Man, the Microcosm; Part 1

Truth. Qabalists of the Jewish mystical tradition refer to Man as the “microprosopus,” or lesser countenance,” that is, a reflected God upon the realms of formlessness and form. This belief is based on the statement in Genesis of Man being created in God’s image. In Javanese mysticism, Man is known as the “Jagad Alit,” or the “small universe.” There are parallels of this in almost every mystical tradition of the world.

While posing as a microcosmic being, Man is a macrocosmic system to the lower kingdoms in his charge. This is in accord with the principles and famed verse of Hermes; “as above, so below”–to the Law of Correspondence. By studying the microcosm, we in fact study the macrocosm. One of the Quarternary laws of Martinism propounds this particular principle of the “Thrice Greatest.” Sentient beings of the lower lifestreams look upon Man as a God–sometimes as a wrathful one. Animals, with their fine instincts developed for them by their group-spirits, their directors of evolution, perceive Man with a sense of love, and a sense of awe and fear. This ambivalent feeling and response in animals are caused by the complexity of Man’s egoistic expression, the imperfect manifestation of his innate divinity and his relationship towards life as a whole. Primitive Man, or the primitive mind responds in a similar manner towards Nature, but for a different reason–ignorance, the lack of understanding towards God and Self. The problem of apparent inharmony within Nature therefore, lies within Man himself, and only within his Self, within the microcosmic kingdom of God, will he truly find the solution to right living and right relationships. Though the ordinary mind is the slayer of the Real, it is the spiritualized mind that will

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