The power of the soul over matter
Spirit works on matter through the soul
"The soul, tool of the spirit"
Digital illustration generated and composed
© Editions Prosveta S.A.
(click to zoom)
'When the spirit acts on matter it uses the soul as its intermediary. The soul is an instrument of the spirit, a tool by means of which the spirit can make contact with the material world, for the spirit has to have an intermediary; it cannot act directly on the physical plane. Only the soul has the ability to touch the physical world, so the spirit works through the soul, to model and fashion matter and transmit its orders. Without the soul and the possibilities it provides, the spirit would have no power over matter.
The soul can slip in and out of the body because it is more – what can I say? – not exactly more material, but closer to matter, so it can more easily be in touch with it and extract elements from it. And when it does so, then it can send them up to the spirit.
We need our soul in order to fashion matter, whether to refine it and give it a subtler form or, on the contrary, to condense and concentrate it. These two operations are known to alchemists as solve and coagula, and only the soul can accomplish them. Neither the spirit nor the body is capable of this, only the soul.
And now, if we want to see how body, soul and spirit correspond to the different parts of our physical bodies, we find that the spirit corresponds to the head, the body to the stomach and abdomen and the soul to the two arms. This is an extremely interesting point, for the soul has two functions, that of condensing elements and that of making them subtler, of both projecting them upwards and drawing them down.
These two processes are also represented by the Hebrew letter Aleph 
. Aleph summarizes a vast science concerning the activity of the soul, the intermediary between heaven and earth.
And this becomes all the more meaningful when we remember that Christ declared that he was ‘the Alpha and the Omega’ which, in Hebrew, is aleph and tav. ‘I am Aleph’ means ‘I am the one who lifts the elements of earth up to heaven, and brings those of heaven down to earth.’
The spirit directs, orders and provides light, but it cannot touch matter directly. That task belongs to the soul which, under the orders and guidance of the spirit, uses our hands to work on matter, to mould and fashion it, to dissolve or condense it, to heat it up or crystallize it.
I realize, of course, that when I say that the soul manifests itself through our arms and hands, this may seem to you a rather unexpected way of explaining things. We usually think of the soul being expressed through a person’s eyes. Yes, of course that is true too, because it can be expressed in any number of ways. But symbolically, the head – and this includes the brain, the eyes and so on – corresponds to the region of the spirit. Of course the soul is also at home there; in fact it is at home in both the lower and the higher regions, but its own special region is not the head, but the hands.
The spirit gives light, guides and ordains, but if there were no hands there would be no material realizations. We do everything with our hands, with our soul.'
"Alpha"
Digital illustration generated and composed
© Editions Prosveta S.A.
(click to zoom)
"The soul, tool of the spirit"
Digital illustration generated and composed
© Editions Prosveta S.A.
(click to zoom)
'When the spirit acts on matter it uses the soul as its intermediary. The soul is an instrument of the spirit, a tool by means of which the spirit can make contact with the material world, for the spirit has to have an intermediary; it cannot act directly on the physical plane. Only the soul has the ability to touch the physical world, so the spirit works through the soul, to model and fashion matter and transmit its orders. Without the soul and the possibilities it provides, the spirit would have no power over matter.
The soul can slip in and out of the body because it is more – what can I say? – not exactly more material, but closer to matter, so it can more easily be in touch with it and extract elements from it. And when it does so, then it can send them up to the spirit.
We need our soul in order to fashion matter, whether to refine it and give it a subtler form or, on the contrary, to condense and concentrate it. These two operations are known to alchemists as solve and coagula, and only the soul can accomplish them. Neither the spirit nor the body is capable of this, only the soul.
And now, if we want to see how body, soul and spirit correspond to the different parts of our physical bodies, we find that the spirit corresponds to the head, the body to the stomach and abdomen and the soul to the two arms. This is an extremely interesting point, for the soul has two functions, that of condensing elements and that of making them subtler, of both projecting them upwards and drawing them down.
These two processes are also represented by the Hebrew letter Aleph . Aleph summarizes a vast science concerning the activity of the soul, the intermediary between heaven and earth.
And this becomes all the more meaningful when we remember that Christ declared that he was ‘the Alpha and the Omega’ which, in Hebrew, is aleph and tav. ‘I am Aleph’ means ‘I am the one who lifts the elements of earth up to heaven, and brings those of heaven down to earth.’
The spirit directs, orders and provides light, but it cannot touch matter directly. That task belongs to the soul which, under the orders and guidance of the spirit, uses our hands to work on matter, to mould and fashion it, to dissolve or condense it, to heat it up or crystallize it.
"Alpha"
Digital illustration generated and composed
© Editions Prosveta S.A.
(click to zoom)
I realize, of course, that when I say that the soul manifests itself through our arms and hands, this may seem to you a rather unexpected way of explaining things. We usually think of the soul being expressed through a person’s eyes. Yes, of course that is true too, because it can be expressed in any number of ways. But symbolically, the head – and this includes the brain, the eyes and so on – corresponds to the region of the spirit. Of course the soul is also at home there; in fact it is at home in both the lower and the higher regions, but its own special region is not the head, but the hands.
The spirit gives light, guides and ordains, but if there were no hands there would be no material realizations. We do everything with our hands, with our soul.'
Text taken from the book "Man's Psychic Life : Elements and Structures", chap. 6 "Body, Soul and Spirit".
Man's Psychic Life : Elements and Structures
