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Let us return to the life-cycle now. Without entering at length upon the description given of the ''higher ''lives, we must direct our attention at present simply to the earthly beings and the earth itself. The latter, we are told, is built up for the first Round by the “ Devourers ” which disintegrate and differentiate the germs of other lives in the Elements ; pretty much, it must be supposed, as in the present stage of the world, the ''ærobes ''do, when, undermining and loosening the chemical structure in an organism, they transform animal matter and generate substances that vary in their constitutions. Thus Occultism disposes of the so-called Azoic age of Science, for it shows that there never was a time when the Earth was without life upon it. Wherever there is an atom of matter, a particle or a molecule, even in its most gaseous condition, there is life in it, however latent and unconscious. “ ''Whatsoever quits the Laya State'', ''becomes active life ; it is drawn into the vortex of MOTION (the alchemical solvent of Life'') ;'' Spirit and Matter are the two States of the ONE'', ''which is neither Spirit nor Matter'', ''both being the absolute life'', ''latent.''” (''Book of Dzyan'', ''Comm. III.'', ''par. ''18). . . . “ ''Spirit is the first differentiation of ''(''and in'') ''SPACE ; and Matter the first differentiation of Spirit. That'', ''which is neither Spirit nor matter'' — ''that is IT — the Causeless CAUSE of Spirit and Matter'', ''which are the Cause of Kosmos. And THAT we call the ONE LIFE or the Intra-Cosmic Breath.''” | Let us return to the life-cycle now. Without entering at length upon the description given of the ''higher'' {{Style S-Small capitals|lives}}, we must direct our attention at present simply to the earthly beings and the earth itself. The latter, we are told, is built up for the first Round by the “ Devourers ” which disintegrate and differentiate the germs of other lives in the Elements ; pretty much, it must be supposed, as in the present stage of the world, the ''ærobes ''do, when, undermining and loosening the chemical structure in an organism, they transform animal matter and generate substances that vary in their constitutions. Thus Occultism disposes of the so-called Azoic age of Science, for it shows that there never was a time when the Earth was without life upon it. Wherever there is an atom of matter, a particle or a molecule, even in its most gaseous condition, there is life in it, however latent and unconscious. “ ''Whatsoever quits the Laya State'', ''becomes active life ; it is drawn into the vortex of MOTION (the alchemical solvent of Life'') ;'' Spirit and Matter are the two States of the ONE'', ''which is neither Spirit nor Matter'', ''both being the absolute life'', ''latent.''” (''Book of Dzyan'', ''Comm. III.'', ''par. ''18). . . . “ ''Spirit is the first differentiation of ''(''and in'') ''SPACE ; and Matter the first differentiation of Spirit. That'', ''which is neither Spirit nor matter'' — ''that is IT — the Causeless CAUSE of Spirit and Matter'', ''which are the Cause of Kosmos. And THAT we call the ONE LIFE or the Intra-Cosmic Breath.''” | ||
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† Speaking of it in his Preface to the “ History of Magic ” Eliphas Lévi says : “ It is through this Force that all the nervous centres secretly communicate with each other ; from it — that sympathy and antipathy are born ; from it — that we have our dreams ; and that the phenomena of second sight and extra-natural visions take place. . . . . Astral Light, acting under the impulsion of powerful wills, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks, gathers in all things. God created it on that day when he said : ''Fiat Lux'', and it is directed by the ''Egregores'', ''i.e.'', the chiefs of the souls who are the spirits of energy and action.” Eliphas Lévi ought to have added that the astral light, or primordial substance, if matter at all, is that which, called ''Light'', Lux, esoterically explained, ''is the body of those Spirits themselves'', ''and their very essence. Our physical light is the manifestation on our plane ''and the reflected radiance of the ''Divine ''Light emanating from the collective body of those who are called the “ Lights ” and the “ Flames.” But no other Kabalist has ever had the talent of heaping up one contradiction on the other, of making one paradox chase another in the same sentence and in such flowing language, as Eliphas Lévi. He leads his reader through the most lovely, gorgeously blooming valleys, to strand him after all on a desert and barren rocky island. | † Speaking of it in his Preface to the “ History of Magic ” Eliphas Lévi says : “ It is through this Force that all the nervous centres secretly communicate with each other ; from it — that sympathy and antipathy are born ; from it — that we have our dreams ; and that the phenomena of second sight and extra-natural visions take place. . . . . Astral Light, acting under the impulsion of powerful wills, destroys, coagulates, separates, breaks, gathers in all things. God created it on that day when he said : ''Fiat Lux'', and it is directed by the ''Egregores'', ''i.e.'', the chiefs of the souls who are the spirits of energy and action.” Eliphas Lévi ought to have added that the astral light, or primordial substance, if matter at all, is that which, called ''Light'', {{Style S-Small capitals|Lux}}, esoterically explained, ''is the body of those Spirits themselves'', ''and their very essence. Our physical light is the manifestation on our plane ''and the reflected radiance of the ''Divine ''Light emanating from the collective body of those who are called the “ {{Style S-Small capitals|Lights}} ” and the “ {{Style S-Small capitals|Flames}}.” But no other Kabalist has ever had the talent of heaping up one contradiction on the other, of making one paradox chase another in the same sentence and in such flowing language, as Eliphas Lévi. He leads his reader through the most lovely, gorgeously blooming valleys, to strand him after all on a desert and barren rocky island. | ||
{{Footnotes end}} | {{Footnotes end}} | ||
{{Page|260|the secret doctrine.}} | {{Page|260|the secret doctrine.}} | ||
The Second Round brings into manifestation the second element — air, that element, the purity of which would ensure continuous life to him who would use it. There have been two occultists only in Europe who have discovered and even partially applied it in practice, though its composition has always been known among the highest Eastern Initiates. The ozone of the modern chemists is poison compared with the real universal solvent which could never be thought of unless it existed in nature. “ ''From the second Round'', ''Earth'' — ''hitherto a fœtus in the matrix of Space'' — ''began its real existence : it had developed individual sentient life'', ''its second principle. The second corresponds to the sixth ( principle ) ; the second is life continuous'', ''the other'', ''temporary.''” | The Second Round brings into manifestation the second element — {{Style S-Small capitals|air}}, that element, the purity of which would ensure continuous life to him who would use it. There have been two occultists only in Europe who have discovered and even partially applied it in practice, though its composition has always been known among the highest Eastern Initiates. The ozone of the modern chemists is poison compared with the real universal solvent which could never be thought of unless it existed in nature. “ ''From the second Round'', ''Earth'' — ''hitherto a fœtus in the matrix of Space'' — ''began its real existence : it had developed individual sentient life'', ''its second principle. The second corresponds to the sixth ( principle ) ; the second is life continuous'', ''the other'', ''temporary.''” | ||
The ''Third ''Round developed the ''third ''Principle — {{Style S-Small capitals|Water}} ; while the Fourth transformed the gaseous fluids and plastic form of our globe into the hard, crusted, grossly material sphere we are living on. “ Bhumi ” has reached her ''fourth ''principle. To this it may be objected that the law of analogy, so much insisted upon, is broken. Not at all. Earth will reach her true ultimate form — (inversely in this to man) — her body shell — only toward the end of the manvantara after the Seventh Round. Eugenius Philalethes was right when he assured his readers ''on his word of honour ''that no one had yet seen ''the Earth ''(''i.e.'', {{Style S-Small capitals|Matter}} in its essential form). Our globe is, so far, in its ''Kamarupic ''state — the astral body of desires of ''Ahamkara'', dark Egotism, the progeny of Mahat, on the lower plane. . . . | The ''Third ''Round developed the ''third ''Principle — {{Style S-Small capitals|Water}} ; while the Fourth transformed the gaseous fluids and plastic form of our globe into the hard, crusted, grossly material sphere we are living on. “ Bhumi ” has reached her ''fourth ''principle. To this it may be objected that the law of analogy, so much insisted upon, is broken. Not at all. Earth will reach her true ultimate form — (inversely in this to man) — her body shell — only toward the end of the manvantara after the Seventh Round. Eugenius Philalethes was right when he assured his readers ''on his word of honour ''that no one had yet seen ''the Earth ''(''i.e.'', {{Style S-Small capitals|Matter}} in its essential form). Our globe is, so far, in its ''Kamarupic ''state — the astral body of desires of ''Ahamkara'', dark Egotism, the progeny of Mahat, on the lower plane. . . . | ||