TONGUES OF FIRE

We may compare each crystallographic cell in the imperishable body to a habitation of God or a habitation of the immortal soul. These habitations are connected to each other by the circulatory streams of consciousness, which resemble cosmic whirlpools.

This description was related particularly to Agni, the personification of cosmic fire whose womb was likened to a parna (petal) of the cosmic lotus. In this case, the hollow inside the whirlpool was compared to the hollow of a womb from which Agni was born, the cosmic fire that assumes the form of the cosmic egg.

As the wombs of Agni, the petals of the cosmic lotus were often compared to so many tongues of fire emanated by the fiery form of the cosmic egg. By entering into these tongues of fire, the immortal soul can travel from one crystalline habitation to another within the imperishable body of God. This Vedic metaphor is reflected in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. According to Genesis, the biblical patriarch Enoch, who was the son of Jared and a direct descendant of Adam and Eve, was assigned a unique destiny: It is said that he lived for 365 years (the same number as the number of days in a solar year), and then “was seen no more, because God had taken him away.” This implies that Enoch ascended beyond this world into the other immortal world.

The doctrine regarding the ascension of Enoch is presented in the Book of Enoch, which is part of the pseudographia of the Hebrew scriptures. The author, who claims to be Enoch himself, describes his ascent to heaven:

Winds in the vision assisted my flight, accelerating my progress. They elevated me aloft to heaven.

The “vast habitation” described here is none other than the crystalline habitation of God—the cosmic cube—that is but one cell in the infinite and immortal body of God. The “tongues of fire” correspond to the whirlwinds of cosmic fire that constitute the petals of the cosmic lotus enclosed inside the cube. By entering into a tongue of fire, the soul can travel from one cosmic egg to another. At the end of its journey, it spirals automatically onto the center of a lotus cube, which serves as the throne of God within the crystalline habitation. In the Book of Enoch, both the habitation and the throne are described as crystalline because they are part and parcel of the crystalline body of Logos, the imperishable body of God that is cognized on the scale of the fortieth layer above the half measure.