Theos-Talk Archives (March 2003 Message tt00212)

Monday, March 10, 2003

Dear Friend M :

As I have studied it, Theosophy commences with the study of great
principles. This is the safest way to begin all study. They are
few and very clear but they underlie all life.

With your permission I will use CAPITALS to underscore important
statements -- even if they look ugly but Internet does not permit
niceties.

They are in the beginning of The SECRET DOCTRINE : Lets read
together beginning with some points from H P B’s Preface:

--------------------

PAGES FROM A PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD.

An Archaic Manuscript -- a collection of palm leaves made
impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific unknown
process -- is before the writer's eye. [ H P B looks at it.]

On the first page is an immaculate white disk within a dull black
ground. On the following page, the same disk, but with a central
point. The first, the student knows to represent Kosmos in
Eternity, before the re-awakening of still slumbering Energy, the
emanation of the Word in later systems.

The point in the hitherto immaculate Disk, Space and Eternity in
Pralaya, denotes the dawn of differentiation. It is the Point in
the Mundane Egg (see Part II., "The Mundane Egg"), the germ
within the latter which will become the Universe, the ALL, the
boundless, periodical Kosmos, this germ being latent and active,
periodically and by turns.

The ONE CIRCLE IS DIVINE UNITY, from which all proceeds, whither
all returns. Its circumference -- a forcibly limited symbol, in
view of the limitation of the human mind -- indicates the
abstract, ever incognisable PRESENCE, and its plane, the
Universal Soul, although the two are one. Only the face of the
Disk being white and the ground all around black, shows clearly
that its plane is the only knowledge, dim and hazy though it
still is, that is attainable by man.

It is on this plane that the Manvantaric manifestations begin;
for it is in this SOUL that slumbers, during the Pralaya, the
DIVINE THOUGHT, wherein lies concealed the plan of every future
Cosmogony and Theogony…the term "Divine Thought," like that of
"Universal Mind," must not be regarded as even vaguely shadowing
forth an intellectual process akin to that exhibited by man. …

[H P B prefaces her “THREE FUNDAMENTALS” with these introductory
ideas: ]


>From the beginning of man's inheritance, from the first
appearance of the architects of the globe he lives in, the
unrevealed Deity was recognized and considered under its only
philosophical aspect -- UNIVERSAL MOTION, THE THRILL OF THE
CREATIVE BREATH IN NATURE.

Occultism sums up the "One Existence" thus: "Deity is an arcane,
living (or moving) FIRE, and the eternal witnesses to this unseen
Presence are Light, Heat, Moisture," -- this trinity including,
and being the cause of, every phenomenon in Nature.

INTRA-COSMIC MOTION IS ETERNAL AND CEASELESS; COSMIC MOTION (THE
VISIBLE, OR THAT WHICH IS SUBJECT TO PERCEPTION) IS FINITE AND
PERIODICAL.

As an eternal abstraction it is the EVER-PRESENT; as a
manifestation, it is finite both in the coming direction and the
opposite, the two being the alpha and omega of successive
reconstructions. Kosmos -- the NOUMENON -- has nought to do with
the causal relations of the phenomenal World. It is only with
reference to the intra-cosmic soul,

THE IDEAL KOSMOS IN THE IMMUTABLE DIVINE THOUGHT, THAT WE MAY
SAY: "IT NEVER HAD A BEGINNING NOR WILL IT HAVE AN END."

With regard to its body or Cosmic organization, though it cannot
be said that it had a first, or will ever have a last
construction, yet at each new Manvantara, its organization may be
regarded as the first and the last of its kind, as it evolutes
every time on a higher plane . . . .

"The esoteric doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahminism, and
even the Kabala, that

THE ONE INFINITE AND UNKNOWN ESSENCE EXISTS FROM ALL ETERNITY,
AND IN REGULAR AND HARMONIOUS SUCCESSIONS IS EITHER PASSIVE OR
ACTIVE.

In the poetical phraseology of Manu these conditions are called
the "Days" and the "Nights" of Brahma. The latter is either
"awake" or "asleep." …

The Buddhists maintained that THERE IS NO CREATOR, BUT AN
INFINITUDE OF CREATIVE POWERS, which collectively form the one
eternal substance, the essence of which is inscrutable -- hence
not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher.

Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an
expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from
within outwardly, occurs IN OBEDIENCE TO ETERNAL AND IMMUTABLE
LAW, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate
result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively
set in motion. … To use a metaphor from the Secret Books, which
will convey the idea still more clearly,

AN OUT-BREATHING OF THE 'UNKNOWN ESSENCE' PRODUCES THE WORLD; AND
AN INHALATION CAUSES IT TO DISAPPEAR.

This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present
universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning
and will have no end." …

Parabrahm is not "God," because It is not “a God.” "It is that
which is supreme, and not supreme …IT IS "SUPREME" AS CAUSE, NOT
SUPREME AS EFFECT. PARABRAHM IS SIMPLY, AS A "SECONDLESS
REALITY," THE ALL-INCLUSIVE KOSMOS -- OR, RATHER, THE INFINITE
COSMIC SPACE -- IN THE HIGHEST SPIRITUAL SENSE, OF COURSE. …

[The un-known] “Causeless Cause," is the oldest dogma in
Occultism, millenniums earlier than the Pater-AEther of the
Greeks and Latins. So are the "Force and Matter, as Potencies of
Space, inseparable, and the Unknown revealers of the Unknown."
They are all found in Aryan philosophy …

The OCCULT CATECHISM contains the following questions and
answers:


"What is it that ever is?" "Space, the eternal Anupadaka."

"What is it that ever was?" "The Germ in the Root."

"What is it that is ever coming and going?" "The Great Breath."

"Then, there are three Eternals?"

"No, the three are one. That which ever is, is one, that which
ever was is one, that which is ever being and becoming is also
one: and this is Space."

"Explain, oh Lanoo (disciple)." --

"The One is an unbroken Circle (ring) with no circumference, for
it is nowhere and everywhere; the One is the boundless plane of
the Circle, manifesting a diameter only during the manvantaric
periods; the One is the indivisible point found nowhere,
perceived everywhere during those periods; it is the Vertical and
the Horizontal, the Father and the Mother, the summit and base of
the Father, the two extremities of the Mother, reaching in
reality nowhere, for the One is the Ring as also the rings that
are within that Ring. Light in darkness and darkness in light:
the 'Breath which is eternal.'

It proceeds from without inwardly, when it is everywhere, and
from within outwardly, when it is nowhere -- (i.e., maya, one of
the centres). It expands and contracts (exhalation and
inhalation). When it expands the mother diffuses and scatters;
when it contracts, the mother draws back and ingathers.

This produces the periods of Evolution and Dissolution,
Manwantara and Pralaya.

The Germ is invisible and fiery; the Root (the plane of the
circle) is cool; but during Evolution and Manwantara her garment
is cold and radiant. Hot Breath is the Father who devours the
progeny of the many-faced Element (heterogeneous); and leaves the
single-faced ones (homogeneous). Cool Breath is the Mother, who
conceives, forms, brings forth, and receives them back into her
bosom, to reform them at the Dawn (of the Day of Brahma, or
Manvantara). . . . ."




For clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it
must be stated that OCCULT SCIENCE RECOGNIZES SEVEN COSMICAL
ELEMENTS -- FOUR ENTIRELY PHYSICAL, AND THE FIFTH (ETHER)
SEMI-MATERIAL, as it will become visible in the air towards the
end of our Fourth Round, to reign supreme over the others during
the whole of the Fifth. The remaining two are as yet absolutely
beyond the range of human perception. These latter will, however,
appear as presentments during the 6th and 7th Races of this
Round, and will become known in the 6th and 7th Rounds
respectively….

The reader has to bear in mind that THE STANZAS GIVEN TREAT ONLY
OF THE COSMOGONY OF OUR OWN PLANETARY SYSTEM AND WHAT IS VISIBLE
AROUND IT, AFTER A SOLAR PRALAYA. The secret teachings with
regard to the Evolution of the Universal Kosmos cannot be given,
since they could not be understood by the highest minds in this
age…Therefore, that which is given, relates only to our visible
Kosmos, after a "Night of Brahma."


Before the reader proceeds to the consideration of the Stanzas
from the Book of Dzyan which form the basis of the present work,





IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY THAT HE SHOULD BE MADE ACQUAINTED WITH
THE FEW FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS WHICH UNDERLIE AND PERVADE THE
ENTIRE SYSTEM OF THOUGHT TO WHICH HIS ATTENTION IS INVITED.





These basic ideas are few in number, and on their clear
apprehension depends the understanding of all that follows;
therefore no apology is required for asking the reader to make
himself familiar with them first, before entering on the perusal
of the work itself. …







The Secret Doctrine establishes THREE FUNDAMENTAL
PROPOSITIONS: --


DEITY -- BE-NESS

(a) An OMNIPRESENT, ETERNAL, BOUNDLESS, AND IMMUTABLE PRINCIPLE
ON WHICH ALL SPECULATION IS IMPOSSIBLE, SINCE IT TRANSCENDS THE
POWER OF HUMAN CONCEPTION AND COULD ONLY BE DWARFED BY ANY HUMAN
EXPRESSION OR SIMILITUDE.

It is beyond the range and reach of thought -- in the words of
Mandukya, "unthinkable and unspeakable."

To render these ideas clearer to the general reader, let him set
out with the postulate that THERE IS ONE ABSOLUTE REALITY WHICH
ANTECEDES ALL MANIFESTED, CONDITIONED, BEING. This Infinite and
Eternal Cause -- dimly formulated in the "Unconscious" and
"Unknowable" of current European philosophy -- 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.

This "Be-ness" is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two
aspects.

On the one hand, absolute abstract Space, representing bare
subjectivity, THE ONE THING WHICH NO HUMAN MIND CAN EITHER
EXCLUDE FROM ANY CONCEPTION, OR CONCEIVE OF BY ITSELF.

On the other, absolute Abstract Motion representing Unconditioned
Consciousness.

Even our Western thinkers have shown that Consciousness is
inconceivable to us apart from change, and motion best symbolises
change, its essential characteristic. This latter aspect of the
one Reality, is also symbolised by the term "The Great Breath," a
symbol sufficiently graphic to need no further elucidation. Thus,
then, the first fundamental axiom of the Secret Doctrine is this
metaphysical ONE ABSOLUTE -- BE-NESS -- symbolised by finite
intelligence as the theological Trinity.

It may, however, assist the student if a few further explanations
are given here. …

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.

Considering this metaphysical triad as the Root from which
proceeds all manifestation, the great Breath assumes the
character of precosmic Ideation. It is the fons et origo of force
and of all individual consciousness, and SUPPLIES THE GUIDING
INTELLIGENCE in the vast scheme of cosmic Evolution. On the other
hand, 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 it will be apparent that the contrast of these two aspects
of the Absolute is essential to the existence of the "Manifested
Universe."

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."

But just as the opposite poles of 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.

This something, at present unknown to Western speculation, is
called by the occultists Fohat. It is the "bridge" by which the
"Ideas" existing in the "Divine Thought" are impressed on Cosmic
substance as the "laws of Nature."

Fohat is thus the dynamic energy of Cosmic Ideation; or, regarded
from the other side, it is 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 individualised 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 into life.

The following summary will afford a clearer idea to the reader.

(1.) The ABSOLUTE; the Parabrahm of the Vedantins or the one
Reality, SAT, which is…both Absolute Being and Non-Being.

(2.) The first manifestation, the impersonal, and, in philosophy,
unmanifested Logos, the precursor of the "manifested." This is
the "First Cause," the "Unconscious" of European Pantheists.

(3.) Spirit-matter, LIFE; the "Spirit of the Universe," the
Purusha and Prakriti, or the second Logos.

(4.) COSMIC IDEATION, MAHAT OR INTELLIGENCE, THE UNIVERSAL
WORLD-SOUL; THE COSMIC NOUMENON OF MATTER, THE BASIS OF THE
INTELLIGENT OPERATIONS IN AND OF NATURE, also called MAHA-BUDDHI.

The ONE REALITY; its dual aspects in the conditioned Universe.

Further, the Secret Doctrine affirms: --


LAW -- BEING

(b.) The Eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless plane;
periodically "the playground of numberless Universes incessantly
manifesting and disappearing," called "the manifesting stars,"
and the "sparks of Eternity." "The Eternity of the Pilgrim" is
like a wink of the Eye of Self-Existence (Book of Dzyan.) "The
appearance and disappearance of Worlds is like a regular tidal
ebb of flux and reflux." (See Part II., "Days and Nights of
Brahma.")


"Pilgrim" is the appellation given to our MONAD (the two in one)
during its cycle of incarnations. IT IS THE ONLY IMMORTAL AND
ETERNAL PRINCIPLE IN US, BEING AN INDIVISIBLE PART OF THE
INTEGRAL WHOLE -- THE UNIVERSAL SPIRIT, FROM WHICH IT EMANATES,
and into which it is absorbed at the end of the cycle. When it is
said to emanate from the one




This second assertion of the Secret Doctrine is the absolute
universality of that law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb
and flow, which physical science has observed and recorded in all
departments of nature. An alternation such as that of Day and
Night, Life and Death, Sleeping and Waking, is a fact so common,
so perfectly universal and without exception, that it is easy to
comprehend that in it we see one of the absolutely fundamental
laws of the universe.

Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches: --


EVOLUTION -- BECOMING

(c) The FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF ALL SOULS WITH THE UNIVERSAL
OVER-SOUL, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root;
and THE OBLIGATORY PILGRIMAGE FOR EVERY SOUL -- A SPARK OF THE
FORMER -- THROUGH THE CYCLE OF INCARNATION (or "Necessity") in
accordance with Cyclic and Karmic law, during the whole term.

In other words, no purely spiritual Buddhi (divine Soul) can have
an independent (conscious) existence before the spark which
issued from the pure Essence of the Universal Sixth principle, --
or the OVER-SOUL, -- has

(a) passed through every elemental form of the phenomenal world
of that Manvantara, and

(b) acquired individuality, first by natural impulse, and then by
self-induced and self-devised efforts (checked by its Karma),
thus ascending through all the degrees of intelligence, from the
lowest to the highest Manas, from mineral and plant, up to the
holiest archangel (Dhyani-Buddha).

THE PIVOTAL DOCTRINE OF THE ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY ADMITS NO
PRIVILEGES OR SPECIAL GIFTS IN MAN, SAVE THOSE WON BY HIS OWN EGO
THROUGH PERSONAL EFFORT AND MERIT THROUGHOUT A LONG SERIES OF
METEMPSYCHOSES AND REINCARNATIONS.

------------------------

This is a lot, but it is important.

The great ideas and laws and history of the Universe and our
earth are said to have been originally impressed b y the Great
Dhyanis as “innate” -- divine ideas on the plastic minds of the
Monads that will undergo their evolutionary effort here.

In the passage of time these are shown in The SECRET DOCTRINE to
have been overlaid and distorted, and then, partially forgotten.
But the myths and the lore of their existence has never been
entirely lost.

If our minds are “limited” it is only as “brain-minds” as our
CONSCIOUSNESS has to use the material of this plane and accept
its limitations, while attempting to elevate it to WISDOM.

You are right, archetypes are used, but those are always with
us -- in Buddhi-Manas. Those are the divine imperishable innate
ideas. They are our common property. They assure us of our
spiritual origins and continued immortal existence and the
pilgrimage we are on. They also remind us we are BROTHERS to all
beings. Hence, we share in all efforts towards the true and the
ideal.

Idealism is the ONE UNIVERSAL MIND acting in all beings and
coordinating Karmic action everywhere. It is MAHA-BUDDHI the
vehicle of the ONE ATMAN.

See if these resonate with you as well,

Best wishes,


Dallas

=======================

-----Original Message-----
From: Ma …
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 11:51 AM
To: dalval14@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: "WAR” and Good and Evil

hello Dallas,

I really appreciate your reply. I have only read snippets of
Blavatsky and my knowledge of Buddhism is extremely limited. My
Theosophical understandings are from Annie Besant, Leadbeater,
A.A.Bailey and Saraydarian. A few years ago I joined up with a
group that chose to concentrate on esoteric psychology because we
believed this would be the most useful direction for us to
pursue. There is only so much time in any one life and I have
always wished that I were more conversant in Buddhist doctrine.

I will try to get a copy of Blavatsky's KEY to THEOSOPHY. I do
have Isis Unveiled and an abridgement of the Secret Doctrine.

I should have been clearer when I asked what the "underlying
energy" was behind this current crisis. Your answer explained
the fact of an ultimate energy which is of course completely
non-committal. I was more interested in the energy behind what
we humans (with our limited minds) register as "ideals". Perhaps
archetypes would be a reasonable name for these "behind the
ideals" energies that leave an impression that propels us humans
and indicates its prescence by a motivation that we justify as an
ideal.

Marnie

CUT


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