 112. Mysticism (Inner Sky & Sun) |
The central nervous system, comprised of the brain and spinal column, is the primary mechanism of conscious, or voluntary, functioning of the body-mind. Thus, it is senior to the autonomic nervous system, which is the mechanism of the generally involuntary functioning of the viscera or vital organs. In the usual person, attention is fixed in the functions of the lower body, that is, the functions below the brows, and in the autonomic nervous system that governs these functions.
The sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system contain both motor or outward-directed and sensory or inward-directed nerve currents. Nevertheless, in general, the sympathetic division is experientially associated principally with outward-directed or motor impulses, and the parasympathetic division is experientially associated principally with inward-directed or sensory impulses. In general terms, the sympathetic division governs the "hot" reflexes or excitation and activity, whereas the parasympathetic division governs the "cool" reflexes of inhibition and stasis.
The usual man or woman is bound, in his or her unconscious and subhuman state, to the perpetual play (and sometimes antagonism) between the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous systems. When the play between these two is harmonized and raised to a level of Life-positive intensity, through awakening to a participation in Life that is senior to the struggle for mere physical survival, then
attention is free to pass into the central nervous system, which is the mechanism for our higher evolution. And, ultimately, even that evolutionary mechanism must be transcended in the process of perfect enlightenment or transfiguration.
The descriptions in this text of the esoteric spiritual process in relation to human anatomy are based on experience, as well as knowledge, rather than scientific analysis. The author's purpose in these essays is to relate experiential and esoteric descriptions to current anatomical theories. These descriptions are generalized; they are not attempts to create a rigorous description of analytical anatomy that corresponds in detail to current medical theory. Those who find these suggestive descriptions helpful may apply them in practice to the processes of esoteric meditation. Others who wish to consider the matter further in analytical and medical terms should use these descriptions as a broad and general reflection on the analytical anatomy of medical science. They would perhaps find it interesting to develop these general descriptions along the more rigorous lines of medical study.
-Franklin Jones
BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
Worship is sacrifice. Worship in "Truth" is sacrifice of mind, or all knowledge, into the intuition of Divine Ignorance. The sacrifice of self-possessed knowledge ultimately becomes selfless Wisdom.
Worship in "Spirit" is sacrifice of bodily existence into the All-Pervading Divine Radiance. The sacrifice of bodily or formal independence of self ultimately becomes selfless Divine Existence.
Worship in "Spirit" and in "Truth" is sacrifice of all that is oneself and that one possesses, or by which one is possessed. It is not sacrifice of what is less or other than oneself, or that is only symbolic of oneself, or that is less than the totality of what one possesses. It is the sacrifice of Man in God. And such worship or sacrifice is true religion, or religion-spiritual participation in Life.
The way of Sacrifice in God, or Eternal Life, is a matter of growth in responsibility for the awakening and the sacrifice of all the various structures of the body-mind.
