A fairy seems to fly across the screen top left past my head at 13.27 mins into this! In this Tea I mention how excited I am to announce the launch of a new experience-based course in Psychosynthesis starting in February. I’ve been working on it for the last year along with three wonderful colleagues. Together we’ll take the psychospiritual journey that this foundational Transpersonal Psychology offers AND learn its theories and methods. Find out more here:
In Theosophy, *Antahkarana* refers to a “bridge” or connection between the higher and lower aspects of a human being’s consciousness. It’s often called the “Rainbow Bridge” because it symbolizes a spectrum of energies linking the physical and spiritual realms.
In detail, Antahkarana connects the higher spiritual self (or higher mind) with the lower personal self (the mind, emotions, and physical body). The higher self is connected to divine wisdom and spiritual insight, while the lower self deals with everyday thoughts and feelings. The concept suggests that as individuals grow spiritually, they strengthen and build this bridge, making it easier for their higher consciousness to guide their actions in everyday life.
The “Rainbow” aspect also refers to the idea that this bridge allows energy to flow across different levels of existence (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual). It represents the progression of spiritual evolution, leading to unity with the higher self and ultimately, a connection with the divine or universal consciousness. And here are some further notes on the Antakharana:
What is the Antahkarana? This Sanskrit term, which literally means “the inner cause,” is defined differently by different teachings and schools of thought. Hindu philosophy defines it one way, the New Age Movement defines it in a plethora of other ways, and Theosophy defines it another way…It’s one of the most important, occult, and practical, concepts in the Theosophical teachings.To be able to understand it, one first has to be acquainted with the sevenfold nature of the human being, which includes the dual nature of mind. Links to articles on these subjects can be found below but for now we can briefly summarise it like this:The “mind” with which you or I or any one of us is most familiar and accustomed to is our personal self-consciousness, our personal ego or sense of “I”, our everyday thinking faculty, the mind which is connected with and works through the brain.This, says Theosophy, is our “present personality,” and exists for the duration of one lifetime, it being the Karmic effect and resultant of preceding incarnations. It is known as the Lower Manas, “Manas” being the Sanskrit for “mind.”There is a Higher Manas, which is our “permanent Individuality,” our Higher Ego (note that “Higher Ego” and “Higher Self” are not synonymous terms, although similar), our true immortal “I.” This is our actual soul and it reincarnates on Earth through a successive series of Lower Manases or personas, all in accordance with the Karma created by those Lower Manases. This Higher Manas is a Being of Light. It is a divine Entity, our own Inner God, and exists on its own transcendent plane, above and beyond our physical material plane… thankfully a connecting link exists between our Higher Ego and lower ego, our Higher Manas and Lower Manas, and this link is what we call the Antahkarana…The ideal, however, is for the effects of the Antahkarana to be a constant and conscious feature of our daily and nightly lives, until such a time in some future embodiment as we succeed in completely and permanently merging Lower Manas with Higher Manas, reuniting the two, the accomplishment of which brings unbroken continuity of consciousness which is the true meaning of immortality…, the bridge of communication between the Personality and the individuality” – the bridge between the Psyche and the Nous… it is not only a bridge or link but it is “the Path”… we can deduce is that popular expressions such as “treading the Path,” “walking the Path,” and so on, are really referring to the internal constructing and journeying, or advancing along, this Antahkarana that we have been talking about.
From ‘Antahkarana – The Path” at: https://blavatskytheosophy.com/antahkarana-the-path/
Antahkarana (devanāgarī: अन्तःकरण Antaḥkaraṇa) is a Sanskrit term that means “internal organ”. In Hindu philosophy it refers to the totality of the mind, including the thinking faculty, memory, the sense of I-ness, and the discriminating faculty.In Theosophy the term is used with a special meaning that differs from the Hindu. According to H. P. Blavatsky the antahkarana is an aspect or function of the lower mind that retains its original purity, active whenever there is a spiritual aspiration. It is, figuratively speaking, a “path” or “bridge” that acts as a two-way communication. Through antahkarana the spiritual influence of the higher manas is conveyed to the personality, and all good and noble activity of the lower manas can reach the higher…
Q. The Antahkarana is the link between the Higher and the Lower Egos; does it correspond to the umbilical cord in projection?
A. No; the umbilical cord joining the astral to the physical body is a real thing. Antahkarana is imaginary, a figure of speech, and is only the bridging over from the Higher to the Lower Manas.
https://theosophy.wiki/en/Antahkarana
photo taken at the recent Medicine Festival at Wasing