuals can come and go as ourselves. As the earth becomes more or less suitable for spiritual development, the numbers of incarnating - or reincarnating - individuals using it will be in constant flux. I have no difficulty with numbers, large or small...

And finally you ask: "if all things on their journey live and take back to spirit their experiences and we all grow on the journey does that not mean that our growth is also a part of the development of the Great Spirit?" Could it be otherwise? We all came from, will return to, are all part of, are all the same as the Great Spirit [the creator spirit or whatever]

The development is all ours, all the great creator's. We are one.

I hope I've understood the questions and made a decent fist at answering? Sorry if I failed.

Hi Mac,

Great replies from you and thanks for joining in I feel your answers are very valid.

As you guessed this piece was intended to start debate and exercise our minds. It is a combination of Lis's orignal thoughts, ideas that had come to me. This led to a debate with an old friend in the USA and another from the USA who is involved with the reborn Harmonial Philosophy Association. Hopefully I can persuade them to join us here.

thanks again.

Jim

Hello,

This is a very interesting topic.

"The spirit is connected with the body by means of the soul, or psychical body, which in turn affects the brain, the nerves and muscles of the outer body, through the agency of which it expresses itself. The quality and extent of such expression will depend upon the degree of responsiveness and psychic development in the individual concerned.

‘For of the soule the body forme doth take;

For soule is forme, and doth the body make.’"

Does that mean that since spirit is connected with the body by soul then the harmonious aspects of the spirit can have a positive effect on the physical bodies dis-ease states in any form? That there is actually a direct link-up in a way? All depending on how well each individual will be aware and respond to perfecting spiritual influence?

To me it sounds very advantageous to become in tune with the spirit for people to heal their lives. That must be what "true spiritual healing" consists of.

There is so much to read with this topic, I will have to come back and reread it because it creates so much thought. Sorry that I am only focusing on a small part of this amazingly involved discussion.

Take care,
Lynn