There are two convenient ways to represent a model of our five levels of being. One way is as a 5-story building, where the body is the ground floor and each succeeding level is the next floor above. This model is useful to understand some aspects of the relations between the various levels.

However perhaps a more accurate model may be to represent the levels of being as 5 concentric circles, the innermost circle being the body. It is clear from this model, that each successive circle will not only be larger than the previous, it will also encompass each of the “lower” levels. And so it is – each successive “higher” level has direct influence and control, or jurisdiction over the smaller circles within it.

Level 2, the Vital, is our life force, source of our vitality. Just as our physical body is formed from the realm of physical matter, so our vital derives from the immense field of cosmic energy.

With the vital energy now permeating the body, it is able to enter the field of action. The body can get up, move around, run, jump and dance. The body and vital are interdependent: the body needs the vital to enable it to act, while the vital needs the body to be able to express itself in the world.

The body with the vital is now a force of potential action, awaiting instructions. Like water, which in flood can cause massive destruction, or can be harnessed for irrigation and power generation, the vital-enabled body can just as easily build or destroy. Our body-vital combination requires direction and guidance. For this we must look to the next higher level of being, that most marvellous manifestation, the Human Mind.

(…continued…)