This post makes a daring attempt to move into realms rarely talked about in the Ageless Wisdom teachings, let alone mentioned in Integral, by attempting to suggest what may be involved as we head into what is known as the Buddhic Plane. 

To begin with in the chart below I attempt to vastly extend the levels discussed in Integral. These levels are found in the Ageless Wisdom teachings by Alice Bailey. I have simply added some color correspondences and am doing my best to suggest what may be involved developmentally and spiritually.

If you have been following this blog, you will see that the chart below has been dramatically extended in terms of adding colors for the Buddhic, Atmic, and even this time the Physical Plane. (Note: I described quite extensively the levels of the physical plane as discussed in the Alice Bailey model in a video not posted on this blog and no longer open to public viewing. At some point I may blog about the levels in the future). In this chart I have attempted to ensure that one major color dominates each level, with variations of the color within the sub-levels (or sub-planes as they are also called).  You will also note that with every major plane I have worked to make the colors blend from the previous color that dominates below into the color above, while attempting to stick to the general color of any major plane or level. Also, please understand I am not attached to these color choices. I am simply presenting a working model subject to change as needed.

model-1-24-2017

As for the colors of the Buddhic plane you can see them more clearly below. The color green is the main color, because of the association of green with the heart chakra. As students of the Ageless Wisdom teachings set forth in the Alice Bailey system know, the Buddhic plane is considered to be the “heart chakra” of our planet.

buddhic-sub-planes

What does it mean to have our consciousness reside on the Buddhic plane? In this post I can only make generalizations. And, as my understanding evolves so might my thoughts on the matter. (Note: I am also welcome to your thoughts so long as the conversation remains civil). To help orient our thinking I thought it would be useful to make a kind of summary of the main planes or levels and their developmental tasks first.

  • Physical Plane – The physical world as we know it. Rudimentary and very primitive “mind” used mainly for physical survival.
  • Emotional Plane – Not just the realm of the emotions, but mainly the realm of desires created by the “kama-manasic” mind, or desire mind. There is mind, and it is more developed than in the physical plane realm, but that mind is focused on fulfilling one’s desires. These desires also pertain to a sense of separated self or “I”. The less one is able to fulfill these desires the more one lives in the “hell” realms in the magenta level of the emotional (astral) plane. The more one is able to fulfill all that one desires the more one lives in the “heaven” or even “God” realms that I have given the color and name of Mustard (which corresponds with the Orange color of the Integral model).
  • Mental Plane – Here desires are increasingly burned out in the sense that we no longer desire material stuff (power, pleasure/sex, money/wealth). The focus has shifted and mind becomes utilized not just to get what we desire, but to discover what is worth desiring based on a growing perception of the “Real.” The we, or larger “I,” increasingly is replacing the smaller and separative “I”. One begins to mentally grasp larger wholes/systems/holons. These begin to condition or shape one’s understanding of reality. Heaven (known as Devachan in the Theosophical system) is no longer a place where one’s personal desires are satisfied (as was the case on the higher levels of the emotional/astral plane). Heaven is a place where we increasingly want to uplift the suffering of others. At first this is done because mentally it sounds/feels/looks right to do so. To a large extent this is based on a theoretical understanding of Reality. It does not come from a grounded experiential understanding of the Real. It is the difference between saying, “We are all One” (a mental construct), and living as One (a buddhic plane realization). As we move into the causal body and its twelve petals that each represent certain stages of spiritual growth and development, we increasingly are taken over by experiences that help us understand this Oneness from the inside out. (Note: I have spoken of the causal body (or the egoic lotus as it is also called) in previous posts. This “soul flower” and its developmental stages is typically found on the 3rd sub-plane of the mental plane, which I have given the color pastel yellow in the color chart I am using. As we move into the causal body (or egoic lotus) we are said to move onto the Path of Discipleship (to use an Alice Bailey term), that leads us to make greater and greater sacrifices paving the way for us to move onto the Buddhic plane.
  • Buddhic Plane. The level of Self Realization, Love, Wisdom, Compassion, Bodhisattva’s, Love in Action, the Planetary Heart.
  • Atmic Plane. The level of Will, becoming the Mah-Atma (the Great Atma), or Mahatma, where we become an agent of planetary change for the overall planetary good.
  • Monadic/Divine. Not discussed here as it no longer has to do with human evolution, but an evolution of a different kind referred to in various traditions as angelic and so forth.

What does it mean to be on the Buddhic plane? In another post I will make my feeble attempt to describe the sub-planes of the Buddhic plane. For now, I would like to suggest that just as we go through the death of the physical body (or orientation to physical survival alone) on the lowest sub-plane of the emotional plane (magenta), and go through the death of the emotional body on the lowest sub-plane of the mental plane (dandelion), we go through a similar death this time of the mental body as we move onto the lowest plane of the buddhic plane (lawn green). What might this mean?

We are told in the Labors of Hercules by Alice Bailey, that the mental plane has within it a number of difficulties, the main ones being the tendencies toward pride, criticism and separation. As we reach the Buddhic plane we have already cultivated a mind highly capable of holding within it various systems of abstract thinking (philosophical, mathematical, scientific, and capable of synthesizing many points of view). But, as we arrive onto the Buddhic plane this tendency to use the mind in this way must be “killed off.” This does not mean we no longer have a mind. Rather, it means that the mind is used in service to something higher. This is similar to what happens at the death of the astral body. We don’t really kill off desire when the astral body is released at the 7th sub-plane of the mental plane (dandelion). Rather we no longer desire things just for ourselves. Others matter, and as we use the mind to perceive more and more the Real, our sense of “other” expands, along with our desire to serve this expanded realm of “other” that we increasingly perceive.

On the Buddhic plane then could it be that the mind itself shifts it’s focus? As we learn to think more through the heart could our minds soften to be more heart-filled, dulling increasingly the tendency of the mind to be proud, separative, and critical in regards to what it knows? Residing at the heart level of the Cosmic Physical Plane could it also be that our hearts increasingly include others, not simply through idealism, but wisdom? This is an important distinction. Idealism resides in the lower levels of the mental plane fairly close to the realm of desire (or the emotional plane). As we move into the lower level of the mental plane we desire the good for others, but we don’t really know how to deliver the good for others. It is like desiring that someone recover from an illness, versus knowing how to make them well. Even then until we are on the Path of Discipleship, we may know how to make someone well, but our willingness to sacrifice in order to heal them may be rather limited. We may care that people “out there” are suffering, but we are too caught up in our abstract mental worlds, to actually go “out there” and do something about the suffering occuring.

At the level of the Buddhic plane I feel this disconnect is healed. We read of great saints and sages, Buddha, Jesus, Mother Teresa, Amma the hugging saint, St. Francis, the Dalai Lama, Askoha, Gandhi and so forth. In their various ways they are all great renunciates, great lovers of humanity, and powerful active forces for change. They are not simply idealists who love, while being at the same time helpless and powerless in knowing how to serve and what to do. At the level of the Buddhic plane they already possess the knowledge of how to love (gained on the higher levels of the mental planes). And, because of their unification with “I Am THAT I Am” how can they do anything but love, and act upon that love? These “buddhas”know who they are. They are “Christed” or Christ conscious. They are Self Realized. They are the Self. They are the One. As the I Am, the Oneness that IS, those on the Buddhic plane are busy demonstrating (not just abstractly theorizing) this Oneness in the world.

They are also simultaneously in the world (busy serving, illuminating, synthesizing) as much as they are not of the world (focused on realizations that do not have to do with the human, animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms). This “dual citizenship” so to speak,  (in the pure lands, or kingdoms of heaven as well as involvement with the kingdoms on earth) echoes the fact that the Buddhic plane is the 4th plane of the 7 main planes. The Buddhic plane, or 4th plane, is the bridge between above (the realms which are said to be increasingly non-human) and below (the realms that are very human).  On the mental planes greater and greater wholes are seen. On the Buddhic plane greater and greater wholes are lived. Those who live at this level do not inspire so much by what they know, but by who they are. For this reason their minds, their desires (related to the emotional plane), and all that they have physically (body and possessions) are given in service to all of human kind. They become the great sacrifices, the great bridges, bringing the spiritual into the human realms and even into the realms below (animal, plant and mineral kingdoms). In many ways they don’t even need to speak, they radiate. Their “fruits”, their actions, their very Presence is what reveals. This is what “speaks.” And, though they may engage their minds, emotions, and physical bodies as needed, that Presence, that Being (or Be-ness) is what most of all shines through.

Copyright ©2017 by Lisa Love. All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, computer, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.