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HPB-SD(ed.1) v.1 p.3 sec.11: Difference between revisions
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{{Style P-No indent|English geologists *, as the nature of matter, it is because he knows what he is talking about. When he says “ Man ” and Elements, he neither means “ man ” in his present physiological and anthropological form, nor the elemental atoms, those hypothetical conceptions, the entitative abstractions of matter in its highly attenuated state, as existing at present in scientific minds ; nor, again, the compound Elements of antiquity. In Occultism the word ''Element ''means “ rudiment ” in every case. When we say “ Elementary Man,” we mean either the proëmial, incipient sketch of man, in its unfinished and undeveloped condition, hence in that form which now lies latent in physical man during his life-time, and takes shape only occasionally and under certain conditions ; or that form which for a time survives the material body, and which is better known as an “ Elementary.” † With regard to “ Element,” when the term is used metaphysically, it means, in distinction to the mortal, the incipient ''divine ''man ; and, in its physical usage, inchoate matter in its first undifferentiated condition, or in the ''laya ''state, which is the eternal and the ''normal ''condition of substance, differentiating only periodically, and is during that differentiation in an ''abnormal ''state — in other words, a transitory illusion of the senses.}} | {{Style P-No indent|English geologists *, as the nature of matter, it is because he knows what he is talking about. When he says “ Man ” and Elements, he neither means “ man ” in his present physiological and anthropological form, nor the elemental atoms, those hypothetical conceptions, the entitative abstractions of matter in its highly attenuated state, as existing at present in scientific minds ; nor, again, the compound Elements of antiquity. In Occultism the word ''Element ''means “ rudiment ” in every case. When we say “ Elementary Man,” we mean either the proëmial, incipient sketch of man, in its unfinished and undeveloped condition, hence in that form which now lies latent in physical man during his life-time, and takes shape only occasionally and under certain conditions ; or that form which for a time survives the material body, and which is better known as an “ Elementary.” † With regard to “ Element,” when the term is used metaphysically, it means, in distinction to the mortal, the incipient ''divine ''man ; and, in its physical usage, inchoate matter in its first undifferentiated condition, or in the ''laya ''state, which is the eternal and the ''normal ''condition of substance, differentiating only periodically, and is during that differentiation in an ''abnormal ''state — in other words, a transitory illusion of the senses.}} | ||
As to the “ elemental atoms,” so called, the Occultists refer to them by that name with a meaning analogous to that which is given by the Hindu to Brahmâ when he calls him {{Style S-Small capitals|Anu}}, the “ Atom.” Every elemental ''atom'', in search of which more than one Chemist has followed the path indicated by the Alchemists, is, in their firm belief (when not ''knowledge''), a {{Style S-Small capitals|soul}} ; not necessarily a disembodied soul, but a ''jiva'', as the Hindus call it, a centre of {{Style S-Small capitals|potential vitality}}, with latent intelligence in it, and, in the case of compound Souls — an intelligent active {{Style S-Small capitals|existence}}, from the highest to the lowest order, a form composed of more or less differentiations. It requires a metaphysician — and an Eastern metaphysician — to understand our meaning. All those atom-Souls are differentiations from the one, and in the same relation to it as the ''divine Soul'' — the Buddhi — to its informing and inseparable Spirit, or ''Atman.'' | As to the “ elemental atoms,” so called, the Occultists refer to them by that name with a meaning analogous to that which is given by the Hindu to Brahmâ when he calls him {{Style S-Small capitals|Anu}}, the “ Atom.” Every elemental ''atom'', in search of which more than one Chemist has followed the path indicated by the Alchemists, is, in their firm belief (when not ''knowledge''), a {{Style S-Small capitals|soul}} ; not necessarily a disembodied soul, but a ''jiva'', as the Hindus call it, a centre of {{Style S-Small capitals|potential vitality}}, with latent intelligence in it, and, in the case of compound Souls — an intelligent active {{Style S-Small capitals|existence}}, from the highest to the lowest order, a form composed of more or less differentiations. It requires a metaphysician — and an Eastern metaphysician — to understand our meaning. All those atom-Souls are differentiations from the {{Style S-Small capitals|one}}, and in the same relation to it as the ''divine Soul'' — the Buddhi — to its informing and inseparable Spirit, or ''Atman.'' | ||
Modern physics, while borrowing from the ancients their atomic theory, forgot one point, the most important of the doctrine ; hence they got only the husks and will never be able to get at the kernel. They left behind, in the adoption of physical atoms, the suggestive fact that | Modern physics, while borrowing from the ancients their atomic theory, forgot one point, the most important of the doctrine ; hence they got only the husks and will never be able to get at the kernel. They left behind, in the adoption of physical atoms, the suggestive fact that | ||
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{{Style P-No indent|Soul (entirely distinct from immortal Spirit when the former is enshrined ''latent ''in it, as it is in every atomic speck), was composed of a fine, tender essence, formed from the ''smoothest'', ''roundest'', ''and finest atoms.''}} | {{Style P-No indent|Soul (entirely distinct from immortal Spirit when the former is enshrined ''latent ''in it, as it is in every atomic speck), was composed of a fine, tender essence, formed from the ''smoothest'', ''roundest'', ''and finest atoms.''}} | ||
And this shows that the ancient Initiates, who were followed more or less closely by all profane antiquity, meant by the term “ atom,” a Soul, a Genius or Angel, the first-born of the ever-concealed cause of all causes ; and in this sense their teachings become comprehensible. They claimed, as do their successors, the existence of Gods and Genii, angels or “ demons,” not outside, or independent of, the Universal ''Plenum'', but within it. Only this ''Plenum'', during the life-cycles, is infinite. They admitted and taught a good deal of that which modern Science teaches now — namely, the existence of a primordial “ World-stuff or Cosmic Substance,” from which worlds are formed, ever and eternally homogeneous, except during its periodic existence, when it differentiates its universal diffusion throughout infinite space ; and the gradual formation of sidereal bodies from it. They taught the revolution of the Heavens, the Earth’s rotation, the Heliocentric System, and the Atomic Vortices — Atoms — in reality Souls and intelligences. But those “ Atomists ” were spiritual, most transcendental, and philosophical Pantheists. It is not they who would have ever conceived, or dreamt that monstrous contrasted progeny, the nightmare of our modern civilized Race ; namely — ''inanimate ''material, self-guiding atoms, on the one hand, and an extra-Cosmic God on the other. | And this shows that the ancient Initiates, who were followed more or less closely by all profane antiquity, meant by the term “ {{Style S-Small capitals|atom}},” a Soul, a Genius or Angel, the first-born of the ever-concealed {{Style S-Small capitals|cause}} of all causes ; and in this sense their teachings become comprehensible. They claimed, as do their successors, the existence of Gods and Genii, angels or “ demons,” not outside, or independent of, the Universal ''Plenum'', but within it. Only this ''Plenum'', during the life-cycles, is infinite. They admitted and taught a good deal of that which modern Science teaches now — namely, the existence of a primordial “ World-stuff or Cosmic Substance,” from which worlds are formed, ever and eternally homogeneous, except during its periodic existence, when it differentiates its universal diffusion throughout infinite space ; and the gradual formation of sidereal bodies from it. They taught the revolution of the Heavens, the Earth’s rotation, the Heliocentric System, and the Atomic Vortices — Atoms — in reality Souls and intelligences. But those “ Atomists ” were spiritual, most transcendental, and philosophical Pantheists. It is not they who would have ever conceived, or dreamt that monstrous contrasted progeny, the nightmare of our modern civilized Race ; namely — ''inanimate ''material, self-guiding atoms, on the one hand, and an extra-Cosmic God on the other. | ||
It may be useful to show what, in the teachings of the old Initiates, the Monad was, and what its origin. | It may be useful to show what, in the teachings of the old Initiates, the Monad was, and what its origin. | ||