Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00210)

            WILL and  FREE WILL
 
 
A basic idea is expressed as:  
 
"Will is the force of any and all degrees of intelligence;  it is inherent
in consciousness as "the power to act."  Q & A.,  p. 40
 
 
A curious discovery is made as one delves into the question of the Will,
volition and choice.  Is it free or not?
 
The deeper one penetrates the more one finds that there are many degrees of
bondage and freedom.  In fact the ultimate “freedom” or “bondage”is
indeterminable – just as the “beginning (or ending) of time,” or, the
“extent (or limits) of space,” are not to be discovered.
 
Man as a member of the group of evolving Thinkers (Humanity) is of two
views.  One is immortal and universal, because the triune Monad is
deathless;  and the other, due to his residence in matter for a life-timeis
personal, selfish and isolationist.
 
Why is this so?
 
It is because in Man three lines of evolution are to be found. In the S D we
find:
 
”…there exists in Nature a triple evolutionary scheme, for the formation of
the three periodical Upadhis; or rather three separate schemes of evolution,
which in our system are inextricably interwoven and interblended at every
point.
 
 These are the Monadic (or spiritual), the intellectual, and the physical
evolutions. 
 
These three are the finite aspects or the reflections on the field of Cosmic
Illusion of ATMA, the seventh, the ONE REALITY. 
 
1. The Monadic is, as the name implies, concerned with the growth and
development into still higher phases of activity of the Monad in conjunction
with:—
 
2. The Intellectual, represented by the Manasa-Dhyanis (the Solar Devas, or
the Agnishwatta Pitris) the "givers of intelligence and consciousness" [see
S D  II  167]  to man and:—
 
3. The Physical, represented by the Chhayas [“astral bodies”] [see S D  II
109-10] of the lunar Pitris, round which Nature has concreted the present
physical body. This body serves as the vehicle for the "growth" (to use a
misleading word) and the transformations through Manas and—owing to the
accumulation of experiences—of the finite into the INFINITE, of the
transient into the Eternal and Absolute. 
 
Each of these three systems has its own laws, and is ruled and guided by
different sets of the highest Dhyanis or "Logoi." Each is represented in the
constitution of man, the Microcosm of the great Macrocosm; and it is the
union of these three streams in him which makes him the complex being he now
is. 
"Nature," the physical evolutionary Power, could never evolve intelligence
unaided—she can only create "senseless forms," … The "Lunar Monads" cannot
progress, for they have not yet had sufficient touch with the forms created
by "Nature" to allow of their accumulating experiences through its means. It
is the Manasa-Dhyanis who fill up the gap, and they represent the
evolutionary power of Intelligence and Mind, the link between "Spirit" and
"Matter"—in this Round. 
Also it must be borne in mind that the Monads which enter upon the
evolutionary cycle upon Globe A, in the first Round, are in very different
stages of development. Hence the matter becomes somewhat complicated. . .
Let us recapitulate. 
 
The most developed Monads (the lunar) reach the human germ-stage in the
first Round; become terrestrial, though very ethereal human beings towards
the end of the Third Round, remaining on it (the globe) through the
"obscuration" period as the seed for future mankind in the Fourth Round, and
thus become the pioneers of Humanity at the beginning of this, the Fourth
Round. 
 
Others reach the Human stage only during later Rounds, i.e., in the second,
third, or first half of the Fourth Round. And finally the most retarded of
all, i.e., those still occupying animal forms after the middle turning-point
of the Fourth Round—will not become men at all during this Manwantara. They
will reach to the verge of humanity only at the close of the seventh Round
to be, in their turn, ushered into a new chain after pralaya—by older
pioneers, the progenitors of humanity, or the Seed-Humanity (Sishta), viz.,
the men who will be at the head of all at the end of these Rounds. “      
 S D  I  181-2
 
 
The personality and personal ego are made up of the skandhas (which are
nothing other than the powerful karmic effects of our past deeds,
intentions, feelings and thoughts, attached by our earlier choices to
“monads of lesser experience than ours)” --- this makes our personalityof
today, a consequence of our past.  
 
That which is a 'result', an 'effect' of the past, can hardly be thought of
as being completely free, or having free will in the broadest sense of that
term.  And yet the One Consciousness of the triple Monad, because of its
nature as part of the ATMAN (universal), is indeed free within these cyclic
evolutionary conditions.  
 
Why?  Because the time has come for the Karmically “bound” to emerge from
its chrysalis and gain its own immortality.  Kama-Manas has to transform
itself, voluntarily into Buddhi-Manas because it sees and learns that the
laws of uniformity, universality, and companionship rule every
life-supportive aspect of the Universe. 
 
>From a theosophical point of view, it thus appears the Reincarnating ego
(lower Manas / Kama-Manas) is not entirely free to do as it chooses.  Like
everything else, it is subject to the Law of Karma. 
 
So too, the Higher Ego (Atma-Buddhi-Manas) for that period of time while it
voluntarily resides along with the terrestrial ego (Kama-Manas) as its
“tutor,” appears to be bound by the conditions and choices of the latter. 
[see S D  II 167]  Yet as an immortal “time” is of no great consequence, nor
is the very real “pain” it suffers along with the “Lower Manas,” itis now
associated with.
 
Can it choose 'not to incarnate,' for example?  Can it choose not to take
part in the evolutionary process and go off and do something entirely
different? No longer, for the immediate moment,  as it has voluntarily taken
up a spiritual responsibility and the duty of cooperative assistance to a
“lesser brother.” 
 
We might consider attributing certain powers to the 'higher Manas' and say,
for example, that the Mahatmas [Those Great of Soul] - in whom Manas has
fully flowered - are free because they have attained in the process of their
self-development many powers of a spiritual nature. But those are locked
away, and held inoperative by them. For example, they have a greater choice
than the average human being over which vehicle of consciousness they use at
any one time, but this choice is bound by the Karma of the special time,
individual, purpose, cycle and the environment they are in.
 
If we read the Mahatma Letters, we find ever and again that the Mahatmas
(Adepts) state They are not free to do what they choose.   They are however
free to obey “the Good Law.” They are often limited by the wisdom and
greater vision of their own revered superiors and, more importantly, by
Universal Law, as to what they can do to help humanity at large, or
individuals in particular. 
 
The Masters  wrote:
 
"But you must know and remember one thing: we but follow and servilely copy
nature in her works."  --  K H --   
            M L # 6, Barker Ed., p. 22  )
 
"We cannot alter Karma, my "good friend""  --  M --   
            (M L # 97, Barker ed. p. 433  )
 
A candidate for Adeptship is to be seen as the “Lower Manas” that has become
“Taijasi” – illuminated by Buddhi.  It is asked by LAW, at the final “moment
of choice:”  Will you elect for "bliss deferred" and work to help humanity,
or choose "bliss immediate," for a very long time, as do the Pratyekha
Buddhas. And thus distance yourself from humanity?
            (see Voice,  pp 76-79.)
 
Of course, we continually make choices of various kinds. We can choose
between a life based on the material values, or one based on the spiritual
realities. But, what makes us truly FREE?  If we choose to answer this
is an interesting point to view, as following it, there are results.  
 
Are we then to assume that there is a “greater WILL” that inevitably bends
us to ITS purposes?  And, is it possible in the course of Evolutionary Law,
the lesser will, which irrevocably decides not to bend to the Greater finds
its days are numbered. We need, in such a case, to understand the difference
between the levels of intelligence these respective Monadic choices imply.  
 
In the SECRET DOCTRINE under the title “GODS, MONADS AND ATOMS” H P B gives
us a survey of the process of monadic evolution
 
”The Scintillas are the "Souls," and these Souls appear in the three-fold
form of Monads (units), atoms and gods—according to our teaching. "Every
atom becomes a visible complex unit (a molecule), and once attracted into
the sphere of terrestrial activity, the Monadic Essence, passing through the
mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, becomes man." (Esot. Catechism.) 
 
Again, "God, Monad, and Atom are the correspondences of Spirit, Mind, and
Body (Atma, Manas and Sthula Sarira) in man." In their septenary aggregation
they are the "Heavenly Man" . . . . . "The Monads (Jivas) are the Souls of
the Atoms, both are the fabric in which the Chohans (Dhyanis, gods) cloth
themselves when a form is needed." (Esot. Cat.) 
 
This relates to Cosmic and sub-planetary Monads, not to the Super-Cosmic
Monas (the Pythagorean Monad) as called, in its synthetic character, by the
Pantheistical Peripatetics. The Monads of the present dissertation are
treated from the standpoint of their individuality, as atomic Souls, before
these atoms descend into pure terrestrial form. For this descent into
concrete matter marks the medial point of their own individual pilgrimage.
Here, losing in the mineral kingdom their individuality, they begin to
ascend through the seven states of terrestrial evolution to that point where
a correspondence is firmly established between the human and Deva (divine)
consciousness. At present, however, we are not concerned with their
terrestrial metamorphoses and tribulations, but with their life and
behaviour in Space, on planes wherein the eye of the most intuitional
chemist and physicist cannot reach them—unless, indeed, he develops in
himself highly clairvoyant faculties.”    S D  I  619 
 
 
“In esoteric teachings, the most transcendental conceptions of the universe
and its mysteries, as the most (seemingly) materialistic speculations are
found reconciled, because those sciences embrace the whole scope of
evolution from Spirit to matter. As declared by an American Theosophist,
"The Monads (of Leibnitz) may from one point of view be called force, from
another matter. To occult Science, force and matter are only two sides of
the same SUBSTANCE."           S D  I  623
 
 
“Now, if these two teachings were blended together and each corrected by the
other,—and foremost of all the One Reality weeded of its personality—there
would remain as sum total a true spirit of esoteric philosophy in them; the
impersonal, attributeless, absolute divine essence which is no "Being," but
the root of all being. Draw a deep line in your thought between that
ever-incognizable essence, and the, as invisible, yet comprehensible
Presence (Mulaprakriti), or Schekinah, from beyond and through which
vibrates the Sound of the Verbum, and from which evolve the numberless
hierarchies of intelligent Egos, of conscious as of semi-conscious,
perceptive and apperceptive Beings, whose essence is spiritual Force, whose
Substance is the Elements and whose Bodies (when needed) are the atoms—and
our doctrine is there.”        S D  I  629
 
 
“But what say the Occult Sciences to this, and what do they add? 
 
They say that what is called collectively Monads by Leibnitz—roughly viewed,
and leaving every subdivision out of calculation, for the present —may be
separated into three distinct Hosts, which, counted from the highest planes,
are, firstly, "gods," or conscious, spiritual Egos; the intelligent
architects, who work after the plan in the Divine Mind. [These three "rough
divisions" correspond to spirit, mind (or soul), and body, in the human
constitution.] 
 
Then come the Elementals, or Monads, who form collectively and unconsciously
the grand Universal Mirrors of everything connected with their respective
realms. 
 
Lastly, the atoms, or material molecules, which are informed in their turn
by their apperceptive monads, just as every cell in a human body is so
informed…. 
 
There are shoals of such informed atoms which, in their turn, inform the
molecules; an infinitude of monads, or Elementals proper, and countless
spiritual Forces—Monadless, for they are pure incorporealities,  except
under certain laws, when they assume a form—not necessarily human. 
 
Whence the substance that clothes them—the apparent organism they evolve
around their centres? The Formless ("Arupa") Radiations, existing in the
harmony of Universal Will, and being what we term the collective or the
aggregate of Cosmic Will on the plane of the subjective Universe, unite
together an infinitude of monads—each the mirror of its own Universe—and
thus individualize for the time being an independent mind, omniscient and
universal; and by the same process of magnetic aggregation they create for
themselves objective, visible bodies, out of the interstellar atoms. 
 
For atoms and Monads, associated or dissociated, simple or complex, are,
from the moment of the first differentiation, but the principles, corporeal,
psychic and Spiritual, of the "Gods,"— themselves the Radiations of
primordial nature. Thus, to the eye of the Seer, the higher Planetary Powers
appear under two aspects: the subjective—as influences, and the objective—as
mystic FORMS, which, under Karmic law, become a Presence, Spirit and Matter
being One, as repeatedly stated. Spirit is matter on the seventh plane;
matter is Spirit—on the lowest point of its cyclic activity; and both—are
MAYA.”       S D  I  632-3
 
 
“Atoms are called "Vibrations" in Occultism; also "Sound"—collectively.This
does not interfere with Mr. Tyndall's scientific discovery. He traced, on
the lower rung of the ladder of monadic being, the whole course of the
atmospheric vibrations—and this constitutes the objective part of the
process in nature…till the vibration of the auditory nerve commences—and a
new phenomenon now takes place: the subjective side of the process or the
sensation of Sound. Does he perceive or see it? No; for his speciality is to
discover the behaviour of matter. But why should not a psychic see it, a
spiritual seer, whose inner Eye is opened, and who can see through the veil
of matter? 
 
The waves and undulations of Science are all produced by atoms propelling
their molecules into activity from within. Atoms fill the immensity of
Space, and by their continuous vibration are that MOTION which keeps the
wheels of Life perpetually going. It is that inner work that produces the
natural phenomena called the correlation of Forces. Only, at the origin of
every such "force," there stands the conscious guiding noumenon
thereof—Angel or God, Spirit or Demon—ruling powers, yet the same. 
 
As described by Seers—those who can see the motion of the interstellar
shoals, and follow them in their evolution clairvoyantly—they are dazzling,
like specks of virgin snow in radiant sunlight. Their velocity is swifter
than thought, quicker than any mortal physical eye could follow, and, as
well as can be judged from the tremendous rapidity of their course, the
motion is circular. . . . . Standing on an open plain, on a mountain summit
especially, and gazing into the vast vault above and the spacial infinitudes
around, the whole atmosphere seems ablaze with them, the air soaked through
with these dazzling coruscations. At times, the intensity of their motion
produces flashes like the Northern lights during the Aurora Borealis. The
sight is so marvellous, that, as the Seer gazes into this inner world, and
feels the scintillating points shoot past him, he is filled with awe at the
thought of other, still greater mysteries, that lie beyond, and within, this
radiant ocean. . . . . However imperfect and incomplete this explanation on
"Gods, Monads and Atoms," it is hoped that some students and theosophists,
at least, will feel that there may be indeed a close relation between
materialistic Science, and Occultism, which is the complement and missing
soul of the former. “           S D  I  633-4
 
 
It would then be right in a matter of saying that the aggregation of
substances and materials represented by the “personality,” being “born of
time”, i.e., anything in manifestation (no matter how subtle), is not really
free.  There are always limits and some of these limits may even seem grand,
to us.  That alone is free which is timeless and formless, the unborn and
uncreated, the limitless SELF.
 
HPB writes:   
 
“Know at once and remember always, that true Occultism or Theosophy is the
“Great Renunciation of SELF,” unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as
in action.  It is ALTRUISM, and it throws him who practices it out of
calculation of the ranks of the living altogether.  “Not for himself, but
for the world, he lives,” as soon as he has pledged himself to the work. 
Much is forgiven during the first years of probation.  But, no sooner is he
“accepted” than his personality must disappear, and he has to become a mere
beneficent force in Nature.  There are two poles for him after that, two
paths, and no midward place of rest.  He has either to ascend laboriously,
step by step, often through numerous incarnations and no Devachanic break,
the golden ladder leading to Mahatmaship (the Arhat or Bodhisattva
condition), or — he will let himself slide down the ladder at the first
false step, and roll down into Dugpaship. . . .” “Occultism versus the
Occult Arts”       H. P. B  ARTS., VOL. II,  P. 104
 
 
"...This desire for a sentient life shows itself in everything, from an atom
to a sun, and is a reflection of the Divine Thought propelled into objective
existence, into a law that the Universe should exist...."   S D I 44
[see S D II 176, 578]
 
 
"The ancient philosophy affirmed that in consequence of the manifestation of
that Will--termed by Plato the Divine Idea--that everything visible and
invisible sprung into existence.  
 
As that Intelligent Idea, which, by directing its sole will-power toward a
center of localized forces called objective forms into being, so can man,
the microcosm of the great Macrocosm, do the same in proportion to the
development of his will-power.  
 
The imaginary atoms...are like automatic workmen moved inwardly by the
influx of that Universal Will directed upon them, and which manifesting
itself as force, sets them into activity.  
 
The plan of the structure to be erected is in the brain of the Architect,
and reflects his will;  abstract as yet, from the instant of conception it
becomes concrete through these atoms which follow faithfully every line,
point and figure traced in the imagination of the divine Geometer.
"          ISIS I 61-2
 
 
"...the Force which we call the divine Free-Will (is) represented by the
Dhyani Buddhas..."                          TRANSACTIONS, p. 129.
 
Finally we have in ISIS UNVEILED:
 
"One common vital principle pervades all things, and this is controllable by
the perfected human will."       ISIS, II, p. 590
 
 
 
Dallas