In the process of creation, the One Existence manifests as two. Spirit precipitates down as matter and matter ascends up as spirit. The first aspect is called the path of descent or involution; the second aspect is the path of ascent or evolution. On the path of descent, God comes down as this creation. The spiritual energies descend into matter, and the universal consciousness becomes the individual consciousness. On the path of ascent, we rise again by our spiritual practices and finally merge into God, just as the lesser light merges into the greater light.
The whole cycle of descent and ascent is called the ‘path of the waters’. For this flow of energy, the seers have conceived the sound formula as Narayana. ‘Na’ is the sound of ascent and ‘Ra’ is the sound of descent. The path of waters is ‘Ayana’ and it is immortal. To gain the freedom of the flow of energy, the seers keep singing OM Namo Narayanaya and they keep dancing in joy.
The picture visualises the path of ascent from the mundane to the super-mundane spheres by depicting a person on a path in three different degrees of density. The path leads further up into the blue sky towards the sun, the source of light. On the other side of the cycle, the movement goes via the Moon, the principle of reflection, down into the dense matter. The illustration of the cycle was designed with the help of extracts from a NASA photo of a galaxy.
The symbolism of Taurus is visualised in the thirteen Taurus paintings done between 2010 and 2022. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.