Theos-Talk Archives (December 2005 Message tt00356)

12/31/2005 5:50 AM

 

 

Dear Friends:

 

Interesting questions arise on “evolution vs. creation”  

 

We are in the middle of this and now wish to find answers.  

 

Why not consult the SECRET DOCTRINE ?

 

 

 

As an instance: --

 

 

EVOLUTION AS A WHOLE  

 

 

-- First: ARC OF DESCENT Than AN ARC OF ASCENT

 

 

In both the Arcs [descent and ascent called together Evolution], 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. 

 

The next great idea is that the "players" and "performers" on the fields of
involution and evolution are the same continuous, immortal beings. In
THEOSOPHY, named "Monads." We are Monads, each of us. We, as immortals have
been through at least half of the evolutionary cycle (arc of descent into
"matter") and are on the way upward towards spirituality (arc of ascent)
THEOSOPHY teaches [ see SECRET DOCTRINE ].

 

What is taught in MAHATMA LETTERS and the SECRET DOCTRINE needs to be
thoroughly mastered. Speculations without that basis remain, usually,
questionable. 

 

Mirroring the UNIVERSE, they (the MONADS) are the eternally bound-together
micro-universes of force and energy, and each is centered in a single
compound unity.

 

Thus, paradoxically, they (as evolving Units) are composites of three great
factors. The BHAGAVAD GITA would say:   

 

(1) purity or SPIRIT (Sattva);  

 

(2) inertia or MATTER (Tamas); and, 

 

(3) intelligence, activity, DESIRE and MIND (Rajas). [S D II 79]

 

In the S D, Vol. I, p. 200 is a diagram that illustrates this. The
triangle above the 4 planes of manifestation, in which the two Arcs of
Descent [a, b, c] and of Ascent [e, f, g] occur, may be said to represent
this eternal Spiritual [Three-in-One] Monadic stability.  

 

Below, in the 4 planes, we find the 7 Principles and Globes displayed in
their universal sequence. [see also S D I 157-8 (for man), and S D II
596 (for the Universe). Globe D [the present position of most “Human
Monads”] represents the "Balance point” of all Evolutionary journeys, and
ours in particular. 

 

As I understand it, THEOSOPHY teaches the ARC OF DESCENT represents the
universal manvantaric effort (carried forward from an earlier Manvantara)
and process, to assist all MONADS (and these are immortal entities of
"individualized force and power") to improve their intelligence as they are
more deeply involved in the phenomena of matter. Then, passing the
mid-point the Arc of Ascent is entered. [ see S D I 150fn ]

 

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." Yet, we follow and assist in the
universal scheme -- just as pupils enter and assist in the work of their
schools. We are always free, and yet we are bound to wider constraints as
represented in the great laws of KARMA, which can be seen operating widely
as consubstantiality, analogy and universal brotherhood. 

 

Every man-bearing globe, or planet, commences its evolution in this fashion.
In this, we perceive the effort to transform the selfishness and the
isolation of ignorance and vice into the consciously self-controlled and
voluntary virtues of brotherhood, 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
the memory of all its past travels and experiences. It also has its own
limited local and personal control, and is aware of its own individuality
and the circumstances of its present limitations at all times. It is
neither created nor destroyed. It IS. It always has BEEN.

 

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 this vast universal School
of Life: passing through the elemental, mineral, vegetable and animal
forms, before entering the human kingdom where self-consciousness (and its
moral duties, and responsibilities) are acquired and used in the human form.


 

Each of these "forms" is comprised of innumerable "monads of lesser
experience" -- 'beginners ?' [ those are said to be monads which have just
emerged from the "Monadic Essence" (S D I 176, 178-0, 619-20)] -- and
the process benefits them as well as the "Monads of longer and superior
intelligence" (us). Beyond and above us, so to say, are the Masters of
Wisdom -- they are the earlier graduates of this School and are our
instructors and also as our HIGHER SELF, they are our indwelling tutors (see
S D I 247. 573, 638-9; II 167, 247, 254-5, 272, 58;). 

 

For us, all this takes place on our Earth (and we, as self-conscious monads
in and on it) are no exception. The same 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 brings us through the first set of 3
Rounds to this the 4th. up to the present: the Fourth Round, 4th Globe (G),
and the 5th (Aryan) Race.

 

It is the immortal and eternal Monadic Spirits that enter and work in and
through all Matter (also consisting of immortal monads which are then, as
"beginners," in the process of developing their personal and individual
intelligence) that first enter the – that was 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 moral and ethical
rectitude on a purely voluntary basis -- from that spring the virtues:
compassion, generosity, altruism and nobility, which may be seen ever more
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
Brain-mind) will rejuvenate and transform itself (by imposing on itself the
observing of a strict moral code of brotherhood and virtue) into
Buddhi-Manas (the Higher Altruistic Mind or Wisdom) -- this will require a
continued effort for some future lives and 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
ourselves as 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
of matter should not be considered to be an index of intelligence. 

 

We make our own destiny, our choices determines that. In so doing we
participate in the destiny and fate of our “brothers.” We learn the logic of
generosity, of compassion and brotherly love, and we find that 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. 

 

"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. p. 23

 

 

Please consider these:

 

 

LIGHT AND DARKNESS -- ABSOLUTENESS

 

 

"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."    

TRANSACTIONS OF THE BLAVATSKY LODGE, p. 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. p. 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. p. 84

 

 

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

 

MANIFESTATION

 

            

 

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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 28

 

 

 

MAN -- HUMANITY

 

 

"Every living creature, of whatever description, was, is, or will become a

human being in one or another Manvantara." Trans. p. 23

 

 

"Freewill 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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 [see p. 94] periodically from it--not
by it."

Trans. p. 30

 

 

"In all cosmogonies the first differentiation was considered feminine. It

is mulaprakriti [Maha-Buddhi] 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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. p. 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 Æons 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. p. 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 [GOD is EVERYWHERE]

 

 

"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 flitting 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, pp. 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

 

 

 

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

 

Best wishes,

 

Dallas

 

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

 

 

 

 



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