the practical mysticism. Thus, from the point of view of mysticism and natural science, a being can be stratified in such a way that the feet and legs belong to the nature of the material formations which symbolise earth and water, the trunk, from this point of view, belongs to the nature of the physical formations and therefore it symbolises fire and air, while the head belongs to the nature of a physically not determinable ether. This ether then corresponds to the zone of the electromagnetic phenomena, chiefly to the sphere of gravitation and its various modifications, which are, in the psychological sense, predominantly the mind and then also the sense of vision, as well as other carriers of the inner life. From the mystical point of view, and, above all, from the point of view of the so-called self-acting karma, the inner functions, in particular thinking, want to maintain their character – i.e. they want to remain qualitatively separated from the more material phenomena that are a manifestation of the elements of air, fire, water and earth. In yoga of a spiritual type, it is considered possible to obtain high quality knowledge only by connecting all of the mentioned qualities in the consciousness. However, this is supposed to happen by immersion of the consciousness into the quality of matter or earth, thus into the feet and legs, whose gravitational value is, furthermore, being modified in the mind by means of assuming positions. By that, the “matter of legs” is made lighter and the connecting of the mind as a manifestation of ether with the matter of legs is thus made easier. When all these factors are included in an equation which is supposed to solve the problem of the spiritual development, its result is an axiom by which it is determined that the spiritual as well as the mystical development is only possible by means of concentration of the electromagnetic or gravitational factor – the mind, into the most characteristic manifestation of earth – into the feet and legs. The experience from the mystical development agrees with this. Only a mind, which is, by means of thorough awareness, delving into the matter of feet and legs, can make the base of consciousness capable of its unidirectional raising through all layers of the being – from the earth, which is represented by the feet to calves, through the water, which is mystically situated in the thighs, and further through the fire found in the base of the trunk and in the belly, and the air found in the chest, up to the ether and its modifications which are placed in the head. The base into which we immerse our consciousness – or, more precisely, our awareness – i.e. the feet and legs, has, precisely due to the property of the consciousness to gather knowledge from the environment in which it occurs, the possibility to pass through all layers of existence. This means from the very beginning of the creative act, which is the emergence of earth and water, and, further, the birth of the living cell and, even further, through the most elementary manifestations of vitality up to the knowledge arising from the perceptions of limitless space, consciousness and further then the emptiness of everything all the way to the extinguishment of the entire inner life without the problem of the idea of death. This holds true prospectively. What holds true immediately, is that when the mind dwells in the sphere of matter, of earth and water, which corresponds Spirituality Studies 2 (1) Spring 2016 73
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