It may well be (although this is speculation) that the original polarity or divergence or Coming Into Being (by which the One becomes Many) is in the form of that most universal of glyphs and diagrams, the mandala.
The image on the left is a typical Buddhist mandala. We have the four quarters, representing the four primary archetypes, four deities (with the fifth in the center), four elements, four Jungian ego-functions, four worlds, four colours, whatever. And you have a series of layers, leading to and focussing on the center.
When meditating upon the mandala, the consciousness is guided through the various layers or rings from the periphery representing the outer consciousness to the center representing the Buddha Mind at the core of one's being (shown by whatever deity the mandala addresses or embodies, in Buddhism all deities are aspects of the void (shunya) or Absolute Reality)
The following Integral Mandala, or quadontological diagram, is inspired by Ken Wilber's AQAL diagram. Like Wilber, I have endevoured to summarise integral metaphysics in a series of basic diagrams or cartographies of consciousness and being (here is a comparison between our respective diagrams). It is important to remeber that these diagrams should not be taken literally, they are metapohors to describe an understanding of reality that is itself only a work in progress. As soon as things are grabbed and frozen by the mind they lose their original zen-like quality, and one confuses the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself.
In the above diagram we see the four ontoclines or gradations of reality, as the four arms (or quadrants, as Wilber would say) of the mandala. Each of these correspond in a generic way (these things should never be taken dogmatically and turned into procrustean nonsense) to one of the primary parameters of consciousness and Reality. These four themselves come from a Center, representing the Divine or Supreme or Absolute Reality, and this Center is itself made up of four (as the original archetype) as well as (in this diagram) three levels.
The four ontoclines are as follows:
(left) Self and Non-Self from True Self / "I" to Non-Self / "This" / Phenomena (and vice versa) - representing the Monadology (or pluratity and unity) of Selves. This pertains to the nature of the knowing Self (especially as elaborated in Eastern Philosophy). With Liberation (moksha, Enlightenment) in one realises one already is the Absolute (Atman-Brahman). The science that deals with this can be called Atmaology (from the sanskrit "atma" - the self) or (when considering the dynamics of this Monadology).
(bottom) The "Vertical" Physical-Spiritual Axis - from Transcendent Spiritual Mind down to Physical Matter (and vice-versa) - representing the Hierarchy (Great Chain of Being) of Octaves of Existence. This "Vertical" Axis or Planes of Existence (in which one ascends to the Absolute) corresponds to the various subtle and gross universes and ocatves as described through Esotericism and Occultism with their understanding of the nature of gross and subtle realities, and to the ascent of consciousness through levels of existence (and exoteric religion to some degree, although here there is a lot of false understanding due to literalism).
(right) The "Horizontal" Inner-Outer Axis represents the contrast between the Innermost (Inner Light, Divine Soul) and Outermost (most external) Being - representing the Psychological Polarity of Being. The "Horizontal" Inner-Outer Axis corresponds to Psychology and Mysticism which addresses the depths of the being, and also on a more superficial level to the Arts (and the Social Sciences in part) with its dicotomy of Mythos and Logos, Imagination and Reason, and to depth and transpersonal psychology. The term "Endopsychology" is here proposed to distinguish this more "inward" psychology from conventional psychology
(top) The Universal-Individual-Atomistic Axis - From Universal Whole to "Atomistic" "Point" (and vice versa) constitutes the Holarchic arrangement of Systems. This "Concentric" Universal-Individual Axis corresponds, on the physical level, to Science especially the systems sciences and natural and applied sciences, also the social sciences in part. On the supraphysical it becomes the domain of esotericism, but the basic principles of interaction, ecology, system dymnamics, chaos theory, and so on. The overall reality is the (esoteric) science of Cosmecology, which includes the experiential approach of Astrognosis.
All the ontoclines together represent the Spiritual Path; not literalist or exoteric religion, but yoga, sadhana, and esoteric (mystical) religion; the essense of self-transformation
One can even create a metaphorical table of correspondences, as follows:
| Mandalic Position | Ontological Axis | Quality | Dynamics | made up of | approached through | symbolic metaphors | ||
| psychological faculty | spacetime orientation | element | ||||||
| Center | Absolute | Absolute Reality | Absolute Reality | The Absolute | Enlightenment | Non-dual Consciousness | "Quintessence" | |
| Quadrant | Levels of Selfhood | Activity | Noesis / Monadology | Consciousness | Yogic spirituality, Atmalogy and Monadology, Phenomenology | Field of Consciousness | "Breadth" | "Air" |
| Quadrant | Physical-Spiritual Axis | Density (or Subtlty) | Emanation | Octaves | Esotericism and Occultism (Occult Cosmology) | Will | "Height" / "Vertical" | "Fire" |
| Quadrant | Inner-Outer | Direction (Orientation) | Figure-Ground | Being | Mysticism and Psychology (Endopsychology) | Feeling (empathy) | "Depth" / "Concentric" | "Water" |
| Quadrant | Universal-Individual | Scale or Organisation | Coaction / Systems Theory | Holons | Science, systems theories, ecology (Cosmecology) | Sensation (concrete) | "Temporal" | "Earth" |
It is important of course not to interpret this too literally; otherwise one becomes trapped by dogmatic thoughtforms. And of course, each of these fields of study can also be applied to the other hierarchies or parameters, which is why it is misleading to only assume a one on one equivalence.
The review of the above four gradations or polarities of being may imply that in order to explain everything, a four dimensional cartesian grid would be required. So for example a physical object might be considered as (from "least" to "most" ontologically significant):
Individual (holonic) - Outer aspect of Outer Being (being) - Dense Physical (plane) - Not-Self (self)
But while this may work in some instances, it may not in all. We find for example that Sri Aurobindo says that the Psychic / Innermost Being does not pertain to any of the conventional planes ("vertical" hierarchy) like Physical, Vital, or Mental (ref. xxxx) . Rather it supports the outer being. In Kabbalah, in Samkhya and Kashmir Shaivism, in Procline neoplatonism, and in Gnosticism, we find a sort of tree-like phylogeny of being, in which emanation from the original Godhead or Absolute branches out into a number of channels or worlds, aeons, tattwas, or sefirot, which then converge or alternatively further multiply. Sometimes there is a final convergence to represent the physical or material world (e.g. Malkhut in Kabbalah) as the "furthest point" from the Absolute. But this sort of dualism is probably too simplistic, especially since many more esoteric teachings speak about the Absolute or Godhead being beyond and giving rise to all polarities, dualities and opposites, all of which are reconciled and transcendend in the Source.
In a traditional mandala there are four such variables (one for each quarter or quadrant) plus a fifth as the Source otr Origin in the center. Alternatively, these can be seen as a doubled duality (as in the "bigrams" of the yin yang series of lines in the I Ching). The dynamic mandala applies the interrelationships between any two of these parameters or variables, or any two points on the same axis. One of these points or variables or modes will be "yang" and one will be "yin", because in any manifestation there is always a polarity (in the Absolute itself, this polarity - Yin and Yang (Chinese philosophy), Shiva and Shakti (Tantra), Hesed and Gevurah ( Kabbalah), whatever term one may wish to give to it - is considered latent and unmanifest), and indeed it is this polartity or difference in potential that not only causes but is manifestation.
The following is a suggestion of the polarity of the four parameters of existence (which - iof each is derived from an archetype or godhead, would fit nicely with the four points of the mandala:
One should understand that neither of these is more important than the other; both are complementary and necessary polarities of manifestation. This is not a moral cosmology of "good" and "evil".
The following diagram represents the various parameters as a sort of multi-dimensional grid.
Each axis or parameter consitutes a distinct spectrum of consciousness (or "chain of being"). So the "vertical parameter" from physical matter to noetic planes consists of many subplanes.
Moreover each of these gradations is not a simple spectrum or series, but rather a fractal with numerous aspects and ramifications, each of which has a "yin" and a "yang" polarity. So matter is yin, spirit is yang; cosmic or universal is yin, individual is yang.
More on trhese parameters here
Like the center of the mandala which unites the four quarters, the Absolute can be said to constitute a fifth or unifying principle behind and at the heart of the other four. As Ken Wilber says about Spirit, it is both the highest member of the hierarchy and the underlying reality of the entire hierarchy {ABHOE p. xxx, etc]. But this is not entirely correct, because it is not only the highest member of each hierarchical spectrum, but also the lowest. I would follow Tantra and Taoism in saying that it is what preceds the original polarisation of each ontocline into purusha and prakriti, yin and yang. It is neither yin nor yang, higher or lower, self or non-self, but equally beyond both alone.
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(The Manifest Absolute) The One Absolute Unity 
The Many within One: These aspects within and of Unity, expressing absolute Harmony and Perfection |
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Aspects that are polarised (yin-yang) and dualistic. These constitute the dimensions of Kosmic and phenomenal, dualistic, involtionary-evolutionary existence
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Perhaps each of these sequences begins from a different aspect of the Absolute. Or maybe from the same aspect expressed in different ways. Whilst still within the Absolute, all these dimension/parameters are unitary. Within the Absolute Reality things are simple (Absolute Unity, Inifite, timeless spaceless consciousness, etc). But when they are projected down into and as finite or relative existence, distinction appears, and separation, and complexity. It seems to be a common esoteric teaching (and one that makes a lot of sense) that the purpose of the ever-unfolding Kosmos, of phenomenal existence, is for the infinite possibilities within the Absolute Itself to be allowed individual expression.
Pythagoras and his followers adopted a numerological cosmology, according to which the monad was the first thing that came into existence. The monad gave rise to the dyad, which in turn gave rise to numbers, and thence points, lines, surfaces, four elements, and finally the cosmos. A similar cosmology is found in the Tao te Ching, where we find that the Tao begat one, the one begat two, the two three, and the three the "ten thousand things". And in Kabbalah, beginning with and especicially in the Sefer Yetzirah, numerological speculations are central to elucidating the nature of the Divine reality.
Here I use this sort of numerology progression in a purely allegorical or symbolic way to refer to the hypostases of the Absolute. It should not be taken as a dogmatic fact, but rather can be used as a metaphor (or if not suitable for that, discarded).
The Zero/Infinite prior to the One is symbolic of the Unmanifest ineffable, inconceivable Transcendent Absolute.
The One is that same Absolute in which the two aspects (which are actually one) of Shiva and Shakti, I and This, Absolute Consciousness and Power of the Absolute Consciousness, are in a state of absolute unity and identity (incidentally, Plotinus uses the term The One to designate the Absolute)
The Two in this context symbolises that Unitary Absolute in which the two aspects of Shiva and Shakti are polarised (but still in a state of absolute unity) and manifest as the divine hypostases of infinite Being, Consciousness-Power, and Bliss/Delight (the Manifest Absolute).
The Three here refers metaphorically to that same Polarised but Unitary Absolute iwhich is now actively manifest (hence a third element, tending towards Creation) as the Noetic Absolute.
And the Four designates manifest reality, the Kosmos, and its four aspects as expressed in the four-fold ontology
Just as there are four ontoclines on the quadontological mandala, so, in this diagram, there are eight hirerachical levels.
The number eight does not specifically mean anything here, or rather, it does, but no more than the numerological significance of any other number. I could equally have put in an extra level in the center but I ran out of circles! Also, one could combine two or more adjacent "rings", or divide a single ring in two. What mnatters is that these are hierarchical levels. The exact number of hierarchies or levels or planes or worlds varies according to the teaching. Indo-Aryan and Shamanic cosmology refers to three worlds. Kabbalists have four or five worlds, Sufis have five worlds, Kashmir Shaivism five kalas (divisions). In the Purans there are seven lokas, and Theosophists have seven planes, so does Sri Aurobindo; also, in Hindu Tantra there are seven chakras. Max Theon has eight states, and four worlds. There are ten Kabbalistic sefirot, and Ken Wilber speaks of ten, or alternatively twenty, levels in his AQAL diagram. So it really doesnt matter how many one has. But for the sake of a managable diagram, and not making things to complex, I put eight in (see numbered rings). These values are suggested here as a symbolic archetypal or abstract hierarchy of levels.
Note also that, unlike Wilber's AQAL diagram, these levels are not the primary determining quality throughout all the quadrants; each quadrant or ontocline is a completely independent parameter, and any level and quadrant can intersact with or be combined with any other level or ontocline/quadrant. The relationship between each of the ontoclines at each level is purely one of correspondence, hence metaphorical only. However, the further in one goes to the center, the more yang, the further out, the more yin. The two inner circles are equally beyond yang and yin, alpha and omega
The levels are as follows:
The increasingly wide and dark bands on each level symbolise the incraese of maya and avidya, and the involution of consciousness.
The Co-action Compass is a universally applicable cybernetic diagram presented by Edward Haskell and his associates, which shows the interactions between any two entities or elements of the same entity.
Using a standard mandala as a cosmological "map" means a "static" timeless, or cyclic (like the famous "Wheel of Rebirth") diagram. But we also need something that can convey process and evolution as well. Hence the "Co-action Compass", a cybernetic feedback diagram that forms the basis of the Unified Science paradigm presented by Edward Haskell and his associates. An example of this diagram on the cover of their book Full Circle - The Moral Force of Unified Science is shown here:
This diagram (and Unified Science in general) is based on the premise that with any two interacting factors, one will have a controlling role (this is represented by the y axis, and can be considered "yang") and the other will be the "work component" (the x axis, corresponding to yin). These two elements can interact in a way that benefits, harms, or is neutral to, one, both, or neither. The result is a matrix of 9 possible interactions, which are represented graphically as the co-action compass. The following diagram shows how these 9 possible relationships determine the 9 fundamental states of the co-action compass:
The following diagram shows how even the co-action between the opposite poles of only one of the above axii can produce a whole range of situations.
Looking at the The Co-action Compass, it seems that the fundamental principle is not Y or X, but the relation between the two. So we have again a participative paradigm, in which the interaction of Governor (Y) and Work Component (X) determines the outcome of the joint entity that the two comprise.
So the fundamental unit is not a spiritual atom or a holon, but rather the interaction between two (or more) entities (beings, systems, whatever(. And each entity is itself not a static unit but an interaction between other entities (which may simply be the X/Yin and Y/Yang components of its own make-up) Whether an entity or element is more yin or more yang is determined by its position on the quadontological mandala. So not only is, say, the Divine World (level 4 of the vertical planes (bottom) ontocline/quadrant) yang in relation to the lower or dense material world (level 8 of the same quadrant), but it is also Yang in relation to the Collective Being (level 6 of the holarchical (top) ontocline/quadrant), the Inner Being (level 5 of the inner and outer (right) ontocline/quadrant) for example. Thus every phenomenon and manifets reality can be understood in terms of a yin and yang interaction, leading to either an entropic, a neutral, or a syntropic outcome for one or both units.
The result of this "Tao of Physics"esque "dance of Shiva" type reasoning is that fundamentally everything that exists are a network of bootstrapped interactions of other interactions which in turn consist of other interactions (like the dance of virtual particles). Hence we have a "monadology" in which the monads are not entities but "processes". Being in the sense of a noun that is also a verb.
Finally we have evolution, which is the movement to greater Omega (level 3 or noetic Absolute). This occurs at all the levels from 8 upto 3. This is shown in the following diagram:
More on the six evolutionary singularities shown here in the section on Cosmology. In this diagram. the Theosphere symbolically represents level 3 (Manifgest Absolute), the Noosphere 5, the Sociosphere 6, the Biosphere 7, and the first two the outermost ring. More specifically though, these realities pertain to the successive resonances or octaves (the vertical parameter or ontocline) of the subtle physical, affective, ideational, divine, and noetic Absolute in the physical evolution.
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