Theos-Talk Archives (October 2001 Message tt00122)

Monday, October 08, 2001


Exhibit of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Los Angeles

WAR of the "SONS OF LIGHT" and the "SONS OF DARKNESS"

In todays Los Angeles Times ( Calendar, p. 58, October 7th 2001)
mention is made of an exhibit soon to be made at the Bowers
Museum of portions of the DEAD SEA SCROLLS.

This ancient Manuscript reminds us of the "War in Heaven" spoken
of in The SECRET DOCTRINE Several kinds of ancient Wars are
spoken of in The SECRET DOCTRINE and apparently these are of
three periods in evolution. [S D I 418]

The first is primordial and ever continued. It is the eternal
"war" between "spirit" and "matter." and this produces the
eternal give and take of Karma -- or, a primordial and eternal
vibration, which is innate in all things. [ S D II 268-9 ].

In The SECRET DOCTRINE H.P.Blavatsky writes of the MONAD and
describes it in manifestation as a point of life that includes
within its egg-shaped limits a "ray" of the ONE SPIRIT and
PRIMORDIAL MATTER (Buddhi). It is a living balance of forces.
its existence implies the innate vibration of the ONE LIFE made
manifest through it. Since this ONE LIFE is consciousness,
Universal INTELLIGENCE resides in this Monad.

Intelligence needs a neutral vehicle (or a "position") so as to
profit from the constant vibration of spirit and matter in all
its many ways, and this neutral balance may be designated MAHAT
or, in man as Manas, mind).

Apparently there is the all-embracing and never to be defined
UNIVERSAL MONAD as above described, and there are innumerable
mirrors of ITSELF as individualized Monads. Each Galaxy, each
solar system, each Earth has a "Monad" as its base and
fundamental living CAUSE. Those represent the KARMA of that
particular aspect of

It is in one way, the vibration of Life -- universal JIVA --
pervades EVERYTHING , and from the "beginning" of any period of
Manvantara (manifestation) it forms the primary impulse to
life -- to Intelligence resident in form and forms.. In man,
Jiva is called, in the 7-fold division that Theosophy uses,
PRANA (breath of life).

This points to the Universal prototypes of all manifested
"Principles," and implies our Manvantara is a re-incarnation of
older Manvantaric manifestations. The Universe is a constantly
vibrating mass, and its phases among others include the extremes
of life and death, or activity and repose. But, eternally life
never ceases either for the universe or for any human mind.

In todays' Los Angeles Times ( Calendar, p. 58) mention is made
of an exhibit soon to be made at the Bowers Museum of portions of
the DEAD SEA SCROLLS.

One of these is an apocryphal account of a war and is titled"
War of the Sons of Light and of the Sons of Darkness." No
additional details are given. [ S D II 495, 500]

One is reminded of what H.P.Blavatsky wrote in The SECRET
DOCTRINE concerning a series of wars between Adepts and
Sorcerers, between good and evil [ S D I 419, 501-2, II
227fn, 384, 390, 498, 501-3]

The second type of "war" is apparently very ancient indeed, as it
refers to the astronomical phases of struggles occurring before
(pre-genetic) the present manifestation of our universe
[S D I 201-4 ], and this, it is taught, is repeated on every
plane [ S D II 268 ].

Some of these ancient accounts depict struggles in the human
phase of evolution [S D II 501-2] and following that, the
evolutionary wars between successive races of mankind [ S D I
193]. The latest of these, being between the early Sub-races of
the Aryans, as they made their escape from the remnants of the
old Atlantean races [ S D II 328, 371, 384, 395, 425-9, 433,
495, 743, 768-9, 776 ] in the period following the great collapse
and submergence of the Atlantean continent.

In Man this symbolizes the "war" between the HIGHER and the Lower
self [ S D II 268] or, if regarded as between the "principles
of man, the war between universal Wisdom (Buddhi) and the folly
of selfish ignorance ( Kama) . Yet, in the economy of nature and
for the maturation of self-consciousness in the personality, the
Lower Mind (Kama-Manas), provides the channel that enables the
Buddhi-Manas to have a perspective of "vision" into the
conditions of the embodied mind, sometime called its "Son," which
is enveloped in the "darkness" of isolation and chaotic desires,
and passions that are the mark of selfish ignorance. Is the link
between Spirit and the embodiment in matter of an intelligence
that yearns to spiritualize itself [ S D II 98, 164 ]

Still another "war" is represented in describing the struggles of
a candidate for initiation -- one who desires to fully conquer
his Lower nature and become an Adept of the "Sons of Light."
[S D II 380].

Would it not be of significance in terms of symbology, looking at
the two interlaced triangles of the seal of the THEOSOPHICAL
SOCIETY, to see depicted therein the sign of these wars?

One of the Triangles is outlined and points up towards the
transcendent and the REAL. The other, dark, points down towards
the limits of form and matter.

Each has three points that correspond to similar points in the
other, they apparently neutralize each other as do the great
forces in Nature. Yet, there is ever the eternal, ceaseless
motion of LIFE. Is this not at the apex of the Seal, in the
small double circle surrounding the fiery, every moving forward
of the swastika of perfection -- the final GOAL OF SUBLIME
PERFECTION ?

In the center of the Seal is the TAU or symbol (abbreviated) for
Man -- the MIND. Is this not the cause and the reason for
evolution through the UNIVERSE ? At the center of this Seal of
evolution, of life ever-lasting, and partaking of every aspect of
the rest, serving to synthesize and epitomize it all is that
Spiritual Man the TAU.

The great Serpent of Eternity, of WISDOM and of LIFE, surrounds
the symbol, indicating endless time -- DURATION. Each of its
scales, signifying a period of incarnation, as the lower mind
wends its way towards the never ceasing circular movement of the
fiery Swastika in the small circle at the very top of the Seal.

DTB