Theos-Talk Archives (March 2000 Message tt00054)

Man's Antiquity.  What an be known of it ?

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Many links in questions and exchanges (such as those that are
hinted at in Biblical "Genesis") are looked at in these
statements, which will be found in THE SECRET DOCTRINE.


How old is our Earth?  How long has man lived as a race upon it?

The "Secret Doctrine" ( I - 159) states:  Our Earth during the
first three ROUNDS "forms and consolidates;  during the fourth if
settles and hardens;  during the last three [Rounds] it gradually
returns to its first ethereal form;  it is spiritualized, so to
say."

"Its Humanity develops fully only in the Fourth--our present
Round...Man, (or rather that which becomes "man") passes through
all the forms and kingdoms during the first Round, and through
all the human shapes during the two following Rounds...During the
three Rounds to come, Humanity, like the globe on which it lives,
will be ever tending to reassume its primeval form, that of a
Dhyan Chohanic Host.  Man tends to become a God, and then--GOD,
like every other atom in the Universe."

We further discover a passage that hints at the nameless reality
that is the root basis of our individual natures.  It is a
glimpse, we could say,  of a changeless, an immortal center
within ourselves, and  this is distinguishable in all others
[God is said to be omnipresent -- hence, at the core of man is:
God] :

(SD II 79)  "The human [Higher] Ego is neither Atman [SPIRIT] nor
Buddhi [Wisdom, discrimination] , but the higher Manas [Mind]:
the intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the
intellectual self-conscious Egotism-- in the higher spiritual
sense."

Perfection is an idea that inspires.  That there exists a stage,
a plane, an achievement we might make that allows our whole Being
to flower, to become ideal in every way, has the attention of
every one.  This is born, says the Secret Doctrine, (II 484) from
"that law in nature which implants in man as well as in every
beast a passionate, inherent, and instinctive desire for freedom
and self-guidance..."

(II 95)  "Perfection, to be fully such, must be born of
imperfection, the "incorruptible" must grow out of the
corruptible, having the latter as its vehicle and basis and
contrast."

To achieve this vast process innumerable ages and processes are
required.  "The Secret Doctrine" sketches those for us.  In one
place, HPB states briefly:

(SD I 181)  "There exists in Nature a triple evolutionary
scheme...inextricably interwoven and interblended at every point.
These are...

1.  the Monadic (or spiritual),

2.  the Intellectual, represented by the Manasa-Dhyanis [Wise
Minds] the "givers of intelligence and consciousness."

3.  the Physical represented by the "Chhayas" [shadowy, astral
outlines] round which Nature has concreted the present physical
body.

This body serves as the vehicle for "growth" (to use a misleading
word) and the transformations through MANAS [mind] and--owing to
the accumulation of experiences-- of the finite into the
INFINITE, of the transcient into the ETERNAL and ABSOLUTE.

Each is represented in the constitution of man, the Microcosm of
the great MACROCOSM;  and it is the union of these three streams
in him which makes him the complex being that he now is."

However, there is in each human a final "refuge" -- a place where
the embattled and embodied "Ego-Mind" can seek that peace and
quiet that gives contrast to the world of effects that we live
in.  In "The Secret Doctrine" we find HPB writing:

(II 109-10) "Unless the Ego takes refuge in the Atma, the
all-spirit, and merges entirely into the essence thereof, the
personal Ego may goad it to the bitter end."  We need to
understand that which "propels towards and forces evolution,
(that is) compels the growth and development of Man towards
perfection."  Two forces can be seen :  "(a) the MONAD, or that
which acts unconsciously through a force inherent in itself, and
(b) the lower astral body or the 'personal' SELF.  The
former...owing its identity with the ALL-FORCE...inherent in the
MONAD, it is all-potent...On our plane its essence being too
pure, it remains all-potential, but individually becomes
inactive...unless the higher Self or EGO gravitates towards its
Sun--the MONAD--the lower 'Ego,' or 'personal ' Self, will have
the upper hand in every case.  For it is this Ego, with its
fierce Selfishness and animal desire to live a Senseless
life...which is "the maker of the tabernacle," as Buddha calls it
in the "Dhammapada."  (SD II 248)  "Theosophy teaches that
separation from the Primal Source having once occurred, re-union
can only be achieved by Will-effort."

In general we find HPB expressing the Law of evolution in this
fashion:  (SD II 261)  "The occult doctrine teaches a cyclic
never varying law in Nature, having no personal "special design,"
but acting on a uniform plan that prevails through the whole
manvantaric period and deals with the land worm as it deals with
man.  Neither one nor the other sought to come into being, hence
both are under the same evolutionary law, and both have to
progress according to Karmic law.  Both have started from the
same neutral center of Life and both have to re-emerge into it at
the consummation of the cycle."

It is clear that much more will be found in the SECRET DOCTRINE
that will throw a bright light on these subjects.  These are
offered in the hope that they may prove to be some of the links
that may serve to unite our thinking about the past, present and
our futures, rough shape them as me may.

Best wishes,

Dallas


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