The hermetic axiom “As above, so below” is a statement whose truth can be found in many different places. This is echoed in Judaism when God creates man in his own image, and in Christianity within The Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus said “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
Knowing this, we can see hints of the heavenly world in the material, being that the material is a reflection of the Divine. One place that I’d like to focus on is in the classifications of life, and how the Divine may be reflected in creation.
The Three Domains of Life
At the highest level, life has traditionally been divided into eukaryotes and prokaryotes, with the defining characteristic of this division being whether cells contain a nucleus. This provides the first peek into the world of the Divine: the nucleus being the control center of a cell is like the soul (or nous) being the source of the mind with which we control our being. This suggests that there are entities with and without souls, which tradition has affirmed, with angels and demons usually seen as not having souls and lacking free will.
More recently, modern science has broadly separated living things into three domains. The number of domains itself holds spiritual significance, given the importance and prevalence of Trinities in religion. This can be explored further with comparison to different persons of the Godhead; however, for the purposes of this work I would like to make a more direct comparison to the classifications of spiritual entities that can be said to be “living” in the non-material realm.
Archaea
In the past, this domain was seen as part of the domain Bacteria. However, Archaea have unique characteristics, such as having enzyme for transcription and translation and being able to use unique energy sources. Archaea are also present in the microbiome of virtually all complex organisms, and can be found on our skin and in our gut. There are no known examples of Archaea acting as pathogens or parasites.
These organisms can be said to reflect the Angelic entities in the non-material realm, given that they exist independently, do not have a nucleus (soul), and are mostly a beneficial, yet unseen presence in our day to day lives.
Bacteria
When most people hear about Bacteria, a negative perception usually comes to mind, with their presence associated with filth, disease, and death. Similarly, Demonic entities are often associated with the same things. However, Bacteria are often misunderstood, and can be beneficial when they are in their proper place. Bacteria help us digest our food, and when it is time for us to return our bodies of matter to the Earth, it is Bacteria that will help with the job. Bacteria are simple, yet exist independently and perform their functions.
Demons can be said to exist in similar ways; their independent existence and lack of free will suggest that they do indeed have their proper place and function in Divinity, but like Bacteria they may not always be safe for us to interact with if their function conflicts with ours.
Eukaryotes
We now enter the complex world of organisms with nuclei, including animals, plants, and fungi, which are analogous to entities that have souls. Traditional Abrahamic beliefs have often thought of humans as the only beings with souls, however this seems to be the result of anthropocentric biases, which disregard the decision-making and emotional capabilities of other organisms. After all, if we believe everything in existence shares an origin at some point, then these beings had to receive their decision making capabilities from somewhere. Mani, the prophet of the gnostic Manichean tradition taught similar ideas of other living beings having souls, providing a basis for why harming other living beings is sinful.
This decision making capability (our mind, or nous) is the portion of the Divine soul that each being has received in their current emanation. While there are single celled eukaryotic species, the existence of various complex multicellular organisms is a reflection of the Divine capability to create, organize, and build, and seems to be enabled by the presence of the nucleus, making it a sort of material reflection of the soul/nous.
Conclusion
As we move forward on our mystical paths, let us always be aware that the Divine is ever present. The idea that we exist separately from the Divine is an illusion of our own doing. We can learn more about the nature of the Divine by observing the world around us and keeping in mind that everything that exists around us reflects Divinity in its own unique way. Let us continue our roles as agents and hosts of the supreme, unified, Holy soul.