HEAVEN AND EARTH

The half measure played an extremely important role in the ancient spiritual science, for it marks the boundary between heaven and earth. With respect to the spectrum of consciousness, the terms heaven and earth have a technical meaning.

All the virtual modes that lie above the half measure were viewed as part of heaven and all the virtual modes that lie below the half measure were viewed as part of earth. Therefore, the ancients viewed the spectrum as divided into two halves: the upper heavenly half and the lower earthly half. Each of these has direct relevance to human consciousness, because human consciousness was viewed as fluctuating around the scale of the half measure. In the same way that the human body stands upright with its feet planted on the earth below and its head in the sky above, so human consciousness stands at the juncture of heaven and earth.

Yet unenlightened human consciousness is unstable—it is not established on the scale of the half measure. Sometimes our awareness soars above, in the happiness of heaven, and sometimes it drags below, in the misery of earth. This qualitative description of the two halves of the spectrum as relating to happiness or misery is rooted in the Vedic notion: “The infinite is happiness. There is no happiness in anything small. The infinite alone is happiness. Seek to know the infinite.”³ That which engenders happiness may be viewed as good, and that which engenders misery may be viewed as evil. The unenlightened soul, subject to cyclic fluctuations of happiness and misery, is thereby snared in the Tree of Knowledge regarding good and evil. This represents a “fallen” state.

The enlightened soul, on the other hand, transcends the notions of good and evil. When the awareness becomes established firmly on the scale of the half measure, it grasps the balance between heaven and earth, happiness and misery, good and evil, and the infinite and infinitesimal. This occurs when the fluctuations of the human mind are transcended and we experience the state of pure consciousness.

The egoless soul that has realized permanently the state of pure ignorance may therefore be viewed as embodying the balance between heaven and earth. It has transcended all notions of good and evil. As a result, it is not plagued by any desire for happiness or any aversion to misery. At this stage, however, the soul is ignorant of the full extent of heaven and earth. Only after the veil of ignorance has been removed can the soul begin to explore the lineaments of heaven and earth within its awareness.

To grasp the heights of heaven and the depths of earth in a balanced manner, the soul must ascend and descend simultaneously. Further, it must descend below the half measure as far as it ascends above the half measure so that the scales of heaven and earth remain balanced in the soul’s awareness. By doing this, the Tree of Good and Evil is transformed into the Tree of Eternal Life.

The half measure may be compared to the fulcrum of a cosmic balance that is upheld by all enlightened souls throughout the universe. This is the balance between the infinite and infinitesimal, or the large and the small, and is also the balance between heaven and earth, good and evil, happiness and misery. Although this balance is realized initially on the scale of the half measure, it has many manifestations on different scales of consciousness. To understand it fully, we must consider two innate powers of consciousness: those of analysis and synthesis.