The origins and illusion of a hierarchy to Creation 

A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2009 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

If we explore our creativity and look to hold it sacred, we will probably eventually come to experience, truth is layered. In our search for truth, we usually start on the surface of our experiences and plow through the details digging deeper and deeper into the more revealing and profound truths of what is. As we do so, we usually find the truth become simpler and simpler in its essence yet more and more difficult to experience directly and sometimes understand because it seems so removed from the world we experience every day. For example it is relatively well establish that all that we experience in the physical world is made of, or a result of, the interaction of atoms. We can know and understand the world of atoms and how they interact to give us this world and manipulate those atoms to give us experiences we never dream about 100 years ago. Yet, in the every day world, we rarely encounter the need to think about what particular atomic interaction is allowing the experience we have to occur.

There is an old story from the Jewish Kabbalah tradition about Moses when he went to the sacred mountain to receive the Torah, the sacred book of Judaism, which this describes the situation rather well and sketches out the process that Creation uses to manifest the world we experience. It addresses rather well the layers that exist between the fundamental principles, the building blocks one makes from these principles and the final structure or creation that one builds.

The story first heard as told by Rabbi David A. Cooper on a set of audio tapes called "The Mystical Kabbalah" which I entitle Moses and the Dancing Light is as follows:

"When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Torah (the five books of Moses), the first thing that happened was that the Divine sent down one white light and it circled Moses and in it was the teachings of the Torah. But Moses didn’t understand and didn’t know how to work with this light. And so the Divine sent down to Moses four Hebrew letters: the letter Yod, and He, and Vau and He, this is called the tetragrammaton. These four holy letters represent the name of God. In them all of the teachings of the creation and of the Universe were contained. But Moses looked at these four letters and didn’t understand. So then this mishna, this oral tradition teaches, a whole stream of letters came flying forth and circled Moses and he still didn’t understand what the letters meant. And then, on the next level, it said that the letters formed with breaks in-between them and so they formed into words and finally at that point Moses understood and recorded what he saw and what he experienced. Out of that came the written Torah."

The first level and most powerful level of understanding is found in understanding and knowing how to use and work the light, the creative life energy, itself. This level of understanding involves being able to work impersonally with the creative life energy of the universe and requires us to be a witness to what is fully participating in how and where that energy leads us, yet be very detached like the observer. To work at this level we need to become a detached witness to release and be out of the judgments and opinions of ego - both the enculturated ego and transcendental ego. Although we shall discuss the enculturated and transcendent ego more in depth, the enculturated ego was defined as how we have come to think and believe that we are because of the experiences we have had in this life. The transcendent ego is who we have come to think and that transcends any one particular life believe we are because of the experiences we have had. Working at this level is about learning to dance with the Light Itself and follow Its lead. Here we need to note that at the level of the human mind, the mind perceive what it experiences as light. But to dance with the light we must feel it. Only in being open to what we feel can we dance with what we perceive as the light.

The second level is to work with a finite set of symbols that encompasses the fundamental principles but that utilizes them in a way that is comprehensible. At this level of being we move from feeling into the mind. This level involves working with the internal symbols of our own psyche, which is how the creative life energy of the universe reveals itself to us and is interpreted by our mind as symbols. This set of symbols is unique to each individual. If we do not learn to look, see and listen to the way the creative life energy reveals itself within ourselves throughout our entire being, we will not be able to work at this level. Because we are in our ego, and our ego is unique, these set of symbols and the creative life energy used to communicate with us is unique to us. We have to learn our own inner language. For example, the symbol of an anchor for one individual may mean stability and safety in an otherwise stormy sea whereas for another it represents restriction, limitation and lack of freedom of movement. The importance of this level is expressed in traditional religions as, "Man, know thyself." Unless we understand how we have come to identify ourselves and how we think the universe works, we will not be able to understand our own unique symbolism and not be able to understand how the creative life energy that is sustaining our being is being used to create the world we experience.

The second level is where we do most of our nonconscious creating and create the reality we experience, including our health. It is at this level the mystics and shamans tend to operate. They access, understand, and use their own creative life energy close to the way that is most powerful way. How much power they access depends on how well they have learned to access and interpret their own unique symbols or whether or not they utilize the common facets of these symbols that many of the world’s spiritual and esoteric traditions try and capture.

The third level is to move deeper into the mind and what we think and believe and away from feelings to work with the symbols of a tradition, the "alphabet" or building blocks, so to speak of the tradition. Each tradition has its own alphabet or set of building blocks. The alphabet of a tradition tends to lie outside the individual for it is held in common between all members of the tradition. This third level of working with this energy is to work with a set of finite external symbols such as an alphabet, mathematical system, art, music, or any other set of symbols that leads to creative manipulation. Examples of these are the Seven Chakras, the Kaballah Tree of Life, the Christian Seven Sacraments, the Quantum Physics and Chemistry Theories, tarot, and other bridges between the seen and unseen realms are sets of symbols that attempt to access this third level. Construction itself as in the building of bridges and buildings, is another such a set of symbols and that is reason there are so many sacred sites and buildings throughout the world. Individuals who have been thoroughly schooled in one of these traditions border on the realm of the mystic and seem to have more power and capability than normal (e.g. the High Priest, Guru, Shaman, Healer, including medical doctors). However, note that there is a significant difference between the mystic who accesses and utilizes his/her own unique symbols or the symbols within a tradition as opposed to someone trained and schooled in the symbolism passed down by one who has accessed the symbols. The true mystic will continue to be a mystic even when they are outside their tradition. One who is schooled in a tradition, will have little power without that tradition or the support of that tradition behind their work.

The fourth level is to move almost exclusively to the mind and outside of what we feel to that of words and verbal communication. There are some common characteristics of the symbols among humans. These common characteristics can be shared. Some lend themselves to words and concepts directly, where as others can only be communicated as analogies and metaphors. Hence there is the great possibility that meaning is lost when the analogies and metaphors do not exactly capture the concepts that are trying to be expressed. The words, metaphors, analogies, symbols discussed in this book are a set sufficient for us to begin to understand our own unique set of symbols and journey back to the second level. One goal of this material is to open the door to us working at the second level.

As social beings, we are trained and educated at the fourth level. Those who enter the realm of creativity whether that be as an artist, musician, scientist or even a creative corporate tycoon tend to operate at the third level. Frequently they are described as a little strange and different. They could be said to have magnetic personality and a magical touch, or they may be described as a very difficult individual, a prima donna, or even a tyrant. In any case, they have learned to access the power within the symbols of the third level.

It needs to be noted, each level reduces the creative power and creative ability we have to create and manipulate the creative life energy. If we wish to access a greater creative power in our life, we will need to go beyond words and become the creative endeavors (music, architecture, art) that express who and what we really are. If we wish to access still greater power, we need to go beyond our creative endeavors that we are using to express who and what we are and learn to work with the symbols that the creative life energy uses to communicate to us. Then if we wish to access still greater power, we need to go beyond those symbols and learn to work with the energy itself and totally allow what we feel to guide our life. This level requires being out of mind and surrendering. To access this first level, we need to go beyond our own mind and how it is framing or picturing the creative life energy it experiences to experience what is as it is. It is only here that we being to see and experience the consciousness within, or behind, Creation.

Many have interpreted this stepping down process of the creative life energy as hierarchal. That some how "higher" levels are some how better than the energy that is flowing to sustain a given creation and available in of the created forms, such as one of the alphabets or system of building blocks. But that is like thinking the megawatts (millions of watts) of energy flowing out of a large hydroelectric dam is some how better than the few milliwatts (millionth of a watt) of power that is used to energize a computer chip. Each cannot do what the other does. The few millionth of a watts of power that power the computer chip is no better than the million of watts of power energizing a city. Each has a different role to play and a different creation to energize. We must learn to access the energy level for the creation they wish to energize. There is no point to trying to access the flow of energy available directly at the Source of Creation unless we wish to create a new Creation [a new physical reality] for that magnitude of energy cannot be contained in a creation other that a creation the size of Creation. To have access to large amounts of creative life energy without a creative endeavor in which to ground that energy through a properly prepared vessel of consciousness with the appropriate attitudes and mental outlook could possible be very damaging to the consciousness. There is an old Kaballah story of four men who studied and accessed the power with the Kaballah and how well their vessel was prepared. One when crazy, one died, one became an atheist and the fourth become a mystic. From a creative view point, we must pull the string and must explore exactly what it is we are trying to create and what is the appropriate corresponding energy level we will need to access to manifest that creation.

It does need to be noted that within the Kaballah tradition, there are requirements suggested the individual should meet before studying the Kaballah. How important those requirements are is another issue. The key to protecting ourselves before we do anything is to understand why we are even attempting what we do in the first place. We need to pull the string to fully understand our motivation at each and every level of being.

One cannot put ten gallons of water in a five gallon container. So too with what we try and create. To access the higher powers of creation we must create a container sufficiently capable of holding that higher flow of energy. If we have been schooled to live in a flow of energy at the alphabet level of creation, we will need to recreate ourselves to live in a flow of energy at another level. So the first question we need ask ourselves and on which to obtain clarity is, "What exactly do I wish to create?" Then in answering that question, we can then ask the question, "What level of energy do I need to access to create what I desire" The answer to this question is then of course followed by, "How do I need to change to be able to access the level of energy that I need for what I wish to create?"

Related topics
Layers to the mind

The Password Protected Area provides access to all currently posted (click for current loading) Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity related discussion files and applications.

Top