A Theosophical definition of Personality :

Personality

Theosophists draw a clear and sharp distinction, not of essence but of quality, between personality and individuality.

Personality comes from the Latin word persona, which means a mask, through which the actor, the spiritual individuality, speaks. The personality is all the lower man: all the psychical and astral and physical impulses and thoughts and tendencies, and what not. It is the reflection in matter of the individuality; but being a material thing it can lead us downwards, although it is in essence a reflection of the highest. Freeing ourselves from the domination of the person, the mask, the veil, through which the individuality acts, then we show forth all the spiritual and so-called superhuman qualities; and this will happen in the future, in the far distant aeons of the future, when every human being shall have become a buddha, a christ. Such is the destiny of the human race.

In occultism the distinction between the personality and the immortal individuality is that drawn between the lower quaternary or four lower principles of the human constitution and the three higher principles of the constitution or higher triad. The higher triad is the individuality; the personality is the lower quaternary. The combination of these two into a unity during a lifetime on earth produces what we now call the human being. The personality comprises within its range all the characteristics and memories and impulses and karmic attributes of one physical life; whereas the individuality is the aeonic ego, imperishable and deathless for the period of a solar manvantara. It is the individuality through its ray or human astral-vital monad which reincarnates time after time and thus clothes itself in one personality after another personality.

See also: Personality , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

A Theosophical definition of Ego :

Ego

(Latin) A word meaning "I." In theosophical writings the ego is that which says "I am I"  - indirect or reflected consciousness, consciousness reflected back upon itself as it were, and thus recognizing its own mayavi existence as a "separate" entity. On this fact is based the one genuine "heresy" that occultism recognizes: the heresy of separateness.

The seat of the human ego is the intermediate duad  - manas-kama: part aspiring upwards, which is the reincarnating ego; and part attracted below, which is the ordinary or astral human ego. The consciousness is immortal in the reincarnating ego, and temporary or mortal in the lower or astral human ego.

Consider the hierarchy of the human being's constitution to grow from the immanent Self: this last is the seed of egoity on the seven (or perhaps better, six) planes of matter or manifestation. On each one of these seven planes (or six), the immanent Self or paramatman develops or evolves a sheath or garment, the upper ones spun of spirit, and the lower ones spun of "shadow" or matter. Now each such sheath or garment is a "soul"; and between the self and such a soul  - any soul  - is the ego.

Thus atman is the divine monad, giving birth to the divine ego, which latter evolves forth the monadic envelope or divine soul; jivatman, the spiritual monad, has its child which is the spiritual ego, which in turn evolves forth the spiritual soul or individual; and the combination of these three considered as a unit is buddhi; bhutatman, the human ego  - the higher human soul, including the lower buddhi and higher manas; pranatman, the personal ego  - the lower human soul, or man. It includes manas, kama, and prana; and finally the beast ego  - the vital-astral soul: kama and prana.

See also: Ego , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

2005-04-23

Grape Cure (grape diet): Mono-diet advanced by Johanna Brandt, N.D., Ph.N., author of The Grape Cure ((c) 1928). The front matter of the 1967 edition, a paperback published by Benedict Lust Publications, quotes the author: My discovery of the Grape diet is the direct result of Divine Illumination.

The grape diet consists of grapes or grape juice. Brandt held that the mind operated through magnetism and that the Grape Cure contributed to the purification and buildup of magnetism. She recommended it for appendicitis, cancer, diabetes, gout, pyorrhea, rheumatism, scurvy, sex problems, tuberculosis, unnatural cravings (as for alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, and tobacco), and other conditions. Under the heading Sex Problems, she stated: By the magical purification of the blood the nerves are stabilized, self-control is established and our God-given heritage of sense and desire is transmitted into divine creative power.

(See also: Grape Cure , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Chi

(Chinese, "ether," "matter-energy," "vital energy," "material force")

An important and multifaceted term in Chinese religion, philosophy, and science, the root meaning of which is "moist vapor" or "breath. "

• Early Chinese teachers spoke of chi as a vital spirit or energy that animated living beings. As such, it had to be properly nourished.
• For Confucians, that required moral cultivation so that one's chi, undistracted by external things, would conform to the dictates of will.
• For Taoists, it required mastery of the self through meditation, breath control, diet, yoga, and other techniques so as to harmonize one's chi with the material force of the universe ordered by the Tao (undifferentiated unity).

Traditional Chinese medicine attributed illnesses primarily to imbalances in the chi that pulsed through the body. Acupuncture, moxibustion (placing burning cones made of the dried leaves of the Artemisia moxa plant on the patient's skin), and other techniques helped to restore its balanced circulation.

Chi was also an important concept in the correlative philosophy that blossomed in the early Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 8) systematizing the correspondences between like things that explained their mutual interactions.

In the Neo-Confucian metaphysics of the Northern and Southern Sung dynasties (960-1279), all phenomena were said to be manifest through the intrinsic relation of principle (li) and material force (chi). Li constituted the essential, unchanging, perfect nature of all things, while chi represented their corporeal, transitory, and potentially flawed aspect. Individuals were instructed to perfect their humanity, to purify and harmonize their chi with their true Heavenendowed nature through the external investigation of things and mental introspection. Also Ki.

(See also: Chi , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Chinese auricular therapy (Chinese auricular acupuncture, traditional Chinese auricular acu-points therapy, traditional Chinese auricular acupuncture, traditional Chinese auricular therapy): Group of TCM techniques whose channel theory differs from that of body acupuncture. Its apparent principle is that several areas and more than a hundred acupoints on the auricle (the outer portion of the ear) interactively relate to other areas or to diseases. The fetuslike contour of the auricle inspired the distribution of points thereon. Chinese auricular therapy, which differs from auriculotherapy, includes: auricular analgesia, auricular diagnosis, auricular magnetic therapy, auricular massage, auricular moxibustion, auricular point injection, the auricular point laser-stimulating method, bleeding manipulation, and the seed-pressure method.

(See also: Chinese auricular therapy , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Death :

Death

Death occurs when a general break-up of the constitution of man takes place; nor is this break-up a matter of sudden occurrence, with the exceptions of course of such cases as mortal accidents or suicides. Death is always preceded, varying in each individual case, by a certain time spent in the withdrawal of the monadic individuality from an incarnation, and this withdrawal of course takes place coincidently with a decay of the seven-principle being which man is in physical incarnation. This decay precedes physical dissolution, and is a preparation of and by the consciousness-center for the forthcoming existence in the invisible realms. This withdrawal actually is a preparation for the life to come in invisible realms, and as the septenary entity on this earth so decays, it may truly be said to be approaching rebirth in the next sphere.

Death occurs, physically speaking, with the cessation of activity of the pulsating heart. There is the last beat, and this is followed by immediate, instantaneous unconsciousness, for nature is very merciful in these things. But death is not yet complete, for the brain is the last organ of the physical body really to die, and for some time after the heart has ceased beating, the brain and its memory still remain active and, although unconsciously so, the human ego for this short length of time, passes in review every event of the preceding life. This great or small panoramic picture of the past is purely automatic, so to say; yet the soul-consciousness of the reincarnating ego watches this wonderful review incident by incident, a review which includes the entire course of thought and action of the life just closed. The entity is, for the time being, entirely unconscious of everything else except this. Temporarily it lives in the past, and memory dislodges from the akasic record, so to speak, event after event, to the smallest detail: passes them all in review, and in regular order from the beginning to the end, and thus sees all its past life as an all-inclusive panorama of picture succeeding picture.

There are very definite ethical and psychological reasons inhering in this process, for this process forms a reconstruction of both the good and the evil done in the past life, and imprints this strongly as a record on the fabric of the spiritual memory of the passing being. Then the mortal and material portions sink into oblivion, while the reincarnating ego carries the best and noblest parts of these memories into the devachan or heaven-world of postmortem rest and recuperation. Thus comes the end called death; and unconsciousness, complete and undisturbed, succeeds, until there occurs what the ancients called the second death.

The lower triad (prana, linga-sarira, sthula-sarira) is now definitely cast off, and the remaining quaternary is free. The physical body of the lower triad follows the course of natural decay, and its various hosts of life-atoms proceed whither their natural attractions draw them. The linga-sarira or model-body remains in the astral realms, and finally fades out. The life-atoms of the prana, or electrical field, fly instantly back at the moment of physical dissolution to the natural pranic reservoirs of the planet.

This leaves man, therefore, no longer a heptad or septenary entity, but a quaternary consisting of the upper duad (atma-buddhi) and the intermediate duad (manas-kama). The second death then takes place.

Death and the adjective dead are mere words by which the human mind seeks to express thoughts which it gathers from a more or less consistent observation of the phenomena of the material world. Death is dissolution of a component entity or thing. The dead, therefore, are merely dissolving bodies  - entities which have reached their term on this our physical plane. Dissolution is common to all things, because all physical things are composite: they are not absolute things. They are born; they grow; they reach maturity; they enjoy, as the expression runs, a certain term of life in the full bloom of their powers; then they "die." That is the ordinary way of expressing what men call death; and the corresponding adjective is dead, when we say that such things or entities are dead.

Do you find death per se anywhere? No. You find nothing but action; you find nothing but movement; you find nothing but change. Nothing stands still or is annihilated. What is called death itself shouts forth to us the fact of movement and change. Absolute inertia is unknown in nature or in the human mind; it does not exist.

See also: Death , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

PRANA

the yogic concept of a cosmic energy or life force, similar to the Chinese idea of chi, that enters the body with the breath. Prana is thought to flow through the body, bringing health and vitality. It is considered the vital link between the spiritual self and the material self.

(See also: PRANA , Alternative Health, Healing, Body Mind and Soul)

Astral Body

The soul. That part of the individual which dwells on the astral plane. The densest part of the individual to survive death. That vehicle through which one astral travels. The emotional body.

(See also: Astral Body , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

subconscious mind: Samskara chitta ("impression mind").

The part of mind "beneath" the conscious mind, the storehouse or recorder of all experience (whether remembered consciously or not) - the holder of past impressions, reactions and desires. Also, the seat of involuntary physiological processes.

See: awareness, mind, chitta, consciousness, maya, tattva, world, Three phases of mind, Five states of the mind.

(See also: Subconscious mind , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Panchakarma

In Ayurveda treatment consists of four basic forms, namely - medicine or drug therapy, pancha (five) karma (actions/ systems), dietary regime and regulation of lifestyle. And works in two fundamental ways - cure and prevention.

The preventive aspect of treatment is further subdivided into swastha varta (personal hygiene) - consisting of dinacharya (daily routine), ritucharya (seasonal corrections) and sadachara (appropriate behaviour) - rasayana & vajikarana (rejuvenation & virlification) and yoga. The curative aspect consists of three parts antati parimaijana (internal medicine) - consisting of samsodhana (internal purification through panchkarma) and samsamana (curative action) - external medicine as massage, use of pastes & powders and finally surgical treatment.

The deep cleansing process, unique to Ayurveda, that enables the body to release excess doshas and toxins from its cells and expel them is called Panchakarma, which basically denotes detoxification or elimination of toxins from the body. Although the human body is considered as a great, intelligent, natural healing system capable of rejuvenating itself, the formation of toxins reduces that natural capacity. It is then that Panchakarma plays a crucial role in that correction.

(See also: Panchakarma , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Body Characteristics - double dosha body types

VATA-PITTA

Their characteristics show a combination of vata & pitta, for example they often have wavy hair, caused by a combination of vata’s curliness and pitta’s straightness. They generally have the poor circulation , though they love to eat but they will have trouble digesting large meals.

A healthy balanced vata - pitta person have a capacity for original thought, a vata’s characteristic, and also expertise at application of theory, a pitta’s characteristic. As lightness and intensity are the common qualities of vata & pitta. Proper direction of this intensity calls for harnessing the lightness for intensive self development. When a person having imbalanced vata & pitta fear alternates with anger as a response to stress.

(See also: Double dosha body types , Ayurveda, Ayurvedic Dictionary, Alternative Health, Body Mind and Soul)

Universal Soul At one time identified as mahat or mahabhuddhi, the vehicle of kosmic spirit or paramatman, but more frequently called anima mundi, the world-soul, alaya, the astral light of the Qabbalists, the spiritually and ethereally material reflection of the immaterial cosmic paramatmic ideal; hence the universal soul is the source of life of all beings. '

It is regarded as sevenfold, tenfold, or twelvefold in its nature and structure. Taking the triad of spirit, soul, and body, it stands for the middle region, being at once the vehicle of spirit and the prototypical model of the material worlds. Thus it stands for the higher ranges of the astral light as the storehouse of ideas impressed upon it by the creative spiritual forces, and the transmitter of them to the world of material and physical objectivity. In this view it would be the source of the intermediate human principles.

See also UNIVERSAL MIND

(See also: Universal Soul , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

A Theosophical definition of Astral Body :

Astral Body

This is the popular term for the model-body, the linga-sarira. It is but slightly less material than is the physical body, and is in fact the model or framework around which the physical body is builded, and from which, in a sense, the physical body flows or develops as growth proceeds. It is the vehicle of prana or life-energy, and is, therefore, the container of all the energies descending from the higher parts of the human constitution by means of the pranic stream.

The astral body precedes in time the physical body, and is the pattern around which the physical body is slavishly molded, atom by atom. In one sense the physical body may be called the deposit or dregs or lees of the astral body; the astral body likewise in its turn is but a deposit from the auric egg.

See also: Astral Body , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

REINCARNATION

Advanced minds seem to take reincarnation for granted: Plato, Emerson, Edison, Shaw, Jung -- even Nietzsche and Schopenhauer. All life transmigrates -- indeed, not just life, but everything "returns." Many find the latter idea hard to take -- as though there must be not only no mice in the Afterworld, but no machines! Yet, obviously, if one thing evolves, then everything evolves. Molecules of steel and granite cling tenaciously, as do we, to permanence and the spider chooses her life, even as we choose ours, because spiderdom is the acme of her aspirations. Where the will exists, there return exists.

Even if the evolution of life out of the inanimate does not indicate mind apart from brain, even if it demonstrates only the "accidental" fact that things must mutate "upward" or else dissolve downward into entropy, then "mind" or "purpose" is synonymous with or implicit in "accidence" itself. The one apodictic truth is that life and complexification have prevailed, whatever else has not, including the "content" of entropy.

The universe is mind, as we've pointed out elsewhere. The purpose of mind is to know itself, and knowing can succeed only through particularization.

One way to understand metempsychosis is to imagine our poor sublunary lives as pressings onto phonograph records, on the Akasha's etheric record. When the Atma particle, or Oversoul, incarnates, it shuffles off its generalized shell and starts to particularize. In so doing it may, under certain rare and privileged circumstances, find itself able to examine previous akashic recordings in which it formed similar particularizations. The Oversoul itself, however, is made up of all these countless recorded souls. With each experience it grows in metamorphic complexity. In the Oversoul the Whole is greater that its parts -- although when it separates individually the part is naturally greater than the Whole.

The Buddhists hold that there is no "immutable soul." Therefore reincarnation is simply a way of expressing the rebirth of unenlightened mind. Rebirth is then merely like the same sand pouring into different vessels: bucket, goblet, urn, etc. If death is the abandonment of personal self, then the dividing walls between us crumble and memory has access to all former lives. Most people tend to remember only the former lives of the more interesting or arresting personalities: kings, queens, martyrs, monsters, etc. That's why there are so many former Napoleons and Cleopatras and so few kitchenmaids and village idiots.

Finally, we must detach ourselves from the encapsulating Xtian belief in literal "Resurrection." We must understand that the "raising of the dead" is a metaphorical version, not of reincarnation, but of renewal within life. To be reborn of the flesh, of fire, of water and the spirit -- these are its tetramorphic aspects, to be sure, but resurrection, reincarnation and being "born again" are all symbols of the birth or rebirth of the spirit within the "dead" soul of materialistic greed. Rebirth begins before physical death and proceeds post-mortem into actual reincarnation. Reincarnation per se, however, is not acceptable to orthodox Xtianity in the slightest because it neutralizes Salvation.

(See also: REINCARNATION , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Calvinism

A system of Christian interpretation initiated by John Calvin. It emphasizes predestination and salvation. The five points of Calvinism were developed in response to the Arminian position (See Arminianism).

Calvinism teaches:

1)    Total depravity: that man is touched by sin in all parts of his being: body, soul, mind, and emotions,

2)    Unconditional Election: that GodÕs favor to Man is completely by GodÕs free choice and has nothing to do with Man. It is completely undeserved by Man and is not based on anything God sees in man,

3)    Limited atonement: that Christ did not bear the sins of every individual who ever lived, but instead only bore the sins of those who were elected into salvation,

4)    Irresistible grace: that God's call to someone for salvation cannot be resisted,

5)    Perseverance of the saints: that it is not possible to lose one's salvation.

(See also: Calvinism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

JIN SHIN DO

Developed by psychotherapist Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, Jin Shin Do combines gentle, yet deep finger pressure on acu-points with simple body focusing techniques to release physical and emotional tension. The client determines the depth of the pressure.

Jin Shin Do promotes a pleasurable, trancelike state during which the recipient can get in touch with the body and access feelings or emotions related to the physical condition. This body/mind approach, performed on the fully-clothed client, is a synthesis of a traditional Japanese acupressure technique, classic Chinese acupuncture theory, Taoist yogic philosophy and breathing methods, and Reichian segmental theory. The client lies on her back on a massage table while the practitioner holds “local points” in tension areas together with related “distal points,” which help the armored places to release more easily and deeply. A typical session is about 11?2 hours.

Jin Shin Do acupressure is effective in helping relieve tension and fatigue, stress-related headaches and gastro-intestinal problems, back and shoulder pain, eye strain, menstrual and menopausal imbalances, sinus pain, and allergies. (With medical problems, the client is asked to consult a doctor.) Over a period of 10 or more sessions, armoring is progressively released in the head, neck, shoulders, chest, diaphragm, abdomen, pelvis, and legs.

After sessions, clients typically feel deeply relaxed and may even feel euphoric. If the client is responsive, there will be significantly less tension and pain together with an increased sense of well-being for hours or days. This response will tend to extend after further sessions. In the case of chronic fatigue, initially the client may feel more tired after a session, because the body is demanding rest. It is advisable to schedule sessions with time to rest and relax afterward. On the other hand, Jin Shin Do can be used before athletic events to improve performance, for horses as well as for people. “The Way of the Compassionate Spirit” is based on the eight “Strange Flows” that regulate the entire body/mind energy.

(See also: JIN SHIN DO , Alternative Health, Massage, Bodywork, Body Mind and Soul)

Nirvana (Sanskrit). According to the Orientalists, the entire "blowing out", like the flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and

absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during life. (See "Nirvani".)

(See also: Nirvana , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

transformation-oriented bodywork (transformational bodywork): Combination of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual processes related to energetic balancing (see energy balancing), psychotherapy, spiritual counseling, and touch therapy. Transformation-oriented bodywork descends from bioenergetics, massage, the personal/spiritual growth movement, and Reichian Therapy. its fundamental principles include the following. (a) Constricted muscles block energy in the body. (b) Constriction shows up as pettiness. (c) The Highest Ideal lies in the realm of Divinity, the Source of both life and meaning for humans and the earth.

(See also: Transformation-oriented bodywork , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

Qi (Chee, chi, ki, Ki energy, Qui): Broadly,a vital force that underlies functioning of body, mind, and spirit. The concept of this multifaceted cosmic life force is fundamental to various practices termed Chinese, including architecture, art, health practices, magic, and martial arts. According to Qigong theory, Qi encompasses air and internal Qi, or true Qi, which includes essential Qi (vital energy).

(See also: Qi - Chee, chi, ki, Ki energy, Qui , Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

For those who are single and who would like to find their soul mate, what do the Cayce readings have to offer?

The principle of soul mates and twin souls are potentially both helpful and misleading. These concepts can help us understand some of the key factors in making a wise choice of a marriage but they can also be misleading.

Read more here: » Spiritual Soul Mates: Find your Soul Mate

When we seek the perfect diet, what is it we are really seeking? At the soul level, beyond appearances and the everyday concerns of the outer self, the longing for absolute physical health reflects deeply held convictions about transcending earthly limitations, about going beyond sickness and disease to a state of perfection. We must remember, however, that immortality and perfection do not represent the human experience in the physical realm.

Read more here: » Body Mind and Soul: Nourishing the Spirit