Page 37 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 27 Final
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and undifferentiated, the is also part of Man’s nature. tree. That is to say, where
question arises why did Not only does the Tree of Life Sphere 0 represents
God create the thingly represent the unfolding of God un-manifest, or the
world of differentiation Creation, it represents also the “hidden” God, Sphere
in which Man dwells, way back, sphere by sphere (or 1 on the Tree represents
and further, why did he branch by branch), for Man’s God in the world.
create Man. The Kamitic spiritual return journey. Sphere 1 represents that
scripture says of God in highest aspect of Man’s
the state of Amen: “I was The Functional Stages of spirit which is as yet
alone; not born were they.” Creation, and the Aspects of unawakened in all of us,
Amen (1996) quotes this Spirit with the exception of
scripture to explain that Spheres 1 to 9, or the Ennead, certain adepts or “God-
God created the world in in addition to representing the men on earth,” such as
order to have experience. functional stages of creation, Jesus, Buddha, and the
And It created Man in also represent archetypal deities “Higher Ones” of the
order to have a vehicle which exhibit the qualities Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu.
within the world with the most pertinent to the functional Sphere 1 represents the
same essential qualities stage of creation with which “Divine Spark” (Ubuntu)
as Itself. Man is in this respectively they are identified. within all of us. The
sense created “in the At the level of Man, these challenge is to raise and
image of God.” Further, same archetypal energies establish our individuated
as Bowen informs us, the find expression as archetypal Consciousness in the part
Bonaabakulu Abasekhemu personality types, of which of Spirit corresponding
teach that Man is on a each of us is in some sense a to Sphere 1. According to
journey of return to the blend. The Tree of Life is to be the African cosmology,
Source, to the Itongo, to understood as but a model of this is a process that takes
the state of Amen. Man, in many interpenetrating realities: countless incarnations,
his gross, physical aspect, of deities, of aspects of the but whether knowingly
and the thingly world in psyche, of functional aspects of or unknowingly, it is a
general, is represented by creation, among others not yet journey on which we all
Sphere 10 at the bottom of addressed. Each of the spheres are embarked. The aspect
the Tree. Sphere 10 thus of the Tree is described briefly of Creation and of Spirit
represents the end-result in turn. corresponding to Sphere 1
of creation. Spheres 1 to on the Tree is called Ausar
9 in-between represent Omnipresence/Central in the Kamitic tradition.
the functional stages of Theme. Sphere 1 on the Tree In the Yoruba tradition,
creation, as well as the corresponds to God manifest it is called Obatala. The
various aspects of the in the world, and is the mirror defining attribute of God
spiritual being which image of sphere 0 above the manifest in the world is
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