Theos-Talk Archives (November 2004 Message tt00300)

Nov 23, 2004

RE: ARC OF DESCENT EVOLUTION AS A WHOLE

In both the Arcs, the one force and power that is ever "dominant" is Karma
-- the Universal and uniform law of justice and equity for all. This is
most important to grasp. There are no favourites, nor are there any variants
to this Law. It is the same throughout the Universe. 

As I understand it, THEOSOPHY teaches the ARC OF DESCENT is the universal
manvantaric effort and process to assist all MONADS (and these are immortal
entities of "individualized force and power") to improve their intelligence.
It is a universal process and we are an intelligent part of it. We are
individuals, and not "robots" under some special constraint, nor are we some
playthings of a "Superior Power."

Every man-bearing globe or planet commences its evolution in this fashion. I
this the effort to transform selfishness and the isolation of vice into the
voluntary virtues of brotherhood and concern and care for all other beings.
The key concept to grasp is that nothing ever "dies" as an individual
"monad" of a singular force/power. It is only transformed, and it retains
its local and personal control and its own individuality for all time. It
is neither created nor destroyed. It IS. 

THEOSOPHY teaches: -- The immortal and eternal Monads (ourselves as
mind-monads, and all the rest at their own levels of intelligence) pass
through the experiences succeedingly offered in the elemental, mineral,
vegetable and animal forms, before entering the human kingdom where
self-consciousness (and its moral responsibilities) are acquired in the
human form.  

Each of these "forms" are comprised of innumerable "monads of lesser
experience" -- 'beginners ?' -- and the process benefits them as well as the
"Monads of longer and superior intelligence" (us).  

All this takes place on our Earth (and we, as self-conscious monads in and
on it) are no exception. The same kind of processes are taking place
elsewhere in the Universe on other man-bearing globes and planets. 

The 1st Vol. of the SECRET DOCTRINE describes this ancient and universal
process. The first half of Vol. 2 particularizes this process historically
for us and for our present World.

It is the immortal and eternal Spirits that enter and work in and through
all Matter (made up of the immortal monads which are then, as "beginners,"
in the evolution of individual intelligence) that first enter the
"Descending Arc."  

Later, after the "balance point" (S D I 150 fn) has been passed,
evolution for those same immortal Monads begins the process of the
'spiritualizing of matter' -- and, the development of compassion,
generosity and nobility may be seen active in the "Ascending Arc."  

This is the evolution of individualized "Spiritual Intelligence
(ATMA-BUDDHI-MANAS)" out of its sojourn and many reincarnations in "human
forms of matter."  

Briefly put we might say, as a guess, that our present Kama-Manas (lower
mind) will rejuvenate and transform itself (be observing the strict moral
code of brotherhood and virtue) into Buddhi-Manas (the Higher Mind) -- this
will require a continued effort for some future ages to come. We have just
passed the mid-point some 18 million years ago. 

It is not to be thought that this process is solely for the benefit of the
monadic "Spirits." No. They each have a duty to enter and assist in the
evolution of those "monads of lesser experience" which make up the "forms of
matter" that they use. [S D II 167 I 207-8] The form is not an index
of intelligence. 

We make our own destiny as we go along, choosing it, and in so doing we
participate in the destiny and fate of our brothers. We are very much "our
brothers keepers."

In both the arcs the one force and power that is ever "dominant" is Karma --
the uniform law of justice and equity for all. This is most important to
grasp. 
 
Best wishes,

Dallas

Please consider these:



LIGHT AND DARKNESS


"Darkness has...to be read in a metaphorical sense. It is Darkness most
unquestionably to our intellect, inasmuch as we can know nothing of
it...neither Darkness or Light are to be used in the sense of opposites, as
in the differentiated world. Darkness is the term which will give rise to
least misconceptions...light is the first potentiality awakening from its
laya condition to become a potency; it is the first flutter in
undifferentiated matter which throws it into objectivity and into a plane
from which it will start manifestation."	Trans. 42


"Darkness,"...in this instance, is that of which no attributes can be
postulated; it is the Unknown Principle filling Cosmic Space...[darkness]
is used in the sense of the Unmanifested and the Unknown as the opposite
pole to manifestation, and that which falls under the possibility of
speculation...The "Darkness" here meant can be opposed to neither Light nor
Differentiation, as both are the legitimate effects of the Manvantaric
evolution--the cycle of Activity. It is the "Darkness upon the face of the
Deep," in Genesis: Deep being here "the bright son of the Dark
Father"--Space."	Trans. 35

"Ever-Darkness means...the ever-unknowable mystery, behind the veil--in fact
Parabrahm. Even the Logos can see only Mulaprakriti, it cannot see that
which is beyond the veil. It is that which is the "Ever-unknowable
Darkness."..."Ever- Darkness" is eternal, the Ray periodical. Having
flashed out from this central point and thrilled through the Germ, the Ray
is withdrawn again within this point and the Germ develops into the Second
Logos, the triangle within the Mundane Egg."	Trans. 84



GREAT BREATH -- PULSATION


“8. Alone the one form of existence stretched boundless infinite,
causeless, in dreamless sleep; and life pulsated unconscious in universal
space, throughout that all-presence which is sensed by the opened eye of the
Dangma.”	SD I 27


"...in Pralaya too there is the "Great Breath"...for the "Great Breath" is
ceaseless, and is...the universal and eternal perpetuum mobile...compared to
the rhythmical motions of the Unconscious Ocean."	Trans. 9-10


“…to the follower of the true Eastern archaic Wisdom, to him who worships
in spirit nought outside the absolute Unity, that ever pulsating great
“Heart” that beats throughout, as in every atom of nature, each such atom
contains a germ from which he may raise the Tree of Knowledge, whose fruits
give life eternal and not physical life alone…the Force which directs its
[the seeds’] growth, the ever mysterious, as the ever unknown…this is the
only force that has a reality for him, as it is the never-dying breath of
life.” SD II 588-9



ABSOLUTE DIVINE MIND -- CONSCIOUSNESS


"...during Pralayas...there is nothing to receive and reflect the ideation
of the Absolute Mind; therefore it is not. Everything outside the Absolute
and immutable Sat (Be-ness), is necessarily finite and conditioned, since it
has beginning and end...A distinction had to be made between the Absolute
Mind, which is ever present, and its reflection and manifestation in the
Ah-hi [Dhyan Chohans], who being on the highest plane, reflect the universal
mind collectively at the first flutter of Manvantara. After which they
begin the work of evolution of all the lower forces throughout the seven
planes, down to the lowest--our own. The Ah-hi are the primordial seven
rays, or Logoi, emanated from the first Logos, triple, yet one in essence."
Trans. 19-20


"Universal or Absolute Mind always is during Pralaya as well as Manvantara;
it is immutable. The Ah-hi are the highest Dhyanis, the Logoi...During
Pralaya there are no Ah-hi, because they come into being only with the first
radiation of the Universal Mind, which, per se, cannot be differentiated,
and the radiation from which is the first dawn of Manvantara. The Absolute
is dormant, latent mind, and cannot be otherwise in true metaphysical
perception; it is only Its shadow which becomes differentiated in the
collectivity of these Dhyanis...It is absolute consciousness eternally,
which consciousness becomes relative consciousness periodically, at every
"Manvantaric dawn." Trans. 20


"The Divine Mind is, and must be, before differentiation takes place. It is
called the divine Ideation, which is eternal in its Potentiality and
periodical in its Potency, when it becomes Mahat, Anima Mundi or Universal
Soul."	Trans. p. 4


"...Mahat--the great Manvantaric Principle of Intelligence--acts as a Brain
through which the Universal and Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi,
representing the resultant Consciousness or ideation. As the shadow of this
primordial triangle falls lower and lower through the descending planes, it
becomes with every stage more material."	Trans. 28


"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."...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...Fohat...is thus the dynamic energy of Cosmic
Ideation...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 individualized 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 to life."	S D I
15-16




COSMIC MIND [ IN MANIFESTATION ]


"...cosmic mind appears at the third stage, or degree, and is confined or
limited to the manifested universe...Cosmic Mind is Mahat, or divine
ideation in active (creative) operation, and thus only the periodical
manifestation in time and in actu, of the Eternal Universal Mind--in
potentia. In strict truth, Universal Mind, being only another name for the
Absolute, out of time and space, this Cosmic Ideation, or Mind, is not an
evolution at all (least of all a :creation"), but simply one of the aspects
of the former [ABSOLUTE], which knows no change, which ever was, which is,
and will be...Universal Mind is not the same thing [as Cosmic Mind], as no
conditioned and relative act can be predicted of that which is Absolute.
Universal ideation was as soon as the Ah-hi appeared, and continues
throughout the Manvantara." [The Ah-hi] belong to the first, second, and
third planes--the last plane being really the starting point of the
primordial manifestation--the objective reflection of the unmanifested.
Like the Pythagorean Monas, the first Logos, having emanated the first
triad, disappears into silence and darkness."	Trans. 23


"It is most misleading to apply mechanical laws to the higher metaphysics of
cosmogony, or to space and time, as we know them, for neither existed then.
The reflection of the triad in space and time, or the objective universe,
comes later."	Trans. 23


"...Mahat--the great Manvantaric Principle of Intelligence--acts as a Brain
through which the Universal and Eternal Mind radiates the Ah-hi,
representing the resultant Consciousness or ideation. As the shadow of this
primordial triangle falls lower and lower through the descending planes, it
becomes with every stage more material."	Trans. 28



MAN -- HUMANITY


"Every living creature, of whatever description, was, is, or will become a
human being in one or another Manvantara." Trans. 23


"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."
Trans. 25


"...our Ego is a ray of the Universal Mind, individualized for the space of
a cosmic life-cycle, during which space of time it gets experience in almost
numberless reincarnations or rebirths, after which it returns to its
Parent-Source. The Occultist would call the "Higher Ego" the immortal
Entity, whose shadow and reflection is the human Manas, the mind limited by
its physical senses. The two may be well compared to the Master-artist and
the pupil-musician...In the course of natural evolution our "brain-mind"
will be replaced by a finer organism, and helped by the 6th [Buddhi] and the
7th [Atma] senses..."	Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 208


"The "Ah-hi" pass through all the planes, beginning to manifest on the
third. Like other Hierarchies, on the highest plane they are arupa, i.e.,
formless, bodiless, without any substance, mere breaths. On the second
plane, they first approach to Rupa, or form. On the third, they become
Manasa-putras, those who become incarnated in man. With every plane they
reach they are called by different names--there is a continual
differentiation of their original homogeneous substance; we call it a
substance, although in reality it is no substance of which we can conceive.
Later they become Rupa--ethereal forms."	Trans. 24



MANIFESTATION -- RADIATION -- EMANATION


"Are not the prismatic rays fundamentally one single white ray? From the
one they become three; from the three, seven; from which seven primaries
they fall into infinitude. Referring back to the so-called "consciousness"
of the Ah-hi, that consciousness cannot be judged by the standard of human
perceptions. It is on quite another plane. [Example]...often the reasoning
faculty of the higher mind may be asleep, and the instinctual mind be fully
awake." Trans. 26-7


"...Maya is the Cause, and at the same time an aspect, of
differentiation...the Absolute can never be differentiated. Maya is a
manifestation; the Absolute can have no manifestation, but only a
reflection, a shadow which is radiated periodically from it--not by it."
Trans. 30


"In all cosmogonies the first differentiation was considered feminine. It
is mulaprakriti which conceals or veils Parabrahm; Sephira the light that
emanates first from Ain-Soph; and in Hesiod it is Gaea who springs from
chaos, preceding Eros...It is the goddess and goddesses who come first. The
first emanation becomes the immaculate Mother from whom proceeds all the
gods, or the anthropomorphised creative forces...From IT, strictly speaking,
nothing can proceed, neither a radiation nor an emanation...The IT
is...Parabrahm...the "unknowable"...The space of which we speak is the
female aspect of Brahmâ, the male. At the first flutter of differentiation,
the Subjective proceeds to emanate, or fall, like a shadow into the
Objective, and becomes what was called the Mother Goddess, from whom
proceeds the Logos, the Son and Father God at the same time, both
manifested, one the Potentiality, the other the Potency. But the former
must not be confounded with the manifested Logos, also called the "Son" in
all cosmogonies...Mulaprakriti means the Root of Nature or
Matter...Parabrahm cannot be called the "Root," for it is the absolute
Rootless Root of all."	Trans. 2-3


"On the first plane of differentiation there is no sex--to use the term for
convenience' sake--but both sexes exist potentially in primordial matter.
Matter is the root of the word "mother" and therefore female; But there are
two kinds of matter. The undifferentiated, primordial matter is not
fecundated by some act in space and time, fertility and productiveness being
inherent in it. Therefore that which emanates or is born out of that
inherent virtue is not born from, but through it...that virtue or quality is
the sole cause that this something manifests through its vehicle; whereas
on the physical plane, Mother-matter is not the active cause but the passive
means and instrument of an independent cause."	Trans. 87-8


"..."the seventh vibration" applies to both the First, and to the manifested
Logos--the first out of Space and Time, the second, when Time has commenced.
It is only when "the mother swells" that differentiation sets in, for when
the first Logos radiates through primordial and undifferentiated matter
there is as yet no action in chaos...[it] is the first [vibration] which
announces the Dawn, and is a synonym for the First or unmanifested Logos.
There is no Time at this stage. There is neither Space nor Time when
beginning is made; but it is all in Space and Time, once that
differentiation sets in. At the time of the primordial radiation, or when
the Second Logos emanates, it is Father-Mother potentially, but when the
third or manifested Logos appears, it becomes the Virgin-Mother."
Trans. 93-4


"Radiation" and "Emanation"...express two entirely different ideas, and are
at best apologies for the original terms that could be found; but it the
ordinary meanings are attached to them the idea will be missed. Radiation
is...the unconscious and spontaneous shooting forth, the action of a
something from which this act takes place; but emanation is something from
which another thing issues in a constant efflux, and emanates
consciously...Radiation can come from the Absolute; Emanation cannot. One
difference exists in the idea that Radiation is sure, sooner or later, to be
withdrawn again, while Emanation runs into other emanations and is
thoroughly separated and differentiated. Of course at the end of the cycle
of time emanation will also be withdrawn into the One Absolute, but
meanwhile, during the entire cycle of changes emanation will persist. One
thing emanates from the other, and, in fact, from one point of view,
emanation is equivalent to Evolution; while "radiation" represents...--in
the cosmic period...--an instantaneous action like that of a piece of paper
set on fire under a burning glass, of which act the Sun knows nothing."
Trans. 94-5
[ see SD I 64; II 572; HPB Art III 334-5; Glos 113 ]	



MAN AND CONSCIOUSNESS


"...while Consciousness is not a thing per se, Mind is distinctly--in its
Manvantaric functions at least--an Entity...mind is a term perfectly
synonymous with Soul..."	Trans. p 29


"The instinctual mind finds expression through the cerebellum, and is also
that of the animals. With man during sleep the functions of the cerebrum
cease, and the cerebellum carries him on to the Astral plane, a still more
unreal state than even the waking plane of illusion; for so we call this
state...And the Astral plane is still more deceptive, because it reflects
indiscriminately the good and the bad, and is so chaotic." Trans. 27

"[the Lower Manas] is susceptible of hallucinations about space and time;
for instance, a man in the dreaming state may live in a few seconds the
events of a lifetime. For the perceptions and apprehensions of the Higher
Ego there is neither space not time."	Trans. 27


"The human brain is an exhaustless generator of the most refined quality of
cosmic force out of the low, brute energy of Nature; and the complete adept
has made himself a center from which radiate potentialities that beget
correlations upon correlations through AEons of time to come.'
Theos. Art. & Notes, p. 291


"...we all regard ourselves as Units, although essentially we are one
indivisible Unit, drops in the ocean of Being, not to be distinguished from
other drops. Having then produced this cause, the whole discord of life
follows immediately as an effect; in reality it is the endeavor of nature
to restore harmony and maintain equilibrium. It is the sense of
separateness which is the root of all evil."	Trans. 30



MEMORY


"Our "memory" is but a general agent, and its "tablets," with their
indelible impressions, but a figure of speech; the "brain-tablets" serve
only as a upadhi or a vahan (basis or vehicle) for reflecting at a given
moment the memory of one or another thing. The record of past events, of
every minutest action, and of passing thoughts, in fact, are really
impressed on the imperishable waves of the Astral Light, around us, and
everywhere, not in the brain alone; and these mental pictures, images, and
sounds, pass from these waves in the consciousness of the personal Ego or
Mind (the lower Manas) whose grosser essence is astral, into the "cerebral
reflectors," so to say, of our brain, whence they are delivered by the
psychic to the sensuous consciousness. This at every moment of the day, and
even during sleep."	
Theos. Articles & Notes, p. 209



PANTHEISM 


"The term "Pantheism" is again one of...many abused terms, whose real and
primitive meaning has been distorted by blind prejudice and a one-sided view
of it. If you accept the Christian etymology of this compound word, and
form it of pan, "all," and theos, "god," and then imagine and teach that
every stone and every tree in Nature is a God or the ONE God, then...you
will...make of Pantheists fetish-worshipers, in addition to their legitimate
name. But you will hardly be as successful if you etymologize the word
Pantheism esoterically....When we speak of the Deity and make it identical,
and hence coeval, with Nature, the eternal and uncreate nature is meant, and
not your aggregate of 0flitting shadows and finite unrealities...Our DEITY
is neither in a paradise, nor in a particular tree, building, or mountain:
it is every-where, in every atom of the visible as of the invisible Cosmos,
in, over, and around every invisible atom and divisible molecule; for IT is
the mysterious power of evolution and involution, the omnipresent,
omnipotent, and even omniscient creative potentiality." Key To
Theosophy, pages 63-4


"Pantheism may be "physically rediscovered." It was known, seen, and felt
by the whole of antiquity. Pantheism manifests itself in the vast expanse
of the starry heavens, in the breathing of the seas and oceans and the
quiver of life of the smallest blade of grass. Philosophy rejects the one
finite and imperfect God in the universe...It repudiates in its name of
Philo-Theo-Sophia the grotesque idea that infinite, Absolute Deity should,
or rather could, have any, whether direct or indirect, relation to finite
evolutions of matter, and therefore cannot imagine a universe outside that
Deity, or the latter absent from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate
substance."
Secret Doctrine I, 533



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

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Zakk 
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 11:44 PM
To: 
Subject: Re: Ancient Magics ARCS of ASCENT and DESCENT


> Apparently his definition of "ancient magics" has to do with those on the
> Arc of Descent,<


---This would be the correct understanding of what my defining is referring 
to.---


>and yes the situation changes "when a dominant Involution
> process alters to a dominant Evolution process." But in a sense we have
> both involution and evolution going on together all the time<


----If they were not going together all the time, where would the duality
be? I also perceive that there is a continual interplay and existence of 
both.


One would have to be dominant over the other in their influence in order
to have a result of the Involution and Evolution processes that occur. 


The Laws governing Involutions differs from the Laws governing Evolution.
This would seem as sensible to me. During Involution, the Laws governing
Involution are dominant. They are "most in effect" during this period.
During Evolution, the Laws governing Evolution are dominant. They are
"most in effect" during this period. The invoking of the Laws that govern
Involution during the period where Evolution is dominant, there would be
seen "failings" when applying them. The result would not be the same
or "effective" as when applied during the period of Involution. Many are
those who invoke them, both consciously and not, and are surprised at the
lack of result in which was expected. I see these as "failings". My
interpretation of Ancient Wisdom is that gained during Involution. I do not
perceive the Evolution process as Ancient or the knowledge gained
during it as Ancient. -----


> Along the Arc of Descent we are defining and making restrictions. We are
> self-creating our individual personalities as reincarnating beings. We are
> emeshing ourselves in material forms and personal desires. Along the Arc 
> of Ascent all of this changes. We begin to question this individual self
that
> we created. We begin to un-define things, and to unify instead of
> differentiate. Along the Arc of Descent matter evolves and spirit 
> involves, and then along the Arc of Ascent this reverses. 



----You have just stated some of the main effects on mankind in which I was
going to state. My words would have been a little different, but it is the 
same nevertheless. I also see a reasoning of why there is difference in
respect 
to the influence of the dominating force during each process.----