RE: Theos-World Re: [Mind and Brain] meaning and information
Jan 23, 2006 05:08 PM
by W.Dallas TenBroeck
1/23/2006 5:02 PM
Dear Friend:
This may be of some help:
C O N S C I O U S N E S S
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"Whatever plane our consciousness may be acting in, both we and the
things belonging to that plane are, for the time being, our only realities.
As we rise in the scale of development we perceive that during the stages
through which we have passed we mistook shadows for realities, and the
upward progress of the Ego is a series of progressive awakenings, each
advance bringing with it the idea that now, at last, we have reached
"reality;" but only when we shall have reached to the absolute
Consciousness, and blended our own with it, shall we be free from the
delusions produced by Maya." S D I 40
[ see also: SD I 37-9 172 329 268 329fn GN 98-100
Trans 31 Pat 39-41
Some preliminary observations:
The Universe is embodied consciousness. For awareness (consciousness) there
has to be an Observer, who, by definition remains uninvolved, unmoved and is
therefore able to see and record all changes.
[ see: "Proofs of the Hidden Self." WQJ Articles, I, p. 289 ]
"To the stone belongs molecular consciousness, not consciousness as we know
it, but only so called by analogy; to the plant belongs astral
consciousness, or the dawn of sensation; to the animal belongs emotional
consciousness, or the dawn of perception. As this faculty or principle
becomes more and more fully developed and active, a new faculty begins to
act--the human intellect, the lower manas, begins to awake and exercise its
functions. The [ individual ]...has evolved far enough towards spiritual
perception, to be able to recognize his lower principles as himself
--...This is self-consciousness or consciousness of self; and here the
human stage is reached in the return of the monad from its journey to the
confines of matter."
WQJ Articles I p. 303-4
"Spirit is universal, indivisible, and common to all...there are not many
spirits, one for each man, but solely one spirit, which shines upon all men
alike, finding as many souls--roughly speaking--as there are beings in the
world. In man the spirit has a more complete instrument or assemblage of
tools with which to work. This spiritual identity is the basis of the
philosophy; upon it the whole structure rests..." Echoes, p. 50
Second, there has to be one or more fields of action.
[ See: "Three Planes of Human Life," WQJ Articles, I p. 294;
"The Sevenfold Division," WQJ Articles, I p. 298;
Ocean, p. 23-24, 26; ]
Third, there has to be interaction, movement, a purpose, or cause, and a
being which benefits from such changes by increments. [ see: "Remembering
the Experiences of the Ego," WQJ Articles, I p. 292 ]
Some experiences are called subjective and others, objective. But if we
scrutinize the process we find that even the objective events that can be
recorded as memory are all handled by the subjective Ego, and recorded by
its process of concentrated attention, or will. [ see: "The Subjective and
the Objective," WQJ Articles, I p. 300 ; also "The Self is the Friend of
Self, and also its Enemy," WQJ Art. I p. 307; "Meditation, Concentration,
Will," WQJ Art. I p. 316, and 319 - gives an idea of these processes, when
voluntarily applied. They are powers of the embodied Self. ]
The Theosophical vocabulary and nomenclature has been developed to assist
students who derive their considerations from either the Western or the
Eastern systems. The latter have been in place for millennia and by
observations and experiment the Eastern schools have classified many states
of consciousness and hence, Theosophy employs many of their ideas and their
technical vocabulary as the equivalents in Western psychology are yet to be
developed.
This presentation will consist of a number of a seemingly disjointed
quotations, and it may require reference to a coherent presentation of the
Theosophical philosophy as is done by Mme. Blavatsky in her THE KEY TO
THEOSOPHY or Mr. Judge's THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY to acquire the usage of that
system of terms and ideas.
"Our consciousness is one and not many, nor different from other
consciousnesses. It is not waking consciousness or sleeping consciousness,
or any other but consciousness itself. But the One Consciousness of each
person is the Witness or Spectator of the actions and experiences of every
state we are in or pass through...[It] pierces up and down through all the
states or planes of Being, and serves to uphold the memory--whether complete
or incomplete--of each state's experiences."
[ quoted in W.Q.Judge -- Gita Notes, p. 99 ]
In the Epitome, Mr. Judge states:
"...[ considering ] the doctrine of Universal Evolution...
the mineral, vegetable and animal forms each imprison a spark of the Divine,
a portion of the indivisible Purusha [ Spirit ]. These sparks struggle to
"return to the Father," or in other words to secure self-consciousness and
at last come into the highest form, on Earth, that of man, where alone
self-consciousness is possible to them...
Each spark of divinity has...millions of ages in which to accomplish
its mission--that of obtaining complete self-consciousness while in the form
of man...all depends on the individual's own will and efforts...
This system is thus seen to be based upon the identity of Spiritual
Being, and, under the name of "Universal Brotherhood," constitutes the basic
idea...Purusha [Spirit] is the basis of all manifested objects...It
interpenetrates everything everywhere. It is the reality of which, or upon
which, those things called real by us are mere images.
As Purusha reaches to and embraces all beings, they are all
connected together; and in or on the plane where that Purusha is, there is
a perfect consciousness of every act, thought, object, and circumstance,
whether supposed to occur there, or on this plane, or any other. For below
the spirit and above the intellect is a plane of consciousness in which
experiences are noted, commonly called man's "spiritual nature;" this is
frequently said to be as susceptible of culture as his body or his
intellect. (see 25)
This upper plane is the real recorder of all sensations and
experiences, although there are other registering planes. it is sometimes
called the "subconscious mind."...The real object to be kept in view is to
so open up or make porous the lower nature that the spiritual nature may
shine through it and become the guide and ruler....
The real man, who is the Higher Self--being the spark of the Divine
before alluded to--overshadows the visible being, which has the possibility
of becoming united to that spark...it is always peaceful, unconcerned,
blissful, and full of absolute knowledge. It continually partakes of the
Divine state, being continually that state itself...The object of the
student is to let the light of that spirit shine through the lower
coverings." WQJ--Epitome, pp.11-14
The quotations that follow offer reinforcement to an understanding of these
fundamental ideas, which are also described in their operations.
UNIVERSAL MIND -- UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS
"The true student of Raja Yoga knows that everything has its origin in the
mind; that even this universe is the passing before the Divine Mind of the
images he desires to appear." WQJ ART II 560
"At the commencement of a great Manvantara [ great cycle of evolution ],
Parabrahm [ the ABSOLUTE ] manifests as Mulaprakriti [ root-matter ] and
then as the Logos ["Word"-thought-plan ]. This Logos is equivalent to the
"Unconscious Universal Mind," etc., of Western Pantheists. It constitutes
the Basis of the Subject-side of manifested Being, and is the source of all
manifestations of individual consciousness.
Mulaprakriti or Primordial Cosmic Substance, is the foundation of the
Object-side of things--the basis of all objective evolution and
Cosmogenesis.
Force, then, does not emerge with Primordial Substance from Parabrahmic
Latency. It is the transformation into energy of the supra-conscious
thought of the Logos, infused, so to speak, into the objectivization of the
latter out of potential latency in the One Reality.
Hence spring the wondrous laws of matter...Force succeeds Mulaprakriti;
but, minus Force, Mulaprakriti is for all practical intents and purposes
non-existent." SD II 24-5
(see also M L 89-91)
"...spiritual discernment, by means of which the Supreme Spirit can be
discerned in all things...To attain it, the heart--that is, every part of
the nature--must be fixed on the Spirit, meditation has to be constant, and
the Spirit made the refuge or abiding-place...No particular theosophical
classification for the divisions of nature has been given out... "inferior
nature" [ to Krishna ] is only so, relatively. It is the phenomenal and
transient which disappears into the superior at the end of a kalpa.
It is that part of God, or of the Self, which chose to assume the phenomenal
and transient position, but is, in essence, as great as the superior nature.
The inferiority is only relative; as soon as objective material, and
subjective spiritual, worlds appear, the first-named has to be denominated
inferior to the other, because the spiritual being the permanent base, it is
in that sense superior; but in an absolute whole all is equal.
[ Note: One could say that Manvantara-manifestation is characterized by the
Sanskrit term Kamadeva -- that deity the represents in time and space the
reign of those forces peculiar to all beings which reflect the desire-kama,
and the passionate aspect of each. Those being which are self-conscious
have in this time the opportunity of seeing their own kamic nature as an
aspect of the Universal, Eternal Man, of themselves. To perceive this
desire-nature implies the fat that the Real man is separate from the mass of
his desires, can know them in detail, and can modify or adjust them. see
Light on the Path, essay on Karma ]
Included in the inferior nature are all the visible, tangible, invisible and
intangible worlds; it is what we call Nature. The invisible and intangible
are none the less actual..."
Gita Notes 133
[ In the Secret Doctrine, HPB gives several 7-fold classifications we could
consider as "keys" to the 7-fold divisions of Nature, but there, she also
states that we ought to consider the particular starting-point from which
those are used. Example:
"The seven fundamental transformations of the globes or heavenly spheres, or
rather their constituent particles of matter, is described as follows: 1)
the homogeneous; 2) the aeriform and radiant (gaseous); 3) Curd-like
(nebulous); 4) Atomic, Ethereal (beginning of motion, hence of
differentiation); 5) Germinal, fiery, (differentiated, but composed of the
germs only of the Elements, in their earliest states, they having seven
states, when completely developed on our earth); 6) Four-fold, vapory (the
future Earth); 7) Cold and depending (on the Sun for life and light)."
S D, I 205-6 fn.
[ On the 7 Planets of our Solar System. S D, I, 575 & 577 ]
"...the Rishis, were the septiform personations 1) of the noumena of the
intelligent Powers of nature; 2) of Cosmic Forces; 3) of celestial bodies;
4) of gods or Dhyan Chohans; 5) of psychic and spiritual powers; 6) of
divine kings on earth (or the incarnations of the gods); and 7) of
terrestrial heroes or men. The knowledge of how to discern among these
seven forms the one that is meant, belonged at all times to the
Initiates..." S D, II 765
"Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not
that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal
beings. Life we look upon as "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, incorrectly separating them, we name
Spirit, Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of
soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane
for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized
by Life, which pervades them all. The idea of universal life is one of
those ancient conceptions which are returning to the human mind in this
century as a consequence of its liberation from anthropomorphic theology."
S D I 49
"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...the real cause of
that supposed desire, and of all existence, remains for ever hidden, and its
first emanations are the most complete abstractions mind can conceive.
[which]... must of necessity be postulated as the cause of the material
Universe which presents itself to the senses and intellect...It is
impossible to conceive of anything without a cause...metaphysical
abstractions...are the only conceivable cause of physical concretions."
S D I 44-5
"...Motion, the one life, or Jivatma..." S D I 50
"The matter-moving Nous, the animating Soul, immanent in every atom,
manifested in man, latent in the stone, has different degrees of power; and
this pantheistic idea of a general spirit-Soul pervading all Nature is the
oldest of all the philosophical notions." S D I 51
"...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."
(see HPB Art. II, 20-2) TRANS 25
CONSCIOUSNESS - FREE-WILL
"Every atom is endowed with and moved by intelligence, and is conscious in
its own degree, on its own plane of development. This is a glimpse of the
One Life...selfishness is the curse of I-ness..." WQJ ART I 29
"...Time...[is] the panoramic succession of our states of consciousness..."
S D I 44
"The "Absolute Consciousness,"..."behind" phenomena...is only termed
unconsciousness in the absence of any element of personality...transcends
human conception...Only the liberated Spirit is able to faintly realize the
nature of the source whence it sprung and whither it must eventually
return...we can but bow in ignorance before the awful mystery of Absolute
Being...the Finite cannot conceive the Infinite..." S D I 51
"Every man has a god within, a direct ray from the Absolute, the celestial
ray from the One..." TRANS 53
"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
"Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not
that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal
beings. Life we look on as the "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, what, incorrectly separating them we
name Spirit, Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation
or soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher
plane for the manifestation of spirit, and those three are a trinity
synthesized by Life, which pervades them all." SD I 49
[see M L 89-91 on development of consciousness in the Life-Atom ]
[ see SD I 174-5 fn on the nature and necessity for the Monad ]
MIND -- ILLUSION -- TIME -- EVOLUTION
"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped
under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases of the
physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is
not," because the organ through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory
on the material plane has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can
become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that
plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle...The Ah-hi (Dhyan-Chohans)
are the collective hosts of spiritual beings--the Angelic Hosts of
Christianity...--who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or
universal though and will. They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and
enact in Nature her "laws," while themselves acting according to laws
imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers...This
hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes into
action, is like an army--a "Host,"
SD I 38
"Maya or illusion is an element which enters into all finite things, for
everything that exists has only a relative, not an absolute, reality, since
the appearance which the hidden noumenon assumes for any observer depends
upon his power of cognition...
Nothing is permanent except the one hidden absolute existence which contains
in itself the noumena of all realities. The existence belonging to every
plane of being up to the highest Dhyan Chohans, are, in degree, of the
nature of shadows...but all things are relatively real, for the cognizer is
also a reflection, and the things cognized are therefore as real to him as
himself.
What ever reality things possess must be looked for it them before or after
they have passed like a flash through the material world; but we cannot
cognize any such existence directly, so long as we have sense instruments
which bring only material existence into the field of our consciousness.
Whatever plane our consciousness may be acting in, both we and the things
belonging to that plane are, for the time being, our only realities. As we
rise in the scale of development we perceive that during the stages through
which we have passed we mistook shadows for realities, and the upward march
of the Ego is a series of progressive awakenings, each advance bringing with
it the idea that now, at last, we have reached "reality;" but only when we
shall have reached the absolute Consciousness, and blended our own with it,
shall we be free from the delusions produced by Maya." SD I 39-40
[ see also Echoes, p. 41-2 ]
TIME AND CONSCIOUSNESS
"Time is only an illusion produced by the succession of our states of
consciousness as we travel through eternal duration, and it does not exist
where no consciousness exists in which the illusion can be produced; but
"lies asleep." The present is only a mathematical line which divides that
part of eternal duration which we call the future, from that part which we
call the past.
Nothing on earth has real duration, for nothing remains without change--or
the same--for the billionth part of second; and the sensation we have of
the actuality of the division of "time" known as the present, comes from the
blurring of that momentary glimpse, or succession of glimpses, of things
that our senses give us, as those things pass from the region ideals which
we call the future, to the region of memories that we name the past...
The real person or thing does not consist solely of what is seen at any
particular moment, but is composed of the sum of all its various and
changing conditions from its appearance in the material form to its
disappearance from the earth. It is these "sum totals" that exist from
eternity in the "future," and pass by degrees through matter, to exist for
eternity in the "past."...persons and things, which, dropping out of the
to-be into the has-been, out of the future into the past--present
momentarily to our senses a cross-section, as it were, of their total
selves, as they pass through time and space (as matter) on their way from
one eternity to another; and these tow constitute that "duration" in which
alone anything has true existence, were our senses but able to cognize it."
SD I 37
UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION
"The Secret Doctrine teaches the progressive development of everything,
worlds as well as atoms; and this stupendous development has neither
conceivable beginning nor imaginable end. Our "Universe" is only one of an
infinite series of Universes, all of them "Sons of Necessity," because links
in the great Cosmic chain of Universes, each one standing in the relation of
an effect as regards its predecessor, and being a cause as regards its
successor.
The appearance and disappearance of the Universe are pictured as an
outbreathing and inbreathing of "the Great Breath," which is eternal, and
which, being Motion, is one of the three aspects of the Absolute--Abstract
Space and Duration being the other two..."The Past time is the Present time,
as also the Future, which, though it has not come into existence, still
is..." SD I 43
"Every living creature, of whatever description, was, is, or will become a
human being in one or another Manvantara." HPB-- Trans. 23
"Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not
that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal
beings. Life we look upon as "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, incorrectly separating them, we name
Spirit, Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of
soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane
for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized
by Life, which pervades them all. The idea of universal life is one of
those ancient conceptions which are returning to the human mind in this
century as a consequence of its liberation from anthropomorphic theology."
S D I 49
THE BRAIN
"We might properly speak, then, of the memory of the end-organ of vision or
of hearing, of the memory of the spinal cord and of the different so-called
'centers' of reflex action belonging to the chords of the memory of the
medulla oblongata, the cerebellum, etc." This is the essence of Occult
teaching...every organ in our body has its own memory. For it is endowed
with a consciousness "of its own kind," every cell must of necessity have
also a memory of its own kind, as likewise its own psychic and noetic
action. Responding to the touch of both a physical and a metaphysical
Force, the impulse given by the psychic (or psycho-molecular) Force will act
from without within; while that of the noetic (shall we call it
Spiritual-dynamical ?) Force works from within without. For, as our body is
the covering of the inner "principles," soul, mind, life, etc., so the
molecule or the cell is the body in which dwell its principles," the (to our
senses and comprehension) immaterial atoms which compose that cell. The
cell's activity and behavior are determined by its being propelled either
inwardly or outwardly, by the noetic or the psychic Force, the former having
no relation to the physical cells proper. Therefore while the latter act
under the unavoidable law of the conservation and correlation of physical
energy, the atoms--being psycho-spiritual, not physical units--act under
laws of their own, just as Professor Ladd's "Unit-Being," which is our
"Mind-Ego," does, in his very philosophical and scientific hypothesis.
Every human organ and each cell in the latter has a keyboard of its own,
like that of a piano, only that it registers and emits sensations instead of
sounds. Every key contains the potentiality of good or bad, of producing
harmony or disharmony. This depends on the impulse given and the
combination produced; on the force of the touch of the artist at work, a
"double-faced Unity," indeed...For the whole of man is guided by this
double-faced Entity.
If the impulse comes from the "Wisdom above," the Force applied being noetic
or spiritual, the results will be actions worthy of the divine
propeller...It is the function of the physical, lower mind to act upon the
physical organs and their cells; but, it is the higher mind alone which can
influence the atoms interacting in those cells, which interaction is alone
capable of exciting the brain, via the spinal "center" cord, to a mental
representation of spiritual ideas far beyond any objects on this material
plane.
The phenomena of divine consciousness have to be regarded as activities of
our mind on another and a higher plane, working through something less
substantial than the moving molecules of the brain...Occultism teaches that
the liver and the spleen-cells are the most subservient to the action of our
"personal" mind, the heart being the organ par excellence through which the
"Higher" Ego acts--through the Lower Self."
HPB-- "Psychic and Noetic Action" -- HPB Art. II 22-3
IMAGINATION
"...the plastic power of the imagination is much stronger in some persons
than in others. The mind is dual in its potentiality; It is physical and
metaphysical. The higher part of the mind is connected with the spiritual
soul or Buddhi, the lower with the animal soul, the Kama principle.
There are persons who never think with the higher faculties of their mind at
all; those who do so are the minority and are thus, in a way, beyond, if
not above, the average of human kind. The idiosyncrasy of the person
determines in which "principle" of the mind the thinking is done, as also
the faculties of a preceding life, and sometimes the heredity of the
physical.
This is why it is so very difficult for a materialist--the metaphysical
portion of whose brain is almost atrophied--to raise himself, or for one who
is naturally spiritually minded, to descend to the level of the
matter-of-fact vulgar thought...[ Thinking to be developed in the higher
mind ? ]...Certainly it can be developed, but only with great difficulty, a
firm determination, and through much self-sacrifice...This difference
depends simply on the innate power of the mind to think on the higher or on
the lower plane, with the astral...or with the physical brain.
Great intellectual powers are often no proof of, but are the impediments to
spiritual and right conceptions...The person who is endowed with this
faculty of thinking about even the most trifling things from the higher
plane of thought has, by virtue of that gift which he possesses, a plastic
power of formation, so to say, in his very imagination...his thought will be
so far more intense that the thought of an ordinary person, that by his very
intensity it obtains the power of creation...thought is an energy. This
energy in its action disturbs the atoms of the astral atmosphere around
us...the rays of thought have the same potentiality for producing forms in
the astral atmosphere as the sun rays have with regard to a lens. Every
thought so evolved with energy from the brain, creates nolens volens a
shape."
HPB-- Dialogues -- HPB Art. II 42-3
"...the human brain is simply the canal between two planes--the
psycho-spiritual and the material--through which every abstract and
metaphysical idea filters from the Manasic down to the lower human
consciousness. Therefore the ideas about the infinite and the absolute are
not, nor can they be, within our brain capacities. They can be faithfully
mirrored only by our Spiritual consciousness, thence to be more of less
faintly projected on to the tables of our perceptions on this plane.
Thus while the records of even important events are often obliterated from
our memory, not the most trifling action of our lives can disappear from the
"Soul's" memory, because it is no memory for it, but an ever-present reality
on the plane which lies outside our conceptions of space and time. "Man is
the measure of all things," said Aristotle; and surely he did not mean by
man, the form of flesh, bones and muscles ? ... As our world is mostly
formed of imperceptible beings which are the real constructors of its
continents, so likewise is man." HPB --Memory in the Dying--
HPB Art. II 378-9
"Occult philosophy reconciles the absurdity of postulating in the manifested
Universe an active Mind without an organ, with that worse absurdity, an
objective Universe evolved as everything else in it, by blind chance, by
giving this Universe an organ of thought, a "brain." The latter, though not
objective to our senses, is none the less existing; it is to be found in
the Entity called Kosmos (Adam Kadmon in the Kabbalah). As in the Microcosm
Man, so in the Macrocosm, or the Universe. Every organ is a sentient
entity, and every particle of matter or substance, from the physical
molecule up to the spiritual atom, is a cell, a nerve center, which
communicates." (see Lucifer, Vol. 7, p. 476fn)
"This is precisely what occult philosophy claims; 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...In the course of natural evolution our "brain-mind" will be
replaced by a finer organism, and helped by the 6th and the 7th senses.
Even now, there are pioneer minds who have developed these senses."
Theos. Art. & Notes, p. 208
"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 records of past events, of
every minutest action, and of passing thoughts, in fact, are realty
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 via 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. Art. & Notes, p. 209
"...Genius--an abnormal aptitude of mind--that develops and grows,
or the physical brain, is vehicle, which becomes...fitter to receive and
manifest from within outwardly the innate and divine nature of man's
over-soul." HPB -- "Genius" -- HPB Art. II 119
CONSCIOUSNESS AND LIFE
"Esoteric philosophy teaches that everything lives and is conscious, but not
that all life and consciousness are similar to those of human or even animal
beings. Life we look upon as "the one form of existence," manifesting in
what is called matter; or, as in man, incorrectly separating them, we name
Spirit, Soul and Matter. Matter is the vehicle for the manifestation of
soul on this plane of existence, and soul is the vehicle on a higher plane
for the manifestation of spirit, and these three are a trinity synthesized
by Life, which pervades them all. The idea of universal life is one of
those ancient conceptions which are returning to the human mind in this
century as a consequence of its liberation from anthropomorphic theology."
S D I 49
"The Secret Doctrine teaches the progressive development of everything,
worlds as well as atoms; and this stupendous development has neither
conceivable beginning nor imaginable end. Our "Universe" is only one of an
infinite series of Universes, all of them "Sons of Necessity," because links
in the great Cosmic chain of Universes, each one standing in the relation of
an effect as regards its predecessor, and being a cause as regards its
successor.
The appearance and disappearance of the Universe are pictured as an
outbreathing and inbreathing of "the Great Breath," which is eternal, and
which, being Motion, is one of the three aspects of the Absolute--Abstract
Space and Duration being the other two..."The Past time is the Present time,
as also the Future, which, though it has not come into existence, still
is..." SD I 43
FREE WILL IN NATURE AND IN MAN
"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
[see M L 89-91 on development of consciousness in the Life- Atom
]
[ see SD I 174-5 fn on the nature and necessity for the Monad ]
"Every atom is endowed with and moved by intelligence, and is conscious in
its own degree, on its own plane of development. This is a glimpse of the
One Life... selfishness is the curse of separateness..." WQJ ART I 29
"Every man has a god within, a direct ray from the Absolute, the celestial
ray from the One..." TRANS 53
"...Time...[is] the panoramic succession of our states of consciousness..."
S D I 44
"The "Absolute Consciousness,"..."behind" phenomena...is only termed
unconsciousness in the absence of any element of personality...transcends
human conception...Only the liberated Spirit is able to faintly realize the
nature of the source whence it sprung and whither it must eventually
return...we can but bow in ignorance before the awful mystery of Absolute
Being...the Finite cannot conceive the Infinite..." S D I 51
"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
FORCE - ENERGY UNIVERSAL LIFE
"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)
MANAS -- MIND -- SOUL
"(e) Manas -- a dual principle in its functions. Mind, [and]
Intelligence: which is the higher human mind, whose light, or radiation
links the MONAD, for the lifetime, to the mortal man.
The future state and karmic destiny of man depend on whether Manas
gravitates more downward to Kama rupa, the seat of the animal passions, or
upwards to Buddhi, the Spiritual Ego. In the latter case, the higher
consciousness of the individual Spiritual aspirations of mind (Manas),
assimilating Buddhi, are absorbed by it and form the (Ego), which goes into
Devachanic bliss.
(f) Buddhi. The Spiritual Soul. The vehicle of pure universal spirit.
(g) Atma. Spirit. One with the Absolute, as its radiation.
KEY, p. 92
"Mind is a name given to the sum of the states of Consciousness grouped
under Thought, Will, and Feeling. During deep sleep, ideation ceases of the
physical plane, and memory is in abeyance; thus for the time-being "Mind is
not," because the organ through which the Ego manifests ideation and memory
on the material plane has temporarily ceased to function. A noumenon can
become a phenomenon on any plane of existence only by manifesting on that
plane through an appropriate basis or vehicle...The Ah-hi (Dhyan-Chohans)
are the collective hosts of spiritual beings--the Angelic Hosts of
Christianity,,,--who are the vehicle for the manifestation of the divine or
universal though and will. They are the Intelligent Forces that give to and
enact in Nature her "laws," while themselves acting according to laws
imposed upon them in a similar manner by still higher Powers...This
hierarchy of spiritual Beings, through which the Universal Mind comes into
action, is like an army--a "Host," SD I 38
"..."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 Art., Vol. II, p. 13
"The matter-moving Nous, the animating Soul, immanent in every atom,
manifested in man, latent in the stone, has different degrees of power; and
this pantheistic idea of a general spirit-Soul pervading all Nature is the
oldest of all the philosophical notions." S D I 51
There is a dual element in the mind of man. HPB wrote on this as
follows:
"this means that he would have to admit a lower (animal), and a higher (or
divine) mind in man, of what is known in Occultism as the "personal" and the
"impersonal" 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...
These two we distinguish as the Higher Manas (Mind or Ego) and the
Kama-Manas, i.e., the rational, but earthy or physical intellect of man,
incased in, and bound by. matter, therefore subject to the influence of the
latter: the all-conscious Self, that which reincarnates
periodically--verily the Word made flesh--and which is always the same,
while its reflected "Double," changing with every new incarnation and
personality, is, therefore, conscious but for a life-period. The latter
"principle," is the Lower Self, or that which manifesting through our
organic system, acting on this plane of illusion, imagines itself the Ego
Sum, and thus falls into what Buddhist philosophy brands as the "heresy of
separateness." The former, we term Individuality, the latter Personality."
HPB "Psychic and Noetic Action"
HPB Articles II pp , 9-10, 20-1
MATTER -- SUBSTANCE
Q'lippoth (Heb.) or Klippoth [Glos 178]. "The world of Demons or
Shells...Q'lippoth contains the matter of which stars, planets, and even men
are made, shows that Samael with his legions is simply chaotic, turbulent
matter, which is used in its finer state by spirits to robe themselves in.
For speaking of the "vesture" or form (rupa) of the incarnating Egos, it is
said in the Occult Catechism that they, the Manasaputra or Sons of Wisdom,
use for the consolidation of their forms, in order to descend into lower
spheres, the dregs of Swabhavat, or that plastic matter which is throughout
Space, in other words, primordial ilus. And these dregs are what the
Egyptians have called Typhon and modern Europeans Satan, Samael, etc..."
Glos 268-9
[ see also Klippoth Glos. pp. 178-9 ]
SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE
"SUDDA SATWA (Sk.) A substance not subject to the qualities of matter; a
luminiferous and (to us) invisible substance, of which the bodies of the
gods and highest Dhyanis are formed. Philosophically, Suddha Satwa is a
conscious state of spiritual Ego-ism rather than any essence." T.
GLOSSARY, p. 311
MAYA -- ILLUSION
"Maya or illusion is an element which enters into all finite things, for
everything that exists has only a relative, not an absolute, reality, since
the appearance which the hidden noumenon assumes for any observer depends
upon his power of cognition...
Nothing is permanent except the one hidden absolute existence which contains
in itself the noumena of all realities. The existence belonging to every
plane of being up to the highest Dhyan Chohans, are, in degree, of the
nature of shadows...but all things are relatively real, for the cognizer is
also a reflection, and the things cognized are therefore as real to him as
himself.
What ever reality things possess must be looked for it them (40) before or
after they have passed like a flash through the material world; but we
cannot cognize any such existence directly, so long as we have sense
instruments which bring only material existence into the field of our
consciousness. Whatever plane our consciousness may be acting in, both we
and the things belonging to that plane are, for the time being, our only
realities.
As we rise in the scale of development we perceive that during the stages
through which we have passed we mistook shadows for realities, and the
upward march of the Ego is a series of progressive awakenings, each advance
bringing with it the idea that now, at last, we have reached "reality;" but
only when we shall have reached the absolute Consciousness, and blended our
own with it, shall we be free from the delusions produced by Maya." S D
I 39-40
[ see also Echoes, p. 41-2 ]
MONAD
"MONAD (Gr.) The Unity, the one; but in Occultism it often means the
unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that immortal
part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually
progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal--Nirvana.
[see SD I pp. 173-4 footnotes] T. Glossary, p. 216
"Metaphysically speaking, it is of course an absurdity to talk of the
"development" of a Monad, or to say that it becomes "Man."...a Monad cannot
either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of states it
passes through. It is not of this world or plane, and may be compared only
to an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our
Earth as a plank of salvation for the personalities in which it indwells.
It is for the latter to cling to it; and thus partaking of its divine
nature, obtain immortality. Left to itself the Monad will cling to no one;
but, like the "plank," be drifted away to another incarnation by the
unresting current of evolution." SD I 174-5 fn.
"...the whole secret of Life is in the unbroken series of its
manifestations: whether in, or apart from, the physical body...yet it is
itself part and parcel of that Eternity; for life alone can understand
life... It is Jiva, the Monad in conjunction with Manas, or rather its
aroma--that which remains from each personality, when worthy, and hangs from
Atma-Buddhi, the Flame, by the thread of life." SD I 238
PERCEIVER
"To the perceiver on any plane, perceptions are objective to him; on a
higher plane than this, would they not be his "physics," although
metaphysical to us ? From our plane, that which is metaphysical becomes
physical when embodied. " FRIENDLY PHILOS. p. 78
"Every one of us is a Perceiver, just as much a Perceiver as we ever were or
ever will be. So is every atom of our body the perceiver. But we look
directly upon ideas; the lives below man look directly upon sensation. We
say waking, dreaming, sleeping, because our attention has not been directed
to the state of nature beyond life or man ass immortal. But there are other
names for these states of consciousness. Think of the mineral kingdom as a
state of consciousness, and the forms built in that state. Think of the
animal kingdom as life in a given state of consciousness with the
appropriate forms built in them.
Now we--in the state called the Thinker, which is our natural state--are not
any the less the Perceiver, because we are also at the same time the Thinker
and the being which feels. But neither are we the Thinker pure and simple,
nor are we the creature that is the experiencer of effects pure and
simple=--nor are we the Perceiver pure and simple. It is impossible to
dissociate the three. If a man were in the state called the Perceiver, and
if he were in that state pure and simple, all this that is a mystery to us
would be just as objective in the spiritual sense as we here and now are
objective to each other in the "sense use" of the term."
"QUESTIONS ANSWERED AT AN INFORMAL
OCEAN CLASS" [J.G.] T. MVT., Nov. 1952.
"As to the "we," there is but one "we," or perceiver, who perceives on any
plane through the sheaths evolved by him on each plane; his perceptions on
any plane will depend on the quality of the sheath or vehicle. Atma
(spirit) or consciousness alone, is what remains after the subtraction of
the sheaths. It is the ONLY witness--a synthesizing unity. On this
plane--and this means during waking consciousness or its dream effects--the
perceiver knows only what it knows on this plane (generally speaking), (49)
and through the ignorance of the Real, involves itself in the cause and
effect of physical nature, identifying itself with body and sensations, and
looking at other human beings in the same light. This is a wrong attitude
of mind. The "we," at this end, is the identification of the perceiver with
this plane's perceptions--a misconception of the perceiver, a dream--a
play--in which the perceiver is so involved as to have lost sight and memory
of his real life.
The mind is both "carrier" and "translator" of both lower and higher self;
the attitude determines the quality and kind of action, for one will act
according to the attitude of mind firmly held. The great and incalculable
value of acting for and as the Supreme is that there is nothing higher in
the way of attitude, and this endeavor must by its very nature bring about
the best results.
What moves the "mind" this way or that is usually desire for the attractions
of matter, and self-interest in them; these then move and control the mind
through the brain. "We," the Perceiver, do not perceive anything but the
"ideas" which the senses and organs present. He is not fully awake on this
plane; sometimes he gets partly wakened, but drops off to sleep again,
lulled by the sounds and memories of his dream; sometimes "bad dreams"
awake him; sometimes he is awakened by the voices of those who are awake.
The "Real" and the "unreal," the "fleeting" and the "ever-lasting" are terms
which will be more fully understood if looked at from the point of view of
the Perceiver. This is the attitude of mind we should hold."
Friendly Philosopher 48-8
ANTASKARANA (Sk.) or Antah'karana..."understanding"...
"the internal instrument, the Soul, formed by the thinking principle and
egoism" ... the Occultists explain it as the path or bridge between the
Higher and the Lower Manas, the divine Ego, and the personal Soul of man.
It serves as a medium of communication between the two, and conveys from the
Lower to the Higher Ego all those personal impressions and thoughts of men
which can, by their nature, be assimilated and stored by the undying Entity,
and be thus made immortal with its, these being the only elements of the
evanescent Personality that survive the death and time. It thus stands to
reason that only that which is noble spiritual and divine in man can testify
in Eternity to his having lived." T. GLOSSARY, p. 23-4
PERFECTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE ADEPT
"The word Adept signifies proficiency, and is not uncommon...A Mahatma is
not only an Adept, but much more...maha, great, and atma, soul--hence Great
Soul...a perfected human being, one who has attained to the state often
described by mystics and held by scientific men to be an impossibility, when
time and space are no obstacles to sight, to action, to knowledge or to
consciousness...and also to possess information of a decidedly practical
character concerning the laws of nature, including that mystery for
science--the meaning, operation and constitution of life itself--and
concerning the genesis of this planet as well as the races upon it."
WQJ--Echoes, p. 23
HIGHER ASPECT OF THE LOWER MANAS
"..."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 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
"...it is the higher Manas illuminated by Buddhi; the principle of
self-consciousness, the "I-am-I"...It is the Karana-Sarira, the immortal
man, which passes from one incarnation to another." TRANS 63
"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
"...the Logos or Word is called incarnate wisdom. "Light shining in
darkness." The distinction lies between the immovable or eternal immutable
All, and the movable Speech or Logos, i.e., the periodical and manifested.
It can relate to the universal and the manifested. It can relate to the
Universal, and to the individual mind, to Mahat, or to the Higher Manas, or
even to the lower, the Kama Manas or Brain-Mind. Because that which is
desire, instinctive impulse in the lower, becomes thought in the Higher.
The former finds expression in acts, the latter in words. Esoterically,
thought is more responsible and punishable than act. But exoterically it is
the reverse. Therefore, in ordinary human law, an assault is more severely
punished than the thought or intention, i.e., the threat, whereas Karmically
it is the contrary." TRANS 142
ATTUNING ONE'S CONSCIOUSNESS TO THE 7 CHORDS
"...Whenever you are able to attune your consciousness to any of the seven
chords of 'Universal Consciousness,' those chords that run along the
sounding-board of Kosmos, vibrating from one Eternity to another; when you
have studied thoroughly 'the music of the Spheres [the 7 principles of
Nature and of man and their correlations]," then only will you become quite
free to share your knowledge with those with whom it is safe to do so...Do
not give out the great Truths that are the inheritance of the future Races,
to our present generation. Do not attempt to unveil the secret of being and
non-being to those unable to see the hidden meaning of Apollo's
HEPTACHORD--the lyre of the radiant god, in each of the seven strings of
which dwelleth the Spirit, Soul and Astral body of the Kosmos, whose shell
only has now fallen into the hands of Modern Science..." SD I 167
[see also S D I 570-5]
CONSCIOUS THOUGHT CONTROL
"You will always find victory over evil thoughts most practicable if they
are grappled with on first appearance and before making headway. It is for
their reception and not for their appearance that one is responsible..."I
cannot prevent birds from flying over my head, but I can prevent their
making nests in my hair." There is much in this."
WQJ--PRACTICAL OCCULTISM, p. 68
DREAMS AND DREAMING
"In the dream state we lose all knowledge of the objects which while awake
we thought real and proceed to suffer and enjoy in that new state. [ see SD
I 47 ] In this we find the consciousness applying itself to objects
partaking of course of the nature of experiences of the waking condition,
but at the same time producing the sensations of pleasure and pain while
they last. [ see SD I 56 ] Let us imagine a person's body plunged in a
lethargy extending over twenty years and the mind undergoing a pleasant or
unpleasant dream, and we have a life just of that sort, altogether different
from the life of one awake. For the consciousness of this dreamer the
reality of objects known during the waking state is destroyed. But as
material existence is a necessary evil and the one is which alone
emancipation or salvation can be obtained, it is of the greatest importance
and hence Karma which governs it...must be well understood and then be
accepted and obeyed." Echoes. pp. 41-42
"Dreams are sometimes the result of brain action automatically proceeding,
and are also produced by the transmission into the brain by the real inner
person of those senses or ideas high or low which the real person has seen
while the body slept. They are then strained into the brain as if floating
on the soul as it sinks into the body. These dreams may be of great use,
but generally the resumption of bodily activity destroys the meaning,
perverts the image, and reduces all to confusion.
But the great fact of all dreaming is that some one perceives and feels
therein and this is one of the arguments for the inner person's existence.
In sleep the inner man communes with higher intelligences, and sometimes
succeeds in impressing the brain with what is gained, either a high idea or
a prophetic vision, or else fails in consequence of the resistance of the
brain fiber. The karma of the person also determines the meaning of a
dream, for a kind may dream that which relates to his kingdom, which the
same thing dreamed by a citizen relates to nothing of temporal consequence.
But, as said by Job: "In dreams and visions of the night man is
instructed." Ocean, p. 143-4
INTUITION
"...a projection of our perceptive consciousness, a projection which acts
from the subjective to the objective...awakens in us spiritual senses and
the power to act; these senses assimilate to themselves the essence of the
object or of the action under examination, and represent it to us as it
really is, not as it appears to our physical senses and to our cold
reason...omniscience." HPB I 428
"...the "Ego" in man is a monad that has gathered to itself innumerable
experiences through aeons of time, slowly unfolding its latent potencies
through plane after plane of matter. It is hence called the "eternal
pilgrim."
The Manasic, or mind principle, is cosmic and universal. It is the creator
of all forms, and the basis of all law in nature. Not so with
consciousness. Consciousness is a condition of the monad as a result of
embodiment in matter and the dwelling in a physical form.
Self-consciousness, which from the animal plane looking upward is the
beginning of perfection, from the divine plane looking downwards is the
perfection of selfishness and the curse of separateness. it is the "world
of illusion" that man has created for himself. "Maya is the perceptive
faculty of every Ego which considers itself a Unit, separate from and
independent of the One Infinite and Eternal Sat or 'be-ness'," (SD I 329)
The "eternal pilgrim" must therefore mount higher, and flee from the plane
of self-consciousness it has struggled so hard to reach." WQJ ART I 29
[ Ascetic making himself invisible to another.
WQJ LETTERS 142
[ PAT 45-6 Q & A 216 ]
PERFECTION OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE ADEPT
"The word Adept signifies proficiency, and is not uncommon...A Mahatma is
not only an Adept, but much more...maha, great, and atma, soul--hence Great
Soul...a perfected human being, one who has attained to the state often
described by mystics and held by scientific men to be an impossibility, when
time and space are no obstacles to sight, to action, to knowledge or to
consciousness...and also to possess information of a decidedly practical
character concerning the laws of nature, including that mystery for
science--the meaning, operation and constitution of life itself--and
concerning the genesis of this planet as well as the races upon it."
WQJ--Echoes, p. 23
A CONCATENATION OF CAUSES
"NIDANA (Sk.). The 12 causes of existence, or a chain of causation, "a
concatenation of cause and effect..." the fundamental dogma of Buddhist
thought, "the understanding of which solves the riddle of life, revealing
the inanity of existence and preparing the mind for Nirvana."
(Eitel's Sanskrit & Chinese Dictionary)...
(1) Jati... birth...
(2) Jaramarana, or decrepitude and death, following
the maturity of the Skandhas
(3) Bhava, the Karmic agent which leads every
new sentient being to be born in
this or another mode of existence
in the Trailokya and Gati.
(4) Upadhana, the creative cause of Bhava which
thus becomes the cause of Jati
which is the effect; and this
creative cause is the clinging to life.
(5) Trishna, love, whether pure or impure.
(6) Vedana [Vidana], or sensation; perception by the
senses, it is the 5th Skandha.
(7) Sparsa, the sense of touch.
(8) Chadyatana, the organ of sensation.
(9) Namarupa, personality, i.e., a form with a
name to it, the symbol of the
unreality of material phenomenal
appearances.
(10) Vijnana [Vidyana ?], the perfect knowledge of
every perceptible thing and of all
objects in their concatenation and
unity.
(11) Samskara, action on the plane of illusion.
(12) Avidya, lack of true perception, or ignorance..."
T. GLOS. p. 229
DREAMLESS SLEEP
"Dreamless sleep is one of the seven states of consciousness known in
Oriental esotericism. In each of these states a different portion of the
mind comes into action; or as a Vedantin would express it, the individual
is conscious in a different plane of his being. The term "dreamless sleep,"
in this case is applied allegorically to the Universe to express a condition
somewhat analogous to that state of consciousness in man, which, not being
remembered is a waking state, seems a blank, just as the sleep of the
mesmerized subject seems to him an unconscious blank when he returns to his
normal condition, although he has been talking and acting as a conscious
individual would." SD I 47
"Buddhi the Spiritual soul...because it is the direct cause of Sushupti
[deep sleep]...leading to Turiya...the highest state of Samadhi [ Meditation
]...Buddhi becomes a "causal body" in conjunction with Manas the incarnation
of the Entity or Ego..." Glossary, p. 74
"Good resolutions are mind-painted pictures of good deeds, fancies,
day-dreams, whisperings of the Buddhi to the Manas..." Letters from the
Masters of Wisdom (I) p 60-1
[ more details on Dreams will be found:
Transaction of the Blavatsky Lodge, pp 58...,
Isis I 179
see Indexes to Judge and HPB Articles, SD,
Sleep and Dreams, R. Crosbie, F. P. p. 258, 66-67
Dreams and Karma " " Ans. to Quest. p. 219-221
Dreamless Sleep SD I 38, 47, 266
Because for Children who ask Why? p. 70...
"The Psychology of Dreams" - Theosophy Mag. Vol. 6
To consider: Trance, Meditation, Deep Sleep, Sushupti,
Turiya, Memory, personality, Individuality,
Will, Consciousness...
Dallas
=======================================================
-----Original Message-----
>From Cass Silva
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 4:12 PM
To:
Subject: Re: Theos-World Re: [Mind and Brain] meaning and information
Hi Leon,
I will need to spend a few days digesting all that you have said. My neural
connections seem to require this time frame, however my first reaction to
your statement
Or that the lower mental field of the developing fetus can receive impulses
transmitted to it from the conscious and unconscious thoughts of its mother.
This could correspond to the
reported response of a plant to the loving or hateful thoughts directed to
it.
Cass: Doesn't this suggest that some sort of consciousness precedes brain
function? All of the bodies, higher mental, lower mental, astral, and
etheric are waiting on the threshold to animate the foetus. Perhaps as you
say, the foetus, dreams because of its formed astral body, perhaps also it
is able to think, prior to the formation of the brain, because of its
lower/higher mental body.
"The soul, says Porphyry, having even after death a certain affection for
its body, an affinity proportioned to the violence with which their union
was broken". IU
Cass: Perhaps the soul has an affinity for its physical form in the womb?
Unfortunately if this is the case it can never be proven at a scientific
level.
I read in Isis or SD that consciousness precedes intelligence, will need to
do a bit of research today.
Cass
====================================================
leonmaurer@aol.com wrote: Cass,
I'm not sure I understand how a fetus can react to a visual stimulus from
the
outer world. How would the light reflected from that world penetrate to
the
retinas of the fetal eyes? Besides, I'm not so sure the fetus has yet
connected to the mind -- which in itself, would have no direct connection to
the
reflected visual images of the outer world.
I think theosophy teaches, and I tend to agree, that the unborn fetus has
not
yet attached itself to the higher mind. From a conscious mind standpoint
-- all it has, apparently, is the instinctive reaction of each of its
developing cells, and later, organs, to the immediate environment they are
surrounded
by and growing in -- guided by their DNA's encoding that, through its
coenergetic fields, are linked directly to the astral form of the developing
body at
each stage of its growth. For that early developmental level of
consciousness,
there would be no need for a brain, although its lower instinctive mind
could
be operative and storing memories of its immediate environmentally causal
experiences. Also, it seems obvious to me that, in those early stages of
development, the fetus couldn't have any functioning "neural" connections to
speak
of.
I would think, then, that the developing fetus' only contact with the outer
world would be through the direct physical pressure waves that are
transmitted
to it through the surrounding amnionic fluid. This could include sound
waves
that are transmitted through the body and the uterus of the mother. But, I
doubt if light waves could get through, or if higher order mind field
information could effect the waking consciousness of the fetus. Although,
I don't
doubt that the Monad connected to each developing fetus might be dreaming
until
it opens its eyes in the outer world... Or that the lower mental field of
the
developing fetus can receive impulses transmitted to it from the conscious
and
unconscious thoughts of its mother. This could correspond to the reported
response of a plant to the loving or hateful thoughts directed to it.
Speculatively, all that also could be the cause of the prenatal "engrams" or
residual
memories carried by the growing baby-child into later life that might effect
its future psychological states of mind.
I hope this makes some theosophical sense.
Len
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