Theos-Talk Archives (February 2001 Message tt00074)

February 7, 2001


Dear Peter:

Re: CONSCIOUSNESS One could advance a large volume of
references of importance concerning this term and concerning the
beings who enjoy on or several aspects of consciousness and
intelligence in our Universe. One could say that as MONADS they
surround and interpenetrates us all and follow the laws of Karma
and Cosmos with great exactitude. I looked for some that H.P.B.
advanced an offer these on her behalf:

H.P.B. offers some very profound views ( S.D. I 56) :

"To know itself or oneself necessitates consciousness and
perception, (both limited faculties in relation to any subject
except Parabrahm), to be cognized.

Hence the "Eternal Breath which knows itself not." Infinity
cannot comprehend Finiteness. The Boundless can have no relation
to the bounded and conditioned. In the occult teachings, the
Unknown and the Unknowable MOVER, or the Self-Existing, is the
absolute divine Essence.

And thus being Absolute Consciousness, and Absolute Motion--to
the limited senses of those who describe this indescribable--it
is unconsciousness and immoveableness.

Concrete consciousness cannot be predicated of abstract
Consciousness, any more than the quality WET can be predicated of
water...

Consciousness implies limitations and qualifications something to
be conscious of and someone to be conscious of it.

But ABSOLUTE CONSCIOUSNESS contains the COGNIZER, the THING
COGNIZED, and the COGNIZER, all three in itself and all three
ONE.

No man is conscious of more than that portion of his knowledge
that happens to have been recalled to his mind at any particular
time. ... To forget is synonymous with not to remember. How
much greater must be the difficulty of finding terms to describe
and to distinguish between, abstract METAPHYSICAL FACTS, or
differences. ...

We give names to things according to the appearance they assume
for ourselves. We call absolute consciousness "unconsciousness,"
because it seem to us that it must necessarily be so, just as we
call the Absolute "Darkness," because to our finite understanding
it appears quite impenetrable, yet we recognize fully our
perception of such things does not do them justice.

We involuntarily distinguish in our minds, for instance, between

1. unconscious absolute consciousness, and

2. unconsciousness,

by secretly endowing the former with some indefinite quality that
corresponds on a HIGHER PLANE than our thoughts can reach, with
what we know as consciousness in ourselves. But this is not any
kind of consciousness that we manage to distinguish from what
appears to us as unconsciousness."


And again, H.P.B. says (SD I 49)

"Esoteric philosophy teaches that EVERYTHING lives and is
conscious., but not that all life and consciousness are similar
to those of human or even animal beings.

Life we look on as "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, what, incorrectly
separating them, we name Spirit, Soul and Matter.

Matter is the vehicle for manifestation of soul on this plane of
existence, and

Soul is the vehicle on a higher plane for the manifestation of
Spirit, and

These three are a trinity synthesized by Life [JIVA], which
pervades them all. The idea of universal LIFE is one of those
ancient conceptions which are RETURNING TO THE HUMAN MIND IN THIS
CENTURY...The idea of "CRYSTALLINE LIFE," now familiar to science
would have been scouted half a century ago. Botanists are now
serving for the nerves of plants...It hardly seems possible that
science can disguise from itself much longer...the fact that that
have a life are living things, whether they be atoms or planets."


Also in S.D. I 274 - 5 we notice as the Moderator states:


"The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards. As
above so it is below....We see that every external motion, act,
gesture, whether voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is
produced and preceded by internal feelings or emotion, will or
volition, and thought or mind.

As no outward motion or change, when normal, in man's external
body can take place unless provoked by an inward impulse, given
through one of the three functions named, so with the external or
manifested Universe.

The whole Kosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost
endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a
mission to perform, and who -- are agents of Karmic and Cosmic
Laws....

For each of these Beings either was, or prepares to become a man,
if not in the present, then in a past or a coming cycle
(Manvantara). They are perfect, when not incipient men..."

I hope these may be considered in relation to your questions and
the key quotation that you start us with: S.D. I 274. even though
I have quoted a part of it again. The lattice of thought has to
make use of it.

Some important statements may be found in the S.D. see pages :

The absolute consciousness of the HIGHER SELF (ATMA) S.D. I
266 570
Cosmic ideation & consciousness S.D. I 14 329fn 373 II
490fn
Primary Element S.D. I 373
Sleep and consciousness S.D. I 266 299 II 701
Monad and consciousness S.D. I 610
Highest manifested consciousness S.D. I 280 573
Human and Cosmic consciousness (Diagram) S.D. I 14 167
200, 242-246, II 490fn 701
Illusion (Maya) and consciousness S.D. I 329-330 430
Immortality and Consciousness S.D. I 51 II 525
Consciousness implies limitations S.D. I 56
Personal EGO is individualized consciousness SD II 241
Consciousness is not a brain function S.D. I 233 296 327fn
Logos is the source of INDIVIDUAL consciousness S.D. II 24
Pervades everything S.D. I 49 274 II 702fn
Universe is an aggregate of many states of consciousness
S.D. II 598-9




-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Merriott [mailto:nous@btinternet.com]
Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2001 1:26 PM
To: sd@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-sd] Everything is Conscious. Numbers 5 SD I 274

Friends,

I wonder if we could focus a little on our latest study passage,
where we
find the Occult Philosophy maintaining that:-

"Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is
CONSCIOUS: ie
endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane
of
perception."

Would it be an idea to explore what we mean by the term
"consciousness"?
What is the view of the Occult Philosophy as to the nature of
"consciousness" and its source?

Also, what might be some of the meanings of "on its own plane of
perception"? Does each thing have only one plane of perception,
or is it more complex than appears?

Any thoughts?

...Peter

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Moderator
> Sent: 03 February 2001 21:48
> To: sd@blavatsky.net
> Subject: [bn-sd] Everything is Conscious. Numbers 5 SD I 274
>
>
> Friends,
>
> Here is our next numbered passage to continue our study.
>
> ===============================
> (5.) Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms,
is
> CONSCIOUS: i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind
and on its own plane of
> perception. We men must remember that because we do not
perceive any
> signs-which we can recognise-of consciousness, say, in stones,
we have no
> right to say that no consciousness exists there. There is no
such thing as
> either "dead" or "blind" matter, as there is no "Blind" or
"Unconscious"
> Law. These find no place among the conceptions of Occult
philosophy. The
> latter never stops at surface appearances, and for it the
noumenal essences
> have more reality than their objective counterparts; it
resembles therein
> the mediæval Nominalists, for whom it was the Universals that
were the
> realities and the particulars which existed only in name and
human fancy.
> (SD I 274)
> ==============================
>
> Would anyone like to offer some examples to illustrate the
meaning of the
> first sentence:
>
> "Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is
CONSCIOUS:
> i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its
own plane of
> perception."
>
> ...Peter
>
>
> ---
>
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