The following article is taken from a sub-chapter in my publication: Following Christ Across the Threshold: The Non-Initiate’s Guide to Entering the Spiritual World (2019). For those who are interested further, the book is available from Amazon.com.

In order to better understand the process of crossing the threshold during sleep and after death, it is necessary to explain certain universal laws that apply throughout the cosmos. For example, in order to better understand why the discarnate soul (in sleep or in death) descends to the centre of the earth before ascending into planetary space, it is necessary to know more about the “universal law of vibratory rhythm.” Likewise, in order to better understand why the unbounded soul in heaven is reborn into a confined body on earth, it is also necessary to know about the “universal law of recapitulation.”

To begin with, it is encouraging to note that today both physical science and esoteric science agree that our expanding universe had a “point” of origin in the primeval past. Nevertheless, the physical science of cosmogony contends that the universe began about 13.7 billion years ago as an infinitely-small, infinitely hot, and infinitely dense point of origin termed a “singularity.” Within this singularity was contained all universal matter, energy, space and time.

Esoteric science, on the other hand, asserts that the universe began as a tiny “seed” of cosmic creation conceived vast ages ago within the infinite and eternal mind of God. Within the divine point of universal genesis was contained all potential matter, energy, space and time―as well as consciousness (mind) and life. Remarkably, Georges Lemaître (1894‒1966), the Catholic priest, astronomer and physicist who first mathematically postulated an expanding universe from a primordial beginning (later known as the “Big Bang”), perceptively termed the point of origin, the “Primal Atom” or the “Cosmic Egg.”   

 To esoteric understanding, then, all life in the universe began as a divinely-conceived cosmic seed (or egg). This explains why, even today, all life on earth springs from a seed or egg. Life does not spontaneously generate from inanimate matter (“abiogenesis”). The observable fact that only life can reproduce life―that a new life-form can only proceed from an egg or seed produced by another life-form―was succinctly expressed by English physician William Harvey (1578‒1657) with the famous Latin phrase: “Omne vivum ex ovo” (“All life comes from an egg”).

Predictably, as the infinitesimal seed of cosmic creation first began to grow and expand, structural formation was extremely primitive and initial progress was excruciatingly slow. One noticeable characteristic of cosmic expansion was an inherent propensity (or universal law) to formulate and to replicate germinal centres of activity. Over vast stretches of time, these elementary centres of activity gradually developed into rudimentary subatomic particles, then into basic atomic particles, then into simple molecules, and eventually into stars and galaxies.

Since life and consciousness were also contained within the divine seed of cosmic creation, elementary life-forms also began to slowly develop as the cosmos continued to expand in time and space. As with universal matter and energy, life-forms also conformed to the intrinsic universal compulsion to formulate individual centres of activity, and then to replicate them. Moreover, as with the development of matter and energy, life-forms slowly progressed from rudimentary to complex over vast periods of cosmic time.

Elementary life-forms that arose at the beginning of time were exceedingly tenuous and diaphanous, being formulated out of etheric and astral substance. Consequently, they would be invisible to physical sight; and would therefore be undetectable and unacknowledged by the physical science of today.

In any event, all life-forms (as well as all matter and energy) were additionally subject to a universal law of vibratory rhythm; that is, everything in the universe fluctuates between periods of contraction and expansion, and between periods of activity and rest. Even the entire universe itself undergoes vast periods of cosmic expansion and cosmic collapse; between vast periods of cosmic activity and cosmic rest. In esoteric fact, our present universe is now expanding from a previous cosmic collapse (which has occurred a number of times during the exceedingly-remote and primeval past.

The alternation between activity and rest is readily observable with the various life-forms existing on earth. For example, plant-life tends to be more active during the sun-lit, daytime hours; and more at rest during the dark, nightime hours. Likewise during the seasons: plant-life growth and activity occurs mostly during the warm summer months; whereas during the cold winter months, plant-life will undergo a period of repose and dormancy.

Not only plant-life, but animal-life and human-life also visibly alternate between activity and rest. The most noticeable and familiar alternation is that between wakeful activity (usually during the day) and restful sleep (usually during the night). As with plant-life, the alternation between activity and rest for animal-life and for human-life is also affected by the cycle of the seasons. Many animals in cold northern climates will restfully hibernate during the winter months, and resume normal activity when spring re-arrives.

Unfortunately with modern-day human-life, particularly in urban settings with artificial light and climate-controlling technology (such as furnace-heaters and air-conditioners), the seasonal rhythms are much easier to ignore. Nevertheless, in more rural settings, human-life still responds to the seasonal alternation between wintery indoor quietude and reflection, and summery outdoor recreation and activity.

In the case of all life-forms on earth, there is also an alternation between physical life and physical death. Physical life is characterized by growth and activity; whereas in death all physical activity observably ceases. Especially in the case of human-life, the alternation between physical life and death is often compared to that of waking and sleeping. Death is popularly described as the “big sleep,” and after death one is described as “resting in peace.”

In order for life-forms (in general) to continue to exist after death, it is necessary to reproduce; that is, it is necessary to produce another similar life-form. In the case of complex, multi-celled life-forms, such as plants, animals and humans, physical reproduction is accomplished by generating a miniature single-celled genetic “blueprint” of the parent life-form. In this connection, biological science currently contends that all physical life-forms on earth began as a single cell. In other words, the reproductive process of generating a fertilized seed or egg can be seen as an accelerated repetition of the entire evolutionary process of a life-form from the very beginning.

It’s a little-acknowledged fact of life that in order to reproduce a new life-form (be it plant, animal or human) it is necessary to restart from the evolutionary beginning as a single cell. In other words, in order to reproduce an existing, complex life-form it is necessary to go back in time and recapitulate the entire evolutionary process up to the present day. Fortunately the recapitulation process is highly accelerated and much more refined than the original evolutionary process.

For example, the developing human child from fertilized ovum to birth, recapitulates in nine months what previously took millions of evolutionary years to accomplish. Moreover, each time a new life-form is reproduced, imperceptively-small improvements are incorporated into the fertilized egg or seed. Thereby, the life-form continues to progressively evolve and advance. Positive improvements are added to the recapitulation process, so that evolutionary progress spirals upward, rather than simply going around and around without any positive development.

From the foregoing information, it will be better understood that in order to begin spiritual life on the other side of the threshold (even temporarily, as in sleep) it is necessary to go back in time to the very inception of human life in the cosmos. Currently, this entails a superphysical descent into the dark subterranean underworld through the anachronistic, residual matter and energy from previous archaic periods of planetary development―first the Ancient Moon Period; then the Ancient Sun Period; and lastly the Ancient Saturn Period.

Together with traveling back in time, the descent into the underworld also entails a supersensible contraction towards the centre of the earth. When human individuals experience an analogous intrapsychic contraction toward the centre of their being, this serves to strengthen separate ego-awareness. When the non-initiate or deceased soul experiences a contraction toward the centre of the earth, then they become increasingly conscious of the planetary-ego (and not their own).

Unfortunately over time, the evil influence of the sun-demon Sorath has corrupted the planetary-ego, resulting in it becoming the subterranean source of black magic on earth. Thankfully, with Christ-Jesus becoming the new regent of the earth, the false ego of the planet is slowly being transformed into the divine ego of our Saviour.

In accordance with the universal law of vibrational rhythm, the centripetal contraction toward the centre of the earth is rhythmically followed by a centrifugal expansion toward the planetary or cosmic periphery. Likewise when the non-initiate or the incarnating soul is returning to earth from the heavenly regions, there is a gradual contraction of expanded cosmic consciousness down to physical-sensory awareness. In the case of a newly-incarnating soul, they begin the contraction process by psychically connecting with the fertilized ovum provided by the future parents. Once the incarnational process is complete, then the soul begins a new physical life of expansion, growth and development, in accordance with the universal law of vibrational rhythm.