First, we should defy any accesses to the meaning of the Cup in terms of fixed images.

Both decoding and recoding are necessary, and may happen at the same time.

Life in the spiritual world is so real and self-evident that language seems too slow and limited to grasp its meta-physical contents. Although language or imagery is the very basic means of recognition for life in the three-dimensional world, they are neither essential nor truthful. However, people have been so used to describing and defining the spiritual realities beyond the ordinary by means of their long-accustomed ways. The more they try to use their own ideas and understanding to explain the mystery of the other dimension, the more they are trapped in the labyrinth of their own creation. Heavens, hells, extra-terrestrials, aliens, and the like, are all but the projection of people's own images and stories onto the nebula of the meta-physical world. The paradox is that, on the other hand, that mysterious world is actually not unknowable. The reason for human inaccessibility to it is that people are so rooted and confined in the frame of recognition which is built up on the basis of their eyes, ears, noses, tongues, and body. What lies beyond the frame is always put out of the question. As a matter of truth, our eyes, ears, noses, tongues, and body are products in this three-dimensional world. Their efficacy is also confined in the three-dimensional world. Beyond the world of three dimensions is the immensity of an ultimate field of absolute existence, where all lives, all beings, and all planets in the universe come from and are but parts of it. No matter what terms we use or how we try to name that transcendent domain, it reveals only a small part of its manifestations and consequently proves our limitations, for we are but drops from that limitless spring.

The energy in that ultimate field is the springhead of life. It is the energy in its purest form--so pure and primordial as is formless. Human existence is but a container of that energy--a container, like a cup, to entertain the formless energy that God bestows. Besides that, there is more about life itself. Life itself is a converter that transforms the purest energy God bestows into physical evidences in the three-dimensional space, including physical structures of our body, the objects in the world, as well as various aspects in our civilization. In short, the energy from the Godhead is the highest; it is all-inclusive and all-competent. However, in the immense sea of God's holy energy, human life is but a cup of it, and this mere cup provides all that is needed for a life to fulfill itself.

Our life comes from the source of God. Our souls are derivatives of the Holy Spirit, and the energy that our life relies on comes from the cupped sources of God's energy field. This cup of energy source is the root of life. When the cupped spiritual light (a soul) descends and is born as a human life, the contents of his/her whole life in its necessities and probabilities are contained in this cup. When the cup is drunk, life commences to enfold itself in the physical frame of time and space.

In the beginning, when the pre-birth form of life "drinks" or takes in the formless energy in the ultimate field of energy of God's infinite heaven (Wu-chi Heaven), the pouring of the energy from the cup forms an energy channel into the life-container--the fetus. This invisible umbilical cord, which in some religious sects is called the silver band, serves to transport the cupped energy from the heavenly field through the dome of the head to the inchoate baby. It is the invisible chord that sends the purest energy stored in the formless cup to the process of materialization and substantiation step by step into every part and organ of the fetus in the womb. In the entire process of the baby's life, the stored energy and potential story in the cup will be charged into the baby's existence and enfolded in its future life till it ends. The cup is where the soul is. Life as well as destiny are enclosed in it. No matter what the contents are, this cup is what the soul has chosen and has understood in the heavenly field of Wu-chi. One of the significant purpose of life is to transform the formless energy into manageable forms in the physical frame of time and space so as to learn and improve the light quality in the cup. As a matter of fact, the quality of the light in the cup, be it fine or rough, pure or filthy, is actually filled and determined by the life itself in its universal evolution of life. The final goal of the evolution is to refine the spiritual light of oneself and make it as pure as the Holy Spirit of God. The old wisdom has it that even if you have the ambition to drink up all the water of the sea, you have to drink it cup by cup.

It is the most delicate engineering to convert the formless spiritual light into the physical body. When the spiritual light in the cup in the ultimate space becomes condensed and weighted enough, it begins descending, drawing its contours, pretty much like a comet, in a silver band and enters into the body of the baby through the dome of its head. At the same time, it incorporates with the material elements, which are absorbed by the maternal body and transported to the fetus through the umbilical chord, and substantiates into various parts and structures of the body from head to toe, and from the general to details. This is the very first beginning of the process for the soul to become in form. Since light is the purest form in the physical world of three dimensions, the human soul initiates its form in light. Light is energy, at the same time. The light of spirit is purest and has the highest self-contained energy. The materialization of the physical existence takes its toll on the spiritual energy, though a comparatively small part of it. Nevertheless, this small part does lend its autistic energy to the unfolding of the entire living entity.

The script has it that human forms are hard to come by. It is because that, on the one hand, human existence is the fittest form for the ultimate evolution of life. On the other hand, the spiritual light of human souls preserves the gene of the Holy Spirit. God creates His own image in human beings by modeling the Holy Spirit on the human soul so that, structurally, human beings inherits the Holy Trinity in their existence, and, functionally, holy salvation is at the same time imbedded in the evolution of human life.

As a matter of fact, the template of human existence is embedded in the spiritual light cupped in the heavenly field. Chromosomes are not the first cause that determines life forms. They are the earliest physical products that spiritual light creates out of the material elements which the world of matter provides. It is the soul, the spiritual light, that initiates life by mingling its spiritual energy in the masses of material elements. The soul organizes the material elements and develops the life form in the pattern intrinsic of the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual light of human soul is originally a glowing globe. It doesn't enter into the fertilized egg immediately.*** In about seven weeks when the fetus is pretty ready to lodge the self-contained light body, it enters into the fetus body through the head. Meanwhile, as its formless light is working on transforming the material elements in the womb into textures of the new life, the globe of the spiritual body compresses and prolongs into what is later in life called the central column. Before the central column is fully formed, the gravity of material world doesn't take all its pull at once because the of the protection of the womb of the mother, so the spiritual light globe can enfold itself gradually.*** As the spiritual light (Yang) interacts with material elements (Ying), the fetus grows and curls in the womb in the patter of Tai-chi. Nourished by the spiritual light energy, the soul sprawls its materialization from head to toe.

The Three Tan-Tien and the Three Souls: If we penetrate the genealogy of the soul further, we'll find that the soul is but a broad name for a delicate trinity in human existence. When the globe of spiritual light enters into the fetus through the head, its light energy condenses into a golden ball like a pearl inside the head.*** This golden pearl is actually an epitome of the spiritual light, and will stay in the body as long as the human lives. It is the main soul, the starting point from whence a human life is activated. On the one hand, it is the nexus of the part which the human being inherits from God. The light energy in the cup goes incessantly through the silver band to this center. On the other hand, it is the relay point between the formless spiritual light and the material constitution of human body. It relays and sends the full energy to the formation of a human being. It is the center which provides the energy for the ensuing human development not only in the womb but also after the birth. In a word, this upper Tan-tien (red field or ball-field, literally) is the locale of the spiritual light which lends the divine energy to be converted into the materialization of the human existence. As the fetus grows and unfurls from the head to the other end, the spiritual light prolongs and extends from this upper center and forms in the heart a second energy center. This is the soul which is formed after the human existence comes into being as the result of the descent of the spiritual light, crystallized in the main soul. Nourished by the spiritual energy, the mental soul assumes its own task of developing the mental functions and emotional orientations. It activates all those a priori contents in the cup on the basis of the spiritual energy obtained from the main soul, the spiritual light. In other words, the beating of the heart pumps up not only the proof of life but also the essences of the existence stored in the cup.*** The mental soul is not the only soul which is born in the earthly magnetic field. A third energy center rounds up the full development of the spiritual light body's earthly descent. The light energy of the main soul flows from the head through the heart to the other energy center which controls and processes the material elements absorbed through the umbilical chord--the physical counterpart of the spiritual chord--and maps out the formation of the physical body. It is the soul which fleshes out the physical structure according to the contents in the cup.*** Once the living being is born, it becomes the center of controlling and regulating the physical growth and developments as well as the functions of the physical body. The physical soul is the other soul that is formed in the earthly magnetic field.

The Human Trinity: The three souls are the counterpart of the Holy trinity in human existence. Separately considered, they represent and control the three aspects of human existence: body, mind, and soul. Each has its own domain of functions and works in a subtle way in relation to one another. The main soul, the spiritual light, is the first cause of human existence. As the Holy Father is the Creator of the whole universe, the main soul is the creator of a life existence. It partakes of the holy source of God and provides the foundation of life. It holds the a priori potentiality for the becoming of the life according to its status quo in the process of life-evolution, which it holds in check against the pure, holy state of the divine origin in order to urge the life toward the ultimate perfection. This is the part where conscience in man rises and functions. The main soul also partakes of Holy Father's characteristic of life-giving. It provides energy for the creation of the mental soul, the physical soul, and the subsequent developments and functions of the life until the life cycle is completed.

The main soul is the cupped light energy from the divine source of God. The cup is never empty, for what is made in the earthly world is received back to it. Energy never dies; in the case of spiritual energy, only the quality changes. When the souls of the body and the mind are begotten from the main soul, they are supposed to incorporate those earthly elements and transform them into pure forms of spiritual elements. That is part of the holy salvation. Usually, when the material gravity overcomes the spiritual pull, it makes the original energy lose its purity and increases the entropy in it. The balance is always reflected in the cup and serves as the basis for the next life cycle.

The physical soul is the "holy son" of the main spiritual light, who is born to confront the interaction with the physical world. The physical soul is "the holy son" of the microcosmic trinity of human existence in the sense that it has the authority over physical elements as well as a sophisticated system to command the material elements in its mechanism. If we deem our physical body as nothing but an object in the material world, we are denying it its holy genealogy from the divine origin, which would ultimately lead to the denial of the existence of God. In materialistic view, metabolism is merely a mechanism of how human body sustains its vitality. It is a process of cells' life and death in human body. However, the physical soul is the agent, like the Holy Son, which sacrifices its own purity and superiority in exchange for the uplifting of matters. In spiritual perspectives, metabolism is the elementary workings of the physical soul, whose pure energy absorbs the material elements and incorporates them into the over-all function of the living being. In this way, the life of those base elements is prolonged and perpetuated in a greater order, let's say, in an organ or a system. Again, those organs or systems which the elements or matters evolve into are further incorporated into a still greater order of life-forms. That's generally how a microcosm evolves in transcendental ways. Modern science has shown how the human body works as a biological factory which takes in the material elements and changes them into life substances. The peculiarity and uniqueness of a human existence rests in the fact that it can put all those material element or sub-elements either in the spiritual path to heaven or in a down path to hell. The difference is made by how such a human life deems as the ultimate meaning and goal of its life functions. Herein, the mind is the pivotal point.

The mental soul is situated between the main soul and the physical soul. It works in between the conscience of the spiritual light and the corporeal needs, in between the spiritual pull and the earthly gravity. Earthly desires may command our five senses, and further dominate the intellectual orientation. When this happens, the mind becomes slaves to earthly desires and re-constructs the whole system of life functions in worldly context. It draws on all the spiritual energy that the physical being receives and pushes it into the unfathomable black hole of heavy matters. By and by, the destiny of the life becomes identified with that of the world of matter. Materialization means denial of spiritual salvation, while salvation means spiritualization of matters. The mental soul works like the Holy Spirit to enlighten and liberate. It receives both the inspiration and energy from the spiritual light and converts every physical entity and working into the great spiritual order, an order not just within the body but also without towards the universal evolution, which involves the significance and function of an individual life within communities of different level, for example, from a family, a society, a country, to the whole life-community. While the physical soul plays the role of the brain in the operation of the "material factory," the mental soul plays that of the switchboard in the spiritual transformation.

The Salvation: (to be continued)