Theosophy - The Evolution of Man - by A.E.Clover - as published in Theosophical Siftings- Volume 7
THE EVOLUTION OF MAN
by A. E, CLOVER, F.T.S.
(A Paper read before the Ishwara Theosophical Society, Minneapolis, Minn.,)
As published in “Theosophical Siftings” - Volume 7
[Page 12] DOES The Secret Doctrine teach
that man evolved from the lower kingdoms ? The question, has humanity, as represented by man, evolved through
or from the lower kingdoms, is a question that to many minds remains unanswered. Up to, comparatively, a few
years ago, we of the Occidental world were content to accept the dead letter teaching of Genesis — that
man was made of the dust of the ground, — we accepted it as true without inquiry, because
it had been accepted as the word of God for many generations, therefore it must be true. But within this past
few years there has been a deep and earnest desire among a certain class of men, known as Scientists, who could
not believe the, to them, absurd theory, that man was made like a modeller in clay would make an image. To fathom
the mystery of the origin of sentient life these scientists looked for facts, and would accept nothing but facts,
every fact must be proven, and working on that line they gathered together a large number of facts as their working
hypothesis, upon which they built a startling "fact'' that man was only an educated ape. And to prove that "fact" they
produce other facts, as, for instance, the female ape nurses its young, so does woman; the ape does many things
in a manlike manner, the man does many things in an apelike manner — hence man must have had his origin
in the ape. But why should not the ape have had his origin in man ? That side of the question I suppose they
did not consider, but having decided that the ape was the origin of man, the origin of the ape must be inquired
into, more facts must be produced, and after proving many facts, they found the primal origin of the ape in a
jelly fish. So according to these great scientists man primarily was a jelly fish, or a protozoa, the lowest
imaginable form of life, and with that "fact" they appear to rest content.
But another class of men, students they are called, who delve into
old books and into the mysteries of ancient lore, they in their search for hidden knowledge found a very ancient
aphorism, which runs thus, "A stone
becomes a plant; a plant becomes a beast; a beast becomes a man; a man becomes a spirit; the spirit a God". Now,
they say, we have discovered the origin of man, man was at one time a stone. These students
[Page 13] are nearer the truth than the scientists, they are nearer the teaching
of Genesis, for what is dust but pulverized stone ? But you may say these students only carry the origin of man
farther back, — that is,
when the scientist stops at the protozoa, — that is true, so to make their claim good, the aid of science
is invoked, more facts must be sought. They found a fact and proved that there was a plant so like a something
that had been proven to be an animal, that it was decided that this plant and this animal were the links that
connected the animal to the vegetable kingdom. But more facts — deeper research — by the aid of geologists,
they look for the lowest form of plant life to connect the stone with the plant, what name they have given or
will give to it, I cannot say, but you may be sure that it will be a very scientific one.
The answer to the question, "Does The Secret Doctrine teach
that man evolved from the lower kingdoms?" hinges, in my judgment, on the meaning of two words, viz: — Monad
and Man, we will analyze them. First the Monad. Leibnitz says that a Monad is a centre of force, a mathematical
point without extension except in the direction of metaphysical dimension.
H.P.B. says in The Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page
167, that, "The
monads are not discrete principles, limited or conditioned, but rays from that one Universal Absolute Principle".
This, I think, is as strong as language can express it. A monad, then, is a ray of the Absolute, and as H.P.B.,
in footnote vi., page 174, says, " It
is not of this world or plane, it cannot either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of state
it passes through". If this is so, it is very evident that a monad cannot be nascent man, because man has
developed, has progressed; hence, when a monad is spoken of, it cannot mean man in any sense of the word. What
is meant by the word man, according to Webster, "Man is distinguished by the powers of reasoning and speech,
as well as by his shape and dignified aspect".
According to The Secret Doctrine, Man is a compound of Spirit,
soul and matter, plus the ray — or monad — from
the Absolute. So also are the lower forms a compound of Spirit, soul and matter, plus the ray — or monad — from
the Absolute. Then wherein lies the difference ? Biologists tell us, that at a certain stage of development of
the human foetus, it is impossible to distinguish it from that of the dog, and that fact is brought forth by
certain students, as previously mentioned, to advance their aphorism. It only proves that the man and dog are
compounded from the same elements, both animals, but as distinct in species as the dog is from the horse, or
the oak tree from a stalk of wheat, which are also a compound of the same elements. Hence, man must be something
more than all of the so-called lower kingdoms. [Page
14]
H.P.B., in Volume 2, page259, says, that "the embryo
of man has no more of the ape in it, than of any other mammal, but contains in itself the totality of the kingdoms
of nature". "Man has not
one drop of pithecoid blood in his veins”, says The Secret Doctrine, Volume 2, page 193.
Again, Volume 2, page p. 289, "Man was the storehouse, so to speak, of all the seeds of life for
this round, vegetable and animal alike".
A French Theosophist remarks — quoted from The Secret Doctrine,
volume 2, page. 289 — "As
man never can be, so he never has been manifested in a shape belonging to the animal kingdom in esse,
he never formed part of that kingdom".
M. de Quartrefages, the French naturalist — quoted from The
Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page. 56 — says, "That
man is a distinct kingdom".
"Theosophy has never supported the wild theories of the present
Darwinists, least of all the descent of man from the ape; one has only to turn to page 47, Esoteric
Buddhism,
fifth edition, to find there the statement that 'man belongs to a kingdom distinctly separate from the animals
.The Occultists have never admitted, nor will they ever admit, that man was an ape in this, or in any other
round, or that he ever could be one, however much he may have been ape-like".
Again, The Secret Doctrine, volume 1, page 190, says, "The
occult doctrine has never taught, nor any adept believed, in the preposterous modern theory of the descent
of man from a common ancestor with the ape".
Again it is said in The Secret Doctrine, volume 1, page 211, "How
comes our physical body to the state of perfection it is found in now ? Through millions of years of evolution,
yet never through or from animals."
I think that the above quotations are enough to convince any fair-minded person that The
Secret Doctrine most
emphatically teaches that man did not evolve from the lower kingdom in this or any other round, but that man
is, and always has been, a distinct and separate kingdom unto himself, an epitome of the universe.
The question then is, if man is not an educated animal, what is he ? The
Secret Doctrine teaches, with no uncertain
sound, that man is a God.
"The occult philosophy teaches that the first human stock was
projected by higher and semi-divine beings out of their own essences."
In The Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page 95, we read, "The
pure Gods could only project out of themselves shadowy men, a little less ethereal and spiritual, less divine
and perfect than themselves — shadows still". These
pure Gods are the Dhyan Chohans — the real man — they could not give the real man a garment, so a
lower Hierarchy of Celestial Beings, as we are told, volume 2, page 88, "gave us our fleshy
bodies". Of
course I do not expect any who believe that man evolved from the lower kingdoms to accept this teaching. How
can they [Page 15] believe in a multiplicity of Gods, or of Celestial Beings, they
have no facts on which to base a working hypothesis. Yet one of the greatest advocates of "facts" — Mr.
Huxley — in
one of his latest works admits, "That there may be Beings endowed with full powers to deal with our earth
and its contents, as men deal with things and events which they are strong enough to modify or control, and who
are capable of being moved by appeals such as men make to one another, and there may be still higher Beings who
rule over our solar system, as much higher than the ruler of our earth, as the ruler of the earth is above its
inhabitants, and then again, there may be a ruler of the Universe who in comparison is as much greater than the
ruler of our solar system is above man". This quotation is from memory, perhaps not letter perfect,
but it is the general idea, and the idea is in full accord with The Secret Doctrine, for it teaches that
there are many orders of Celestial Beings, each order having its special duties to perform, from the highest
Archangel to the lowest elemental, each on its own plane of activity, and everything in the Universe, from the
highest Dhyan Chohan to the grossest mineral atom is accompanied by the ever-present monad, the ray from the
Absolute. As H.P.B. says in volume 1, page 630, "Monads are everywhere, the human soul is a monad,
and every cell in the human body has its monad; as every cell in animal, vegetable, and even in the so-called
inorganic bodies, each have their monads". But,
as previously said, a changeless principle, a ray from the Absolute. Therefore, not man, nor could it ever become
man, as has been previously shown. This word monad is a very misleading term, and we have to be very careful
in its use. In volume 1, page 177, H.P.B. speaks of a mineral monad and a human monad; she says: "Physically
or constitutionally the mineral monad differs, of course, from the human monad, which is neither physical, nor
can its constitution be rendered by chemical symbols and elements; in short, as the spiritual monad is one, universal,
boundless, and impartite, whose rays, nevertheless, form what we in our ignorance call the 'Individual monads'
of men, so the mineral monad, being at the opposite point of the circle, is also one, and from it proceed the
countless physical atoms, which science is beginning to regard as individualised". I think the above
can be best explained by comparing the mineral monad to the primordial substance as described in The Secret
Doctrine,
volume 1, page 58, "Primordial substance being the noumenon of matter". And as is said, volume
1, page 246, "The monad is first shot down by the law of evolution into the lowest form of matter,
the mineral". Taking
this view, we have two principles, one accompanying spirit and one accompanying matter. But these two principles
are one.
In The Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page 24, it is written: "Gods
and men take rise in, and from one and the same Point, which is the one universal, [Page
16] immutable, eternal
and absolute unity; which becomes Primordial substance in the sphere of objectivity; and the spirit of the
universe, in the sphere of metaphysics, — or
the logos". H.P.B. further says that, "The unity or Parabrahm manifests Mulaprakriti — that
is Primordial substance, — and then as the logos, that is the spirit of the universe, which is the basis
of subjective life".
So then the Unity evolves from its own essence a positive and negative
power termed Spirit and Matter; the Unity is latent in both and cannot — as previously said — be
affected in any manner. In The Secret Doctrine, volume 1, page 247, we read "That it is
the blending of these two, viz., Spirit and Substance, that produces the perfect man. Though one and
the same thing, spirit and matter, when once they are on the plane of differentiation, begin, each of them,
evolutionary progress in contrary directions, spirit falling gradually into matter, and matter ascending to
a pure spiritual substance. They are two poles of the same homogeneous substance, the root principle of the
Universe".
This heavenly man, in space, is known as the Dhyan Chohan, and as
stated in The Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page 242, "That the heavenly rupa (Dhyan Chohan)
creates man in his own form, that form is the ideal shadow of Itself, and this is the man of the first race"; and
it further says "after the earth had been made
ready by the lower and more material powers, and its three kingdoms fairly started, the higher powers, the Dhyan
Chohans, were compelled by evolutionary law to descend on earth, in order to construct the Crown of its evolution — Man".
Again in volume 2, page 246, we read, "Hence tradition
shows the Celestial Yogis, Dhyan Chohans, offering themselves as voluntary victims in order to redeem humanity,
created God-like and perfect at first, and to endow him with human affections and aspirations."
Again in volume 1, page 478, "The Archaic Stanzas describe
minutely, man's primal evolution from the human Dhyan Chohan". On page 282, volume 1, The Secret
Doctrine, H.P.B. says, "Neither
the form of man, nor that of any animal, plant or stone, has ever been created, and it is only on this plane
of ours that it commenced 'becoming', that is objectivising into its present materiality, therefore our human
forms have existed in the eternity as astral or ethereal prototypes; according to which models the spiritual
Beings, whose duty it was to bring them into objective being and terrestrial life, evolved the protoplasmic
form of the future Egos from their own essences. After which when this human base mould was ready, the natural
terrestrial forces began to work on those supersensuous moulds which contained, besides their own, the elements
of all the past vegetable and future animal forms of this globe in them. Therefore, man's outward shell passed
through every vegetable and animal body before it assumed [Page 17] the human
shape". Then we learn from
Isis Unveiled, "It
is positively absurd to believe the 'transformation of species' to have taken place according to some of the
more materialistic views of the evolutionists, it is but natural to think that each genus, beginning with the
molluscs and ending with man, had modified its own primordial and distinctive forms".
Again, Agassiz declares his belief in an indefinite number of primordial
races of men, created separately. Whilst in every zoological province animals are of different species, man,
in spite of the diversity of his races, always forms one and the same human being" (quoted from The
Secret Doctrine, volume 2, page 610). Now, if this means anything, it means this, that the forms
which now exist, have existed in the eternity as astral or ethereal prototypes, and that they have evolved
and objectivized on their own lines.
The Secret Doctrine, in volume 1, page 636, says: "No
occultist would deny that man — no less than the elephant
and the microbe, the crocodile and the lizard, the blade of grass or the crystal — is, in his physical
formation, the simple product of the evolutionary forces of Nature through a numberless series of transformations". And
then on page 262, volume 2: "The form means nothing, species and genera of the flora, fauna, and the
highest animal — its crown, man — change and vary according to the environments and climate variations,
not with every round, but with every root race likewise".
Again, volume 2, page 168, we find that, "The Secret
Doctrine claims for man a polygenetic origin; that the evolution of animal follows that of man, instead
of preceding it. And this is diametrically opposed to the now generally accepted theories of evolution, and
the descent of man from an animal ancestor".
Then on page 81, volume 2, it is taught, "That between
man and the animal, there is the impassable abyss of mentality and self-consciousness. Can man, a God in the
animal form, be the product of material nature by evolution alone, and what is it that creates such difference
unless man is an animal, plus a living God within his physical shell".
Again, volume 2, page 177, states that "the evolution
of man is analogous to that of the universe; his — man's — evolution
stands between that of the universe and that of the animal. This clearly shows that man has evolved on different
lines".
Then on page 290, volume 2, we read, "The human form so-called,
because it is the vehicle — under whatever
shape — of the divine man. A new human form must always have been the new type of the cycle. The human
shape in one round becomes cast-off clothes in the next, which in turn is appropriated by the highest order in
the kingdom below". [Page 18]
We further read that "having appeared at the very
beginning at the head of sentient and conscious life, man (the astral or the soul) became the living and animal
unit, from which the cast-off clothes determined the shape of every life and animal in this round".
Then on page 146 volume 2, it is said, "That the humanity
of the first manvantara or round, is that of the seventh, and all intermediate ones". This is very clear,
how could there be humanity in the first round if there were no man ?
In footnote page 222, volume 1, The Secret Doctrine says "That
the sixfold Dhyan Chohans are in fact men, minus the physical body". And then on page 230, volume 1, "That
which is a surviving entity in us is partly the direct emanation from, and partly those celestial entities
themselves". Then on volume 1, page. 489, "That
monads are the material out of which the Gods clothe themselves in bodies".
Again in volume 1, page 455, "In round one the animal
atoms are drawn into a cohesion of human physical form to clothe the hierarchy of being in primary creation — so
animal creation has to precede divine man on earth". Then
in volume 1, page 213, "This same hierarchy of beings merges into the human, and creates — midway
in its descent into matter — the visible universe".
Again in volume 1, page 219, we read: "That the physical,
according to esoteric teachings, evolves gradually from the spiritual, mental, and psychic". Then in volume
1, page 231, "That
every round on a descending scale is but a repetition in a more concrete form of the round which preceded it". .
Thus it becomes clear, that the origin of man on this our present round, must occupy the same place, in the
same order, as in the preceding round. And it must be remembered that each round is under the supervision of
the Dhyan Chohans.
It is stated, The Secret Doctrine, page 450, volume 1, "that
man proceeds from the Dhyan Chohans, and is a God in exile"; and on page 452, " that the Dhyan Chohans
are the collective aggregate of Divine intelligence or primordial mind, and that the first Manus — the
seven 'mind born' Spiritual Intelligences — are
identical with the former".
Then on page 151, volume 1, "Every unprejudiced person
would prefer to believe that primeval humanity had at first an ethereal form evolved by Gods, or natural 'forces'
which grew, condensed throughout millions of ages, than to believe that he came from an unknown anthropoid
ancestor". Then
on page 186, volume 2, "Therefore,
the Kabalists say correctly that 'Man becomes a stone, a plant, an animal, a man, a spirit, and finally God.
Thus accomplishing his cycle or circuit and returning to the point from which he had started as the heavenly
Man'. [Page 19] But
by 'Man' the Divine Monad is meant, and not the thinking entity, much less his physical body".
Again in volume 1, page 159, we learn "That humanity
develops fully only in the fourth round; up to this fourth life cycle, it is referred to as 'humanity' only
for lack of a more appropriate term. Man, or rather that which becomes man, passes through all the forms and
kingdoms during the first round, and through all the human shapes during the two following rounds".
This passing through the lower kingdoms you will better understand if you remember what I have previously said,
viz., that the Dhyan Chohan, being spirit, could not manifest, except through its opposite matter. So to materialize
form it clothed itself with the material at hand, but the form was the form of a God, not of a lower kingdom.
As has been said, our human forms have existed in the eternity as astral.
But you may ask, what is this material, of which this mineral kingdom
is composed, this matter that the first humanity must pass through, so as to assimilate and acquire experience,
as is thought by some, and is so frequently quoted. The Secret Doctrine says, on page 13, volume 1, that
it is Akasa. But what is Akasa — light — nothing
but light. This could not have been a very gross matter, but still darkness to the pure spirit, man was. So the
first round humanity were clothed with light. A footnote says, "Akasa is, cosmically, a radiant, cool, plastic
matter, creative in its physical nature, immutable in its higher principles". From this it can be seen what
is meant by "The Breath of the Father-Mother issues cold and radiant, and gets hot and corrupt, to cool
once more" (quoted from The Secret Doctrine, volume 1, page 144).
And on page 252, footnote, "The Globe was fiery, cool and radiant
as its ethereal men and animals during the first round, says the commentary". And in volume
1, page 259, it says, "Thus in the first round, the
globe, having been built by the primitive fire lives — that is, formed into a sphere — had no solidity,
nor form, nor colour, it was only towards the end of the first round that it developed one element". She
also says, in footnote, "The primordial substance, if matter at all, is that which is called light — esoterically
explained, is the body of those spirits themselves, and their very essence". I cannot help quoting in this
connection from the Zohar, as quoted in The Secret Doctrine, volume 1, page 356, footnote, "Says
Rabbi Simeon, 'Ah, companions, companions, Man as an emanation, was both man and woman, as well on the side
of the Father — that
is spirit or Dhyan Chohan — as on the side of the Mother — that is matter or primordial substance:
and this is the sense of the words, and Elohim spoke let there be light, and it was light". This is a very
graphic description from the old Quabbalist, showing that this thought was common to Initiates of all lands, [Page
20]
There is another old book that does not teach that man evolved
from the lower kingdom, that is Genesis, which, if read esoterically, is in full accord with The Secret
Doctrine;
for, you remember. "God said let
there be light, and there was light".
First there was darkness (that is the pure ray of the Absolute). "The
Spirit of God" (that is the
Dhyan Chohan) "moved upon the face of the waters" (that is primordial substance) producing light.
And remember He made man — not of the dust of the ground, as He does in the second chapter — but "in
His own Image". It is not my purpose tonight to enter any deeper into the esotericism of Genesis, but to
call your attention to the great truth underlying the allegory.
To sum up the term, "monad" is a misleading term, for it
is shown to be an abstract principle — "array" — that
changes not".,consequently can never become man. And second, man is a God, fallen, it is true, from his
first estate, but through aeons of purifying fire he will return from whence he came — to Spirit — while
the so-called lower kingdoms will return to the primordial substance, and ultimately unite with Spirit and the
monadic ray of the one Unity.