Theos-Talk Archives (March 2008 Message tt00181)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Cass Silva <silva_cass@...> wrote:
>
> Thanks for this explanation Nigel, I don't really think that I 
thought of it this way.  I thought they and the Lunar Pitris provided 
the means for our physical and mental bodies.  Are we then the sum 
total of human evolution.  How for instance would it work for an 
animal that was incarnating in the human form for the first time.  
Where would its bodies come from, if you know what I mean?
>    
>   Cass

Dear Cass

You ask, "Are we then the sum total of human 
evolution?"

This depends on what we mean by "human" and "sum 
total." The evolution of the human being has more 
rounds to complete before the perfect human stage 
of mind or manas consciousness is reached. We are 
told there are 7 rounds and we are only manifesting 
in or "as" the fourth.

We often refer to human as MAN, meaning human mind, 
however this is not always what is meant in, for 
instance, the Secret Doctrine. 

You also ask, "How for instance would it work for 
an animal that was incarnating in the human form 
for the first time. Where would its bodies come 
from, if you know what I mean?"

This once again depends upon the stage of evolution 
you are considering, in other words, which 
manvantara and evolutionary cycle. Referring to my 
previous statement, MAN can refer to Monad, and it 
is the Monad which dresses itself in its appropriate 
"attire", not the human or animal.

Perhaps the following quotes can help in providing 
more insight into both of your queries:

The Monad is a drop out of the shoreless Ocean 
beyond, or, to be correct, within the plane primeval 
differentiation.  It is divine in its higher and 
human in its lower condition?the adjectives "higher" 
and "lower" being used for lack of better words?and 
a monad it remains at all times, save in the Nirvanic 
state, under whatever conditions, or whatever external 
forms.  As the Logos reflects the Universe in the 
Divine Mind, and the manifested Universe reflects 
itself in each of its Monads, as Leibnitz put it, 
repeating an Eastern teaching, so the MONAD has, 
during the cycle of its incarnations, to reflect in 
itself every root-form of each kingdom.  Therefore, 
the Kabalists say correctly that "MAN becomes a stone, 
a plant, an animal, a man, a Spirit, and finally God.  
Thus accomplishing his cycle or circuit and returning 
to the point from which he had started as the heavenly 
MAN." But by "Man" the divine Monad is meant, and 
not the thinking Entity, much less his physical body.  
The animals?the creeping beasts and those in the 
waters that preceded man in this Fourth Round, as 
well as those contemporary with the Third Race, and 
again the mammalia that are posterior to the Third 
and Fourth Races?ALL ARE EITHER DIRECTLY OR 
INDIRECTLY THE MUTUAL AND CORRELATIVE PRODUCT 
(PHYSICALLY) OF MAN. (My caps) It is correct to say 
that the man of this Manvantara, i.e., during the 
three preceding Rounds, has passed through all the 
kingdoms of nature.  That he was "a stone, a plant, 
an animal." But (a) these stones, plants, and 
animals were the prototypes, the filmy presentments 
of those of the Fourth Round; and (b) even those at 
the beginning of the Fourth Round were the astral 
shadows of the present, as the Occultists express 
it.  And finally the forms and genera of neither 
man, animal, nor plant were what they became later.  
Thus the astral prototypes of the lower beings of 
the animal kingdom of the Fourth Round, which 
preceded (the chhayas of) Men, were the consolidated, 
though still very ethereal sheaths of the still more 
ethereal forms or models produced at the close of 
the Third Round on Globe D.*
"Produced from the residue of the substance matter; 
from dead bodies of men and (other extinct) animals 
of the wheel before," or the previous Third 
Round?as Stanza 24 tells us.  Hence, while the 
nondescript "animals" that preceded the astral man 
at the beginning of this life-cycle on our Earth 
were still, so to speak, THE PROGENY OF THE MAN OF 
THE THIRD ROUND, THE MAMMALIANS OF THIS ROUND OWE 
THEIR EXISTENCE, IN A GREAT MEASURE, TO MAN AGAIN. 
(My caps) 
Moreover, the "ancestor" of the present anthropoid 
animal, the ape, is the direct production of the 
yet mindless Man, who desecrated his human dignity 
by putting himself physically on the level of an 
animal. SD 2 p 186/7

And:

"Man was the store-house, so to speak, of all the 
seeds of life for this Round, vegetable and animal 
alike.*
As soon as man appeared, everything was complete. . 
. . for everything is comprised in man. He unites 
in himself all forms (Ibid, iii. 48a)." "The 
mystery of the earthly man is after the mystery of 
the Heavenly Man" (ii. 76a). The human form?
so called, because it is the vehicle (under 
whatever shape) of the divine man?is, as so 
intuitionally remarked by the author of "Esoteric 
Studies,"? the new type, at the beginning of every 
Round, "as man never can be, so he never has been, 
manifested in a shape belonging to the animal 
kingdom in esse.. "he never formed part of that 
kingdom." 
Having appeared at the very beginning, and at the 
head of sentient and conscious life, man (the 
astral, or the "Soul," for the Zohar, repeating 
the archaic teaching, distinctly says that "the 
real man is the Soul, and his material frame no 
part of him")?man became the living and animal 
UNIT, from which the "CAST-OFF CLOTHES" DETERMINED 
THE SHAPE OF EVERY LIFE AND ANIMAL IN THIS ROUND.? 
(My caps)
Thus, he "created" for ages the insects, reptiles, 
birds, and animals, unconsciously to himself, from 
his remains and relics from the Third and the Fourth 
Rounds.
 SD 2 p 289/90

These passages and many others call for considerable 
study as these some of these teachings of cosmology 
are changed or even contradicted in some of the 
later literature. 
Unfortunately the vexed issue of available time 
disallows my sharing more on this.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards
Nigel