Theos-Talk Archives (November 2002 Message tt00877)

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS AT AN INFORMAL

"OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY" CLASS


ANSWERS
CHAPTERS 4 7-Fold Man And

5 Body and Astral Body

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CHAPTER IV


SEPTENARY CONSTITUTION OF MAN


Summary

THE constitution of man.
How the doctrine differs from the ordinary Christian one.
The real doctrine known in the first centuries of this era, but
purposely withdrawn.
The danger if the doctrine had not been withdrawn.
The sevenfold division.
The principles classified.
The divisions agree with the chain of seven globes.
The lower man is a composite being. His higher trinity.
The lower four principles transitory and perishable.
Death leaves the trinity as the only persistent part of us.
What the physical man is, and what the other unseen mortal man is.
A second physical man not seen but still mortal.
The senses pertain to the unseen man and not to the visible one.


This fourth chapter deals with the Septenary Constitution of Man;
shows how the doctrine differs from the ordinary Christian one; gives
the septenary constitution of Man; points to the intimate relation
between the Septenary nature of the Earth and the Seven Principles of
Man; explains what the real Man is as a being under the terms of Atma,
Buddhi, Manas, the trinity or three higher principles; and classifies
the transitory four lower principles as aspects of the three higher
principles during Man's connection with the terrestrial world. From
this treatment it should be clear that Man uses the four lower
principles for the benefit of the lives thus used, as well as for his
own purposes


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Chapter IV SEPTENARY CONSTITUTION OF MAN


Answers

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Q. Mr. Judge refers to the necessity of care of the Self (page 29). If
the Self is the cause of all, how could there be care of it?

A. The words referred to are not as stated in the question; they read,
"the care of soul, which is the Self." It is through the Soul-the
acquired experience-that Self perceives and acts; it is by means of
Soul that Self learns to know Itself as of another nature than its
experience, perceptions or embodiments. In the sense that there is no
Soul possible without the Self, or, in other words, there are no
perceptions or experience possible without the Perceiver-the Soul is
the Self; therefore the growth of soul depends upon the more and more
full realization of the unchanging Self: this involves for us a "care"
that we understand the nature and purpose of existence.


Q. On page 30, the chapter speaks of "rational and irrational " soul.
Could you explain the phrase?

A. "Rational soul" means that stage of evolved being which is
self-conscious, and "irrational soul," those stages which are
conscious, but not self-conscious. There is a gulf between the highest
conscious animal and the lowest self-conscious man in respect to the
sense of responsibility; man is responsible for his thoughts, words
and deeds; the animal has no such perception, and thus is called
irrational. Manas is active in Man whether in its higher or lower
aspect; in the animal it is latent. The term "irrational soul" has
also been used to designate that class of human mentality which is
wholly engrossed in physical existence.


Q. How does "This three-fold scheme of the nature of man" contain "the
Theosophical teaching of his seven fold constitution", as stated on
page 30?

A. The answer is in the context, "because the four other divisions
missing from the category can be found in the powers and functions of
body and
p.61
soul, as I shall attempt to show later on." The whole of the chapter
is devoted to the answer practically; the last paragraph in the
chapter gives a recapitulation, which if thought over will help to
clarify, and explain.


Q. In what sense am I "my brother's keeper"?

A. Each being is of the same essential nature- Spirit; each evolves
from within outward, and each at any given period occupies that place
in the great community of souls which his degree of attainment
provides. As all are from, and of, the same Source, and all are
proceeding towards the same goal, the more progressed are in nature
bound to help the lesser; the law of Karma inherent in each being
provides for the adjustment of effects to causes. A general answer
would imply that we are our brother's keeper in every sense; the more
we know of the common source, nature and purpose of all, the better
able we are "to keep our brother."


Q. How is ii that "Behind will, stands desire"? It seems as though it
should be reversed.

A. We do not act until there is desire or intention to do so; Will is
the force of consciousness in action. Will, being the force behind
action or desire, is colorless; it is colored by the nature of the
desire or feeling. No desire, no action. It is the motive or desire
behind the use of our colorless will power that qualifies the action
of our thought, word or deed.


Q. Why is it that we cling so to bodily existence?

A. Because of our desire to so do, knowing no better. Our desire sets
in action our Will in that direction, and by our desire and desires,
we make attractions and attachments that hold us. As all our powers
spring from and rest in the Self-or Spirit, and as we use those powers
for sentient physical existence, the bondage is strong. Release comes
from a full and true understanding of our own and all nature, when
the powers of Spirit will be employed for all, and in all directions,
and not exercised as they are, in one direction only, physically and
in pursuit of personal desires.


Q. What is the difference between the individuality and the
personality?

A. "Individuality," theosophically defined, is the Higher Ego;
"personality" is the false ego: that aspect of the reincarnating ego
which is connected with, and immersed in, terrestrial existence and
imagines itself to be the senses, qualities, and faculties which it
possesses physically.


Q. What would you call "soul powers"?

A. All powers of every kind are soul powers; those powers we use-or
rather misuse-in our every-day existence are soul-powers. It is the
misuse of "soul powers" that brings karmic retribution.


Q. How can thought be so powerful?

A. Because every form seen by us, or unseen, is endowed with
intelligence in some degree; because thought precedes action and
institutes it, and be cause the effects of thought are consciously or
un consciously felt by beings near and remote, arousing them to some
kind of action. Thought does not exist of itself-it is always the
product of some Thinker; every thought is in regard to some thing and
produces an image of that thing; the concentration of the Thinker upon
the matrix he has created draws into it the lives that swarm in the
terrestrial atmosphere, energizes them and gives them direction,
according to the motive and desire of the Thinker; this matrix, made a
living force, can insidiously impel to action other Thinkers whose
natures and desires are similar, or who have the seeds of such desires
within them, and all this whether the creator of the matrix is
conscious of the results or not. "Thought" or more correctly, the
ability to think, is the most powerful creative, destructive,
preservative or regenerative agent that any beings possess; it acts
weakly and strongly, ac cording to the knowledge and power of
concentration of the Thinker. In occultism, "thought" is the real
plane of action; what we see or perceive physically are merely the
effects of thought.


Q. Unity is spoken of; how can there be unity in all these separated
or different principles?

A. All the principles are merely aspects of the One Principle; more or
less conditioned modes and bases of thought and action. Unity lies in
the fact that all temporary differentiations proceed from, and rest
in, the essential spiritual nature of all beings. There could be no
diversity without unity as a basis. We all live, and life in all of us
is a unity, but our use and expressions of life present great
diversities.


Q. Will we always have an earth and an earthly body? Or will we ever
get above this altogether?

A. It is not a question of earthly, or what we now perceive as
physical matter. Wherever we exist, it must be in some form of
substance as an embodiment, and that then will be as objective to us
as is our present earthly matter. So long as manifestation endures,
experience of any kind implies objectivity on every plane; if there is
no basis for experience, there is no experience. The trouble is not
with the earth as it now is or ever will be, it is with ourselves,
imbued as we are with false conceptions of every kind. We have the
power to understand our nature and the nature of all beings, and
through that understanding to purify our own natures, and in so doing
raise up and purify the natures of others like ourselves, as well as
the beings below us. We cannot leave the earth until we have done our
part to the full, and then it will be so different that perhaps we
will not want to leave it, although we will have earned the right to
choose. Read the Voice of the Silence.


Q. What is meant by "each principle is correlated to a plane, a
planet, and a race" (page 30) ?

A. The Root and substratum of all that is, is Spirit, Self-existing
and All-pervading. It is the Unity within which all differentiation
takes place. The Unity is not destroyed because of any number of
diversities that may be evolved from and within It; an efficient Cause
is not eliminated as long as there is a basis in which effects may be
produced. Manifestation means differentiation from and within the
Unity; the statement of the Secret Doctrine is that manifestation or
differentiation proceeds in seven ways or stages, that this applies to
all degrees of substance and all forms, and all kinds of beings. Man
is shown to hove seven principles; He de rived these principles one at
a time, as differentiation of the planet proceeded; therefore each
principle of Man is correlated to a particular stage of
differentiation of the planet. Each planet, again, in our solar system
has seven principles, so that Man, planets and solar systems have as
their constituent parts similar principles, and each principle in Man,
planets or solar systems, is co-related to the others; there is
therefore an active or latent relation between each and every form and
being, which, as we grow in knowledge and wisdom, may be availed of.
Humanity, as a whole, proceeds also in seven stages, concurrently with
the conditions of the planet, and thus at each stage is called a Race,
each of which, again, has its seven subdivisions expressed again in a
number of septenary ways. So, from top to bottom and in every
direction, there is a channel, plane and relation between every form
and being and every other, from highest to lowest; and this relation
exists, whether any being in any particular state of perception is
aware of it or not. Knowledge of this great fact, and the arousing
within ourselves of the necessary conditions, will enable us to use
and direct the seven-fold occult forces. All nature is before us and
within us; we must therefore take and use what we can, and wisely; the
steps necessary are shown in Theosophy and no one of these may be
overpassed.


Q. Do the principles exist independent of each other?

A. Each principle is derived from and exists within the One Supreme
Principle; as the lowest principle is so derived, and depends upon the
chain of principles above it and from which it was directly derived:
the principles are interdependent. For instance, we may take the body
as the lowest principle; there are bodies on earth all the time as
long as humanity lasts, but our present bodies had their beginnings
and will have their dissipation. The reason why we have the present
body is because we occupied bodies before, having established the
"principle" of sentient bodily existence. When we leave the body, it
returns to the elements from which it was drawn, but the "principle"
of bodily expression re mains in us and will be expressed in another
body at sonic future time. The principles remain, although the
operation of those principles and the tendency to repeat is
periodical.


Q. What is a principle?

A. A principle is a basis for thought and action in connection with a
specific plane of substance. To be conscious on any plane of being,
implies that one is acting in, and with, that principle in himself
which corresponds to that particular plane of being.


Q. Why is Prana, the Life principle in the body, called transitory? It
would seem as though Life must always be.

A. The Sanscrit term for the One Life which permeates and sustains all
the principles is Jiva. Prana is that aspect of the One Life which
sustains and permeates the physical body. When that aspect is
withdrawn the body disintegrates. That aspect being withdrawn from the
body is used in the remaining principles or those which the late
bodily occupant is conscious in and upon.


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CHAPTER V


BODY AND ASTRAL BODY


Summary


The body and life principle.
The mystery of life.
Sleep and death are due to excess of life not bear able by the
organism.
The body an illusion.
What is the cell.
Life is universal.
It is not the result of the organism.
The Astral Body.
What it is made of. Its power and functions.
As a model for the body.
It is possessed by all kingdoms of nature.
Its power to travel.
The real sense organs are in the astral body.
The place the astral body has at spiritualistic seances.
The astral body accounts for telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience,
and all such psychical phenomena.

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Chapter V BODY AND ASTRAL BODY

Answers

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Q. What is it that causes us to identify ourselves as the body?

A. One of the forms of ignorance that Theosophy is intended to
destroy, the most ordinary of which is the idea that "we" are our
bodies.


Q. What other forms of ignorance are there?

A. It would be impossible to enumerate them; all forms of ignorance
spring from lack of true knowledge, and are almost infinite in kind.
The beginning of knowledge lies in a true conception of the essential
spiritual nature of all beings, aside from all forms, faculties and
expressions; in other words the permanent, un changing basis which is
the Causeless cause and sustainer of all is the center of every being,
and is the Self in each. Then follow the various steps in unfolding-
or evolution, seven in number and the general law which governs all,
as well as the subsidiary laws or operations which govern every step
or plane of descent and ascent. Any conception which leaves out the
whole of Nature is based on ignorance.


Q. Is matter just an aggregation of lives?

A. What we call "Matter" is made up of the forms of innumerable kinds
of beings, each of them conscious in its own degree; these we perceive
only partially with our limited five senses. Matter is what we are
able to perceive. As we rise higher in the scale of perception, that
which is now invisible to us will become objective and will also be
"matter." The real Man is the Perceiver.


Q. It would seem as though we had degraded or stupefied these lower
lives by our use?

A. The degradation is in ourselves-we are responsible; the lower or
lesser lives are not-they act according to the impulses we give them
and re act upon us.


Q. What would be the mode of ingress and egress of these lives?

A. Through the openings in the body; the pores of the skin; by
endosmosis and exosmosis; by means of food, drink and breathing; even
the hairs of the head and body are channels.


Q. Why is it that Man attracts certain kinds of lives to him, and
animals different kinds?

A. Each being "attracts" according to its nature.


Q. Can the "electron" be defined?

A. The word "electron" is a name given by scientists to something
which they realize makes up the atom. The scientists have no idea of
the nature of what they have discovered, some imagining that the
electron is not matter, but a form or forms of energy; but all are as
much in the dark as when they supposed that the "atom" was the
ultimate division of matter.


Q. How about the nature of the drunkard? He is always desirous of
taking something detrimental into his body.


A. He has so trained the "lives" in his body that they call for
certain stimulants. There is a verse which says that "it is not what
goeth into the mouth that defileth, but what cometh out of it." We may
not be physically drunken with wine, and be drunk en with ignorance
and self-righteousness. A drunkard can stop drinking more easily than
the generality of people can stop their selfishness and desires.


Q. Would not an understanding of our septenary nature tend to change a
diseased body into a normal one?

A. We might understand a great deal, and not use our understanding; no
results would flow from non-application of what we know. We must live
what we know, and this includes all departments of our nature. When
our inner natures are pure, sweet and true, the body will respond; but
our bodies are the least of our disabilities.


Q. Do you think that with a proper care of the instrument, w could
work out our past karma in a present body? (Could not one live in the
same body for thousands of years, building up new tissue all the time?

A. The length of life in any body is determined by the past karma of
the Ego who enters it; this climacteric may be overpassed by one who
knows, but the process necessitates the gradual death of the body
before the time, also conditions that modern ideas and surroundings do
not furnish. Our first need is to know and express our real nature;
after which there are many possibilities. We must know Life as it is,
and from within, before we can give more than ordinary care to the
body; the latter is not our immediate concern.


Q. Is there not such a thing as overcoming the limitation set on any
particular life?

A. The previous answer covers that sufficiently for our purpose. There
is too much thought in regard to bodily existence; the body is an
instrument obtained by us through our own karma, as are our tendencies
and surroundings; we can only obtain better conditions by meriting
them, and our present conditions are the means by which that merit can
be attained. It is not the body or its environment that is the real
cause of trouble, hut our attitude towards them.


Q. As we now stand, we would make better progress by using the bodies
we have to the best advantage, in the hope of deserving to get a
better one in a new incarnation.

A. If getting a better body, now or in a future incarnation, is our
object, we are still "bound fast in the web of illusion." Make the
best use of what we have should be our course, and the best use re
quires a knowledge of the philosophy of life- Theosophy.


Q. Won't Nature make it easy for us sometime?

A. When we make it easy for Nature. We embody Nature; Nature is a
product of ourselves and other beings. When we establish harmonious
relations between all parts of our own nature, it will be "easy" for
us. But to talk of ease, when effort is needed, is folly.


Q. What is the relation between the Individuality and the Personality?

A. "Individuality" is a conscious existence in spirit whether in or
out of the body. "Personality" is a congeries of constantly changing
qualities and conditions which the "Thinker," or Ego, mistakes for
himself; thus "the illusion of objects" is self- produced.


Q. Is the Astral body full-sized at birth? The statement is made that
it is perfect at birth (page 40).

A. There is no such statement made as that the Astral body is perfect
at birth; what is said is that "the model for the growing child in the
womb is the astral body already perfect in shape." The Astral body
grows apace with the physical; the phrase "full-sized at birth"
has no meaning, since all bodies vary in size and dimensions from
birth to old age. The model of the oak is in the acorn. A small photo
can be magnified a thousand times, perfect in every detail.


Q. What is meant by the "privative limits of a cell?"

A. There is no physical cell as something existing separately; our
bodies are entities, but they are made up of smaller entities. Each
center of every entity has its own radius of action, causing a
whirling or vortex around it; it is the lives drawn within this radial
vortex that constitute the "cell"; the central attraction draws them
in and holds them at their respective distances so to speak; it is
this balance between attraction and repulsion that constitutes the
privative limits.


Q. Would you explain the meaning of the phrase "The Highest looks out
through the eyes of the lowest"?

A. Every cell in the body has its own life and powers or range of
perception, and cells differ from each other in this respect. It is
through the many kinds of lives in our bodies that we have contact
with and perception upon the physical plane; hence it can be said that
we look through the eyes of the lowest. The same is also true of
beings higher than we. Our contact as "perceivers" with any plane of
substance is only possible by means of an instrument made up of the
"lives" of that plane. Each of such lives is a sensitive point, and
reflects the plane to which it belongs to some degree. Sufficient of
these lives drawn together on a particular plane will give an
embodiment of "sensitive points" capable of reflecting everything on
that plane; so that on any plane, "the highest sees through the eyes
of the lowest." "Highest" and "lowest" here mean differences in range
of perception, understanding, wisdom and power.


Q. Is the "permanent astral" the Spiritual body?

A. It is not. It is a body formed of astral sub stance during a
life-time by the reincarnating ego; when so formed it remains with all
its powers and functions as the astral form for succeeding lives. In
ordinary cases, a new astral is projected for each birth, with nothing
but the acquired tendencies as a starting point.


Q. Is the Astral body affected by insanity?

A. No "body" of any kind is either sane or insane. Insanity is a break
in the connection between the Ego and the body in use, and may be
partial or complete; such a break is due to the karma of the
individual and may be from physical, astral or psychic plane causes
set in motion by the individual involved.


Q. Would a Master's assumption of a body be of the nature of an
immaculate conception?

A. If a Master should desire to use a physical body of the race, He
would either take an available one which was being discarded by its
original ten ant, or would "ensoul" one, produced in the ordinary way.
The physical line of evolution is maintained by the union of the sexes
in, this age.


Q. On page 36 it says, in sleep we are absorbing life; and later on in
the paragraph it says that when we fall asleep we are more full of
life than in the morning. This seems a contradiction to me?

A. If the paragraph had been read with attention no contradiction
would appear. In sleep we are absorbing and not resisting the Life
Energy; when we wake we are resisting it; when we fall asleep we are
more full of life than in the morning be cause our power to resist
becomes less and less during the waking hours; we become "charged"
with the Life Energy, until, no longer able to resist it, sleep
supervenes.


Q. Didn't H. P. B. say that Devachan was a fool's paradise?


A. it is a question whether H.P.B. used the phrase in exactly that
way, but admitting that it was used, is it not true that each being
makes his own paradise, his own Devachan, according to his idea of
bliss; and as Devachan, an illusion of the personality, cannot be
called a state of the wise, the phrase "a fool's paradise" as a
colloquialism might very well apply. Is it not fortunate that even one
whom we consider a "fool" can have his paradise? The spiritual nature
of "being" provides all these compensations, each according to its
kind.


Q. It is said that the astral body was evolved long ages before the
physical body; then Man was using the astral body long ages before the
physical was evolved.

A. As was specifically stated in previous chapters, evolution proceeds
from homogeneous sub stance to more and more concrete states of
substance or matter, the lower states being evolved from the higher,
each stage taking immense periods of time; it follows therefore that
the evolution of the astral body preceded that of the physical form by
many ages; in fact, at each birth, the same process is rapidly gone
through; even the early stages of physical evolution are repeated
during gestation.


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