Theos-Talk Archives (July 2003 Message tt00206)

Thursday, July 17, 2003


Re: Will and Free-Will

Dear Friends:

The question of Will and Free-Will has recently been considered.

Perhaps these quotations may be found useful

Best wishes,

Dallas


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

Free Will

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



"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. Consciousness is a condition of the monad as
a result of embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a physical
form."	WQJ ART I 29


"...Man is a FREE AGENT during his stay on earth. He cannot
escape his ruling Destiny [Karma]...which from birth to death
every man is weaving thread by thread around himself; and this
destiny is guided either by the heavenly voice of the invisible
prototype outside of us, or by the evil genius of our more
intimate astral, or inner man."	-- SD I 639


"..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which
whenever it disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama,
becomes the guide of the highest mental faculties, and is the
organ of the free-will in physical man...." HPB
ARTICLES, Vol. II, p. 13


The One Free Force


"the one free force acts, helped in this by that portion of its
essence which we call imprisoned force, or material molecules.
The worker within, the inherent force, ever tends to unite with
its parent essence without; and thus, the Mother acting within,
causes the Web to contract; and the Father acting without, to
expand. Science calls this gravitation; Occultists, the work of
the universal Life-Force, which radiates from that Absolute and
Unknowable FORCE which is outside of all Space and Time. This is
the work of eternal Evolution and involution, or expansion and
contraction. [ Web cooling ]...it begins when the imprisoned
force and intelligence inherent in every atom of differentiated
as well as of homogeneous matter arrives at a point when both
become the slaves of a higher intelligent Force whose mission is
to guide and shape it.

"It is the Force which we call the divine Free-Will, represented
by the Dhyani-Buddhas. When the centrepetal and centrifugal
forces of life and being are subjected by the one nameless Force
which brings order in disorder, and establishes harmony in
Chaos--then it begins cooling...Every form, we are told, is built
in accordance with the model traced for it in the Eternity and
reflected in the Divine Mind. There are hierarchies of "Builders
of form," and series of forms and degrees, from the highest to
the lowest. While the former are shaped under the guidance of
the "Builders," the gods, "Cosmocratores;" the latter are
fashioned by the Elementals or Nature Spirits."	Trans 128-9


"The universal force cannot be regarded as a conscious force as
we understand the word consciousness, because it would
immediately become a personal god. It is only that which is
enclosed in a form, a limitation of matter, which is conscious of
itself on this plane. This Free Force or Will, which is
limitless and absolute, cannot be said to act understandingly,
but it is the one and sole immutable Law of Life and Being.
Fohat, therefore, is spoken of as the synthetic motor power of
all imprisoned life-forces and the medium between the absolute
and conditioned Force. It is a link, just as Manas is the
connecting link between the gross matter of the physical body and
the divine Monad which animates it, but is powerless to act upon
the former directly."	Trans 134
(see "Psychic and Noetic Action - HPB Art II 7-23)



"...Buddhi and Atma...These higher principles are entirely
inactive on our plane, and the higher Ego (Manas) itself is more
or less dormant during the waking of the physical man....So
dormant are the Spiritual faculties, because the Ego is so
trammeled by matter, that It can hardly give all its attention to
man's actions, even should the latter commit sins for which that
Ego--when reunited with its lower Manas--will have to suffer
conjointly in the future. It is...the impressions projected into
the physical man by this Ego which constitute what we call
"conscience;" and in proportion as the personality, the lower
Soul (or Manas), unites itself to its higher consciousness, or
EGO, does the action of the latter upon the life of mortal man
become more marked."	Trans 62-3


"...the "Spirit," or the divine portion of the soul is
pre-existent as a distinct being from all eternity."...(106) Both
the human Spirit (or the Individuality), the re-incarnating
Spiritual Ego, and Buddhi, the Spiritual Soul, are pre-existent.
But, while the former exists as a distinct entity, an
individualization, the soul exists as pre-existing breath, an
unscient portion of an intelligent whole. Both were originally
formed from the Eternal Ocean of light, but as the
Fire-Philosophers...expressed it, there is a visible as well as
invisible spirit in fire."	Key 105-6


"There is a sort of conscious telegraphic communication going on
incessantly, day and night, between the physical brain and the
inner man...the consciousness of the sleeper is not active but
passive. The inner man, however, the real Ego, acts
independently during the sleep of the body...Read "Karmic
Visions" [ HPB Art I, 382 ]...and note the description of the
real Ego, sitting as a spectator of the life of the hero..."
Trans 64-5	


"...Self-consciousness belongs alone to man and proceeds from the
Self, the higher Manas. Only, whereas the psychic element (or
Kama-manas) is common to both the animal and the human being--the
far higher degree of its development in the latter resting merely
on the greater perfection and sensitiveness of his cerebral
cells--no physiologist...will ever be able to solve the mystery
of the human mind, in its highest spiritual manifestation, or in
its dual aspect of the psychic and the noetic (or the
manasic)...he would have to admit a lower (animal), and a higher
(or divine) mind in man, or what is known in Occultism as the
"personal" and the "impersonal" (10) Egos. For, between the
psychic and the noetic, between the personality and the
individuality, there exists the same abyss as between a "Jack the
Ripper," and a holy Buddha."
HPB ART II 9-10


FREE CHOICE ... "...by "psychic" individuality we mean that
self-determining power which enables man to override
circumstances...(or better) call it the higher self-conscious
Will..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which,
whenever it disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama
(desire, passion), becomes the guide of the highest mental
faculties, and is the organ of the free-will in man physical."
HPB Art II pp. 12-13


SELF KNOWLEDGE:-- "The first necessity for obtaining
self-knowledge is to become profoundly conscious of ignorance;
to feel with every fiber of the heart that one is ceaselessly
self-deceived.

The second requisite is the still deeper conviction that such
knowledge--such intuitive and certain knowledge--can be obtained
by effort.

The third, and most important is an indomitable determination to
obtain and face that knowledge.

Self-knowledge of this kind is unobtainable by what men usually
call "self-analysis." It is not reached by reasoning or by any
brain process; for it is the awakening to consciousness of the
Divine nature of man.

To obtain this knowledge is a greater achievement than to command
the elements of to know the future." HPB -- Lucifer Vol. 1, p.
89  


"WILL is the exclusive possession of man on this our plane of
consciousness. It divides him from the brute in whom instinctive
desire only is active. Desire in its widest application, is the
one creative force in the Universe. In this sense it is
indistinguishable from Will; but we men never know desire under
this form while we remain only men. Therefore Will and Desire
are here considered as opposed...Will is the offspring of the
Divine, the God in man. Desire, the motive power of the animal
life.

Most men live in and by desire, mistaking it for will. He who
would achieve, must separate will from desire; make Will the
ruler--for desire is unstable, ever changing. Will is steady and
constant."

Both will and desire are absolute creators, forming the man
himself and his surroundings. But, will creates
intelligently--desire, blindly and unconsciously. The man,
therefore, makes himself in the likeness of his desires, unless
he creates himself (anew) in the likeness of the Divine, through
his Will, the "child of Light." 
[ see "The Elixir of Life" 5 Yrs of Thy. p. 1... ]


PURIFYING DESIRE: "When desire is for the purely abstract--when
it has lost all trace or tinge of "self"--then it has become
pure. The first step towards this purity is to kill out the
desire for the things of matter, since these can only be enjoyed
by the separated personality. The second is to cease from
desiring for oneself even such abstractions as power, knowledge,
love, happiness, or fame; for they are but selfishness after
all.

Life itself teaches these lessons; for all such objects are
found Dead Sea fruit in the moment of attainment. This much we
learn from experience. Intuitive perception seizes on the
positive truth that satisfaction is attainable only in the
infinite; the will makes that conviction an actual fact of
consciousness, till at last all desire is centered on the
Eternal."  
HPB--Lucifer Vol. I, p. 133


"Man's task is two-fold: to awaken Will, to strengthen it by
use, and conquest (of the desires); to make it absolute ruler
within his body; and, parallel with this, to purify desire..
Knowledge and Will are the tools for the accomplishment of this
purification."
"Will and Desire"	HPB Lucif. I p. 96


"SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS ... belongs to man and proceeds from the
Self, the Higher Manas...whereas the psychic element (or
Kama-Manas) is common to both animal and the human being...no
physiologist...will ever solve the mystery of the human mind, in
its highest spiritual manifestations, or in its dual aspect of
the psychic and the noetic (or the manasic)...unless he knows
something of and is prepared to admit this dual element...to
admit a lower (animal), and a higher (or divine) mind in
man...the "personal" and the "impersonal" Egos."
"Psychic and Noetic Action" HPB Art. II pp 9-10


FREE CHOICE ... "...by "psychic" individuality we mean that
self-determining power which enables man to override
circumstances...(or better) call it the higher self-conscious
Will..."Mind" is manas, or rather its lower reflection, which,
whenever it disconnects itself, for the time being, with kama
(desire, passion), becomes the guide of the highest mental
faculties, and is the organ of the free-will in man physical."
HPB Art II pp. 12-13


SELF KNOWLEDGE:-- "The first necessity for obtaining
self-knowledge is to become profoundly conscious of ignorance;
to feel with every fiber of the heart that one is ceaselessly
self-deceived.

The second requisite is the still deeper conviction that such
knowledge--such intuitive and certain knowledge--can be obtained
by effort.

The third, and most important is an indomitable determination to
obtain and face that knowledge.

Self-knowledge of this kind is unobtainable by what men usually
call "self-analysis." It is not reached by reasoning or by any
brain process; for it is the awakening to consciousness of the
Divine nature of man.

To obtain this knowledge is a greater achievement than to command
the elements of to know the future." HPB -- Lucifer Vol. 1, p.
89  


PRACTICAL


"All true impressions come from within--from the highest
Principle in us, Atma, or the Divinity which is one and the same
in all. If there is nothing in the brain but impressions from
the lower principles of our being, nothing to connect the Thinker
with higher planes, he can but waver between these lower states.
If thought is to rise further, it must me thought without a
brain. Nature works by orderly processes to which we give the
name of law. In the individual it is called the Will. By an act
of the will all ordinary mental processes may be stopped; then
the habitual center of mental action may be transcended and the
ascent to the next plane made, without losing the power to
perceive on this. In all such attempts we must keep the
Fundamentals in view--in mind. The Spirit in man, the Perceiver,
is "untouched by troubles, works, fruits of works, or desires."
It seems to me that the clearest comprehension, if not
understanding, of all this comes from dwelling on the idea of the
Perceiver as looking into one or another of his "sheaths" and
finding there the record of the actions in any or all of them.  

Everything depends on what one has in mind--his fundamental
conceptions of Deity, Nature, and Man, when considering or
attempting to practice "concentration." The general idea on this
as on other subjects and objects is purely personal. There is no
self-examination of motives, no altruism, no effort to carry out
in daily life the assumed object of fitting one's self to be the
better able to help and teach others, no observation of the evil
effects of rushing in for "psychic development." H.P.B. says,
"One has to have an unshakable faith in the Deity within, an
unlimited belief in his own power to learn; otherwise he is
bound to fall into delusion and irresponsible mediumship." Here
is the signpost of warning against all attempts to develop
psychically before one has learned to master and guide the lower,
personal self...Dwelling on the Fundamentals and the endeavor to
help others is the true concentration. Mr. Judge wrote: "Thus
the Will is freed from the domination of desire and at last
subdues the mind itself."
Friendly Philosopher, p. 400-1


"...a surer sense of truth than any manner of reasoning. This is
the action of Buddhi--direct cognition--the goal to which all
right philosophy and life leads. In our sincere efforts we at
times may have flashes from that seat of consciousness. The
great result is to have the continuous co-operation of Manas and
Buddhi--higher mind and spiritual knowledge; to work as the
god-man, perfect in all his parts, instead of the present
sectional operation which obtains...The Doctrine of the Eye is
that of the brain consciousness, composed largely of external
impressions. The Doctrine of the Heart is the spiritual
consciousness of the Ego--not perceived by the brain
consciousness until right thought, and right action which sooner
or later follows it, attune certain centers in the brain in
accord with spiritual vibration...You have much of the
intellectual side; there should be as much of the devotional;
for what is desirable is the awakening of the spiritual
consciousness, the intuition--Buddhi-- and this cannot be done
unless the thoughts are turned that way with power and purpose.  

You may, if you will, set apart a certain half-hour, just before
retiring and after arising--as soon as possible after--and before
eating. Concentrate the mind upon the Masters as ideals and
facts--living, active, beneficent Beings, working in and on the
plane of causes. Meditate upon this exclusively, and try to
reach up to Them in thought. If you find the mind has strayed,
bring it back again to the subject of meditation. The mind will
stray more or less, at first, and perhaps for a long time to
come, but do not be discouraged at the apparent results if
unsatisfactory to your mind. The real results may not at once be
apparent, but the work is not lost...

Never mind the past, for you are at the entrance of a new world
to you as persons...Do not try to open conscious communication
with beings on other planes. It is not the time and danger lies
that way, because the power of creating one's own images, and
because of the power and disposition of the dark forces to
simulate beings of Light, and render futile your efforts to reach
the goal. When the materials are ready the Architect will
appear, but seek him not; seek only to be ready. Do the best
you can from day to day, fearing nothing, doubting nothing,
putting your whole trust in the Great Law, and all will be well.
With the right attitude knowledge will come."
R C -- F P 13-4


"...the direction to perform actions and yet renounce their
performance...the real actor is the mind, that acts...are the
thoughts themselves...Duty, and the final imperative--the "what
ought I to do"--comes in here and becomes a part of the process.
(discrimination to be applied)...true meditation is (thus) begun
and will soon become permanent...[will acquire] a concentration
in time which will increase the real power of meditation. It is
not meditation to stare at a spot on the wall for a fixed period,
or to remain for another space of time in a perfectly vacuous
mental state which soon runs into sleep...many students have run
after these follies, ignoring the true way. The truth is, that
the right method is not easy; it requires thought and mental
effort, with persistence and faith...It will all depend on
self-mastery. The self below will continually drag down the man
who is not self-conquered...on the other side, the self is near
to divinity, and when conquered it becomes the friend and helper
of the conqueror...Every effort we make in (intentness upon the
Supreme Spirit)...will be preserved in the inner nature and
cannot be lost at death. It is a spiritual gain..."
Gita Notes, pp 127-130



The "Perceiver" within, takes notice of. It then makes choices.
In ancient Hindu philosophy the ten "senses" are called
"Indriyas." There are five senses whereby knowledge is attained
(Jnana-Indriyas), and a second five, through which action is
performed (Karma-Indriyas). These are the "five roots producing
Life Eternal." In Buddhism they are looked on as positive agents
producing the "qualities." [T. Glossary, p. 155.]


"The Occult Science is not one in which secrets can be
communicated of a sudden...[there is a waiting period] till the
neophyte attains to the condition necessary for that degree of
illumination to which, and for which, he is entitled and fitted,
most if not all of the Secrets are incommunicable. The
receptivity must be equal to the desire to instruct. The
illumination must come from within...Fasting, mediation, chastity
of thought word and deed; silence for certain periods to enable
nature herself to speak to him who comes to her for information;
government of the animal passions and impulses; utter
unselfishness of intention, the use of certain incense and
fumigations for physiological purposes, have been published as
the means since the days of Plato and Iamblichus in the
West...How these must be complied with to suit each individual
temperament is of course a matter for his own experiments and the
watchful care of his tutor or Guru...part of his course of
discipline, and his Guru or initiator can but assist him with his
experience and will power but can do no more until the last and
supreme initiation."	M. Letters, p. 282-3



"...[our] axioms of logic can be applied to the lower Manas only,
and it is from the perceptions of Kama Manas alone that [one]
argues. Occultism teaches only that which it derives from the
cognition of the Higher Ego [Higher Manas] or [Buddhi
Manas]...the first and only form of the prima materia our
brain-consciousness can cognize, is a circle.  

Train your thought first of all to a thorough acquaintance with a
limited circle, and expand it gradually. You will soon come to a
point when without its ceasing to be a circle in thought it yet
becomes infinite and limitless even to the inner perceptions. It
is this circle which is called Brahma, the germ, atom, or anu; a
latent atom embracing infinitude and boundless Eternity during
Pralaya, an active one during the life-cycles; but one which has
neither circumference nor plane, only limitless expansion...a
Circle is the first geometrical figure in the subjective world,
and it becomes a Triangle in the objective..."
Transactions p. 126-7


S D II 78-83

“It thus becomes clear why the Agnishwatta, devoid of the grosser
creative fire, hence unable to create physical man, having no
double, or astral body, to project, since they were without any
form, are shown in exoteric allegories as Yogis, Kumaras (chaste
youths), who became "rebels," Asuras, fighting and opposing
gods,* etc., etc. Yet it is they 

* Because, as the allegory shows, the Gods who had no personal
merit of their own, dreading the sanctity of those self-striving
incarnated Beings who had become ascetics and Yogis, and thus
threatened to upset the power of the former by their
self-acquired powers — renounced them. All this has a deep
philosophical meaning and refers to the evolution and acquirement
of divine powers through self-exertion. Some Rishi- 
—Footnote continued on next page—
------------------------------------------------------

alone who could complete man, i.e., make of him a self-conscious,
almost a divine being — god on Earth. 

The Barhishad, though possessed of creative fire, were devoid of
the higher MAHAT-mic element. Being on a level with the lower
principles — those which precede gross objective matter — they
could only give birth to the outer man, or rather to the model of
the physical, the astral man. Thus, though we see them entrusted
with the task by Brahma (the collective Mahat or Universal Divine
Mind), the "Mystery of Creation" is repeated on Earth, only in an
inverted sense, as in a mirror.

It is those who are unable to create the spiritual immortal man,
who project the senseless model (the Astral) of the physical
Being; and, as will be seen, it was those who would not multiply,
who sacrificed themselves to the good and salvation of Spiritual
Humanity.


For, to complete the septenary man, to add to his three lower
principles and cement them with the spiritual Monad — which could
never dwell in such a form otherwise than in an absolutely latent
state — two connecting principles are needed: Manas and Kama. 

This requires a living Spiritual Fire of the middle principle
from the fifth and third states of Pleroma. But this fire is the
possession of the Triangles, not of the (perfect) Cubes, which
symbolize the Angelic Beings:* the former having from the first
creation got hold of it and being said to have appropriated it
for themselves, as in the allegory of Prometheus. These are the
active, and therefore — in Heaven — no longer "pure" Beings. They
have become the independent and free Intelligences, shown in
every Theogony as fighting for that independence and freedom, and
hence — in the ordinary sense — "rebellious to the divine passive
law." 

These are then those "Flames" (the Agnishwatta) who, as shown in
Sloka 13, "remain behind" instead of going along with the others
to create men on Earth.

But the true esoteric meaning is that most of them were destined
to incarnate as the Egos of the forthcoming crop of Mankind. The
human Ego is neither Atman nor Buddhi, but the higher Manas: the
intellectual fruition and the efflorescence of the intellectual
self-conscious Egotism — in the higher spiritual sense. The
ancient works refer to it as Karana Sarira on the plane of
Sutratma, which is the golden thread on which, like beads, the
various personalities of this higher Ego are strung. If the
reader were told, as in the semi-esoteric allegories, that these
Beings were returning Nirvanees, from preceding Maha-Manvantaras
— ages of incalculable dura- 

—Footnote continued from previous page—Yogis are shown in the
Puranas to be far more powerful than the gods. Secondary gods or
temporary powers in Nature (the Forces) are doomed to disappear;
it is only the spiritual potentiality in man which can lead him
to become one with the INFINITE and the ABSOLUTE. 
* See Book I., Stanzas III. to V. The triangle becomes a Pentagon
(five-fold) on Earth. 
---------------------------------------------------------------
.
tion which have rolled away in the Eternity, a still more
incalculable time ago — he would hardly understand the text
correctly; while some Vedantins might say: "This is not so; the
Nirvanee can never return"; which is true during the Manvantara
he belongs to, and erroneous where Eternity is concerned. For it
is said in the Sacred Slokas: 

"The thread of radiance which is imperishable and dissolves only
in Nirvana, re-emerges from it in its integrity on the day when
the Great Law calls all things back into action. . . ." 

Hence, as the higher "Pitris or Dhyanis" had no hand in his
physical creation, we find primeval man, issued from the bodies
of his spiritually fireless progenitors, described as aëriform,
devoid of compactness, and MINDLESS. He had no middle principle
to serve him as a medium between the highest and the lowest, the
spiritual man and the physical brain, for he lacked Manas. The
Monads which incarnated in those empty SHELLS, remained as
unconscious as when separated from their previous incomplete
forms and vehicles. 

There is no potentiality for creation, or self-Consciousness, in
a pure Spirit on this our plane, unless its too homogeneous,
perfect, because divine, nature is, so to say, mixed with, and
strengthened by, an essence already differentiated. It is only
the lower line of the Triangle — representing the first triad
that emanates from the Universal MONAD — that can furnish this
needed consciousness on the plane of differentiated Nature. 

But how could these pure Emanations, which, on this principle,
must have originally been themselves unconscious (in our sense),
be of any use in supplying the required principle, as they could
hardly have possessed it themselves? The answer is difficult to
comprehend, unless one is well acquainted with the philosophical
metaphysics of a beginningless and endless series of Cosmic
Re-births; and becomes well impressed and familiarised with that
immutable law of Nature which is ETERNAL MOTION, cyclic and
spiral, therefore progressive even in its seeming retrogression. 

The one divine Principle, the nameless THAT of the Vedas, is the
universal Total, which, neither in its spiritual aspects and
emanations, nor in its physical atoms, can ever be at "absolute
rest" except during the "Nights" of Brahma. Hence, also, the
"first-born" are those who are first set in motion at the
beginning of a Manvantara, and thus the first to fall into the
lower spheres of materiality. 

They who are called in Theology "the Thrones," and are the "Seat
of God," must be the first incarnated men on Earth; and it
becomes comprehensible, if we think of the endless series of past
Manvantaras, to find that the last had to come first, and the
first last. We find, in short, that the higher Angels had broken,
countless aeons before, through the "Seven Circles," and thus
robbed them of the Sacred fire; which means in plain words, that
they had assimilated during their past incarnations, in lower as
well as in higher worlds, all the wisdom therefrom — the
reflection of MAHAT in its various degrees of intensity. No
Entity, whether angelic or human, can reach the state of Nirvana,
or of absolute purity, except through aeons of suffering and the
knowledge of EVIL as well as of good, as otherwise the latter
remains incomprehensible. 

Between man and the animal — whose Monads (or Jivas) are
fundamentally identical — there is the impassable abyss of
Mentality and Self-consciousness. What is human mind in its
higher aspect, whence comes it, if it is not a portion of the
essence — and, in some rare cases of incarnation, the very
essence — of a higher Being: one from a higher and divine plane?
Can man — a god in the animal form — be the product of Material
Nature by evolution alone, even as is the animal, which differs
from man in external shape, but by no means in the materials of
its physical fabric, and is informed by the same, though
undeveloped, Monad — seeing that the intellectual potentialities
of the two differ as the Sun does from the Glow-worm? And what is
it that creates such difference, unless man is an animal plus a
living god within his physical shell? Let us pause and ask
ourselves seriously the question, regardless of the vagaries and
sophisms of both the materialistic and the psychological modern
sciences. 

To some extent, it is admitted that even the esoteric teaching is
allegorical. To make the latter comprehensible to the average
intelligence, requires the use of symbols cast in an intelligible
form. Hence the allegorical and semi-mythical narratives in the
exoteric, and the (only) semi-metaphysical and objective
representations in the esoteric teachings. For the purely and
transcendentally spiritual conceptions are adapted only to the
perceptions of those who "see without eyes, hear without ears,
and sense without organs," according to the graphic expression of
the Commentary. The too puritan idealist is at liberty to
spiritualise the tenet, whereas the modern psychologist would
simply try to spirit away our "fallen," yet still divine, human
Soul in its connection with Buddhi. 
S D II 78 - 83







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