It has been said that Truth is what is.
That is probably a truism, but discovering ‘what is’
opens up a large field of enquiry into objective and subjective realms. In our
theosophical literature the story of the Cosmos begins with the ABSOLUTE. This
is the subject of the first
fundamental Proposition in the S.D.[Secret
Doctrine ] “It
is beyond the range and reach of thought”,
inexpressible by any similitude because any such would limit it. “It is an Omnipresent,
Eternal, Boundless and Immutable PRINCIPLE, on which all speculation is impossible...”.
We can assume that this ABSOLUTE always is. This means “It” is everlasting, timeless,
constituting absolute Truth or Reality.
The second Proposition tells us that somehow, periodically, our manifest universe comes into
being as an out-breathing of Brahma. Everything and anything that may have been prior to
this out-breathing was Parabrahm, locked in unknowable mystery.
The processes whereby the Cosmos began and in particular our Earth are fully
described in
The Secret Doctrine. It makes wonderful reading because it tells us how everything, from
atoms to worlds, including all the denizens of the four kingdoms of Nature, come
to be, and even to be as they are. This last statement, “things as they are”, brings us to the present, a
different scene now from the original One which was ‘contained’, unimaginably, in a state of
non-being, eternally in the ABSOLUTE. Now, however, Cosmos and Nature are all
around us, here and now, although everything is temporary. Because of this transience
the pundits have declared that it is maya, illusion, ephemeral, even insubstantial;
it can only be relative
truth. Only the ABSOLUTE is absolute Truth. Nevertheless, at any time, there
is
the Cosmos, either passive or active. In terms of what is , like the Absolute,
what emanates from it exists; it is , and must be regarded at
least a present time reality or truth.
Each
period of existence, of activity, or Manvantara, is succeeded by a period
of passivity or rest: Pralaya. This alternation applies throughout Nature,
to
everything great and small, to all
processes, at all levels. All is according to Universal Law. When a period of
Manvantara is over, a Pralaya begins; whatever there was previously now reverts
to a passive,
even dormant
state. This cycle of alternate activity and rest, however, is a complete cycle.
It is this whole cycle which is temporary. This means to say that even the
pralayic condition has a time limit
and cannot therefore really be reality or truth, and certainly not the ABSOLUTE.
The ABSOLUTE emanates periodically these cycles of activity and rest from
Itself. They can have
no other source. During the rest period the experience gained during an active
period is assimilated; there is not nothing then going on. As an example,
our active lives come to an
end, we retire into a post-mortem condition where the experience of our lifetime
is assimilated, passively. We are in a world of effects, not causes. This
post-mortem condition being temporary, is therefore not Absolute. Analogously
this process applies
throughout the whole Cosmos, from atoms even to the Universe of universes.
What comprises
a complete
cycle of both the active and passive states is, for the time being, what is.
By our definition
therefore the cycle is real or true. Whereas each cycle may not be everlasting
THAT from which the alternating periods emanate is everlasting; it is this that
is acknowledged to be
Truth or Reality. So there are three, not two, aspects to truth: a) the unknowable
Absolute, b)
active manifestation (Manvantara), c) inactive manifestation (Pralaya).
One
of the prime tenets of our theosophical teachings, is the evolutionary process.
Unmanifest existence has two aspects: inactivity and latent activity. Active
manifestation also has two aspects: form and consciousness. All forms are the
aggregates of lesser
lives. The theosophical teaching is that every life has a form and consciousness
(sentience) plus
memory and will. This applies however small the entity may be, even down to what
are referred to as life atoms (not physical atoms) which are not only infinitely
small at physical
level but exist on non-physical planes as well. For example, they aggregate to
form the ‘Elementals’, the life forces in Nature. They do, however, aggregate to become the life forms
in all their variety with which we are familiar, each of them being possessed
of a consciousness to the extent of its evolutionary development. The limit
of
this development on
our physical earth is man, who is unique among all species, having attained self-consciousness.
The significance of this is that, although the whole evolutionary process
may be regarded as temporary and therefore illusory, it is Nature’s only means for generating and
developing not only consciousness as such but self-consciousness. It is the only means
whereby man, and presumably a post-human being, can become aware of himself – as well as
but apart from his surroundings. Without these periods of ‘mayavic’ manifestation the whole
cosmic process would be sterile; in effect there would be no process. To this
extent whatever is during Manvantara, however temporary, must be real and therefore
true. This applies
equally to the periods of rest, to Pralaya.
In
the nature of things consciousness is ubiquitous. It becomes individually
manifest only through a vehicle, i.e., something temporary. In this way consciousness
is also temporary but
it is innate in the whole cosmic process. Consciousness is a dynamic which equates
to life, and ultimately to Spirit – both temporary in manifest existence. They are nonetheless ‘real’,
for the time being, and therefore true.
This
consciousness or life, albeit not ABSOLUTE, is an essential aspect of the
total cosmic process without which there would be ‘nothing’ for ever. Nevertheless the Absolute, although
beyond the “reach and range of thought”, must be potentially that ultimate state wherein
inherently are absolute consciousness and all other aspects and attributes of life.
By logic there must be that in it which relates to time and which is responsible for periodical
manifestations through which all that has being during a Manvantara/pralayic cycle comes to
be. There must be a potentiality to contain this everything. Metaphysically this could be
referred to as the ALL-containing ABSOLUTE. The process of coming and going, is
Universal Law in action. This Law never is not.
The ABSOLUTE may be meaningless to our thinking minds but something cannot come
from nothing, even if that NO-THING is in a state of NON-BEING! It is the BE-NESS of the
first fundamental Proposition.
The
point of this analysis is to show that, as everything stems from the same
source (the ABSOLUTE) which may be no-thing or non-being, it is certainly not ‘nothing’, or nothing
could issue from it. Therefore whatever is, is always so in the cyclic ‘component’ of the
Absolute. It is potentially both subjective, i.e. of spirit and consciousness,
and objective, i.e., related to form or the vehicles of consciousness. All these,
however, are within the Eternal IS-NESS, whatever that may be. They are therefore
worthy of the name of Truth. Manifest,
Pralayic or Eternal, everything is One and so therefore is Truth.
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: “The Fundamental Unity of all Existence ...” – existence is ONE THING ... Fundamentally there is ONE BEING. The BEING has
two aspects, positive and negative. The positive is Spirit, or CONSCIOUSNESS.
The negative is SUBSTANCE, the subject of consciousness. This Being is the
Absolute
in its primary manifestation. Being absolute there is nothing outside it.
It is ALL-BEING
... Therefore it is clear that this fundamental ONE EXISTENCE or Absolute Being
must be the REALITY in every form there is. (Bowen Notes, 8)
Apart from these philosophical thoughts on Truth, there is a whole new dimension to it as it
applies to ourselves and our individual consciousness. In this connection we have to
remember that in our total Being we reflect the whole of Nature.
Man is the Microcosm. As he is so, then all the Hierarchies of the Heavens exist
within him. But in truth there is neither Macrocosm nor Microcosm but ONE
EXISTENCE. Great and small are such only as viewed by a limited consciousness.
(Bowen Notes, 9-10)
In
Vol. IX of the Collected Writings in the article “What is Truth” there are the following
passages:
The greatest adept living can reveal of the Universal Truth only so much as the mind
he is impressing it upon can assimilate, and no more.... In proportion as our
consciousness is elevated towards absolute truth, so do we men assimilate it more or
less absolutely....Still each of us can relatively reach the Sun of Truth even on this
earth, and assimilate its warmest and most direct rays,... On the physical plane we may
use our mental polariscope [instrument for showing phenomena of polarised light];
and, analyzing the properties of each ray, choose the purest. On the plane of`
spirituality, to reach the Sun of Truth we must work in dead earnest for the
development of our higher nature.... once aroused ... the highest spiritual senses and
perceptions grow in us in proportion, and develop pari passu with the “divine man”.... absolute truth is not on earth and has to be searched for in higher regions,...
We are all at different stages of development. For many of us the apprehension of the higher
octaves of Truth is quite beyond us. Even in discussing the most elevated and abstruse
subjects H.P.B. could not resist some humour. Here is an example.
To
return to our subject. It thus follows that, though “general abstract truth is the most
precious of all blessings” for many of us,... we have, meanwhile, to be satisfied with
relative truths. In sober fact, we are a poor set of mortals at best, ever
in dread before the face of even a relative truth, lest it should devour ourselves
and our
petty little
preconceptions along with us. As for an absolute truth, most of us are as incapable
of seeing it as of reaching the moon on a bicycle....
As
physical man, limited and trammelled from every side by illusions, cannot
reach truth by the light of his terrestrial perceptions, we say—develop in you the inner
knowledge. From the time when the Delphic oracle said to the enquirer “Man, know
thyself,” no greater or more important truth was ever taught. Without such perception,
man will remain ever blind to even many a relative, let alone absolute, truth.
Man has to know himself, i.e., acquire the inner perceptions which never deceive, before he can
master any absolute truth. Absolute truth is the symbol of Eternity, and no finite mind
can ever grasp the eternal, hence, no truth in its fulness can ever dawn upon it. To
reach the state during which man sees and senses it, we have to paralyze the senses of
the external man of clay. [A first essential is] love of truth for its own sake, for
otherwise no recognition of it will follow.
Outside a certain highly spiritual and elevated state of mind, during which Man is at
one with the universal mind – he can get nought on earth but relative truth, or
truths, from whatsoever philosophy or religion. Were even the goddess who dwells at
the bottom of the well to issue from her place of confinement, she could give
man no more than he can assimilate. Meanwhile, every one can sit near that well – name of
which is knowledge – gaze into its depths in the hope of seeing Truth’s fair image
reflected, at least, on the dark waters. This, however, as remarked by Richter, presents
a certain danger. Some truth, to be sure, may be occasionally reflected as in a mirror
on the spot we gaze upon, and thus reward the patient student. But, adds the German
thinker, “I have heard that some philosophers in seeking for Truth, to pay homage to
her, have seen their own image in the water and adored it instead.”
It
is to avoid such a calamity – one that has befallen every founder of a religious or
philosophical school – that the editors are studiously careful not to offer the reader
only those truths which they find reflected in their own personal brains. They
offer the public a wide choice, and refuse to show bigotry and intolerance, which
are the chief
landmarks on the path of Sectarianism. But, while leaving the widest margin possible
for comparison, our opponents cannot hope to find their faces reflected on the clear
waters of our Lucifer, without remarks or just criticism upon the most prominent
features thereof, if in contrast with theosophical views.
This,
however, only within the cover of the public magazine, and so far as regards
the merely intellectual aspect of philosophical truths. Concerning the deeper
spiritual, and
one may almost say religious, beliefs, no true Theosophist ought to degrade these
by subjecting them to public discussion, but ought rather to treasure and
hide them deep
within the sanctuary of his innermost soul. Such beliefs and doctrines should
never be rashly given out, as they risk unavoidable profanation by the rough
handling
of the
indifferent and the critical. Nor ought they to be embodied in any publication
except as hypotheses offered to the consideration of the thinking portion
of the public.
Theosophical truths, when they transcend a certain limit of speculation, had
better remain concealed from public view, for the “evidence of things not seen” is no
evidence save to him who sees, hears, and senses it. It is not to be dragged outside the
“Holy of Holies,” the temple of the impersonal divine Ego, or the indwelling self.
For, while every fact outside its perception can, as we have shown, be, at best, only a
relative truth, a ray from the absolute truth can reflect itself only in the
pure mirror of its own flame—our highest spiritual consciousness. And how can the darkness (of
illusion) comprehend the light that shineth in it?
From Collected Writings Vol. XI, 249:
Happy are they who remain blind to these deceiving lights, more happy still those
who never turn their eyes from the only true Beacon-light whose eternal flame burns
in
solitude in the depths of the waters of the Sacred Science. Numerous are the
pilgrims who desire to enter those waters; very few are the strong swimmers who
reach the
Beacon. He who would get there must cease to be a number, and become all numbers.
He must have forgotten the illusion of separateness, and accept only the truth
of collective individuality[ The illusion of the personality, of a separate ego, placed by our egotism in the
forefront. In one word, it is necessary to assimilate all humanity, live by it,
for it, and in it; in other terms, cease to be “oneâ€, and become “all†or the
total. ] . He must see with the ears, hear with the eyes [A Vedic expression. The senses, including the two mystic senses, are seven in Occultism;
but an Initiate does not separate these senses one from the other, any more than
he separates his unity from Humanity. Each one of the senses contains all the
others. ] , understand the
language of the rainbow, and have concentrated his six senses in his seventh sense.[Symbology of colours. The language of the prism, of which “the seven mother-colours
have each seven sonsâ€, i.e., 49 shades or “sons†between the seven, are so many letter
of alphabetical characters. The language of colours has, therefore, fifty-six letters
for the Initiate (not to be confused with an adept; see my article “A Danger Signalâ€).
Of these letters each septenary is absorbed by the mother-colours, as each of the
seven mother-colours is finally absorbed in the white ray, Divine Unity symbolized
by these colours. ]
The “beacon-light” of Truth is nature without the illusory veil of the senses. It can be
reached only when the adept has become absolute master of his personal self, able to
control all his physical and psychic senses by the aid of his “seventh sense”, through
which he is gifted also with the true wisdom of the gods – Theosophia....
We
have now entered the realms of Mysticism (or Occult Science) because it is
there – and
there only – that Truth abides. No wonder that Jesus did not reply to King Herod!