Below I shall tentatively attempt a preliminary draft of the beginnings of a metaphysical unified field theory, to give examples of the structure involved, rather than to attempt to establish any definitive designations. We are hardly qualified to venture this metaphysical, spiritual realm with any confidence. It cannot be over-emphasised what ignorant strangers we are in this territory, for all that it is our birthright. Our birthright is a kingdom of undreamt treasures which we trample through like dumb beasts with no language to recognise what we see, hear and feel but the contempt of pillaging barbarians for the glorious ‘spiritual world’ we are macho-proud to rape, plunder and despise, to further our own culture of arrogant materialism, hollow promises and looming catastrophe.

We do not know ourselves, we do not recognise we need this spiritual oxygen for our spirits to breathe and we are dying in the intoxicating but polluted, suffocating atmosphere of materialism. This ignorance is at its most dangerous when overweening materialists occupy the territory of religion and are able to claim its legitimacy and righteousness and no one can contradict them. This is the way the world is going, on all sides and it is desperately wrong.

This theory is not to be compared too closely with the very serious search of modern science for a physical theory of everything, an attempt to understand the ultimate nature of matter and the mechanics of the universe. That is a highly complex search for an understanding which will unite the Theory of Relativity which has had such impressive success in describing the operation of matter on the macrocosmic scale and Quantum Mechanics which has proved a brilliant recognition of physical laws on the microcosmic scale of sub-atomic physics.

This proposal of a Metaphysical Unified Field Theory of Everything is merely an amateurish game, a mere bagatelle which attempts to make a virtue of its uncertainties and confusions. Yet this proposal fondly embraces both the macrocosmic cosmology of the solar system and the microcosmic wonder of sub-atomic physics in a comprehensive recognition of the infinite spectrum of existence, of being, far beyond the limits of simple physical dimensions.  This metaphysical proposition dances with the nimbleness and confidence of the pierrot ballerina into proven parallel dimensions while in desperation modern physicists are beginning to conjure chimeras of these multiplying worlds to understand the sources and science of matter.

If physics wants to pursue its search for a unified field theory which will unite the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, it will have to take these higher metaphysical dimensions into account. It will have to accept the ultimate heresy of recognising non-material levels of energy, the spiritual, metaphysical energy, on which all matter ultimately depends. And it will have to recognise the urgent imperative for a spiritual dimension in every life as the price to buy the time to complete its search. For without this general recognition humanity will simply give up the ghost, for the game will not seem worth the candle.

While this scheme cannot persuade us of its precise validity, it does begin to reveal an overview of a whole order of phenomena which lies outside the understanding and even the recognition of modern material science. The closest precedent to this theory is perhaps contained in the Nobel laureate, Hermann Hesse’s concept of the Glass Bead Game, in his masterpiece of the same name.

This imaginary Game proposed common underlying principles or a common definition which unites all branches of intellectual thought, music of course – which Pythagoras recognised as the fundamental bridge between science and art – literature, theology, painting and sculpture, architecture and the sciences. This can only sensibly be understood in terms of the different spirits at play within these disciplines, striking resonances and harmonies with similar spirits, impulses, movements, features in another field.

                                  Earth : atoms
Air of Earth               Water : sub-atomic particles: electrons, photons, gravitons                          (Atomic physics,     Air : quarks
electro-magnetic     Fire : Strings, Super Strings ?
energies etc)          Ether : ‘physical void’

 

                                  Earth : motion, energy
                                  Water : determination
Fire of Earth             Air : initiative
(energy)                   Fire : action
                                  Ether : ka

                                  Earth : senses
Ether of Earth          Water : psychology
Subtle Body,           Air : astrology 
Spirit Energy           Fire : healing, spirit, energy
                                  Ether : the Spirit within 

                                  Earth : touch/ taste
Earth of Ether          Water : smell
 of Earth                   Air : hearing
(Senses)                   Fire : sight
                                  Ether : sixth sense

                                  Earth : sensible, sensation
Water of Ether         Water : sensitive, sympathetic, feeling
 of Earth                   Air : thinking, confident,
(psychology)           Fire : intuitive, active
                                  Ether : Self, 'transcendent function'; love.

It is in this context we should recognise our physical bodies as the base physical earth spirit for this highest form of life, the most elevated form the teeming beauty of the Earth has yet produced.

It is no surprise to find metaphysics has covered this vital territory long since, recognising the different emotional temperaments in terms of the four elements, broadly portrayed in the four humours. The four humours are essentially the physical manifestations of the four psychological types outlined by CG Jung, the eminent psychologist. Jung was well acquainted with astrology and based his four types on the psychology of the four elements.

This celestial Aquarian spirit of the logos plays a significant role in the theology of divinity. As the Word, the logos has long been identified with Christ but it properly defines a slightly different spirit, the supreme quiet inspiration of the Holy Spirit or Sophia, Wisdom. The spirit with the gift of words, the Spirit of Truth. This is explored at length in another article, The Holy Spirit is Sophia, Wisdom : God’s Consort; and the Logos, the Aquarian Spirit of Truth for the New Age.

The most momentous point in this is not the theological reassessment of the Christian Trinity. It is the recognition of the science of metaphysics, essentially the science of astrology, at the heart of Christian thinking, at the heart of the Christian Trinity.

We have already recognised the sub-atomic world is such a refined realm, modern physics is by no means able to present a clear pattern and there are plenty of uncertainties. Still there does seem to be a prima facie, apparent similarity between these physical and metaphysical patterns which invites serious consideration. What is clear is the common structure of a ‘Russian doll' hierarchy of energy levels, quantum levels perhaps, one within another, in both physics and metaphysics. Quantum physics is not too far from the conception of a scheme of five quantum levels, mirroring metaphysics.

Serious metaphysicians would be surprised if it were otherwise. They might even say, it must be so. The public might say it is about time these quarrelling cousins, rival siblings, started talking to one another and got their act together, as neither is very attractive or impressive at present.

We see footballers, for instance, judge their kicks over forty to seventy yards to precision, in direction, distance and ‘weight,’ or force, which may be trained for long hours but finally must be performed without a second’s thought, automatically. Or snooker players where the touch on the cue ball must involve a number of precise calculations, not merely to achieve the chosen shot but to set up the next shot, like a chess player working out several moves ahead. This is translated into a physical movement which can never be measured except intuitively, instinctively. The endless training seems only to give the confidence we can do it and we allow our unconscious mind or spirit to make the necessary calculations and send the signals. When we are ‘on song,’ it comes off. The more consciously we try to make it right, the less likely we are to succeed. Jungian psychology clearly identifies the ‘transcendent function’ of our unconscious minds with the Spirit within. The Spirit we don’t know.

The value of this present attempt, limited as it is, may be to raise more questions than it answers. This is as it should be. At a time when science denies the very existence of a spiritual dimension and the validity of metaphysics, our initial concern is not to produce a polished theory.

If we can summon enough interest to recognise the inaccuracies of this tentative scheme, we might find wisdom enough to buy the time we need to explore this ultimate understanding.

The Indian theological concept of metaphysics clearly recognises the higher levels of the spirit within all things, all creation, including what we call ‘inanimate’ matter. It seems to be a function not of life, ‘animate matter,’ animals, humans, as we in the west tend to recognise the spiritual dimension, when we recognise it at all. This spiritual dimension seems to be something much more basic. The Indian sage would probably point out just as the quasi-spiritual glories of electrons, photons and quarks are not confined to life forms, so Brahman, the glories of the slightly higher spirit of Brahma, the Creator, is not withheld from the rocks, the river, the wind or the flame.

In Hindu philosophy this ultimate Spirit is recognised as immanent within all Creation. This immanent Spirit not only echoes the basic premise of metaphysics, it is empirically essential to the operation of astrology. This is a metaphysical understanding of reality which has survived almost three millennia of intense debate and inquiry, rejection and reinstatement. This analysis should not be dismissed lightly by a modern science which has no metaphysical debate beyond the intellectual equivalent of book burning or worse.

Animism was the ancient expression of this awareness of the spirits within all things and the same recognition is the foundation of astrology. This makes it so alien to modern materialist science. The ‘inanimate’ planets would appear to be anything but. Astrology remains the clearest empirical evidence this ancient animism was not fatuous but it is evidence, like most science, for those with eyes to see : those like Jung, like the many responsible modern astrologers. As with most science, we must trust the experts and judge them by their fruits. The fruits of this science are our ancient birthright, the long-promised, long-scorned glories of heaven on earth. And the best of the legacy of the world’s religions, dropping the dross : our better selves, the best we aspire to.

The Egyptian system presents forceful evidence for the ancient awareness of different spirit levels. Although our present understanding has not encouraged us to explore this evidence in depth, somewhat confusing as it naturally appears, we might still pick out one or two highlights to guide our stumbling steps.

The often rapid turn-around of reincarnation raises questions over the almost unanimous testimony of advanced ‘near death experiences’ (NDEs) which recall the welcome by the spirits of deceased family members. Some of these accounts have been verified by extraordinary information given. Such a residual spirit certainly satisfies our sense we should continue with some kind of consciousness carried over from the momentous experience of a life. The reincarnated spirit sheds the ‘skin’ of this personal ‘life identity’ spirit which remains in the ethereal element above.

We shall discover below a level of spiritual energy where this ka spirit might manifest in a tangible and active way in our lives, even suggesting a possible explanation for the ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for this shadow soul.

Within this ka’s most subtle spirit we should again discover these five levels. As the Tao Spirits illustration portrays (below), we might begin to trace within each of these five another subset of vital energy levels. If we presume to suggest the forms in which we might recognise these internal levels, we will nevertheless remember our novitiate status in this renascent science.

The next section attempts to trace this metaphysical pattern of the elemental levels at a more elevated, ethereal stratum, the realm of our ethereal spirit. This discourse may tend to confirm us as creatures animated by such a sophisticated, ethereal level of energy. For we shall have much to say on the several levels within this ‘immaterial’ realm.

We can trace certain physiological processes which accompany our emotional states but any psychologist will concede we are a long way from explaining any emotional state as purely a physical process. Even in this most basic, familiar and visible realm of our lives we would do well to recognise the processes involved are largely beyond physical definition. We have been reluctant to make this admission of the limitations of our science, our knowledge, our materialist dogma. Now we can see this honesty as merely a perfunctory prerequisite to opening new and exciting doors in this vital science. These are the doors to the metaphysical, spiritual dimension, the invisible, vital energies which produce such visible results, the out-of-range colours which unconsciously animate our life.

‘I and I,
One says to the other, no man sees my face and lives.’

This repeats the biblical definition of God whom no mere man may see and survive, with the notable exceptions of Moses and Isaiah. Most men see God only in the regretful revelation of death.

Particularly thanks to CG Jung and his interest in astrology, we have the beginnings of this multidisciplined, comprehensive higher knowledge. Smuggled like a Trojan horse within the fortress gates of modern materialist science, ready to open these gates not to rape, plunder and destruction but to the brotherhood of man and the brotherhood of all sciences, physical and metaphysical.

This gossamer realm of our psyche is of paramount importance to us all and yet remains largely an unknown and inexplicable territory to modern science. Psychologists would acknowledge they can recognise some pathological symptoms but have little understanding of the infinitely subtle mechanisms involved. Any physiological analysis of our emotional life is overwhelmingly at a loss, although we have earlier recognised some physiological points of contact. It is becoming an increasingly inescapable realisation this powerful area depends on something infinitely more subtle than any mere physical processes and CG Jung, arguably the greatest psychologist of the last century, had no hesitation in recognising the metaphysical, astrological basis for his patients’ emotional life.

It is a sad disservice to patients and the wider world, the prejudices of modern science do not permit psychology to recognise astrology. This ancient and renascent science offers a precise, modernised insight into the psychology of every individual. The horoscope is an exact psychological map of the different forces at play in an individual psyche. Jung had to use it secretly, clandestinely, and it is an inestimable loss he was unable to write on the subject. This situation is an intolerable nonsense and will redound to the eternal shame of our much vaunted ‘enlightened’ modern science.

We have a few enlightened minds who endorse astrology in the face of the scepticism and worse of modern material science. The overwhelming majority of modern science accepts the dogma and says this is ridiculous, this cannot be, there is no spiritual dimension beyond the recognised physical forms and energies it works with : astrology, like religion, is superstitious nonsense. It is an argument between knowledge and ignorance. Because modern science knows so much, in its field, it claims the right to dictate the limits of knowledge, to dismiss what it knows nothing about and wants to know nothing about, even though its most enlightened luminaries contradict it.

Isaac Newton’s succinct riposte could not be more apposite : the difference is between those who have studied it and those who have not. Of course one does not attempt to study, to verify, atomic theory with a magnifying glass and one should not attempt to verify astrology or Jungian psychology with crude statistical tests which no proper astrologer or psychologist would support. Like obviating, refuting, Copernican and Galilean clarity with the popular and obvious observation of the Sun and the planets going round our Earth, this materialist view can’t stand the test of time. Though Galileo was on trial for his life while the furore lasted.

Medicine was for centuries based on the system of the four humours derived from the four astrological elements. It is credited to Hippocrates himself, the founding father of medicine and author of the Hippocratic Oath and who pronounced, ‘A physician without a knowledge of astrology has no right to call himself a physician.’ The success of modern medicine has brought this time-honoured knowledge into scathing disrepute and, like traditional astrology before the modern era, this ancient wisdom had doubtless acquired an array of dubious practices. Yet many doctors would still agree with the basic principle : sickness can often be traced to a patient’s emotional imbalances. This deeper diagnosis unfortunately gets short shrift in modern medicine, the baby having been thrown out with the bath water, as new regimes usually do.

It is this spirit which imprints itself, extraordinarily, on each of us at birth to produce the all-too-evident features of our character which every astrologer readily recognises.

These celestial spirits of the horoscope synchronise, not only with the infinite physical and social geography of every event but also with our individual karma, the moral law of cause and effect which decides our individual ‘spiritual’ needs, the personal story which determines our destiny. This synchronicity between the four astrological elements and our individual, personal karma creates every moment in perfect harmony with what we need for our personal life development. At the same time each new moment is arranged according to the configurations of the planets whirling about our heads and beneath our feet in the distant reaches of outer space. This synchronous nexus of causation essentially determines our lives, producing the ineffable logic and mechanism of fate which is the core principle of all religions, reconciled to the basic mechanical principle of astrology. Extraordinary and mind boggling as the concept is, we should trust it. This sublime synchronicity, beyond comprehension, has the endorsement of Dr Jung. It also has history.

We must be extremely careful not to fall into the trap of dismissing what we cannot understand. Spiritual thinkers are often accused of ‘woolly’ thinking because they cannot precisely define the mechanisms they recognise through the evidence of life. The mechanisms of synchronicity are a case in point being particularly baffling. It is sheer folly to insist our evolving minds and young, modern science should be capable of understanding all the wonders of the natural world. We don’t have to go far to recognise the limits of either in our physical sciences, never mind beyond them.

Even Einstein was famously disconcerted when an experiment (EPR) proved two particles at vast distances apart could respond to one another with a simultaneous immediacy which defies the speed of light. Yet this was accepted by science because the evidence was insistent. It seems to involve the same principle as we are recognising in the synchronicity of fate but at an extremely simplistic level. The great visionary physicist, Neils Bohr, explained the problem by declaring, ‘the universe is fundamentally interconnected, interdependent and inseparable.’ He was referring to connections beyond the range of conventional physics but this tantalising explanation has not been explored further.

Modern physics has abandoned the nineteenth century belief in a mechanistic determinism. In the face of the profound uncertainties at the heart of sub-atomic physics, which extend well beyond Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, modern science has ultimately had to abandon the very principle of causality at the heart of its logic. This rather undermines the foundations of physical science, the principle of the logos, the logic of cause and effect. If these gaps or uncertainties can be bridged by the subtler energy of metaphysics, as astrology, for instance, suggests, there is every possibility this determinism could be reinstated as a principle of existence. Not limited to the crude mechanistic, physical level which is far from a closed, independent system, but with a much wider scope embracing the subtle and profound metaphysical principles of karma and good. The uncertainties of physics essentially are the room for manoeuvre for subtler energies to determine the future.

CG Jung talked about synchronicity as an ‘acausal connecting principle’ which is really an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms, perhaps reflecting his inability to publicly entertain the idea of forces beyond those physical recognised by modern science. It may well remain a mystery beyond our present imagination how this profound synchronicity is possible. We can at least recognise there are metaphysical forces quite capable of linking our thoughts, actions, feelings and our entire environment with the subtlest motions and natures of the celestial spheres. Forces which to physical science are acausal, non existent.

To metaphysics there appears to be a multiplicity of causation, a profound synchronicity and harmony. It seems impossible to say where the determination lies, within ourselves, stardust microcosms whose actions clearly have consequences, or in the macrocosmic celestial spirits of the planet gods which equally clearly mark the pattern of our lives, or in the evident energies which surround us. This is the wonder of synchronicity, the wonder of astrology. It seems to suggest a synchronicity of determination, a synchronicity of causality. We can only imagine a transcendent universal Spirit which deems ‘all things shall work together for good.’ (Romans Ch.8 v.28,29) A concept of God.

Again, we must acknowledge this is the most attenuated territory and an appropriate occasion to repeat our mantric disclaimer : we are only trying to demonstrate the presence and range of this metaphysical pattern of ascending levels, not proposing its ultimate definition at this pioneer stage.

A very different candidate for this level is the subtle spiritual energies of homeopathy. Homeopathy essentially uses the essences of various plants and other natural materials which have been refined to the stage where there remains no physical molecule of the original substance. Something however does remain which is very specific to the original material and this can only be defined as ‘beyond the physical’ and therefore as metaphysical or spiritual, the spirit essence of the original matter.

We consider homeopathy more fully in Ancient Astrology and Modern Science but two points are worth making briefly here. Classically, the ethereal nature of homeopathy is defined by saying it would take a pill the size of the planet before it contained even one molecule of the original substance. The further it is diluted, rarefied, the greater its strength.

We might well consider homeopathy to be the best empirical evidence for the doctrine of animism with which metaphysics essentially agrees. If any substance can be methodically pared away, diluted, until only a definitively non-physical essence remains, and yet remain highly active according to its character, it demonstrates the residual spirit within.

Secondly, the stock charge of the placebo effect is undermined by the extensive use of homeopathy in farming. The multi-million pound organic farming industry depends on homeopathy and testifies dramatically improved health levels.

This homeopathic spirit should perhaps be arranged at a different level rather than this very active level we are presently considering, were it not that the process of refinement is accompanied by an extremely energetic process of ‘potentisation.’ This involves numerous succussions or intense shaking of the liquid essence which apparently gives it an active potential far beyond a mere passive distillation, even to the degree of a spirit essence. It is this potentisation which may qualify homeopathy to be ranked alongside these other highly active healing energies. Certainly its efficacy more than qualifies it for such company. It may even prove a more appropriate candidate for this level than cranial osteopathy, which might move to a subdivision of the next level. It is probably salutary to leave some questions hanging in this exercise.

Practitioners believe this spirit energy comes from outside, through the top of the head, and travels down to the hands. Many experience this as a distinct sensation. This receptivity implies a familiarity with this energy and the necessary circuits to conduct it through the body, both for the practitioner and the patient. Essentially it implies a boosting of our own reserves from outside, in both cases; and a close connection between this metaphysical level of energy and our physical needs, the object of healing.

The other great area of success is religious faith healing and, even if the Gospels are more myth than history, there is little doubt this form of healing does have a history which goes back well beyond the time of Jesus. There is also little doubt, just as this practice is alive and kicking in modern times and can claim some impressive successes, now as then it is also exploited shamelessly to gull the gullible. Many things are done in the name of faith which are short-sighted at best. This exploitation would not be possible if it were not founded on some solid and dramatic successes.
Whatever the fashionable contempt for faith healing, we must recognise the coherence and power of the spirit over our physical health which alone can explain the efficacy of this phenomenon.

The power of this internal joie de vivre is widely recognised in the treatment of cancer, one of the most obdurate and difficult of diseases which conventionally requires ruthless surgery and an extremely punishing regime of radiation and chemo therapy. Patients are encouraged to adopt a more healthy lifestyle but above all to learn to enjoy life. The dramatic successes of this ‘fulfilment therapy’ are legendary and commonplace.

It is often acknowledged the time a doctor spends with a patient can be more efficacious in the healing process than any other treatment, making the patient feel valued. Giving them good energy will resonate with their own better energies which may lie latent and depressed because they have been treated rather differently by others or have spent too long on their own.

All these ‘treatments’ suggest the energy of a spirit within us which has an almost unlimited power to right the wrongs of ill health. The sceptical can always argue this is simply the body’s own sophisticated physical systems coming into play and of course this is always true. Physical healing cannot be accomplished independently of our internal physiology but would that we could find some reliable ‘physic’ to stimulate these systems into such healing. This reliable physic is recognised by all as the physic of the spirit. All but modern science, that is.

Modern science’s reaction to the suggestion some level of spiritual energy might be involved in healing, or in any other unexplained phenomena, prompts Hamlet’s mother’s oft coined observation, ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks.’ When the evidence is legion, denials must fall like confetti. One day there shall be a taming of this beautiful young shrew by her penniless, venerable suitor. These sniping sciences shall prove a fertile unmatched marriage.

If there is any breach in our materialist Maginot Line, our determined defences against ‘the black tide of the occult,’ as Freud called it, any breach which admits a scintilla of credibility for astrology, animism or metaphysics, rationalism cannot long withstand the recognition of the planets as gods. With this breach, rationalism cannot long withhold recognition of the ascending realms of divinity defined by the Tradition of the astrological Tree of Life, alien as these may seem in the emerging twenty-first century’s august portals of ‘rational science.’ This metaphysical science, this knowledge, is the great grandfather of all true knowledge, all true science, apparently reborn at this time of unprecedented crisis to rescue his proud progeny, the material sciences, from their wilful follies.

It is not fortunate this provocative, pre-emptive preamble seems almost essential to draw the sting of dismissive dogma before mentioning the phrase ‘divine grace’ outside religious circles. Yet within the innermost religious circles, rationalism is not dismissed with reciprocal alacrity. Rational standards are embraced perhaps more readily than divine grace but divine grace is nevertheless embraced.

At the world-famous Lourdes pilgrimage site where divine grace is the object of the exercise for millions and is claimed many times over, the rigorousness of the assessment process for recognising such miracles bear impressive testimony to several pertinent points. In the last two decades less than a handful of cures have been recognised by this Church body as genuine manifestations of divine grace. The thoroughness of this scrutiny probably assures us these cases are best explained in this way, from any objective standpoint. We should also recognise, however, the scrutiny process accepts only cases where no other explanation is possible. A more mundane explanation will not always be the right one. Equally there should be no doubt divine grace is often masked in many mundane ways, too.

This rigour even more forcefully gives the lie to materialists who insist spiritualists are gullible fools or worse, who know a good earner when they are on to it. ‘Honi soit qui mal y pense.’ ‘The disgrace is in the mind of the beholder;’ this may tell us more about the accuser than the accused. Lourdes is a multi-million pound industry for the Catholic Church and the fact they are prepared to establish a commission which dismisses the claims of all but a tiny fraction of one per cent of the claims to divine healing from this prime site is testimony to a respect for truth which many scientists would do well to emulate, faced as they so often are by an apparent conflict of interests. The establishment of the commission also suggests an extraordinary confidence divine grace does operate and can be demonstrated.

It may well be argued this is faith healing but perhaps its rarity insists otherwise. The point is academic. If divinity exists, divine grace is as inevitable as rain in April, though only the drama of hail in May is noticed.

Research would probably provide numerous convincing, even verified instances, for all the innumerable cases which are more likely to be delusional or even charlatans’ tricks. The fact the most convincing instances come from complete ingénues, those with no interest in this world, suggests a convincing principle :if these powers are found in some people, they must be latent in us all. We do not all need to communicate with departed souls, including many who believe they do, desperately.

Dowsing using a pendulum is now commonly used in medical diagnosis in some of the many cases where conventional diagnosis falls short. It probably still needs to be said, this can only be a testament to its success.

The nature of the pendulum or dowsing rod may vary widely but the common essential is the human agent involved and the psychic nature of this gift now arouses little dispute, if little scientific acknowledgement.

Prophecy is endorsed by the sage founders of all faiths and prognostication was a staple trade among the ancients. The fact this was probably widely abused by charlatans again does not diminish its obvious success and this is still true in our own day. Astrologers today fight shy of prognostications which prescribe precise details, though they can certainly give useful information about critical periods and the kind of energies involved. Clairvoyance is a different gift, though not always the sham which opportunity too often prompts.

Clairvoyance traditionally has recourse to ‘consulting the runes’ and these may take many forms. CG Jung proposed synchronicity as an ‘acausal connecting principle’ in his Introduction to Richard Wilhelm’s translation of the Taoist Book of Changes, the Chinese I Ching. The runes in this case are the eight yin yang tri-grams which form the icons of the Taoist faith, still celebrated on the flag of South Korea. They are used for foretelling the future, with an accompanying text of appropriate advice and have been venerated for their wisdom and reliability for over three thousand years. These oracles have become extremely popular in the West in recent decades, with the usual double-edged conclusion of an inscrutable mix of wisdom and folly.

The inextricable magical mix we recognised earlier of cause and effect with synchronicity suggests almost any synchronous event may be taken as a sign of the future. This is very much as the ancient world understood the matter and descrying tea leaves need be no more irrelevant than palmistry, Tarot cards or reading the flight of birds, counting magpies. This last has left its indelible legacy in the terms ‘auspices’ and ‘auspicious,’ tokens of fate. An auspicium was a Roman ‘bird-seer’ from avis, a bird, and specere, to observe.

If we live in a world where the spiritual forces of astrology operate, magic is natural and nothing is impossible. This is perhaps one of the roots of material science’s objections but we will not eliminate the deception this premise invites by denying the spiritual facts of life. There is plenty of scope for the temptation to deception in many other fields while as we have seen time and again in modern history, if we attempt to deny the realm of the spirit, human instinct will deny the denial.

In a world of materialist moral values, corruption is inevitable and modern materialist science has produced more than its fair share ‘up to no good.’ Only trust in a higher truth and recognition of the iron law of karma (‘as you do, so shall you be done by’) offers any better.

There is a temptation to associate the infectious and almost epidemic spiritual skill of fire walking with this level and it certainly demonstrates at a slightly less impressive level the power of – not mere material mind over matter, that cannot be literally countenanced as an adequate explanation, however the phrase appeals – this is the spirit transforming the body.

These are the spiritual energies we might ascribe to our ka, a spirit body the Egyptians recognised as the shadow of the ba, or immortal spirit which transmigrates from life to life, body to body. It is perhaps this ka spirit which is responsible for the phenomenon of ‘astral travelling,’ again familiar in the accounts of spiritual phenomena. These include accounts of the ‘ghosts’ or spirits of living people appearing to their nearest and dearest at times of great stress, across oceans and even accounts of those who can recall making this journey in their ‘astral body,’ stories which are verified by the reports of what they witnessed on arrival. Yet again, there is properly no scientific reason to doubt these accounts when they are otherwise absolutely convincing.

Similarly, on top of this we have a catalogue of impressive testimonies of Near Death Experiences (NDEs) where people recall leaving their bodies while clinically dead. Typically they remember, in verified detail, from an elevated perspective, near the ceiling, the frantic efforts to revive them before returning reluctantly to their failing bodies. These experiences clearly demonstrate we have a ‘spirit body’ quite independent of our physical body which removes the chief obstacle to accepting the age old advice we have an immortal spirit.

Christianity proclaims its endorsement of reincarnation quite clearly in the Gospels, particularly in Christ’s unequivocal assertion John the Baptist is Elijah returned. The Christian doctrine of ‘resurrection’ is affirmed by Paul to be identical to the Pharisaic doctrine of resurrection, which is all about reincarnation.

Heaven on Earth is based on the simple premise the spiritual science of astrology, once acknowledged, immediately implies not only the general affirmation of a spiritual dimension and spiritual phenomena but, accordingly, the specific affirmation of our immortal spirit. As our astrological religions unanimously proclaim. These great faiths are not trying to hoodwink us with shameless lies but are intent on convincing us of the spiritual facts of life. Or who would support their sort ?

There has been so much impressive literature on reincarnation and so much impressive evidence, the only possible rational resistance to this is the assertion there can be no spiritual dimension, no level of energy beyond the physical. When this fallacy is exposed by the recognition of astrology or any verified spiritual phenomena, the fact of our Spirit within shines bright, glorious and, rationally, incontrovertible. Then we realise what it is to be ourselves, to come into our inheritance, to claim our birthright, to be human.

Heaven on Earth bases its confidence in the case for astrology firstly on the revelation of the primacy and the supremely sophisticated ancient knowledge of this spiritual science. The Tree of Life shows ancient astrology included the knowledge of the most distant planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto and had an extremely elevated understanding of the spiritual significance of this comprehensive astrology. This sophistication established the position of the Tree of Life at the heart of the Bible and all other ancient faiths, worldwide. When wise men understood these things.

The second major pillar of this confidence in astrology is the exoteric or public face of the same coin. It is the unequalled prestige, strength and lineage which astrology can claim through history : the unquestionable fact it was openly practiced, endorsed and supported by the great and the good for, literally, ages, at the heart of all the great civilisations of ancient days. If this is not a convincing testimony, we perhaps need to examine the jury.

The third pillar is this same elevated endorsement in our own times. The most eminent and qualified minds of the twentieth century, particularly Einstein and Jung, have supported astrology, Jung as an expert practitioner, as part of his profession. A whole army of sincere, rational and professional astrologers have had the courage to stand by their convictions even though it may make them the object of curiosity and contempt in many established circles of society. Then there are the great and the good who quietly endorse and value astrology, too many to enumerate.

Astrology is the science behind the spiritual facts of life. Our immortal soul is the pinnacle and most prized treasure of these priceless truths, the point of the pyramids and the essential message of all the celebrated Pyramid Texts.

There is no insuperable reason this Spirit must remain unconscious to our conscious minds. It has often surfaced. It can easily be encouraged to surface more often.

As the Tao Spirits illustration begins to show below, there are not merely these five levels within all creation but an infinitely expanding hierarchy of these five within each level itself. This pretty diagram perhaps carries the suggestion of a conceit of complexity. Instead we should respectfully explore these brief, esoteric hints which preserve the wisdom of the ancients. They are the wisdom of several millennia, the fruit of many fine and dedicated minds, of that there should be no question.

This scheme may not be convincing as a definitive map of the metaphysical realm and the pattern of the five spirits within various levels of phenomena. There is a provocative disparity between the scheme outline in the illustration and the pattern proposed in more detail above. This especially differs in the roles played by the ba and the ka, to use the ancient Egyptian terms. These spiritual phenomena are subtle and elusive to our unpractised minds.

By definition they are also unverifiable by the mechanical and materialistic standards of modern science. If we adopt more human standards, these phenomena would convince most unbiased juries they are ‘beyond reasonable doubt.’

It appears to be an essential prerequisite to recognising this definitively human realm that we adopt radically different standards in assessing evidence. In human evidence the standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ is considered the ultimate test. The lesser ‘balance of probability’ is widely accepted in civil suits of momentous gravity.

The higher standard would seem an appropriate test of evidence in these cases to satisfy the reasonable scepticism of science, the reasonable standards for ‘knowledge.’ Already there is a wide perception science requires proof in the spiritual sphere ‘beyond unreasonable doubt.’

If science is not prepared to judge by the standards humanity judges, then humanity will judge science itself and convict it all too readily of inhumanity. And one day, as happened to an arrogant church, its baby, too, will be thrown out with the bath water. Rational science will be discredited and overthrown and that would be a great loss.

If we adopt appropriate standards of evidence in this sphere based on natural humanity, what we unquestionably get is an impressive range of phenomena all of which are familiar enough from contemporary folklore, popular anecdote, to suggest something is going on which modern science is at a loss to explain.

The arrangement of these phenomena presented here depends on a metaphysical understanding which is the same in modern western thinking as in ancient Chinese thought, a global science stretching back more millennia than we can safely calculate.

It should persuade modern scientific minds Prof. Stephen Hawking was over-hasty in dismissing the spiritual world as 'porridge,' lacking the clarity of modern physics.* Though it is commendably candid to concede as much, what kind of science admits there is more but recoils from spiritual knowledge and truth because it is not available on a crystal plate, at the end of a lens ? What kind of science promises a ‘Theory of Everything’ while quietly deciding to leave out the cloudy doubts ?

This spiritual realm presents a fascinating new frontier for modern science which we will ignore at our loss and peril. In truth there is no clearly defined border between it and the material world, they occupy the same continent and are of the same family, lately estranged as they may be.