Key terms II: planes, spirit and soul, transmutation, mastery, truth and paradox

Planes

The Kybalion says: there are three great planes, the physical, the mental and the spiritual. But they are "not actual divisions". They are terms that help us think.

Common misunderstanding: seeing planes as places, or as a ranking of better and worse people.

We understand: planes are not places. They are different degrees of one and the same reality.

Spirit, soul and body

The Kybalion says: spirit is "simply a name that men give to the highest conception of Infinite Living Mind". It means "the Real Essence". The book rarely speaks of the soul. But in one of its most beautiful passages it says that in the end "the Spirit of each soul is not annihilated, but is infinitely expanded".

Common misunderstanding: using mind, spirit and soul as if they were the same word, or imagining them as separate parts that could be taken apart.

We understand: THE ALL is mind, the one mind in which everything exists. Within it, a human being lives on three levels of one existence, which differ in their vibration. Spirit is the knowing level: consciousness, insight, wisdom. Its source is THE ALL, and it lives in you. Soul is the feeling level: energy and emotion, the bearer of your personal story. Body is the level of form: matter and action. When what you think, what you feel and what you do are in harmony, we speak of coherence.

Transmutation

The Kybalion says: mental transmutation is the art of changing mental states, "from state to state; degree to degree". The book calls it the "Art of Mental Chemistry".

Common misunderstanding: turning metal into gold, or pushing away unwanted thoughts.

We understand: transmutation is the conscious change of an inner state into another, for example from fear towards courage. It works by understanding the state, not by fighting it.

Mastery

The Kybalion says: the Masters are those who know the principles and use them consciously. They become "Movers instead of pawns". And: "Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings".

Common misunderstanding: mastery as a rank, a title, or supernatural power.

We understand: mastery is the ability to understand the principles and apply them with awareness, instead of being driven by them. It is a practice, not a destination.

Truth and paradox

"All truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."

☿︎The Kybalion, 1912 edition, Chapter II

The Kybalion says: from the view of THE ALL, the universe is only relatively real. From our view, it is real. The book calls this the Divine Paradox.

Common misunderstanding: "everything is illusion, so nothing matters", or "every opinion is equally true".

We understand: think of a cube. From where you stand, you see three sides. What you see is real, but it is not the whole cube. Someone else sees other sides. A relative truth is valid from its standpoint, but it is not the whole. A paradox is two statements that seem to contradict each other, but from a wider view show different sides of the same reality. "I am an individual" and "I am part of a whole" do not exclude each other. And when the Kybalion calls the universe an "illusion", it does not mean that the universe is not there. Lesson 1.2 explains what the book means.