Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Septenary Man
By J.A. Anderson
Introduction
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 Brahmanism, held, and still holds, that he has at least four or five Principles, 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 symbology, 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 character 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 mysteries 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 implies and, indeed, necessitates at least partial sameness or equality, else there can be nothing to compare. Without attempting to answer that which is unanswerable, or to deal with the Unknowable 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; 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 diversity, 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.
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 (potential) 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 Professor 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 states of reflected consciousness, of which the phenomena of hypnotism, 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 physical 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 matter 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 appear, within the original fire-mist matter, with entirely new properties, 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 process, 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 conditions, by beings seeking widening consciousness through pass- 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 temperature 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 matter 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, phosphorus, 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 states, each successive cycle of vibration becomes more material that is to say, the substance-aspect of the Unknowable preponderates more and more in proportion. But a limit must eventually be reached, because this is a finite process, and Theosophy 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 vibration, 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 transient 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 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 companion "globes" of each planet, of which our earth and all earths visi- ble to us is the Fourth. These, by their combinations and correlations, 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 dominant 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 appearance. 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 condition 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 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 experienced 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 " kingdom" 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 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 conscious 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 association, 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 consciousness, 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 nature, is derived from high creative beings, termed, in the East, Dhyan Chohans. These great and divine entities clothe themselves 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 impulse 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. Byincarnating 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 satisfy. 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 Manvantara, 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 consciousness 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 physical motion, is there exemplified. All states of consciousnessin 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 ofhis head; the consciousness of all stages of animal life is foundin the differing cells and organs of his body; so that man is theMicrocosm of all nature about us of which we can conceive. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that he is likewise theMicrocosm 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 ofthe senses. Prana, which gives rise to, and is the consciousnessof, life. The Linga Sharira, which relates him to astral or reflected consciousness.
Kama, which relates him to the consciousness ofdesire. Manas, which relates him to consciousness of consciousness, or self-consciousness. Buddhi, which relates him to intuitional consciousness; consciousness above thought—in which no thoughtis necessary. And, finally, Atma, wherein all consciousness, andall states of consciousness, are synthesized. ] We will err, however, in our further study if we consider manas 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, proceedssomewhat in this manner: There streams out from the Absolutethe Seven great Rays, Breaths, or Hierarchies, of creative being,before referred to. Without pausing to analyze their combinationsand differentiations, let us suppose that each of these greatHierarchies ensouls a portion of cosmic Substance. Withinthe limits of each Hierarchy, an evolution is possible from alower to a more intense degree of the particular consciousnessof the Hierarchy. But for a being ensouled by, let us say, kamicto reach the manasic or thought consciousness by evolving upto 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. 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 experienced 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 " kingdom" 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 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 becoming, 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 bestowing 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 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 philosophical light thus thrown across the darkly-passionate pages of human existence.
