The Secret Doctrine Of The Rosicrucians Part 1 By: Magus Incognito
- Lea Loera
- Nov 8, 2024
- 131 min read
Contents
Part 3. The Soul Of The World
Part 9. The Sevenfold Soul Of Man
Part 10. Metempsychosis
Part 11. The Soul’s Progress
Part 12. The Aura And Auric Colors
Part 13. The Seven Cosmic Principles
Part 1. The Rosicrucians And Their Secret Doctrine
Figure 1. Mystic symbol of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood
The student of the history of occultism and the esoteric teachings, and even the average reader of current books and magazines, finds many references to “The Rosicrucians,” a supposed ancient secret society devoted to the study of occult doctrines and the manifestation of occult powers. But when such person seeks to obtain detailed information concerning this supposed ancient “order” he finds himself baffled and defeated. Before acknowledging the futility of the quest, however, he usually investigates one or more so-called “orders” having as a part of their title the word “Rosicrucian,” only to find himself invited to join such “order” upon the payment of a fee or fees ranging from a small amount in some cases to quite large amounts in others, each “order” claiming to be the “only original order,” and asserting that all the others are base imitators.
The truth is that there is not in existence, and never has been in existence, any popular occult order sanctioned by the real Rosicrucians, which anyone may join upon payment of fees, large or small, just as he may join any of the better known fraternal organizations of which there are so many. The true Rosicrucians have no formal organization, and are held together only by the ties of common interest in the occult and esoteric studies, and by the common acceptance of certain fundamental principles of belief and knowledge. This unorganized “order” has members in all walks of life, and in all countries, and its members never announce themselves as “Rosicrucians” to the general public. Admission to this unorganized “order” is never granted upon the payment of a fee, and is possible only upon the request and recommendation of three members in good standing who have themselves been members for a certain period of time, and who have attained a certain degree of proficiency in the attainment of the esoteric knowledge, and in demonstrating the principles discovered by them under the direction of certain higher adepts in the arcane wisdom.
Members of the Rosicrucian body are prominent in the councils of nearly all of the occult organizations and societies throughout the world—in fact, it is these persons who are the real leaven in the general mass, and who keep alive the Sacred Flame of Truth in them. Many Rosicrucians are also prominent in philosophic and scientific circles, and some of them are men quite prominent in the large affairs of the business and professional world, and in the ranks of statesmanship. Others are prominent in movements like the “labor movement” and similar activities. Some are prominent in the councils of the various churches, and others are leaders in Masonry and similar secret societies. In all of such circles the Rosicrucians exert a powerful influence, and always in the direction of good.
“The Brothers of the Rosy Cross”
The modern interest in the Rosicrucian Teachings dates back to the early part of the seventeenth century—about 1610, to be exact. At that time there were rumors of the existence of a society known as “The Brothers of the Rosy Cross,” the officers and meeting places of which were not known to the public. The mysterious society was severely attacked by the ecclesiastical authorities and others, and was as vigorously defended by those who were interested in the general subject of occultism and the esoteric teachings. There were many spurious and counterfeit “orders” established during the following century, and for that matter in nearly every century since, but none have been able to show an undoubted connection with the original order. Some of the original teachings of the Rosicrucians have been incorporated in some of the higher degrees of Masonry, and have served a good purpose therein.
The legend concerning the origin of the order—true in some respects, but erroneous in others—was as follows: That a certain Christian Rosenkreutz, a German nobleman who had donned the robes of a certain order of monks, had visited India, Persia, and also Arabia, and had returned bringing with him a certain Secret Doctrine obtained from the sages and seers of those Oriental lands. He was said to have established the original Rosicrucian Brotherhood about 1425, its existence not becoming generally known until nearly two hundred years afterward. The true Rosicrucians, however, recognize this legendary tale as being merely a cleverly disguised recital of the real facts of the establishment of the unorganized order, which must be read between the lines, aided by the spectacles of understanding, in order that its real import may be grasped.
The present writer does not feel justified in telling in these pages the tale as he understands it, and as it has been transmitted to him by those in authority; in fact, to make the same public, he would be violating a most sacred promise, which would amount to a betrayal of his initiation secrets. He, however, is permitted to state that the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians is a body of esoteric teachings, handed down for ages by wise men deeply versed in the esoteric doctrines and occult lore. This Wisdom originally came by way of the Orient, and in fact even today comprises part of the Inner Teachings of some of the highest Oriental Brotherhoods. Its history is but another instance of the truth of the old Secret axioms, one of which says that we must “Look to the East, whence comes all Light.”
For many years little or nothing was permitted to be revealed to the general public concerning the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, but during the past twenty-five years there has been a greater, and still greater freedom in this respect, until today many important Rosicrucian teachings form a part of nearly all writings and teachings upon the subject of the Esotericism in general, and of the Higher Metaphysics in particular. Theosophy, and the general interest in Oriental Philosophies and Religions, have done much to bring into public notice some of the more elementary points of the Secret Doctrine. In fact, in the highest writings and teachings of some of the great organizations above referred to the Rosicrucian may find many half-hidden bits of the Rosicrucian Doctrine, cleverly disguised from the unprepared Many, yet plainly revealed to the prepared Few.
The Higher Alchemy
The Rosicrucians, according to the public encyclopaedias, and other works of reference, are held to have been devoted to the subject of Alchemy. And, indeed, this statement is correct. But the modern compilers of such reference books have fallen into the error of supposing that the Alchemy referred to was performed wholly upon the Plane of Matter—and concerned wholly with the Transmutation of Elements. They are ignorant of the fact that the Alchemy which attracted the Rosicrucians, and which took up most of their time and attention, was Mental Alchemy, and Spiritual Alchemy—something quite different indeed, though having of course a correspondence to the Material Alchemy, according to the Law of Correspondence. The student of the present book will discover this fact, and will receive many valuable hints concerning the higher forms of Alchemy, providing he is prepared to read between the lines of the text, and to reason by Analogy. The axiom “As above, so below,” will be found to work out well in this connection.
Why the Esoteric Teaching is Kept Secret
It is difficult to convey to the average European or American the true reasons underlying the Secrecy which invariably surrounds the Esoteric Teachings of all the great schools of occult thought. Such a person is inclined to think that the only reason therefore is the delight in “mystery mongering” which he thinks he finds among all occult teachers. But to one who penetrates even but a short distance on The Path, the true reasons are perceived. Such a one perceives the dangers of premature disclosure of important esoteric principles to the unprepared public mind. The following quotations from a well-known writer will perhaps give a hint to the solution of this question. The writer says:
“The Oriental method of cultivating knowledge has always differed diametrically from that pursued in the West during the growth of modern sciences. Whilst Europe has investigated Nature as publicly as possible, every step being discussed with the utmost freedom, and every fresh fact acquired circulated at once for the benefit of all, Asiatic science has been studied secretly and its conquests jealously guarded. I need not as yet attempt either criticism or defence of its methods. The student will later on see that this falls naturally into its place in the whole scheme of occult philosophy. The approaches to that philosophy have always been open, in one sense, to all. Vaguely throughout the world in various ways have been diffused the idea that some process of study which men here and there did actually follow, might lead to the acquisition of a higher kind of knowledge than that taught to mankind at large in books or by public teachers. The East, as pointed out, has always been more than vaguely impressed with this belief; but even in the West the whole block of symbolical literature relating to astrology, alchemy, and mysticism generally has fermented in European society, carrying to some peculiarly receptive and qualified minds the conviction that behind all this superficially meaningless nonsense great truths lay concealed. For such persons eccentric study has sometimes revealed hidden passages leading to the grandest imaginable realms of enlightenment. But till now, in all such cases, in accordance with the law of those schools, the neophyte no sooner forced his way into the region of mystery than he was bound over to the most inviolable secrecy as to everything connected with his entrance and further progress there. In Asia, in the same way, the chela, or pupil of occultism, no sooner became a chela than he ceased to be a witness on behalf of the reality of occult knowledge. I have been astonished to find, since my own connection with the subject, how numerous such chelas are. But it is impossible to imagine any human act more improbable than the unauthorized revelation by any such chela, to persons of the outer world, that he is one; and so the great esoteric school of philosophy successfully guards its seclusion. * It is however desirable to disabuse the reader of one conception in regard to the objects of adeptship that he very likely has formed. The development of those spiritual faculties, whose culture has to do with the highest objects of the occult life, gives rise as it progresses to a great deal of incidental knowledge, having to do with physical laws of Nature not yet generally understood. This knowledge, and the practical art of manipulating certain obscure forces of Nature, which it brings in its train, invest an adept, and even an adept’s pupils, at a comparatively early stage of their education, with very extraordinary powers, the application of which to matters of daily life will sometimes produce results that seem altogether miraculous; and from the ordinary point of view, the acquisition of apparently miraculous power is such a stupendous achievement, that people are sometimes apt to fancy that the adept’s object in seeking the knowledge he attains has been to invest himself with these coveted powers. It would be as reasonable to say of any great patriot of military history that his object in becoming a soldier has been to wear a gay uniform and impress the imagination of the nurse maids.”
“The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians”
What is known as “The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians” is an extensive body of esoteric teaching and occult lore which has been transmitted from Master to Student, from Hierophant to the new Initiate, for countless generations. Seldom has any part of the Secret Doctrine been committed to writing, or exposed to public view on the printed page, until the present generation. Previous to that time the little that was written, or printed, concerning this body of teachings was disguised in the vague terms of alchemy and astrology, so that the same would have one meaning to the average reader and another and closer meaning to those who possessed the key to the mystery. The frequent references in the ancient books to “sulphur,” “mercury,” and other chemical elements, and to “The Philosopher’s Stone,” etc., were all intended to indicate certain portions of the teachings of the Secret Doctrine to those who already possessed the key.
The Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians is believed by those best informed to have been built up gradually, carefully, and slowly, by the old occult masters and adepts, from the scattered fragments of the esoteric teachings which were treasured by the wise men of all races. The legend runs that these fragments of the Secret Doctrine were the scattered portions of the old esoteric teaching of ancient Atlantis—the bits of the great mass of the Atlantean occult teachings which were scattered in all directions by the great cataclysm which had destroyed that great continent. The few survivors of the Atlantean civilization carefully preserved these Fragments of Truth, and passed them on to their chosen students and capable descendants.
The old Masters who made it the object of their lives to gather together once more these scattered fragments, and to thus reconstruct the Occult Doctrine of the Atlanteans, found a portion of their material in Egypt, in India., in Persia, in Chaldea, in Medea, in China, in Assyria, and in Ancient Greece, and also in the mystic records of the Hebrews, such as the Kaballah and the Zohar. The common source, however, may be regarded as distinctly Oriental. The great philosophies of the East, in fact, may be said to have been built upon the base of these still more ancient teachings. Moreover, the great Grecian Secret Teachings are believed to have been based upon knowledge obtained from this same common source. So, at the last, the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians may be said to be the Secret Doctrine of Atlantis, transmitted through the descendants of the people of that great centre of occult knowledge.
The following quotation from a writer who, himself, has gathered together many bits of the ancient wisdom, may be interesting. Speaking of these ancient teachings he says: “The teaching has come down to the present age through the corridors of time, from the dim ages of past eras, races, and schools of thought. Even those highest in the ancient occult councils, however, are unable to trace the teachings, in an unbroken direct line, further back than the time of Pythagoras (about 500 B. C.), and a little later in Ancient Greece, although they find many references thereto, and extracts therefrom, in some of the older records of ancient Egypt and Chaldea, which serve to show that the schools of Pythagoras, and other ancient Grecian occultists, were founded on occult instruction still more remote, received in a direct line of succession of teachers and pupils extending over centuries. Investigators have found traces of the teachings in the records of Persia and Media, and it is believed that the inspiration for the original philosophical teachings of Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was received from the same sources. Traces are also found in the Hebrew Esoteric Teachings.”
The writer continues: “The Grecian Teachings were undoubtedly obtained directly from Egyptian sources, through Pythagoras, the relation between the early Grecian teachings and philosophies, and the older school of old Egypt, being very close and intimate. Pythagoras is known to have received instruction from Egyptian and Persian hierophants. There is to be found the closest resemblance between the ancient Grecian teachings, and those of the Egyptian Esoteric Fraternities. Some of the Teachers, however, hold that the Grecian and Egyptian schools, respectively, were but two separate offshoots of an original and older Teaching which had its origin in the lost continent of Atlantis. There are many traditions connecting the Teaching with Atlantis, and it is possible that both Greece and Egypt received it from this common source, instead of Greece being indebted to Egypt for the line of transmission. But, be this as it may, it is a fact that all of the traces of teaching that the various occultists gather from the traditions, scraps of doctrine, and legends regarding Atlantis, can be reconciled with the best esoteric and occult knowledge had by the race today. The fragments of the Egyptian Esoteric Teachings, many of which are still preserved in an undoubted direct line of succession, are practically identical, in fundamental and basis points, with the Grecian Occult Teachings. And, as has been said, the Persian, Medean, and Chaldean legends .and traditions, and scraps of teachings which have been preserved, show a common source or origin with those of Egypt and ancient Greece.”
The writer adds: “We are speaking now of the historical view of the subject, only. The occult traditions hold that the Teaching, in some form, is as old as the race itself, and has been known to the advanced minds of every great civilization of the past, many of which disappeared thousands of years ago, all traces of them having been lost to the present sub- race. The traditions hold that the Teaching was handed down from the Elder Brethren of the race—certain advanced souls who appeared in the earlier days, in order to plant the seeds of Truth, so that they would grow, blossom, and bear fruit throughout the ages to follow. We do not ask you to accept this statement—it is not material—for the Teaching bears evidences of its own Truth within itself, without needing the force of such high authority. The ancient tradition is mentioned merely that the student may know that the same is accepted as truth by many of the highest occult authorities and teachers.”
“The Seven Aphorisms of Creation”
In the present book, the writer has presented for the consideration of his readers “The Seven Aphorisms of Creation” of the Rosicrucians, which embody the fundamental principles of the Rosicrucian Secret Doctrine. He has also reproduced the leading Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians which relate to the Seven Aphorisms of Creation.
The student who will master the principles herein set forth will have brought himself to a plane of thought which will naturally tend to place him en rapport with the higher teachers of the Rosicrucians, and to render him subject to the offer of still higher information should he desire to proceed further into this great study. Let the student always remember the ancient axiom: “When the Pupil is ready, the Master appears.” But the Pupil is not “ready” until he has mastered the elementary instruction such as is given in the pages of this book.
It is not claimed, however, that in the pages of this book are given all the Secret Teachings of the Rosicrucians, such as their Formulas and Methods of Mental Alchemy, and Spiritual Transmutation. Such information cannot be cast broadcast, for reasons which will be apparent to every earnest and intelligent student. But, on the other hand, such information cannot be withheld from those who are ready to receive it, and who are moved by the proper motives in seeking to acquire the secret knowledge. When the student learns how to give “The Right Knock,” then will he find proven the old promise: “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
The Symbol of the Rosy Cross
The well-known Symbol of the Rosicrucians—”The Rosy Cross”—appears in several forms, as for instance: The Cross surmounted by the Rose; the Sword (the Cross handle) attached to the Rose; the Cross surmounted by the Crown; a modification of the Phallic Cross, etc. The explanation of the general Symbol is Sevenfold—the three highest being reserved for Initiates of a certain rank, only, and therefore cannot be stated here. Below follow several of the meanings which we are permitted to translate and explain here:
(1) The Cross Surmounted by the Rose, indicates that the “Rose” (the mystic symbol of the Divine) can be attained only by the suffering of mortal life (symbolized by the Cross).
Figure 2. The Symbol of The Rosy Cross. (Conventionalized)
(2) The Sword Attached to the Rose indicates that the Sword of the Spirit must be actively employed in the Battle of Life, in order to win the reward of the Rose (the Rose being the reward bestowed by the Queen upon the victorious Knight, in the olden days).
(3) The Cross Surmounted by the Crown, indicates that the suffering of mortal existence, borne by the faithful disciple of Truth, will inevitably be rewarded by the attainment of the Crown of Mastery. “Every Cross has its Crown”; and “No Cross, no Crown”; being old aphorisms seeking to express this truth.
(4) The Modified Phallic Cross, indicates the Sexual Duality of the Manifested Universe— the Presence and Activity of the Universal Male Principle and the Universal Female Principle, respectively. [The Modified Phallic Cross of the Rosicrucians, however, must not be taken to indicate any relationship of the Rosicrucians with the gross forms of Phallic Worship, however. The latter is merely the distorted shadow of the Truth, and must not be mistaken for the Reality.]
Concluding this introductory statement, and inviting you to enter into the study of the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, let us ask you to carefully consider the following words of an ancient aphorism: “The possession of Knowledge, unaccompanied by a manifestation and expression in Action, is like the hoarding of precious metals by the miser—a vain and foolish thing. Forget not The Law of Use, in this and all other things.”
Part 2. The Eternal Parent
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians we find the following Aphorism of Creation:
The First Aphorism
I. The Eternal Parent was wrapped in the Sleep of the Cosmic Night. Light there was not: for the Flame of Spirit was not yet rekindled. Time there was not: for Change had not re-begun. Things there were not: for Form had not re-presented itself. Action there was not: for there were no Things to act. The Pairs of Opposites there were not: for there were no Things to manifest Polarity. The Eternal Parent, causeless, indivisible, changeless, infinite, rested in unconscious, dreamless sleep. Other than the Eternal Parent there was Naught, either Real or Apparent.
In this First Aphorism of Creation the Rosicrucian student is directed to apply his attention to the concept of the Infinite Source of All Things—the Eternal Parent “from which all things proceed.” This Eternal Parent—the Infinite Unmanifest, is represented by the Rosicrucians by the symbol of a circle, having nothing outside of itself and nothing within itself.
The circle, however, must not be interpreted as conveying the idea of limitation; rather is it intended to convey the idea of limitlessness. The symbol, although the best possible for the purpose, is inadequate—this by reason of the impossibility of representing the Infinite by a finite symbol. The only adequate symbol of the Eternal Parent would be that of Infinite Space, and this, of course, cannot be represented by a sign, for no matter how wide the circle might be drawn there would always be Space beyond it. But, recognizing the impossibility of an adequate symbol, the ancient Rosicrucians have adopted the empty circle as the best possible finite symbol of the Infinite Unmanifest.
Figure 3. Symbol of the Infinite Unmanifest
The concept of Infinite Space has always been regarded by the Rosicrucians as the best possible concept with which to “think of” the Infinite Unmanifest, since the latter cannot be actually “thought” in consciousness as a Thing, and consciousness is capable of thinking only of Things. Strictly speaking, the Infinite Unmanifest is a “Nothing” rather than a “Thing”; and yet not such a “Nothing” as implies “not-ness” or “naught,” but rather such a “Nothing” as implies “The Possibility of Everything, yet without the limitations of Thingness.”
Infinite Space cannot be considered a “Thing,” for it has none of the characteristics of a “Thing.” And yet it cannot be denied actual existence and presence. Roughly speaking, it may be defined as “A No-Thing, containing within itself the possibility of infinite Thingness, or the infinite possibility of Things.” Infinite Space must be thought of as the Absolute Container of Everything, whether Manifest or Unmanifest—for outside of Infinite Space there is only Nothingness, or, more strictly speaking, there is no outside of Infinite Space.
Infinite Space, therefore, has always been the accepted occult and esoteric symbol by means of which men are able to “think of” the Infinite Unmanifest—the Eternal Parent, wrapped in the Sleep of the Cosmic Night. In one of the ancient occult catechisms, the question was asked: “What is that which ever has been, is now, and ever shall be, whether there be a Universe or not, and whether there be gods or not?” And the answer is: “Space!”
The strength of this symbol of Infinite Space, as indicating the Infinite Unmanifest, is perceived when the mind tries to think, or even imagine, the absence of Infinite Space— either as absent before its creation, or else as absent after its destruction. It will, of course, be discovered that the human mind, and the human imagination, finds it impossible to think of Space being absent in either event. The mind is compelled to think of Space as being Infinite, and as being Eternal, without regard to whatever else is held to be either present or absent at any time, past, present, or future. And at the same time, the mind finds that it is unable to define Space as a Thing—yet it dare not regard it as a Nothing or Naught. It is found that Infinite Space must be always thought of as necessarily eternally present, and yet ever free from the limitations of Things.
Moreover, as Infinite Space is invisible and beyond the other senses, it cannot be “known” or cognized as a Thing. Thought regarding it must always report “not this; not that” regarding it; and it answers to the ancient sage’s statement of Reality that: “The Essence of Being is without attributes, formless, devoid of distinctions, and unconditioned. It is different from that which we know, and from that which we do not know. Words and thought turn from it without finding it. The wise answer only by silence all questions concerning its nature. To all suggestions concerning its qualities, properties, and attributes, the wise simply answer: ‘neti, neti’—’not this, not that!’ Of THAT the wise assert simply ‘It IS.’” And as other ancient sages have said: “The imagination, the understanding, and abstract thinking will always strive in vain to represent the Infinite; for no form of finiteness (to which thought and speech also belong) can express the Infinite; nor can that which was timed express the Timeless and Eternal; nor can thought resultant from the chain of causation grasp the Causeless or Self- Existent.” So, in every way, and from every angle of view, we discover that the concept of Infinite Space is a noble and worthy symbol of THAT which we mean when we try to think of the Infinite Unmanifest—of the Essence of Being before Manifestation into Activity and Form.
The First Aphorism states that ”The Eternal Parent was wrapped in the Sleep of the Cosmic Night.”
In this sentence there is a reference to that teaching concerning the Cosmic Days and Nights, which under some of many names is found lying at the base of all esoteric teachings and occult philosophies. The highest human and superhuman intelligences have testified to the fact that Rhythm is abiding in, and manifest through, the Cosmos—from the tiniest point of Manifested Being to the Totality of Being, there is found to ever exist the presence and manifestation of Rhythm.
There is reported to us from the highest occult sources of information the fact that the ALL presents Itself alternately in great periods of Manifestation (called the Cosmic Days), followed by a like great period of Unmanifestation (called the Cosmic Nights). During the Cosmic Night the Eternal Parent exists as if wrapped in an unconscious and dreamless sleep, from which with the Dawn of the new Cosmic Day it awakens gradually into Manifestation. The Cosmic Day, in turn, gradually finds itself changing into a Twilight, which slowly but surely darkens into the Cosmic Night when all again is stilled and quiet. And so on, and on, and on, in infinite sequence and repetition—in infinite rhythm—the Cosmos presents this succession of Days and Nights: of Manifestation and Unmanifestation. And, so it has been forever and ever, and will continue forever and ever, without end, ceasing, or interruption. Such is the report of the wise and the illumined teachers of the race.
A great occult teacher has written of this teaching, as follows: “The Esoteric Doctrine teaches, like Buddhism and Brahmanism, and even the Kabala, that the one infinite and unknown Essence exists from all eternity, and in regular and harmonious successions is either passive or active. In the poetical phraseology of Manu these conditions are called the ‘Days’ and the ‘Nights’ of Brahma. The latter is either ‘awake’ or ‘asleep’ * Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine Essence from without inwardly, and from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion. In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine Essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone. The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed, and ‘darkness’ solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the ‘deep.’ To use a metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea more clearly, an out-breathing of the ‘unknown essence’ produces the world; and an inhalation causes it to disappear. This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no end.”
In this connection, the student of Herbert Spencer will find in the ancient occult doctrines and teachings an unsuspected firm basis for the teaching of his modern master. Spencer in his teaching of the universal presence and activity of Rhythm but echoes the old occult teachings on the subject. Note the following from the pen of the modern prophet of Evolution: “Apparently, the universally coexistent forces of attraction and repulsion which, as we have seen, necessitate rhythm in all minor changes throughout the universe, also necessitate rhythm in the totality of its changes—produce now an immeasurable period during which the attracting forces predominating, cause universal concentration, and then an immeasurable period, during which the repulsive forces predominating, cause universal diffusion—alternate eras of Evolution and Dissolution.”
The First Aphorism further states: ”Light there was not: for the Flame of Spirit was not yet rekindled.”
This is apt to prove a “hard saying” to those who, having the half-truth only, and not realizing the existence of the other half, have thought of Infinite Reality as being Spirit, of which the Flame is of course the occult and esoteric symbol. But the best ancient wisdom, as voiced by the most careful teachers, have ever taught those qualified to know the whole truth that not only back of Matter, but also back of Spirit, there abides an Eternal and Infinite Essence, which is neither Spirit nor Matter, but which is the unconditioned root and source of both Spirit and Matter. Light and Flame—the two universally recognized esoteric and occult symbols of Spirit—have back of them the “lightless and heatless” Essence of Light and Heat. The Infinite Reality is the Essence of the Spirit Light and Flame—not the Light and Flame itself. The student will be aided in. grasping this truth, if he will contemplate the flame of a lamp, a candle, a gas-flame, or any other kind of physical flame; he will perceive to be present, under and at the centre of the flame, a dark, transparent, “something” which is the “essence” from which the Flame itself proceeds, and upon which it draws for support and sustenance. In occult terminology the counterpart of this on the higher planes of Being is called “the Dark Flame”—it is the Essence of the Flame and Light, and not Flame or Light itself. As an ancient writer has said: “The Essence is the ‘spirit of the fire,’ and not Fire itself; therefore, the attributes of Fire, i.e., heat, flame, and light, are not the attributes of the Essence, but rather of the Fire of which the Essence is the Cause.”
Therefore, the Infinite Unmanifest—the sleeping Eternal Parent—must not be thought of by the student as being Spirit, in the sense of the latter term as commonly employed in our thought. Rather is it akin to Pure Space from which the Flame emerges, and in which it is contained. There is close reasoning and distinction here, which will become clear to the student as he proceeds, but which must be noted even now in passing.
The First Aphorism further states: ”Time there was not: for Change had not begun.”
Here, again, is expressed another “hard saying” for the student who has not grasped the true meaning of “Time.” Time, in the strict philosophical meaning of the term, does not
mean pure duration of existence—instead, it means “the measure of changing existence.” An enduring existence in which there is no change of form, activity, or degree, mental or physical, is Timeless. Time, in fact, is but the “measure of Change.” Without Change there can be no Time, in the true sense of the latter term. Pure Being manifests not Time. Time is the result of Becoming, or Change, and is always measured by change or becoming in something.
The following statement from a modern text book may serve to point to the difference between the conception of Pure Duration, and Time: “Pure Duration is conceived without regard to the motions of changes in things. Time on the contrary is the sensible measure of any portion of duration, often marked by particular phenomena, as the apparent revolution of the celestial bodies, the rotation of the earth on its axis, etc. Our conception of Time originates in that of motions; and particularly in those regular and equable motions carried on in the heavens, the parts of which, from their perfect similarity to each other, are correct measures of the continuous and successive quantity called Time, with which they are conceived to co-exist. Time, therefore, may be defined as, The perceived number of successive movements. Time, based upon the movements of the celestial bodies, or the earth, is frequently measured by instruments based upon such movements, such as watches, clocks, sun-dials, etc.”
We are also conscious of the passage of Time by changes in our mental states, our thoughts, our mental images, etc., both in the waking state or the state of dreams. Without changes in the outside world, represented to our consciousness by perceptions of such changes, or without changes in our mental states, Time would not exist for us. It thus follows that given an Eternal Changeless Reality, for whom and by whom no “outside world” has been or is manifested; and which is wrapped in an unconscious and dreamless sleep, such as is pictured in the First Aphorism; for such a Reality there could exist no Time—no Time would present itself—Timelessness would abide, until Change began once more.
Therefore, the student will perceive the necessary truth of the statement of the First Aphorism that for the Eternal Parent, wrapped in the Sleep of the Cosmic Night, “Time there was not: for Change had not begun.” It is impossible to hold otherwise, considering the nature of Time, and the absence of Change during the Cosmic Night of the Eternal Parent. The student will perceive that given Infinite Existence, and the absence of Change, then we must necessarily postulate Pure Duration, and the absence of Time. There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
The First Aphorism further states: ”Things there were not: for Form had not re-presented itself.”
Here, again, we are presented with an unescapable conviction. A “Thing” is “Whatever exists, or is conceived to exist, as a separate entity, and as a separable or distinguishable object of thought.” Every “Thing” must manifest “form.” “Form” is (1) the shape or structure of anything, as distinguished from the material of which it is composed, hence, the configuration or figure of anything; (2) the mode of acting or manifestation of anything to the senses, or to the intellect; (3) the assemblage of qualities constituting a conception, or the internal constitution making an existing thing what it is.”
Strictly speaking a “Thing” must be capable of being thought of or pictured as composed of qualities, attributes, or properties distinguishing it from other things; hence every “Thing” must manifest form in order to be so distinguished and perceived by the senses or by the intellect as a Thing. The Eternal Parent—the Infinite Unmanifest—cannot be held to manifest Form, or to display or present any particular quality, property, or attribute of Manifestation, when in its state of Unmanifestation. When the Eternal Parent takes upon itself the robes of Manifestation it proceeds to manifest the appearance of Things—these Things each displaying Form, and certain qualities, properties, or attributes which distinguish them from other manifested Things. It it axiomatic in metaphysics and philosophy that the Unmanifest cannot be thought of as possessing or manifesting (in its essential nature) any one set of qualities, properties, or attributes which appear later in its Manifestation of Things, as distinguished from the opposite set of qualities, properties, or attributes. And it cannot be thought of as possessing (in its essential nature) of both of the opposing sets of qualities, attributes, or properties, for “opposites cancel each other,” and “antinomies condition not.”
Instead of possessing qualities, properties, or attributes—or Form, in any of the meaning of that term—the Unmanifest must be regarded as possessing the “possibility of infinite manifestation of Form, qualities, properties, and attributes in its manifestations,” or “the infinite possibility of the manifestation of Form, qualities, properties, or attributes in its manifested Things.” The Infinite Un-manifest cannot be thought of as a Thing, either in itself, or by means of its symbol of Infinite Space. Rather, as an illumined occult master has expressed it, it must be regarded as “An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and
Immutable Principle, regarding which all speculation is impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and could only be dwarfed by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the range and reach of thought—it is unthinkable and unspeakable.”
In the period of the Cosmic Night, there being nothing present except the Infinite Unmanifest, therefore it is seen that, necessarily, “Things there were not: for Form had not re-presented itself.” There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
The First Aphorism further states: ”Action there was not: for there were no Things to act.”
This statement requires little or no explanation. There being no Things present, there were no Things to act. And all action of the Infinite must be through, by, or in Things. All action requires Change, and where there is no Change there can be no action. And yet, it must not be thought that the Infinite Unmanifest is powerless, for it possesses all Power; it must not be thought that it is motionless, for in itself it is Abstract Motion. Speaking in finite terms, it may be said that in its state of the Infinite Unmanifest the Eternal Parent dwells in a state of such infinite Motion that as compared with relative Motion it is in a state of Absolute Rest.
The First Aphorism further states: ”The Pairs of Opposites there were not: for there were no Things to manifest Polarity.”
As every student of philosophy knows, or should know, every Thing manifests a combination of qualities, properties, or attributes. Each quality, property, or attribute, is one of a Pair of Opposites—one Pole of the Two Poles of Qualities which are ever found present. Given one quality, property, or attribute of Thingness, it necessarily follows that there is in existence in other Things an Opposite, or “Other Pole”—its antithesis. There is no exception to this rule, and though the Opposite may at first appear to be absent, diligent search will surely reveal it, and its necessary existence must be logically predicated.
Thus we have the following familiar Opposites: Hard and Soft, Hot and Cold, Large and Small, Far and Near, Up and Down, Day and Night, Light and Darkness, Long and Short, etc. Even where our language fails to supply a definite term for the Opposite of a discovered quality, property, or attribute, the Opposite may be expressed by prefixing the term “Not” to the observed quality, property, or attribute.
Some thinkers have sought to imply that the term “Infinite” implies a quality, property, or attribute which was the opposite of Finite, but this is merely a play upon words. The word “Infinite” implies simply an absence of limitations, bounds, or form, and does not indicate
any limit, bound, or form no matter how extended. It is impossible to form a mental image of The Infinite Unmanifest, or to attach Thingness or Form, or quality, property, or attribute of any kind to it—hence the term “Infinity” is not a true Opposite. It is only when Manifestation begins that the Pairs of Opposites or Polarity put in an appearance.
The Infinite Unmanifest possesses the possibility of an infinity of manifestations, all objects of which manifestation must exhibit one or the other of any given set of qualities, properties, or attributes. But to the Infinite Unmanifest itself—the Eternal Parent, in its essence—there can be no Polarity or presence of any one set of Pairs of Opposites.
Here, as elsewhere, the student is directed to think of the Infinite Unmanifest by means of its symbol of Infinite Space, whenever he wishes to test any of the statements of the First Aphorism.
The First Aphorism finally states: ”The Eternal Parent, causeless, indivisible, changeless, infinite, rested in unconscious, dreamless, sleep. Other than the Eternal Parent there was Naught, either Real or Apparent.”
That the Eternal Parent is Causeless is a self-evident fact, for there is nothing which could have caused the Eternal and Original Being, from which all Manifestation proceeds. That which is Eternal must, of necessity, be Causeless. That which is Infinite, can have no Other which could have caused it. And it could not have been caused from or by Nothing, for “from Nothing, nothing comes.”
That the Eternal Parent is Indivisible is likewise self-evident, for anything that can be divided or separated into parts or particles, must in the first place be originally composed of parts or particles. And anything that is composed of parts or particles must be merely a Composition, an Aggregate, a Collection, or Crowd of such parts and particles, and, therefore, not a Real Entity or Unity at all. Moreover, that which is Infinite cannot become divided or separated into parts or particles without losing its essential Infinity—a divided Infinite is no Infinite at all, but merely a Collection or Crowd of Finite Things. Absolute Indivisibility must be predicated of True Unity and Infinite Being. There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
That the Eternal Parent is incapable of Essential Change is likewise self-evident, for though It may manifest an infinity of change, nevertheless it must always remain essentially Itself, and never anything else but Itself. Moreover, not being composed essentially of qualities, properties, or attributes, it cannot undergo the change which comes from the shifting of the poles of the Opposites. And not having Form, it cannot experience the change which arises from Change of Form. Absolute Immutability must be predicated of the Eternal Parent. There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
That the Eternal Parent is Infinite is likewise self-evident. It must be Infinite, for there is nothing else by which it may be limited, defined, bounded, caused, influenced, or affected. That which is Absolute and Original, Ultimate and Elementary, can have no binding or limiting conditions or Things. Absolute Infiniteness must be predicated of the Eternal Parent. There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
That the Eternal Parent rested in “Unconscious, dreamless sleep” is held by all advanced metaphysicians and philosophers to be a logical necessity, if we are to postulate the existence of a period or state of Unmanifestation. For, as all psychologists and philosophers know, consciousness (even in the form of dreams) is impossible without Change. A changeless state of consciousness can only be expressed as Unconsciousness. And yet, the student must not fall into the error of believing that this Infinite Unconsciousness implies “inferiority to consciousness”; for rather does it imply a state of “rising above” ordinary consciousness—a state of Infinite Super-Consciousness—a state of transcending consciousness, in which there is ever present the “possibility of consciousness” without the exercise thereof. Ordinary consciousness is a descent from this state of Unconsciousness, not an ascent. This distinction is important, and must not be lost sight of by the student.
As we shall presently discover, when Manifestation begins to dawn into appearance, then, and then only, the Eternal Parent may be said to begin to “dream”—to dream of an infinity of universes, succeeding each other in rhythmic sequence. And only when the Eternal Parent shall awaken fully from the dream, into the bright noon-tide of infinite self-consciousness, may It be thought of as being fully “awake” and conscious. These facts will unfold themselves as we proceed with the consideration of the Aphorisms.
“Other than the Eternal Parent there was Naught, either Real or Apparent.” Here, again, we have a self-evident truth. There can have been no other Real being—no “other” to the Infinite and Absolute Reality—for the predicate of Infinity and Absoluteness carries with it the implicit predicate of Aloneness, Oneness, and Uniqueness. There can be no “other” Real being to Infinite Reality. And, in the absence of Manifestation, there can have been no Apparent (i.e., manifested or “created” Thing or Things) Thing in existence in the period of the Infinite Unmanifestation. There is no logical escape from this conclusion.
Finally, the student is once more bidden to fall back upon the symbol of Infinite Space, in this consideration of the Infinite Unmanifest, whenever he finds it difficult, or almost impossible, to conceive of the truth of the statements contained in the First Aphorism as concerned with the Eternal Parent in the state of the Infinite Unmanifest, in the Cosmic Night. The symbol will be found perfectly adequate in order to permit one to “think of the Infinite Un-manifest,” although, of course, it is impossible to paint a mental picture of either symbol or the reality which it represents.
Edgar Allen Poe has well said of the thought and concept of “The Infinite,” and similar efforts of the human mind to think of the unthinkable: “This merest of words, and some other expressions of which the equivalents exist in nearly all languages, is by no means the expression of an idea, but of an effort of one. It stands for the possible attempt at an impossible conception. Man needed a term by which to point out the direction of this effort— the cloud behind which lay, forever invisible, the object of this attempt. A word, in fine, was demanded by means of which one human being might put himself in relation at once with another human being and with a certain tendency of the human intellect. Out of this arose this term, which is thus the representative but of the thought of a thought. The fact is that, upon the enunciation of any one of that class of terms to which this belongs,—the class representing thoughts of thought, he who has a right to say that he thinks at all feels himself called upon not to entertain a conception, but simply to direct his mental vision toward some given point in the intellectual firmament where lies a nebula never to be solved. To solve it, indeed, he makes no effort, for with a rapid instinct he comprehends, not only the impossibility, but as regards all human purposes, the inessentiality of its solution. He sees at once how it lies out of the brain of man, and even how, if not exactly why, it lies out of it.”
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, therefore, there is no attempt made to define the Essence of the Eternal Parent—in fact, it is held, in the spirit of Spinoza’s celebrated aphorism, that “To define The Infinite is to deny The Infinite.” In refusing to ascribe the finite qualities, properties, and attributes of Personality to the Eternal Parent, the Rosicrucians do not mean to imply that The Infinite Reality is below the plane of Personality, but rather that it is so immeasurably above that plane, and so infinitely transcends all Personality, that it is childish to think or speak of it in the terms of Personality.
It has been held by eminent thinkers that even the finite intelligence of man is capable of conceiving of a state of intelligence as much higher than that of the most intelligent man as the latter is higher than that of the black beetle. This being so, it can readily be seen that such a Power, to which the manifestation of such a superlative degree of intelligence being is but a bagatelle effort of power, is, and must be, in its essential nature so infinitely above the plane of human personality that it is practically an insult to think of it in the terms of Personality.
As has been frequently stated in this consideration of the First Aphorism, the state of Being of the Infinite and Absolute Reality—the Eternal Parent—during this state of the Infinite Unmanifest cannot be expressed in words, for it is beyond words. It can be thought of only symbolically—by means of Its only possible symbol, i.e., that of Infinite Space. Even symbolized, it can be thought of only in terms of negation; for being in the state of Absolute Being (which as Hegel says is practically identical with Non-Being, when the term “Being” is used in the sense of finite, conditioned, and qualified Being), it cannot be thought of as possessing any of the qualities, attributes, or properties of Thingness. Therefore, its state of Being can be suggested only by using the terms implying the negation of all those qualities, properties, and attributes which men ascribe to Things—even to those Things which they feel rather than conceive, and which represent even the remotest limits of their mentative efforts.
Edwin Arnold, in his beautiful poem “The Light of Asia,” has well expressed the Buddhistic conception of this “beyond-thoughtness” of the Essence of the Infinite Reality, in the following words:
“Om Amataya! Measure not with words the Immeasurable; Nor sink the string of thought into the Fathomless.Who asks does err; who answers, errs; say naught!Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes?
Or any searcher know with mortal mind? Veil after veil will lift—but there must be Veil upon veil behind!”
And, so, the Rosicrucians regard the fact of the Infinite Ummanifest—the Absolute Essence—only under the symbol of the Infinite Sea of Pure Space, resting in a state of Absolute Calm and Absolute Transparency through which the mortal eye gazes and seems to see but NOTHING: but which the Illumined Intuition knowness to be Allness instead of Nothingness—Absolute and Infinite Being instead of Nothingness—Infinite Life, instead of Death!
Though it cannot be perceived by mortal sense, and though it transcends the highest effort of both intellect and imagination to conceive or picture, yet the highest reports of Pure Reason inform us that it must be present, and the highest reports of Intuitive Faith render it impossible to doubt its all-presence and reality. To the ignorant and the half-wise, this symbol may seem to indicate Nothing: but to the illumined and truly wise, it is seen to represent Absolute ALLNESS of Reality. Gaze ye, then, upon this symbol of Infinite Space with awe, for it represents our highest (though feeble) efforts at expressing the nature of the Infinite Essence of Being!
Part 3. The Soul Of The World
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians we find the following Second Aphorism:
The Second Aphorism
II. The Germ within the Cosmic Egg takes unto itself Form. The Flame is re-kindled. Time begins. A Thing exists. Action begins. The Pairs of Opposites spring into being. The World Soul is born, and awakens into manifestation. The first rays of the new Cosmic Day break over the horizon.
In this Second Aphorism of Creation the Rosicrucian is directed to apply his attention to the concept of the World Soul—the First Manifestation of the Eternal Parent. This World Soul— the First Manifestation—is represented by the Rosicrucians by the symbol of a circle containing at its centre a black dot or point. The circle, of course, represents the Infinite Unmanifest, and the black dot or point represents the Focal Point of the new Manifestation— the “Germ within the Cosmic Egg,” as the old occultists poetically expressed the idea.
The Rosicrucian concept of the World Soul—the First Manifestation—corresponds to similar conceptions found, in various forms, in most of the ancient occult teachings of the several great esoteric schools of philosophy. In some philosophies it is known as the “Anima Mundi,” or Life of the World, Soul of the World, or World Spirit. In others it is known as the Logos, or Word. In others, as the Demiurge. The spirit of the concept is this: that from the unconditioned essence of Infinite Unmanifestation there arose an Elemental and Universal Soul, clothed in the garments of the most tenuous, elemental form of Matter, which contained within itself the potency and latent possibility of all the future universes of the new Cosmic Circle, or Cosmic Day. This World Soul is spoken of in the Second Aphorism as “The Germ within the Cosmic Egg,” inasmuch as it is regarded as the tiny germ within the egg which gradually increases in size and complexity, and takes upon itself Form and Activity.
Figure 4. Symbol of the New-Born World Soul ("The Germ within the Egg")
The symbol of the Cosmic Egg, of which the World Soul is the Animating Germ, is a very old one, and one widely spread in usage in the ancient world. As a prominent occultist has said: “Whence this universal symbol? The Egg was incorporated as a sacred sign in the cosmogony of every people on the earth, and was revered both on account of its form and its inner mystery. From the earliest mental conceptions of man, it was known as that which represented most successfully the Origin and Secret of Being. The gradual development of the imperceptible Germ within the closed shell; the inward working, without any apparent outward interference of force, which from a latent nothing produced an active something, needing nought save heat; and which, having gradually evolved into a concrete, living creature, broke its shell, appearing to the outward senses of all a self-generated, and self- created being—must have been a standing miracle from the beginning.
“The secret teaching explains the reason for this reference by the symbolism of the prehistoric races. The ‘First Cause’ had no name in the beginnings. Later, it was pictured in the fancy of the thinkers as an ever invisible Bird that dropped an Egg into Chaos, which Egg became the Universe. Hence, Brahm was called ‘Kalahansa,’ the Swan of Eternity which laid at the beginning of each Mahamanvantara a ‘Golden Egg.’ It typifies the great Circle, or O, itself a symbol for the universe and its spherical bodies. * The first manifestation of the Kosmos in the form of an egg was the most widely diffused belief of antiquity. It was a symbol adopted among the Greeks, the Syrians, Persians, and Egyptians. In the Egyptian Ritual, Seb, the god of Time and of the Earth, is spoken of as having laid an egg, or the
Universe. Ra is shown like Brahma gestating in the Egg of the Universe. With the Greeks the Orphic Egg was a part of the Dionysiac and other mysteries, during which the Mundane Egg was consecrated and its significance explained. The Christians—especially the Greek and Latin Churches—have fully adopted this symbol, and see in it a commemoration of life eternal, or salvation and resurrection. This is found in and corroborated by the custom of ‘Easter Eggs.’ From the ‘Egg’ of the pagan Druids, to the red Easter Egg of the Slav, a cycle has passed. And, yet, whether in civilized Europe, or among the abject savages of Central America, we find the same archaic, primitive thought; if we only search for it and do not disfigure—in the haughtiness of our fancied mental and physical superiority—the original idea of the symbol.”
The concept of the World Soul, in some form of interpretation and under some one of many names, may be said to be practically universal. Among many of the ancient schools of philosophy it was taught that there was an Anima Mundi, or World Soul, of which all the individual souls were but apparently separated (though not actually separated) units. The conviction that Life was One is expressed through nearly all of the best of ancient philosophies; and, in fact, in subtly disguised forms, may be said to rest at the base of the best of modern philosophies.
In the philosophical concept of the Logos, we find another, and more advanced, form of this same fundamental concept. The term, Logos, first became prominent in the philosophy of Heraclitus of Ephesus, where it appears as the Law of Nature, objective in the world, giving order and regularity to the movement of things. The Logos formed an important part of the Stoic System of Philosophy. The Active Principle, abiding in the world, they called the Logos, the term being likewise applied to the Universal Productive Cause. An authority on the history of philosophy has said of the concept of the Logos: “The Logos, a being intermediate between God and the World, is diffused through the world of the senses. The Logos does not exist from Eternity like God, and yet its genesis is not like our own and that of all other created beings. It is the First-Begotten of God, and is for us imperfect beings almost as a God. Through the agency of the Logos, God created the World.”
In the philosophical concept of the Demiurge, we find another form of the same fundamental concept. The Demiurge was the name given by the Platonian philosophers to an exalted and mysterious agent by whom God was supposed to have created the universe. He was akin to the Nature-God of the Pantheists, and to the “Living Nature” of other schools of philosophy. The Demiurge was the Life of the World, or Universal Life, of which all the innumerable lives of finite creatures are but sparks in the flame or drops of water in the ocean. And, yet, in its true sense, the concept of the Demiurge was not identified with that of God, but was rather a concept of the First Great Manifestation of God, by means of which He creates and sustains the World.
The idea of a Universal Will, a primal manifestation of God, existing at the Heart of Nature, and operating to build up and sustain the Universe, is found in many modern philosophies. Cudsworth, the English philosopher has sought to indicate this conception in his idea of “Plastic Nature,” of which he says: “It seems not so agreeable that Nature, as a distinct thing from the Deity, should be quite superseded or made to signifying nothing, God Himself doing all things immediately and miraculously; from whence it would follow also that they are all done either forcibly and violently, or else artificially only, and none of them by any inward principle of their own. This opinion is further confuted by that slow and gradual process that in the generation of things, which would seem to be but a vain and idle pomp or a trifling formality if the moving power were omnipotent; as also by those errors and bungles which are committed where the matter is inept and contumacious; which argue that the moving power be not irresistible, and that Nature is such a thing as is not altogether incapable (as well as human art) of being sometimes frustrated and disappointed by the indisposition of matter. Whereas an omnipotent moving power, as it could dispatch its work in a moment, so would it always do it infallibly and irresistibly, no ineptitude and stubbornness of matter being ever able to hinder such a one, or make him bungle or fumble in anything.
“Therefore, since neither all things are produced fortuitously, or by the unguided mechanism of matter, nor God himself may be reasonably thought to do all things immediately and miraculously, it may well be concluded that there is a Plastic Nature under him, which, as an inferior end subordinate instrument, doth drudgingly execute that part of his providence which consists in the regular and orderly motion of matter; yet so as there is also besides this a higher providence to be acknowledged, which, presiding over it, doth often supply the defects of it, and sometimes overrules it, forasmuch as the Plastic Nature cannot act electively nor with discretion.”
Other schools of philosophy, notably that founded by Schopenhauer, have postulated the presence of a Universal Spirit (whose chief attribute is Desire-Will) from whom the universe of creatures has proceeded. This Universal Spirit is held to be filled with a longing, craving, seeking, striving desire to express itself in phenomenal existence. Schopenhauer calls it “The Will to Live.” It is described as instinctive rather than intellectual, and as creating intellect with which to better serve its purposes of self-expression. Other philosophers have proceeded along the main lines of the concept of Schopenhauer, with various modifications. The same idea is expressed by some of the old Buddhistic philosophers, the very term “The Will-to- Live” being used to express the essential nature of the Universal Spirit. But, it must be noted, in such philosophies the Universal Spirit is considered rather as the Eternal Parent than as its First Manifestation. In the same way a certain school of thinkers postulate the existence of a “Living Nature,” which expresses itself in innumerable living creatures and things—all Things in the universe being held to possess Life in some form and degree, as, indeed, the Rosicrucian creatures also hold.
But it must be always noted that in the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians the World Soul is not regarded as the Infinite Reality, but merely as the First Manifestation thereof, from which all subsequent manifestations proceed and into which they are finally resolved. The World Soul is not Eternal, but, on the contrary, appears and disappears according to the rhythm of the Cosmic Nights and Days.
The Second Aphorism states: “The Flame is rekindled.” The Dark Light once more bursts into Flame throughout the form of the World Soul, and the new Universe begins.
It also states: “Time begins.” This is seen to be true because Change has begun, and Change is the essence of Time, and Time the measure of Change.
Again: “A Thing exists.” This because the World Soul is truly a Thing, with all the characteristics of Thingness. It can be defined and described in positive terms; it can be thought of logically and in terms of intellect, though perhaps not capable of being pictured in the imagination.
Again: “Action begins.” This because from the very inception of the Germ in the Cosmic Egg there is the manifestation of Activity, Motion, and Change. The World Soul is in constant and uninterrupted activity from the moment of its faintest dawn until the moment of its expiring quiver.
Again: “The Pairs of Opposites spring into being.” As all Thingness is accompanied by the presence of the Pairs of Opposites—the contrasting sets of qualities, it follows that from the first faint breath of the World Spirit differentiation begins, and the polarity of qualities exhibit themselves.
Again: “The World Soul is born, and awakens into manifestation.” The World Soul awakens into active manifestation from the very moment of its birth. Finding within itself the impelling urge of the Will-to-Live and of Expression, it proceeds at once, along the lines of elementary Instinct to prepare for manifestation of higher and more complex forms of life and action.
Again: “The first rays of the new Cosmic Day break over the horizon.” With the coming of the World Soul the new Cosmic Day is indeed begun, and proceeds without interruption until the shades of the Cosmic Night once more overtake it in cyclic sequence.
The Rosicrucian Teaching is that the World Soul is not a soul lacking a body, but that, on the contrary, it is clothed in the garments of the most tenuous and ethereal substance—a substance as much finer and more ethereal than the Ether of Space, of the material scientists, as the latter is much finer and more ethereal than the hardest steel or granite. From this ethereal substance the World Soul weaves bodies for its manifestations, even the densest forms of matter—and even the tenuous bodily form of the highest forms of life, far removed from our comparatively gross earth-plane.
The Rosicrucians further hold that it is not correct to think of the World Soul as having been created “out of nothing” by the Eternal Parent, and still less so think of it having been created from the substantial essence of the Eternal Parent by division, separation, or partition (such ideas being held to be logically impossible and fallacious). On the contrary, it is held that the World Soul exists as an IDEA of the Eternal Parent—just as, in a day dream, or a reverie, or a full dream, we may picture a Thing as in being. Or in other terms, even the World Soul exists merely as a PICTURE in the Infinite Imagination of the Eternal Parent, and at the last is but a SHADOW of Reality, and not Reality itself.
The World Soul, at the Dawn of the Cosmic Day, may be said to be like a dreamer freshly awakened from a deep sleep, and striving to regain consciousness of himself. It does not know what it is, nor does it know that it is but an Idea of the Eternal Parent. If it could express its thought in words it would say that it has always been, but had been asleep before that moment. It feels within itself the urge toward expression and manifestation, along unconscious and instinctive lines—this urge being a part of its nature and character and implanted into it by the content of the Idea of the Eternal Parent which brought it into being. Like the newborn babe, it struggles for breath and begins to move its limbs. And as it struggles and moves, there comes to it a response from all of its nature, and its active life begins. And here we leave the World Soul, for the moment, struggling for breath and striving to move its limbs (figuratively speaking, of course). Its future is related in the succeeding Aphorisms.
Part 4. The Universal Androgyne
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, we find the following Third Aphorism:
The Third Aphorism
III. The One became Two. The Neuter became Bi-Sexual. Male and Female—the Two in One—evolved from the Neuter. And the work of Generation began.
In this Third Aphorism of Creation the Rosicrucian is directed to apply his attention to the conception of the World Soul—the First Manifestation of the Eternal Parent—as a Bi-sexual Universal Being. This Bi-Sexual. Universal Being, combining within itself the elements and principles of both Masculinity and Femininity, is known in the Rosicrucian Teachings as “The Universal Hermaphrodite,” and “The Universal Androgyne.”
The term “Hermaphrodite” is defined as: “An individual which has the attributes of both Male and Female.” The term is derived by joining together the two names, viz., Hermes and Aphrodite. The term came into ancient use through the legend of Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who, while bathing, became joined in one body with the nymph Salmacis. The term “Androgyne” is defined as: “An individual possessing the attributes of both Male and Female; a Hermaphrodite.” The term is derived from the combination of two Greek words, viz., “Andros,” meaning “a man,” and “Gyne,” meaning “a woman.”
The conception of the Bi-Sexuality in the Universal Manifestation, or Universal Being, is one met with on all sides in the ancient esoteric and occult philosophies in all lands. In ancient Greece, in Ancient India, and in Ancient Atlantis, Persia, and Chaldea the doctrine formed an important part of the Inner Teachings.
Figure 5. Symbol of the Universal Androgyne
In its highest forms, this teaching lay at the very heart of the Ancient Mysteries, and resulted in the very highest and noblest conception of the dignity and worthiness of Sex. But prostituted by the vulgar popular mind, encouraged by a debased priesthood, the same teachings were inverted and made to serve as the basis of the various degenerate phase of Phallic Worship, the traces of which are found on every page of ancient philosophical or religious history. The Rosicrucians have never countenanced even the slight descent into Phallicism, but, on the contrary have kept alive the Flame of the True Teaching, and have used its particular symbol as the distinctive symbolic name and emblem of the Order.
Figure 6. Symbol of the Phallic Cross
In order to understand the symbology of the Universal Androgyne, it is necessary to first become familiar with the two ancient symbols of Sex. In all the ancient philosophies and religions, we find that the “Cross” (+) is the symbol of the Male; and the “Circle” (O) the symbol of the Female. In representing the Bisexual, the Hermaphrodite, the Androgyne, the two symbols, i.e. the Cross and the Circle are combined in one of several ways. The original way was that of placing the Cross within the circumference of the Circle; but later usage preferred the various forms of the so-called “Phallic Cross,” which consists of the Circle, or Oval, sustaining the Cross which depends downward from it. (See illustrations.) Sometimes the Cross is represented as the letter “T”, and the Circle as the letter “O”.
Figure 7. Symbol of the Swastica
The well-known esoteric symbol, the “Swastica” (see illustration) consists of a modified Cross, conceived as a “whirling wheel” (something like the familiar spinning “pin wheel” of the boys’ fireworks.) The whirling Cross of the Swastica, when seen in rapid motion, presents the appearance of a Circle enclosing a Cross.
This symbol of the “Circle enclosing the Cross” is one particularly sacred to the Rosicrucians, since to them it represents the Universal Activity and Universal Creation, symbolizing the Great Mystery of Occult Generation on all planes of Life. In the fanciful symbology of the ancient Rosicrucian Brotherhoods, the Circle was transformed into theRose, and the Cross sometimes transformed into the Sword with its Cross-like handle. The sign, then, of the Cross (or Sword) combined with the Circle (or Rose), symbolized the Mystic Union of the Rose and the Cross, from whence arose the name of the Order, i.e. Rosi- Crucian, meaning “Rose-Cross.”
The Third Aphorism states: ”The One became Two. The Neuter became Bi-Sexual. Male and Female—the Two in One—evolved from the Neuter. And the Work of Creation began.”
In this Aphorism there is given the “hint” at the very important teaching of the Rosicrucians concerning the Universal Sex Principles in Nature—the presence and activity of the Sexual Pairs of Opposites, Male and Female, which constitute the Secret of Creation. According to the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, there are present in All-Creation the activities of a Male Principle and a Female Principle, both Universal in Nature, Character and Extent—both Opposing Aspects of the World Soul—which act and react, one upon the other, and thus produce all Creative Activity and the “Cosmic Becoming” or Universal Activity and Change. And the teachings also are that these Two Sex Principles operate and manifest upon every plane of Life, from the Sub-Mineral, on to the Mineral, on to the Plant, on to the Animal, on to the Human, or to the Super-Human, on to the Angelic or God-like. And, likewise, that in every Thing in Creation there is present and manifest the activity of Sex.
The above statement of the Universality of Sex may seem somewhat surprising to the person who has not acquainted himself, or herself, with the Ancient Wisdom of the Esoteric Schools; or who is not familiar with the daring conceptions of advanced modern science. But to that one who has mastered the ancient wisdom-teachings, and who has likewise become acquainted with the best of modern advanced scientific thought, there will seem nothing strange about these statements. The ancient teachings taught positively that there was present and active Sex in all Manifested Creation; and Modern Science is beginning to teach that the evidence of the presence of Sex in every Thing is conclusive.
The ancient teachings, which were later embodied in the early Rosicrucian teachings, held that in order that there might be Becoming, Change, or Creation, there must be Re-action following Action—the play of one force on another. And the best teachings of the ancients were that these two opposing forces in Nature were Masculine, and Feminine, respectively— dual aspects of the Universal Being. And Modern Science is fast coming to recognize and teach the same great truth.
The best teachings of modern science is that there is a stimulating or fertilizing activity in nature which acts upon a generative force, the latter reacting upon the former. And, at the other end of the material scale, we find the teaching that the atom (once supposed to be the ultimate form of matter) is now discovered to be composed of a multitude of electrons, corpuscles, or ions (different names for the same thing) revolving around each other at a tremendous rate of motion. It was formerly supposed that the electrons simply revolved one around another, and that all were alike in character and nature; but the later discoveries show that the formation of the atom is due rather to the action of numerous circling positive (or “male”) electrons around a central negative (or “female”) electron, the positive (or “male”) electrons seemingly exerting a peculiar effect upon the negative (or “female”) electron, causing her to put forth certain energies which result in the “generation” of the atomic structure.
This is in perfect accordance with the old Rosicrucian doctrine that the “positive” pole of magnetism and electricity (for both were well known to the ancient alchemists) was “masculine,” and that the “negative” pole of the same was “feminine.” But, unfortunately, the terms “positive” and “negative,” respectively are used with the wrong implication and much confusion results therefrom. For instance, the term “positive” is used to indicate strength and reality, as opposed to weaknesses and unreality of the “negative.” But the real facts of physical science show us the falsity of such an interpretation of these terms. The so-called “negative” pole of the battery is really the pole of generation or the production of new forms and energies—the best authorities now prefer to use the term “the cathode pole” in place of “the negative;” the word “cathode” being derived from the Greek word meaning “descent; the path of generation,” etc. From the “cathode” pole of the battery emerge the great swarms of electrons, ions, or corpuscles; and from the same pole also emerge the wonderful “rays” which have played such an important part in modern physics. The “cathode” pole of the battery is the Mother of all that strange brood of new forms of matter which have appeared to confute the old materialistic theories, and to destroy the old conceptions of science. The “cathode” pole should, in reality and truth, be called the “female” pole; and the “positive” the “male,” for such terms truly represent their true respective offices.
Modern science also teaches that the electrons which are “composed of negative (female) electricity,” frequently becomes detached from its male companion corpuscles, and starts on an independent career. It seeks a union with a masculine corpuscle, and gaining it a new set of creative activity is begun. When the female corpuscle unites with the new masculine one a strange phenomenon occurs; the corpuscles began vibrating and circling around each other, and the result is the birth of a new atom in which is combined the masculine and feminine energies in some particular proportion. The atom, thus formed, does not manifest the properties of free electricity but manifests an entirely new set of properties. The process of detachment of the feminine electrons is called “ionization;” and arising from such detachments and the formation of new unions result the varied phenomena of heat, light, electricity, magnetism, etc.
In the same way, the varied phenomena of “chemical attraction” and “chemical affinity” arise from the manifestation of Sex on the atomic plane, though science has not as yet perceived this to be the truth. Science teaches that there are “marriages, divorces, and re-marriages” among the atoms, but it hesitates to go further and assert that this is a part of the universal Sex manifestation—but this announcement must come in time for the evidence is overwhelmingly convincing. The explosive properties of certain substances really result from a “divorce” of the atomic and molecular parties—the detachment of the male and female particles under the influence of a stronger attraction; and the formation of the different substances result from the attractive unions of certain male and female elements of matter. Alchemy has always known this to be a fact; it remains for modern science to corroborate and reaffirm the “vagaries” of the old alchemists regarding this important fact of nature.
It has always been admitted by science that there was Sex manifest in plant-life as well as by animal-life, but the mineral-life was not given the benefit of the manifestation of the universal principle of Sex. But recent discoveries have forced upon scientists the fact that in the crystallization of minerals there is an unmistakable evidence of the presence and activity of Sex, and in the near future it will be found that all the other changes in minerals are the result of Sex-attraction or repulsion. And, as we shall see in a subsequent chapter of this book, there is present the activity of Sex on the mental planes of life.
In short, on each and every plane of Life, physical, mental, or spiritual there is found present and active the Universal Principle of Sex, in some of its phases and forms. Sex cannot be
escaped in Nature—the Universe is Bi-Sexual, and all Creation, on every plane, is caused by Sex and Sex only. A full understanding of this important fact would revolutionize the conceptions of modern science, and render practicable many important ideas which now exist merely as dreams in the minds of the advanced scientists. To those who cannot see this plainly, we would say: It is admitted that all physical and mental phenomena depend for activity upon the Law of Attraction. When it is discovered that the law of Attraction proceeds along the lines of Sex, and Sex alone, then it is seen that all activity is Sex-Activity.
Had the World-Soul remained Neuter, there would have been no Universal Manifestation or Creation. It was necessary that the Principle of Sex should appear, in order that Creation should begin. It is only by the constant and continuous action and reaction of the Two Sex Principles in Nature that Creation, Process, Becoming, and Change is possible—and as all Things are but the products of Change, Process, Becoming, and Creation, it follows that without Sex there would have been to Things in the Universe—and in that even the World Soul would have abided apart, alone, and single until the end of its days. With the introduction of Sex came the beginning of Generation and Creation, under which the One became the Many and Sameness became Variety and Diversity. The ancient teachings furnish the only logical explanation of Creation. The One becomes the Two, and from the Two proceed the Many.
Part 5. The One And The Many
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, we find the following Fourth Aphorism:
The Fourth Aphorism
IV. The One becomes Many. The Unity becomes Diversity. The Identical becomes Variety. Yet the Many remains One; the Diversity remains Unity; and the Variety remains Identical.
In this Fourth Aphorism of Creation, the Rosicrucian is directed to apply his attention to the concept of the World Soul—the First Manifestation of the Eternal Parent—as a One Manifesting as Many; a Unity manifesting as Diversity; an Identical manifesting as Variety: yet, notwithstanding such manifestations, remaining ever One, Unity, and Identical.
This concept of the World Soul, so manifesting itself in Manifoldness, Diversity, and Variety, yet ever remaining One, Unity, and Identical, is represented by the Rosicrucians by the symbol of a small circle within a larger circle, the smaller circles being filled with tiny points or centres of manifestation. The outer circle is, of course, the Infinite Unmanifest; the smaller circle, of course, being the World Soul; and the small dots, or points, being the individualized centres of life, being, and activity manifested by the World Soul.
That all beings are, in truth, but expressions of the One Being—centres of consciousness, form, and activity within itself,—is a fundamental tenet of all occult and esoteric teaching. That all Being is One; all Life, One; all Form, One; all Consciousness, One, is known to all true disciples of the occult and esoteric teachings of the past and present, occidental and oriental, philosophical and theological. Hidden behind and under the orthodox, exoteric teachings, there is always to be found this insistence upon Essential Oneness on the part of the Inner Teachings of all schools.
Figure 8. Symbol of the Many in the One
That there is but One Life, and not Many Lives, is a fundamental article of all occult and esoteric faith. The One Life, moreover, is not to be thought of as dividing and splitting itself up into bits, parts, and particles, in order to accomplish the process of Creation, and the Manifestation of the World. Instead, it is to be thought of as merely reflecting itself in the many individual mirrors of expression, just as the sun reflects itself as One in the millions of falling raindrops, or in a million tiny jars filled with water. There are millions of reflections of the One, but only the one One in reality. Or, using another figure of speech, the One may be thought of as an Infinite Ocean of Being, in which there are millions of tiny bubbles, each apparently apart and separate, but all of which are in reality, but centres of activity and expression in the One Great Ocean.
Separateness is, to quote a writer, “but the working fiction of Creation.” All the apparently separated Things are contained within the circle of the World Soul—and the latter is contained within the circle of the Infinite Unmanifest.
Not only is this esoteric conception of the Many in One, and the One in Many, a fundamental conception of the ancient esoteric and occult teachings, but the same truth in another form is presented by advanced modern science in its conception of the Universal Substance. Science postulates the existence of a Universal Substance, known under many names, from which all Things proceed. It matters not whether this Universal Substance be called “Primordial Substance,” or “Infinite and Eternal Energy,” or “The Universal Ether,” the fact remains that science postulates its existence as a fundamental, substantial Something, of and in which all forms and phases of phenomenal existence are but manifestations. In the same way, those schools of transcendental philosophy which postulate the existence of a Universal Mind teach that all forms and phases of phenomenal existence are but Thought Forms in the Universal Mind. And the old Brahmanical teachings likewise hold that the Many exist but as incidents of the “dream” or “meditation” of the Lord High Brahma.
In all forms, phases, and schools of philosophy we find this insistence upon the presence and existence of a One Something of which all else are but manifestations. In fact, as the wisest philosophers have informed us, the whole purpose of philosophy is to discover the One Unconditioned Ground of all that exists Conditionally. All philosophy worthy of the name is Monistic in essence. A leading authority on the history of philosophy informs us the: “Monism is, in strictness, a name applicable to any system of thought which sees in the universe the manifestation or working of a single principle. Such a unity may be at once the tacit presupposition and the goal of all philosophic effect, and in so far as a philosophy fails to harmonize the apparently independent and even conflicting facts of experience, as aspects or elements within a larger whole, it must be held to fall short of the necessary ideal of thought. Dualism, in an ultimate metaphysical reference, is a confession of the failure of philosophy to achieve its proper task; and this is a justification of those who consistently use the word as a term of reproach.”
And, now, let us take a brief passing glance at the Rosicrucian teachings concerning the manner in which the One proceeded to become the Many—the Unity to become Diversity— the Identical to become Variety—and yet remain the One, Unity, Identity of the World Soul, unaffected and unchanged by its plunge into Manifestation. Evolution we see on all sides around us, but all Evolution must be preceded by Involution, as all occultists and scientists know full well. Modern Science, in pursuing its discoveries along the lines of Evolution, has almost entirely ignored the twin-activity of Manifestation, which is known as Involution. Not so the ancient occultists, however, for they knew full well the truth so forcibly expressed in the words of a modern “plain speaking” philosopher who said: “You can never get out of a thing anything which is not already involved in it.” And to the ancient student of the esoteric teachings any idea of Evolution which did not begin with the teachings concerning Involution was like the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. There is an ancient saying which runs: “That which is evolved must previously have been involved;” and in this simple statement is condensed a volume of important occult lore.
The term “Involve” means “to wrap up; to cover; to hide; etc.” The term “Evolve” means “to unwrap; to unfold; to un-roll; etc.” With these meanings in mind, the student sees at once that before a thing can be “unwrapped, un-folded, un-rolled,” it must have first been wrapped-up, folded-up, rolled-up. We must not lose sight of the meaning attached to the simple terms, no matter how many high-sounding terms are substituted for these. The same thing remains the same thing, no matter how many new names are attached to it.
The esoteric teachings, as has been said, clearly and positively state that before there began the wonderful process of Evolution from simple to more complex forms of manifestation— from lower to higher—there must first have been an “involution” or in-folding of the World Soul into the simple, gross, elemental forms of matter. The vibrations must have been first lowered, before they can have been increased.
Plunging at once, with terrific speed and force, into the abyss of Manifestation, the World Soul created for itself material garments of the densest and grossest elemental matter. This extreme form of elemental matter is not known to us today, for it has been discarded in the course of evolution on this particular planet. It, however, still exists on other planets of our solar system. This form, or forms, of elemental matter is below the scale of the minerals, and is as much lower than the grossest mineral known to science as that mineral is lower than the
highest plant. In texture, structure, and density the extreme form of elemental matter is as much grosser than the lowest form of mineral known to us, as the latter is grosser than the highest form of ethereal vapor or radiant matter known to modern science. It is useless to try to describe this form of matter, for the ordinary mind cannot grasp it in the absence of concrete illustration.
When the lowest point in the scale of Involution was reached, then the Law of Rhythm asserted itself, and the upward climb began—the first movement of Evolution began to manifest itself. And, at this precise point, there was begun the manifestation of what may be termed “individualization,” or the forming of centres of activity and consciousness. The World Soul descended into the depth of Involution en masse, and then began to emerge from those depths by an apparent “splitting up” process, in which the active new-born centres of activity began to assert themselves and to move upward toward self-expression. The simpler centres which occultists know to be the centers of activity in the electrons of matter began to form molecules. There was of course manifested the presence of mind within this gross matter—but only the faint glimmerings were manifested, for the gross enveloping sheaths of matter almost smothered the mental principles involved within them.
The Process of Evolution once begun, it proceeded rapidly. Higher and higher in the scale of manifestation rose the Things—in spiralic process, each spiral rising above the one beneath it, and yet each proceeding apparently in a circle, as do all proceeding things. In due time the first signs of the mineral kingdom began to show themselves, building upon the basis of the sub-mineral forms of matter. In the mineral kingdom began to manifest higher forms of life and mind—for, as the occultists know well, the minerals possess both life and mind in a certain degree. And then later appeared the first signs of plant life—forms but slightly above those of certain crystals.
When the temperature of the earth was at a point at which life is commonly believed to be impossible, there were present certain strange forms of life, which may be described as half mineral—half plant. These crystals reproduced themselves by a splitting up process, and grew from the inside as do plants. These life forms were composed of the same materials as the crystals from which they evolved—but they possessed a greater degree of life and mind, and while from one point of view they may be said to have been minerals, yet from another they may truly be said to have been plants. These strange creatures have disappeared as have all other “intermediate forms” which have played the parts of bridges in the evolutionary process. But they have left their traces in the material bodies of both plants and animals. For it must be remembered that even the bodies of the highest forms of plant or animal life are composed of certain chemical elements which were derived from the mineral kingdom, as for instance, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, etc.
The first forms of real plant life are described by the old teachers as having been a now- extinct lowly form of plant-life scarcely more than a crystal in appearance, and yet manifesting the characteristics of plant life. Then appeared the ancestors of what are now known as the “chlomacea” which are a strange group of lowly creatures, comprising the characteristics of both plant and mineral life, and being found even today in the deposits upon damp rocks, the bark of trees, etc. From this and simpler creatures evolved the ancestors of what are now known as the “angiospores,” or lowest forms of plant-life; and later, the ancestors of the “gymnospores,” which are probably the lowest forms of animal-life known to science today.
The Process of Evolution is caused by the constant striving of the Life and Mind within the sheaths of matter—the striving to express more and still more of themselves, and to mould and use the sheaths of matter in the work of self-expression. Protoplasm, the physical basis of plant and animal life, was evolved in this way. Then came the single-celled creature which dwelt in the slime of the ancient ocean beds. Then forms of life composed of colonies of cells appeared. Then more complex forms of cell-combination, and so on, and on, until the highest forms of life known to us today were evolved.
Finally, primitive man was evolved. Then man began to improve in mind and feeling. And he is still making progress along these lines. But man (of today) is merely a high stage of the evolutionary process, and he, in turn, will be succeeded by the Super-Men of the future, and these in turn by the god-like angelic creatures, the like of whom are in existence on other and high spheres even this day.
But always remember that in all the millions of types of living forms, and the millions upon millions upon millions of individuals ensouling these forms, there is no real separateness. All life is One—and all Life but the Life of the World Soul. Therefore, in the symbol of the Rosicrucians—the countless points within the smaller circle, which in turn is enclosed within the larger circle—we have the picture of the Eternal Parent and its First Manifestation, the World Soul, the latter manifesting in the countless life-forms of the World of Manifestation. And, the work of Evolution is still underway, and higher and higher forms of expression will proceed from within the Involved Being of the World Soul which is ever striving and struggling to manifest itself in self-expression.
Part 6. The Universal Flame Of Life
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, we find the following Fifth Aphorism:
The Fifth Aphorism
V. The One is the Flame of Life. The Many are the Sparks in the Flame. The Flame once lighted kindles everything within its sphere. The Fire is in everything and everywhere; there is nothing dark or cold within its sphere.
In this Fifth Aphorism of Creation, the Rosicrucian is directed to apply his attention to the concept of the Universal Life—the Life of the World Soul, permeating everything everywhere within its sphere of existence. This concept of the World Soul as a Flaming Fire of Life, abiding in the entire Universe in all of its parts, is represented by the Rosicrucians by the symbol of a circle filled with flaming fire.
The symbol of Life has always been the Flaming Fire, in all occult teachings. The Eternal, Universal Fire, or Flame, which kindles ever all that presents itself to its influence, yet ever remains unchanged and undiminished in its Essence, has ever been the favorite symbol of the occultists for the Universal Life in Manifestation. When the term “Spirit” is used to indicate “Life,” then the Flame or Fire has always been the symbol for Spirit.
And, indeed, the Flame is the most appropriate symbol for Life that can be thought of. For the Flame while ever remaining the same, yet is never composed of the same particles or sparks for even two consecutive seconds. The Flame, itself, in its Essence, ever remains the same and unchanged, yet its Manifestation is always accompanied and correlated to the appearance and disappearance of innumerable tiny particles of material substance which it kindles into sparks, then destroys by the process of combustion, and then replaces by others of similar nature.
Figure 9. Symbol of the Universal Flame of Life
And so it is with the Universal Life. It ever persists unchanged and unaltered in its Essence, yet constantly manifesting itself through and in countless material forms which come and go and are in turn replaced by other forms. The form appears, is consumed, and perishes—yet the Flame abides and survives all change. Those who have plunged deep into the esoteric teachings are aware that there are many other very good reasons why the Flame or Fire is the best possible symbol for Life, but it is not thought expedient to go into these further reasons at this time and in this place.
It was formerly the teachings of science that the Universe was composed of two great classes of Things, as follows: (1) Living Things, and (2) Lifeless Things. In the first class were placed all human and animal life, at least during their term of vital existence; plants were afterward added, though somewhat grudgingly, by science. In the second class, all Things below the plane of animal or plant life were placed; it being taught that minerals, chemical elements, etc., were utterly lifeless. Any who ventured to question this accepted classification were deemed of unsound mind, and unworthy of serious consideration.
But the esoteric schools of thought, and the occultists, were always insistent upon the principle that there was nothing lifeless in the universe—that everything was instinct with life in some form, degree, or phase. And, lo! modern science has at last reached the point where it is practically looking Occultism squarely in the face, in full agreement upon this important point. The old idea of a half-lifeless universe is fast passing away, and men of advanced science are beginning to whisper to each other that “The Universe is Alive, as a Whole and in all of its parts.” Surely this is a remarkable change in scientific opinion.
This changed conception of science is picturesquely expressed by Luther Burbank, the “ wizard of plant life,” as follows: “All my investigations have led me away from the idea of a dead material universe tossed about by various forces, to that of a universe which is absolutely all force, life, soul, thought, or whatever name we may choose to call it. Every atom, molecule, plant, animal, or planet, is only an aggregation of organized unit forces, held in place by stronger forces, thus holding them for a time latent, though teeming with inconceivable power. All life on our planet is, so to speak, just on the outer fringe of this infinite ocean of force. The universe is not half-dead, but all alive.”
Prof. Dolbear goes back even to the Ether of Space in his assumption of Omnipresent Life, when he says: The Ether has besides the function of energy and motion, other inherent qualities, out of which could emerge under proper circumstances, other phenomena, such as life, mind, or whatever may be in that substratum.” Prof. Cope has intimated that “the basis of Life lies back of the atoms and may be found in the Universal Ether.”
Saleeby, in his well-known work of Evolution, in which he carries to its logical conclusions the work of Herbert Spencer, says: “Life is potential in matter; life-energy is not a thing unique and created at a particular time in the past. If evolution be true, living matter has been evolved by natural processes from matter which is, apparently, dead. But if life is potential in matter, it is a thousand times more evident that mind is potential in life. The evolutionist is impelled to believe that mind is potential in matter. (I adopt that form of words for the moment, but not without future criticism.) The microscopic cell, a minute speck of matter that is to become man, has in it the promise and germ of mind. May we not draw the inference that the elements of mind are present in those chemical elements—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chlorine—that are found in the cell. Not only must we do so, but we must go further, since we know that each of these elements, and every other, is built up out of one invariable unit, the electron, and we must therefore assert that mind is potential in the unit of matter—the electron itself. It is to assert the sublime truth first perceived by Spinoza, that mind and matter are the warp and woof of what Goethe called ‘the living garment of God.’ Both are complementary expressions of the Unknowable Reality which underlies both.”
Flammarion has said: ‘The universe is a dynamism. Life itself, from the most rudimentary cell up to the most complicated organism, is a special kind of movement, a movement determined and organized by a directing force. Visible matter, which stands for us at the present moment for the universe, and which certain classic doctrines consider as the origin of all things—movement, life, thought—is only a word void of meaning. The universe is a great organism, controlled by a dynamism of the psychical order. Mind gleams through its every atom. There is mind in everything, not only in human and animal life, but in plants, in minerals, in space.” [The student must always remember that where there is “mind,” there must be “life;” and where “life,” there must be “mind.” Hence the importance of these admissions of modern science.]
Haeckel in his “Riddle of the Universe,” sometimes called “The Bible of Materialism,” makes the following statement, remarkable coming from such a source: “I cannot imagine the simplest chemical and physical process, without attributing the movements of the material particles to unconscious sensation.” Again, he says: “The idea of chemical affinity consists in the fact that the various chemical elements perceive the qualitative differences in other elements—experience ‘pleasure’ or ‘revulsion’ at contact with them, and execute specific movements on this ground.” He adds, at another point: “The sensations and responses in plant and animal life are connected by a long series of evolutionary stages with the simpler forms of sensation that we find in the inorganic elements, and that reveal themselves in chemical affinity.” He quotes with approval the statement of Nageli that: “If the molecules possess something that is related, however distantly, to sensation, it must be uncomfortable to be able to follow their attractions and repulsions; uncomfortable when they are forced to do otherwise.”
But not only is modern science giving approval to the oldest conceptions of the occultists concerning Universal Life in the manner mentioned above, i.e. by general statements; it is also quoting with approval the experiments and discoveries of leading scientists along the same line—experiments which go to prove the general statements above quoted. Let us consider a few of these experiments and discoveries in the laboratories of modern science.
Science has practically created counterparts of the diatoms or “living crystals”—created artificially, in the laboratories, creatures similar to these links between the mineral and the animal forms. The diatoms are tiny geometrical forms, composed of a tiny shell of siliceous material enclosing a minute drop of plasm, resembling glue. These creatures are visible through the microscope, and are so small that thousands of them might be gathered together on the head of a pin. They so closely resemble crystals that a very careful examination is required to distinguish them from true crystals; and yet they are alive, and perform all the functions of life.
Crystals, as you know, are born, grow, live, and may be killed by chemicals or electricity. Some investigators have discovered indications of elementary sex functions in certain crystals. A scientific writer has said: “Crystallization, as we are to learn now, is not a mere mechanical grouping of dead atoms—it is a birth.” The crystal forms from the mother liquor, and its body is built up systematically, regularly, and according to a well-defined pattern, plan, or design—as true to the pattern as are the bodies of plants and animals. The certainty is present in the crystal creative life activity. And, not only does the crystal grow in this way, like a plant or an animal, but it also reproduces itself by separation and division, just as do the individuals of the lower forms of plant-life and animal-life. The distinguishing point between the growth and reproduction of crystal forms and that of the higher forms of life has, heretofore, been held to be as follows: the crystal takes its nourishment from the outside and builds up its bodily structure on its outer surface, while the lowly forms of plant-life and animal-life takes its nourishment from the outside but builds up its bodily structure from within. If the crystal had a soft-centre and took its nourishment in the way of the low form of plant-life or animal-life (building from within) it would be almost identical with the diatom; or if the diatom grew from the outside, and had a hard centre, it would be considered a true crystal; so, as you see there is very little real difference between them. And, now, lo! even this distinction is apparently to be wiped out by the discovery of artificial living crystals, evolved in the laboratory.
Careful scientific tests have determined that there is what is known as “the fatigue of elasticity” in metals, which is relieved by a rest or “vacation.” This has also been found true of razors, the edges of which are restored by a little rest, thus corroborating the ancient “superstition” of users of razors. Tuning forks have been found to lose their power of vibration by over-use, a short rest restoring the same. Machinery in mills and factories have been found to be benefited by an occasional “day off.” Metals have been discovered to be subject to disease and infection, and in some cases have been found to have been actually poisoned and afterward restored by antidotes. Window glass, especially the fine stained glass of cathedral windows, is found to be subject to an infectious disease, spreading from pane to pane, and resulting in the disintegration of the substance of the glass. Workmen’s tools have been found to experience fatigue, and to be the better for an occasional holiday or longer vacation. Every observing machinist has observed certain idiosyncrasies in particular machines which need “humoring.”
The most conclusive scientific report upon this interesting subject, so far as known to the present writer, is that which recites the celebrated series of experiments conducted upon so- called “non-living matter, several years ago, and which are recorded in the book entitled “Response in the Living and Non-Living,” by the scientists who conducted the experiments, Professor J. Chunder Bose, of the Calcutta University, who occupies a high position in the scientific world. Professor Bose’s experiments have aroused the greatest interest in prominent scientific circles, and have aided greatly in corroborating the conclusions of other scientists who hold that “there is no such thing as dead matter.”
Proceeding from the fundamental postulate that the best and only true test of the presence of life is the response of matter to external stimulus, Professor Bose has demonstrated that in many instances so-called inorganic matter, such as metals, minerals, etc., give a response to such stimulus which is similar, if not indeed identical, to the response of the matter composing the bodies of “living” animals, plants, and men. He devised certain very delicate apparatus for registering and measuring such responses, the same being traced as curves on a revolving cylinder. He employed that most delicate scientific instrument called, the Galvanometer in these experiments. The Galvanometer will register the faintest irritation of nerve-matter, or living muscle; and the experiments proved that it would also register the variations of minerals, metals, etc., subjected to the stimulus of outside force; the curves or tracings being practically identical in either case.
Professor Bose reports that when he attached the Galvanometer to bars of various metals they gave a similar response when struck or twisted; the greater the degree of irritation caused in the metal the greater the degree of response. It should be noted that the living nerve or muscle reacts and registers in precisely the same way, and so far as the instrument indicated the response of muscle, nerve, metal, and mineral was identical. Just as the nerve or registered “fatigue” after frequently repeated stimulus, so did the metal or mineral so register. And, just as the nerve or muscle registered the renewal of vigor after a rest, so did the metal or mineral. To all intents and purposes the “living” and “non-living” matter gave the same response and evidence of “life.” Moreover, the instrument showed something like “tetanus” in metals, caused by repeated shocks; recovery after the rest being also recorded. Moreover, several metals recorded fatigue from other causes; and in some cases the metals showed the effect of poisoning, recovery by the application of antidotes, and also the signs of excitement or intoxication from other forms of stimulus.
The experiments also showed that metals manifest a condition akin to sleep; that they can be killed; that they exhibit torpor and sluggishness; that they wake up, and can be roused into activity; that they may be stimulated, strengthened, weakened, drugged or intoxicated; that they suffer from extreme cold or heat; that they respond to the presence of certain drugs just as do living plant and animal. A piece of steel subjected to the effect of poison recorded on the delicate instrument a gradual fluttering and weakening, resulting in final death, just as does a portion of animal matter, or an organ of the body of an animal, or a piece of the living substance of a plant. When revived before it was too late, the response of the metal was gradual in the case of both muscle and metal. A most interesting fact is the statement of the experimenter that even the poisons which served to “kill” the metals showed a like susceptibility to the actions of other poisons, and were found to be, themselves, capable of being “killed” by poisons. In the case of these metal “killings,” however, the molecular structure was apparently not affected, just as the similar structure in the animal tissue is not affected—in both cases there was apparently a causing of a “something within” to cease to function in the substance, a “something” which may as well be called a “soul” as any other term.
Other scientific laboratory experiments have revealed most interesting facts concerning the production of living things from “non-living matter.” Dr. Charles Bastian, of London, England, has prepared and exhibited more than five thousand microphotographs showing the evolution of organic living forms from the inorganic “non-living” (so-called). He claims to have produced certain microscopic black spots from a previously perfectly clear liquor, which spots gradually enlarge and are transformed into certain forms of lowly bacteria. Professor Burke, of Cambridge, England, claims to have produced from sterilized bouillon, by the action of sterilized radium chloride, certain minute living bodies which manifest subsequent growth and reproduction by subdivision.
The ordinary student of chemistry and physics is familiar with what is called “metallic vegetation,” notably in the case of the “lead tree,” in which there is manifested the appearance of plant forms on the part of the acidulated solution of certain metallic substances. In the case of the “lead tree” an acidulated solution of acetate of lead is placed in a wide-necked bottle, from the cork of which bottle a piece of copper wire is suspended, at the end of which dangles a piece of zinc which hangs at the centre of the lead solution. When the bottle is corked the copper wire begins at once to be surrounded with a growth of metallic lead closely resembling a very fine moss, which moss gradually develops branches and limbs and finally foliage, in the end a miniature bush or tree being formed. Other metallic solutions produce similar phenomena. Saltpeter, subjected to the effect of polarized light, assumes forms closely resembling the orchid. Crystals of frost form on window panes the shapes of leaves, branches, foliage, blossoms, flowers, etc. Many metals tend to crystallize in the forms of vegetable growth; and this is particularly significant when it is remembered that crystals are beginning to be regarded as “almost alive” by modern science, as noted in a preceding paragraph of the present chapter.
The scientific magazines, a few years ago, contained references to an interesting experiment performed by a German scientist using certain metallic salts. The scientist subjected the salts to the action of a galvanic current, and was astounded to discover that around the negative or cathode (female) pole of the battery the particles of the metallic salt began to group themselves in the form of a tiny mushroom, with stem and umbrella-like top. These metallic mushrooms at first displayed a transparent appearance, but gradually developed color, and finally assumed a pale straw color on the stems, with a bright red color on the top of the umbrella and a faint rose tint on the under surface. But the most startling feature of
the phenomenon was that the metallic mushroom had fine veins or tiny tubes running along the interior of the steins, through which the nourishment, or additional material for growth, was transported—the mushroom being fed from the inside, as in the case of the true fungus mushroom. It seemed that, to all intents and purposes, these metallic mushrooms were practically the connecting link between mineral and vegetable life.
As has been stated elsewhere in this chapter, modern science now stands on the threshold of the discovery (by actual laboratory proof) that there is no such thing as “lifeless” matter—and that Everything is Alive. This has been the contention of the occultists for thousands of years. As a writer has said, it would seem that as in the case of the great Tunnel of the Alps, the two bands of workers, each on its own side of the mountain, were fast approaching the place where only a thin partition separated them one from another; and that already they can faintly hear the sounds of each others’ picks penetrating the thin dividing wall between the two camps. The occultist may now safely await the day when modern science will actually “prove for him the old teaching of the esoteric schools.”
Moreover, science is coming very near to the place when it will perceive the truth of the old occult axiom that “All Power is Will-Power,” and that the movements of electrons, atoms, molecules, and masses of matter are in response to an inward “feeling” resulting from the attraction or repulsion to or from other forms of matter, and the “will” action in response thereto, as Haeckel and Nageli (materialistic scientists though they may be called) have claimed for half a generation past. The contention of the Materialists that Life and Mind are but qualities of Matter, and are to be found in all forms of material objects, needs but to
be inverted in order to show the Truth, long since uttered by the ancient occultists, namely that Matter is but the Outer Garment of Soul (Life-Mind), and that all material forms are ensouled by Life and Mind. The conception of the Materialists is but the Inverted Pyramid of Error, while the conception of the Occultists is the firmly placed, and soundly resting, true Pyramid of Truth—that Rock of Ages which can never be overturned, for it rests squarely and firmly on the Eternal Base of Being.
Remember, O student, the Rosicrucian aphorism that ”The Fire is in everything and everywhere: there is nothing dark or cold within its sphere.”
Part 7. The Planes Of Consciousness
In the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, we find the following Sixth Aphorism:
The Sixth Aphorism
VI. As Life is the Essence of Spirit, so is Consciousness the Essence of Life. Spirit is One, yet it manifests in many forms of Life. Life is One, yet it manifests in many forms of Consciousness. While the forms of manifested Consciousness are innumerable, yet the wise know Consciousness to manifest on Seven Planes: and these Planes of Consciousness are known to the wise as (1) The Plane of the Elements; (2) The Plane of the Minerals; (3) The Plane of the Plants; (4) The Plane of the Animals; (5) The Plane of the Human; (6) The Plane of the Demi-Gods; (7) The Plane of the Gods.
In this Sixth Aphorism of Creation, the Rosicrucian is directed to apply his attention to the concept of Life-Consciousness manifesting on its seven planes. This concept is represented by the Rosicrucians by means of the symbol of a linked chain of seven circles, each link penetrating the one on either side of it.
The Sixth Aphorism wisely states that “Life is the Essence of Spirit.” No matter what else Spirit may be, or may not be, it cannot be denied that Spirit must possess the attribute of Life, in order to be Spirit. Likewise, the Aphorism states: “Consciousness is the Essence of Life,” which is also self-evident; for no matter what else Life may be, or may not be, it cannot be denied that Life must possess the attribute of Life.
A modern writer has well said that “Mind is the Livingness of Life,” and, of course, Mind is naught but a term employed to indicate “states of consciousness.”
Figure 10. Symbol of the Seven Planes of Consciousness
Even the average person implicitly testifies to the fact of the necessary presence of Consciousness in Life by his distinctions between the various forms of living things. The higher the manifestation of Consciousness in a living thing, the higher the degree of “Life” he attributes to it; and when the indications of Consciousness are lacking, he pronounces the thing “lifeless.” The proof of conscious activity among mineral forms at once leads to the thought that “then minerals must be alive.” Consciousness, in its essence, manifests as “the attribute of receiving impressions from outside stimuli, and the power to respond thereto;” and the student will at once recognize this attribute as the fundamental test of living substance.
Just as the Rosicrucians hold as a fundamental doctrine the teaching that “Everything is Alive” (see preceding chapter), so do they hold as equally fundamental the teaching that “Everything is Conscious.” But, here is where half-knowledge is apt to fall into a trap, and to attribute to the Rosicrucian beliefs quite foreign to them. For in the Rosicrucian teachings (and in the most advanced modern psychology, as well) the term “consciousness” is not restricted to those phases of consciousness most familiar to us, but, rather, to all forms of “awareness,” whether higher or lower than the “consciousness” of our everyday lives.
The term “Consciousness” is one most difficult to define adequately; and this quite naturally, for Consciousness can be defined and described only in the terms of its own experiences— there is no other term analogous to it which would serve to indicate it to one who had not experienced consciousness. The word which probably best expresses the general idea is the term “awareness.”
The Rosicrucian teachings hold that Consciousness manifests on Seven Planes, each of which planes is interlinked with and blends into the one on either side of it. But each plane is composed of seven sub-planes, and each sub-plane of seven minor planes, and so on until the multiplication is made seven times. Each of the Seven Planes of Consciousness is named in the following synopsis of the teaching, and the main characteristics of each plane is given.
I. The Plane of the Elements
On this Plane of Consciousness is manifested the actions and reactions between the subtle elements of which all material forms are composed. Here occurs the play between the atoms, the electrons, the ions, the corpuscles, and the still more tenuous particles of substance of which science has as yet no knowledge. And, going still further back, it may be said that on this plane occurs the play of phases of substance as much more tenuous and subtle than the electrons as the latter are more tenuous than the atoms. Little can be said concerning these practically unknown forms and phases of matter, although the occult teachings are quite full of them.
In previous quotations from Haeckel, and other modern scientists, we have seen that advanced modern science recognizes the presence of “something like consciousness” in the atoms of matter, and ‘ascribes their movements to “likes and dislikes,” “loves and hates,” arising from the perception of certain qualities in each other, and the response thereto: this means, of course, that the atoms possess and manifest “feeling” and “will” in an elementary form, phase, and degree. There are results arising from these manifestations of consciousness on the part of the atoms, however, which are not usually taken notice of by writers of the subject, either in the ranks of the occultists, or those of science. Let us now consider these, briefly.
Science informs us that all forms of physical energy or force, manifesting as light, heat, electricity, magnetism, etc., arise from vibrations of the particles of which matter is composed. These vibrations are, of course, caused by the motion of the particles; and these motions are caused by the manifestation of attraction or repulsion between the particles. Proceeding further, we see that the manifestation of attraction and repulsion between the particles of matter arise from the “likes and dislikes,” the “loves and hates” of the atoms and particles—and that these, in turn are but manifestations of elemental consciousness. So we see, here, that even the manifestation of physical energy and force is but the accompaniment and result of the presence and activity of elemental consciousness.
On this plane of consciousness are operated many of those forms of “magic” known to all occultists. The occultist moves Matter not by exerting a physical force upon it by means of his mind and will, but, instead, by acting upon the consciousness of the material atoms by the power of his own consciousness! This is no place, of course, to go into detail concerning this phase of occultism, but it has been thought well to indicate here the source and nature of the power underlying occult phenomena of this kind, and the “why and wherefore” of its manifestation.
The Plane of Elemental Consciousness, like all the great Planes of Consciousness, contains seven sub-planes, and each of these seven minor planes, and so on until the multiplication has been made seven times. The sub-plane we have just briefly considered is but one of the seven, and the remaining six are equally important. In these unmentioned subplanes there are manifestations utterly unknown to modern science and to the uninformed person, but of which the occult masters have made a careful and thorough study.
II. The Plane of the Minerals
On this Plane of Consciousness are manifested the actions and reactions of the molecules of which the minerals are composed, and of the masses of mineral matter as well. Just as the atoms of matter manifest attraction and repulsion, arising from “like and dislike” of consciousness, so do the molecules of matter manifest a similar “like and dislike,” resulting in the attraction and repulsion between molecules and masses of matter. The molecules or particles of which a piece of steel, for instance, is composed, hold together by reason of the attractive power of “cohesion,” and not because they are “fastened together” by any mechanical means employed by nature. In the same way, gravitation manifests its attractive force.
Moreover, on some of the higher minor planes of this Plane of the Minerals, there is manifested the crystallization of the mineral particles according to a definite principle of design embedded in the consciousness of its particles. The crystal is built upon a definite plane, just as truly as is the acorn or the oak—and in all of these cases the pattern is but an “idea” in the consciousness of the combined particles. The Universal Builder works through the consciousness of the mineral particles just as truly and as wonderfully as through the particles of humanity which we call individual men. The study of crystals, and their formation will open up a new world of thought to the average person, and will give him a peep into the workshop of the Universal Builder in which he will see things heretofore unsuspected and undreamt.
The common opinion is that crystals are formed by mechanical causes, such as outside pressure, etc., but the careful student of science, as well as the occultist, knows that the formation of a crystal is a growth, and is as much the result of stored-up psychical ideas in the particles, as is the growth of plant substance or animal bodies. The student of crystallography soon becomes convinced of the presence of Life and Consciousness in the world of crystals.
In the contemplation of the Plane of Mineral Consciousness, the student must remember that there are forms of minerals far more gross than those visible to us on this earth; and also, that there are forms and phases of mineral life far finer and higher than those with which we are familiar here. The occult teachings contain some very interesting info ration concerning (these to us) unknown mineral forms and manifestation.
It may be mentioned here that the ancient alchemists (and some of the true modern alchemists) have found in the fact of mineral consciousness the missing-link of their science. The occultist having a comprehensive understanding of the consciousness of a metal or mineral will be able to work transformations upon and through it which would be impossible by means of chemistry or mechanical methods of treating metals. Here again, is given a passing hint regarding a subject of tremendous importance.
III. The Plane of the Plants
On this plane of Consciousness are manifested the actions and reactions ofthe protoplasmic cells of which the plants are composed. And on this plane, as all the other planes of Consciousness, there are to be found high and low sub-planes and subdivisions of the latter.
At the lower pole of this plane we find plant-life which is scarcely distinguishable from the higher forms of mineral life—in fact, as we have seen previously, it is almost impossible to draw a fixed line separating the two great plane-divisions, for all planes blend into each other and are linked one with the other on the lower and higher poles of their activity. We have mentioned the Diatoms, or “living crystals” which the best authorities regard as the “missing link” between the two great kingdoms of Life and Consciousness, but which really are plant rather than minerals. The Diatoms belong to an order of flowerless plants, a genus of the Algols. They are covered by a siliceous covering which gives them a crystalline appearance. They present the appearance of crystalline fragmentary particles, generally bounded by right lines, flat, stiff and brittle, usually nestling in slime in which they unite into various forms and combinations, and from which they often again separate. They multiply and reproduce themselves by division and conjugation.
In 1886, Professor Van Schrom, of Naples, Italy, was experimenting with the bacilli of the Asiatic cholera, and was examining the same under his high-power microscope. He was attracted by the formation of double pyramids of bacilli in the shape and general appearance of true crystals. These “living crystals” manifested growth and movement, and seemed to be alive and conscious. From these experiments he arrived at the conclusions that all bacteria produce living crystals, and his continued experiments seemed to verify his contention. These bacteria-crystals are composed of homogeneous albuminous matter, which at first is colorless and structureless, and which at a certain stage of their life history seem to lose their life qualities and to become, to all intents and purposes, “dead” crystals. These living crystals seem to be impelled by some inherent force akin to vital action to assume a geometrical figure. And while possessing these indications of elementary vegetable life they also exhibit the characteristic qualities of crystals, viz., refraction, inclusion, absorption, and polarization. Later investigations have revealed the presence of similar living crystals in the secretions of living organisms.
That Life is present in plant-life scarcely anyone is disposed to question, though there seems to be a desire to deny Consciousness and intelligent activity in the case on the part of the orthodox scientist. But the more advanced of the workers in the ranks of modern science do not hesitate to positively assert the presence of conscious intelligent activity in plant-life, and vigorously support their contention by logical argument backed up by incontrovertible facts gleaned in their laboratory experiments. These scientists hold that the presence of the phenomena of nutrition, reproduction, and of physical and chemical change due to adaptation is proof positive of the presence of vital intelligence within the organism in which the former are manifested.
Professor Bieser says: “Adaptation, after all, is the best evidence of the presence of intelligence or life in forms or units of matter. Adaptation, also called‘physiological adaptation,’ but best called ‘psychological adaptation,’ is the one weapon by which living organisms fight against the destructive forces of conditions of nature. In all its forms, adaptation is the more or less successful co-operation of living organisms with the laws of nature—it is not the disregard of natural laws. In taking adaptation as our criterion by which the presence of intelligence is determined, we find no difficulty in settling the question of the presence of life. The most perfect automatic machinery has no life, because it cannot adapt itself in the least to the changing environmental conditions and thus save itself from annihilation, when necessity arises, by the performance of simple intelligent acts.”
In their consideration of the question of the presence of consciousness in the kingdom of plant-life, the writers divide the manifestations of intelligence into three classes,namely: Trophoses, or acts pertaining to nutrition; Neuroses, or acts pertaining to the nervous system; and Psychoses, or acts pertaining to thought processes.
The manifestation of Trophoses, or acts pertaining to nutrition, is apparent even in the case of the lowest forms of plant-life. Even the lowliest vegetable cell takes nourishment and replaces the waste products of its system by fresh material taken into its system. These activities require a very simple nervous system, often practically no nervous system at all. But, nevertheless, in every act of nutrition there is manifested not only the presence of Life,
but also conscious activity of a certain degree. Even the lowest forms of plants are able to distinguish perfectly between nutritive and non-nutritive particles of matter. Most plants possess no nervous system, at least none yet discovered by science, but, nevertheless, they manifest characteristic Trophoses corresponding in degree with their necessities, but seldom exceeding those necessities.
Other plants, however, have a comparatively highly developed nervous system, or something corresponding to it, and manifest Neuroses, or acts pertaining to the nervous system, of a comparatively high degree. This is true of the “sensitive plants,” and certain other plants of a high development in this direction. Some of the orchids, and a few other plants, manifest Neuroses indicating clearly the presence of consciousness and a degree of intelligent activity.
Still higher in the scale we find certain species of plants manifesting true Psychoses, or acts pertaining to thought processes, although the latter are of a comparatively low order as compared to those manifested by the higher forms of animal life. With this class of manifestation the average student is not so well informed, and, therefore, it has been thought well to direct your attention in the following pages to these fascinating phenomena of plant- life. We think that a careful consideration of the facts now about to be presented to the student will bring to him a clear realization of the presence of actual conscious activity in the kingdom of the plants, and will cause him to accept the statement of that eminent authority, Professor Bieser, who has said: “While we believe that the intelligence of man, animals and plants is essentially the same in kind, we know that it differs enormously in degree and form. Even among men this degree of intelligence varies, but this is because some individuals by nature see but a little more clearly their needs than others, and live under more favorable circumstances—that is all!”
Dr. J. E. Taylor, an authority on the subject of plant-psychology says: “Perhaps one reason why plants are usually denied consciousness and intelligence is because in the structure of even the highest developed species we find no specialized nervous track along which sensations may travel, or where they can be registered as in the case of the ganglia and brains of the higher animals. But it should be remembered that none of the creatures sub-kingdom of the Protozoa (the lowest of the grand divisions of the animal kingdom) possess nervous structures, whilst many of the next more highly organized animal sub-kingdom, the Coelenterata, have no trace, and the rest but a feeble development. Yet we do not deny these lowly organized animals a dim and diffused consciousness, or even the possibility of their structures being so modified that they can profit by experience, and thus develop that accumulated experience of their kind that we call ‘instinct.’”
Darwin, speaking of the wonderful sensitiveness of the root-tip of plants says: “It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed, and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense organs, and directing the general movements.” Professor Cope says: “We can understand how by parasitism, or other means of getting a livelihood without exertion, the adoption of new and skillful movements would become unnecessary, and consciousness itself would be seldom aroused. Continued repose would be followed by subconsciousness, and later by unconsciousness. Such appears to be the history of the entire vegetable kingdom.”
Dr. J. C. Arthur, in his interesting work entitled “The Sagacity and Morality of Plants,” says: “I have tried to show that all organisms, even to the very simplest, whether plant or animal, from the very nature of life and the struggle for its maintenance, must be endowed with conscious feeling, pleasure and pain being its simplest expression. I have been told in Java, as one walks through a tangle of sensitive plants, they will drop down in their deprecating way for yards on either side, as if suddenly aroused into life, only to be again transformed into lifeless sticks by some unseen power. The physical basis of life, Protoplasm, is the same for plants as for animals. The first differentiated or modified form of this we meet is the curious animalcule called Amoeba. As we watch its movements we cannot refrain from ascribing to it some dim consciousness of the life it leads. But amoeboid structure is common even in the lowest kinds of plants, and amoeboid movements can be seen in some of its tissues. Witness also the habits and intelligent movements of the zoospores of sea-weed and many other Algae, and the locomotion of the antherozoa of mosses, ferns, etc. Not many years ago these objects were classed as animals, and nobody doubted these so-called animals behaved consciously and intelligently. Nothing can be more marked than the likes and dislikes of plants. Human beings can hardly express the same feelings more decidedly. There is perhaps even a ‘messmateship’ among plants, which inclines species to prefer to grow in company. Hosts of common plants perform actions which, if they were done by human beings, would at once be brought into the category of right and wrong. There is hardly a virtue or a vice which has not its counterpart in the actions of the vegetable kingdom. As regards conduct in this respect, there is small difference between the lower animals and plants.”
One of the most elementary manifestations of consciousness, and conscious action, in plant life is what has been called “the gravity sense,” or the sense by which the plant recognizes the “up and down” direction of growth. The germinating seed always sends its roots downward, no matter how the seed may be placed in the ground. This cannot be held to result merely from the action of gravitation, for the sprouts move upward and away from the centre of gravity just as truly as the roots move downward and toward it. Experiments have proven that this “sense of direction” is as much a true sense as that of any of the special senses of the lowly animal life-forms. The experiment has been tried of turning around a sprouting seed, the result being that in a day or so the roots will be again found to be turning downward and the sprouts turning upward. A French botanist, named Duhamel, once placed some beans in a cylinder filled with moist earth. After they had begun to sprout, he turned the cylinder a little to one side. The next day he turned it a little further in the same direction. Each day he would turn it a little more, until finally it had described several full circles. Then he took out the plant, and shaking off the clinging earth, he found that the beans’ roots and sprouts had described circles—two perfectly formed spirals being shown, one of the tiny roots and the other of the tiny sprouts. The roots in their constant endeavor to move downward had formed one perfect spiral, while the sprouts in the constant effort to rise upward had described another perfect spiral. No amount of effort will cause the roots of a plant to grow upward, or its sprouts to grow downward. Each, root and sprout, has its own “sense of direction” to which it faithfully and invariably responds. In the same way, and from a similar cause, the tendrils of climbing plants will faithfully move toward the nearby support, and if they are untwined they will return during the next night to the old support, if possible. Moving pictures, carefully prepared, and taken over a long period, show that the movements of these tendrils to be akin to the movements of the limbs of an animal—the feelers and graspers of the octopus for example.
Not only have the roots of plants the general “sense of direction” which causes them to grow downward in spite of all attempts to prevent them, but they have also the “sense of moisture,” which causes them to seek the direction of water. Many plants also turn their leaves and blossoms to the light, no matter how often they are turned in the opposite direction. Potatoes in dark cellars will often send forth their sprouts twenty or thirty feet in the direction of light which shows through a tiny crack in the wall. Likewise, plants possess the “sense of taste” to a very high degree in some cases. By means of this sense they are able to detect differences in substances, and to choose those substances which are conducive to their nutrition. They are able to distinguish between poor and rich soil, and also between different chemicals of differing nutritive values. They always move their roots in the direction of the best food supply, and also toward moisture. Not only do the roots of plants move in the direction of water, but instances have been cited in which the leaves of plants will bend over during the night and dip themselves in a vessel of water several inches away. Insect-eating plants recognize the difference between living animal substance and bits of inorganic matter or vegetable substance, casting off the latter two as if in disgust. Experiments have been made of placing a bit of cheese in the reach of such plants, when, though cheese is of course unfamiliar to them, they will seem to recognize its nitrogenous nature and will devour it as readily as they will a piece of flesh or the body of an insect.
Many students are doubtless familiar with the instance of the “sensitive plants” which exhibit a marked degree of sensibility to touch. Many insect-eating plants manifest an equally high degree of sensitiveness, though of course in a different direction. The leaves of the Venus’ Fly Trap fold upon each other and thus capture the unfortunate insect which has been tempted into the trap by the sweet juice which appears upon the leaf as a dainty bait. The folding of the leaves follows the alarm given by the three sensitive bristles or hairs which act as feelers which sense the presence of the insects. Bits of earth, or raindrops, are recognized as “not- food” by these feelers, and no closing of leaves result from their presence on the leaves. Other plants are very sensitive to degrees of light, and they close at certain hours, the time varying according to the species of the plant. It was formerly held that this sensitiveness to light was merely a chemical response to the presence of light, but recent experiments have shown that such plants, when placed in a dark room, will continue this closing for several days, in a gradually lessening degree, thus indicating the presence of a “habit” within their consciousness, which “habit” indicates the presence of “mind” even more forcibly than does the closing itself. Certain ferns will wither if their fronds are touched too often.
In the case of seeds, the presence of consciousness and mental operations are manifested. Not only in the process of sprouting, but also in other processes, does the seed show signs of life and mind. Certain seeds are carried to their future abode by means of running streams along which they work their way to congenial soil by means of tiny projecting filaments which they move as legs, and thus propel themselves to shore. A botanist has said regarding a certain species of these “swimming seeds:” “So curiously lifelike are their movements that it is almost impossible to believe that these tiny objects, make good progress through the water, are really seeds and not insects.”
Certain plants prey upon other plants, twining bands around another plant or tree, which bands work their way through the outer covering of the bark and thus act as suckers through which the parasitic plant draws nourishment from the larger plant, the latter succumbing in time and being literally killed for food by the clinging plant. In South America there are varieties of these climbers which will mount to the top of a tall tree in this way, and after killing their support they will wave long tendrils in the breeze until they fasten hold of another tree which in turn is depleted of its vitality and nourishment, and so on until the parasite is surrounded by a large circle of ruined victims. Other parasites content themselves with boring into a tree trunk and then absorbing enough of the sap of the latter to enable them to live without other work on their own part. In some species, the habit of parasitism is known to have been acquired during the history of the plant, just as some animals (and human beings) have acquired similar habits.
Other plants prey upon animals, and are equipped with mental faculties enabling them- to efficiently capture their prey. We have typical illustrations of the adaptation of means to end
in the case of the insect-eating plants previously referred to, but there are certain forms of plant-life which trap and devour much large animals; which forms are found principally in tropical countries. Dunstan, the naturalist, reported finding on the banks of Lake Nicaragua a particularly vicious plant of this class which by the natives is called the Devil’s Noose. This bush-like plant is equipped with long tendrils, or whip-like feelers, flexible, strong, black, polished, and without leaves, which secrete a viscid fluid. These tendrils are employed by the plant to entangle small animals passing under its bush, and to then drain their blood and absorb their flesh. The naturalist one day passing along the banks of this lake was aroused by the shrieks and cries. of his small dog. Pushing forward through the underbrush he found the little animal tightly enmeshed in a number of these black, slimy, bandlike tendrils which were cutting into its flesh by chafing and rubbing, the bleeding-point have been reached in a number of places. He found that these bands were the tendrils or branches of this particularly carnivorous plant, which he described as virtually “a land octopus.” The natives of the tropics have weird legends of man-eating plants or trees of this kind, but so far science has not discovered an actual specimen of this kind, though it is admitted that the same is not beyond the bounds of possibility. Other plants have roots which capture and kill small burrowing animals like moles, and then slowly absorb the nourishment from their blood and flesh. The plant kingdom has its Thugs and stranglers, as well as its vampires, according to the best authorities.
Professor Bieser says: “Another plant showing irritability when touched, and possessing the faculty of finding and raising water by means of a long, slender, flat stem or tube, is a variety of orchid discovered by E. A. Suverkrop, of Philadelphia, several years ago. This plant grows upon the trunks of trees hanging over swampy places along the bank of the Rio de la Plata and streams of the neighborhood. When this orchid is in want of water, the slender stem gradually unwinds until it dips into the water. Then the stem slowly coils around and winds up to discharge upon the part of the plant from which the roots spring the water which it has sucked up into its hollow space or tube within its interior. Sometimes when water is absent from directly under this plant, the stem moves first in this direction and then in another, in its search for water, and finally finding the water it performs the process above described. If this plant is touched while the stem is extended it acts much like the sensitive plant (mimosa), and the stem coils up into a spiral more rapidly than when it is lifting water.”
The experiments of that wizard of plant-life, Luther Burbank, give us many illustrations of the manner in which the “mind” in the plant will respond to changed environment, and to take advantage of improved conditions thereof in the direction of adapting itself thereto. No one can study the works of modern botanists, or work long among plants, without discovering for himself many facts serving to prove that there is not only Life among the plants, but also sufficient mind to serve the purposes and needs of the existence of the plant. Some scientists have thought it possible that by changing the environment of the plant sufficiently, in the direction of calling out latent possibilities of mental action, it is probable that plants may be evolved which would approach in their mental activity that of the lower forms of animal life, if not indeed exceed the latter.
IV. The Plane of the Animals
Here, once more, we discover that there is no fixed dividing line between the adjoining Planes of Consciousness. Just as the Mineral Consciousness is closely blended into the Plant Consciousness, as we have seen, so is the Plant Consciousness closely blended into the Animal Consciousness. In fact, in the lowly forms of animal life it is almost impossible, at times, to state positively whether the particular form under consideration is a plant or an animal. Forms which science formerly considered “animal” are not placed in the category of
“plant-life;” and other forms which science once held to belong to the plant-kingdom are now placed in the category of animal-life. The occultist recognized that these disputed forms dwell in the region in which the two respective planes blend and intermingle as has been stated before in these pages.
Consciousness in animal-life varies from the first faint glimmerings in the single-cell creatures in the slime of the ocean bed to the full dawn in the highest forms of animal-life like the horse, the dog, the elephant, etc. In each and every case, however, it will be found that each creature is endowed with a sufficient degree of intelligence to meet its needs and requirements—to adapt it to its environment. As the environment increases in complexity, the form of animal life has either adapted its consciousness to meet the requirements, or else has perished in the course of evolution.
Both science, and the occult teachings, inform us that animal life had its origin in the slime of the primeval ocean beds, and took the form of the “single cell” creatures. The best known form of single-cell animal is the Moneron (plural, monera), which is composed of but a single cell, and is like a tiny drop of glue. It belongs to the lowest class of animal-life, known as the Protozoa. The Moneron lives in water, and is a very minute shapeless, colorless, slimy, sticky, drop of protoplasmic substance. It has no organs of any kind, and all of its parts are similar—it lacks the separate organs or parts with which to perform the offices of the living creature as found in the higher forms of life. And yet this organless creature performs the processes of like known, respectively, as nutrition, reproduction, sensation, and will-action. Every part of the Moneron is capable of absorbing food and oxygen—it is all stomach and all lungs. Moreover, it is all reproductive organism. It envelops its prey by enclosing the latter as a drop of glue encloses a tiny gnat; and it then absorbs the nourishment from its food through every portion of its surface coming in contact with the food. It moves by prolonging a portion of itself outward, like a tiny tail or finger—this constitutes the “false foot” by which it propels, pushes, or pulls itself forward or backward, or sidewise. When it gets ready, it pulls back the “false foot” into its general substance, and is the same as before. It has no distinction of sex, but reproduces itself by simply growing larger and then dividing itself into two—and the process is over, there being two Monera where only one Moneron was the moment before. And yet this simple creature receives impressions from outside, and responds thereto. It seeks its food, and escapes its enemies. It has all the mind it needs.
Next in the rising scale of animal life we find the Amoeba. This creature also is a one-celled animal. It progresses by a continuous projection of “false feet” and a subsequent drawing-in of the same, which gives it the appearance of a many-fingered, or many-footed thing. This creature has the beginning of “parts” and “organs.” In the first place it has a “nucleus” at its centre, and also an expanding and contracting cavity within itself which it uses for holding, digesting, and distributing its food—a rudimentary stomach, so to speak. It also has something like a “skin” on its surface, and it cannot be turned “inside out” like its brother the Moneron without disturbing its life.
Let us pause here for a moment, before passing on to the consideration of the higher forms of animal-life. The purpose of the pause is to call your attention to the resemblance of the Monera and the Amoebae to the cells of which the human body is composed. The ordinary cells of the higher animal, and mankind, closely resemble the Monera in many ways, while the white corpuscles of the blood of animals and men bear a striking resemblance to the Amoebae, so far as is concerned their size, general structure, and movements—in fact, science classes them as “amoeboids.” The white corpuscles of our blood—these “amoeboids”—change their shape, take food in an intelligent manner, and live an apparently independent life, with movements showing undoubted “thought” and “will.”
The cells of which the bodies of animals and men are composed are really independent living creatures, each of which is possessed of sufficient “mind” to enable it to perform its necessary life-work and offices. By means of the operation of what occultists know as the “group mind” by which a number of independent cells coordinate their activities, these cells perform the coordinated work of the organism. Each of these cell-minds manifests a perfect adaptation for its particular work. The work of those cells, in extracting from the blood the exact amount of nourishment needed by it, is but a minor evidence of the presence of such mind in them. The process of digestion, assimilation, etc., is another instance of the intelligence of the cells and cell-groups. In the healing of wounds, in which the cells rush to the points at which their services are needed, we have a striking instance of the selective intelligence of the cells. The cells of the body are constantly at work, performing the multitudinous offices of the organism, working separately, in small groups, and in great groups, according to the nature of the work to be done.
Some of the cells of the body are active workers, manufacturing the secretions and fluids needed in the varied work of the system. Others belong to “the reserves,” and are kept under “waiting orders” awaiting the call to duty in the case of an accident or other emergency. Some are stationary, others remain stationary until they are called into motion to meet some requirement, others are constantly moving about, some making regular trips and others being rovers. Some of the moving cells perform the work of carriers, some move from place to place doing odd jobs, others perform scavenger work, and a large number are employed on the police-force of the body, or else constitute the cell-army.
The carrier cells—the red-corpuscles of the blood—travel in the arteries and veins, carrying a load of oxygen on the outward arterial trip, and bringing back a return cargo of the waste products of the system to be burned up in the lungs. Other cells force their way through the walls of the arteries and veins, and through the tissues of the body, on repair work. The police cells, and the soldier-cells, in the blood protect the system from the attacks of germs, bacteria, and other harmful visitors or invaders. One of the protecting cells coming in contact with an intruder of this kind will enmesh it, and then proceed to devour it; if the task be too heavy for one cell it will call the assistance of others, and the combined force will seize the intruder and try to eject it from the system.
The work of the cells in repairing a wound furnishes one of the most striking in illustrations of the presence of intelligence in the cells. When a portion of the body is wounded, it is found that the tissues, lymphatic and blood vessels, glands, muscles, nerves, and sometimes even the bone are severed. The alarm is sounded by the nervous system, and the repair-cells rush to the spot in great numbers. The flowing blood washes away the dirt and foreign substances— or at least endeavors to do so. Then the blood coagulates and forms a scab to protect the wound. By this time millions of blood cells have arrived on the scene, and the repair work begins at once. The cells display the most wonderful activity and intelligence in this work. The cells of the tissues, nerves, blood-vessels, etc., on each side of the wound begin to reproduce themselves very rapidly, and gradually form a bridge over the space between the two sides of the wound, bringing each side together. In this bridge work they display intelligence, purpose and system. The cells of the blood-vessels connect with the same kind of cells on the opposite side of the wound, forming new tubes through which the blood may flow. The cells of the connective tissues do likewise, and so do the cells of each of the other kinds of bodily substance. Then after the “inside work” is complete, new epidermis cells form a new skin over the healed wound. The above gives you but a passing glimpse of the wonderful intelligent work of the cells in performing their offices in the body—what has not been told is equally as wonderful. To all intents and purposes the cells of the body are like the individual bees in the hive, i.e., intelligent, independent living creatures working together for the common good.
The above digression was made in order to acquaint you with the wonderful intelligence which is possible of manifestation by the counterparts of the Monera and the Amoebae— those lowly forms of one-cell life which we have been considering on the preceding pages. An understanding of the facts above related will bring home to each student the full perception and appreciation of the truth of the statement previously made, i.e., that each living creature, from highest to lowest, is endowed with a degree of consciousness and intelligence proportionate to its requirements in its life-work and activities.
Some of the Amoebae—the Diatoms, for instance—secrete solid matter from the water, and build themselves tiny houses or shells to protect themselves from their enemies. These shells have tiny openings through which the creature may project its “false feet” for purposes of movement, and for securing food. The skeletons of these minute creatures form the deposits of chalk found in many parts of the world.
Next higher in the scale come the Infusoria, which are distinguished by having tiny vibrating filaments, or thread-like appendages, which they employ for purposes of motion and grasping their food. These filaments are permanent, and are the beginning of the manifestation of permanent limbs in the animal world. These elementary creatures have also evolved rudimentary mouth-openings, and also a short gullet which is a rudimentary throat, windpipe, and food-passage.
Then come the Sponges, slimy creatures employing a spongy, soft skeleton (the latter being what we commonly call “sponges”). This creature also employs whip-like filaments with which to gather its food. Then come the Polyps, which fasten themselves to floating objects, mouth downward, with tentacles serving to seize their food. The Jellyfishes which belong to this family also have rudimentary muscles, the contraction of which enables the creature to “swim.” They also possess a rudimentary nervous system, and rudimentary eyes and ears. Next in the ascending scale come the Star-Fish, Sea-Urchin, and their kind, some of which possess a well defined nervous system, a true stomach, and eyes. Then come the Annulosa, or jointed creatures, comprising the various families of Worms, Crabs, Spiders, Ants, etc. This great family of creatures comprises nearly four-fifths of the known life-forms of the animal kingdom. Their bodies are well formed, and they have quite well-developed nervous systems, eyes, and other sense organs, and in some of the higher forms a circulatory system distributing a fluid akin to blood, which distributes the blood and oxygen to all parts of the body of the creature. Highest in the scale of this great family are the Insects, with their many varieties, the characteristics of which need not be described here, all being familiar with them. The wonders of spider-life, of ant-life, of bee-life, have been depicted by great naturalists, and the student will need no additional assurance of the presence of intelligence within the being of these tiny creatures and their relations in the insect world. Darwin once said that “the brain of the ant, although not much larger than a pin-point, is one of the most marvelous atoms of matter in the world, perhaps more so than the brain of man.” Then come the Mollusca, which group includes the oyster, clam, snail, etc. Some of the higher forms of this family show signs of a rudimentary vertebra, and may be considered as possibly the “connecting link” between the invertebrates and the Vertebrates.
Next in the ascending scale come the Vertebrates, so called by reason of the presence in them of a vertebra or spinal column, or “backbone,” and an internal skeleton as contrasted with the external skeleton of the lower forms of life. At the lowest end of the scale of the vertebrates are found the great family of Fishes, with high and low species. Then come the Reptiles, with its species of snakes, lizards, turtles, crocodiles, etc. There are many “connecting links”between the family of Fishes and that of the Reptiles; and also many between the family of Reptiles, and the family of Birds which is next highest in the scale. Among the birds, particularly in the Crow family, we find examples of a high degree of intelligence.
Next above the Birds come the Mammals, which is connected with the family of Birds by several strange “connecting links”—for instance the Australian Duck-Bill, which strange creature lays eggs, and then when her eggs are hatched nourishes them with milk from her breast. In the great family of Mammals, are the following sub-families of animals, viz.:The Monotremes, or half-bird, half-mammal creatures; the Marsupials, or milk-giving, pouched animals, which carry their imperfectly developed young in an extended pouch until maturity—such as the opossum and kangaroo; the Placentals, or creatures having the placenta or appendage through which the young is nourished in the womb before birth—that is the Royal Line through which the higher forms of the Mammals proceeded.
Among the Placentals, are found the following sub-families: The Edentata, or toothless creatures, such as the sloths, ant-eaters, armadillos, etc.; the Sirena, or sea cows, manatees, dugongs, etc.; the Cetacea, or whales, dolphins, porpoises, etc., which resemble fishes but which are true mammals, bringing forth matured young which are nourished at the breast; the Ungluta, or hoofed animals, such as the horse, the cow, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the pig, the camel, the deer, the sheep, etc.; the Hyracoidea, or family of the coney, rock, rabbit, etc.; the Proboscidea, or trunked animals, such as the elephants; the Carnivora, or flesh- eaters, including the seal, the bear, the dog, the wolf, the lion, the tiger, the leopard, etc. The wolf and similar animals belong to the sub-family of dogs; while the lion, tiger, and similar animals belong to the sub-family of cats; the Rodentia, or gnawers, including the rat, the hare, the beaver, the squirrel, the mouse, etc.; the Insectivora, or insect-feeders, such as the mole, the shrew, the hedgehog, etc.; the Cheiroptera, or wing-fingered animals, including the great families of bats, etc.; the Lemuroidea, or Lemur family, the individuals of which resemble a monkey in general appearance, but have in addition a long bushy tail and a sharp muzzle like a fox—they are like a small fox having hands and feet like a monkey; the Primates, or family of creatures like the monkey, baboon, man-apes, gibbons, gorillas, chimpanzees, orang- outang, and finally, the “connecting links” between the apish forms and Man.
In this ascending scale of animal life the student will perceive countless varieties and species, subspecies and variations among species. And in each there will be perceived some slight difference in the degree and quality of the intelligence manifested by the creature. Even among the individuals of the same species there is found a great variation in such manifestations. But throughout it all, there is perceived to be a certain general plane of consciousness which may be called “The Animal Plane” as distinguished from “The Mineral Plane” on the one hand, and “The Human Plane” on the other hand.
The Plane of the Human
Passing from the Plane of Animal Consciousness to that of the Plane of Human Consciousness, we soon become cognizant of the presence of a new element of consciousness. This element is known as “Self Consciousness,” or the consciousness which enables Man to say, knowingly, of himself “I am I”—to identify himself as the Thinker, apart from the thoughts; the Actor apart from the action; the Feeler, apart from the feelings; the Willer, apart from the voluntary activities; the Conscious Subject, apart from the phenomena of the senses. It is true that in the primitive forms of human life this new consciousness exists but as a faint dawn, but it is latent there; and as the ascent of Man progresses this new conscious flames out in higher and still higher forms. What this new element of Self- Consciousness is, we shall see presently.
In thinking of Man, we must remember that primitive human beings—little removed from the apes—are as much Man as is the highest individual of the race today, or as will be his still higher descendant of tomorrow. And we must not forget that the Plane of Human Consciousness is closely linked to, and blended with, the Plane of Animal Consciousness, at one of its sides. The best scientific, and the best occult teaching hold that the man and the ape descended from some common ancestral form in the long ages past; the common ancestor was the trunk from which the Man branch sprung on one side and the ape branch sprung on the other.
It must not be forgotten that the lowest races of Man known to us today are as far removed in degree of intelligence from the highest known types of mankind as from the highest apes or man-apes. In fact, many think that evolution from the highest apes to the Kaffir, Hottentot, or Digger Indian is no more difficult than would be the evolution of those lowly types of human life up to the types of Emerson, Shakespeare, Huxley, Darwin, Edison and other high types of cultured man. Huxley has shown us that the brain structure of Man as compared with the Chimpanzee shows differences but slight as compared to the differences between that of the Chimpanzee and that of the Lemur. He also shows us that in the important feature of the deeper brain-furrows, and intricate convolutions, the chasm between the highest civilized man and the lowest savage is far greater than between the lowest savage and the highest man- ape. Darwin, in his description of the very low type of human beings found among the Fuegian savages, says: “Their very signs and expressions are less intelligible to us than those of the domesticated animal. They are men who do not possess the instinct of those animals, nor yet appear to boast of human reason, or at least of the arts consequent upon that reason.”
Professor Clodd, in his description of the Primitive Man says: “Doubtless he was lower than the lowest of the savages of today—a powerful, cunning biped, with keen sense organs always sharper, by virtue of constant exercise, in the savage than in the civilized man (who supplements them by science), strong instincts, uncontrolled and fitful emotions, small faculty of wonder, and nascent reasoning power; unable to forecast tomorrow, or to comprehend yesterday, living from hand to mouth on the wild products of Nature, clothed in skin and bark, or daubed with clay, and finding shelter in trees and caves; ignorant of the simplest arts, save to chip a stone missile, and perhaps to produce fire; strong in his needs of life and vague sense of right to it and to what he could get, but slowly impelled by common perils and passions to form ties, loose and haphazard at the outset, with his kind, the power of combination with them depending on sounds, signs and gestures.”
The consideration of that characteristic phase of Consciousness known as the Self- Consciousness of Man will be pursued further in the succeeding chapter, in which chapter will also be taken up the consideration of the two still higher Planes of Consciousness known as “The Plane of the Demi-Gods,” and “The Plane of the Gods,” respectively.
Part 8. The Three Higher Planes Of Consciousness
We have now reached that stage of our presentation of the subject of the Secret Doctrine of the Rosicrucians, and particularly of that phase known as the Seven Planes of Consciousness, in which we ask the student to consider those phases of Consciousness above the Plane of Animal Consciousness. Accordingly our present consideration is with those three great Planes of Consciousness which begin with the Plane of Human Consciousness, and include the Planes of the Consciousness of the Demi-Gods, and which find their highest manifestation on the Plane of the Consciousness of the Gods.
While these three higher Planes of Consciousness are included in the Rosicrucian symbol of the seven Planes of Consciousness, i.e., the seven linked circles, the Rosicrucians have also a special symbol by which they seek to indicate these three wonderful higher Planes of Consciousness, viz.: the symbol of the three linked circles. It will be noticed here, also, that each of the circles are linked with the two on either side of it,—the circumference of each circle extending over that of the two others on either side of it; this indicates that each Plane of Consciousness is blended with the others, a truth which will be made more apparent as we progress without commentary on the teaching in this chapter.
V. The Plane of Human Consciousness
The Plane of Human Consciousness, as its name indicates, is that plane of conscious activity which is manifested by human beings, high and low, in varying degrees. This Plane of Consciousness, like all the others of the Seven Planes of Consciousness, is divided into seven sub-planes, and each of these into seven, and so on, as explained in preceding chapters of this book.
Figure 11. Symbol of the Three Higher Planes of Consciousness
Moreover, at one pole this plane is linked with, and blends into the highest sub-planes of the Plane of Animal Consciousness; while at its other pole it blends into the lower subplanes of the next highest plane, i.e., the Plane of the Consciousness of the Demi-Gods. Again, following the symbol of the Three Linked Circles, the same individual who manifests on the Plane of Human Consciousness is (in a measure) in touch with the two higher planes, known, respectively, as the Plane of the Consciousness of the Demi-Gods, and the Plane of Consciousness of the Gods.
The reason that the Rosicrucians place these three higher planes of consciousness in a trinity of circles, apparently apart from the lower four planes, is that on these three higher planes of consciousness the individual soul manifests Self-Consciousness, or the consciousness of “I Am,” in at least a certain degree; while on the lower four planes this consciousness of “I” is entirely absent, and the mental activity is more or less automatic and instinctive. This distinction will be brought out as we proceed.
On the very lowest forms of Human Consciousness, the man’s mental and emotional activity is but little more than that of the higher animals—in fact, in some cases the animals actually seem to display a greater degree of intellectual power, though on instinctive lines. But even in the lowest forms of human life there appears at least a faint glimmering of Self- Consciousness, or the conviction that “I Am I,” that form of consciousness by means of which the human individual becomes aware of himself as an individual entity. This, rather
than the degree of intellectual development, is the characteristic distinguishing mark of the human being.
It is quite difficult to describe clearly in words the actual distinction between the highest forms of animal consciousness, and the lowest forms of the self-consciousness of the human being, although the difference between the highest animal and the highest man in this respect is quite marked. Admitting the difficulty of the explanation, it may be said that while even in the case of the highest animal the consciousness is always directed outward, in even the lowest type of man there is at least a faint degree of the inward direction of consciousness. The animal always thinks of outside things, while even the primitive man occasionally thinks of himself—makes himself the object of his own thoughts, in at least the sense of considering his own feelings, ideas, etc., and comparing them with others previously had by him. Or again, there is no “inside world,” or “something within,” to the animal; while man always (at least in some degree) is aware of the “inside world,” or the “something within” as distinguished from the “something without.”
A favorite illustration of the psychologists, employed by them to point out the distinction between the “simple consciousness” of the higher animal, and the “self consciousness” of the human being is stated by a writer as follows: “A horse standing out in the cold sleet and rain undoubtedly feels the discomfort, and possibly the pain, for we know by observations that the animals feel both. But the horse is not able to analyze his mental states and to wonder when his piaster will come out to him; or to think how cruel it is to keep him out of the warm stable; or to wonder whether he will be taken out in the cold again tomorrow; or to feel envious of other horses who are indoors; or to wonder why he is compelled to be out on cold nights, etc., etc.—just as a man would do under the same circumstances. He is aware of the discomfort, just as is the man and he would run home if he could, just as would the man. But he is not able to pity himself, nor to think about his individuality or his personality, as would the man—nor does he wonder whether such a life is worth living, after all. He ‘knows,’ but does not ‘know that he knows,’ as does the man. The animal cannot ‘know himself.’”
But we must not fall into the error of supposing that the primitive man, or even the less- developed individuals of modern civilization, possess this faculty of self-conscious to a high degree. On the contrary, with both of these types this form of consciousness may be said to exist merely in a “dawn state”—and yet the “dawn” is a distinct advance upon the darkness of the mental night. A modern psychologist says of the comparatively higher forms of self- consciousness: “Many persons never have more than a misty idea of such a mental attitude. They always take themselves for granted, and never turn the gaze inward.”
The development of the higher forms of self-consciousness may be noted in the gradual unfoldment of the mind of the young child—for on the mental, as well as on the physical plane, the young of the human being rapidly passes through and reproduces the stages of the evolution of its ancestral forms. At a certain stage of the mental evolution or development of the young child there comes a particular period at which the child seems to awaken to a dawning realization that it is an individual, instead of being merely a bunch of feelings and desires. Up to a certain point the young child speaks of itself in the third person, i.e., as “Johnny,” “Mary,” etc. Then all of a sudden it begins to employ the terms “I” or “Me” in speaking of itself—though it may make grammatical errors in using these pronouns, nevertheless, there is never any doubt left that the child knows just what they stand for: it knows “I am I.”
Some psychologists call attention to the fact that many children experience a feeling of something akin to terror when they first reach this sense of “I,” or individuality. Some writers have testified to having felt a strange sense of Aloneness, and detachment from all other
things, when this sense of individuality first burst upon them in early childhood. In some cases the fuller dawn of self-consciousness is accompanied by a newly developed bashfulness, shyness, or that more or less morbid state known by the common name “self conscious.” With the faculty of introspection, there often comes the tendency to employ the same too freely, and thus to become morbid on the one hand, or else foolishly egotistical and vain on the other hand.
A writer well says of this particular state of newly awakened consciousness: “Although this feeling of separateness and apartness grows less acute as the man grows older, yet it is always present to a greater or less degree until a still higher stage is reached, when it disappears. And this self-conscious stage is painful to many. Many find themselves entangled in a mass of mental states which one thinks is himself, or inextricably bound up with himself, and the struggle between the awakening Ego and its confining sheaths is very painful in some cases. And this becomes more painful as the individual advances in self-consciousness and nears the end at which he is to find deliverance. Man eats of the Tree of Knowledge and begins to suffer, and is driven out of the garden of Eden of the child consciousness in which the individual has lived like the birds, concerning not himself about the affairs of his higher nature. Man pays dearly for the gift of Self-Consciousness—yet it is worth it all, for finally he reaches heights of higher consciousness and is delivered from his burden.”
With the dawning awareness of one’s own mental states, one comes to the realization that other human beings possess similar states, and one begins to speculate and reason about the working of these states in others. Then comes the desire to communicate one’s ideas to the mind of the others, and to appeal to his feelings or reason. All this promotes the development of Intellect and logical thought, which is a marked characteristic of evolving human consciousness. Man begins to seek for an answer to the many “whys” which are presenting themselves to him, and he seeks to reason from the known to the unknown. He proceeds to invent appliances conducive to the accomplishment of things which lie desires. He harnesses his Intellect to the chariot of his Desires, and drives it along by command of Will, the chariot- driver.
Man, indeed, pays a price for this advanced consciousness, as we have said. He pays a constantly increasing price as he advances into the new territory of conscious existence and experience. The more he knows, the more he desires; and the more he desires, the more does he suffer from the pain of not having. Capacity for pain is the price man pays for his advance in the scale; but he has a corresponding capacity for pleasure accompanying it. He has not only the pain of unsatisfied desires for possession of material things, and physical wants, but also the pain arising from the lack of intelligent answers to the ever-increasing volume of problems presenting themselves for solution to his evolving intellect; and lie also has pain of unsatisfied longings, disappointments, frustrated aims and ambitions, and all the rest of the list.
The animal lives its life and is contented—for it knows no better. If it has enough to eat, a place to sleep, a mate, it is satisfied, and asks no more—it has few needs, and, while its degree of happiness is not great, it lacks the capacity for mental and emotional pain possessed by those higher in the scale. And many men are but little above this stage—they are easily satisfied; they are ignorant of the unsatisfied desires which render others unhappy. They have no unanswered questions—they do not even dream of the existence of such questions. But as man progresses, his wants multiply, and his pain increases. New wants are but partly satisfied, and the unsatisfied remainder bring pain to him. Civilization becomes more and more complex, and new wants and lacks manifest themselves. Man attaches himself to “things,” and creates for himself artificial wants which he must labor to meet. His intellect often fails to lead him upward, and too often merely enables him to invent new and subtle means and ways of gratifying his senses in a way impossible to the animals or primitive man. Some men make a religion of the gratification of their sensuality and their appetites, and sink below the level of the beasts in this respect. Others become vain, conceited, and filled with an inflated sense of the importance of their personality. Others become morbidly introspective, and spend their time analyzing and dissecting their moods, motives, and feelings. Others exhaust their capacity for pleasure and happiness, by looking outside of themselves for happiness, instead of within. These are the dark shadows cast by the bright light of Human Consciousness, however—the shadows always found as the “opposite” of all real evolutionary progress.
As man progresses in the scale of Self Consciousness, however, he finds himself gradually detaching his sense of the Self from its sheaths and working tools. He begins to realize that there is an “I Am” within his being, to which all the feelings, the emotions, the desires, and even the thoughts and ideas, are but incidents. In this high stage he perceives himself to be an “I Am” surrounded by his mental and emotional tools and belongings—a Sun surrounded by its whirling worlds and activities. He realizes that the Ego is not only superior to the body, but also to the “mind” and feelings; and he learns now only how to master and intelligently use his body, but also how to intelligently master and use his Intellect and his Emotions.
A well known writer has said of Man in this advanced stage: “If we are willing to believe in this mastery over the body, we must be prepared to believe in the mastery over our own inner thoughts and feelings. That a man should be a prey to any thought that chances to take possession of his mind is commonly among us assumed as unavoidable. It may be a matter of regret that he should be kept awake all night from anxiety as to the issue of a lawsuit on the morrow, but that he should have the power of determining whether he should be kept awake or not seems an extravagant demand. The image of an impending calamity is no doubt odious, but its very odiousness (we say) makes it haunt the mind all the more pertinaciously and it is useless to expel it.
“Yet this is an absurd notion—for man, the heir of all the ages: hag ridden by the flimsy creatures of his own brain. If a pebble in our boots torments us, we expel it. We take off the boot and shake it out. And once the matter is fairly understood it is just as easy to expel an intruding and obnoxious thought from the mind. About this there ought to be no mistake, no two opinions. The thing is obvious, clear and unmistakable. It should be as easy to expel an obnoxious thought from the mind as it is to shake a stone out of your shoe; and till a man can do that it is just nonsense to talk about his ascendancy over Nature, and all the rest of it. He is a mere slave, and prey to the bat-winged phantoms that flit through the corridors of his own brain. Yet the weary and careworn faces that we meet by thousands; even among the affluent classes of civilization, testify only too clearly how seldom this mastery is obtained. How rare indeed to meet a man. How common rather to discover a creature hounded on by tyrant thoughts (or cares or desires), cowering, wincing under the lash—or perchance priding himself to run merrily in obedience to a driver that rattles the reins and persuades him that he is free—whom we cannot converse with in a careless tete-a-tete because that alien presence is always there, on the watch.
It is one of the most promising doctrines of certain schools of occult philosophy that the power of expelling thoughts, or if need be, killing them dead on the spot, must be attained. Naturally the art requires practice, but like other arts, when once acquired there is no mystery or difficulty about it. And it is worth practice. It may indeed fairly be said that life only begins when this art has been acquired. For obviously when, instead of being ruled by individual thoughts, the whole flock of them in their immense multitude and variety and
capacity is ours to direct and dispatch and employ where we list, life becomes a thing so vast and grand compared with what it was before, that its former condition may well appear almost antenatal. If you can kill a thought dead, for the time being, you can do anything with it that you please. And therefore it is that this power is so valuable. And it not only frees a man from mental torment (which is nine-tenths at least of the torments of life), but it gives to him a concentrated power of handling mental work absolutely unknown to him before. The two things are correlative to each other.
“While at work your thought is to be actually concentrated in it, undistracted by anything whatever irrelevant to the matter in hand—pounding away like a great engine, with giant power and perfect economy—no wear and tear of friction, or dislocation of parts owing to the working of different forces at the same time. Then when the work is finished, if there is no more occasion for the use of the machine, it must stop equally, absolutely—stop entirely— no worrying (as if a parcel of boys were allowed to play their devilments with a locomotive as soon as it was in the shed)—and the man must retire into that region of his consciousness where his true self dwells. I say that the power of the thought-machine itself is enormously increased by this faculty of letting it alone on the one hand, and of using it singly and with concentration on the other. It becomes a true tool, which a master-workman lays down when done with, but which only a bungler carries about with him all the time to show that he is the possessor of it.”
If the student will master the idea expressed in the above several quoted paragraphs, he will indeed become a Master of Mind. And if he will extend the idea to the field of his Emotions, and will put into practice there the same idea and method, he will also become a Master of his Emotions—an accomplishment of inestimable value. But, before doing either of these things he will find it necessary to come to a full realization of the fact that his Self—his real “I”—is a Something superior to and transcending both his Thought and his Emotions. He must enter into a vivid realization of the “I AM,” before he may hope to be able to say “I Do” regarding these accomplishments. As the old Rosicrucian masters were wont to say: “When the ‘I’ knows itself to be the Self and Master, then only is it able to take its throne and enforce its will upon its subjects in the world of its thoughts, desires, feelings, and emotions.”
Not only may the enlightened “I” manifest its power along the lines above indicated, but it may also work its will in that region which popular modern psychology has chosen to call “The Sub-Conscious Mind.” The latter is merely that great region of mind outside of the limits of the concentrated field of attention. In that great region a great part of the thinking of the average man is performed, the results being flashed into the field of his attention in a more or less haphazard way. Without going deeply into the subject, we would say here that the man who has grasped the reality and power of the “I” is able to issue positive commands to this part of his mental machinery, and not only cause it to perform the work of thought classification, induction and deduction, for him, but also to present the report of such work to his conscious attention at any specified time and place. The Masters of Mind relieve themselves of much of the drudgery of ordinary intellectual processes in this way, and obtain results logically perfect and ready for use, according to the measure of training and direction which they have been able to impose upon the aforesaid regions of their mind.
In conclusion, it should be called to the attention of the student that the average man “consciouses” only on some of the lower subplanes and subdivisions of The Plane of Human Consciousness; and that there are wonderful regions within that great plane awaiting the exploration of the wise of the race, and the generations of the distant future. The wise of the race are not waiting for the centuries-long slow evolution of the bulk of the race, but are taking the “short cut” to the higher sub-planes by means of careful training along the lines indicated by capable teachers who have demonstrated the virtue and value of the methods which have been known to and taught by the advanced occultists for thousands of years, the Rosicrucian Teachings being splendid examples of such achievements.
Even without calling upon the two still higher Planes of Consciousness, the enlightened race may reach heights of mental achievement which are so far above those dreamed of by the average person of the race as to appear like the wildest fiction.
VI. The Plane of the Consciousness of the Demi-Gods.
There is a Plane of Consciousness so much higher than even the Plane of Human Consciousness—of even the highest sub-planes of that great plane—that the Rosicrucians have applied to it the somewhat fanciful term of “The Plane of Consciousness of the Demi- Gods.” This, because the individual who attains these heights, and is able to “conscious” on this plane is so much higher than mere Man that he seems to be “almost as the gods.” The Rosicrucians teach that on this high plane of being dwell certain very advanced souls—once men, but now almost as gods when compared to men—who aid in the great work of the advancement of the race of men in the general course of spiritual evolution.
The teaching is that the race as a whole is slowly evolving on to the said higher Plane of Consciousness, and long ages from now will “conscious” normally on it. In the meantime, however, certain advanced souls have transcended the Human Plane, and have passed on to the higher plane, where they aid and assist the rest of the race. Moreover, to the individual whose unfoldment is rapid, from one or more of many well-known causes, there come at times “flashes of consciousness” from the higher plane aforesaid, which at least for the time being bring the individual into conscious contact with that plane. The pages of the mystic records are filled with statements of experiences of this kind. In certain forms of poetic fervor, religious exaltation, and mystic experience, these flashes come and are then recorded by the individual experiencing them—the record, however, usually being given in the terms of the philosophy, religion, or general belief of the person experiencing the contact or “illumination,” the person not fully realizing from just what source the flash of Truth has come.
In recent years many of these experiences have been classified and included in works of writers, under the general name of “Cosmic Consciousness.” In most cases the persons having attained these experiences, and those who have recorded them, are of the opinion that the flash of consciousness realized is the highest possible. But, as wonderful as are these experiences, they are in most cases but flashes of insight of the light of some of the lower sub-planes of the great Plane of the Demi-Gods—countless higher planes being existent and awaiting the unfoldment of being to experience their light and glory, and beyond all of such there existing the highest plane of all, the Plane of the Gods, to which all the rest is as but a faint shadow of the reality.
The characteristic feature of the Plane of Consciousness of the Demi-Gods is that of Oneness with Universal Life—the consciousness of the Life of All-Manifestation. Varying in many degrees and forms, of course, this is the characteristic feature of all experiences of this great plane of conscious activity. On this plane, the individual feels in close touch with all the rest of Creation—a united part of (not apart from) the ALL. The experience of even a slight momentary contact with this plane of being constitutes the common “mystic experience,” of which sages, seers, poets, and illumined souls of all ages have sung, and regarding which they have tried to inform us in words inadequate to the task. The study of these mystic reports throw much light on the subject, and is well worth the time and attention of all true students of the Rosicrucian teaching. But the student must always remember that these experiences are not the end of all thought on the subject, nor the final word of Truth. As valuable as is this part of the teaching, it must never be mistaken for the highest peak of the Mountain of Truth.
To those who have experienced the flashes of Illumination, or the glimpse of the Fire of Cosmic Consciousness—both of which classes of phenomena belong to the Plane of the Consciousness of the Demi-Gods—there has come a realization of the actual Oneness of Life in the Universe, and an actual awareness that the Universe is animated by One Life which is diffused among and permeates every portion of its extent and manifestation. To such has come an assurance that there is nothing “dead” in the Universe—that every part and portion, individual and collective, is instinct. with Life. Not only this, but for at least the time of the experience there has come a sense of absolute certainty that the individual is in touch with this One Life, and is an actual centre of activity within its presence.
It should be pointed out, moreover, that in such experiences there is not merely the intellectual conviction of the certainty of the facts just stated, but that, on the contrary, there is manifested an actual. “knowing,” direct and immediate, of such facts. The person having the experience knows these things just as he knows that he himself is alive and present in the universe. It is impossible to convey the exact nature of this consciousness to any who have not had at least a faint flash of it. It can be described only in its own terms.
In most of these cases, while the actual consciousness has passed away after a few moments, there has been left a memory which abides ever with the individual, and which gives to him such a certainty of the truth of which he has been a witness that nothing can ever shake his conviction thereof. It must be remembered that these flashes of consciousness are prophecies of the stage of consciousness which at some future time will become the normal state of consciousness of the race. Moreover, it must not be forgotten that there exist certain advanced souls on this earth to whom this stage or state of consciousness is the normal and habitual one—and in whom there always exists a realization in actual consciousness of At-One-Ment with the Universal Life. Such beings are indeed Demi-Gods, as compared to the average human being. Some of the great world leaders—the founders of great religions, and others of their kind, were filled with this consciousness and strove to make it manifest in a veiled form to their followers who were not strong enough to bear the full truth. Many of these great souls are still present on the earth-plane in the flesh, in newly incarnated forms, continuing their work and striving to uplift the race.
A modern poet expressing the conviction of Universal Oneness of Life uses terms which will be recognized by all who have had flashes of Cosmic Consciousness, as follows:
“For the All is One, and all are part,
And not apart as they seem to be;
And the blood of Life has a single heart,
Beating through God, and clod, and Me!”
Walt Whitman, who himself had experienced Cosmic Consciousness, says of the experience:
“As in a swoon, one instant
Another sun, ineffable, full dazzles me,
And all the orbs I knew, and brighter, unknown orbs,
One instant of the future land, Heaven’s land.”
**********
“I cannot be awake, for nothing looks to me as it did before,Or else I am awake for the first time, and all before has been a mean sleep.
**********
“When I try to tell the best I find, I cannot;
My tongue is ineffectual on its pivots,
My breath will not be obedient to its organs,
I become a dumb man.”
Tennyson, according to his friends had glimpses and flashes of Cosmic Consciousness, and in many of his poems he has given expression to the thoughts and feelings which had come to him at that time. The following is a good illustration of the latter:
“For knowledge is the swallow on the lake
That sees and stirs the surface-shadow there,
But never yet hath dippt into the abysm,
The Abysm of all Abysms, beneath, within
The blue of sky and sea, the green of earth,
And in a million-millionth of a grain
Which cleft and cleft again for evermore
And ever vanishing, never vanishes *
And more, my son, for more than once when I
Sat all alone, revolving in myself
That word which is the symbol of myself,
The mortal symbol of Self was loosed,
And passed into the Nameless, as a cloud
Melts into Heaven. I touched my limbs, the limbs
Were strange, not mine—and yet no shadow of doubt,
But utter clearness, and through loss of Self
The gain of such large life as matched with ours
Were Sun to spark, unshadowable in words,
Themselves but shadows of a shadow-world.”
Dr. Richard Maurice Bucke, of Toronto, Canada, a number of years ago published a book entitled “Cosmic Consciousness,” in which he grouped together a number of very interesting experiences along these lines which had been related by those experiencing them; Dr. Bucke himself, as well as his friend Walt Whitman, and several other close friends, had experienced flashes of this same stage of consciousness. He deduces the following general idea from the consideration of these experiences:
“Superimposed upon self-consciousness as is that faculty upon simple-consciousness, a third and higher form of consciousness is at present making its appearance in our race. This higher form of consciousness, when it appears, occurs as it must, at the full maturity of the individual, at about the age of thirty-five, but almost always between the ages of thirty and forty. There have been occasional cases of it for the last two thousand years, and it is becoming more and more common. In fact, in all appearances, as far as observed, it obeys the laws to which every nascent faculty is subject. Many more or less perfect examples of this new faculty exist in the world today, and it has been my privilege to know personally and to have had the opportunity of studying, several men and women who have possessed it. In the course of a few more millenniums there should be born from the present human race, a higher type of man, possessing this higher type of consciousness. This new race, as it may well be called, would occupy toward us a position such as that occupied by us toward the simple conscious ‘alulus homo.’ The advent of this higher, better and happier race would simply justify the long agony of its birth through countless ages of our past. And it is the first article of my belief, some of the grounds for which I have endeavored to lay before you, that a new race is in course of evolution.”
In another part of his book, Dr. Bucke gives the following general characteristics of the special type of experiences recorded by him in the book:
“I have, in the last three years, collected twenty-three cases of this so-called cosmic consciousness. In each case the onset or incoming of the new faculty is always sudden, instantaneous. Among the unusual feelings the mind experiences is a sudden sense of being immersed in flame or in a brilliant light. This occurs entirely without worrying or outward cause, and may occur at noonday or in the middle of the night, and the person at first may feel that he is becoming insane. Along with these feelings comes a sense of immortality; not merely a feeling of certainty that there is a future life—that would be a small matter—but a pronounced consciousness that the life now being lived is eternal, death being seen as a trivial incident which does not affect its continuity. Further, there is an annihilation of the sense of sin, and an intellectual competency, not simply surpassing the old plane, but on an entirely new and higher plane. * The cosmic conscious race will not be the race that exists today, and more than the present is the same race that existed prior to the evolution of self- consciousness. A new race is being born from us, and this new race will in the near future possess the earth.”
Emerson is his wonderful essay on “The Over-Soul” clearly indicates his knowledge of the experiences mentioned herein in connection with what has been called “Cosmic Consciousness.” The following quotations therefrom will serve to disclose his general thought on the subject:
“Always, I believe, by the necessity of our constitution, a certain enthusiasm attends the individual’s consciousness of that divine presence. The character and duration of this enthusiasm varies with the state of the individual, from an ecstasy and trance and prophetic inspiration—which is its rarer appearance—to the faintest glow of virtuous emotion, in which form it warms, like our household fires, all the families and associations of men, and makes society possible. A certain tendency to insanity has always attended the opening of the religious sense in men, as if ‘blasted with excess of light.’ The trances of Socrates; the ‘Union’ of Plotinus; the vision of Porphyry; the conversion of Paul; the aurora of Behmen; the convulsions of George Fox and his Quakers; the illumination of Swedenborg are of this kind. What was in the case of these remarkable persons a ravishment has in innumerable instances in common life been exhibited in a less striking manner. Everywhere the history of religion betrays a tendency to enthusiasm. The rapture of the Moravian and Quietist; the opening of the internal sense of the Word, in the language of the New Jerusalem Church; the revival of the Calvinistic Churches; the experiences of the Methodists, are varying forms of that shudder of awe and delight with which the individual soul always mingles with the universal soul. The nature of these revelations is always the same; they are perceptions of the absolute law. They are solutions of the soul’s own questions. The soul answers never by words, but by the thing itself that is inquired after. * We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal One. And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self- sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing, and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are One. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun and moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul. It is only by the vision of that Wisdom that the horoscope of the ages can be read, and it is only by falling back on our better thoughts, by yielding to the spirit of prophesy which is innate in every man that we can know what it saith. Every man’s words, who speaks from that life, must sound vain to those who do not dwell in the same thought on their own part. I dare not speak for it. My words do not carry its august sense; they fall short and cold. Only itself can inspire whom it will, and behold, their speech shall be lyrical and sweet, and universal as the rising of the wind. Yet I desire, even by profane words, if sacred I may not use, to indicate the heaven of this deity, and to report what hints I have collected of the transcendent simplicity and energy of the Highest Law.”
So such are the general reports of the nature and character of these glimpses of this Universal Consciousness which men here and there have experienced in all times. Let us now consider the powers kindled in those to whom glimpses (or more) of this consciousness has come. For an increase in “knowing” always brings with it an increase in power, according to the law of cause and effect.
In the first place, the possession by an individual of even a faint dawn of this Universal Consciousness, by whatever name it may be known, endows him with a certain “in touchness” with all the rest of Life. By a subtle intuition he may, under favorable circumstances, speak, write, paint, act, or produce music representing phase of vital, mental, and emotional activity transcending any actual experience on his own part. Such an individual becomes “en rapport” with, or “in tune” with, the manifold variety of living forms, and is able to produce a representation thereof through his own expression. This is the secret of the “genius” of great artists, writers, musicians, poets, and others who express through their own respective mediums or vehicles the messages they receive from the other forms of life with which they are connected by subtle filaments of unity. Such a one can “enter into” (in imagination) the life experiences of any and all forms of life, and to then represent them in visible or audible form in a degree depending upon their own development.
Moreover, such individuals are “universal” in their sympathies, and can feel with any form of life with which they come in contact. And as a consequence of the latter, they tend to inspire in other persons and living creatures a “liking,” fellowship, and understanding. Many of the great illumined souls of the race, having this consciousness in at least some degree, find themselves “at home” with all manners and conditions of mankind, and in many cases with the lower life forms as well. Sympathy has been defined as “a fellow feeling,” and it may be seen at once that when one has a feeling of fellowship with all Life (and such individuals have this to some degree), then there are created certain bonds and links of sympathy and unity which serve to unite the individual more or less strongly to all living things. In the case of the great teachers of the race, such as the founders of the great religions and similar souls, we find that universal sympathy with and understanding of all life which sets such individuals apart as marked and distinguished men, and imparts to them a universality which makes them citizens of all countries and dwellers in all time.
Again, we find that in the case of many individuals of this type there exists a certain power of attraction for other forms of life and things, which enables them to attract to themselves those conditions, environments, and persons best adapted to their wellbeing and happiness; and which also gives them certain so-called “miraculous” powers over Nature. He who is consciously identical with Nature is able to work “miracles” with Nature. We cannot go deeper into this subject at this time and place, for several very good reasons, but the above is a strong hint to those who are prepared to hear and understand the truth concerning certain phases of Life and Nature.
What we have said so far in our consideration of the individualsmanifesting flashes or glimpses of this phase of consciousness, applies in a much greater degree to those who have penetrated fully into the higher sub-planes of this great Plane of Consciousness. On this planet, and on others, dwell Beings so fully awakened and unfolded in this phase of consciousness that they are as Supernatural Beings to the ordinary human being. Many of such beings are performing important offices in the unfoldment of the race and the betterment of mankind. Many of these people have been regarded as Angels or Demi- Gods by ordinary people with whom they have come in contact in the past, and many of them are the Invisible Helpers of whose presence many of the race have been made aware by actual experiences.
Many of the White Magicians of the race belong to the higher phases of this great Plane of Consciousness. And, alas, some who are what is known as Black Magicians have managed to “break into the Kingdom of Heaven” on these planes, and have prostituted their power; but to such inevitably comes punishment by Nature herself, and are either forced into the legions of Light or else are disintegrated and destroyed by the very forces of Nature which they have set into operation for selfish and ignoble purposes.
VII. The Plane of the Consciousness of the Gods
If, as we have seen, it is most difficult to speak in understandable terms concerning the phases of life and activity on the last mentioned Plane of Consciousness, what must be the difficulty of even hinting at the life and activities of the highest plane of all—the Plane of the Consciousness of the Gods
On this highest of all Planes of Consciousness, however, dwell beings so high in the scale of knowledge, power, life, and bliss that even the imagination of the advanced student or teacher can scarcely grasp the idea. This is the Plane of the Gods, in verity—of being so far advanced that they are practically akin to the conception of the Gods created by man to account for the Universe, and to serve as objects of worship.
On this Plane are Personal Gods—many of them—but none of them, alone, may be regarded as GOD, in the sense of the Eternal Parent or Infinite Reality. For even the highest of them have their limitations and restrictions, and all are but Manifestations of the Infinite Unmanifest. Each of these exalted Beings has had its beginning or birth in Manifestation, and each will finally have its ending and disappearance into the Infinite Unmanifest, where all sense of separateness and personality will disappear.
The highest authorities inform us that the characteristic element of this highest form of all consciousness is the conscious realization of the individual that he IS identical with the Infinite, and is only apparently separated therefrom by the most tenuous and subtle veil of illusion.
Strange as it may appear to one not acquainted with the subject, glimpses and flashes of this consciousness, in rare instances, filter down into the consciousness of individuals on this earth at the present time, and have done so in the past. Many of the brave souls and keen minds of the Illumined have actually pierced the veil of this plane, and have been almost blinded by the light that has flashed upon them.
The consideration of this Plane of Consciousness must be closed here, for reasons which the advanced occultist will at once realize, and which the less advanced student must be told are adequate. Many, not prepared for the full Light must be protected from spiritual and mental blindness by being exposed to rays before they have become accustomed to the lesser lights of the Truth. Rest assured, however, O student, that when your eyes are ready to gaze upon the Sacred Flame, it will no longer be hidden from you.
The Truth in Symbols
There are certain truths which cannot be well expressed in words, but which may be at least partially expressed in symbols. To those who feel a desire to penetrate rather more deeply into the Mystery of. the Three Higher Planes of Consciousness, we call attention to the symbol accompanying this particular chapter of this book. There is a wealth of knowledge
and important information hidden in this symbol, undiscoverable to the many but at least partially discoverable by the few. To the Few, we offer the following suggestions concerning this Symbol.
Your attention is called to the fact that each circle in the symbol is called to and blended with the one on either side of it. Accordingly in the circular extent of each circle there is to be found FOUR different spaces or regions, as follows: (1) Its own unblended space or region; (2) the space or region in which its own space or region is blended with that of one of the neighboring circles, which constitutes a shield-shaped space; (3) the space or region in which its own space or region is blended with that of the other neighboring circle, constituting a shield-shaped space; and (4) the space or region in the very centre of the symbol, in which the space or region of each circle is blended with that of both of the other two—thus producing a Triune Region. This arrangement, again, furnishes us with SEVEN distinct regions, as follows (giving each circle the name of a letter, as A, B, or C, respectively) I. Circle A; II. Circle B; III. Circle C; IV. Space A-B; V. Space A-C; VI. Space B-C and finally VII. Region A-B-C, at the centre. There are thus three unblended areas; also three blended areas of two elements; and finally one blended area of three elements; the latter combining within itself all three elements in equal proportion. Let him who wishes for the Light solve this Riddle of the Symbol!
Comments