There are **three major spiritual/religious systems** that appear to closely mirror the Mental and Physical processing patterns outlined in this project, both through descriptions and through the ordering of their developmental layers. This section is not intended to sway you towards one religion or another, but to highlight the consistent behavioural tendencies that appear to have been recurring across thousands of years. # Taoism and the I Ching The first and most closely integrated religious framework we must talk about is the **I Ching**, an ancient Chinese divination text developed roughly 4000 years ago. <div style="text-align: center;"> <img src="vector-symbols-diagram-ching-hexagrams-600nw-1740190025.webp" width="550"> </div> The I Ching is built from the interaction of **Yin** and **Yang**, represented through broken and unbroken lines that combine into trigrams and hexagrams. **Yin (--)** resembles inward absorption (which I believe correlates with **Mental** processing) and **Yang (–)** resembles outward reactivity (which I believe correlates with **Physical** processing). <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #3498DB; background-color: rgba(52, 152, 219, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; display: flex; align-items: flex-start; "> <span style="margin-right: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2em;">💡</span> <div style="flex: 1;"> <p style="margin: 0;"> While both <strong>Mental</strong> and <strong>Physical</strong> processing can absorb inwardly or react outwardly, they appear to have different natural tendencies. <strong>Mental</strong> processing leans more toward receptive interpretation, focusing on patterns, relationships, and meaning. <strong>Physical</strong> processing leans more toward active response, focusing on direct observation, sensory reality, and immediate environmental interaction. </p> </div> </div> These two states of **Yin** and **Yang** then subdivide into the **Four Images**: **Greater Yin (⚏)**, **Lesser Yin (⚍)**, **Lesser Yang (⚎)**, and **Greater Yang (⚌)**, which are parallel to our **Second Level M/P Divisions**. These four states then subdivide again into the **Eight Trigrams**: **Heaven (☰)**, **Earth (☷)**, **Water (☵)**, **Fire (☲)**, **Thunder (☳)**, **Wood (☴)**, **Mountain (☶)**, and **Lake (☱)**, which are parallel to our **Third Level M/M/P Divisions**. Like my thoughts on subdivisions continuing in complexity, these sages had a great fixation on the 6th level where we get 64 individual states, going from **2 → 4 → 8 → 16 → 32 → 64**. This is represented by the 64 hexagrams outlined along the circular edge of the diagram above, which they noted as each corresponding to an archetype or energy in human affairs. I don't believe this framework of subdivisions is independent to the I Ching, however to my knowledge it is the earliest and clearest example of it. For a deeper look into the I Ching and Taoist alchemical theory, I would highly recommend the work by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BenebellWen" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Benebell Wen</a>. --- # Kabbalah / Tree of Life <div style="text-align: center;"> <img src="Ktreewnames.png" width="250"> </div> Many of the **horizontal** divisions within the Tree of Life (eight divisions total) appear to follow a similar order of expression to the eight layers of human ability. | Layer of Ability | Tree Division | Correlation | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Layer 1: Survival** | **Malkhut** | Represents the physical world in which all preceding forces become embodied and observable. It is the final expression of the Tree, associated with the body, nature, material existence and direct lived experience. | | **Layer 2: Sustainability** | **Yesod** <br> | Represents the underlying structure that gathers and connects all the forces above it before they enter physical reality. It is commonly associated with the subconscious, imagination, memory, relationships and the patterns through which internal experience shapes outward manifestation. | | **Layer 3: Resourcefulness** | **Hod/Netzach** | Represent the practical forces through which inner intentions are expressed. Netzach relates to emotion, desire, persistence and instinctive movement, while Hod relates to thought, language, analysis and organised communication. Together, they translate deeper values into action and expression. | | **Layer 4: Optimisation** | **Tiferet** <br>(weakest correlation) | Represents the balanced integration of Chesed and Gevurah. It combines compassion with discernment, forming a coherent centre associated with harmony, identity, truth and a sense of higher purpose. | | **Layer 5: Harmony** | **Gevurah/Hesed** | Represent the opposing forces of expansion and limitation. Chesed gives freely through love, generosity and growth, while Gevurah establishes boundaries through discipline, judgement and restraint. Together, they regulate how energy is expressed without becoming either uncontrolled or excessively restricted. | | **Layer 6: Alignment** | **Da‘at** | Represents the point where abstract wisdom and understanding become consciously integrated. It connects the higher intellectual principles with the emotional and practical dimensions below, allowing knowledge to become personally experienced rather than merely understood. | | **Layer 7: Synergy** | **Binah/Chokhmah** | Represent the first division of this potential into active and receptive forces. Chokmah is the sudden emergence of insight, possibility and creative energy, while Binah receives, interprets and develops this energy into defined concepts, structures and forms. | | **Layer 8: Awareness** | **Keter** | Represents the highest and most unified state of existence, before consciousness has divided into distinct ideas or forms. It is associated with divine will, pure potential and the original impulse from which creation begins. | Each **vertical** division in the Tree of Life (three total) appears to correspond in expression to the two modes of Mental and Physical processing. | Energy Body | Tree Pillar | Correlation | | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Physical** | **Left Pillar**<br>**(Binah, Gevurah, Hod)** | Represents limitation, structure and restraint. It gives definition to otherwise unrestricted energy through boundaries, discipline, judgement and rational organisation. Without it, expansion would remain uncontrolled and unable to develop into stable form. | | **Mental** | **Right Pillar**<br>**(Chokhmah, Chesed, Netzach)** | Represents expansion, movement and unrestricted expression. It generates possibility through creative force, generosity, emotion and desire, allowing life to grow beyond its existing boundaries. Without the opposing limits of Severity, however, this expansion can become excessive or directionless. | | **Mental/Physical** | **Center Pillar**<br>**(Keter, Tiferet, Yesod, Malkhut)** | Represents the integration of the Tree’s opposing forces into a coherent whole. It receives the expansion of Mercy and the restraint of Severity, balancing them through consciousness, identity and manifestation. It forms the central path through which divine potential descends into physical reality. | --- # Hinduism Each of the **Seven Chakras** appear to correspond to transition points between each of the layers of ability. I will be referring to both classical and modern interpretations as noted through the two columns. | **Transitional Layers** | **Chakra** | **Classical (Tantric)** | **Western / Jungian** | | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **1** → **2 (Survival** → **Sustainability)** | **Root (Muladhara)** | The base of the subtle body and the place where kundalini is traditionally said to rest. It relates to grounding, bodily existence, stability, and the foundation required for further spiritual development. | Represents survival, instinct and security through the material world. The ego is strongly identified with the body, routine and foundational existence. | | **2** → **3 (Sustainability** → **Resourcefulness)** | **Sacral (Svadhisthana)** | Associated with generative lifeforce, desire, pleasure, and fluid movement. It reflects the vital energy that flows through desire, creation, and the continuation of life. | Symbolises sexuality, adaptability, and creativity. Provides the emotional flexibility to pursue desire through action. | | **3** → **4 (Resourcefulness** → **Optimisation)** | **Solar Plexus (Manipura)** | Linked to fire, digestion, vitality, and transformation. This chakra represents the power to process experience, develop discipline, and direct personal energy with the strength and power to act. | Signifies personal power, drive, ambition, and the ability to refine raw desire into directed choice and assertion. | | **4** → **5 (Optimisation** → **Harmony)** | **Heart (Anahata)** | Often understood as the meeting point between the lower and higher chakras. It relates to breath, devotion, compassion, emotional balance, and the opening of the self beyond personal desire. | Embodies compassion, empathy, and connection. Expands individual ego beyond its own survival and power into meaningful relational integration. | | **5** → **6 (Harmony** → **Alignment)** | **Throat (Vishuddha)** | Connected with purification, sound, speech, and mantra. It represents the refinement of energy through expression, truth, and the ability to give form to inner awareness. | Represents authentic communication, truth, and self expression. Inner experience becomes articulated through meaningful action and symbolic expression. | | **6** → **7 (Alignment** → **Synergy)** | **Third Eye (Ajna)** | Traditionally linked with command, concentration, and subtle perception. It reflects inner sight, mental clarity, intuition, and the ability to direct awareness beyond ordinary sensory experience. | Signifies intuition, foresight, and pattern recognition. The ability to perceive archetypal vision and collective integration through symbolic consciousness and intuition. | | **7** → **8 (Synergy** → **Awareness)** | **Crown (Sahasrara)** | The highest chakra, associated with spiritual realisation and liberation. It represents union with divine consciousness, transcendence of ordinary identity, and the completion of the ascent through the subtle body. | Represents transcendence, enlightenment, and unity. Elevates synergy into universal awareness, individuation and alignment towards a larger psychic totality. | The **Four Purusharthas**, also appear to represent the Second Level of Subdivisions where we have four unique divisions. | Second Level Division | Four Purusharthas (Life Aims) | Correlation | | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Layers 1 & 2 (Body)** | **Dharma** | The order that holds life together. Dharma refers to right conduct, duty, virtue, responsibility, social harmony, and living in accordance with the deeper law that sustains both personal life and the wider world. | | **Layers 3 & 4 (Resourcefulness)** | **Artha** | The practical ground on which life is built. Artha concerns livelihood, resources, wealth, security, skill, career, and the material support needed to live with stability, dignity, and effective agency. | | **Layers 5 & 6 (Alignment)** | **Kama** | The sweetness and desire of embodied life. Kama includes pleasure, beauty, affection, love, emotional fulfilment, creativity, sensual enjoyment, and the felt richness that makes existence more than survival or duty. | | **Layers 7 & 8 (Insight)** | **Moksha** | The movement toward freedom and release. Moksha points beyond ordinary attachment and repetition, toward self knowledge, liberation from suffering, spiritual realisation, and the discovery of one’s deeper nature. | --- While there are additional theological systems that may reflect some of the projects findings, I want to avoid forcing connections where the overlap is not largely meaningful. The goal of this section is only to help document similar findings in processing patterns and their relationship across recursive human behaviour. <span class="nav-buttons">[[7. Codex Integration (Theoretical)|« Back]] [[9. Closing Thoughts|Next »]]</span> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #FF4C4C; background-color: rgba(255, 76, 76, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 1 - Survival [P/P/P] </strong> Layer 1 focuses on recognising and responding to the immediate physical conditions of the body. </div> <div style="margin-top:0.5em;"> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #FF8C42; background-color: rgba(255, 140, 66, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 2 - Sustainability [P/P/M] </strong> Layer 2 focuses on maintaining the needs of the body consistently over time through routine, preparation and stability. </div> </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #FFD54F; background-color: rgba(255, 213, 79, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 3 - Resourcefulness [P/M/P] </strong> Layer 3 focuses on recognising and utilising the observable resources available within our environment. </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #8BC34A; background-color: rgba(139, 195, 74, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 4 - Optimisation [P/M/M] </strong> Layer 4 focuses on understanding how existing systems function and how they can be improved for long term stability. </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #4DD0E1; background-color: rgba(77, 208, 225, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 5 - Harmony [M/P/P] </strong> Layer 5 focuses on recognising other people as equally complex and valid, rather than viewing them only as competition, threats or resources. </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #64B5F6; background-color: rgba(100, 181, 246, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 6 - Alignment [M/P/M] </strong> Layer 6 focuses on recognising personal differences, values, strengths and weaknesses, and aligning them towards authenticity and natural suitability. </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #9575CD; background-color: rgba(149, 117, 205, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 7 - Synergy [M/M/P] </strong> Layer 7 focuses on integrating different people, abilities and fields into larger systems of collective capability. </div> <div style=" border-left: 4px solid #9C27B0; background-color: rgba(156, 39, 176, 0.1); padding: 0.75rem; border-radius: 6px; margin: 1rem 0; "> <strong style=" display: block; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: 700; "> Layer 8 - Awareness [M/M/M] </strong> Layer 8 focuses on recognising the larger natural processes, cycles and origins that connect humanity with all wider physical existence. </div>