Theos-Talk Archives (September 2002 Message tt00037)

<Does Theosophy claim that man derived from monkeys yes or no ? And if yes
where did man derive from, from noting ?
Bring relevant quotes to back it up your claims.>


Dear Brian,

The real question is *what is man?* Or, better put, *what is a human
being?* If all you think we are is the biological form, then what Theosophy
has to say about evolution won't matter to you, or will appear as nonsense.
If you are at least willing to concede that there just might be more to us
than our physical bodies, then we can discuss the theosophical doctrines on
the subject. Bart, Leon and Mic have already addressed your question better
than I could, but I'll make a few comments anyway:

Theosophy agrees with Science in stating that neither man nor anything else
comes from *nothing,* either at the hand of a personal god or in any other
way. *Like produces like* is as much a theosophical concept as a scientific
one. However, the fundamental concept in Theosophy is that *consciousness*
is not a by-product of nor excretion from matter, but is it's own *reality.*
Some might call this *spirit,* or *the power to perceive.* The *experiences
of consciousness* of whatever type or level could be termed *soul.* This is
such an abused and misunderstood word that I hesitate to use it, but there
really isn't another term in English to describe the concept, so I will stay
with it using the definition as stated. *Soul* has experience in many
places, or planes, or levels of awareness, from the very tangible (*matter*
as we think we know it) to the very abstract and ethereal. *Matter*, as
modern physics has learned, is not just the simple *stuff* we experience as
the world, but is more complex, more about energy fields and ultimately less
*real* than anyone could have thought even ten or twenty years ago.
Theosophically and very broadly, *matter* is the *field of experience for
soul.* And, lest we somehow get the idea that these three levels of the
reality of the universe are separate from each other, it might be helpful to
think of Spirit-Soul-Matter as a sort of universal field or sphere, with
*spirit* or consciousness at one *end* and *matter* or substance at the
*other*. Blavatsky calls this "the One homogeneous divine
SUBSTANCE-PRINCIPLE," (Secret Doctrine I, 271)

According to Theosophy, human beings are that point in nature where the
inner (intellectual) evolution of *soul* reaches *self-awareness.*
Therefore, the body is not the *real* human being, but its *vehicle* only.
An essential concept is that there are laws of spiritual, intellectual and
moral as well as physical evolution, so that when you ask "where did man
come from?" you also have to ask, "which man?" the *spiritual*? the
*intellectual*? or the *physical*? All too briefly let us say that the
*spiritual man* comes from the *root consciousness" or *power to perceive*
inherent in the *substance-principle* of the universe. The *intellectual
man* is illuminated by higher self-conscious beings, in an analogous way
that a teacher or parent *lights up* the consciousness of a child. The
*physical man* or form is derived from *matter,* but in ways that only are
apparent when matter as a field for the experience of consciousness is taken
into account. (See Leon's excellent post yesterday, and my previous posts
for questions and issues which a true science of consciousness might help
explain).

This is only a cursory view, but is all I have time to write at the moment.

Finally, I'm not sure if by "relevant quotes to back up your claims" you
mean quotes from Theosophical writings. These are readily available if you
want them, but I would suggest you do your own reading in works like
Blavatsky's "Key to Theosophy" or William Q. Judge's "Ocean of Theosophy."
I'm sure others can recommend additional texts as well. Hope this helps.

Best Regards,
Wes