THE FATHERS OF HUMANKIND
The ancients held that the human body was the gift of the gods, who were the fathers of humankind. These include universal gods, who correspond to the metaphysical layers, and celestial gods, who correspond to the celestial bodies that shine in the sky.
The celestial gods, who have presided over the evolution of human life from the very beginning, are not just abstract disembodied beings; they have concrete bodies that correspond to our sun, solar system, galaxy, local universe, and superuniverse—each of which represents a conscious celestial being with powers of consciousness that far exceed those of ordinary human beings on earth.
In the same way that the Cosmos as a whole was viewed as an embodiment of the first archetypal man (Adam Ouila), who is our Father in heaven, so also, our sun, solar system, galaxy, and so forth were viewed as relatively immortal men who are our fathers in heaven. The Hermetic texts tell us: “We must not shrink then from saying that a man on earth is a mortal god, and that a god in heaven is an immortal man.”1
The celestial gods were viewed as immortal as compared to human beings, because unlike the human body, their celestial bodies endure for billions of years. They were compared to humans because the enlightened soul of a human being and that of a celestial being are akin to one another in the sense that both are born from the same cosmic womb—the field of silent darkness that exists on the scale of the half measure. This means that the wisdom cognized by the human soul when it takes its first step on the divine ladder is the same as the first wisdom cognized by the celestial gods billions of years ago.
The difference is that the celestial gods, for billions of years, were born for a specific purpose: to uphold and preside over the appearance of the created universe within their own sphere of influence.
Unlike the human being, who is born from a mortal womb as an unenlightened being and is reborn subsequently from the cosmic womb as an enlightened being, the celestial gods were born not from any mortal womb, but from the cosmic womb as already enlightened beings who immediately cognized the first wisdom and proceeded to ascend to their own cosmic stations. They then began the work of creation in accordance with the will of the Creator, who preceded and presides over them. This means that they began to create their own celestial bodies, which would serve as “worlds” for all embodied beings—including human beings. The Vedic seers held that this gradual process of creation took place over the course of billions of years.Although modern science tells us that the universe evolved as a result of chance and circumstance, the ancient science tells us that it evolved under the nonlocal guidance of divine will, which was and is directed toward a teleological purpose: the redemption of souls that have become lost and have fallen into the clutches of mortality. It is the old story of the prodigal son who became lost. The father pined for him, doing all within his power to bring his lost son back into the fold. The lost son is none other than the unenlightened soul. The universe was created—and will continue to be created, cycle after cycle, over the course of eternity—to recover the souls that have lost their way and fallen into the clutches of mortality.
In order to be redeemed, the lost soul must first be born from a mortal womb, and then reborn from the cosmic womb. According to the ancients, there is no more favorable mortal womb for this purpose than that of the human being, who is suited ideally for the realization of immortality. To provide the conditions for this spiritual redemption, material worlds must be created from which conscious, material beings can evolve. That is the job of the celestial gods, who are controlled ultimately by the universal gods, who serve as their inner controllers. In the same way that the son is created in the image of the father, so is a human created in the image of his or her celestial fathers—the gods that shine in the sky.