The four pillars

In the Mitevma “Twenty-Day”, the Creator is called Four-armed. This epithet immediately creates a certain image: a creature similar to Hindu gods with multiple arms. This is impressive but it is not true. We don’t know what the Creator looks like now, nor what he looked like before his transformation into the Universe, nor what he will look like after a new transformation. No matter how he looks, the four Great Principles are always present in him. This is why he is called “Four-armed” in the text of the pandekt. These four Great Principles are at the heart of Being, they are its fundamental laws, penetrating everything, including the Creator. They might be associated with four arms shaping the Universe when talking about the Creator or with four unshakable pillars when talking about Being. They support the life of Being in eternity and infinity. What are they? This is an extract from one of the unpublished texts.

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At the heart of Being are four good principles: the vital, the good, the progressive, and the rational. Thus, they are at the heart of our Universe as well. The Vital Principle gives Being and everything that is in it an opportunity to exist. It helps various structures to maintain their integrity and resist distraction. In other words, without it, everything would fade, and Being as a living system would perish. However, the Vital Principle is not enough to support Being. A living system must evolve. And the other three Principles provide an opportunity for evolution. All the processes in Being are supported by the Progressive Principle. Development and evolution of all structures and systems take place due to it. For instance, it makes the evolution of our Universe possible. However, “all processes” include destructive processes as well. For example, diseases can develop, and any other destructive phenomenon, including those that could theoretically threaten the existence of Being itself. Therefore, the Good Principle ensures the prevalence of creation over destruction. In other words, creative processes in Being are stronger than destructive processes. The Good Principle encourages effective and efficient development. The Rational Principle allows living creatures to become sentient at some stage of their evolutionary development, active mind can be awoken in them. This is necessary for the evolution of various structures in Being, and thereby for the evolution of Being as a whole. For example, our Universe (i.e., the Creator) can successfully develop only if its Spirit, which makes up its higher level (or plan – the term is not important here) is improved. And it is possible only if the creatures that inhabit the Universe can learn about the world and themselves, make moral choices between good and evil, and make conscious decisions. That is, the awakening of this active mind is the key factor in the perfection of the Spirit. Therefore, the evolution within the Universe is focused on the emergence of creatures with an active mind. Similarly, the manifestation of the active mind plays a key role for other structures of Being at a certain stage of their evolution. Everything in Being should go through this stage of development. Otherwise, the development will be impossible.

Let’s imagine that we are talking about a car, not Being. This example is extremely simplified but it might help to illustrate the idea of the four Great Principles working together. The Vital Principle keeps the whole system together like bolts and other parts which put all the elements of the car together. The Progressive Principle is the engine that moves the car. The Good Principle is the control system that allows the car to go in the right direction. The Rational Principle is the driver. He decides where the car should go. This is possible when the active mind appears. Before that, we may say that “the autopilot” is working. However, it is only possible up to a certain point. Further movement becomes impossible without the driver. He makes decisions based on creativity, ethics, and will. Sentient beings play this vital role, including people.

The interconnection and interdependence among the Great Principles are permanent and everlasting. They can only function together. If suddenly at least one of them ceased to function, the rest would immediately cease to function, as they are interdependent. Then Being would fall apart and perish. However, this is only a theoretical assumption made to illustrate their interdependence. It is impossible because the work of the Great Principles is aimed precisely to prevent that.

The Great Principles are not supernatural forces but natural principles, the everlasting properties of Being. They exist as long as Being exists (that is, forever) and function in its infinite spaces. Our Universe is just a small grain of sand in it. All laws that exist in Being, in any of its particles, colossal or microscopic, are derived from the Great Principles and work according to them. Therefore, there are unified principles of life and evolution in Being. They exist in all Universes and other structures of Being. These principles are implemented and adapted to the characteristics of any particular structure. However, these differences have a certain range, limited by the natural limits of the Great Principles. In other words, the laws of Nature in various structures of Being can vary significantly but they never contradict the Great Principles.

This is also true about our universe. Its laws and evolution are also based on the Great Principles, as well as the life of human beings.

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© Atarkhat, 2016