On Knowledge
Translated from Russian by Olga Fyodorova
In recent centuries, there has been an increase in skepticism towards the knowledge of the ancient Sages. Whereas the Knowledge and Wisdom that have been present on our Planet since Eternity say that there are two types of knowledge: real and unreal, that is, either Eternal Truth, or illusory consequences. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky claims that there is one Eternal Truth, one genuine religion of Wisdom and a single path of Thought.
And, if religious denominations together and each one individually, limited their consciousness by dogmas that have long failed to meet the spirit of the times, then physical science and philosophy generally reject all religions and true Esoteric Philosophy, considering it not as a true reflection of the environment, but simply as an oriental way of thinking, generating a whimsical world of fantasy. However, the present time forces them to significantly correct their knowledge of reality. The Church – no matter how fast it could stand in its faith – is forced to make concessions to the modern trends, and, of course, tendencies of a religious and philosophical understanding of the world arise in its depths, instead of theological dogmas. But as for now...
Modern science develops its potential by leaps and bounds, and the introduction of subtle energies into the world will present it with a choice when it will have to admit that the Universe, as well as man, is an embodied consciousness. And its refinement and expansion, as well as the spiritualization of the intellect, that is, the acquisition of spiritual intuition, depend on the degree of matter differentiation, as well as the efforts of the person himself. Science will also be forced to acknowledge the hidden laws and forces of Nature, which are now unverifiable by the imperial method, i.e., through experiments. So far, it recognizes only one way of cognition – the channels of the sense organs, through which Ideas can penetrate into the Mind, that is, only that which explicitly affects the sense organs and the logical mind synthesizing them.
And to this, religious philosophy says that this is the way of illusory consequences, that is, secondary consequences of a real fact. And it adds that the forms of this world, its combinations, present a great, ever-changing panorama of evolution. There is nothing to do here with Eternity.
Such unreal knowledge, consisting of illusory one, that is, of temporary and secondary consequences, works successfully only in relation to a short chain of events. That from which matter has originated and that to which it will return cannot be detected by simple material senses.
The difficulty of modern consciousness is that it thinks in short time periods, and does not want to look into the distant past, where the true causes are hidden, does not want to understand the true purpose of man on Earth, the great future of his consciousness.
The human spirit lives in the dungeon of his body and eats only crumbs of knowledge through his senses, the real world is outside the perceptions of his consciousness.
But there is an opportunity to intuitively experience true Knowledge, and an expanded consciousness will help to look beyond the wall created by our rational perception. And that is to understand that the Eternal Truths are in the Fiery World, in the Universal Mind, that only in the Spirit can we approach the Great Reality.
Only the mind that has reached a sufficiently high degree of Initiation or that of a great Adept is able to be in contact with the Universal Mind and see the Truth as it really is, and not as it seems in the sensible world. But we still have a rational perception of the environment.
Our brain is a representative of lower Manas on the physical plane. It is able to analyze our external world through our senses (which are the support of consciousness) and reflect spatial ideas. The brain is the only front door that can be opened into Space. All other doors are internal and lead to various utility rooms. Memory and sensations pass through them in a continuous stream, the clarity, brightness and intensity of which depend on the state of health of the body, on the performance of these doors. Their Reality, in the sense of truthfulness and correspondence to reality, depends on the principle from which they proceed and on the elements dominating in the lower Manas: noetic, striving towards the Spirit, or physical, that is, earthly and passionate (kama).
We are talking about the priority of the intellectual component of a person and his spirituality prevailing over sensuality. We know that the source of human rationality is the world of Fire, and the source of feelings is astral matter, although the role of sensory knowledge cannot be underestimated.
First of all the human brain is the inexhaustible transformer of Nature’s lowest gross energy into spiritual forces of the finest quality. Unfortunately, in modern humanity there is a gross force, wasted without any transmutation of lower energy into the form of a spiritual moving Force, of a higher potential. Our automatically acting brain accumulates in itself only a certain amount of gross energy, incorporeal for humans, forgetting or not being able to transform it.
However, a positive example can also be mentioned. The result of the highest mental process in our brain, engaged in scientific or philosophical issues, is the transformation of energy from a gross form to a refined spiritual one. Such energy in its activity is capable of producing unlimited consequences.
A person with a high organization of his mental activity becomes a center emitting potential forms collected in the invisible world from inert cosmic matter. These forms evolve and create new relationships. Then they are projected onto the grosser planes of being and materialized in the visible world.
Each thought of a person, when revealed, passes into the inner world and becomes an active entity, joining an element, that is, one of the semi-intelligent forces of Nature. As the intensity of brain activity, so the duration of the existence of an active intelligent entity.
So, a person constantly populates his stream in Space with his own little world, filled with the products of his own hobbies, desires, passions. This stream interacts with any sensitive or nervous system (which is responsive for it) in proportion to its dynamic tension.
Generally, people reproduce them automatically, unconsciously, but Adept is able to do this consciously. It was the knowledge that reflects the Eternal Truths that was focused at the end of the 19th century by H.P. Blavatsky. With their purity and truth, they eclipsed the “esoteric” ideas of that time, which were distorted and hidden and many aspects.
The time has come when the knowledge of the ancient sages’ philosophy to be proclaimed, and this is Theosophy. This knowledge alone will pave the path to enlightenment and illumination of our consciousness.
Today is March 24th which is The Teacher's Day. Each of us keeps his Master in his soul, from whom he receives the knowledge that is vital for him. And for Theosophy as a whole, such masters are the Mahatmas, the Eastern Brotherhood of Adepts, who have taken responsibility for the development of the human spiritual consciousness on the Earth.