I rt^^ft THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES mm* i SEPTENARY MAN: OR, The Microcosm of the Macrocosm. A STUDY OF THE HUMAN SOUL In Relation to the Various Vehicles, or Avenues, of Consciousness, (Technically Known as the Seven Principles) by Means of which it Brings Itself into Relation with the Outer Cosmos; Including a Brief Examination of Dream and the Problems of Heredity. BY JEROME A. ANDERSON, M. D., F. T. S. The Universe is composed of "the Same" and "the Other." Plato. THE LOTUS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1170 Market Street, San Francisco, Cal. The Path Office, 144 Madison Avenue, New York City. December 25, 1895. 4 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY JEROME A. ANDERSON, 1170 Market Street, S \n Francisco, California. - 7 £13 ©educated tqQ BY A. GRATEFUL, STUDENT. PREFACE. TN ISSUING this brief examination of the septenary classification of man's ■*■ nature, the writer especially disclaims any authority for any statements contained therein other than as these appear reasonable, and as they seem to fit into and fill out vacant places in the theosophic philosophy. It is simply the work of an humble student, issued with the hope that it may assist fellow students. The subject has been treated from the same standpoint as the writer's book upon Reincarnation. That is, the seven Principles of man have been studied from their scientific aspect solely. No proofs have been advanced except those capable of scientific demonstration. This scientific demonstration, of course, recognizes that logic, philosophy, and reason afford the very highest proof of which any metaphysical problem is capable. It has also been held that, where other more direct proofs seemed wanting, analogy might be applied without warranting any charge of dogmatic assertion, and that the laws gov- erning matter and force, and the aspects of consciousness, upon one plane of the Cosmos might be reasonably carried over into other planes . Therefore, when dealing with such abstruse metaphysical problems as Atma, Buddhi, or Prana, for example, the proofs of their existence and nature must of necessity lie largely along philosophical and logical lines, while the more material Prin- ciples, as the Linga Sharira, together with some aspects of Kama and Manas, have been studied, and their nature deduced from their observed behavior upon this, the molecular, plane of the Universe. The writer makes no claim to that intuitional perception which grasps truth without the necessity of logical analysis. He can only grope along the paths of analogy and reason. Therefore, while admitting the work of intuitional writers to be much more valuable, he still believes there is a large class of his fellow students who, like himself, must perforce adopt the lower method, and to such it is hoped the book will appeal; and also that it may be of some service to the great cause we all serve — Humanity. J. A. A. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Man, the Microcosm. — An Old Teaching — Nature of the Macrocosm — Spirit and Matter — Vehicles of the One Consciousness — Seven Great Divisions — Dominant Vibration Constitutes a "Round" — Sold Spe- cially Related to a Particular Hierarchy during a Round, Nature of Incarnation, etc 9 CHAPTER I. The Body. — All "Bodies" must Correspond to the "Matter" of any par- ticular Round — The Pathway to Form and Incarnation — Senses not in the Physical Body, Proofs — Cycles Governing Incarnation — Latent Force, What — Hierarchies of Builders — Compound Source of Bodily Entities, etc 27 CHAPTER II. The I/INGA Sharira. — Composed of Third Round Matter — Plastic un- der Thought — Theory of Emanations — Source of Linga Sharira, its Functions and Fate — Cause of all Form — Preserver of Species — "Seance Phenomena," etc 40 CHAPTER III. Prana. — Universal Principle — Manifested Jiva — Relation to the Soul and Body — "Fiery Lives" — Monads — Cycles of Life, etc 52 CHAPTER IV. Kama. — Consciousness in the State of Desire — Source of — Nature of — Relation to Thought — Individualizing Effect of Kama — Animal De- sire — Relation of Instinct to Desire and to Intuition — A Human Ele- mental Synthesizes the Body — Nature of this Elemental — A Glimpse of Man's Microcosm — The Effect of Death — Reincarnation of the Per- sonality, How, Why — Effect of Suicide, Accident, etc 63 CHAPTER V. Lower Manas. — The True Soul Seeking to Express Itself in Molecular Matter — The Two Forces in each Human Breast — The Nature of Incar- nation — Magnetism Imparted to Non-Magnetic Iron — The Conserver of One Life's Experiences — Cycle of Conscious Life Terminates with Devachan — Conflict of Manas with Kama — Loss of the Soul, etc 74 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Higher Manas. — The Thinking Principle — Nature of— Powers of— Immortality of— Compassionate Mission of— Divine Potencies and Po- tentialities — "Mind Born Sons" — Emanation or Fission a Process of Generation upon all Planes of Nature, etc ^4 CHAPTER VII. The Higher Triad — Atma, Buddhi, and Manas. — Metaphysical Dif- ficulties in their Conception — Nature of Atma — "The Emanating Spark of the Uncreated Ray" — Nature of Buddhi — Store House of Cosmic Wisdom — Giver of True Immortality, etc 95 CHAPTER VIII. The Dreaming Self. — Nature and Importance of Dream — Key to Inner Conditions afforded by— An Entity Who Dreams Each Dream, etc 104 CHAPTER IX. The Problems of Heredity.— Absurdity of Materialistic Hypotheses — The Differing Streams of Heredity— Physical, Mental, and Spiritual- All Inheritance Proceeds Under the Daw of Cause and Effect— Rela- tion of the Unit, Man, to Humanity as a Whole, or Racial, National, and Family Heredity— Man the Arbiter of his Own Destiny, etc 114 INTRODUCTION. MAN, THE MICROCOSM. IN THE days when religion, science, and philosophy were but differing aspects of Theosophy, or "God-Wisdom," all united in recognizing in man a compound, or complex, nature. Thus, Brahmanism, or more correctly, the Vedantin schools of Brah- manism, held, and still holds, that he has at least four or five Prin- ciples, or vehicles of consciousness, entering into his composition. Buddhism recognizes seven; Confucianism, five; Gnosticism, seven; the Kabala, seven; and Christianity, three. The same teaching can be very clearly verified in the old Egyptian symbol- ogy, and in the earlier as well as the later Greek philosophy, particularly in Neo-Platonism. While testimony can never have the weight of evidence, still, where it assumes the universal char- acter which this teaching has had in all ages of the world's history, it really ceases to be merely testimony, and approximates very closely to the standard of evidence. That man, because of his complex yet divine nature, is the Microcosm of the Macrocosm, or Cosmos, has been a semi-esoteric teaching for ages. It was implied in the old Grecian exhortation, " Man, Know Thyself," meaning that within his own being was to be found the key to the mys- teries of the universe about him. Later, the same half-veiled truth appears in the Hermetic and Rosicrucian maxim, " As above, so below." It is now, and perhaps for the first time for ages, made entirely exoteric, and explained to the whole world as one of the chief of the philosophical concepts of Theosophy, under the popu- X INTRODUCTION. lar as well as technical term, "The Seven Principles of Man."* It must not be understood that man is now actually the Micro- cosm of the Macrocosm. He is only potentially so. Within his being reside, in potentia, all the potencies in the manifested uni- verse about him; but not in actu, except as he shall, by his own will, realize them. The importance, therefore, of the recognition of this awe-inspiring fact becomes at once apparent, as well as the potent factor the knowledge of it must prove in stimulating spirit- ual development. If man be, then, the Microcosm of the Macrocosm, what is the nature of that Macrocosm? for the assertion of a comparison im- plies and, indeed, necessitates at least partial sameness or equal- ity, else there can be nothing to compare. Without attempting to answer that which is unanswerable, or to deal with the Un- knowable Source from which all finite being must have emanated, the teaching of the Wisdom Religion in regard to this is, that all the infinite diversity of the manifested universe arose out of, or rather within, Absolute Unity, which thus assumes the relation to the cosmos of a Causeless Cause — a Cause which, while it is of necessity the basis of all manifested life, remains itself ever un- manifested; untouched in its absolute essence by all the great differentiation which arises within it, and which constitutes the finite universe. At the primal appearance of finite manifestation, there appear two great aspects of this Absolute Unity, termed respectively Spirit and Matter; these two being in reality but opposite poles, or modes of expression, of the One Unity. Thus, behind all manifestation lies the ever-concealed Causeless Cause; *These seven Principles will be fully discussed as we proceed, but for present use they may be enumerated as : Sanscrit Terms. English Equivalents (approximately). Sthula Sharira The Body. Linga Sharira Astral Body. p rana Vitality . Kama. .] Animal Soul (Desire). Manas.'.".".'.".*.*.'.'.".*.".'.".".*.". . . . Human Soul (Thought). Bu dhi .*.". '..'... Spiritual Soul (Intuition). Atma or Jiva Spirit. INTRODUCTION. xi and all that which we perceive and conceive as the manifested uni- verse is simply the illusory — because the finite cannot measure nor comprehend the infinite — aspects of this Causeless Cause, projected in time and space like shadows from a magic-lantern, and quite as unreal in that they are not themselves the real things which they thus seem. But even shadows must have something real to cause them, so that though the manifested universe, owing to our finite capacities, must remain for us a shadow and a type, it rests of necessity upon a real basis of Infinite Being. Of these two Primal Aspects, then, one appears to us as spirit, or consciousness; the other, as matter; and once the two pass into finite manifestation their action and reaction reveal a third great absolute aspect, which appears as motion, or force. It is further taught that spirit and matter mutually limit each other — that spirit, or one pole of this manifestation of the Causeless Cause, becomes knowable to us by means of the limitations of matter; while, on the other hand, matter also becomes knowable, or manifested to us, by means of the action of spirit; the two being, as we have seen, but aspects of the same Unknowable Unity; that which appears to us as matter including in its essence spirit; that which seems to us spirit including in its essence matter. Tb.2 universe, then, may be said to be composed of matter and of spirit, each causing the other to manifest in an infinite diver- sity, and which manifested diversity constitutes the Macrocosm. This, therefore, consists from its conscious aspect of infinite states of consciousness; the entire universe thus being but embodied, or matter-limited, consciousness. In other words, the spiritual or conscious-aspect of nature, being limited by the material aspect, causes the appearance of form; while form, assuming intelli- gent adaptations to environment, betrays the indwelling spirit or consciousness. The expression of higher, more perfect, and less material forms, would seem to constitute the process of evolution, as the consequent widening of the conscious area through such experiences, until infinite consciousness is again reached, would appear to be its motive. Xll INTRODUCTION. It is evident, also, that a study of man as the Microcosm of the great Macrocosm involves and implies the recognition within him, and the examination, of all states of consciousness, from those which are classed as the most grossly material to those of the highest conceivable spirituality. A careful analysis, however, reduces these infinite potencies and potentialities to seven great divisions, which in man are classed as Principles, and, in the cos- mos as Hierarchies. From the standpoint of consciousness, these Principles become merely more or less material vehicles of consciousness for its limiting to one or other of the great hier- archical cosmic planes. For it cannot be too strongly iterated that matter limits consciousness always, and that, for this reason, though a Principle be a vehicle as regards a particular plane or Hierarchy of cosmos, it is a hindrance or obstacle in regard to all other states or planes. A human Principle must, therefore, be regarded as limiting the human consciousness to a particular plane, just as the human soul must be looked upon as a (poten- tial) center of infinite consciousness, limited by material vehicles which it is striving to overcome, one by one, as it journeys through its evolutionary Cycle of Necessity back to its Source. It seems necessary, then, in dealing with these vehicles of consciousness in man, to approach their study from their material aspect, because Principles, or states of consciousness, seem most conceivable, or at least most easily explained, when looked at through their limiting vehicles. By this method, too, if unable to explain them, we at least state the problems involved in finite terms. The teaching is, then, that consciousness throughout the uni- verse may be divided into seven great states; a teaching which even modern material science corroborates in its recognition of matter in seven differing conditions. These conditions or states represent: I, the homogeneous; 2, the "radiant" matter of Pro- fessor Crookes; 3, curd-like or nebulous matter, as manifested in the nebulae in the heavens; 4, "atomic" matter, or the begin- INTRODUCTION. Xlll ning of differentiation; 5, the germinal or fiery state, in which the differing elements we now recognize under the aspects of air, water, fire, and earth are beginning to assume their future properties; 6, astral, or ethereal matter; and, 7, earthy, molecular matter, or the present condition of the matter of this planet in its cold, dead aspect of dependency upon the sun for life and vitality. Recognizing that all forms of matter are caused by and asso- ciated with corresponding states of consciousness, if these forms of matter thus associated with our solar system be related to its states of consciousness, the following correspondences are at least permissible — premising that the correspondence only indicates the action of a certain Hierarchy of cosmic consciousness as limited by the material conditions of our own solar system, and not* that this approaches the state of the same consciousness not so inhibited, or limited. Matter in its homogeneous condition cor-^ responds to Jiva, or Atma,* or Unmanifested life — a state too near the infinite to be comprehensible by finite beings. The "radiant" state of matter may be compared to Buddhicf consciousness, or pure consciousness, which knows without reasoning. Nebulous matter, again, is related to MahaticJ consciousness, or that of thought. In the matter of the nebulae is the prophesy and potency of the future worlds and their varied conscious beings, of which the nebulae are thus the Mahatic, or prophetic, thought. Atomic, or differentiated, matter corresponds to the Fohatic state of consciousness, for Fohat§ is essentially "desire," and desire for union in this atomic state results in the molecular aggregations which make physical forms possible. Again, the germinal, or fiery, condition of matter corresponds to Prana, or manifested Life, as contrasted with the unmanifested, unknowable, or Jivic, aspect of Life. Astral matter corresponds to all the mysterious ♦The universal source of the Jiva, or Atman, of man's seventh Principle. fBuddhi — the hierarchal source of the sixth human Principle. JMahat — "the Great One." Hierarchal source of man's Thinking Principle — Manas. The 'Over-SouT' (in one aspect). §Fohat— cosmic electricity, or " nerve fluid," (in one aspect). The universal source of the fourth Principle in man, Kama, or desire. Cosmic will-desire. xiv INTRODUCTION. states of reflected consciousness, of which the phenomena of hyp- notism, trance, clairvoyance, etc., arc illustrations. All such are examples of consciousness not normal to any given plane, but reflected from above or below. Earthy, or molecular, matter corresponds to physical, or sense, consciousness, or that of time, space, and form, as they arise in consciousness through the physi- cal senses. Thus, by means of these correspondences may be obtained a glimpse, or faint idea, of the seven great hierarchal states of consciousness, out of which arise man's seven Principles, or those states of consciousness in the Microcosm which correspond to the Seven Hierarchies in the Macrocosm. All differing conditions of matter appear to arise through differing rates of vibration, and Prof. Crookes, in his "Genesis of the Elements," has pictured a way in which it is possible, through changes of vibration, for mat- ter to assume infinitely differing properties, and thus become a vehicle for infinitely differing states of consciousness. To illus- trate : Let us suppose a nebulous mass, or fire-mist, occupying an im- mense area in space, and having a certain definite vibration. The slightest change in this vibration would cause matter to ap- pear, within the original fire-mist matter, with entirely new prop- erties, and bring the whole mass more definitely under the action of "gravitation" (molecular attraction, wrongly termed " molar " by scientists). Tending towards a common " laya," or neutral center, it would constantly assume differing qualities, and take on differing and continually lower vibrations, through all the stages of a condensing, by an apparently mechanical pro- cess, into a world. And as each downward change involves an increasing limitation of consciousness, it is easy to see how in- creasingly " material" human, as well as a nature, Principles arise. It is also easy to see that the whole process may be a deliberate and voluntary descent, or changing of spiritual into material con- ditions, by beings seeking widening consciousness through pass- INTRODUCTION. XV ing from pole to pole of the spiritual and material aspects of the Absolute — these being the necessary horizons of all finite Intelligences, however high or holy. This descent would repre- sent the involution arc of the great cycle of Being, while the ascent out of material conditions would constitute that which modern science partially recognizes in its incomplete theory of evolution. But, aside from metaphysical generalizations, Prof. Crookes has shown the important part which simple changes of vibration in the same substance must play ; and he has constructed a most ingenious diagram to illustrate the action of time, space, and tem- perature in producing new " elements" by these agents, through the modifications of the old. The point of interest in relation to the septenary cosmos and Microcosm is that he supposes a series of fourteen elements to have been produced by cycles of electrical currents, thus exactly duplicating the Brahmanical four- teen Lokas, or two aspects (divine and terrestrial) of each of the seven Hierarchies. He then makes among these groupings seven "dominant atomicities," again unconsciously following Occultism in his methods. His diagram of a lemniscate figure also shows how much the ancients knew in regard to those things of which we conceive them to have been so ignorant, for it is almost a re- plica of one of the oldest symbols known — the Greek Caduceus. This consists of two serpents twined about a common staff, cross- ing each other in the manner of a lemniscate. He supposes a series of differing elements, arising through the pressure of mat- ter in a centripetal direction in the condensation of the original fire-mist, and from these at differing cycles of that condensation would be produced a new series of elements. That is to say, that the ripple of vibration in the fire-mist form of matter would, as it tends centripetally during a certain cycle, produce a certain series of elements. Another electrical cycle, temperature having changed, would produce a series of elements nearly, but not exactly, like the first. Xvi INTRODUCTION. In his illustration Prof. Crookes shows that, supposing the first great cycle to have produced fourteen elements, then, in re- peating that cycle with a lower temperature, at each point at which an original element was generated one corresponding in all its original attributes would be produced. Thus, the first four- teen elements being lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxvgen, fluorine, sodium, magnesium, aluminum, silicon, phos- phorus, sulphur and chlorine, the first of the second cycle would be potassium, which is the "lineal descendant " of lithium, and so on, down through a series which comprises seven of these "lineal descendants," for each of the original fourteen elements. From the mechanical aspect of manifestation, the universe is produced solely by modifications in the eternal motion resulting from the action of spirit upon matter — a theory which, in the East, is beautifully and poetically symbolized in the " Great Breath" of Vedantin philosophy. These modifications are orderly, as they must needs be in a law-governed cosmos, and, while cov- ering vast and unrealizable abysses of time, have yet been made the subject of mathematical speculation. The time in which a key-note or dominant mode of vibration maintains itself throughout a planetary mass is denominated, in theosophical nomenclature, a " Round." During this period the " matter" of the planet, even to the most ethereal of its seven " Globes,"* or planes of matter and states of consciousness, assumes characteristics determined by the dominant vibration; and while it persists the Ego, or soul, has to undergo and assimilate all experiences possible under these conditions. Then the dominant vibration will change, new forms of matter and new material experiences being thus provided to permit of an ever widening of the conscious area of the Ego, passing through its complete cycle of evolution. In the downward arc, or involution into material *The earth has likewise its seven Principles, corresponding to those of man. The states of matter, force, and con>ciousness which collectively form each of these Principles is technically termed a "globe," while a "round" is the time required for the soul to pass through each of the entire seven. For a full explanation of " globes" and "rounds," see the Secret Doc- trine, and other theosophical works. INTRODUCTION. XVli states, each successive cycle of vibration becomes more material — that is to say, the substance-aspect of the Unknowable pre- ponderates more and more in proportion. But a limit must eventually be reached, because this is a finite process, and The- osophy teaches that this limit has been reached in the present Fourth, or molecular, Round of this earth, and that when the next hour shall strike, and the dominant vibration change, entities upon the earth will retrace the process of their involution into matter, and regain their former astral consciousness, with self- consciousness added thereto. Indeed, this process is already under way, and even the earth itself has been becoming less "material" since the midway point of this Round was reached some millions of years since. This earth, therefore, is now in a condition of molecular vibra- tion, and in its fourth, or kamic, or desire, Round, which Round will last so long as the " life" wave or impulse has its activity in molecular matter; for the monadic or Dhyan-Chohanic impulse which constitutes this life-wave passes from globe to globe, arous- ing each to activity and leaving it comparatively dead, or in its " pralaya," much as a circling rainstorm might pass from point to point over a sea, arousing and churning into a furious but tran- sient activity each successive portion over which it passes, and leaving it cc mparatively in statu quo until it returns. But the duration of each dominant mode of vibration covers an immense cycle of time, and, in Brahmanical literature, is called a Day of Brahma, and is a period involving some 4,320 millions of years. This is the astronomical period required for all the planets of our system to be in conjunction ; an event which may well produce even physical causes sufficient to terminate or entirely change the condi-\ tion of physical existence on one or more planets. This cycle will comprise the duration of this world in its present state, before it goes into pralaya, or changes the present for another rate of vibration, which will constitute another Round. The Theosophic classification of men into seven great Races XV111 INTRODUCTION. during each of the seven Rounds, or differing material states of the earth, is another recognition of the fact that, in our present universe, the number seven is the dominant one for its entire duration. It must not be understood that during any particular Round only one mode of vibration is present. At least those of each of the Seven creative Hierarchies are all in activity, for these constitute or cause the (in Theosophical teachings) seven com- panion "globes" of each planet, of which our earth and all earths visi- ble to us is the Fourth. These, by their combinations and cor- relations, produce the "forty-nine fires" of Eastern occultism. But one of these Hierarchies is dominant during any particular Round, and to appreciate or reach to the consciousness of the others requires special and, in a sense, abnormal development. Yet, during certain portions of each Round each of the seven human Principles is brought into special relations with the domi- nant vibration, or mode of consciousness, and from this arises the characteristics which distinguish and constitute each Race. To illustrate: Our world is, as stated, in the fourth Round, and the fourth, a kamic, Hierarchy is dominant throughout its entire duration. But it is also in its fifth subdivision of that Round, and therefore, under the cyclic law, is specially related to the fifth, or manasic, Principle, which thus becomes subdominant, or the chief undertone during the race cycle. For this reason we appear to have intellectuality dominant, but it is only in ap- pearance. In reality desire — the characteristic of the entire fourth Round — is utilizing mind to increase the pleasures of sensuous perception in the great mass of the race, and mankind is, therefore, said to be in the kama-manasic state. Now, in the next Round, the vibration of thought, or manas, will be dominant throughout the Round ; but when we get to the fourth division of that great cycle and enter its fourth Race the present relation of desire and thought will be reversed, and we shall be in a con- dition of manas-kamic instead of kama-manasic, as at present. Manas, or thought, will be the ruling Principle, and Kama will INTRODUCTION. XIX be a subtone, and be in a similar condition of servitude to thought that thought now sustains towards desire. At present .desire is master of thought. Then thought will be the master of desire. And similarly for all the Rounds. Each of the seven Principles will be specially and regularly related to the conscious- ness of the Ego because of these subdominant cycles of each Creative Hierarchy included in the great cycle, Round, or Day of Brahma, and in this manner constitute the seven natural divisions termed Races. But how are man's Principles directly derived? That is to say, what is the immediate relation between the human Principles and the great cosmic Hierarchies? All cosmic Principles are divine and pure, of necessity. That which we term desire, and which we are taught to " kill out," is, in its essence, a purely divine state of consciousness. An attempt at an explanation is this: A human soul is a center of consciousness, arising we know not how. It roots in the Unknowable. It passes through all of the lower kingdoms of nature, widening its consciousness all the while, until, in unthinkable periods of time, it at last reaches a condition of self-consciousness, or a state in which it recognizes that it is conscious, and examines and reasons upon its own con- scious states. We might trace an evolutionary pathway, which would have at least the warrant of analogy, thus:* A center of consciousness differentiating within the Absolute unites itself with pure primordial matter, acquires the experiences of this associa- tion, which might be distinguished as atomic, and passes onward to enter molecular matter, in which state it synthesizes two or more atoms, already the seat of a more primal form of conscious- ness, into form as its new body. And so on, step by step, until at length it reaches the self-conscious state, and synthesizes for itself a body already occupied by hosts of lower entities. The consciousness of these lower entities, in man's body as well as in *For a fuller statement of this hypothesis see Author's work, "Reincarnation," chapter . on " Individualization of the Soul." \/ XX INTRODUCTION. nature, is derived from high creative beings, termed, in the East, Dhyan Chohans. These great and divine entities clothe them- selves in lower states of matter in a manner analogous to that by which the human Ego incarnates in its body, and impart to this matter their consciousness, and give to it that im- pulse which takes it up through all the lower evolutionary steps. And the added consciousness which the entities ensouling this matter thus obtain by emanation from these High Beings is pure and unmarred by reason — an instance of which is seen in that consciousness by means of which chemical atoms seek unerringly their affinities. Similarly, the center of consciousness of man, in its evolutionary course upward, arrives at a state where it clothes itself with " matter" ensouled by entities having this lower yet divine consciousness. Thus, in this Round man is clothed almost entirely by entities whose normal consciousness is pure desire. This consciousness is divine and natural; it is a step in that divine sequence which constitutes evolution. The human Ego, incarnating here for the purpose of gaining experience, is brought into relation with these desire-entities that it may experience this consciousness. But the human Ego, being inexperienced and ignorant, allows its own divine, reasoning nature to be swayed by that desire which, while perfectly normal in these entities which constitute its body, is abnormal and unnatural for itself. By incarnating in these desire-swayed animal bodies, the Ego thus obtains the opportunity to view the play of passion, from its divine and reasoning attitude. But the part of spectator does not sat- isfy. So close is the union produced by incarnation that the ray of Manas which intellectualizes the human-animal brain falls under the illusion that itself and its body are identical, and rages and fights with all the fury of one whom the struggle concerns. This illusion is caused by the dominance of the kamic Principle during the fourth Round. But the fifth, or manasic subcycle of this Round being now in progress, that Principle is being immensely strengthened by the influx from its Hierarchy; so that, INTRODUCTION. XXI as this is the turning or lowest point of the evolutionary arc, the fight for supremacy between Thought and Desire is taking place now, and for many human souls is being settled for this Manvan- tara, or man-completing cycle. The relation of Principle to Hierarchy, then, is that of attri- bute to its source; and, in the case of the Manasic Hierarchy, of parent to child. Each of the seven states of consciousness which constitute man's Principles is derived from a different Hierarchy, or Host; the lower Principles coming from the diffused Dhyan Chohanic impulse upon matter. When this impulse has pushed the evolutionary process sufficiently high, then other and higher entities incarnate in man, and bestow upon him his Thinking Principle, thus lifting his consciousness to a higher plane. In this manner, then, is man shown to be the Microcosm of the Macrocosm. If we find in him these Principles of Desire, or Thought, or, still higher, of Divine Intuition, we must postulate and accept a source for them. Theosophy does not assume cre- ation out of nothing. The presence in man of the ability to think, the force of desire, the power of intuition, or any of the things which make up his being, necessitates postulating a ' source for each. It is, also, unphilosophic to suppose that a stream can rise higher than its source, to use a physical illustra- tion. Therefore, so far from accepting, with materialism, that con- sciousness is the result of molecular vibration, Theosophy postu-. lates as the source of man's conscious Principles divine Principles almost infinitely higher than their lesser reflections in him. Every effect must have its cause. The power to think must have origin somewhere. Shall we accept the absurdity of something arising out of nothing? or the theosophical teaching that these Principles are derived from great cosmic or hierarchal states of consciousness? The latter must appeal to any reasoning being. A further proof that man is the Microcosm of the Macrocosm is found in the fact that, in his physical body he synthesizes all the known forces in nature. All systems of levers, all possible r. xxii INTRODUCTION. physical motion, is there exemplified. All states of consciousness in nature are also in his body. The consciousness which is in the stone is found in his bones; that of vegetable life, in the hairs of his head; the consciousness of all stages of animal life is found in the differing cells and organs of his body; so that man is the Microcosm of all nature about us of which we can conceive. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that he is likewise the Microcosm of the inconceivable side of nature. Man's Seven Principles, then, are: The Body, which limits his consciousness to perceptions of form, time, and space by means of the senses. Prana, which gives rise to, and is the consciousness of, life. The Linga Sharira, which relates him to astral or reflected consciousness. Kama, which relates him to the consciousness of desire. Manas, which relates him to consciousness of conscious- ness, or self-consciousness. Buddhi, which relates him to intuitional consciousness; consciousness above thought — in which no thought is necessary. And, finally, Atma, wherein all consciousness, and all states of consciousness, are synthesized. ] We will err, however, in our further study if we consider man as the product of evolution, as this term is commonly understood. There is no evolution, in the scientific use of the word. There is a great becoming, which, as already partially explained, proceeds somewhat in this manner: There streams out from the Absolute the Seven great Rays, Breaths, or Hierarchies, of creative being, before referred to. Without pausing to analyze their combinations and differentiations, let us suppose that each of these great Hierarchies ensouls a portion of cosmic Substance. Within the limits of each Hierarchy, an evolution is possible from a lower to a more intense degree of the particular consciousness of the Hierarchy. But for a being ensouled by, let us say, kamic to reach the manasic or thought consciousness by evolving up to and into it out of the kamic, is as impossible as it is absurd. Not all the forces of the kamic plane can produce one single rational thought. There must come entities, having the power of thought. INTRODUCTION. XXlH and bestow this power by emanation, ere thought can be born. Therefore, it is idle to say that man evolves up and through the animal kingdom as man. As a Microcosm of the Macrocosm, as a potential center of consciousness upon every plane of the Cosmos by virtue of his being sprung from and a portion of the Absolute itself, the center of consciousness in man has experi- enced all these states; but it was not as man while so doing-. Not until he was touched by the flame of thought did man become — a thinker and a man. When, therefore, a center of consciousness is in a certain " king- dom" it is helpless to win its way up and out of that kingdom. For it, " evolution" is a meaningless word. If it be locked in the — stony embrace of the mineral kingdom, there it must remain until help from above enables it to pass out of this state. If it be a vegetable or an animal, it is equally helpless. Caught in that part of the cycle of necessity where Kama* holds sway, it can only experience and make kamic feeling its own. But when it reaches the very fulness of this, it has also reached a point where thought is able to weld or fusje-i^self to the kamically heated mass, and a - thinking soul is born. As a pilgrim through all these hierarchies of consciousness, man may be said to evolve ; but the cause of his evolution is an emanation from above, not a pushing up from below. And the true man really never was an animal, nor a lower being of any sort. Birth, as man, occurs when that Hierarchy is reached and its emanation becomes possible; but did not self-conscious beings descend or incarnate in the animal bodies not all the evolutionary forces acting throughout all the eternities could produce a man. Life may be received from one Hierarchy, form from another, and desire may be born from the emanation of a third; but the entity is still not a man until Manas, or Thought, stoops and claims him for its own. And this is not the work of an instant, as we mark time, but *Kama — Desire, uninfluenced by thought or reason. XXIV INTRODUCTION. occupies untold ages in its birth-throes. For Thought must reach down and lay hold of the purely kamic entity, and struggle sore and long ere the new being is sure of his foothold among the gods. This, then, constitutes man the Microcosm of the Macrocosm: that he holds within his being all potentialities of that Macrocosm, and that he has received from the great Creative Hierarchies their creative emanations, and, with the impress of Manas, or Thought, upon his brow, is winning his way back toward the Source from whence he came, fl/us the self-consciousness bestowed by Thought. Equally with man, however, may every atom in the Universe be said to be the Microcosm, for each holds all the potentialities of the Great Whole. Man is but the pure, virgin gold, passing through the hand of many hierarchies of workmen, and receiving the impress of each. But each can bestow but its own nature, and so man is not man until he reaches a point where Mind- Dhyanas take him in hand, and bestow their last, best, yet oft- times fatal gift. In the ebbing and flowing of consciousness within the seas of lower hierarchies the centers of consciousness may fuse and blend, flow upward and recede, for all is below the plane of self-conscious thought. Only at the very farthest borders of Kama has the ripple of differentiation reached that degree at which it becomes possible for a new and distinct entity to be born. Below this, the rising and falling of conscious life can scarcely be called evolution, nor can the entities so engaged be said to be either advancing or retrograding. All entities in Nature, then, are in the throes of a great becom- ing, which might be called evolution, if the proper methods by which this becoming is accomplished were understood. Within each Hierarchy there is an ebbing and flowing of consciousness, and this process may be said to be evolution, in, perhaps, the sci- entific sense of the term. But from Hierarchy to Hierarchy no evolution is possible. The lifting is done by the direct bestow- ing of the essence of the higher upon the lower entity. This great fact must be kept distinctly in mind in all the study of Man and INTRODUCTION. XXV his Principles which will be had in this volume. By it can be understood the relation of the true Thinking Man to his lower reflection. By it may be seen how, and why, and where, the struggle of Mind with Passion takes place, and a ray of philo- sophical light thus thrown across the darkly-passionate pages of human existence. SEPTENARY MAN OR THE MICROCOSM OF THE MACROCOSM. CHAPTER I. THE BODY. rfjlfHE BODY, or the tabernacle of the clay in which man's soul ^-^ dwells, is the first or the seventh, accordingly as numbered, of the seven Principles or aspects of consciousness into which Theosophy divides the human constitution. Pes office is to relate man's center of consciousness or soul to matter in a condition of molecular activity, or to that rate of vibration which constitutes the fourth Round. Upon this earth, or Globe "D" of theosophic nomenclature, this molecular Round represents the very apotheo- sis of impermanency of states of consciousness as well as of form. During its cycle, change follows upon change with an almost infi- nite rapidity; integration and disintegration succeed each other with the swiftness of thought, and effect treads upon the heels of cause with a celerity impossible upon higher planes of being and in more stable states of matter. Consequently, the soul has here its greatest opportunities for setting up causes, either good or evil, and for quickly experiencing their effects, and hence of rapidly acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Therefore, this molec- ular plane has been rightly termed the great schoolhouse of the soul. As we shall see in the proper connection, the true soul of man is out of all harmonic relation with molecular consciousness. In order, then, that it may reach this, it becomes necessary for it to approach it by utilizing specially prepared molecular avenues. It 2 3 SEPTENARY MAN. therefore constructs for itself a body composed of molecules capa- ble of receiving the impressions caused by the contact of other molecules and the molecular forces having here their normal field of activity, and in this manner assimilates molecular consciousness. This is the sole office of the body as such— to bring the soul within the area of molecular activities ; to cause it to become sen- sitive to, or conscious of, molecular vibrations. It is not the seat /t/ of sensation understanding by sensation the impressions that the soul receives from the senses, or the experience it gets through hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching or contact. None of these are located in the physical body, but in an inner or astral one, which will be the subject of the next chapter. That the senses are not seated in the body, is capable of demon- stration in many ways, chief among which are the phenomena of hypnotism. In this state it is possible for the will of the hypno- tizer to interpose between the subject and his senses, and to inhibit the hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, or smelling of the latter at will. Thus one, yielding to the hypnotic trance, can be made to taste water as vinegar, vinegar as water, quinine as sugar, and vice versa; or, in the case of sight, made to see, or prevented from seeing, anything the hypnotizer wills. For example: If forbid- den to see a certain person while permitted to see his hat, the result is that the hat is seen floating about in the air, while the sub- ject is quite unconscious of the fact that there is a man wearing it. If the senses were in the body this phenomenon would be impossi- ble, for after the impact of the vibrations of light they would be transferred along the molecules of the optic nerve and impinge upon and set up motion in the molecules of the physical brain, and the will of another — or even of one's self— could not prevent, once it formed upon the retina, the picture of the complete man, hat and all, being transmitted to the brain and there recorded as a conscious experience, if the senses really were in the physical molecules of the brain. A physical sequence of a physical eye, a physical optic nerve, and physical molecules of the brain, cannot be interrupted except by physical means. Therefore, when an outside will interposes between the power of sight, hearing, or either of the senses, and their objects, it is evident that the centers THE BODY. 29 of sensation are not in the mftlecules of man's physical brain, but must lie more deeply within his being. It will be seen, also, that herein is one of the proofs of the existence of the soul. The human body, then, is built up of countless hosts of mol- ecules synthesized into cells by units of consciousness having their normal existence upon the molecular plane. These latter derive their energy and vitality from those which the " Secret Doctrine" terms " fiery lives" — that is to say, from the almost homogeneous, electrical " world stuff" which represents the dawn of cosmic dif- ferentiation, and whose center of energy is the sun. The infi- nitely active energies of these fiery lives, radiating as that which we recognize as light, heat, electricity, vital force, etc., are inter- cepted and directed or synthesized in order to construct molec- ular bodies by units of consciousness descending to the mo- lecular plane. The action is similar to that of the millwright who takes advantage of the flowing stream of water to direct it through his turbine wheels to move his machinery. Or it may be, rather, more like the action of the farmer who takes advantage of the generative forces of springtime to sow the seed for his future crops. Force so intercepted and utilized becomes the so-called " latent" energies. All latent energy is but the restricting of the original fire-mist rate of vibration within molecular limits. In the mineral kingdom, this latency may persist for an entire globe- Round,* and in the vegetable kingdom, even, during those enor- mous periods represented in such examples as the giant sequoia of California, which botanists assert were living in the (supposed) days of Solomon. But in the animal and human-animal kingdoms the life cycles of entities are shorter; and, while the force of the downward cycle of a reembodying entity is sufficient to control into an orderly sequence the action of the fiery lives, yet, when that cycle begins to wane, the force relaxes, and, from being " build- ers," these now become "destroyers"; and their energies, no longer controlled by the" elemental"! which synthesizes the human body, *Globe-Round— the duration of evolutionary activity upon any one of earth's seven globes. One-seventh of a Round. fThe lower entity which synthesizes the body viewed as a merely animal form. All ani- mals have similar " elemental souls," or centers of consciousness. See later on. 30 SEPTENARY MAN. are seized upon by the numberless parasites, or " microbes," which infest it, and utilized to finally break up the form which the same energies originally constructed. Except for this action, nature would be but one vast cemetery of "dead" forms, await- ing the termination of the Round. The fact that man is the microcosm of the macrocosm is illus- trated in the progressive steps of his reembodiment. These show that there are within his being, either actually or potentially, all states of consciousness, all modes of motion, and all the conditions of matter in the universe about him. As the pranic vibration of the fiery lives descends to successive planes, innumerable entities which have been associated with man in past lives awaken to re- newed activity and life. It is the enforced attendance of these entities which constitutes man the microcosm of the macrocosm, and his cycles of objective and subjective life are their relative manvantaras* and pralayas. For, just as a world comes into being out of fire-mist, and descends through all the differing states of matter until it reaches its lowest point in the rocks, and then re- ascends the evolutionary cycle until it loses all form at the cul- mination of the spiritual portion of its arc, carrying in both its up- ward and downward sweep hosts of entities synthesized by its great Rector, so is the body of man formed by, and the incarna- tion of, associated entities, with whose evolution he is also especially connected as their chief, or Rector. As the energy of these fiery lives passes downward through ethereal and astral into molecular matter, at each plane the awakened entities clothe them- selves with its "matter," until at length they reach the physical, and their reincarnation is accomplished. Chief of these, and syn- thesizer of each human body, is that which is known as a " human" elemental. The return of this elemental to incarnation necessi- tates and involves the construction of the outer, physical form in its entirety, as it is the chief Rector of the body as such, and stands in relation to the true man, or reincarnating ego, much as does the Rector of the earth to the Rectors of the "divine" planets. For, as the " Secret Doctrine" states, " The Lha which turns the *Manvantara— a man-perfecting cycle or evolutionary period. Pralaya— an equal period .. of "rest," or subjective as opposed to objective existence. THE BODY. 31 Fourth is servant to the Lhas of the Seven." And although un- doubtedly the next manvantaric step forward of the process of evolution will bring this entity upon the human plane, at present it is but a single step in advance of other and similar elementals which synthesize the bodies of the animals in the next kingdom below. Some of the higher of these would appear to be at present more fitted to step upward to the human-elemental plane than are those in human form fitted to pass on into completed human beings — so greatly have we failed in our duty of controlling and spiritualizing these our turbulent associates. Thus, at each step in the process of reincarnating, the human soul is related successively to more and more material "bodies," until these culminate in the grossly physical encasement in which it dwells while in molecular environments. Nature eternally re- peats her processes; and so man, in reincarnating, returns with the " matter," similar to that of Globe D of the first Round as his first " body "; for in each Round all bodies must correspond to and be composed of the "matter" of each particular globe of that Round. Thus his bodies, during the entire first Round, were " fiery" — built up of the very essence of these fiery lives; — and, although these descended through four globes, or increasingly material states, yet Globe " D" only represented the shadowy pro- totype of its gross materiality in this Round; so that man's body may be fairly classed as " fiery" throughout, so much did this ele- ment predominate. During the next Round it was, let us say, ethe- real, and in the next astral, while in this it is molecular or physi- cal. Each of these Rounds lasts, as we have seen, for almost unthinkable periods; and, as the story of man's physical evolution is completely repeated in his intra-uterine life, so is the entire his- tory of his conscious evolution throughout all Rounds repeated swiftly at each incarnation during this Round. In the descend- ing arc, or the first half of the manvantara of seven Rounds, man is simply entangled in matter. The vibration which changes at the end of each of these, under the will of great creative Dhyan Chohans, necessitates his change of vestment independent of his own volition. But in the ascending arc he will have — must have — rewon his divinity, and must take a conscious part in the 32 SEPTENARY MAN. controlling and molding of not only his physical habitation but his physical environments — his planet. Similarly, at present his re- incarnating takes place without his self-conscious volition, but the time must speedily come when he must choose. His devachanic* body, then, corresponds to that of the first Round, and as he descends to earth for another life the body of each succeeding Round will be reconstructed and reoccupied, however briefly, until at his completed reincarnation he finds himself in his present physical habitation. The correspondence of man's cycles of objective and (relatively) subjective life to manvantarasf and pralayas will now be apparent. When " death" occurs, it disembodies all the hosts of entities incarnated in his physical body, and brings upon them an enforced pralaya, or rest. With certain of these, the pralaya must persist until he reincarnates again, for they are karmically bound to one microcosm alone. Others of a lower order seek other bodies at once, even though they may be reattracted to the same ego at a subsequent incarnation. At any rate, the so-called " death" pro- cess sweeps inward until the hour strikes for each entity associ- ated with any microcosm, or body. When the time comes for reincarnation, the ego sweeps downward, awakening from this their pralaya all the numberless hierarchies of lower entities which are to ensoul the " matter" of his body. Descending from fiery matter, these, as we have seen, build for themselves, utilizing the energy of the fiery lives, the ethereal and then the astral forms of former Rounds, and at length reach the physical plane. Here certain entities incarnate as molecules, and, of these, entities a little higher construct cells. Each cell of the human body is a distinct entity, as even science admits. Entities, still higher, syn- thesize these cells into organs; and finally the human-elemental — the highest of all, and the next to reach the human stage — syn- thesizes the whole of the body into an avenue fit for the soul to use in its approach to this world. Man's body, physically, differs in no wise from those of the animals. Each of these has its dis- * Devachan — the subjective existence between two earth lives. A state rather than a place, although the latter is a necessity to any entity having form. t See note page 30. THE BODY. 33 tinct center of consciousness; and this center, or " soul" of the animal, synthesizes in many instances a body just as complex as is the body of man, and which is, in certain directions, more per- fect than his. The great distinction is that in the animal body is an animal " elemental," or one an entire manvantara* behind the human, while in the human body is a " human-elemental," progressed a manvantara farther. The animal elemental — with the exception of certain apes — will not be ready to pass into the human stage for two manvantaras; the human elemental can do so in the next. The consciousness of the body is _b_elow the plane of self-con- sciousness. As self-consciousness marks the impress of a human soul, and as the consciousness of the body is composed of these innumerable elemental centers of synthesizing consciousness not yet having reached the human stage, it must therefore be below the self-conscious plane. This is the true reason why we are not conscious of the functions of digestion, of waste and repair, growth, and such things. All are done under the supervision of the ele- mentals in our bodies, and we know nothing of them unless they become abnormal in their action, and even then our conscious- ness of them is faint and often quite absent. But it is perfectly possible, as the microcosm of the macrocosm, for man to transfer his consciousness to these cells; and instances of his doing so, and thus controlling them, are to be found in those Indian Yogis who pierce their flesh with knife-thrusts which immediately heal, etc. Likewise, Christian Scientists at times cure diseases by cen- tering, and — as most Theosophists believe — degrading, the higher, divine consciousness into the performance of purely physical functions which are the normal duties of entities far below the human plane. Disease can often be cured when the will is suffi- ciently developed by thus transferring the divine, creative con- sciousness to the physical plane; but the process is in the highest degree abnormal, and must react injuriously in this or succeeding incarnations. The process of so-called death may be more specifically * Man-perfecting cycle . 34 SEPTENARY MAN. described thus: When the "hour" strikes, death begins with the body, and as the soul casts off" its successive vestments, it may be said to pass through several. The first of these frees it from the physical cells and the lowest astral body, or Linga Sharira. It now clothes itself for a more or less extended period with a higher astral form, known as the Body of Desires, or Kama Rupa. This after a time it abandons, and remains clothed with its deva- chanic body until the time comes for it to reincarnate. Another death consists in its reincarnation, or birth here into material ex- istence. These successive deaths are referred to in many scrip- tures. Even in the Christian Bible we are taught to beware of the "second death," meaning death upon the astral plane. It refers to the possibility of the loss of the human soul through get- ting enmeshed in the lower Principles, or Quaternary, which nor- mally perish after the death of the body (to be discussed later on). The dissolution of the body is brought about by other and for- eign "lives," or "microbes," when the " fiery lives" abandon it. Our bodies, in common with those of all organized beings, are in- fested with parasites, both within and without, which are capable of destroying, and will destroy it, after the fiery lives, and with them its "vitality," have departed. But this destruction is the work of parasites. It has been stated in theosophical writings that man is built up of" microbes." Here we must avoid confus- ing the general use of the word "microbe," from micro (small), and bios (life), with its technical use in biology and other sciences. In the " Secret Doctrine" it is used in its general sense of "little lives," and we are specially warned against the very confusion which has arisen by the statement that the smallest microbe known to science is as an elephant to a flea compared with these. The microbes of science are all parasites, and abnormal occupants of the human body. This is built up of cells, and cells are not microbes in the scientific use of the term. The success of em- balming and preserving mummies depends upon the destruction of these parasites which infest the human body. Their thorough destruction after death will preserve it through countless ages. There was, some time since, the body of an elephant washed out of an ice floe in Russia, which must have been there since the gla- THE BODY. 35 cial period, and yet the flesh was found untouched by decomposi- tion. Mummies, buried from three to five thousand years since, have portions of the body just as well preserved as though they had been buried only yesterday. Mummification really consists in the destruction of the numerous parasites which infest the hu- man body, and its protection from subsequent invasion by others. Even in life, when the vitality is lowered, these parasites begin to attack the tissues, and multiply at such a rate that they soon trans- form certain portions of the body into a mass of disease, in which the microbes (parasites) run riot, and cause the dissolution of the whole body unless they are controlled. The death of the body, then, is brought about by the withdrawal from it of the "fiery lives," and its disintegration — quite another thing — through the agency of the microbes which live upon us, and whose attacks we resist dur- ing life, because the vitality of the cells, resulting from the presence of the fiery lives, keeps them at bay. Whence come our bodies physically? Up and through the ani- mal kingdom, undoubtedly, but not from the present animals nor from a common ancestor, even. It is evident that, as the " Secret Doctrine" states, physical man leads the animal kingdom in this Round, for if animals preceded him they ought to be further pro- gressed in evolution than he. The fact that he is farther advanced plainly shows that he came upon this world first, allowing, as we must, common and mutual evolutionary forces afterwards. The «' Secret Doctrine," indeed, teaches that he descended from an ape- like ancestor; but that ancestor was an astral one, and belonged to the third Round, or that which preceded this.* The centers of consciousness of our physical bodies, known as Lunar Pitris, arrived at the "human-elemental" stage, upon the moon, and came to the earth and* constructed for themselves fiery bodies during the first Round. Descending to the ethereal, or second Round, these bodies assumed its qualities, and were formed of ethereal substance. Coming to the astral, or third Round, they built for themselves huge, ape-like bodies of astral matter, which astral bodies, repeated briefly in the third race of this Round, con- *As all evolution is an eternal repetition of the past before a further forward step is taken, so this "ape-like" form was repeated in the third race of this Round. 36 SEPTENARY MAN. stitute all the ape-like ancestor man has ever had. During the third Round, his form, being built on subconscious planes and of astral matter, became a kind of huge prototype of that which it afterwards assumed when it descended into the molecular matter of this, the fourth Round. The human-elementals, or Lunar Pitris, which synthesized these forms, came over from the moon when that planet passed into pralaya, and in this manner during- the first three and one-half Rounds slowly built up our human bodies into their present shape. At the fourth Round only, these human-animal bodies became capable of receiving and responding to impressions from the Higher Ego, or thinking Soul, and thus enabled the true man to come upon the earth. For man is not the human-elemental, associated with him as the constructor and synthesizer of his body, but the Ray of Manas from the divine Higher Ego, as the result of this incarnation. The physical cells of which the human body is constructed are the seat of purely physical heredity. The impression of this heredity upon them causes the resemblance to parents. The cells from each parent meet and blend in a most intimate fusion, and their different sources bestow upon them a certain power of vari- ation which causes the child to evolve in the direction of one or the other, and thus affords opportunity for this, which is a neces- sary portion of evolution. If man came from one parent, he would resemble that parent quite accurately, and each child would be an almost exact reproduction of its parent. But when the origin is from two parents, variation is necessary and is thus provided for. It is, then, along this, the line of physical heredity, that all these resemblances in form and feature, and even in psychic traits, reaches man. The physical is one of the three streams of hered- ity flowing into man. The other two will be discussed when their sources are being studied. If man be the microcosm of the macrocosm, there ought to be exhibited, in his physical organism, evidences of a septenary law, and this is found to be true. His tissues are of seven kinds, pointing to seven distinct hierarchies of entities in its construction. Each of these hierarchies may again be subdivided, making thus forty-nine variants upon the primary seven. These seven tissues THE BODY. 37 are: the neuroglic, connective, areolar, white fibrous, elastic, gela- tinous, adenoid, and adipose. The body has seven forms of epi- thelium: the squamous, spheroid, columnar, transitional, endo- thelial, and special. There are seven great systems which enter into its construction: the osseous, muscular, nervous, circula- tory, reproductive, glandular (including the digestive), and integu- mentary ( including the respiratory). There are jseven layers of the skin: epidermis (cuticle), rete mucosum (pigment), papillae, corium, fat cells, fibrous, and areolar layers. There are seven functions of the skin: limiting, common sensation, heat, cold, pressure, cooling ( perspiration), and protective (hair). There are seven divisions of the eye: cornea, aqueous humor, iris, cili- ary ligament, lens, vitreous humor, and retina. There are seven layers of the retina: columnar (Jacob's membrane), granular (com- posed of three distinct layers), nervous layer ( consisting of two), and membrana limitans. There are seven divisions of the brain: the medulla oblongata, pons Varolii, crura cerebri, corpora quad- rigemina, optic thalami, cerebellum, and cerebrum. There are seven functions of the nervous system: the olfactory, optic, audi- tory, gustatory, common sensation, and correlating or vegetative. There are seven divisions of the ear : the auditory canal, tym- panum, ossicles, semicircular canals, vestibule, cochlea, membran- ous labyrinth. The blood goes through seven distinct processes in clotting, and in numerous other ways man's physical construction indicates its septenary source. As he is yet in the active process of evolution, there are also very often divisions of five, especially in the chemistry of his body. In fact, such divisions are very numerous throughout man's organism, instances of which are the five senses, five nerves of special sense, five layers of the cornea, etc. The great lesson to be learned from a study of the body as a Principle, however, is that it inhibits or prevents the conscious functioning of the soul. On its own divine plane — to put it only from a merely mechanical standpoint — the soul uses modes of motion which enable -it to record conscious sensations, due to etheric vibrations thousands of times more rapid than those it uses here. In molecular matter, it can see only so many things in a moment. If they pass too rapidly, they are blurred. If it 38 SEPTENARY MAN. retreat inward, towards its own proper habitation, the vibrations may be almost infinitely more rapid, and it will record them every one, and life, therefore, becomes proportionately fuller and grander. How puerile, then, and how weak is consciousness upon this plane, compared to that of the true home of the soul! How the body limits our senses, and cripples our wings! As we descend from these diviner planes, each new state of matter draws a still heavier veil, so to say, over the eyes of the soul, and it becomes more and more blinded until it reaches the very acme of dullness, and fancies this the only plane of existence, and imagines itself separ- ated from all other human beings. Yet, if it lay off but one of its veils, or "Principles," as in dream, it can pass through experiences in a few moments which would take years in the waking condi- tion. If one could leave his body but for a few minutes, instead of passing into a condition of nothingness, or of losing that which we term life, he would enter upon a life indescribably more vivid. So far from anything having been destroyed or lost, the soul would realize that it had passed into a higher, more perfect state — was functioning upon planes much more subtle — approaching much nearer to the real source of life and being. If this be the result of the change from the molecular to the astral state of matter, how much more will consciousness expand as the soul approaches the center of conscious existence, where consciousness and life are* real ! Let us, then, remember that each of our fellow-men is a divine soul, whose consciousness is limited, whose senses are dulled, whose diviner characteristics are almost destroyed by the gross body it thus temporarily occupies, and we shall then see the rea- son and the necessity for the exercise towards each other of human sympathy and charity. The character which seems to us so vile is not that of the true soul, but is caused by the body with which it is associated. The qualities which so offend us are but the " qualities" of Matter, in the coils of which the true soul is strug- gling. These desires arise because they are derived from a plane of existence in which desire is normal — a state whose conscious entities are naturally filled with desire. Man synthesizes these entities into his body, and they transmit their own desires to him; and he, mistaking them for his own, yields to them. THE BODY. 39 There is a beautiful story told in one of Charles Reade's novels of a prisoner confined in a dungeon, where there was such a per- fect exclusion of light that it was impossible for him to have any conception of the passage of time. One could fancy that in a few minutes an hour, or even a' day, had passed. So great was the suffering that many came out of it insane. When this prisoner was confined in this dark cell, the chaplain of the prison, knowing the awful effect that such confinement had upon the mind and reason, went to it and rapped upon the outside, in order to let the poor occupant know that on the other side of the walls was a sym- pathizing, compassionate, human soul. And he tells how the sense of this compassion enabled the prisoner to preserve his rea- son, and also to pass his period of confinement without suffering. This is similar to the condition of the human soul in these bodies. Therefore, each one of us should constitute himself a compassion- ate sentinel, standing upon the outside, tapping upon the thick walls of human hearts, letting each know that they have human sympathy, and so feel the hope and trust springing from this. If we remember that each human soul is a divine prisoner, these things which so offend us now will fade away. We will realize that it is not the true person who is doing evil, but only one who has lost control of the passionate body with which he is associated, and our task will be to teach that person to regain his self-control, and thus help to make the whole of humanity happier, nobler, and more divine. CHAPTER II. THE LINGA SHARIRA. UfHE Second human Principle is called in Sanscrit the Linga ^-^ Sharira, or Design Body. It is so called because it is upon or within it, as upon a model, that the physical body is construct- ed. It stands in the relation to the latter that the astral world of the Third Round, or great World Period, stands to this the Molecular Round, or Fourth World Period, and can be best un- derstood by remembering this correspondence or analogy. In those wonderfully deep and comprehensive generalizations of evolution which constitute a portion of the teachings of the Wis- dom Religion, the formation of a world is carried backward to points in time compared with which modern geologic figures seem trifling; and it is to the third of these periods, as concerned with the birth and growth of this world, that the "matter" of the Linga Sharira is referred. That is to say, that this world, as has been pointed out in a previous chapter, has passed through an immense period of time in which it was fiery in its constitution, after which, by a change in the rate of the vibration of its " matter " it cooled down into an ethereal state ; thence, by means of a still slower rate, its matter became that which we term astral; and, finally, by still another change of vibration, it assumed the coarse, molecular con- dition of the present great world period, or, as it is technically known in theosophical literature, the Fourth Round. With each of these great world periods, the forms of the entities upon the earth, including man, have of necessity to correspond with the matter of the Round — their bodies being built out of it. The matter of the Third great World Period was astral — that is, its rate of vibration, molecular constitution, and electric, magnetic, and other properties, were such that it assumed this state. Dur- ing the immense period involved in a "Day of Brahma," a Round, or, scientifically, the length of time in which any particular rate of vibration remains the keynote or dominating motion in the mat- THE LINGA SHARIRA. 4 1 ter of a world, this astral world was occupied by all the hosts of entities which we now find upon the earth, but of course in a very much less progressed state. Like glazier's putty, "matter" becomes more pliable, more responsive to thought, the more it is used; and so this astral mat- ter has, by its long use during an entire Round, become so plas- tic that thought-forms are instantly constructed of it, as is experi- enced every night in dreams. For the forms and scenes perceived in dreams are actual and real; are constructed by the ideative force of the imagination out of this same plastic astral matter; and, lor the brief period during which man's feeble will holds them intact, are as real and as stable as any material forms within the Cosmos. The very changes which are observed in fleeting or panoramic dreams are possible because of, and due to, this ability of astral matter to respond to the vagaries of even the dreaming imagina- tion, though this be quite uncontrolled by the higher mind. But with the change of vibration at the close of the Third great World Period, appeared molecular matter as we perceive it to-day ; just as a change of temperature — which is but a change of vibra- tion — in a saline solution will cause solid crystals to appear in that which was before transparent. Such crystals represent the exact vibratory change which has taken place in the entire fluid ; or, to resort to scientific terms again, the amount of heat which has become "latent" in the process. For it must not be under- stood that all the substance of the earth changes its rate of vibra- tion at the end of each great evolutionary period, or that all the energies concerned in its construction become "latent," except those comparatively feeble molecular forces with which we are familiar. Only a small portion, compared with the entire mass of matter, does so, and only a very minute portion of the forces involved pass into molecular activities. Thus, the earth still has the fiery, ethereal, and astral globes of preceding world periods ; each globe being the mother liquid, so to speak, out of which the lower one has crystallized. All these states interpenetrate, or are in a condition, as again expressed in terms of science, of co-aduni- tion, and constitute the seven globes of our earth chain. The origin of the Linga Sharira of Man may now, perhaps, be "N 42 SEPTENARY MAN. better understood. ihe changes of vibration which constitute and determine these great world periods, or Rounds, are due, we are taught, to that which is termed Monadic impulse, or to the almost, if not quite, direct action of that eternal Motion which is described in Eastern philosophy as the " Great Breath." In its origin and essence, it is alike unknowable; as finite beings we are limited entirely to studies of its finite modes of motion. But of itself this Monadic motion is incapable of producing form, and must be understood as that of the Universal or Absolute Monad ; that Unknowable base upon which all the so-called properties of matter as well as the infinite states of consciousness within the Universe alike rest, for Spirit and Matter are but aspects of the One Absolute, Causeless Cause, and, as such aspects, are both con- ditioned and finite. That portion of the Absolute which is at the base of a human soul is called the human monad; and this monad, having descended into the sphere of finite or conditioned exist- ence, in, let us say the fire-mist stage of evolution, finds itself incapable of constructing a form. To quote the "Secret Doctrine":* " For the Monad, or Jiva, per se, can not even be called spirit. It is a Ray, a breath of the Absolute, or the Absoluteness, rather; and the Absolute Homogeneity, having no relations with the con- ditioned 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 proto- type for that material to shape itself into, 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." It is at this point that Eastern Wisdom solves our perplexity by its theory of emanations. At each great change in the vibra- tion of matter, advantage of the change is taken by high creative beings to clothe themselves with the matter which has thus taken on new qualities, both because of such change of vibration and because of these creative beings having bestowed upon the enti- ties which ensoul it a portion of their own essence by emanation. Such creative Beings are the source of all forms in the so-called " lower" kingdoms, as they are, indeed, in all nature. *Vol. I, p. 247. THE LINGA SHARIRA. 43 The form of Man, then, during all the Rounds preceding this was given by high or low creative beings who have the power to cause the " matter" of each Period or Round to assume definite designs. This is the key to the numerous Pitris or "fathers," which we find accredited to Man in such apparently confusing and profuse perplexity in the "Secret Doctrine." Each appropri- ate Hierarchy gave to his Monad the form it occupied during that particular World Period; and in doing so imparted, just as ^ the magnet imparts its own magnetism to non-mag netic iron, a portion of their own essence. This imparted essence, again, is a key to a portion of the still more confusing array of " Principles," which seem to be a part, and still not a part, of man's complex being. It is, however, this complexity entering into his consti- tution which makes Man the microcosm of the macrocosm ; for as every entity in the universe either " is, was, or prepares to become a man," so do all the creative intelligences, all the so-called "forces" of nature, aid and conspire to make Man what he now is and what he may become, by a long evolutionary association with (thus bestowing their own essence upon) him. In the Third great World Period certain entities, whom we may term "human elementals," and whom, we are told, had arrived at this stage during the course of an evolution upon the moon, associated themselves with the still unconscious human monad, and constructed for it, out of astral matter, an astral body — the prototype of the present Linga Sharira as well as the model said to be needed by the " too spiritual" monad. They remained associated with the human monad, and constituted Man's chief principle during the entire Third Round, and are still so associ- ated with him. But their office of modeling for him a body of even astral matter has ceased. His molecular body is, as we >have seen, built up of " pranic lives," and by the " Spirits of the Earth," we are further told. Another and very much higher class of entities — our own Higher Egos — have taken charge of the duty of furnishing a new Linga Sharira at each birth, and the office of the " Lunar Pitris" has become, at best, only mechanical. They are now the servitors of the real Man, and must follow the designs laid down by the true Man, the Higher Ego. 44 SEPTENARY MAN. The design body, the Linga Sharira, then, is a " thought body" of the Higher Ego, the true man, impressed first, and before the physical body is formed, upon the plastic astral matter of the Third Round. The Higher Ego, can not so quickly impress physical matter, for this is yet too new, hard, and unyielding. But the changes which follow, in the human form and features, upon a radical change of thought give a promise and prophesy of those powers which it is slowly acquiring, and of which we shall see the completed fruition at the close of this Manvantara, when the whole earth will be but the reflection of perfected human Thought. Meantime, astral matter is utilized because of its plasticity, and into the model so furnished the senseless — upon this plane — "lower lives" build Man's form. What is the modus operandum of the actual construction of the Linga Sharira? The Higher Ego can not be said to con- struct it consciously — or, at least, not self-consciously. It is certainly a creative act upon the part of the soul returning to incarnation, but one not exercised as yet self-consciously by the vast majority of the human race. For the exact copying of purely physical tendencies as to size and shape, or of low psychic tricks of gesture, etc., show that there are other forces at work besides the pure, creative energy of the Soul. The ordinary child is almost an exact copy of its physical parents, showing that these, too, have had their undoubtedly subconscious influence in determining the new form, and that this influence has been a most potent one. The explanation lies in the fact of physical heredity: that there are in our bodies to-day, as Weissmann de- clares, cells which have never died since the world began. These cells are impressed, are, indeed, the very record of man's physical past, and carry in their essence an almost irresistible tendency to exactly repeat the old physical structure, as is seen in those lowly forms where physical heredity is almost the sole modifying agency. Nature opposes this tendency upon the higher planes of her king- doms by interposing cells from two differing parents, thus pro- viding a physical basis for that necessary variation which evo- lutionary progress demands — and which necessity is the true reason for the evolutionary separation into sexes; — and, secondly, THE LINGA SHAKIKA. 45 the further modifying influence of the ideation of the returning soul and of its physical parents upon the mental plane. It is along this line of unstable equilibrium that all evolutionary prog- ress takes place, and man's wonderfully complex nature affords it its highest field of activity. Thus, the initiative force — that of the returning soul — calls into activity the "fiery lives," and the first or ideal thought-form upon their plane is constructed. But as this tends to repeat itself upon lower and lower planes of Man's being, as his Ego descends to more and more material planes in the successive steps of its reincarnation, more and more modify- ing and obstructive energies are encountered. The subconscious thought of the parents is one source of these; then come the Skandhas — sleeping or " latent" entities representing man's pas- sional and emotional nature as expressed or evolved in past lives, which demand modifications that shall better express their quali- ties. All these are at work on the plastic astral model ; and when this finally encounters the lower cell lives, carrying the impress of the experience and " habits" of myriads of ages, the Linga Sharira succumbs: the divine consciousness of the soul has sunk too deeply into matter to make its energies a potent factor; and the imper- fect human form, largely the repetition of its physical ancestry, is the result. The astral model, also, is the reason for the per- petuation of species throughout all nature. In the lower kingdoms it, having been, so to speak, permanently molded by the ideation of the Creative Entities for the Round, tends, as we have seen, to an almost exact repetition of the same form. As evolution, how- ever, pushes the entity upward in the scale of being, the complex factors, which we have pointed out as modifying influences upon the human Linga Sharira, slowly come into play; sex differentiation occurs, and, one by one, all the various modifying evolutionary forces exert their activites. There is no possible reason why two cells almost identical in form should differentiate, the one into the form of a delicate fern, and the other into that of a giant sequoia, except that this ideal astral form persists, and is an actual model into which, just as in the human instance, the forms of all the entities of the lower kingdoms of nature are built. In studying the nature and functions of the Linga Sharira more 46 SEPTENARY MAN. specifically, we are taught that it dissipates, step by step, with the matter of the body. This is because of the withdrawal after death from it, as well as from the physical body, of the " fiery lives," which gave both their vitality. This vitality, from one — a purely mechanical — standpoint, is supplied by the " fiery lives" becoming latent, or changing the rate of their vibration. It is anal- ogous to the disappearance of heat by crystallization, etc., upon lower planes. But in this case the latency is enforced by the unconsciously exercised will of the reincarnating entity. Its tanha, or desire for physical existence, causes the " fiery lives" to yield to it, and it synthesizes the force so derived into the con- struction and preservation of its body. During life the Linga Sharira is said to be the vehicle of Prana, or the Life Principle ; but its connection with this will be best studied when we take up the latter Principle. It. is capable of passing out of the body during life, and in such case has the peculiar power of attracting to itself physical atoms from the surrounding atmosphere in such quantities as to reproduce a replica of the human form. In cer- tain instances this projection is, no doubt, the seat of the soul itself In any case, the real physical body appears languid and apathetic during the absence of this its astral counterpart. This power of attracting to itself physical atoms resident in the atmos- phere is the cause of the Linga Sharira being so often seen by people who are not clairvoyant. Given a death in which the dying person has intently thought of some distant dear one, and the Linga Sharira has often been known to go, under the impulse of this thought force, to that person or distant place, and actually appear as a more or less faint duplicate or image of the dying person. It is often noticed as a vague violet light, or violet mist, over the graves of the recently dead, and also in these cases is seen by non-clairvoyants, and must of course be composed of.mat- ter capable of being seen by the physical eye. Such visible mat- ter is, in the opinion of the writer, an attempt at reincarnation, by reclothing itself, temporarily and faintly, with physical atoms float- ing in the atmosphere, and is the result of the force of habit due to its life-long association with a physical body. This power, or innate tendency, rather, to surround itself with THE LINGA SHARIRA. 47 physical or molecular matter is no doubt at the basis of most of the " materializations" which take place at spiritualistic" seances." The Linga Sharira of the medium leaves, or oozes out of, the body ; the very capacity for doing which constitutes one a " medium." Once outside the body, under the strong, impelling desire of the medium, or of some of the sitters, the Linga Sharira becomes molded into the form of some departed person, and then attracts to itself a sufficient amount of physical atoms to appear as solid flesh. It has, in fact, become a solid, though temporary, thought- form of some person present among the sitters, and is possessed of the limited intelligence which such thought-forms are capable of exhibiting. So powerful may be the so-called " materialization," so deceiving the electric and magnetic forces involved, that such " spooks" have all the appearances of a solid physical body; have actual weight, though this has been known to vary by many pounds within a very few moments in the same " spook," upon being weighed. But this change in weight is doubtless due more to an interference with the laws of attraction and repulsion, of which gravity is a phase, than with any real accession or de- parture of actual physical molecules. Many of these physical molecules are drawn from the sitters present, as the exhaustion of those who are at all mediumistic, after such a seance, amply testifies. The decomposition at the close of the seance of mol- ecules thus withdrawn from the bodies of sitters is the cause of that peculiarly offensive " grave odor" which is always perceived when a genuine materialization has taken place. Of course, the Linga Sharira will not explain all the phenomena of materializa- tions; it is only its part in this process that now concerns us. A Linga Sharira thus extruded and materialized is capable of being injured by blows or violence of any sort, in which case, upon its returning to the body, the marks of injuries thus inflicted upon it will be repeated upon the medium's body, and reappear as actual fleshly injuries. This is because, being the model of the physical form, the real supporter of the physical cells, when it, the model, is altered the tendency of the physical cells to flow into the new design is almost irresistible, and in this manner actually causes the repetition of injuries upon the physical body. This fact is 48 SEPTENARY MAN. known in spiritualistic parlance as " repercussion," and the rela- tion of the Linga Sharira to the physical form fully explains this otherwise inexplicable phenomenon. The capacity to thus project the Linga Sharira is possessed in a greater or lesser degree by mediums and seers, and, Mr. Wm. Q. Judge declares, by the hysterical, cataleptic and scrofulous.* The organs of sense, the real centers for seeing, hearing, tasting, and smelling, are located in the Linga Sharira, the proof of which was pointed out in the lecture upon the physical body. Yet, although man has thus the capacity for seeing, hearing, tast- ing, and smelling, or, in other words, of exercising all his senses upon the astral plane, his capacity for so doing is almost nil while in the physical body, and is exceedingly limited even when disconnected from this by death. The exercise of the astral senses during life constitutes a low form of clairvoyance and clairaudience, which is much sought after by those ignorant of their own nature, and to whom such glimpses into the unseen are taken for communications from some "heavenly" sphere. There is, no doubt, something which corresponds to sense-organs in as- tral bodies much higher than the Linga Sharira; but as man's soul recedes inward these become less and less capable of convey- ing to him external impressions, because of their not yet being sufficiently perfected by use. It will, no doubt, be a portion of his evolution to perfect these interior sense-organs during future World Periods — to become self-conscious, and to exteriorise these now subjective planes in a manner exactly similar to that in which he objectivises his present physical environment. Such sense- organs and astral bodies, composed of finer grades of matter than is the Linga Sharira, correspond to the great hiatus in vibration which lies between the waves of sound, or those which affect man's sense of hearing, and those of light, which appeal to his organs of vision. Thus, sound-waves travel at the rate of about thirteen hundred feet a minute, and are of variable length, while waves of light travel at the rate of 184,000 miles a second, and have a wave length of about 1-52,000 of an inch. Between the sense of sound, said to be the result of molecular motion, and that of sight,, *Ocean of Theosophy. THE LINGA SHARIRA. 49 attributed to "ethereal" vibrations, there Is evidently an Immense gulf of hidden sense potentialities. In the vibrations of light, also, there is evidently an unbroken continuity of successively more rapid vibrations above the violet ray, as proven by the chemical changes produced, and below the red ray, with which man's color perception ceases in this direction. So of all his senses. There are sounds which he can not hear; there are sub- stances which have for him no taste. Into such realms of nature interior senses, located in finer, more ethereal astral bodies, must some time project him. Thus we are told, in the " Secret Doctrine," • that ether, now so hypothetical and unreal, will become visible in the air towards the end of this globe Round or World Period. This does not mean that ether is not in the atmosphere now, but that we are unable to perceive it; and prophesies, not the condens- ation of the ether, but the evolution of finer qualities of percep- tion in our sense-organs. The condition of human consciousness at death can also be best understood, perhaps, by an examination of the correspondence be- tween the separation of the lower human Principles and the changes of vibration which limit and define a World Period. Thus, at the death of the body, a period which corresponds to the termination of this Fourth Round, or molecular World Period, the life Principle retreats inward, and the body is left to decay, pre- cisely as a dead world in space decays when its higher Principles are also withdrawn, as we see in the case of the dead moon, and of those recently dissipated intra-Mercurial planets which science suspects, but of which it so vainly seeks evidence. The soul then becomes six-principled for a brief period — has for its outermost clothing the Linga Sharira. But it soon detaches itself from this vehicle, for the Linga Sharira as well as the body is molec- ular. Then the Ego clothes itself with an astral form of finer matter; or of that of a higher rate of vibration, and becomes a five-principled being. That is to say, that all the "lives" with which it was associated upon the material plane pass into Pralaya, or latency, and no longer disturb the soul by their activities. Prana also disappears — which will be more fully explained when dealing with that Principle. So long as there is the faintest con- 50 SEPTENARY MAN. nection between the soul and the Linga Sharira so long is the lat- ter capable of disturbing, to a degree at least, the repose cf the soul. This is one reason for cremation, aside from other purely sanitary reasons. Like all states of matter, the astral plane of substance has its seven grades, the lowest of which passes directly into the physical, or visible, molecular condition, while its higher States grade up- ward into vibrations capable of affording all those vestments of the soul which constitute its many "Astral Bodies." There is — there can be — no abrupt break between the vibrations of one state and that of another. They are as continuous as life itself. Our sense-organs may and do mark them off into distinct planes, as when the sense of sight records one rate of vibration as red, and one, but slightly higher, as orange; but there is no point at which we can say that here, precisely, the red ceases and the orange begins. So with the after-death states and the vestments of the soul — a portion of the Linga Sharira remains entangled within the cells of the body, and dissipates pari passu with it. Another portion oozes out of the body, forming a wraith or dupli- cate of this, and also affording a very transient vestment for the soul. This, after being abandoned by the Ego, is, no doubt, re- attraoted to the latter, and also dissipates, step by step, with it. Still another portion is used by the kama-manasic, or lower, mind, or Principle, to clothe itself with a thought-form, which afterwards fades, with the cessation of the activities of this, into the "spook," the abode of the kama-rupa, or that human elemental which is the synthesizer of man's purely animal body, as it continues, for a more prolonged period, its existence as an independent entity in kama-loka. The successive abandonment of these vestments, or their vibrations, ceasing to possess the power to command the soul's attention, constitute the key to the after-death states of con- sciousness. While in the Linga Sharira proper, the state of the soul is that of calm. Stupefied by the great change in its environ- ment as to vibration, would, perhaps, better express its condition. But as it recovers from this shock, as it gathers itself together, so to speak, and particularly after, by its own mental effort, it con- structs for itself a body of astral matter containing the impress, THE LINGA SHARIRA. 5 I habits, and desires of the life it has just quitted.it is itself again. It is in kama-loka — in that uncanny region where it is still under the influence of earth desires, thrust upon its consciousness by the vigorous vibrations of this which has been well termed the "body of desire." For it is the seat of desire during life, and still more so after the death of the body. But, let us suppose that these earth-tending desires are not fed or renewed vicariously by any foolish medium, to her own and the soul's hurt ; then they slowly cease, and the soul falls asleep to all vibration except that of its own proper "thought body," in which "to will is to create, and to think is to see." This is its "heaven," its Devachan, its rest; a state, from the standpoint of vibration alone, caused and made possible by the cessation of all the activities or vibrations of the lower bodies which it has cast off, or to which it has become indifferent. No vibrations reach it now but the very highest and most spiritual of its past life — those unselfish, altruistic, and spirit- ual enough to make an impress upon and be recorded within the tablets of the true soul. The hierarchies of turbulent, passionate lives with which he was associated while in the physical body, and whose imperious voices he so ignorantly mistook for the demands of his own soul, have been hushed; he is again at the fountain source of his true being, drinking again of the waters of everlasting life. In Devachan — "The sin and shame, the woe and misery Will all have faded. Memory's drifting ships Will cast the gall and wormwood in the sea, And bring sweet wines alone into our longing lips." Here the soul remains, enjoying all the felicities of its own div- inity, until the impulse of its spiritual nature is exhausted, when it again bows to the law of its own evolution; again yields to the sway of the " fiery lives" as they force it once more into the realms of sensuous existence; constructs for itself a new Linga Sharira, into and upon which a new physical body is builded, and — takes up its old-life tasks again. CHAPTER III. PRANA. I [TiiLE a portion of man's Principles are derived from, or are the very essence of, beings higher than he, there are others which are not so derived, but which seem to root in the very- Absolute itself. They are as direct aspects of the Absolute in man (the microcosm) as they are in the Universe (or macrocosm). Such are Atma, man's seventh; Buddhi, his second; and Prana, the third Principle. Viewed from a purely physical standpoint, all life upon the earth is derived, primarily or secondarily, from the sun, which seems to be a great storehouse for all forms of force, or modes of motion. Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, "vital" force — all radiate apparently from this great center of Cos- mic energy. Blot the sun out of the heavens, and this earth would, in a very few days at the most, float aimlessly in space, a huge, frozen, lifeless corpse. There are, of course, other, and very greatly modifying, con- ditions which affect, favorably or unfavorably, the continuance of life here, such as the inclination of the earth's axis to the sun, the percentage of moisture in the atmosphere, etc.; but as these are but secondary causes, at best, whose primaries depend upon the sun for their modifying influence, the latter may be said to be truly the giver of physical life to the earth. This life seems to be the result of, or due to, motion or vibration, which latter is transmitted to the earth by means of a medium which science conjectures to be its " ether," and reaches the earth in the form of vibrations. It is interesting to note how exactly the conclusions of science, as to the manner in which these vibrations reach and react upon the molecular matter of the earth, repeat uncon- sciously the occult formula as to the mode in which Prana, or the Life Principle, is related to the human body. Just as the vibra- tions from the sun are transmitted by an intermediary agent — the ether, — so does Occultism declare that Prana reaches the body PRANA. 53 through and by means of an astral or ethereal body — the Linga Sharira. But one must not fall into the error of confusing these vibrations in the ether with Prana, or the Life Principle itself. That would be to say that the vibrations set up in the Linga Sharira by Prana constituted the essence of Prana itself, and would land one in the purely materialistic theory of the mechanical origin of all life. ! Prana roots in Absolute Motion — in the force or will-aspect of the Causeless Cause. The Sun is the active agent in its stor- ing, and the " ether" or some intermediary substance in its trans- mission to the earth, but the Life Essence itself is something quite apart from the mechanical vibrations which transmit it, or exhibit its presence It is but the effects of Prana acting in the atoms of astral or ethereal matter that science is vainly striving to materialize in its hypothesis of the ether. In its real essence or nature, Prana is, of course, undiscoverable; for that which Occultists classify as Prana is but the phenomenal manifestation of the universal Life Principle acting upon the plane of molecular substance. This universal Life Principle may be said to be one of three hypostases of the Absolute ; which hypostases appear to our perception as Motion, Substance, and Consciousness. Into one or other of these infinite aspects of the Absolute, or Causeless Cause, every finite phenomenon finally resolves itself. They are the Absolute as this is reflected in Time and Space. They are, as we have seen, never dissociated under manifested conditions the onlv ones which finite minds are capable of comprehending; can not even be thought of separately. Consciousness, often spoken of as Spirit, is at the base of all ideation, perception, and sensation. Substance furnishes the material substratum for all form, and is the medium in which Motion (will or force) is clothed, as well as the vehicle for the manifestation of Consciousness. Motion divested of all other attributes represents the Universal Life Principle in the Universe— is Life, in its very essence, it would seem; for if motion ceases upon any plane, so-called death upon that plane occurs at once, and the entity which was clothed in the substance in which motion has thus ceased must retreat or follow the life 54 SEPTENARY MAN. vibration to other and inner planes. If we look upon the human monad as a ray from the Absolute, and as therefore containing potentially the three aspects or hypostases of this, then its con- scious aspect may be thought of, or distinguished, as Atma; its Substance aspect as Buddhi, or the Akasa, or " mulaprakriti," of Eastern philosophy; and its active or life aspect as Jiva. Indeed, this seems to be the sense in which these two Sanscrit words, "Jiva" and "Atma," are used in much theosophic literature. It is only when Jiva, or the manifested aspect of Absolute Life or motion, reaches the molecular plane of the Universe that it is termed Prana, and is then classed as the third human Principle. It is evident that it is no more a Principle in man than it is in the rock, the vegetable, the animal, or in any form composed of molecules. It is simply the aspect of Jiva, the universal life Principle, upon this, the molecular plane of the universe. Life is everywhere; in every conceivable point in space it is potentially, if not actually, present. Being the motion or will-aspect of the unknowable Causeless Cause, it must pervade every possible region in all the inconceivable abysses of space. Therefore, when Prana, that aspect of the universal life Principle acting in molecu- lar substance, passes from form to form of such matter, it simply abandons one, at the so-called I' death" of this, to associate itself with another; assuming during the brief interval (if, indeed, there really be an interval) its jivic or universal life-aspect again. For Prana of itself is unable to construct a molecular form, or even to maintain or preserve one beyond the cycle of the entity which has synthesized it and so made a molecular form possible. Just as we have seen in our study of the Linga Sharira that the human monad is unable to create (synthesize) for itself a form, but that conscious entities have to do this for it, so also this Pranic aspect of the universal life Principle is guided in its workings in lower forms by entities who synthesize or construct such lower " lives" into forms, and control and direct the forces of Prana so long as this asso- ciation continues. Thus, Prana, from another point of view, may be described as the force of the "fiery lives" — the first and "fiery" differ- entiations of the homogeneous substance of planes above the molec- ular, and even the atomic — which, synthesized ancT coordinated in PR ANA. 55 a manner to be described, builds into the form of cells the lower Pranic molecular " lives." These cells, again, are synthesized into an appropriate form by the entity thus swinging into the objective arc of its life cycle, and Jiva now becomes Prana, because its energy is directed to and acts within the molecular plane of substance. But the action of the " fiery lives," thus sweeping downwards, or (to coin a term) molecular-wards, would be chaotic, as we have seen, and quite unintelligent as regards this plane, were not this action directed to the production of a particular form by the molds or models cut and shaped in astral matter (which matter we have also seen when dealing with the Linga Sharira to have the quality of responding instantaneously to thought) by the action of idea- tion. The endeavor was made, in the chapter referred to, to point out the source of and the various modifying influences acting upon the Linga Sharira, or the model for the human form. This guid- ing influence thus exerted upon the action of the "fiery lives" again illustrates how complex is the origin of man's form even, and how all his Principles act and react upon and within each other in com- pleting his many-sided nature. The withdrawing of the Higher Ego does not release the synthesis of Prana necessary to the main- tenance of the human form; it only leaves man an intellectual ani- mal; but the withdrawal of the "Animal Soul" of the older classi- fications, or of that (human) elemental which synthesizes the action of Prana in the human form, exactly as lower elementals do in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, means the surrender of the human form to the uncontrolled action of the lower lives, who soon tear and rend it asunder. Then Prana as a human Principle disappears, which is to say that the coordinated action of the "fiery lives" dis- appears. Prana does not disappear; its activity is now greater than before; but, being no longer synthesized and coordinated, causes the so-called death and disintegration of the body. It is thus evident that, as thought has the power to cause substance to take form, so have all centers of consciousness, from atom-soul to god, the power to receive from, or to assimilate out of, the unknow- able Fount of Life enough of Jiva or Prana, as the case may be, to bestow vitality — using Western and highly inaccurate phraseol- ogy — upon, or, according to Eastern philosophy, to synthesize it 56 SEPTENARY MAN. vj in, their respective bodies, and that when they abandon these mate- rial forms they withdraw this synthesizing influence or power. But such abandoned forms have still within them the Prana or Life Principle appropriate to a lower plane of consciousness. This power to thus assimilate, or, as Mr. Judge* puts it, to *' secrete," Prana out of the great ocean of Jiva, which every con- scious entity from atom to god possesses, is one derived, no doubt, from the very Absolute itself; results, indeed, because life (or motion) substance and consciousness are always associated — are but aspects of the one indivisible, omnipresent Absolute. Life and force, or motion, are indissolubly associated; and when the force of modern science becomes "latent" it only means that the eternal motion has changed its rate of vibration — has passed into a lower plane of substance as well as of consciousness. Life is thus seen to be one, indestructible and continuous, and death but a change in the conditions of its manifestation. The third human principle is shown to be a universal one; and is called Prana merely to distinguish one field of the operation of this universal Principle. Let us now look for a moment at the question of Life from its purely physical aspect. Materialists have in vain sought for its mysterious origin in the " matter" which constitutes their god. For many years spontaneous generation, or abiogenesis, as it is scientifically termed, was universally believed in, and was an immense support to the materialistic hypothesis. If it were, indeed, possible for blindly working forces to push inorganic or lifeless matter up out of the mineral into the vegetable and animal kingdoms, then the origin of life and consciousness might, with some show of reason, be attributed to certain properties of mat- ter — which is the materialistic claim. But later and still more "scientific" researches, by Pasteur and others, have completely disproven the spontaneous-generation theory, so that one of the most important of the strongholds of materialism has been demol- ished to its very foundations. Science has now to loo.< beyond the mere properties of matter if it would find even a working *Ocean of Theosophy. PRANA. 57 hypothesis to explain the origin of life. And this, indeed, it is beginning to do. Many of its greatest exponents, including such devoted adherents as Huxley and Haeckel, admit the impos- sibility of abiogenesis at present, but claim that in distant periods of the world's evolution there was a time when the magnetic, electric, temperature, and other conditions prevailing upon the earth were such that that which has since become impossible was possible then; that then matter did respond to force, and the organic appear out of the inorganic — using these terms, of course, in the older scientific sense. Such scientists are very nearly in accord with the theosophic theory of evolution. For Theosophy teaches that the door for monadic ingress was closed at the middle of this Round; which, put in scientific terms, means that at that period spontaneous generation ceased, be- cause of the earth having reached its lowest condition of mate- riality — one so low, indeed, that spirit or thought is unable to act upon it directly, but must approach it through the medium of the finer, more plastic astral matter, of the preceding Round or World Period. But as to the nature of the force causing their so-called spontaneous generation, these thinkers are as far from the theosophic conception as are the poles asunder. For with them the appearance of form is, after all, but blind force taking the direction of the least resistance; while for Theosophists astral forms followed by molecular ones is the action of force representing the will of conscious thinking entities, which entities are the real cre- ators of all form. Blind force taking the direction of either the least or greatest resistance never has produced nor never can pro- duce form. So deeply philosophical is the theosophic concep- tion of the origin of life that it is recognized that even the Spirit- ual Monad, after its differentiation within the Absolute and its start downward through its cycle of manifested existence, is still unable, as we have seen, to construct for itself a form, but needs the assistance of thinking entities, farther differentiated and so relatively lower than itself, to accomplish this. Theosophists, indeed, recognize that there was a time when spontaneous gener- ation (but not that of the scientists) was a universal fact and factor throughout nature. This period is represented by the Third Round, T^ 58 SEPTENARY MAN. when the earth was composed of the astral matter previously described, and the first half of this, or the Fourth Round. The type of all life upon the earth is the cell, and it is from cells that all the wilderness of forms which we see in nature about us are built up. The earth itself represents, as do all earths and suns, but an immense cell made up of an infinite number of lesser cells, and stars and planets, even in their fcrm, conform to the cellular or spherical model. Abiogenesis, or the spontaneous generation of the scientists, having been disproved, and Occultism declaring that the door for monadic ingress closed at the middle of the Fourth Round, it remains, then, to examine the nature of the real physical basis of life, or the means by which physical forms are transmitted from parent to offspring. The theory most in accord with the occult teaching, and one, indeed, which explains purely physical hered- ity correctly, is that of Weissmann. He declares that there is one cell, formed by the union of the male and female plasm, from divisions and modifications of which the entire human form is built up. That is to say, that every cell in the human body has a minute portion of this original cell, and that by means of the pres- ence of the matter of this primordial cell in every cell of the body physical heredity is carried forward. These primordial cells repre- sent the completed type of life on their plane, for they are seven- fold in their constitution They have a germinal spot, a nucleolus, a nucleus, a membrane limiting the nucleus, a cell plasm, and an inner and outer membrane of the cell proper. Such perfect cells, then, are capable of being used, through various modifications of them, in order to build up the multiform tissues of the body; and it is the various subdivisions of these germinal cells with which the hierarchies of elementals clothe themselves in building up the human form. Thus, each living being, of whatever degree, now clothed in flesh has within it certain cells which have never died since the time that the primordial " matter" of this earth yielded to the primordial impress of "spirit," or the modifying associations of spiritual entities seeking re-embodiment. Such cells are, as Weiss- mann points out, relatively eternal; and are handed down from par- ent to offspring, and with them comes all the modifying influences TRANA. 59 of past associations as to form and physical functions. There is little if any doubt but that any entity now upon the earth has been here many, many times before, clothed in a similar material form to that which it now occupies, and which it only very slowly modifies under the stress of its necessity for developing new ave- nues for consciousness. The real entity, however, is concealed, and its presence only revealed by the material form it occupies, and which is but the outward expression of such an inner presence. The physical basis of life, then, is these non-dying cells, handed down from parent to offspring, and bringing with them the impress of the entire physical characteristics of both parents, which meet and blend in the new form so provided. The spiritual plasm or force is that synthesized by the reincarnating entity, whose func- - tion it is, as we have seen, to control the action of Prana in the lower hierarchial "lives," so that this form can be constructed and maintained. The maintenance of the integrity of the physical form is effected by a constant synthesizing effort upon the part of the inner entity. * It is the expression of its will to live; the sum of its desires for sensuous existence. The force, which is but a phase of will-power, is exerted subconsciously in all instances. Thought can and does modify this force; but few among mortals know how to direct it. Sickness is thus due to failure on the part of the entity to control or synthesize the action of Prana in its organism. The natural action of the "fiery lives" is always at war with this synthesizing . effort, and unless the man has cultivated his will strongly in this direction very little suffices to turn the balance. When one has cultivated or strengthened his will to live in past lives, in this one he will be said to be full of "vitality," — in other words, Prana will - be under his control, — while the ordinary man will be threatened by foes, both within and without. Any violation of the laws of nature, any infection or injury — the thousand pitfalls which sur- round man's footsteps — disturbs the balance of Prana, and shortens his life. So universally is life shortened by our ignorance and will- fulness that its span, which, we are taught, ought to cover some four hundred years, does not average a tenth of this period. One of the chief foes to the proper acton of Prana is to be 60 SEPTENARY MAN. found in the parasites, or "microbes," which have their normal habitation in and upon man's tissues, as they also have in and upon those of every entity, however minute. These are the act- ive agents in the final disintegration of the body when death occurs — as was stated in the chapter upon the body. But these microbes, as we have also seen, must not be confused with the «' lives" from which the human body is constructed. The microbes