Plane (esotericism)
This interpenetration of planes culminates in the universe itself as a physical structured, dynamic and evolutive expression emanated through a series of steadily denser stages, becoming progressively more material and embodied.
The emanation is conceived, according to esoteric teachings, to have originated, at the dawn of the universe's manifestation, in The Supreme Being who sent out—from the unmanifested Absolute beyond comprehension—the dynamic force of creative energy, as sound-vibration ("the Word"), into the abyss of space.
Alternatively, it states that this dynamic force is being sent forth, through the ages, framing all things that constitute and inhabit the universe.
The original source of the word plane in this context is the late Neoplatonist Proclus, who refers to to platos, "breadth", which was the equivalent of the 19th-century theosophical use.
He establishes, through the conceptions presented, a bridge between modern science (currently starting research into the subtler etheric plane of existence behind the physical) and religion, in order that this last one may be able to address man's inner questions raised by scientific advancement.
These planes of existence often tend to overlap with each other heavily in both description and conception (especially between schools), and can roughly be delineated into "physical", "mental", "spiritual", or "transcendent" categories.
[10] The Theosophist author Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa wrote: "When a person dies, they become fully conscious in the astral body.
[13]In his book Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramhansa Yogananda provides details about the astral planes learned from his resurrected guru Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri.
[14] After this transitional stage, the soul may then move upward to the more subtle causal spheres where many incarnations allow them to further refine until final unification.
Every detail of these patterns acts as a consistent portal to a different kingdom inside the plane, which itself comprises many separate realms.
[citation needed] Charles Webster Leadbeater wrote: In the mental world one formulates a thought and it is instantly transmitted to the mind of another without any expression in the form of words.
[18] Sivaya Subramuniyaswami wrote: The causal plane is the world of light and blessedness, the highest of heavenly regions, extolled in the scriptures of all faiths.
The causal plane is the abode of Lord Siva and his entourage of Mahadevas and other highly evolved souls who exist in their own self-effulgent form—radiant bodies of centillions of quantum light particles.
[19]Sri Aurobindo developed a very different concept of the mental plane, through his own synthesis of Vedanta (including the Taittiriya Upanishad), Tantra, Theosophy, and Max Théon ideas (which he received via The Mother, who was Theon's student in occultism for two years).
[21] Charles Leadbeater wrote that in the buddhic plane man casts off the delusion of the self and enters a realization of unity.
[29][better source needed] The Summerland is the name given by Theosophists, Spiritualists, Wiccans, and some earth-based contemporary pagan religions to their conceptualization of existence on a plane in an afterlife.
Summerland, also called the Astral plane Heaven, is depicted as where souls who have been good in their previous lives go between incarnations.
Devachan is several miles (around 10 km) higher above the surface of Earth than Summerland..[3] Occult writers such as Geoffrey Hodson,[citation needed] Mellie Uyldert,[31] and Dora van Gelder[citation needed] attempted to classify different spiritual beings into a hierarchy based on their assumed place and function on the planes of existence.
[citation needed] Charles Webster Leadbeater fundamentally described and incorporated his comprehension of intangible beings for Theosophy.
