CHAPTER XI Geometrical Representation of the Degrees of Existence
In the preceding chapters, we have been concerned with examining the various aspects of the symbolism of the cross and showing their attachment to the metaphysical signification indicated at the outset. These considerations however are little more than preliminaries, and what must now be developed is the metaphysical signification itself. This involves going as deeply as possible into the geometrical symbolism which applies equally both to the degrees of universal Existence and to the states of each being, that is to say both from the " macrocosmic " and the " microcosmic " standpoint.
It should first of all be recalled that when the being is considered in its individual human state, the corporeal individuality is actually only a restricted portion, a mere mode, of this human individuality. The integral human individuality is capable of an indefinite development, with modalities of manifestation which are equally indefinite in number, but their sum total still only constitutes one particular state of the being, wholly situated at one and the same degree of universal Existence. In the case of the individual human state, the corporeal modality belongs to the domain of gross or sensible manifestation, and the other modalities to that of subtle manifestation. [^1] Each modality is determined by a set of conditions which demarcate its possibilities, and each of which, considered apart from the others, may again extend beyond the domain of that modality, and may then combine with different conditions to constitute the domains
of other modalities forming part of the same integral individuality. [^2] Thus, what determines a certain modality is not exactly a special condition of existence, but rather a combination or association of several conditions; to make this point more completely clear, it would be necessary to take an example such as that of the conditions of corporeal existence, a detailed exposition of which would require, as was said before, a whole study to itself. [^3]
Further, when considered from a general standpoint, each of the domains just mentioned contains similar modalities appertaining to an indefinitude of other individuals, each of whom in turn is a state of manifestation of one of the beings in the Universe: here we have states and modalities that correspond to one another in all beings. The sum total of the domains-indefinite in extent-that contain all the modalities of one and the same individuality constitutes one degree of universal Existence, which in its integrality contains an indefinitude of individuals. Naturally this assumes a degree of Existence corresponding to an individual state, since the human state has been taken as a basis; but all that relates to the manifold modalities holds good equally for any one state, whether individual or non-individual, since the individual condition can introduce restrictive limitations only, though the possibilities it includes do not thereby lose their indefiniteness. [^4]
By virtue of what has been said, a degree of Existence can be represented by a horizontal plane of indefinite extent in two dimensions, which correspond to the two indefinitudes that are to be considered: on the one hand, that of the individuals, which may be represented by the sum of the straight lines in the plane that are parallel to one of the dimensions, which, if desired, may be defined by the intersection of this horizontal plane with a frontal
plane [^5]; and on the other hand that of the domains peculiar to the individuals' different modalities, which will then be represented by the sum of the straight lines in the horizontal plane that are perpendicular to the foregoing direction, that is, the ones parallel to the visual or fore-and-aft axis, the direction of which defines the other dimension. [^6] Each of these two classes includes an indefinitude of parallel straight lines, all indefinite in length ; each point in the plane will be determined by the inter-section of two straight lines, one from each class, and hence will represent a particular modality of one of the individuals comprised in the degree considered.
Each of the degrees of universal Existence (which embraces an indefinitude of them) may be similarly represented, in a three-dimensional space, by a horizontal plane. It has just been shown that a section of such a plane by a frontal plane represents an individual,-or rather, speaking in a more general way and one capable of being applied without distinction to all degrees, represents a certain state of a being, a state which may be individual or non-individual, according to the conditions of the degree of Existence it belongs to. Thus a frontal plane may now be regarded as representing a being in its totality. This being comprises an indefinite multiplicity of states, which are then depicted by all the horizontal lines in that plane; on the other hand, the vertical lines in the plane are formed by the groups of modalities that respectively correspond to one another in all these states. Furthermore, in three-dimensional space there is an indefinitude of such planes, representing the indefinitude of the beings contained in the entire Universe.