Theos-Talk Archives (May 2005 Message tt00533)

May 19 2005

Re: BRAIN CELLS

Dear friend:

You make we think and ask myself:  

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What is the size of a Monad ? 

How many MONADS are there in a brain-cell ?

What is the size of a "Human-Monad ?" 

How many brain-cells does the average Human have in his head ? [and how many
“monads of lesser experience” are also there?]

I don't think physical dimensions that we are familiar with have anything to
do with this kind of investigation. The physical size of the brain probably
does correlate with the level of intelligence or the size of the physical
body to administer.

The “brain” in insects is small; yet in a whale or elephant it is larger
than a human brain.

But is it not possible that the nature of the substance (or of other
“principles” having electro-magnetic correspondences to actual physical
“brain cells” may be very different ?  

“In Esoteric Philosophy, every physical particle corresponds to and depends
on its higher noumenon—the Being to whose essence it belongs; and above as
below, the Spiritual evolves from the Divine, the psycho-mental from the
Spiritual—tainted from its lower plane by the astral—the whole animate and
(seemingly) inanimate Nature evolving on parallel lines, and drawing its
attributes from above as well as from below. “ S D I 218fn

It is hinted in several accounts that the physical substance of a “Mahatma's
body” may be very different from ours, though it looks superficially the
same as ours. 

However this account is important: You write:

“ Subject: Is a Single Brain Cell Smart Enough to Recognize Your
Face?

Is a Single Brain Cell Smart Enough to Recognize Your Face?

This particular experiment touches on one of the most challenging
puzzles of neuroscience: How do brain cells recognize items as
complicated as a toaster oven, the number nine, a zebra, Bill Clinton,
or the film character Rocky?

http://www.discover.com/issues/jun-05/features/single-brain-cell/

Some Theosophical references are offered
 

"….every cell in the human body has its monad, as every cell in
animal, vegetable, and even in the (so-called) inorganic bodies.
…these monads are representative Beings. Every monad reflects every
other. Every monad is a living mirror of the Universe within its own
sphere. And mark this, for upon it depends the power possessed by
these monads, and upon this depends the work they can do for us; in
mirroring the world, the monads are not mere passive reflective
agents, but spontaneously self-active; they produce the images
spontaneously, as the soul does a dream. In every monad, therefore,
the adept may read everything, even the future. Every monad or
Elemental is a looking-glass that can speak. . ." –S D I, 631

 

 

"…the ancient Hindus endowed every cell in the human body with
consciousness, giving each the name of a God or Goddess. Speaking of
atoms in the name of science and philosophy, Professor Ladd calls them
in his work "supersensible beings." Occultism regards every atom as an
"independent entity" and every cell as a "conscious unit." It explains
that no sooner do such atoms group to form cells, than the latter
become endowed with consciousness, each of its own kind, and with free
will to act within the limits of law." [HPB, Article "Psychic & Noetic
Action, Part II HPB Articles II, p. 19]

 
"Occultism, unlike modern Science, maintains that every atom of
matter, when once differentiated, becomes endowed with its own kind of
Consciousness. Every cell in the human body (as in every animal) is
endowed with its own peculiar discrimination, instinct, and, speaking
relatively, with intelligence." [HPB, "Transactions", p. 25]


“Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS:
i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own
plane of perception. We men must remember that because we do not
perceive any signs—which we can recognise—of consciousness, say, in
stones, we have no right to say that no consciousness exists there. 
There is no such thing as either "dead" or "blind" matter, as there is
no "Blind" or "Unconscious" Law. These find no place among the
conceptions of Occult philosophy. [S D I, 274]

 
“....substantial Entities. This is the highest group among the Rupas (Atomic
Forms*). It is the nursery of the human, conscious, spiritual Souls. They
are called the "Imperishable Jivas," and constitute, through the order below
their own, the first group of the first septenary † host—the great mystery
of human conscious and intellectual Being. For the latter are the field
wherein lies concealed in its privation the germ that will fall into
generation. That germ will become the spiritual potency in the physical cell
that guides the development of the embryo, and which is the cause of the
hereditary transmission of faculties and all the inherent qualities in man.
The Darwinian theory, however, of the transmission of acquired faculties, is
neither taught nor accepted in Occultism. Evolution, in it, proceeds on
quite other lines; the physical, according to esoteric teaching, evolving
gradually from the spiritual, mental, and psychic. This inner soul of the
physical cell—this "spiritual plasm" that dominates the germinal plasm—is
the key that must open one day the gates of the terra incognita of the
Biologist, now called the dark mystery of Embryology.” S D I 218-9 

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The DRAGONS OF LIAONING
 
A trove of feathered dinosaurs and other astounding fossil finds in
northern China shakes the roots of paleontology

http://www.discover.com/issues/jun-05/features/dragons-of-liaoning/

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We find in the SECRET DOCTRINE :

 
“We are unaware if Cuvier had added anything in the way of a further mea
culpa. But we may well imagine his confusion, for all his slanders against
archaic veracity, when he found himself in the presence of a flying saurian,
"the Pterodactyl" (found in Germany), "78 feet long, and carrying vigorous
wings attached to its reptilian body." 

That fossil is described as a reptile, the little fingers of whose hands are
so elongated as to bear a long membranous wing. Here, then, the "flying
camel" of the Zohar is vindicated. For surely, between the long neck of the
Plesiosaurus and the membranous wing of the Pterodactyl, or still better the
Mosasaurus, there is enough scientific probability to build a "flying
camel," or a long-necked dragon. Prof. Cope, of Philadelphia, has shown that
the Mosasaurus fossil in the chalk was a winged serpent of this kind. There
are characters in its vertebrae, which indicate union with the Ophidia
[birds] rather than with the Lacertilia. 

And now to the main question. It is well known that Antiquity has never
claimed palaeontography and paleontology among its arts and sciences; and it
never had its Cuviers. Yet on Babylonian tiles, and especially in old
Chinese and Japanese drawings, in the oldest Pagodas and monuments, and in
the Imperial library at Pekin, many a traveller has seen and recognised
perfect representations of Plesiosauri and Pterodactyls in the multiform
Chinese dragons.* 
Moreover, the prophets speak in the Bible of the flying fiery serpents, †
and Job mentions the Leviathan. ‡ Now the following questions are put very
directly: — 

I. How could the ancient nations know anything of the extinct
monsters of the carboniferous and Mesozoic times, and even represent and
describe them orally and pictorially, unless they had either seen those
monsters themselves or possessed descriptions of them in their traditions,
which descriptions necessitate living and intelligent eye-witnesses? 

II. And if such eye-witnesses are once admitted (unless
retrospective clairvoyance is granted), how can humanity and the first
palæolithic men be no earlier than about the middle of the tertiary period?
We must bear in mind that most of the men of science will not allow man to
have appeared before the Quaternary period, and thus shut him out completely
from the Cenozoic times. Here we have extinct species of animals, which
disappeared from the face of the Earth millions of years ago, described by,
and known to, nations whose civilization, it is said, could hardly have
begun a few thousand years ago. How is this? Evidently either the Mesozoic
time has to be made to overlap the Quaternary period, or man must be made
the contemporary of the Pterodactyl and the Plesiosaurus. 

It does not stand to reason, because the Occultists believe in and defend
ancient wisdom and science, even though winged saurians are called "flying
camels" in the translations of the Zohar, that we believe as readily in all
the stories which the middle ages give us of such dragons. Pterodactyls and
Plesiosauri ceased to exist with the bulk…” S D II 205-6

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Best wishes,

Dallas