THE SEVEN PSYCHIC CIRCLES
Of all the enigmas presented to us by The
Urantia Book, one of the most puzzling to me has always been the
seven psychic circles. Only three of them are given any definition at
all, and yet we must attain these stages of spiritual achievement in
preparation for Adjuster fusion. I accepted this lack of differentiation
between these circles because the book clearly states that they are
different for each individual. However, I have found a possible way of
giving them shape and form in the work of best-selling author, Caroline
Myss, Ph.D.
In her book, Anatomy of the Spirit, Dr.
Myss writes of her experience as a medical intuitive. In pursuing this
ability, she became aware of the importance of the seven chakras of Hindu
tradition, not only from a physical energy point of view, but as centers of
spiritual energies that are as intricate as our physical makeup. As she
became more and more certain of these spiritual truths, she realized
that the truth of these seven levels of spiritual growth must be true in
other religions as well - and she found their relationship to the seven
sacraments of Christianity and the seven levels of the Hebrew Kabbalah, the
Tree of Life, or Sefirot. Each chakra has a corresponding meaning in a
sacrament and a level of the Tree of Life, and now, I believe, in the
seven psychic circles of The Urantia Book.
In an attempt to apply these to a human
life, I began to investigate the growth of Jesus in the seven levels as
described by Dr. Myss, and this has resulted in some, to me, startling
conclusions.
Note that in the following graphic, the psychic circles are numbered in reverse order to the chakras. Let’s begin with the first chakra, corresponding to the seventh psychic circle. This chakra represents the ‘tribal’ level to Dr. Myss, and corresponds to the sacrament of baptism and the first level of the Sefirot, Shekhinah, meaning ‘divine presence’. ‘One who enters must enter through this gate.’ (Zohar 1:7b) Of course, we enter the seventh circle when we make our first moral decision and receive our Thought Adjuster; and ‘Entrance upon the seventh circle constitutes a mortal creature a truly potential citizen of the local universe’. (P. 1210)
|
Psychic
Circles |
Chakras |
Sacraments |
Sefirot |
|
7 Potential Universe Citizen |
1 Tribal, Community |
Baptism - Family |
10 Sekhinah- Creation |
|
6 |
2 Personal Relationships |
Communion-Honor One Another |
9 Yesod Foundation |
|
5 |
3 Self Self-esteem |
Confirmation - Honor Yourself, Honor Code |
8 & 7 Hod & Nezah Majesty
& Endurance |
|
4 |
4 Love |
Marriage |
6 Tif’eret - Beauty |
|
3 Accept Divine Will |
5 Will. Will to God |
Confession –Surrender Judgement & Mercy |
5 & 4 Gevurah, Hesed |
|
2 |
6 Mind, Clarity |
Ordination |
3 & 2 Binah, Hokhmah Understanding, Wisdom |
|
1 Adjuster Contact |
7 Oneness |
Extreme Unction From Physical to Spiritual |
1 Keter - Divine Energy |
Jesus entered the seventh circle upon the
receipt of his Thought Adjuster at the age of four. Both of his parents were
involved in his instruction in family discipline and practices and also Jewish
beliefs, customs and traditions. This is in keeping with the tribal, family
concept. At the age of seven, when Jesus entered school, he began to spend more
time outside of the family, to establish relationships with schoolmates, and to
‘make contact with human nature from the four quarters of the earth
as men from many lands passed in and out of his father’s repair shop’.
(P. 1362) The second chakra or sixth
circle represents our personal relationships with others, both human and divine.
In Christianity, this is represented by the sacrament of Communion at the age
of seven.
The Urantia Book describes Jesus’
attempts to resolve the issues of the third chakra, or fifth circle - honor, integrity
- between the ages of 12 and 14. ‘…Jesus suffered great mental distress as
the result of his constant effort to adjust his personal views of
religious practices and social amenities to the established beliefs of his
parents. He was distraught by the conflict between the urge to be loyal
to his own convictions and the conscientious admonition of dutiful submission
to his parents…’ (P. 1372-3)
Has Jesus now moved into the fifth circle,
or is he operating in all three of the outer circles simultaneously? As I
compared the proposed meanings of the seven levels to various instances in Jesus’
life, it became apparent to me that his decisions and resulting actions always
affected several levels simultaneously as he applied higher and higher meanings
to each previous level, or circle. It appears that the boundaries of the
circles begin to blur considerably as the individual integrates each new growth
level into the preceding ones.
Is this why the authors of The Urantia
Book don’t define all of the circles? It appears that we operate in all at
once to a greater or lesser degree, all the way to the first. Even Adjuster
contact (first circle) can happen in any circle, although it is rare before the
later developmental stages.
We also know that we don’t really ‘complete’
our circles even as we advance. From page 1191 of The Urantia Book: ‘What
the Thought Adjuster cannot utilize in your present life, those truths
which he cannot successfully transmit to the man of his betrothal, he will
faithfully preserve for use in the next stage of existence, just as
he now carries over from circle to circle those items which he
fails to register in the experience of the human subject, owing
to the creature’s inability, or failure, to give a sufficient
degree of co-operation.’ (Emphasis mine)
Perhaps our concept of being ‘in’ any given
circle refers not to the complete mastery of the previous level, but to a
relative degree of mastery, or integration, of all previous levels and a
balanced achievement of growth of the entire personality. ‘The successful
traversal of these levels demands the harmonious functioning of the entire
personality, not merely of some
one phase thereof. The growth of the parts does not equal the true
maturation of the whole; the parts really grow in proportion to the
expansion of the entire self - the whole self - material, intellectual, and
spiritual…by such a balanced growth does man ascend the circles of planetary
progression one by one, from the seventh to the first.’ (P.1209)
In eastern tradition, the chakras are united
into a single system of physical and spiritual energies. As one ascends from
the first chakra through the seventh, the largely physical influence of the
lower levels is increasingly dominated by the spiritual motivations of the
higher ones. And from The Urantia Book, ‘The seven circles embrace mortal
experience extending from the highest purely animal level to the lowest
actual contactual morontia level of self-consciousness as a personality
experience.’ (P.1211)
In all three religious traditions, it is at
the level of the third circle that the human will has been dedicated to the
divine will, marking a definitive stage of spiritual achievement. ‘From the
seventh to the third circle there occurs increased and unified action of the
seven adjutant mind-spirits in the task of weaning the mortal mind from its
dependence on the realities of the material life mechanisms preparatory
to increased introduction to morontia levels of existence.’ (P. 1211)
Is it possible that the ‘completion’ of all
of these circles does not occur until that final moment following the traversal
of the first circle, when all factors come together at once, when all levels
are simultaneously completed as the last stage of Adjuster control is effected?
Is this somehow a far-distant echo of the developmental stages of the Supreme,
when he will be complete in one final moment of achievement, as all factors in
his growth come to fulfillment simultaneously?
We are aware that even completion of the
circles is not equal to Adjuster fusion. ‘…fusion depends on yet other greater
and more sublime spiritual achievements, upon the attainment of a final
and complete attunement of the mortal will with the will of God as it is
resident in the Thought Adjuster.’ (P.
1212) I have sometimes thought that circle completion versus fusion
might be likened to wedding vows at the altar versus a 50-year marriage.
After all, we are told: ‘numbers of decisions, frequent repetitions,
persistent repetitions, are also essential to the habit-forming certainty of
such reactions.’ (P. 1210) (Emphasis mine)
The similarity of the various religious
traditions of seven levels of spiritual achievement indicates that mankind has
been aware of these truths since ancient times. Each culture interprets the
meanings of these levels in a very similar manner, and they share the same
purpose: the ascent of the individual from the lowest or physical stage of
existence, through the emotional and intellectual levels to divine contact,
oneness with Divinity.
We cannot find a better example of human progression through the circles than in The Urantia Book’s narrative of Jesus’ life. As we follow his development, his constant balancing of the various aspects of life as it is lived on this planet and co-ordination of all this with his determination to be subject to the will of the Father, we are inspired to act in our own lives with this same consecration of will.