STRINGING THE COSMIC BOW
In this analogy, the two ends of the bow correspond to the two matched scales above and below, where the strengths of the synthetic and analytic powers are equal. By stringing together these two scales in the awareness of the self, the cosmic balance realized originally on the scale of the half measure is maintained at every step.
The larger the cosmic bow and the farther apart its two ends, the more powerful the bow becomes. The arrows shot from the bow correspond to the intentions of the soul. As the soul strings together in a balanced way ever more disparate scales of time and space, its intentions become more powerful and far-reaching. Eventually, the soul develops the ability to grasp at the same time the finest fabrics of creation, conceived by means of the analytic power below, and the largest wholes of creation, conceived by means of the synthetic power above. It then develops the ability to stir the finest fabrics of creation to fulfill its cosmic intentions.
In this way, the enlightened soul becomes a master of creation. Such a soul was deemed capable of performing what others would view as miracles. By its slightest intention, it can make the sun shine, the rains fall, and the winds blow—but its intentions must be in accordance with the will of God, the Supreme Being, who is none other than the soul’s eternal self.
The balanced expansion of consciousness over the virtual spectrum involves more than just an expansion of knowledge. It also involves an expansion of power and presence. The enlightened soul develops not only the ability to grasp the smallest parts and largest wholes of creation on the level of knowledge; it also develops the power to marshal the parts into wholes by means of its cosmic intentions. This is possible because the presence of the soul extends over the entire spectrum—as the very self of all the parts and wholes.
It can be said, then, that as the awareness of the enlightened soul expands over the cosmic spectrum, it becomes increasingly omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent—increasingly like God. The sages claimed that to know God, we must become like God, for like is known by like alone.Yet this does not mean that the enlightened soul will ever actually become God. It will always be in the process of becoming God, because the expansion and contraction of consciousness is endless. The evolving soul will never fill in completely the blanks between point and infinity. God may be understood as the actualized totality of all possibilities, which the enlightened soul is ever striving to grasp. No matter how completely the soul might imagine that it has come to know God, the Supreme Being will always be more than what is known.
Nevertheless, at a certain stage the distinction between the enlightened soul and God becomes a matter of metaphysical hair-splitting. For this reason, the sages held that it is possible to attain union with God, whether viewed as a form of duality or nonduality. In the final analysis, however, it does not matter which is true. All of the sages agreed that the enlightened soul has the potential to become increasingly like God, which is the ultimate goal of the spiritual journey: to attain the omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence of God in the bosom of the infinite.