Hierarchy

A spiritual perspective on Hierarchy by Roberto Assagioli:

“In order to understand the nature of these states of consciousness well, it is necessary to recall some facts and laws concerning the nature and evolution of the universe.

First of all we must abandon the usual external and materialistic conception of nature, we must recognize that nothing exists in the universe that is not vibrant with life and consciousness, that every form and every force of nature are the manifestation of real entities, and that these entities are in contact with each other, coordinated and subordinated in large hierarchies.

Thus, the Earth as a whole – according to the brilliant intuition of the great scientist and philosopher Th.Pechner – is the body of a real being, of a Great Planetary Spirit, with a soul, with a consciousness of its own.

The great natural forces acting on the face of the Earth and within it are at the same time parts of that great being, and relatively independent entities with their own consciousness. And so are all living beings: plants, animals and men, on the one hand, are small cells of that large organism, and on the other hand, distinct entities and consciousnesses, and are in the process of gradual differentiation and identification. This reminds us of the great universal law, which must be understood well because it is the key to everything we will say. It is the great fundamental law of involution and evolution, of the descending arc and of the ascending arch, traveled by the spiritual entities on their long pilgrimage during the great cosmic cycles.

In the descending arc, the spirit immerses itself in matter, and the universal monadic consciousness is subsequently limited, descending through the great cosmic planes in ever denser veils of matter until it touches the lowest point of its descent in the physical plane and in the mineral kingdom. Then life goes up again: the dormant latent potentials gradually awaken through the play of mutual influence, expertly preordained by the various forces and hierarchies.

First the plant life arises, then the animal life, and finally we arrive at the human stage, in which the differentiation of the monadic essence has reached such a point, that we have a separate monad for each organism. In other words, a fact of fundamental importance occurred, namely the transition from the group soul to the individual soul. This development of individuality constitutes one of the most important purposes, perhaps even the supreme goal of the great cosmic drama. Because the principle of individuality, of self-awareness, forms the basis of further marvelous developments that we can only vaguely divine in a great light of glory, imagining great spiritual centers capable of indefinitely extending their consciousness without losing the sense and powers of their own individuality, and therefore capable of being conscious, intelligent and willing cooperators and executors on an ever larger scale of the divine will in the cosmic plane.” (From Spiritual Consciousness and Astral Consciousness)