Soul to Spirit: The New Spiritual Psychology

Here we begin to introduce the main terms found in Bailey’s books focusing in this post on Colors, the Ten Groups, Evolutionary Names, and the Egoic Lotus Petals.

Before we study the Bailey model further and go into the specific levels (planes) and sub-levels (subplanes), it is important to understand a little bit about the various terms used in these books. If you do not have some idea of these terms the Bailey books can easily become confusing and you are likely to get overwhelmed. This chapter orients you briefly to the main terms making it easier for you to understand how this model of how consciousness evolves works. The main terms are listed in the chart below. These terms are followed by a chart that attempts to correlate these terms and subplanes together.

Before I explain more specifically what the different terms are, let me say something about the chart you just saw. With this chart I have done my best to make the correlations of these various terms based on references from the Bailey books. Since the books are so complex, I have often had to adjust this chart and it may mean further adjustments will be made in the future. Still, I feel the chart represents a very solid start. In fact, over the years I have redone this chart many, many times in order to refine it. A few things to understand about the chart and the correlations I have made. Some of correlations are based upon my own hypotheses. For example, no where in the Bailey writings does it say certain of the Ten Groups belong to various subplanes of any plane (physical, emotional, or mental). I am the one who has made these correlations based upon my understanding of what certain references in the Bailey books have said. Also, the color scheme for the various levels is entirely my own doing. Bailey never added colors to her model. Keeping all this in mind let’s now review the various terms.

1. Colors. As I just stated in the original chart used by Bailey, each plane and subplane had no colors added to it. In keeping with the systems used by Integral and Spiral Dynamics, I decided to add colors to the chart so levels could be identified more easily. My choice of colors was based on the chakra system, which follows the light spectrum. In most systems there are seven chakras, just as there are seven planes in the Bailey model. To the right you can see how each chakra is given a color. To let you know I have condensed these seven colors into six planes of the Alice Bailey model, keeping the upper Divine Plane (or Adi Plane) white, primarily because this level is said to be beyond the human level of consciousness.

In choosing the subplane colors, my selections were based upon an artist pallet system of colors found online. This helped me select different hues of any main color such as yellow. Then I found suggested colors that blended the primary color of one plane into the next. For example, yellow blends into green and orange on either side. So, hues of yellow were selected that were more green on one end and orange on the other. As I did this I decided to use the names of the colors that artists traditionally used for their pallet. Personally, I don’t care for many of these names (Pumpkin, Salmon, Lime to name a few), but I kept the names from the artist pallet anyway.

2. Ten Groups. The next term I am going to introduce involves ten different groupings of human beings that Bailey mentions in her book Esoteric Psychology, Vol. II. Bailey states that each of these ten groups represent a different developmental level in human consciousness. In his book Up From Eden, Integral theorist Ken Wilber attempts something similar. Wilber has much more to say about his various groups than Bailey does. In fact, Bailey says very little about these Ten Groups, but you can get much more information about them if you do compilations on some of the keywords associated with each of these Ten Groups. In reviewing these compilations I have also been able to understand in a lot more detail what each of these Ten Groups is like.

3. Evolutionary Names. The next set of terms has to do with names describing the various states of human and spiritual evolution. We begin with the stages of Lemurian, Atlantean, and Aryan consciousness that correspond to the coordination of the physical, emotional, and mental bodies. This initial coordination results in what is known as the Integrated Personality. This is the stage where the human being is able to master their bodies, emotions, and thoughts in such a way they can become a great success in the world. However, those who have Integrated Personalities are still primarily selfish, separative, and materialistic in their consciousness. They have yet to awaken to the spiritual realms around them.

More spiritual names apply for those who are on the spiritual path. These group into three general categories: Aspirant, Disciple, and Initiate. The word “disciple” refers to someone able to discipline the physical, etheric, emotional, and mental bodies of the Integrated Personality to become selfless in nature. The spiritual disciplines also help one to realize the True Self, which is spiritual. Before we become a Disciple, however, we are an Aspirant. Though it could be said that we aspire to every stage before we master it, in general an Aspirant is exactly that, someone who aspires to the spiritual life, but tends to be inconsistent in his or her approach to actual spiritual practices. To put it in simple terms, the Aspirant is much more likely to talk the talk, than walk the walk.

When one becomes a Disciple the person starts out first as a Probationary Disciple. The Probationary Path is also known as the Path of Purification. The person is on probation because he or she has yet to do enough purificatory work to be trusted to be truly selfless in the approach to the spiritual path, or to be totally consistent in the purification practices, or do be self-motivated in these practices, without some outer prompting to keep going. All this means Probationers are pretty likely still to fall back into selfish behaviors. Next comes the stage of the Accepting Disciple. Here the person accepts the disciplines and can be more trusted to follow through on them. The stage of the Pledged Disciple follows next. Here we find the person more rigorously practicing spiritual disciplines with a motivation that is more about helping others, than oneself. Next, is the Accepted Disciple, that implies others recognize and accept that you are truly disciplined.

Finally, the person becomes a Probationary Initiate, an Initiated Disciple and an Initiate. Probationary Initiates and Initiated Disciples are like Bodhisattvas in training. He or she is learning how to serve humanity on a larger scale and in training to see if he or she can be trusted to not have selfish motives step in. An Initiate can be trusted and is actively bringing in new “initiatives” for the well-being and overall evolution of the human race (and to some degree with animals, plants, and minerals). Here are the names below:

4. The Egoic Lotus. The next major term to become familiar with has to do with something known as the Egoic Lotus in the Bailey model. For starters, the word “egoic” and the word “ego” do not mean selfish as they do in our modern times. In fact, in the 1910’s when the Bailey model was first presented, the word ego meant something very different than it does today. The word “ego” as Bailey and others of her generation used it, had more to do with having an individualized sense of self. And, the Ego was spiritual in nature, not selfish at all. In fact, Bailey’s word ego is very similar today to how most people would use the word Soul. The Ego, or Soul, is increasingly spiritual and selfless in nature. The Personality is more separative and selfish. As you can see then, our modern usage of the word ego as selfish, corresponds to Bailey’s word Personality, and not her word Ego at all.

The first major spiritual goal in the Bailey model then is to become what is known as the “soul infused personality.” This takes place as the Egoic Lotus, or “soul flower” slowly unfolds. The lotus is a flower often used in Eastern spirituality. In Western spirituality they frequently pick a rose. Whatever flower you use to symbolize the “soul flower” as, the important thing to learn is within this flower we have twelve petals that represent twelve stages of “soul” development. In other words as each petal opens up you become  more “soul-like” or “soul-full.”

Looking at the chart of the Egoic Lotus above, you will note that the petals themselves all have colors associated with them. The colors shown here were all officially given out in the Alice Bailey books. As you can see each of the petals actually has numerous colors associated with them. Please understand that these colors have nothing to do with the colors I have used in the subplanes. As for the petals themselves they are all given names in the Alice Bailey system. The names are as follows:

1. Three Knowledge Petals. A) Knowledge/Knowledge petal, B) Knowledge/Love petal, and the C) Knowledge/Sacrifice petal.
2. Three Love Petals. A) Love/Knowledge petal, B) Love/Love petal, and the C) Love/Sacrifice petal.
3. Three Sacrifice Petals. A) Sacrifice/Knowledge petal, B) Sacrifice/Love petal, and the C) Sacrifice/Sacrifice petal.

The above makes nine petals total. Three more petals remain. These are the innermost petals that are illustrated in white in the chart on the Egoic Lotus above. These three petals have no official name, but they connect the Egoic Lotus up with the three aspects of the Spiritual Triad, which links to the Atmic, Buddhic and Manasic Planes. Finally, in the chart of the Egoic Lotus above you will see what looks like a black circle with a white star. This represents the connection of the Egoic Lotus to the Monadic Plane. The white star is also the “jewel at the heart of the lotus.” The jewel again being the Monad.

As we move throughout this book we will look at these petals and their stages in more depth correlating them to the colors, the ten groups, the evolutionary names and more. For now, just retain the basic can follow along as needed as these correlations are made.

Finally, if you look at the Bailey chart presented again here, you can see that the Egoic Lotus or “soul flower” is located at the top three subplanes of the Mental Plane. These three subplanes are also placed above a dotted line on the chart since they are said to represent the higher levels of the mental plane instead of the lower levels (which cover the last four subplanes to the bottom of the mental plane). This division also shows how an entire new process of spiritual development is going on that is very different from the “eighteen subplanes” below that dotted line. (7 Physical subplanes + 7 Emotional subplanes + 4 of the Lower Mental subplanes = 18). These eighteen subplanes are said to belong to the realm of the personality, which again is more akin to what we would call “ego” today, because the person is becoming an  Integrated Personality and then starting the process of becoming spiritually awakened.

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