HPB-SD(ed.1) v.1 p.1 st.7 sl.5: Difference between revisions

:4. {{Style S-Small capitals|The spark hangs from the flame by the finest thread of Fohat. It journeys through the Seven Worlds of Maya}} (''a''). {{Style S-Small capitals|It stops in the first}} (''Kingdom''), {{Style S-Small capitals|and is a metal and a stone ; it passes into the second}} (''Kingdom''), {{Style S-Small capitals|and behold — a plant ; the plant whirls through seven forms and becomes a sacred animal}} ; (''the first shadow of the physical man'') (''b'').

{{Style P-No indent|religions, from the Vedic to the Egyptian, from the Zoroastrian to the Jewish. In the case of the last-mentioned, the Kabalistic works offer abundant proof of this statement. The entire system of the Kabalistic numerals is based on the divine septenary hanging from the Triad (thus forming the ''Decade'') and its permutations 7, 5, 4, and 3, which, finally, all merge into the one itself : an endless and boundless Circle.}}

“ The Deity (the ever Invisible Presence),” says the Zohar, “ manifests itself through the ''ten ''Sephiroth which are its radiating witnesses. The Deity is like the Sea from which outflows a stream called wisdom, the waters of which fall into a lake named Intelligence. From the basin, like seven channels, issue the Seven Sephiroth. . . . . For ''ten equal seven : ''the Decade contains ''four ''Unities and ''three ''Binaries.” The ten Sephiroth correspond to the limbs of {{Style S-Small capitals|man}}. “ When I framed Adam Kadmon,” the Elohim are made to say, “ the Spirit of the Eternal shot out of his Body like a sheet of lightning that radiated at once on the billows of the ''Seven ''millions of skies, and my ''ten ''splendours were his limbs.” But neither the Head nor the shoulders of Adam-Kadmon can be seen ; therefore we read in the ''Sephra Dzenioutha ''(the “ Book of the Concealed Mystery ”) : — 

(''b'') The well-known Kabalistic aphorism runs : — “ A stone becomes a plant ; a plant, a beast ; the beast, a man ; a man a spirit ; and the spirit a god.” The “ spark ” animates all the kingdoms in turn before it enters into and informs divine man, between whom and his predecessor, animal man, there is all the difference in the world. Genesis begins its anthropology at the wrong end (evidently for a blind) and lands nowhere. * Had it begun as it ought, one would have found in it, first, the celestial Logos, the “ Heavenly Man,” which evolves as a Compound Unit of Logoi, out of whom after their pralayic sleep — a sleep that gathers the cyphers scattered on the Mayavic plane into One, as the separate globules of quicksilver on a plate blend into one mass —  the Logoi appear in their totality as the first “ male and female ” or Adam Kadmon, the “ Fiat Lux ” of the Bible, as we have already seen. But this transformation did not take place on our Earth, nor on any material plane, but in the Spacial Depths of the first differentiation of the eternal Root-matter. On our nascent globe things proceed differently. The Monad or Jiva, as said in “ Isis Unveiled,” vol. i., p. 302, is, first of all, shot down by the law of Evolution into the lowest form of matter — the mineral. After a sevenfold gyration encased in the stone (or that which will become mineral and stone in the Fourth Round), it creeps out of it, say, as a lichen. Passing thence, through all the forms of vegetable matter, into what is termed animal matter, it has now reached the point in which it has become the germ, so to speak, of the

<nowiki>*</nowiki> The introductory chapters of Genesis were never meant to represent even a remote allegory of the creation of our Earth. They embrace a metaphysical conception of some indefinite period in the eternity, when successive attempts were being made by the law of evolution at the formation of universes. The idea is plainly stated in the Zohar&nbsp;: “&nbsp;There were old worlds, which perished as soon as they came into existence, were formless, and were called Sparks. Thus, the smith, when hammering the iron, lets the sparks fly in all directions. The sparks are the primordial worlds, which could not continue because the ''Sacred Aged ''(Sephira) had not as yet assumed its form (of androgyne, or opposite sexes) of King and Queen (Sephira and Kadmon), and the Master was not yet at his work. See Zohar, “&nbsp;Idra Suta,” Book iii., p. 292, ''b. ''The Supreme consulting with the Architect of the world&nbsp;—&nbsp;his Logos&nbsp;—&nbsp;about creation. (“&nbsp;Isis Unveiled,” vol. ii., p. 421.)

{{Style P-No indent|animal, that will become the physical man. All this, up to the Third Round, is formless, as matter, and senseless, as consciousness. For the Monad or Jiva ''per se ''cannot be even called spirit&nbsp;: it is a ray, a breath of the Absolute, or the Absoluteness rather, and the Absolute Homo-geneity, having no relations with the conditioned and relative finiteness, is unconscious on our plane. Therefore, besides the material which will be needed for its future human form, the monad requires (''a'') a spiritual model, or prototype, for that material to shape itself into&nbsp;; and (''b'') an intelligent consciousness to guide its evolution and progress, neither of which is possessed by the homogeneous monad, or by senseless though living matter. The Adam of dust requires the ''Soul of Life ''to be breathed into him&nbsp;: the two middle principles, which are the ''sentient ''life of the irrational animal and the Human Soul, for the former is irrational without the latter. It is only when, from a potential androgyne, man has become separated into male and female, that he will be endowed with this conscious, rational, individual Soul, (''Manas'') “&nbsp;the principle, or the intelligence, of the Elohim,” to receive which, he has to eat of the fruit of Knowledge from the Tree of Good and Evil. How is he to obtain all this&nbsp;? The Occult doctrine teaches that while the monad is cycling on downward into matter, these very Elohim&nbsp;—&nbsp;or Pitris, the lower Dhyan-Chohans&nbsp;—&nbsp;are evolving ''pari passu ''with it on a higher and more spiritual plane, descending also relatively into matter on their own plane of consciousness, when, after having reached a certain point, they will meet the incarnating senseless monad, encased in the lowest matter, and blending the two potencies, Spirit and Matter, the union will produce that terrestrial symbol of the “&nbsp;Heavenly Man&nbsp;” in space&nbsp;—&nbsp;perfect man. In the Sankhya philosophy, Purusha (spirit) is spoken of as something impotent unless he mounts on the shoulders of Prakriti (matter), which, left alone, is&nbsp;—&nbsp;senseless. But in the secret philosophy they are viewed as graduated. Though one and the same thing in their origin, Spirit and Matter, when once they are on the plane of differentiation, begin each of them their evolutionary progress in contrary directions&nbsp;—&nbsp;Spirit falling gradually into matter, and the latter ascending to its original condition, that of a pure spiritual substance. Both are inseparable, yet ever separated. In polarity, on the physical plane, two like poles will always repel each other, while the negative and the positive are mutually attracted, so do Spirit and Matter stand to each other&nbsp;—&nbsp;the two poles of the same homogeneous substance, the root-principle of the universe.}}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Is Pasteur unconsciously taking the first step toward Occult Science in declaring that, if he dared express his full idea upon this subject, he would say that the Organic cells are endowed with a vital potency that does not cease its activity with the cessation of a current of Oxygen towards them, and does not, on that account, break off its relations with life itself, which is supported by the influence of that gas&nbsp;? “&nbsp;I would add,” goes on Pasteur, “&nbsp;that the evolution of the germ is accomplished by means of complicated phenomena, among which we must class processes of fermentation&nbsp;”&nbsp;; and life, according to Claude Bernard and Pasteur, is nothing else than a process of fermentation. That there exist in Nature Beings or Lives that can live and thrive without air, even on our globe, was demonstrated by the same men of science. Pasteur found that many of the lower lives, such as Vibriones, and some microbes and bacteria, could exist without air, which, on the contrary, killed them. They derived the oxygen necessary for their multiplication from the various substances that surround them. He calls them ''Ærobes'', living on the tissues of our matter when the latter has ceased to form a part of an integral and living whole (then called very unscientifically by science “&nbsp;dead matter&nbsp;”), and ''Anærobes. ''The one kind binds oxygen, and contributes vastly to the destruction of animal life and vegetable tissues, furnishing to the atmospher materials which enter later on into the constitution of other organisms&nbsp;; the other destroys, or rather annihilates finally, the so-called organic substance&nbsp;; ultimate decay being impossible without their participation. Certain germ-cells, such as those of yeast, develop and multiply in air, but when deprived of it, they will adapt themselves to life without air and become ferments, absorbing oxygen from substances coming in contact with them, and thereby ruining the latter. The cells in fruit, when lacking free oxygen, act as ferments and stimulate fermentation. “&nbsp;Therefore the vegetable cell manifests in this case its life as an anærobic being. Why, then, should an organic cell form in this case an exception&nbsp;”&nbsp;? asks Professor Bogolubof. Pasteur shows that in the substance of our tissues and organs, the cell, not finding sufficient oxygen for itself, stimulates fermentation in the same way as the fruit-cell, and Claude Bernard thought that Pasteur’s idea of the formation of ferments found its application and corroboration in the fact that Urea increases in the blood during strangulation&nbsp;: Life therefore is everywhere in the Universe, and, Occultism teaches us, it is also in the atom. Also see ''infra'', at the close of this Section.

{{Style P-No indent|''earth ''as a state of matter to their stock as well as the three other elements in their present transformation. In short, none of the so-called elements were, in the three preceding Rounds, as they are now. For all we know, fire may have been ''pure ''{{Style S-Small capitals|akasa}}, the first Matter of the ''Magnum Opus ''of the Creators and “&nbsp;Builders,” that Astral Light which the paradoxical Eliphas Lévi calls in one breath “&nbsp;the body of the Holy Ghost,” and in the next “&nbsp;Baphomet,” the “&nbsp;Androgyne Goat of Mendes”&nbsp;*&nbsp;; {{Style S-Small capitals|air}}, simply}}

{{Style P-No indent|Nitrogen, “&nbsp;the breath of the Supporters of the Heavenly Dome,” as the Mahometan mystics call it&nbsp;; water, that primordial fluid which was required, according to Moses, to make ''a living soul ''with. And this may account for the flagrant discrepancies and unscientific statements found in Genesis. Separate the first from the second chapter&nbsp;; read the former as a scripture of the Elohists, and the latter as that of the far younger Jehovists&nbsp;; still one finds, if one reads between the lines, the same order in which things created appear&nbsp;—&nbsp;namely, Fire (light), Air, Water, and man (or the Earth). For the sentence&nbsp;: “&nbsp;In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth&nbsp;” is a mistranslation&nbsp;; it is not “&nbsp;Heaven and Earth,” but the ''duplex ''or dual Heaven, the ''upper ''and the ''lower ''Heavens, or the separation of primordial substance that was light in its upper and dark in its lower portions&nbsp;—&nbsp;or the manifested Universe&nbsp;—&nbsp;in its duality of the ''invisible ''(to the senses) and the ''visible ''to our perceptions. God divided the light from the Darkness (v. 4)&nbsp;; and then made the firmament, air (5), “&nbsp;a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters,” (6), ''i.e.'', “&nbsp;the waters which were under the firmament (our manifested visible Universe) from the waters ''above ''the firmament,” or the (to us) invisible planes of being. In the second chapter (the Jehovistic), plants and herbs are created before water, just as in the first, ''light is produced before the Sun. ''“&nbsp;God made the Earth and the Heavens and every plant of the field ''before it was in the Earth ''and every herb of the field ''before it grew&nbsp;; ''for the Elohim (‘&nbsp;gods&nbsp;’) had not caused it to rain upon the earth, etc.” (v. 5)&nbsp;—&nbsp; an absurdity unless the esoteric explanation is accepted. The plants ''were ''created before they were in the earth&nbsp;—&nbsp;''for there was no earth then such as it is now&nbsp;; ''and the herb of the field was in existence before it grew as it does now in the fourth Round.}}

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 “&nbsp;Devourers&nbsp;” which disintegrate and differentiate the germs of other lives in the Elements&nbsp;; 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. “&nbsp;''Whatsoever quits the Laya State'', ''becomes active life&nbsp;; it is drawn into the vortex of MOTION (the alchemical solvent of Life'')&nbsp;;'' 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). . . . “&nbsp;''Spirit is the first differentiation of ''(''and in'') ''SPACE&nbsp;; and Matter the first differentiation of Spirit. That'', ''which is neither Spirit nor matter''&nbsp;—&nbsp;''that is IT&nbsp;—&nbsp;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.''”

† Speaking of it in his Preface to the “&nbsp;History of Magic&nbsp;” Eliphas Lévi says&nbsp;: “&nbsp;It is through this Force that all the nervous centres secretly communicate with each other&nbsp;; from it&nbsp;—&nbsp;that sympathy and antipathy are born&nbsp;; from it&nbsp;—&nbsp;that we have our dreams&nbsp;; 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&nbsp;: ''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 “&nbsp;Lights&nbsp;” and the “&nbsp;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.

The Second Round brings into manifestation the second element&nbsp;—&nbsp; 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. “&nbsp;''From the second Round'', ''Earth''&nbsp;—&nbsp;''hitherto a fœtus in the matrix of Space''&nbsp;—&nbsp;''began its real existence&nbsp;: it had developed individual sentient life'', ''its second principle. The second corresponds to the sixth (&nbsp;principle&nbsp;)&nbsp;; the second is life continuous'', ''the other'', ''temporary.''”