Biblioteca Esoterica Esonet.ORG http://www.esonet.ORG 1

Biblioteca Esoterica Esonet.ORG
http://www.esonet.ORG
The Four Crucial Phases of the Cycle of Being - 1
To speak of the beginning of a cycle in which every phase follows another in a
continuum of changes with a repetitive structure implies that, though we are sufficiently
objective to the cycle to be able to consider it as a whole, we are looking at it from the
point of view of our particular position in it. The Movement of Wholeness itself has
neither beginning nor end; it is a continuum of change which the human mind interprets
as a series of moments in which events occur, every event being related to antecedent
events and conditioning subsequent ones. What human beings call the first event of a
series, its assumed "beginning," is the one before which no other (normally) can be known,
because any antecedent belongs to a category (or level) transcending that of the knower's
consciousness. Nevertheless, any "beginning" occurs as a result of impulses and
determining factors which occurred at that transcendent level — and these in turn were
determined by still previous occurrences. Every phase of a cycle whose structure is
repetitive is related to every other phase, even though the events through which the
phases operate need not be repeated exactly.
Human beings usually interpret the relation between events in terms of cause and
effect. Nevertheless the concept of causality is not the most significant (because not the
most inclusive) frame of reference within which to define the relatedness of all that occurs
within the cycle of being. A more holistic interpretation reveals that the cycle as a whole
constantly acts upon its components and constituent phases. During the Day hemicycle, it
does so by readjusting the centrifugal tenancies inherent in individual forms of existence
and in relationships between them. Christianity interprets this readjusting activity of
Wholeness as divine Providence. Yet, however we formulate a deeper, more holistic
interpretation of the readjustment, it operates through individuals, who operate as agents
or catalysts for it. In Mahayana Buddhism, the immense compassion of liberated
Bodhisattvas is said somehow to absorb (insofar as the overall cycle allows) the centrifugal
activities of human beings unable to serenely fulfill their places and functions (dharma) in
the planetary process of human evolution. In Hinduism, Avatars like Krishna periodically
incarnate to restore the dharma, that is, to restructure the process of evolution.
Karma, if considered the cause-and-effect relation binding together the activities of
human beings, is a valid concept where causal sequences can be given an objective
meaning. This occurs in the world .of measurements — which is also that of quid pro quo
("This for that," "An eye for an eye," and so on) — the world dominated by the principle of
Multiplicity; and the concept is essentially atomistic. It had to be formulated in such a way
to meet the need of a humanity essentially in danger of being destructured by a
centrifugal, egocentric individualism. This danger is inevitable; it characteristically defines
the nature of the human state of being, which in turn refers to the section of the cyclic
process witnessing the rise of the principle of Unity.
The waxing of the principle of Multiplicity, which overtakes the power of the principle
of Unity following Creation at the symbolic Sunrise, can be interpreted as the increase of
randomness in the world of objective existence; but after the symbolic Noon, when the
trend toward Unity begins to increase, order gradually overcomes disorder. What human
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