delivered at the Summer School of the Theosophical Society in England
King Alfred’s College, Winchester, U. K. Sunday 29 July 2001
The
Theosophical Publishing House 50 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8EA
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INTRODUCTION
But you, Occultists, Kabbalists
and Theosophists, you well know that a Word, old as the world, though new
to you, has been sounded at the beginning of this cycle, and the potentiality
of which, unperceived by others, lies hidden in the sum of the digits of
the years 1 8 8 9; you well know that a note has just been struck which
has never been heard by mankind of this era; and that a New Idea is revealed,
ripened by the forces of evolution. This Idea differs from everything that
has been produced in the nineteenth century; it is identical, however, with
the thought that has been the dominant tone and the keynote of every century,
especially the last - absolute freedom of thought for humanity. [C.W.XI,
133]
Theosophy is in its fulness a
comprehensive knowledge of the nature and the workings of Nature, in which
man plays a prime part. The human kingdom is a critical stage in the immense
evolutionary programme when ‘Man’, the thinker, is born. The knowledge of
Theosophy is gained by generations of trained seekers and enquirers, Initiates
in the Arcane Mysteries. It claims to be an expression of Truth, the facts
of existence. It is therefore not a matter of conjecture or belief. Nature
herself is seen as a collectivity of all that comprises her in a series
of hierarchies of living beings from the very lowliest to the highest, from
the elements comprising the matter of our objective world, up the evolutionary
ladder through the kingdoms of Nature to man and beyond, into the realms
of super-humanity. Theosophy postulates grades of superhuman beings which,
as collective beings with their accumulated wisdom and knowledge, comprise
the ‘creators’ and ‘governers’ of our planetary system.
Theosophy tells us that at the
heart of all things is one common Essence. This essence manifests as ‘Life’.
Everything is endowed with it; there is no dead matter. Similarly everything
has its degree of sentience, even if only an ability to respond to, or just
‘feel’, i.e., react to outside stimuli, and even memory. In its more developed
forms sentience becomes consciousness. This sentiency manifests from the
lowliest elemental or mineral forms, through the more complex ones of vegetable
and animal, to full-blown consciousness in man. Thereafter it passes through
all gradations to levels of awareness of a grandeur hardly dreamt of at
our level of evolution. Because of the developed faculties and purified
spiritual nature of these denizens of the highest levels of being, they
may be regarded as gods. As they have developed them in themselves, so they
can bequeath to man who can express them the most ennobling and compassionate
impulses. These increase as the ladder of evolution is ascended.
The potentialities of Theosophy
then can be thought of in terms of the ways that they affect behaviour.
This is particularly the case in man himself and the whole human situation.
Twelve aspects of these potentialities can readily be identified:
1. The
notion of Deity in Cosmos and Man.
2. The Occult Constitution of
Man and the Planes of Being.
3. Divine Law, regulating the
all-embracing cosmic process.
4. Evolution, Life ever-becoming,
the majestic march to perfection.
5. The notion of Reincarnation,
in relation to Cycles of Becoming.
6. Religion: all systems for
the guidance of Man on his spiritual journey.
7. After-death states, Spiritualism and
the Paranormal.
8. Ecology, a sympathetic relationship
to Nature.
9. The Ordering of society:
freedom within a framework of wise laws.
10. Education: the instilling
of healthy values and right culture of the individual.
11. Science: man’s attempts to
understand the workings of Nature.
12. The Arts, Health, Psychology
and Parapsychology.
Some students of Theosophy may
wonder why Theosophy’s grand Cosmology has not been mentioned. The Cosmology
when studied in depth provides answers to many questions as to how things
come to be and to be as they are, and ‘things’ here include those things
which to us at the physical level are not only objective but subjective,
pertaining to our inner natures. This Cosmology, or an acknowledgment of
it, is not, however, a potentiality for the benefit of humanity ordinarily
at the present time.
One of the principal potentialities
of Theosophy is its explanatory nature. It provides us with an encyclopaedic
knowledge, data for a viable universal model or paradigm to use the language
of modern science, until we can know for ourselves.
Potentiality
One:
THE NOTION OF DEITY
The notion of Deity can be regarded
as Theosophy’s foremost beneficent potentiality. By it man, in his inner
essence, is regarded as divine, with an inseverable relationship to the
Cosmos. He is not just in it, he is of it. This is exemplified in the theosophical
constitution of man, wherein all his principles reflect the cosmic planes
of being. Cosmos functions on various levels, from the physical to the highest
spiritual.
The total universal process is
an expression of the One Life. This is the animating dynamism behind the
activities of everything. It is its life manifesting as its internal energy.
It is the vast dynamic force which keeps the whole ordered process going,
right from the beginning of a period of activity, i.e., the birth of the
Cosmos (Manvantara), to its end when the whole mighty process subsides into
rest (Pralaya) bearing with it the fruits of its immense period of activity.
These fruits are the aggregate experience of countless myriads of lives
that have come and gone in their season during the whole mighty process.
All is garnered and stored as universal memory.
Deity is the very essence of
each man’s being. The influence of this idea may at first be tentative and
spasmodic but it increases as does his spiritual nature with his experiences
in his long series of personal lives. He slowly becomes more or less conscious
of his inner divine nature. This manifests as inspired motivation in his
actions; he feels the guidance of conscience.
Concerning the notion of Deity
in the creation and governance of the universe, there is a passage in the
The Secret Doctrine:
It [the Secret Doctrine] admits
a Logos or a collective “Creator” of the Universe; a Demiourgos - in the
sense implied when one speaks of an “Architect” as the “Creator” of an edifice,
whereas that Architect has never touched one stone of it, but, while furnishing
the plan, left all the manual labour to the masons; in our case the plan
was furnished by the Ideation of the Universe, and the constructive labour
was left to the hosts of intelligent Powers and Forces. But that Demiourgos
is no personal deity, - i. e., an imperfect extra-cosmic god - but only
the aggregate of the Dhyani-Chohans [Archangels] and the other forces.
As to the latter - They are dual
in their character; being composed of (a) the irrational brute energy, inherent
in matter, and (b) the intelligent soul or cosmic consciousness which directs
and guides that energy, and which is the Dhyani-Chohanic thought reflecting
the Ideation of the Universal Mind. [S. D. I, 279]
The Theosophical Deity is an
Entity, but only in the sense of a collectivity, an aggregate of the Dhyani-Chohans,
described as “the highest gods . . . the divine intelligences charged with
the supervision of Kosmos”. (Theosophical Glossary)
This might cause us to think
of Deity as “out there”, something apart from us individually. We must,
however, be mindful of the teaching in How to Study Theosophy (H. P. B.
- The Bowen Notes) where it says (p8), No matter what one may study in the
S. D., let the mind hold fast, as the basis of its ideation, to the following
ideas: a) The FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF ALL EXISTENCE. This unity is a thing
altogether different from the common notion of unit - as when we say that
a nation or an army is united; or that this planet is united to that by
lines of magnetic force or the like. The teaching is not that. It is that
existence is ONE THING, not any collection of things linked together. Fundamentally
there is ONE BEING.
The implications of this are
profound, far reaching and hard to realize, but the clear meaning is that
there is not Deity and us. There is only one thing. Everything, including
each human being, is that ‘One Thing’. For Theosophy to become real, every
student must come to this realization. What a change in perspective, in
attitude towards one s self, is thus engendered!
This principle of UNITY is of
greatest significance in the fields of Science, Religion, Education and
Ecology.
Unity expresses itself during
manifestation as almost infinite diversity. This diversity leads to the
sense of separateness in humans causing the prolific difficulties in human
affairs. Eradication of the effects of these difficulties in our society
is a major benefit of this Potentiality. The notion of Deity as Unity, when
sufficiently realized and worked out, becomes a powerful background to our
attitudes.
There is a significant corollary
to the idea of Unity in the Bowen Notes (p 9(a)): The third basic idea to
be held is that Man is the MICROCOSM. As he is so, then all the Hierarchies
in the Heavens exist within him. But the truth is there is neither Macrocosm
nor Microcosm but ONE EXISTENCE. Great and small are such only as viewed
by a limited consciousness.
This idea should be kept in mind
when studying the Constitution of Man, Potentiality Two.
Potentiality
Two:
THE OCCULT STRUCTURE OF COSMOS AND MAN
In the teachings of the Great
Knowledge, Theosophy, there are seven levels of cosmic being, each classified
according to its characteristic nature. Of these seven one is physical,
the others are non-physical, inner and invisible to it. They are: first,
at the highest level, Spirit (Atma) which is supreme, but without some vehicle
to operate in or through it is ineffective. The next level down is that
of the vehicle (Buddhi). Taken together these two levels constitute a duality,
or two poles of Being, Spirit and Matter, referred to as Monad, which pass
down through all levels of creation. The duality is the basis of subjectivity
and objectivity manifesting in us as consciousness, and that in which consciousness
can arise, i.e. form or vehicle. It is also that of which consciousness
can be objectively aware.
The two aspects of the One in
manifestation (the Monad) give rise to the dualities of life and form, positive
and negative, active and passive, male and female, and so on. Their Essence
is the ultimate universal Unity, common to every thing in existence, to
all creatures including man. Their existence is according to cyclic law.
Periodically they (or it, the Monad) manifest as substance or things with
form, the objective side of Nature, and as inner or subjective which is
motion or activity, the basis of sentience or a degree of consciousness
depending on evolutionary status, i.e., the development of forms.
All activity of living things
is subject to alternations of activity and rest, in-breathing and out-breathing,
heart beats, tide and season, and so on. These rhythms are universal. The
nature of their diverse expressions depends upon the characteristics of
the vehicles, the life forms, through which they function. These vehicles,
in the aggregate, constitute manifest or objective Nature, at all her levels,
physical and non-physical.
In man his Individuality (Ego),
his feeling of “I”, is focussed in his mind, his thinking principle (Manas).
In universal terms this is Mahat, the cosmic principle of Mind or Divine
Ideation. Manas has two aspects, an upper and a lower. The upper is orientated
towards the Monad, i.e., Spirit (Atma) operating through its vehicle Buddhi,
and the lower is the vehicle for the normal personal thinking process. There
is, however, only one mind principle but it operates at these two levels:
one the divine (the Universal) and the other the personal self, during the
life of a man.
Ordinarily these two aspects
of mind are in effect separate, the higher affecting the lower only occasionally.
The lower mind is the personal one, periodically in incarnation in distinct
successive physical bodies. The higher spiritual individuality (Ego) is
on a long evolutionary journey. It gathers its nurture from the purely spiritual
experience of its personalities. The ordinary experiences of personal life
do not contribute to it.
The personal man is four-principled.
He has his lower mind (Manas), emotions (Kama), a ‘life’ principle (Prana),
with its vehicle (Astral) and lastly the objective, physical body.
In the average man the personal
mind is associated closely with his desires, passions, and concerns of a
mundane, purely personal nature, his immediate family, his possessions,
his livelihood, his social position, etc. This personal mind is his ‘tool’
for performing all the necessary functions of a mental nature, i.e., calculating,
memorizing, forming judgments, coming to decisions, all necessary for his
effectiveness as a person in the world.
The majority of them are not
spiritual. Faculty and competence may be acquired by experience at personal
level but they are of no consequence to the development of the divine Egoic
entity. Only the highest of motivations like duty, love, compassion, pity,
altruistic helpfulness and so on, affecting actions, are of a spiritual
nature.
This list of spiritual qualities
not only reflects the nature of our divine selves but reflects into the
sub-principles of our personal emotional nature. There are aspects of them
in different modes at different levels of being. In their pure form they
are spiritual but at personal level most of even our highest emotions are
tinged with selfishness.
Below mind (Manas) the next principle
is the personal emotional one: the principle of desire in all its forms.
This principle is closely coupled with the lower mind, which can always
justify what we ‘want’ to do. This combination of mind and emotion is sometimes
referred to as the ‘psyche’ or mortal soul.
The last of our principles is
our physical body, in which during earth life all our internal subjective
activities are focussed. Emotional urges are turned into appetites, hence
our more animal urges. Our bodies are our means of perception and action
in the physical world. It is in our bodies (physical brains) that we are
normally conscious. The ‘here and now’ for us wherein we have our very existence
is tied up with our bodies. There is evidence, however, that independent
subjective existence is possible, for example, in out-of-the-body experiences.
It is obvious that our physical
bodies are endowed with ‘life’ which is regarded as a separate principle.
This ‘life’ principle (Prana or Jiva), as animating energy, is ‘collected’
and stored in another principle closely associated with the physical, a
very important one, known as the Astral body. It reflects the Astral Plane
wherein exist the forms that are projected into the physical world. The
Astral as either a body or plane is also the reservoir of memory.
This information about the occult
constitution of man is, perhaps, not in itself a beneficent theosophical
potentiality but it is essential to an understanding of the religions, the
post mortem states, the spiritualistic phenomena, the operations of Karma.
[ To the more advanced
student, man’s relationship to the ‘Hierarchies of the Heavens” becomes
of importance to his fuller understanding (see Bowen Notes, Collected Writings,
Volume II, page 568, and Diagram V opposite, page 660)].
It is through our physical bodies,
however, that normally all our activities both inner and outer express themselves.
On its activities depend the significant experiences we gain from living.
Our physical bodies are living
entities, composed in their entirety of hosts of subordinate lives (cells).
All of them are specialised to perform the body’s various functions. Even
our brains are composed of such specialised cells. One of the secrets for
the proper understanding of the functioning of our brains is that they,
and even each of their constituent cells, like us, have their principles
in the invisible worlds. Each cell of our body is a living thing, very importantly
with its own consciousness and memory (and even will). It has its counterpart
in the Astral and, whether active or dormant, at even higher levels of being,
i.e., the emotional, mental and spiritual. Obviously also the cells are
suffused with the life energies which sustain and animate our physical bodies.
Through the inner subjective
realms we are given some understanding of ourselves otherwise unknown to
us. For example, they provide data for a more comprehensive system of psychology,
relating us not only to emotional but to mental and spiritual levels, right
up to the divine.
These principles of man are seen
as reflections of the seven cosmic planes. By analogy, “as above, so below”;
man’s total being in all respects is the same as that of the Universe. He
is a microcosm to its Macrocosm. As everything in Cosmos is living, the
planes are constituted of lives which in turn are members of an ascending
Hierarchy. Overriding all these various aspects of being is that of Unity,
never to be overlooked or forgotten by the student. [
See Appendix for the Occult Constitution of Man as given in The
Key to Theosophy, pages 22, 91, 175, Original Edition].
Potentiality
Three:
DIVINE LAW
All of us are born at a certain
time to certain parents living in a certain place in a certain country.
We are of a certain nationality and religion and come into the world endowed
with certain personal gifts or deficiencies, as a male or a female, born
into a house of riches or poverty, to parents of culture and refinement
or the very opposite. This place we are born into is somewhere on the surface
of the planet.
When we are old enough we will
look into the heavens and see something there of the endless spaces and
something of the multitudes of stars. When we are even older maybe we will
discover the enormity of those spaces. We will learn that the whole vast
scheme of things has been going for unimaginable ages in terms of earth
years. But there it all is, now; in some miraculous way the whole boundless
plane, periodically “the playground of numberless Universes incessantly
manifesting and disappearing . . . ” (See S. D .I. Proem), has survived.
The Ancient Wisdom teaching is
that both our private individual affairs and those of the boundless universe
are all ordered according to universal or divine law. When the law is applied
to human beings particularly it is referred to as the Law of Karma, but
it is nevertheless always an aspect of the universal Divine Law, of which
H. P. B. has this to say: . . . we consider it as the Ultimate Law of the
Universe, the source, origin and fount of all other laws which exist throughout
Nature. Karma is the unerring law which adjusts effect to cause, on the
physical, mental and spiritual planes of being. As no cause remains without
its due effect from greatest to least, from a cosmic disturbance down to
the movement of your hand, and as like produces like, Karma is that unseen
and unknown law which adjusts wisely, intelligently and equitably each effect
to its cause, tracing the latter back to its producer. Though itself unknowable,
its action is perceivable. [Key, 201. Original Edition]
Its action is the endless flow
of events through time, with everything in that flow determined by what
went before. In this sense the law is that of causation, of action and also
of effect. Everything in the Cosmos, including ourselves, is an effect of
causes generated in the past. All our actions become causes for future effects.
Just as the universe and everything in it persists for periods of time long
enough for everything in it to perform its function in the total process,
so men, animals and plants live long enough to fulfil their part in the
scheme of things. In the case of man this period is variable depending on
many factors, such as state of health and so on, but those factors themselves
are the effects of causes set up in the past.
The teaching says quite unequivocally
that according to law we and our circumstances are all determined as a comprehensive
result of what we have done in the past. What we have done includes our
relationships with other people: our immediate families, our relations,
our religious group, our nation, our race. All of these in themselves generate
their own Karma to which to an extent we are all heirs. Although we are
all responsible for what befalls us in life, this is not wholly dependent
on our own doings but on those of the groups to which we belong. Again according
to the Law the circumstances of our birth and our parents are all predetermined,
so is our physical constitution with a tendency to, or an immunity from,
certain diseases.
All that befalls us in life might
have been considered as fate, providence, even chance or luck, which some
over-ruling Power arbitrarily dispenses, but the grand teaching tells us
quite otherwise. It tells us that, whether we are aware of it or not, all
that befalls us is the result of what we have done. The ‘doing’ involves
even thinking and feeling. The law is one of perfect justice. We get our
deserts no more and no less. As we said earlier, however, these desserts
can to a degree be modified both by ourselves in our present actions and
by the groups that we have belonged to: we cannot escape that group Karma
but as a member of that group we contribute towards it.
The beneficent aspect of this
potentiality is its perfect justice. The law takes account of the degree
of our immaturity and of our motives for whatever we do. The Karmic effects
of a child’s actions will be different from those of similar acts performed
by a responsible adult.
This may be difficult to understand
as it is said that the Law adjusts wisely, intelligently and equitably each
effect to its cause. How can a universal law be wise or intelligent? The
answer is in the livingness of everything, be it the life of a sub-atomic
particle or of a great being. The essential beingness of all things is not
in their objective but in their interior state, in the subjective worlds.
The great beings who, so to speak,
operate the Law are collective beings, aggregates in terms of consciousness,
knowledge and experience of many, many lives at all levels of development.
They do, however, manifest a unit intelligence or a single consciousness,
at a level commensurate with their development. These great beings function
through subordinate entities on lower hierarchical levels who in their turn
constitute the ordering principle of the universe. Their aggregate action
is the Law in operation, but they are themselves subject to it. By the continuous
cycle of Nature’s processes these beings are heirs to a vast experience
extending back into unimaginable epochs of time. It is this accumulated
experience that conditions or regulates their actions in the ordering of
things. They are the agents of the Law, or of the laws to which Nature in
all its collective activities subscribes.
The certain operations of the
Law, in which we are inescapably involved, gives us an unshakeable assurance
that in the end all will be well. As an old hymn says, “God is working his
purpose out”, and according to the Ancient Wisdom that purpose is the evolutionary
process for everything, a journey to perfection by stages. We are part of
that process.
Again, an immediate aspect of
the Law for each of us is not only this confidence that all will be well
but it bestows self-reliance and responsibility on each of us. In the light
of it, insofar as we can accept it, we become mature beings, knowingly playing
our part in Nature’s endless progressive journey.
A significant insight applying
the Law to the human condition is the following:Nor would the ways of Karma
be inscrutable were men to work in union and harmony, instead of disunion
and strife. For our ignorance of those ways - which one portion of mankind
calls the ways of Providence, dark and intricate, while another sees in
them the action of blind Fatalism, and a third, simple chance, with neither
gods nor devils to guide them - would surely disappear, if we would but
attribute all these to their correct cause. With right knowledge, or at
any rate with a confident conviction that our neighbours will no more work
to hurt us than we would think of harming them, the two-thirds of the World’s
evil would vanish into thin air. Were no man to hurt his brother, Karma-Nemesis
would have neither cause to work for, nor weapons to act through. It is
the constant presence in our midst of every element of strife and opposition,
and the division of races, nations, tribes, societies and individuals into
Cains and Abels, wolves and lambs, that is the chief cause of the “ways
of Providence”. [S. D. I, 643]
Potentiality
Four:
EVOLUTION, LIFE EVER-BECOMING
The whole order of nature evinces
a progressive march towards a higher life. There is design in the action
of the seemingly blindest forces. The whole process of evolution with its
endless adaptation is a proof of this. The immutable laws that weed out
the weak and feeble species, to make room for the strong, and which ensure
the “survival of the fittest”, though so cruel in their immediate action
- all are working toward the grand end. The very fact that adaptations do
occur, that the fittest do survive in the struggle for existence, shows
that what is called “unconscious Nature” is in reality an aggregate of forces
manipulated by semi-intelligent beings (Elementals) guided by High Planetary
Spirits (Dhyani-Chohans), whose collective aggregate forms the manifested
verbum of the unmanifested LOGOS, and constitutes at one and the same time
the MIND of the Universe and its immutable LAW. [S. D. I, 277/8]
In the spiritual realms of being
the life process is continuous and virtually everlasting but all the forms
that life uses or inhabits, from mineral up to human, are only temporary
and must necessarily have an end. Ends, however, are always followed by
beginnings in the continuous but cyclic process.
In Potentiality Two we saw man
in a direct relationship with the universe. His existence, as is that of
every thing, is subject to law, and an aspect of the Law is the evolutionary
process. The process has many aspects, all beneficent in their way. They
work in their own time and involve factors relating to the inner worlds
not yet recognized in modern philosophies. The problems of evil involve
universal balance and the Law’s cause and effect aspect. Every thing in
existence is as it is as a result of what went before. Always there are
antecedents to everything.
The human lifespan is variable.
It is a cycle within a greater cycle in the graded evolutionary process.
The progress of the whole human kingdom depends, in the aggregate, on the
efforts made by, and the achievements of, its members. These are of infinite
variety: they include, for example, a wide range of mental processes at
one level, down to the most humdrum physical work, all of which are necessary
for the survival of the race. These activities result in rich experience,
the fruit of living. The aggregate of individual experience is that of the
race. As the race persists, so is this experience on-going and is accumulated
and stored in the cosmic memory.
Much experience is in terms of
relationships, either between individuals or between the individual and
the environment. In theosophical terms both kinds are complex because of
their effects in the inner worlds, in man particularly on his inner principles,
all of which are modified by experience. Everything in Nature also has its
inner principles, more or less developed and active, or dormant.
Evolution is the process of the
ever-improvement of life forms to fit themselves to express more and more
of the potentialities of spirit. Improving forms are in effect the development
of the Monad. By its nature the Monad, reflecting the absolute in existence,
or as the One Manifest, does not change or grow. It is the forms that it
energizes or animates, and through which it expresses or manifests its own
unlimited characteristics or qualities, that have to grow or expand both
in size and complexity. All Nature has its ‘form’ aspect; its spirit is
‘Life’ itself.
The mere exigencies of existence
ensure that in the long run, in due season, forms do grow, expand, develop,
in all the ways that are necessary. This growth in accomplished by accumulating
experience on the one hand, and ‘effort’ on the other. Living forms develop
by effort; muscles grow thereby, so do minds. Both need exercise.
In our opening paragraph to this
Potentiality the phrase “survival of the fittest” is used. It is significant
and contains a lesson for us all. It is by survival that the process of
adaptations can work. This process applies to us all. The moral is that
we are here in earth life, life after life, to learn, passively by experience
and often suffering but actively by making effort in the circumstances in
which we find ourselves. Easy lives are unproductive in the evolutionary
sense. Having had this pointed out to us the rest is up to us.
Potentiality
Five:
REINCARNATION
The immortal spiritual Egoic
principle in the occult constitution of man is a key factor in the understanding
of reincarnation: this is, however, not generally recognized. Reincarnation
is commonly understood to mean a return to earth of a deceased personality,
a rebirth of that same person, a kind of resurrection. The theosophical
teachings correct and amplify this popular view. Reincarnation and its associated
Law of Karma was dealt with by H. P. Blavatsky in one of her essays: If
Theosophy prevailing in the struggle, its all-embracing philosophy strikes
deep root into the minds and hearts of men, if its doctrines of Reincarnation
and Karma, in other words, of Hope and Responsibility, find a home in the
lives of the new generations, then, indeed, will dawn the day of joy and
gladness for all who now suffer and are outcast. For real Theosophy is ALTRUISM,
and we cannot repeat it too often. It is brotherly love, mutual help, unswerving
devotion to Truth. If once men do but realize that in these alone can true
happiness be found, and never in wealth, possession, or any selfish gratification,
then the dark clouds will roll away, and a new humanity will be born upon
earth. Then, the GOLDEN AGE will be there indeed. [C. W. XI, 202]
This passage refers to Reincarnation
and Karma as doctrines of Hope and Responsibility. Elsewhere H. P. B. refers
to them as the twin doctrines. The one cannot be properly understood without
the other. We dealt with Karma under Potentiality Three, the Law, which
has a number of aspects all more or less relating to that of cause and effect.
Successive personalities are the effects of causes set up by their immediate
predecessors and possibly those before that.
But what is the process of reincarnation?
It is the flow of ‘Life’ through a series of successive temporary forms.
The process is continuous but alternately passive and active. It applies
to the largest of manifest things, e.g. universes, down to the very smallest,
e.g., sub-atomic particles. Everything has a period of existence and a period
of withdrawal, but there is THAT which continues through both states, LIFE
itself, everlasting Essence or Spirit.
Man is regarded as essentially
a unit of the Universal Spirit, an Ego or Individuality. At intervals of
a few millennia of earth time (variable with circumstances) this Spiritual
Entity projects into the physical world by a complicated process of rebirth
a new personality. Each personality is linked to its predecessor by a number
of “hereditary” factors which condition the new one from birth, and each
personality has an allotted life span of a relatively short duration (commonly
70 to 80 years).
During each life the personality
is subject to Karma, even to his/her inherited characteristics. In a lifetime
the personality gains many experiences, then eventually dies. Life experience
is said to be of two kinds, personal and spiritual. The purely personal
becomes a hereditary factor in the conditioning of later personalities.
The spiritual is separated out after death and is assimilated by the spiritual
Individuality during a very long inter-life period in an unalloyed blissful
subjective state.
The importance of a person’s
realization of his/her essential divine nature is much stressed in theosophical
literature. If it can become a consciously recognized fact in our lives
it affects every aspect of our behaviour for the better. As H.P.B. has expressed
it, it humanises the otherwise animal man.
Reincarnation, as far as man
is concerned, is the modus operandi of the vast evolutionary journey that
we are all engaged in.
Against a background knowledge
of the reincarnation process death can be seen in perspective. This can
reflect into the making of very different decisions. For example, in the
case of brain damaged patients on life-support machines, what is the purpose
of our striving to keep physical bodies alive beyond their useful conscious
lifespan? Similarly we are casting doubt on the usefulness of much vivisection
research and other cruelties inflicted on animals to produce medicines.
Our bodies may be kept alive for a period longer than if we did not take
animal-tested drugs, but in the light of reincarnation and Karma is such
a practice justified?
The teaching tells us of a virtually
endless progressive unfoldment of the potentialities of spirit. These reflect
into the personalities which are also progressively developing, manifesting
as they do more and more of the qualities of the divine Essence. Personalities
are also on a journey to perfection, by stages, culminating in their complete
spiritual regeneration.
These stages are marked by the
progressive unfoldment of proper human faculties with their expression on
one hand in the personality’s living, its relationships, attitudes and actions
and on the other in an expanding consciousness. The person becomes increasingly
sensible of the spiritual powers. As he grows, so he becomes aware of the
fact that he is inseverably linked with whatever beings there are at those
high levels.
All these great ideas must surely
give us a vision or a hope for our future that we could never otherwise
have had. Our responsibility is to discover the ways and means, according
to the Law, of realizing them.
Potentiality
Six -
RELIGION
Another potential of Theosophy
is in the field of religion. Its beneficence is that, if the tenets of Occultism
were more widely known and accepted, and allowed to affect human behaviour,
a mass of the world’s religious strife would be ended. This strife has persisted
through long ages. It results from the differing belief systems propagated
by institutional religions, and this is often aggravated by political factions
for their own ends. Essentially religions are based on universal verities
but they have become overlaid by superstitions, ignorance and irrelevant
practices. Many differences are due to arbitrary interpretation of scriptural
writings. The proper meanings of their myths and allegories have been lost
or remain hidden in the stories.
An example of this is the supposed
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to atone for the sins of the whole world,
past, present and future. This omnibus pardon was for all who would believe
in him. Anyone who thinks seriously about this must realize that an omnipotent
and omniscient God with a knowledge of the past, present and future would
have foreseen the events of the life of Jesus, his only son, including the
crucifixion. He would surely have been moved to compassion and intervened
to prevent such a tragedy. One can also ask whether the Ruler of the Universe
could or would really require such a sacrifice. If not, one must assume
that it could not possibly be true, or that the whole episode was actually
contrived by that God. Does not the whole idea stem from the ancient primitive
custom of sacrifices to gods to appease their wrath or to ensure their favour
in national preservation or bountiful harvests? Was Jesus really a scapegoat?
Surely these ideas are quite untenable in this age and yet the story is
a main tenet of the present Christian Church.
The religions referred to here
are the religious establishments, institutions, with their hierarchical,
sacerdotal government structures. These establishments are powerful and
generally wealthy, with their ‘servants’ making a living from preaching,
usually in the name of God. This promotes the religion but at the same time
promotes the interests of the institution and ensures its preservation.
The power of these establishments can reflect into, or even become factors
in, secular government. State religions or religious states are thereby
born. Instead of a man being able or encouraged to see his relationship
to ‘god’ within himself and in his own way, he is forced by social pressures
to subscribe to priestly authority, to adopt passively a ready-made belief
system which he dare not challenge or examine at all critically. All this
makes for not only artificial barriers in human society but bitter enmity
and strife between those of differing beliefs.
Theosophy is the great, nay the
only, remedy for all this. It reconciles all the various religions, showing
that in their origins they are all the same, and demonstrates the common
spiritual heritage of all men, furthering the idea of Universal Brotherhood
with all that that means in terms of right relationships. Theosophy purports
to be the “eternal verities”. Its literature indicates that, in the first
instance, these relate to an “Everlasting Divine Principle” which always
IS, unchanging and unchangeable. It is referred to as The Absolute beyond
all conception or power of thought. Theosophy does not countenance the idea
of an anthropomorphic God with human feelings of jealousy, wrath, vengeance,
albeit merciful, just and loving, to whom prayers can be addressed, or of
vicarious atonement by any kind of sacrifice.
In the light of these ‘verities’
may not the crucifixion story be an allegory depicting the crisis point
(nadir) on the descending arc of the “materialising” of Spirit. The moment
of the crucifixion is when the son of Man (Monad plus Manas = Ego or Christos)
knows that the end of the phase has come. Thereafter the Spirit looks upward
to the process of the spiritualization of matter (resurrection) on the ever-rising
spirals of the ascending arc. Then starts the regeneration, the redemption,
of matter when it can the better act as a vehicle for the ever-growing spirit
of man during the cycles of his tremendous journey, cycling in the Rounds,
through Globes E, F or G of the ascending arc, until the culmination of
his life span on this Earthly Chain, at the end of Round Seven, before he
moves on to higher ones on a superior succeeding Chain. The verities of
Theosophy relate to the manifest universe and all that comprises it. These
verities tell us of the origins of “matter”, the essential constituent of
forms, the generation of which is from pre-existent patterns. They tell
of universal memory and the living processes of expanding consciousness.
They give us details of the after-death states and the vast evolutionary
process. They tell of a working constitution of man at all levels of being,
and the full reincarnation story. We are told of endless cycles of existence,
with their greater and lesser cycles, of the Law by which everything is
self-governed, and where man fits into the whole grand scheme.
All these constitute the very
‘verities’ of existence. Change is inherent in everything, but for practical
purposes for us here and now these verities as such are in principle unchangeable.
It is upon them that Theosophy bases its ideas on religion. They are ‘truths’,
not opinions or beliefs, and about them H. P. B. has the following to say:
It is perhaps necessary first of all, to say, that the assertion that “Theosophy
is not a Religion,” by no means excludes the fact that Theosophy is Religion
itself. A religion in the true and only correct sense, is a bond uniting
men together - not a particular set of dogmas and beliefs. Now Religion,
per se, in its widest meaning is that which binds not only all MEN, but
also all BEINGS and all things in the entire Universe into one grand whole.
This is our theosophical definition of religion; [C. W. X, 161]
She gave us many other illuminating
passages on religion. An often quoted one is: The ever unknowable and incognizable
Karana alone, the Causeless Cause of all causes, should have its shrine
and altar on the holy and ever untrodden ground of our heart - invisible,
intangible, unmentioned, save through “the still small voice” of our spiritual
consciousness. Those who worship before it, ought to do so in the silence
and the sanctified solitude of their Souls; making their spirit the sole
mediator between them and the Universal Spirit, their good actions the only
priests, and their sinful intentions the only visible and objective sacrificial
victims to the Presence. [Secret Doctrine, Volume 1, page , 280]
Potentiality
Seven:
THE AFTER-DEATH STATES, SPIRITUALISM
A background knowledge of the
natural processes involved in these fields is not only of inestimable value
to mankind but essential to our understanding of them. Present beliefs about
the after-death states are vague and misleading. Probably the most damaging
is the idea that nothing is actually known about them, hence widespread
ignorance and superstition and often apprehension, fear of the unknown.
Interest in spiritualism and
psychic phenomena comes and goes in cycles. Spiritualists commonly hold
the view that their phenomena are due to the ‘spirits’ of the dead. Theosophy
opposes this view; it defines ‘spirit’ precisely and in its terms it says
that neither spiritualistic happenings nor psychic phenomena can properly
be the result of the activities of ‘spirits’, but it does not deny the phenomena.
It has its own explanations which involve a knowledge of the principles
of man’s constitution and of the corresponding planes of Nature.
In certain psychic phenomena
‘Spirits’ are not involved, for example, in psychokinesis, thought transference,
clairvoyance or clairaudience. These are explicable in terms of a knowledge
of human principles and their characteristics. This knowledge is also essential
to an understanding of what goes on after death.
In the Mahatma Letters to A.
P. Sinnett the after-death processes are described in some detail. Nowhere
else are these facts available in such detail and in plain language. Their
importance is that they remove the doubts and profitless speculation surrounding
this subject. Our earthly personalities obviously do not survive death,
neither do our mortal souls, i.e. our mento-emotional principles. Our spiritual
Individuality (Ego), does survive and is virtually immortal. It gains experience,
growing accordingly, from the spiritual experience of its many successive
personal lives. At birth each personal life is conditioned according to
its immediate predecessor and probably its more remote ones. Every new person
gets his just desserts by way of inbuilt characteristics, tendencies and
potentialities, determined by the doings of past lives.
The teachings tell us that spiritualistic
phenomena through mediums are predominantly due to the psychic (mento-emotional)
reliquiae of the deceased which continue for a period, sometimes some tens
of years, after the death of the physical body. They enjoy a declining life,
and retain memories and attributes of the past personality for as long as
they persist. They persist as living simulacrae of the dead, but they are
devoid of their spiritual Egos. These shades, as they are sometimes called,
are the direct agents for the majority of spiritualistic phenomena, messages,
etc. In the meantime the real spirits of the deceased have, after a period
of sloughing off their ex-personal principles, entered into a state of unalloyed
bliss where they normally remain for a number of centuries of earth life.
This is a state of uninterrupted recuperation, rest and happiness during
which the truly spiritual experience of the last life is assimilated into
the Ego.
Psychic paranormal phenomena
occur whilst personalities are still alive. They depend on activities at
their various levels of the astral, the emotional and mental principles
of a person who can operate in these subjective realms, consciously or unconsciously.
The modus operandi of these phenomena varies with the phenomena but this
is a subject of its own.
Potentiality
Eight:
ECOLOGY
The student of Theosophy soon
learns that the grand processes of Cosmos, or Nature, are all expressions
of One Life manifesting in numberless forms. This Life is also his life:
he cannot therefore be separate from his universe.
To the extent that this is realized,
he is in direct contact with Nature. All things and creatures are sharing
his life. They express it each in its own way, and to the degree that its
form is developed to express it. Forms become more and more complex as they
rise through the kingdoms of Nature. As they do so, their inherent sentience,
which to start with may be a mere response to environment, expands, giving
rise to instinct in the animal kingdom. This response is without any mental
modification but it motivates action appropriate to the entity and its environment.
Man’s reactions to his environment,
etc., are on the contrary modified by mind. He has the capacity to think
about and originate action against a background of a whole variety of criteria
from innate unconscious promptings or experience gained from upbringing,
schooling, relationships, work, etc. All these can amplify, or even justify,
but interfere with, the otherwise automatic unconscious promptings of instinct.
With this recognition of the
‘livingness’ of all things a caring for them can arise, an urge to nurture
them, a feeling of responsibility for the environment and all that comprises
it is engendered.
Further, the beneficence of this
Potentiality Eight is that in acquainting us with the ongoing progressive
march of Nature, which must necessarily involve us all, we see where we
fit into the grand scheme. We not only learn of the scheme but we are inevitable
participators in it. As we learn of this inescapable relationship we become
worthy cooperators with Nature to both her benefit and our own.
Man’s perception of his intimate
kinship with Nature is, however, almost totally eclipsed by his intense
preoccupation with his material well-being, motivated by insistent self-gratification
at almost any cost, hence his unfeeling, ruthless exploitation of Nature.
Everything we have and everything
we are, including not only our bodies but even our internal psychological
and mental make-up, stems from Nature. There is no other source. Latterly
when nearly all the processes of man’s life have become mechanised and he
lives in a self-created, superstructured environment virtually isolated
from Nature in her natural state, he feels himself apart from her instead
of a part of her.
Theosophy considerably enlarges
the above picture of the world we live in by reason of its teachings on
cosmology and anthropology. It helps us thereby the better to understand
our intimate relationship. Our planet earth is a living entity. By analogy
the same processes apply to it as they do to us. In its economy and all
its functions it is self-regulating. It has healing and recuperative abilities,
but as in the case of our bodies, any adjustments it has to make take time.
If therefore we make demands on our earth’s resources at a rate faster than
they can be regenerated, they must run out.
Scientists tell us that we are
polluting our atmosphere to such an extent that we are even affecting the
earth’s temperature. Naturally a compensating restorative process will be
set going but it takes time for what it can do to become effective. The
natural economy is finely tuned. It is very much in our interests to become
sensitive to this. Men have used the phrase that Nature is to be conquered
or tamed, but Nature is our mother and sustainer, not our enemy. Our arrogant
enmity towards her conditions the attitude of the elemental kingdom towards
us. Caring friendliness towards Nature will work much more to our benefit
than unfeeling indifference or even cruelty.
A similar argument arises over
cosmetics. We inflict misery and suffering on animals to test our products
for safety. When we see what dire consequences these experiments have on
some of the test animals, then the karmic effects on the human race must
be seen as an inevitable consequence.
The elemental kingdom plays a
large and vital role in the workings of the global economy. We are not given
many details of the way Elementals work but we are told that nothing happens
without them. This includes even the awful catastrophes like earthquakes,
floods, hurricanes, droughts, or just the weather, all result from the activities
of the Elementals. They are the proximate, the immediate cause of all that
happens on earth. As the forces of Nature they are the agents of Karma.
But man can harmonise his relations to them. They are only quasi intelligent,
doing just what they have to do in the scheme of things. They are, however
subservient to the great post-human beings above man in the hierarchical
echelon, being subject to their will.
Hear H. P. B.: There is not a
single thing going on about us, no matter what, that elementals are not
concerned in, because they constitute a necessary part of nature, just as
important as the nerve currents in your body . . . [C. W. X, 271]
Potentiality
Nine:
THE ORDERING OF SOCIETY
Human society is a collectivity
of individual human beings and any characteristic or quality it may have
reflects an average of the qualities of its members. The collectivity is
also a karmic entity formed not only of its present activities but those
of its past. Any section of Society also has its individual Karma affecting
all its members.
The degree of governance of any
society will reflect its spiritual development and its overall character.
The more developed the society the greater the freedom it can enjoy. What
laws are necessary will be those relating to the common economy, tax raising
for public services, etc.
What has just been said reflects
into the rules of how wealth is generated. For example, there is the straight
forward earning a living for one’s self and family. There are certain aspects
to the acquiring of money (purely as such) in our modern way of life where
little or no such contribution is made, e.g., gambling on the stock exchange
in exchange rates and in land speculation. All these are non-productive
and for every winner there is a loser; they are immoral and quite unacceptable
in a sane world. Further, there is as yet no public conscience about the
inequitable distribution of wealth, however it is generated. There is a
saying that money makes money, justifying usury. In spite of our enormously
complicated and extensive system of loan and interest, sustaining an ever-expanding
economy, the saying is not true. The ever-expanding economy, with its attendant
waste, and a growing realization that an abundance of ‘things’ beyond all
reasonable need does not buy happiness, may prove disastrous to the system,
especially when repayments (capital and interest) become too burdensome.
Money as such is sterile, it
does not make real wealth. Only man’s ingenuity and work does that. More
and more money finds its way into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Moreover,
the means of production of wealth can overstretch the capabilities of Nature’s
resources to supply them.
Theosophy demonstrates a prime
need for altruism. All selfish acts, particularly those which adversely
affect our fellow men, incur adverse Karma.
Theosophy teaches us of a hierarchical
structure in the ordering of Cosmos. The Secret Doctrine, in telling us
of the origins of the Universe says that there is the eternally unmanifest
‘THAT’ from which the Manifest One periodically emanates. This One differentiates
into Seven Great Beings who characterise seven rays of development which
in turn permeate all Nature with their qualities and attributes. Below them
are an ever-descending series of Beings which constitute Architects, Builders,
etc., down to three grades of Elementals representing the ultimate workers.
They are the forces of Nature, each grade of which has its characteristic.
A proper structure of society would reflect this model, the wisest, the
most experienced heading a cone of authority over those lower in the scale
who are of lesser development. Nature is not a democracy but those ‘in authority’
have fitted themselves by Nature’s processes to fulfill their exalted roles.
This fitting has regard to their slow development in their series of personal
lives according to the process of reincarnation.
In India the laws of Manu reflected
this process in the caste system. Against the caste system, however, is
the fact that it became rigid. One could not change caste irrespective of
merit or demerit. It is noteworthy that the Master K. H. commended Damodar
who renounced his caste at considerable cost to his social standing. The
system is also divisive.
We in the West have now become
‘democratic’. The aristocratic ‘nobles’ (members of the ruling class) by
and large became unfit or just ceased to fulfil their traditional role.
Whereas the hierarchical system has obvious advantages, there is the difficulty
of choosing and electing persons of high integrity and motivated by altruism
able to fill the senior positions in a modern hierarchy. The very process
of election, or choosing, nowadays presents practical difficulties. Our
present democratic system could provide a working compromise if Theosophy
were to become a significant factor in our lives. Any system of government
can work satisfactorily if those working it make it do so.
Theosophy tells us of the differences
between sections of humanity by way of Root Races, sub-Races, families and
so on. Each of these groups has an historic background and each of them
is developing its own aspect of man’s constitution. The main races of humanity
develop their respective principles in due season. At this time in the 4th
Round the 5th Root Race is developing the mental aspects of Kama (the 4th
principle). Each Sub-Race of each Root Race is developing or has developed
one or other of these aspects but the Races and Sub-Races overlap. Later
ones start before older ones have run their course. In this way we are all
at different stages. Our cultures manifest this. Seeing that we must all
live in the planet together, tolerant allowances are essential if misunderstandings
between the groups are to be avoided.
The occult view of human progress
is that it is cyclical. The development and progress of human societies,
in whatever units we may be thinking, from large national ones to small
individual family groups, proceed by cycles. There is a birth, a period
of prospering, a decline, and a natural death. This rise and fall is analogous
to the life of an individual man. The length of these cycles is variable
depending upon the operations of the law of Karma. For example, if a group
of people or a nation misuses its powers the karmic consequence is inevitable
sooner or later in terms of time in the life of the community. Greedy exploitation
would certainly have its effects; maybe it would shorten the life of one
group, remove one nation’s dominance over another, and so on. Wrong practices
and habits of living tend to generate diseases, sometimes on a large scale,
inevitably shortening the life of the community.
The beneficent potentiality of
a well-ordered social society ensures the spiritual development of the members
of that society. Every member of it would have enough free time to do ‘his
own thing’. This proper ordering of daily life would reflect not only into
the opportunity of individuals having time consciously to undertake some
personal development but into the betterment of group health, with an attendant
increased happiness.
Under the beneficent potentiality
of Theosophy the whole complexion of human society could and would change
if it were but generally known. . . . from the depths of the dark, muddy
waters of materialism . . . a mystic force is rising . . . At most it is
but the first gentle rustling, but it is a superhuman rustling - “supernatural”
only for the superstitious and the ignorant. The spirit of truth is passing
now over the face of the dark waters, and in parting them, is compelling
them to disgorge their spiritual treasures. This spirit is a force that
can neither be hindered nor stopped. Those who recognize it and feel that
this is the supreme moment of their salvation will be uplifted by it and
carried beyond the illusions of the great astral serpent. The joy they will
experience will be so poignant and intense, that if they were not mentally
isolated from their bodies of flesh, the beatitude would pierce them like
sharp steel. It is not pleasure that they will experience, but a bliss which
is a foretaste of the knowledge of the gods, the knowledge of good and evil,
and of the fruits of the tree of life. [C. W. XI, 131/2]
Potentiality
Ten:
EDUCATION
Theosophy would not have much
to say about the content of secular education but it would about the development
in young people of character, unselfishness, helpfulness, self control,
truthfulness and competence. It would tend to discourage all nationalistic
propaganda and any religious education of a particular denominational character.
It would be concerned, however, to teach the laws of Karma and reincarnation
and their effects in our lives. It would also teach the ‘Humanities.’ It
would enlighten pupils as to their inherent spiritual nature, making them
aware that they share their spirituality with everybody else, with all living
things and even the earth itself, the solar system and the outer universe.
They thereby have a direct relationship with everything in Cosmos. By it
they are under an obligation to seek to further the happiness and well-being
of all their fellow creatures. Here we enter into the basics of a common
ethic of caring, cooperation and sharing; all out of real regard for others
and with mutual respect and even affection for them.
In The Key to Theosophy H. P.
B. stresses the importance of cooperation as against competition, of which
the system of competitive examinations is an example. It is an easy step
to extend this regard for other individuals to other groups, to other nationalities
and members of other races, to inculcate ideas of inclusiveness rather than
exclusiveness towards all. Whereas regard for local traditions, habits and
customs, and even patriotism, are worthy, belligerent nationalism, religious
intolerance and exclusiveness are certainly not.
In expounding the Law of Karma
to children, its aspect of “do as you would be done by” is understandable.
The Law in its other aspects of cause and effect and the maintenance of
equilibrium and harmony is something to which every child can respond. It
might be a truism to say that a good teacher is better than many books,
or even a computer! A living communication makes learning an exciting process.
Talent of every sort whether it be physical by way of manual ability or
artistic, emotional or mental skills, is obviously recognized and encouraged.
In this age of computing virtually
all basic data are available at the touch of a button, so too are many aspects
of calculation. These are tools perhaps useful in modern ultra-dollar efficient
society but they do not develop mental faculty, memory, sound logic and
judgment. They demand no initiative, encourage no real adventure or courage,
so much in demand in the ‘real’ world. Ideas on the progressive evolution
of all things give purpose to existence. Apart from the absorbing immediate
concerns of school life children would then acquire ideas about the long-term
purpose of being in incarnation.
Parents and teachers, brothers
and sisters, playmates: all are worthy of respect for what they are in their
particular relationships to each child. They are factors in their upbringing,
forming a background, each in his or her own way, to the child’s life, having
repercussions by way of conditioning for years to come. The inculcation
of the need for effort is an educational necessity. Very few children are
so gifted that they can perform their scholastic tasks or exercises without
effort. The truth is that it is by effort that they develop their faculties
or even the strength for doing anything. The making of effort can also be
enjoyable and stimulating; it is not necessarily wearisome or a drudgery.
In The Key to Theosophy, amongst
much else on education, H. P. B. has this to say: Children should above
all be taught self-reliance, love for all men, altruism, mutual charity,
and more than anything else, to think and reason for themselves. We would
reduce the purely mechanical work of the memory to an absolute minimum and
devote the time to the development and training of the inner senses, faculties
and latent capacities. We would endeavour to deal with each child as a unit,
and to educate it so as to produce the most harmonious and equal unfoldment
of its powers, in order that its special aptitudes should find their full
natural development. We should aim at creating free men and women, free
intellectually, free morally, unprejudiced in all respects, and above all
things, unselfish. And we believe that much if not all of this could be
obtained by proper and truly theosophical education. [Key, 270, Original
Edition].
She also said, A proper and sane
system of education should produce the most vigorous and liberal mind, strictly
trained in logical and accurate thought, and not in blind faith.
Potentiality
Eleven:
SCIENCE
The word Science is derived from
the Latin sciens, present participle of scire, to know. It has latterly
become applied to a specific aspect of ‘knowing’, a particular discipline
or way of knowing, but properly it is unspecific. Theosophy has been referred
to as the Science of Sciences; it includes all knowledge of a ‘real’ nature.
One of the Masters of the Wisdom
said that “Modern science is our best ally . . . ” (Mahatma Letters to A.P.Sinnett,
Letter 11, chron. 65). He said this at the end of the 19th century when
science was establishing itself as the fearless enquirer into all natural
phenomena. It was making rapid progress in exploring outer space, in discovering
the nature of matter, the composition and function of living cells and the
part they play in living organisms, and so on. Darwin had just propounded
his Origin of the Species and his theory of the survival of the fittest.
This growing understanding of the natural world was challenging the views
of religion on Divine Creation. Science encouraged the asking of many questions
about dogmatic assertions previously believed to be unquestionable. The
Masters were encouraging this liberalisation of thought and fearless enquiry
into the actualities of existence regardless of the many existing long-standing
accepted views.
Science may not nowadays be quite
so sure of itself as it was at the end of the 19th century. Its views are
more lightly held, its foundations are not so secure as they were only a
few years ago. Discoveries and theories are rapidly and continuously changing.
Science has consequently become more flexible, and willing to look into
areas which were previously ‘no-go’ areas, principally those of subjectivity
as opposed to the accustomed pure objectivity. Quantum physics with its
ideas of non-locality has opened up new fields. Some scientists are beginning
to pose questions which suggest the possibility of non-physical realms of
being. Near-death experiences, for example, have forced attention away from
the strictly material. Now there is also an increasing view that paranormal
phenomena like thought reading or transference, psychokinesis, materialisations
at spiritualistic seances, distant healing and so on, ought to be acknowledged
and investigated. Current models of scientific thought cannot accommodate
such happenings.
Theosophy provides ready-made
models to explain many of these phenomena but so far they have been ignored.
These answers include explanatory material on the nature of space and time,
the existence and characteristics of various non-physical planes of existence.
As an example, the one next to the physical, the formative plane (the Astral),
has several functions. To a theosophist these correspond to the various
sub-planes of that plane. It is where memory resides; where vitality, the
universal life force, is stored for suffusion into the physical. From this
plane ‘subjective’ forms are projected into physical, objective existence.
H. P. B. makes an important statement
in The Secret Doctrine: Now the Occultists, who trace every atom in the
small universe, whether an aggregate or single, to One Unity, or Universal
Life; who do not recognise that anything in Nature can be inorganic; who
know of no such thing as dead matter - the Occultists are consistent with
their doctrine of Spirit and Soul when speaking of memory in every atom,
of will and sensation. [Secret Doctrine, Volume II, Page 672]
The relatively recent idea in
the scientific world that the observer affects the results of experiments
at the sub-atomic levels is beginning to suggest that the observer is a
participator in the experimental process. According to Theosophy, this is
so because of the nature of the inner subjective planes, particularly the
mental plane wherein incidentally, it is said, space has no dimension (in
the physical sense) and time as ordinarily understood does not apply. In
subjective space therefore the square law relating to affects and distance
does not apply.
There is another current scientific
speculation on non-locality. Sub-atomic particles can affect one another
at distances such that changes in one in any given place affect immediately
another in another place. So far there is no scientific explanation for
this but in the matter of non-locality, students are reminded of “the Point
which is everywhere and the circumference nowhere”, supplemented by the
part of the Hermetic Axiom “Nothing is great, nothing is small”. Similarly,
the Occultist could ask, “Where is a thought?” The scientist might answer,
“In the brain”, but a thought is immaterial and the brain is something material.
How does the material give rise to the immaterial? Again the answer to this
can be by way of the inner nature of matter, which has its subjective principles
and sub-principles. The theosophist also sees that, as any particle of matter
is a living entity, its own inherent energy is life, the One Universal Life.
A comprehensive metaphysical
view of non-locality becomes very complex. The interweaving of causes and
effects in these non-physical fields becomes extraordinarily complicated,
especially because what happens in them can be reflected into, and therefore
affect, the physical plane. In Occultism the existence of Elemental beings,
has some relevance to this. They constitute a modus operandi for most phenomena.
The Elementals are regarded as semi-intelligent entities and act as the
forces of Nature.
Modern science still lacks a
model of the structured universe such as that provided by Theosophy with
its seven planes of being, each with its own main characteristics. It also
lacks the idea, and all that stems from it, that there is no such thing
as ‘dead’ matter. The two concomitants of consciousness and memory, and
matter as living, reflect into an understanding of the grand process of
evolution. Everything is building on what went before. This is the basis
for Rupert Sheldrake’s considerable work The Presence of the Past.
Science has sub-disciplines.
One is biology, the science of living things. Theosophy extends this by
its notion that there is no dead matter, nothing is inorganic, and by furthering
the idea that everything manifests an aspect of the One Life. This One Life
shows two inseparable aspects: form (matter) on the one hand, and energy
as dynamism (life or spirit) on the other. Consciousness, memory and will
are inherent in the combination. ‘Volition’ is therefore an attribute in
all things. These are elements of basic data not yet fully appreciated by
science but clearly enunciated by Theosophy.
Once Theosophy and its principles
are known, it will be demonstrated that our philosophy is not only a “close
relative of modern science,” but its forbear, though greatly transcending
it in logic; and that its “metaphysics” is vaster, more beautiful and more
powerful than any emanating from a dogmatic cult. It is the metaphysics
of Nature in her chaste nakedness, both physical, moral and spiritual, alone
capable of explaining the apparent miracle by means of natural and psychic
laws, and of completing the mere physiological and pathological notions
of Science, and of killing for ever the anthropomorphic Gods and the Devils
of dualistic religions. No one believes more firmly in the Unity of the
eternal laws than do the Theosophists. [C. W. VIII, 76]
Potentiality
Twelve:
ART, HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY and PARAPSYCHOLOGY
With the advent of Theosophy
a whole set of new concepts arise in the field of art, primarily from the
occult view of the nature of the artist. Theosophy teaches that every human
being is a microscopic but unique reflection of the macrocosm, the universal
whole. Each of his faculties derives ultimately from great Beings who have
progressed in the aeons of evolutionary time far above him in the scale
of being. These are collective entities, aggregates of many lesser living
beings, each with its intelligence and memories. These together constitute
a vast accumulated experience acquired by multitudes of ‘Lives’ as they
have moved up the evolutionary ladder. Life in this context, known as the
Monad, has passed through all the kingdoms of Nature and thence into the
human kingdom where it becomes individualised and proceeds through the sub-Races
and Races, in which it sequentially develops human faculties. Ultimately
its vehicles are fitted to proceed as entities into the superhuman kingdoms.
Nature provides all that constitutes
not only the physical being of man but his non-physical principles. Each
cell, even of his body, has its own inner principles, through which that
cell is in touch with the corresponding cosmic plane. It thereby reflects
something of that plane’s characteristics. All the time the whole man is
resonating in the various aspects of his being to what takes place in the
universe, to the extent that they have been developed and attuned.
The artist responds to the harmonies
in Nature whether by sound, colour, form or feeling. He sees something of
the grand cosmic pattern in symmetrical patterns, facial expressions, in
movement, in rhythm and the lilt of language and sound. Musicians hear with
their inner ears the celestial music; they can set it down in writing, and
with the instruments and techniques at their disposal, can express what
they hear of the melody and harmony. The dancer and the singer too in their
way interpret and bring forth something of these unheard rhythms and harmonies.
Their responsive souls can speak to us but we have to be able to respond.
We need eyes to see and ears to hear. Without these we cannot respond and
without our response any art form is a mere shadow, a presentation without
meaning. A response to any art form, by vision or sight, involves our soul;
but further, insofar as it responds, it is itself quickened.
There is a sanctity and a holiness
in this appreciation, leading us into the spiritual realms. Our characters
are modified. The highest emotions of devotion, courage, perseverance, sympathy,
love and compassion are all evoked. Real art will do this for us if we give
it our attention and can see and hear. We all have the necessary internal
instrument but maybe it needs tuning.
Quoting the Master K. H., “the
melomanic knows of no higher state of bliss and happiness than music - the
most divine and spiritual of arts . Whereas this is specific to one art
form we have the expression that Divinity is expressed in, “goodness, truth
and beauty”. There is also the expression that “beauty is in the eye of
the beholder”. Without that ‘eye’ there is no beauty. It could also be said
that Theosophy is in the eye - or soul response - of the student; without
that it does not exist for him or her. __________
We dealt with some aspects of
spiritualistic phenomena and psychism in Potentiality Seven. The main criterion
in the theosophical explanation of them is the planes of Nature and the
occult constitution of man by principles (see Appendix). In either case
there is a significant division in them - at the mid point in the 5th plane
or 5th principle of Manas of mind. The dividing line is referred to as a
barrier or bridge, the Antahkarana. Nature above this line is regarded as
‘formless’ and subjective, and below it objective. In terms of planes, in
terms of principles it is spiritual (Egoic) at high levels, or manifestly
material, personal at lower levels (but matter can be non-physical). This
information is essential to an understanding of psychology and parapsychology.
Some psychologists have recognised
a distinction between the personal ego (id) and a super-ego. Their ego has
been relatively well studied and much therapeutic practice developed from
clinical experience. The super-ego, however, - the theosophical spiritual
Ego or Individuality - so rarely manifests that very little is known of
its true nature, its real potentialities. It is still largely a postulate
but there is evidence of its existence by way of its reflection into the
upper three sub-principles of the kamic or emotional main (4th) principle.
Even those reflections, although still coloured by egotism, demonstrate
some of the higher spiritual aspects of the personality.
Parapsychology was mentioned
briefly in Potentiality Seven. Theosophy enriches this field of activity
again by way of the characteristics and qualities of the planes and principles.
The mental plane and mind play a large part in ‘spirit’ messages, ‘automatic’
writing and obviously in thought transference. In other phenomena the astral
(3rd) plane and the Astral Body are involved, sometimes with the aid of
Elementals, e.g. materialisations, apports, precipitation of pictures and
letters.
Psychological phenomena include
split personality, obsession and possession. Again a knowledge of the after-death
processes helps towards an understanding of what is happening. A man is
his spiritual Ego, or Individuality, but associated with a personality during
earth life. In cases of obsession the personality can be taken over by one
or more powerful Elementals, often but not always of its own creation, by
prolonged habits for example. Possession proper occurs when the personal
principles are taken over completely, or partly and temporarily, by an ‘Elementary’.
An Elementary is the persisting psychic reliquiae of a deceased person,
from which the spiritual Ego has been separated during the normal death
process. The ‘Elementary’ as long as it persists can remain powerful. It
can seek ‘life’ to fulfil its urges in the physical body of a living person.
It is motivated by intense craving for carnal satisfaction, such as sexual
perversions, drunkenness, often fiendish cruelty, etc. It is completely
without conscience or decent restraint because of its separation from its
spiritual soul. [
Regarding examples of and cures for obsession etc, see Collected Writings
Index and Volume II, page 399]
Theosophy has something significant
to say about health. The following quotation may appear superficial but
it has wide repercussions: Every individual is making Karma either good
or bad in each action and thought of his daily round, and is at the same
time working out in this life the Karma brought about by the acts and desires
of the last. When we see people afflicted by congenital ailments, it may
be safely assumed that these ailments are the inevitable results of causes
started by themselves in a previous birth. It may be argued that, as these
afflictions are hereditary, they can have nothing to do with a past incarnation;
but it must be remembered that the Ego, the real man, the individuality,
has no spiritual origin in the parentage by which it is re-embodied, but
is drawn by the affinities which its previous mode of life attracted round
it into the current that carries it, when the time comes for rebirth, to
the home best fitted for the development of those tendencies . . . [Key,
212]
CONCLUSION
The potentialities of Theosophy
can only become actualities and their benefit to humanity felt as they are
known. It is over one hundred years since they were made available in the
writings of H. P. Blavatsky and her Initiate Masters. For various reasons
however, notably opposition by self-interested parties, they have been suppressed
or ignored. It was envisaged that the Theosophical Society, as it was originally
founded, would be the means of letting it be known that all these potentialities
were available to the world in general. It is our duty, as members of that
Society, to familiarize ourselves with all aspects of the theosophical teachings,
particularly these potentialities, so that we can broadcast them, making
them available widely as was originally intended.
The advent of Theosophy was a
unique world event, ranking even above that of Christianity. The founders
of the great religions in history have been Initiates of high order in the
occult Hierarchy (with its several branches). The Masters of the Wisdom
who inspired the founding of the Theosophical Society were members of that
Brotherhood. They not only made available to the world in general the expansive
and very deep theosophical teachings but committed them, via H. P. Blavatsky
and to some extent directly themselves, into writing. No other Teacher previously
had done that. Even though now we do not have the Masters with us, we do
have that incomparably valuable literature - and that for all time, or for
as long as it shall be preserved.
We have to acknowledge H. P.
B.’s great self- sacrificing work in this, with all the sincere appreciation
it deserves. We owe her an immense debt of gratitude not only for this ‘actualising’
of the potentiality of Theosophy as far as she could in writing, but for
her direct association with some of the Masters, and the evidence of their
existence that this provided. They became ‘realities’ and thereby an inspiration
to many. As witness we have what she said about them in her account of the
writing of Isis Unveiled and what they themselves said about their part
in the writing of The Secret Doctrine.
THE ULTIMATE POTENTIALITY Practical
Theosophy is not one Science, but embraces every science in life, moral
and physical. It may, in short, be justly regarded as the universal coach
, a tutor of world-wide knowledge and experience, and of an erudition which
not only assists and guides his pupils toward a successful examination for
every scientific or moral service in earthly life, but fits them for the
lives to come, if those pupils will only study the universe and its mysteries
within themselves . . . [C. W. X, 165]
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Geoffrey Farthing was born
in England on 10 December 1909; educated conventionally at two boarding
schools; matriculated London University, but became apprenticed into
engineering, attended night school at Manchester College of Technology
of which he became an Associate; served six years in the Army in the
Royal Signals, leaving the service as Major.
Geoffrey joined Leeds Lodge
of The Theosophical Society in England (Adyar) in 1945. With his background
of reading it was soon discovered by the Lodge members that he was
knowledgeable enough to start giving lectures, and this he did almost
as soon as he joined. Since then he has lectured in many countries
around the world and held most positions in the Theosophical Society
in England, including a spell as General Secretary (1969 - 72). He
served a term as a member of the Society’s General Council at Adyar,
India, and was a member of the Executive Committee of the European
Federation for several years.
During the 1980s and 1990s,
Geoffrey was a regular course leader at annual residential weekends
exploring The Secret Doctrine, held at Tekels Park, Camberley, Surrey.
He has taken an active part in the Theosophy/Science weekends held
each year within the English Section and continues as a tutor in the
European School of Theosophy, of which he is a founding member. In
the 1970s, Geoffrey set up a sister organization - Blavatsky Trust
- whose aim is to disseminate knowledge of the writings of H. P. Blavatsky
Mr Farthing has written
a number of theosophical books: After-Death States and Consciousness;
Deity, Cosmos and Man; Theosophy, What’s It All About?; When We Die;
and Exploring the Great Beyond. In 1974, he gave the prestigious Blavatsky
Lecture at the Annual Convention of the English Theosophical Society
on Life, Death and Dreams, and in 1996, he was awarded the Subba Row
Medal for his significant contribution to theosophical literature.
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