by Don Lewis
I tend to think of the Higher Self as being like the branch of a tree, which arising from a single point forks and splits many times as it grows. We might think of the tree trunk as being God/dess, and each branch coming off of that trunk as a Monad. The forks in the branches are Souls, and the twigs coming off the forks are Lifetimes –which themselves may fork into differing probabilities. The leaves on the twigs are experiences. As with a tree whose leaves obscure the branch structure, our many experiences obscure our view of the Higher Self.
When we work with our Higher Self, whether through meditation, soul retrieval, energy work, past Life work, etc… we are like a squirrel running up the branch from the leaves toward the trunk. Doing such work takes us from twig to fork to branch and ultimately to the trunk where all connects. Perched on the end of a twig we might well think that it is all there is, a thing in itself, the center to which all these many leaves connect. Running up to the fork we might think the same of it –an independent thing from which all these twigs sprout. But from the branch we can see that these forks and twigs are aspects of a larger whole, though we may not see the trunk until we reach the end of the branch. From the trunk it is clear that the whole network is a single thing, possessing many subdivisions which lead through stages to the leaves through which the tree thrives.
The same is true for the Soul. When we are considering our nature from the vantage point of our contemporary experiences, we may well think that this Life is all there is, an independent thing from which all these experiences proceed. However when we work with the Higher Self, we become aware of the Soul, from which our Life proceeds, but also many other lives and variations on lives which –from that vantage point-we can describe as ‘ours’. From this level we might well think that the Soul is an independent thing, just as we first thought this individual Life was an independent thing, because it is the focus of our attention. However, if we continue to work with our Higher Self we will see that the Soul is not an independent thing, but is itself a fork on a branch which is the Monad, which some term “Soul Group” or “Soul Family”. However terms like “Soul Group” are misleading, because they fail to grasp the inherent and inseparable connection of the Soul to the Monad, from which it arises in the same way that the Life arises from the Soul, or the experience from the Life. And of course in the end we see that the Monad itself arises in this same way from God/dess, which is the single core of all existence, just as the trunk is the single core of the tree.
A leaf of course is a thing of its own. But a leaf is also inherently part of a tree. A twig too is its own thing, but is also ultimately part of a tree. Just as the leaf and the twig and the fork and the branch can be considered as things in their own right, still they are ultimately by their nature part and parcel of the tree. Both things are true –they are things in their own right from one vantage, but all parts of a tree from another. It all depends upon where the squirrel is sitting.
So too our Life is an independent thing, and our Soul is an independent thing, and our Monad is an independent thing, and all can be considered as separate things in their own right, yet each is also part and parcel of God/dess. It all depends upon the level at which we are looking at it. This is part of what we mean when we say “You are God”.
“But” you say, “a twig may be part of a tree, but the twig is not THE tree.”
This is true at one level. But consider that while the twig is only a part of the tree, the life that is in the twig is the life force of the tree and is not separable from it. The twig itself may be separable, but the life force within comes directly from the tree, and does not arise from the twig.
Remove the twig from the tree and this will become immediately obvious, because the twig will no longer be alive. Although the leaf and the twig and the fork and the branch can all be seen as separate if you look at them from a certain angle, still it is just one life force that moves through them all. They are separate in a way, but also inseparable. Remove the twig from the tree and only a dead husk remains –but the life force of the tree is still as it was, and continues forward as it has. The part of the Tree’s life force that was in the twig when it was part of the tree is no longer in it once it has been snapped off, but that life force has not ceased to be, and will manifest as new twigs in time. Moreover the twig that has been snapped off leaves a mark upon the branch that remains after it is gone.
So too when this individual Life ends what remains is an empty husk, but the life force that had been in it -being ultimately the life force of God/ dess despite the many forks and branchings-remains and will be again expressed through new Lives. That life force is the Eternal Flame, the Spark of Life that is never extinguished. And just as the twig that falls leaves a mark upon the branch, so too past Lives leave their mark within the Soul, even as we go on to new Lives. Every Life leaves its mark upon the Soul, and shapes it –giving each Soul its own distinct quality within the Monad, just as each Life is distinct within the Soul.
“But,” you say, “Which one are we? Are we this Life which we are currently living? Are we our Soul, and each Life a secondary feature? Or are we truly the Monad? Are we in fact God/dess? Which is our true essence?”
Well, what is the true essence of the tree? Is the true essence of the tree its leaves? Is the true essence of the tree its twigs? Is the true essence of the tree the forks? Is the true essence of the tree perhaps the branches? Is the true essence of the tree in fact the trunk? Or are all of these part of the true essence of the tree? I would say that the true essence of the tree is in all these things, and which one is preeminent depends entirely from the angle from which the tree is being considered. Granted, the trunk is the origin and the core of the tree, but is a trunk really a tree without branches? Is a tree really a tree without the constant coming and going of leaves?
So too, we are this Life we are leading, but we are also the Soul. We are also the Monad. And we are ultimately also God/dess. God/dess is the origin and core of our being, the source of the life force that gives us existence, and ultimately we are God/dess –but we are also all the parts between our present point of consciousness and God/dess.
When I was a child I was told that our Soul would ultimately unite with God/dess, and at first I did not understand this idea. I thought that this meant that the Soul would be absorbed into God/dess and lose its individuality. I did not realize that the Soul was already united with God/ dess and when we speak of ultimate reunion with Deity we are merely speaking of realizing what has always been true, and embodying it more fully. It is a matter of changing perspective and within the Soul, not an actual change in the relationship between the Soul and God/dess.
The Soul unites with God/dess –through the connection through which it arose from God/dess and from which it is already united to God/dess. The branch connects to the tree –through the spot where it grew from the trunk, and where it has always been connected. However the squirrel running up the branch may not realize that the branch is connected to the trunk until it has reached the spot where the branch has always been connected. So too the Higher Self does not realize that it is connected to God/dess until it reaches that point in its being where it is connected. When we say that the Soul will reunite with Deity, what we really mean is that it will realize that it had never been separate, and rather than losing any part of its being will rather come into the fullness of its being, which is and has always been God/dess.
When we work with the Higher Self we are the squirrel running up the branch. And as we run up that branch what we find is not greater separation but ever-increasing connection. Many Lives connect within one Soul, many Souls connect within one Monad, and ultimately all connects at the core, which is God/dess. It is a journey from the leaf to the trunk from our momentary experiences in the floating world to the unity of all being in God/dess.