Theos-Talk Archives (May 2001 Message tt00147)

Sunday, May 20, 2001

Re; 1 Quotes -- The Absolute


Dear Friend:

Some time back we spoke of sending some of the quotes I had
accumulated for your possible use

See if this may be of use. Is this format easy for you to
use ?

Comments will be most welcome for future sending.

DTB



==================== COPY ====================





T H E A B S O L U T E


U N I T Y


"...there is one absolute Reality which antecedes all
manifested, conditioned, being. This Infinite and Eternal
Cause--dimly formulated in the "Unconscious" and
"Unknowable"...is the rootless root of "all that was, is, or ever
shall be." It is of course devoid of all attributes and is
essentially without any relation to manifested, finite Being. It
is "Be-ness" rather than Being (in Sanskrit, Sat), and is beyond
all thought or speculation...Thus, then, the first fundamental
axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this metaphysical ONE
ABSOLUTE--BE-NESS--symbolized by finite intelligence as the
theological trinity." The Secret Doctrine I p. 14


"Parabrahm (the One Reality, the Absolute) is the field
of Absolute Consciousness, i.e., that Essence which is out of all
relation to conditioned existence, and of which conscious
existence is a conditioned symbol. But once that we pass in
thought from this (to us) Absolute Negation, duality supervenes
in the contrast of Spirit (or consciousness) and Matter, Subject
and Object.

Spirit (or Consciousness) and Matter are, however, to be
regarded, not as independent realities, but as the two facets or
aspects of the Absolute (Parabrahm), which constitute the basis
of conditioned Being whether subjective or objective...precosmic
root-substance (Mulaprakriti) is that aspect of the Absolute
which underlies all the objective planes of Nature.

Just as pre-Cosmic Ideation is the root of all individual
consciousness, so pre-Cosmic Substance is the substratum of
matter in the various grades of its differentiation.

Hence is will be apparent that the contrast of these two
aspects of the Absolute is essential to the existence of the
"Manifested Universe." Secret Doctrine I p. 15


"Summary... (1.) The ABSOLUTE; the Parabrahm of
the Vedantins or the one Reality, SAT, which is...both Absolute
Being and Non-Being...The ONE REALITY; its dual aspects in the
conditioned Universe." S D I p. 16


"...although the root of every atom individually and of
every form collectively, is that 7th principle or the one
Reality, still, in its manifested phenomenal and temporary
appearance, it is no better than an evanescent illusion of our
senses.

In its absoluteness, the One Principle under its two
aspects (of Parabrahm and Mulaprakriti) is sexless, unconditioned
and eternal. Its periodical (manvantaric) emanation--or primal
radiation--is also One, androgynous and phenomenally finite."
S D I p. 18


"...the Arhat secret doctrine on cosmogony, admits but of
one absolute, indestructible, eternal, and uncreated
UNCONSCIOUSNESS...of an "element"...absolutely independent of
everything else in the universe; a something ever present or
ubiquitous, a Presence which ever was, is, and will be, whether
there is a God, gods, or none; whether there is a universe or no
universe; existing during the eternal cycles of the Maha Yugs,
during the Pralayas as during the periods of Manvantara: and
this is SPACE, the field for the operation of the eternal Forces
and natural Law, the basis...upon which take place the eternal
intercorrelations of Akasa-Prakriti, guided by the unconscious
regular pulsations of Sakti...the eternal energy of an eternal
unconscious Law, say the Buddhists. Space then...the "Emptiness"
is the nature of the Buddhist Absolute." H.P.B. Articles III
335


"[THAT]...is the Vedantic Mulaprakriti, and the Svabhavat
of the Buddhists, or that androgynous something...which is both
differentiated and undifferentiated. In its first principle it
is a pure abstraction, which becomes differentiated only when it
is transformed, in a process of time, into Prakriti. If compared
with the human principles, it corresponds to Buddhi, while Atma
would correspond to Parabrahm, Manas to Mahat, and so on."
Transactions . p. 4



The Absolute -- Space -- Be-ness


"Space exists where there is nothing else, and must so
exist whether the Universe is one absolute vacuum or a full
Plenum...Space is what the ancients called the One invisible and
unknown (now unknowable) Deity. " Trans. 12


"The absoluteness of the all-containing One essence, has
to manifest itself equally in rest and activity." Trans 11


The Absolute is "the eternal divine Consciousness."
Trans. 16


"...the Absolute, which is to us, at our present stage of
mental development, merely a logical speculation, though dating
back to thousands and thousands of years." Trans. 21


"The Absolute cannot be said to have a
consciousness...such as we have here. It has neither
consciousness, nor desire, nor wish, nor thought, because it is
absolute thought, absolute desire, absolute consciousness,
absolute "all." Trans. 17


"How can the Absolute be said to feel ? The Absolute can
have no condition nor attribute."
Trans. 25


"Be-ness"...Sat. It is not existence, for existence can
only apply to phenomena, never to noumena...Existence...implies
something having a beginning and an end. [ ex-istence
cannot]...be applied to that which ever was, and of which it
cannot be predicated that it ever issued from something else."
Trans 17


"Be-ness" is not being, for it is equally non-being. We
cannot conceive of it, for our intellects are finite and our
language far more limited and conditioned even than our minds.
How...can we express that which we can only conceive of by a
series of negatives?" Trans. 17


["ever invisible robes"]...invisible to finite
consciousness...Even for the Logos, Mulaprakriti is a veil, the
Robes in which the Absolute is enveloped. Even the Logos cannot
perceive the Absolute, say the Vedantins." Trans. 5


Time and Duration -- Cause


"Duration is; it has neither beginning nor end. How can
you call that which has neither beginning nor end, Time?
Duration is beginningless and endless; Time is finite...Time can
be divided; for as to Duration, it is impossible to divide it or
set up landmarks therein. Duration with us is the one eternity,
not relative, but absolute." Trans 11


"The causes of existence...refers to the last Manvantara,
or age of Brahmâ, but the cause which makes the Wheel of Time and
Space run into Eternity, which is out of Space and Time, has
nothing to do with the finite causes or what we call the
Nidanas... This one eternal causeless and therefore "causeless
cause" is immutable and has nothing to do with the causes on any
of the planes which are concerned with finite and conditioned
being. The cause can therefore by no means be a finite
consciousness or desire. It is an absurdity to postulate desire
or necessity of the Absolute; the striking of a clock does not
suggest the desire of the clock to strike...the Absolute
containing both clock and Winder, once it is the Absolute; the
only difference is that the former is would up in Space and Time
and the latter out of Space and Time, that is to say, in
Eternity...Parabrahm is not a cause, neither is there any cause
that can compel it to emanate or create. Strictly speaking,
Parabrahm is not even the Absolute, but Absoluteness. Parabrahm
is not a cause, but causality, or the propelling but not
volitional power, in every manifesting Cause. We may have some
hazy idea that there is such a thing as this eternal Causeless
Cause or Causality. But to define it is impossible..."
Trans. 40-1


Light and Darkness


"Darkness has...to be read in a metaphorical sense. It
is Darkness most unquestionably to our intellect, inasmuch as we
can know nothing of it...neither Darkness or Light are to be used
in the sense of opposites, as in the differentiated world.
Darkness is the term which will give rise to least
misconceptions...light is the first potentiality awakening from
its laya condition to become a potency; it is the first flutter
in undifferentiated matter which throws it into objectivity and
into a plane from which it will start manifestation."
Trans. 42


"Darkness,"...in this instance, is that of which no
attributes can be postulated; it is the Unknown Principle
filling Cosmic Space...[darkness] is used in the sense of the
Unmanifested and the Unknown as the opposite pole to
manifestation, and that which falls under the possibility of
speculation...The "Darkness" here meant can be opposed to neither
Light nor Differentiation, as both are the legitimate effects of
the Manvantaric evolution--the cycle of Activity. It is the
"Darkness upon the face of the Deep," in Genesis: Deep being
here "the bright son of the Dark Father"--Space." Trans.
35


"Ever-Darkness means...the ever-unknowable mystery,
behind the veil--in fact Parabrahm. Even the Logos can see only
Mulaprakriti, it cannot see that which is beyond the veil. It is
that which is the "Ever-unknowable Darkness."..."Ever- Darkness"
is eternal, the Ray periodical. Having flashed out from this
central point and thrilled through the Germ, the Ray is withdrawn
again within this point and the Germ develops into the Second
Logos, the triangle within the Mundane Egg." Trans.
84



Great Breath -- Pulsation


"...in Pralaya too there is the "Great Breath"...for the
"Great Breath" is ceaseless, and is...the universal and eternal
perpetuum mobile...compared to the rhythmical motions of the
Unconscious Ocean." Trans. 9-10




Absolute Divine Mind -- Consciousness


"...during Pralayas...there is nothing to receive and
reflect the ideation of the Absolute Mind; therefore it is not.
Everything outside the Absolute and immutable Sat (Be-ness), is
necessarily finite and conditioned, since it has beginning and
end...A distinction had to be made between the Absolute Mind,
which is ever present, and its reflection and manifestation in
the
Ah-hi [Dhyan Chohans], who being on the highest plane, reflect
the universal mind collectively at the first flutter of
Manvantara. After which they begin the work of evolution of all
the lower forces throughout the seven planes, down to the
lowest--our own. The Ah-hi are the primordial seven rays, or
Logoi, emanated from the first Logos, triple, yet one in
essence." Trans. 19-20



"Universal or Absolute Mind always is during Pralaya as
well as Manvantara; it is immutable. The Ah-hi are the highest
Dhyanis, the Logoi...During Pralaya there are no Ah-hi, because
they come into being only with the first radiation of the
Universal Mind, which, per se, cannot be differentiated, and the
radiation from which is the first dawn of Manvantara. The
Absolute is dormant, latent mind, and cannot be otherwise in true
metaphysical perception; it is only Its shadow which becomes
differentiated in the collectivity of these Dhyanis...It is
absolute consciousness eternally, which consciousness becomes
relative consciousness periodically, at every "Manvantaric dawn."
Trans. 20


"The Divine Mind is, and must be, before differentiation
takes place. It is called the divine Ideation, which is eternal
in its Potentiality and periodical in its Potency, when it
becomes Mahat, Anima Mundi or Universal Soul." Trans. p. 4


"...Mahat--the great Manvantaric Principle of
Intelligence--acts as a Brain through which the Universal and
Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi, representing the resultant
Consciousness or ideation. As the shadow of this primordial
triangle falls lower and lower through the descending planes, it
becomes with every stage more material." Trans. 28


"Apart from Cosmic Substance, Cosmic Ideation could not
manifest as individual consciousness, since it is only through a
vehicle of matter that consciousness wells up as "I am I," a
physical basis being necessary to focus a ray of the Universal
Mind at a certain stage of complexity. Again, apart from Cosmic
Ideation, Cosmic Substance would remain an empty abstraction, and
no emergence of consciousness could ensue. The "manifested
Universe," therefore is pervaded by duality, which is, as it
were, the very essence of its ex-istence as
"manifestation."...subject and object, spirit and matter, are but
aspects of the One Unity in which they are synthesized so, in
the manifested Universe, there is "that" which links spirit to
matter, subject to object...Fohat...is thus the dynamic energy of
Cosmic Ideation...the intelligent medium, the guiding power of
all manifestation, the "Thought Divine" transmitted and made
manifest through the Dhyan Chohans, the Architects of the visible
World. Thus from Spirit, or Cosmic Ideation, comes our
consciousness; from Cosmic Substance the several vehicles in
which that consciousness is individualized and attains to
self--or reflective--consciousness; while Fohat, in its various
manifestations, is the mysterious link between Mind and Matter,
the animating principle electrifying every atom to life."
S D I 15-16



Cosmic Mind [ in Manifestation ]


"...cosmic mind appears at the third stage, or degree,
and is confined or limited to the manifested universe...Cosmic
Mind is Mahat, or divine ideation in active (creative) operation,
and thus only the periodical manifestation in time and in actu,
of the Eternal Universal Mind--in potentia. In strict truth,
Universal Mind, being only another name for the Absolute, out of
time and space, this Cosmic Ideation, or Mind, is not an
evolution at all (least of all a :creation"), but simply one of
the aspects of the former [ABSOLUTE], which knows no change,
which ever was, which is, and will be...Universal Mind is not the
same thing [as Cosmic Mind], as no conditioned and relative act
can be predicted of that which is Absolute. Universal ideation
was as soon as the Ah-hi appeared, and continues throughout the
Manvantara." [The Ah-hi] belong to the first, second, and third
planes--the last plane being really the starting point of the
primordial manifestation--the objective reflection of the
unmanifested. Like the Pythagorean Monas, the first Logos,
having emanated the first triad, disappears into silence and
darkness." Trans. 23


"It is most misleading to apply mechanical laws to the
higher metaphysics of cosmogony, or to space and time, as we know
them, for neither existed then. The reflection of the triad in
space and time, or the objective universe, comes later."
Trans. 23


"...Mahat--the great Manvantaric Principle of
Intelligence--acts as a Brain through which the Universal and
Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi, representing the resultant
Consciousness or ideation. As the shadow of this primordial
triangle falls lower and lower through the descending planes, it
becomes with every stage more material." Trans. 28




Man -- Humanity


"Every living creature, of whatever description, was, is,
or will become a human being in one or another Manvantara."
Trans. 23


"Free will can only exist in a Man who has both mind and
consciousness, which act and make him perceive things both within
and without himself." Trans. 25


"...our Ego is a ray of the Universal Mind,
individualized for the space of a cosmic life-cycle, during which
space of time it gets experience in almost numberless
reincarnations or rebirths, after which it returns to its
Parent-Source. The Occultist would call the "Higher Ego" the
immortal Entity, whose shadow and reflection is the human Manas,
the mind limited by its physical senses. The two may be well
compared to the Master-artist and the pupil-musician...In the
course of natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be replaced by
a finer organism, and helped by the 6th [Buddhi] and the 7th
[Atma] senses..." Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 208


"The "Ah-hi" pass through all the planes, beginning to
manifest on the third. Like other Hierarchies, on the highest
plane they are arupa, i.e., formless, bodiless, without any
substance, mere breaths. On the second plane, they first
approach to Rupa, or form. On the third, they become
Manasa-putras, those who become incarnated in man. With every
plane they reach they are called by different names--there is a
continual differentiation of their original homogeneous
substance; we call it a substance, although in reality it is no
substance of which we can conceive. Later they become
Rupa--ethereal forms." Trans. 24


Manifestation -- Radiation --
Emanation


"Are not the prismatic rays fundamentally one single
white ray? From the one they become three; from the three,
seven; from which seven primaries they fall into infinitude.
Referring back to the so-called "consciousness" of the Ah-hi,
that consciousness cannot be judged by the standard of human
perceptions. It is on quite another plane. [Example]
...often the reasoning faculty of the higher mind may be asleep,
and the instinctual mind be fully awake." Trans. 26-7


"...Maya is the Cause, and at the same time an aspect, of
differentiation...the Absolute can never be differentiated. Maya
is a manifestation; the Absolute can have no manifestation, but
only a reflection, a shadow which is radiated periodically from
it--not by it." Trans. 30


"In all cosmogonies the first differentiation was
considered feminine. It is mulaprakriti which conceals or veils
Parabrahm; Sephira the light that emanates first from Ain-Soph;
and in Hesiod it is Gaea who springs from chaos, preceding
Eros...It is the goddess and goddesses who come first. The first
emanation becomes the immaculate Mother from whom proceeds all
the gods, or the anthropomorphized creative forces...From IT,
strictly speaking, nothing can proceed, neither a radiation nor
an emanation...The IT is...Parabrahm...the "unknowable"...The
space of which we speak is the female aspect of Brahmâ, the male.
At the first flutter of differentiation, the Subjective proceeds
to emanate, or fall, like a shadow into the Objective, and
becomes what was called the Mother Goddess, from whom proceeds
the Logos, the Son and Father God at the same time, both
manifested, one the Potentiality, the other the Potency. But the
former must not be confounded with the manifested Logos, also
called the "Son" in all cosmogonies...Mulaprakriti means the Root
of Nature or Matter...Parabrahm cannot be called the "Root," for
it is the absolute Rootless Root of all." Trans. 2-3


"On the first plane of differentiation there is no
sex--to use the term for convenience sake--but both sexes exist
potentially in primordial matter. Matter is the root of the word
"mother" and therefore female; But there are two kinds of
matter. The undifferentiated, primordial matter is not
fecundated by some act in space and time, fertility and
productiveness being inherent in it. Therefore that which
emanates or is born out of that inherent virtue is not born from,
but through it...that virtue or quality is the sole cause that
this something manifests through its vehicle; whereas on the
physical plane, Mother-matter is not the active cause but the
passive means and instrument of an independent cause."
Trans. 87-8


"..."the seventh vibration" applies to both the First,
and to the manifested Logos--the first out of Space and Time, the
second, when Time has commenced. It is only when "the mother
swells" that differentiation sets in, for when the first Logos
radiates through primordial and undifferentiated matter there is
as yet no action in chaos...[it] is the first [vibration] which
announces the Dawn, and is a synonym for the First or
unmanifested Logos. There is no Time at this stage. There is
neither Space nor Time when beginning is made; but it is all in
Space and Time, once that differentiation sets in. At the time
of the primordial radiation, or when the Second Logos emanates,
it is Father-Mother potentially, but when the third or manifested
Logos appears, it becomes the Virgin-Mother."
Trans. 93-4


"Radiation" and "Emanation"...express two entirely
different ideas, and are at best apologies for the original terms
that could be found; but it the ordinary meanings are attached
to them the idea will be missed. Radiation is...the unconscious
and spontaneous shooting forth, the action of a something from
which this act takes place; but emanation is something from
which another thing issues in a constant efflux, and emanates
consciously...Radiation can come from the Absolute; Emanation
cannot. One difference exists in the idea that Radiation is
sure, sooner or later, to be withdrawn again, while Emanation
runs into other emanations and is thoroughly separated and
differentiated. Of course at the end of the cycle of time
emanation will also be withdrawn into the One Absolute, but
meanwhile, during the entire cycle of changes emanation will
persist. One thing emanates from the other, and, in fact, from
one point of view, emanation is equivalent to Evolution; while
"radiation" represents...--in the cosmic period...--an
instantaneous action like that of a piece of paper set on fire
under a burning glass, of which act the Sun knows nothing."
Trans. 94-5
[ see SD I 64; II 572; HPB Art III 334-5; Glos 113 ]



Man and Consciousness


"...while Consciousness is not a thing per se, Mind is
distinctly--in its Manvantaric functions at least--an
Entity...mind is a term perfectly synonymous with Soul..."
Trans. p 29


"The instinctual mind finds expression through the
cerebellum, and is also that of the animals. With man during
sleep the functions of the cerebrum cease, and the cerebellum
carries him on to the Astral plane, a still more unreal state
than even the waking plane of illusion; for so we call this
state...And the Astral plane is still more deceptive, because it
reflects indiscriminately the good and the bad, and is so
chaotic." Trans. 27

"[the Lower Manas] is susceptible of hallucinations about
space and time; for instance, a man in the dreaming state may
live in a few seconds the events of a lifetime. For the
perceptions and apprehensions of the Higher Ego there is neither
space not time." Trans. 27


"The human brain is an exhaustless generator of the most
refined quality of cosmic force out of the low, brute energy of
Nature; and the complete adept has made himself a center from
which radiate potentialities that beget correlations upon
correlations through AEons of time to come.'
Theos. Art. & Notes, p. 291


"...we all regard ourselves as Units, although
essentially we are one indivisible Unit, drops in the ocean of
Being, not to be distinguished from other drops. Having then
produced this cause, the whole discord of life follows
immediately as an effect; in reality it is the endeavor of
nature to restore harmony and maintain equilibrium. It is the
sense of separateness which is the root of all evil."
Trans. 30



Memory


"Our "memory" is but a general agent, and its "tablets,"
with their indelible impressions, but a figure of speech; the
"brain-tablets" serve only as a upadhi or a vahan (basis or
vehicle) for reflecting at a given moment the memory of one or
another thing. The record of past events, of every minutest
action, and of passing thoughts, in fact, are really impressed on
the imperishable waves of the Astral Light, around us, and
everywhere, not in the brain alone; and these mental pictures,
images, and sounds, pass from these waves in the consciousness of
the personal Ego or Mind (the lower Manas) whose grosser essence
is astral, into the "cerebral reflectors," so to say, of our
brain, whence they are delivered by the psychic to the sensuous
consciousness. This at every moment of the day, and even during
sleep."
Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 209



Pantheism


"The term "Pantheism" is again one of...many abused
terms, whose real and primitive meaning has been distorted by
blind prejudice and a one-sided view of it. If you accept the
Christian etymology of this compound word, and form it of pan,
"all," and theos, "god," and then imagine and teach that every
stone and every tree in Nature is a God or the ONE God,
then...you will...make of Pantheists fetish-worshipers, in
addition to their legitimate name. But you will hardly be as
successful if you etymologize the word Pantheism
esoterically....When we speak of the Deity and make it identical,
and hence coeval, with Nature, the eternal and uncreate nature is
meant, and not your aggregate of flitting shadows and finite
unrealities...Our DEITY is neither in a paradise, nor in a
particular tree, building, or mountain: it is every-where, in
every atom of the visible as of the invisible Cosmos, in, over,
and around every invisible atom and divisible molecule; for IT
is the mysterious power of evolution and involution, the
omnipresent, omnipotent, and even omniscient creative
potentiality." Key To Theosophy, p. 63-4


"Pantheism may be "physically rediscovered." It was
known, seen, and felt by the whole of antiquity. Pantheism
manifests itself in the vast expanse of the starry heavens, in
the breathing of the seas and oceans and the quiver of life of
the smallest blade of grass. Philosophy rejects the one finite
and imperfect God in the universe...It repudiates in its name of
Philo-Theo-Sophia the grotesque idea that infinite, Absolute
Deity should, or rather could, have any, whether direct or
indirect, relation to finite evolutions of matter, and therefore
cannot imagine a universe outside that Deity, or the latter
absent from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate
substance." Secret Doctrine I, 533