THE SECRET DOCTRINE:
THE SYNTHESIS
OF
SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND PHILOSOPHY.
by H. P. BLAVATSKY
VIII.
LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY.
THE imponderable fluids have had their day;
"mechanical Forces" are less talked about; Science has put on a new face
for this last quarter of a century; but gravitation has remained, owing
its life to new combinations after the old ones had nearly killed it. It
may answer scientific hypotheses very well, but the question is whether
it answers as well to truth, and represents a fact in nature. Attraction
by itself is not sufficient to explain merely planetary motion;
how can it presume to explain the rotatory motion in the infinitudes of
Space? Attraction alone will never fill all the gaps, unless a special
impulse is admitted for every sidereal body, and the rotation of every
planet with its satellites is shown to be due to some one cause
combined with attraction. And even then, says an astronomer ("Philosophie
Naturelle," art. 142), Science would have to name that
cause.
Occultism has named it for ages, and so have all the ancient
philosophers; but then all such beliefs are now proclaimed exploded
superstitions. The "extra cosmic" God has killed every possibility of
belief in intra cosmic intelligent Forces, yet who, or what is
the original pusher in that motion? "When we have learned the
cause, unique et speciale, that pushes, we will be
ready to combine it with the one which attracts," says Francoeur ("Astronomie,"
p. 342). And again -- "Attraction between the celestial bodies is
only repulsion: it is the Sun that drives them incessantly onward;
for otherwise, their motion would stop."
If ever this theory of the Sun-Force being the primal cause of all
life on earth and motion in heaven is accepted, and if that other far
bolder one of Herschell -- about certain organisms in the Sun -- is
accepted even as a provisional hypothesis, then will our teachings be
vindicated, and esoteric allegory shown to have anticipated Modern
Science by millions of years, probably, for these are the Archaic
teachings. Marttanda (the Sun) watches and threatens -- without
abandoning the central position to which his Mother, Aditi, relegated
him -- his seven brothers, the planets; "he pursues them, turning slowly
around himself . . . and follows them from afar, moving in the same
direction that they do, on the path that encircles their houses" -- or
the orbit. (See Comment to Stanza IV., Book I.)
It is the Sun-fluids or Emanations that impart all motion and
awaken all into life, in the Solar System. It is attraction and
repulsion, but not as understood by modern physics and according to the
law of gravity; but in harmony with the laws of Manvantaric motion
de-
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 530 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
signed from the early Sandhya, the Dawn of the
rebuilding and higher reformation of the System. These laws are
immutable; but the motion of all the bodies, which motion is diverse and
alters with every minor Kalpa -- is regulated by the Movers,
the Intelligences within the Cosmic Soul. Are we so very wrong in
believing all this? Well, here is a modern and a great man of Science
who, speaking of vital electricity, uses language far more akin to
Occultism than to modern materialistic thought. We refer the sceptical
reader to an article on "The Source of Heat in the Sun," by Robert Hunt
, F.R.S., (in "Popular Science Review," Vol. IV., p.
148), who, speaking of the luminous envelope of the Sun and its
"peculiar curdy appearance," says: --
"Arago proposed that this envelope should be called the Photosphere,
a name now generally adopted. By the elder Herschell, the surface of
this photosphere was compared to mother-of-pearl. . . . . It
resembles the Ocean on a tranquil summer-day, when its surface is
slightly crisped by a gentle breeze. . . . Mr. Nasmyth has
discovered a more remarkable condition than any that had previously
been suspected . . . objects which are peculiarly lens-shaped . . .
. like 'willow leaves . . . . different in size . . . . . not
arranged in any order crossing each other in all directions . . . .
. with an irregular motion among themselves . . . . . . . They are
seen approaching to and receding from each other, and sometimes
assuming new angular positions, so that the appearance . . . . . has
been compared to a dense shoal of fish, which, indeed, they resemble
in shape. . . . The size of these objects gives a grand idea of the
gigantic scale upon which physical (?) operations are carried out in
the Sun. They cannot be less than 1,000 miles in length, and from
two to three hundred miles in breadth. The most probable
conjecture which has been offered respecting those leaf or
lens-like objects, is that the photosphere* is an immense
ocean of gaseous matter (what kind of "matter?") . . . in a state of
intense (apparent) incandescence, and that they are perspective
projections of the sheets of flame. . . ."
Solar "flames" seen through telescopes are reflections,
says Occultism. But see what Occultists have to say to this in Book
I.
"Whatever they may be (those sheets of flame), it is evident they
are the immediate sources of solar heat and light. Here we have
a surrounding envelope of photogenic matter,** which pendulates with
mighty energies, and by communicating its motion to the ethereal
medium in stellar space, produces heat and light in far distant
worlds. We have said that those forms have been compared to certain
organisms, and Herschell says, 'Though it would be too daring to
speak of such organizations as partaking of life [why
not?],*** yet we do not know that vital action is competent to
develop heat, light, and electricity.' . . . Can it be that there
is truth in this fine thought? May the pulsing of vital matter
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* And the central mass, too, as will be found, or
rather the centre of the reflection.
** That "matter" is just like the reflection in a mirror of the flame
from a "photogenic" lamp-wick.
*** See "Five Years of Theosophy," p. 258
-- answer to this speculation of Herschell's.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 531 SUN-FORCE AND EARTH-FORCE.
in the central Sun of our System be the source of all that life
which crowds the earth, and without doubt overspreads the other
planets, to which the Sun is the mighty Minister?" . . .
Occultism answers these queries in the affirmative; and Science will
find this to be the case, one day.
Again, on p. 156, Mr. Hunt writes: --
"But regarding Life -- Vital Force -- as a power far more exalted
than either light, heat, or electricity, and indeed capable of
exerting a controlling power over them all" (this is
absolutely occult). . . . . "we are certainly disposed to view with
satisfaction that speculation which supposes the photosphere to be
the primary seat of vital power, and to regard with
a poetic pleasure that hypothesis which refers the Solar energies to
Life."
Thus, we have an important scientific corroboration for one of our
fundamental dogmas -- namely, that (a) the Sun is the
store-house of Vital Force, which is the Noumenon of
Electricity; and (b) that it is from its mysterious,
never-to-be-fathomed depths, that issue those life currents which thrill
through Space, as through the organisms of every living thing on Earth.
For see what another eminent physician says, who calls this (our
life-fluid) "nervous Ether." Change a few sentences in the article,
extracts from which now follow, and you have another quasi-Occult
treatise on Life Force. This once, it is again Dr. B. W.
Richardson, F.R.S., who gives his views in the "Popular Science
Review," Vol. X., p. 380-3, on "Nervous Ether,"
as he has on "Sun-Force" and "Earth-Force": --
"The idea attempted to be conveyed by the theory is, that between
the molecules of the matter, solid or fluid, of which the nervous
organisms, and, indeed, of which all the organic parts of a body are
composed, there exists a refined subtle medium, vaporous or gaseous,
which holds the molecules in a condition for motion upon each other,
and for arrangement and rearrangement of form; a medium by and
through which all motion is conveyed; by and through which the one
organ or part of the body is held in communion with the other parts,
by which and through which the outer living world communicates with
the living man: a medium, which, being present, enables the
phenomena of life to be demonstrated, and which, being universally
absent, leaves the body actually dead. . . . . ."
And the whole Solar System falls into Pralaya --
the author might have added. But let us read further:
. . . "I use the word Ether in its general sense as meaning a
very light, vaporous or gaseous matter; I use it, in short, as the
astronomer uses it when he speaks of the Ether of Space, by which he
means a subtle but material medium. . . . . When I speak of a
nervous Ether, I do not convey that the ether is existent in
nervous structure only: I believe truly that it is a special part of
the nervous organization; but, as nerves pass into all structures
that have capacities for movement and sensibilities, so the nervous
ether passes into all such parts; and as the nervous ether is,
according to my view, a direct product from blood, so we may look
upon it as a part of the atmosphere of the blood.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 532 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
. . . The evidence in favour of the existence of an elastic medium
pervading the nervous matter and capable of being influenced by
simple pressure is all-convincing. . . . In nervous structure there
is, unquestionably, a true nervous fluid, as our predecessors
taught* The precise chemical (?)** composition of this fluid
is not yet well known; the physical characters of it have been
little studied. Whether it moves in currents, we do not know;
whether it circulates, we do not know; whether it is formed in the
centres and passes from them to the nerves, or whether it is formed
everywhere where blood enters nerve, we do not know. The exact uses
of the fluid we do not consequently know. It occurs to my mind,
however, that the veritable fluid of nervous matter is not of itself
sufficient to act as the subtle medium that connects the outer with
the inner universe of man and animal. I think -- and this is the
modification I suggest to the older theory -- there must be another
form of matter present during life; a matter which exists in the
condition of vapour or gas, which pervades the whole nervous
organism, surrounds as an enveloping atmosphere***
each molecule of nervous structure, and is the medium of all motion,
communicated to and from the nervous centres. . . . When it is once
fairly presented to the mind that during life there is in the
animal body a finely diffused form of matter, a vapour
filling every part -- and even stored in some parts; a matter
constantly renewed by the vital chemistry; a matter as easily
disposed of as the breath, after it has served its purpose -- a new
flood of light breaks on the Intelligence ." . . . .
A new flood of light is certainly thrown on the wisdom of ancient and
mediaeval Occultism and its votaries. For Paracelsus wrote the same
thing more than three hundred years ago, namely, in the sixteenth
century, as follows: --
"The whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the
Liquor Vitae, a nerve fluid . . . in which is contained
the nature, quality, character, and essence of beings." . . . (De
Generatione Hominis). . . . "The Archaeus or Liquor Vitae
is an essence that is equally distributed in all parts of the human
body. . . . The Spiritus Vitae takes its origin from the
Spiritus Mundi. Being an emanation of the latter,
it contains the elements of all cosmic influences, and is therefore the
cause by which the action of the stars (cosmic forces) upon the
invisible body of man (his vital lingasharira) may be
explained." (De Viribus Membrorum. See "Life of
Paracelsus" by Franz Hartmann, M.D., F.T.S.)
Had Dr. Richardson studied all the secret works of Paracelsus, he
would not have been obliged to confess so often -- "we do not know" . .
. . "it is not known to us" . . . . etc., etc. Nor would he have ever
pronounced the following sentence, recanting the best portions of his
independent rediscovery, in which he says (p.
384): --
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Paracelsus for one, who called it liquor vitae,
and Archaeus.
** Rather alchemical -- "composition."
*** "This vital force . . . radiates around man like a luminous
sphere" . . . says Paracelsus in Paragranum.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 533 PANTHEISM OR MONOTHEISM.
"It may be urged that in this line of thought is included no more
than the theory of the existence of the ether . . . . supposed to
pervade space. . . . . It may be said that this universal ether
pervades all the organism of the animal body as from without, and as
part of every organization. This view would be Pantheism physically
discovered if it were true (!!) It fails to be true
because it would destroy the individuality of every individual
sense. . . . ."
We fail to see it, and we know it is not so. Pantheism
may be "physically rediscovered." It was known, seen, and
felt by the whole of antiquity. Pantheism manifests itself in the vast
expanse of the starry heavens, in the breathing of the seas and oceans
and the quiver of life of the smallest blade of grass. Philosophy
rejects one finite and imperfect God in the universe,
as the anthropomorphic deity of the monotheist is represented by his
followers. It repudiates in its name of Philo-Theo-Sophia
the grotesque idea that Infinite, Absolute Deity should,
or rather could, have any, whether direct or indirect,
relation to finite illusive evolutions of matter, and therefore cannot
imagine a universe outside that Deity, or the latter absent
from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate substance.* Why either
the Ether of Space, or "nervous Ether" should "destroy the individuality
of every sense" seems incomprehensible for one acquainted with the real
nature of that "nervous ether" under its Sanskrit, or rather esoteric
and Kabalistic name. Dr. Richardson agrees that --
"If we did not individually produce the medium of communication
between ourselves and the outer world, if it were produced from
without and adapted to one kind of vibration alone,
there were fewer senses required than we possess: for, taking two
illustrations only -- ether of light is not adapted for sound, and
yet we hear as well as see; while air, the medium of motion of
sound, is not the medium of light, and yet we see and hear."
This is not so. The opinion that "Pantheism fails to be true
because it would destroy the individuality of every individual sense"
shows that all the conclusions of the learned doctor are based on the
modern physical theories, though he would fain reform them. But he will
find it impossible to do this unless he allows the existence of
spiritual senses to replace the gradual atrophy of the physical. "We see
and hear," in accordance (of course in Dr. Richardson's mind) with the
explanations of the phenomena of sight and hearing, by that same
materialistic
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* This does not mean that every bush, tree or stone is God or a
god; but only that every speck of the manifested material of Kosmos
belongs to and is the substance of "God," however low it may have fallen
in its cyclic gyration through the Eternities of the ever becoming,; and
also that every such speck individually, and Kosmos collectively, is an
aspect and a reminder of that universal One Soul --
which philosophy refuses to call God, thus limiting the eternal and
ever-present root and essence.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 534 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
science which postulates that we cannot see and hear otherwise. The
Occultists and mystics know better. The Vedic Aryans were as familiar
with the mysteries of sound and colour as our physiologists are on the
physical plane, but they had mastered the secrets of both on planes
inaccessible to the materialist. They knew of a double set of senses;
spiritual and material. In a man who is deprived of one or more senses,
the remaining become the more developed: e.g., the blind man
will recover his sight through the senses of touch, of hearing, etc.,
and he who is deaf will be able to hear through sight, by seeing
audibly the words uttered by the lips and mouth of the speaker. But
these are cases that belong to the world of matter still. The spiritual
senses, those that act on a higher plane of consciousness are rejected
a priori by physiology because the latter is ignorant of the
sacred science. It limits the action of ether to vibrations, and,
dividing it from air -- though air is simply differentiated and
compound ether -- makes it assume functions to fit in with the special
theories of the physiologist. But there is more real science in the
teachings of the Upanishads when these are correctly understood, than
the Orientalists, who do not understand them at all, are ready to admit.
Mental as well as physical correlations of the seven senses
(seven on the physical and seven on the mental planes) are clearly
explained and defined in the Vedas, and especially in the Upanishad
called Anugita: "The indestructible and the destructible, such is the
double manifestation of the Self. Of these the indestructible is the
existent (the true essence or nature of Self, the underlying
principles). The manifestation as an individual (or entity) is called
the destructible." Thus speaks the ASCETIC in Anugita; and also:
"Every one who is twice-born (initiated) knows such is the teaching of
the ancients. . . . . Space is the first entity. . . . . Now Space (Akasa,
or the noumenon of Ether) has one quality . . . and that is sound
only . . . and the qualities of sound are Shadga, Rishabha, Gandhara,
Madhyama, Panchama, and beyond these five Nishada and Dhaivata"; (the
Hindu gamut). These seven notes of the scale are the principles of
sound. (Vide ch. xxxvi. of Anugita.) The qualities of
every Element, as of every sense, are septenary, and to judge and
dogmatize on them from their manifestation (likewise sevenfold in
itself) on the material or objective plane above is quite arbitrary. For
it is only by the SELF emancipating itself from these
(seven) causes of illusion that one acquires the knowledge (secret
wisdom) of the qualities of objects of sense on their dual plane of
manifestation -- the visible and the invisible. Thus it is said: --
"State this wonderful mystery . . . . . Hear the assignment of causes
exhaustively. The nose, and the tongue, and the eye, and the
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 535 THE SEVEN PHYSICAL SENSES.
skin, and the ear as the fifth (organ of sense) Mind and
Understanding,* these seven (senses) should be understood to be the
causes of (the knowledge of their) qualities. Smell, and taste, and
colour, sound, and touch as the fifth, the object of the mental
operation, and the object of the Understanding (the highest spiritual
sense or perception), these seven are causes of action. He who
smells, he who eats, he who sees, he who speaks, and he who hears as the
fifth, he who thinks, and he who understands, these seven should be
regarded as the causes of the agents.** These (the agents)
being possessed of qualities (sattwa, rajas, tamas),
enjoy their own qualities, agreeable and disagreeable" (Anugita).
Then one reads in the Bhagavadgita (chap. vii.) the Deity (or
Krishna) saying: --
". . . . Only some know me truly. Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Space (or
Akasa, AEther), Mind, Understanding and Egoism (or the
perception of all the former on the illusive plane). . . This is a
lower form of my nature. Know (that there is) another (form of my)
nature, and higher than this, which is animate, O you of mighty arms!
and by which this Universe is upheld. . . . All this is woven upon me,
like numbers of pearls upon a thread (Mundakopanishad,
p. 298). . . . I am the taste in the
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from
great antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher
has asked himself how these senses could exist, i.e., be
perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was the
sixth sense, mental perception to register and record them; and
(this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the SEVENTH
to preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as in a Book
of Life which belongs to Karma. The ancients divided the senses into
five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates) stopped at the
hearing, as being that sense which developed in the
physical plane (got dwarfed rather, limited to this plane) only at
the beginning of the Fifth Race. (The Fourth Race already had begun to
lose the spiritual condition, so pre-eminently developed in the
Third Race.)
** The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning
of the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, "causes of the agents,"
to mean "that the powers of smelling, etc., when attributed to the Self,
make him appear as an agent, as an active principle" (!), which is
entirely fanciful. These "seven" are understood to be the causes of the
Agents, because "the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes an
impression." It means esoterically that they, these seven senses,
are caused by the AGENTS, which are the "deities,"
for what does, or can, the sentence which follows this one mean? "Thus,"
it is said, "these seven (senses) are the causes of emancipation" (i.e.,
when these causes are made ineffectual). "And among the learned (the
wise Initiates) who understand the qualities which are in
the position (in the nature, rather) of the deities,
each in its place," means simply that the "learned" understand the
nature of the noumenoi of the various phenomena; and that
"qualities," in this instance, mean the qualities of the high planetary
or Elementary gods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their
products, and not at all "the senses," as the modern
commentator thinks. For the "learned do not suppose their senses to have
aught to do with them, any more than with their SELF."
(Vide pp. 278 and 279 of the VIII. Vol. of "The Sacred Books of
the East." Anugita.)
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 536 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
water, O son of Kunti! I am the light of the sun and moon. I am . . .
sound ('i.e., the Occult essence which underlies all these and
the other qualities of the various things mentioned,' Transl.),
in space . . . the fragrant smell in the earth, refulgence in the
fire . . . etc., etc."
Truly, then, one should study Occult philosophy before one begins to
verify and seek the mysteries of nature on its surface alone, as he
alone "who knows the truth about the qualities of nature, who
understands the creation of all entities . . . is emancipated" from
error. Says the "preceptor": "Accurately understanding the great tree of
which the unperceived (Occult nature, the root of all) is the sprout
from the seed (Parabrahmam) which consists of the understanding (Mahat,
or the universal intelligent Soul) as its trunk, the branches of
which are the great egoism,* in the holes of which are the sprouts,
namely, the senses, of which the great (Occult, or invisible) elements
are the flower-bunches,** the gross elements (the gross objective
matter), the smaller boughs, which are always possessed of leaves,
always possessed of flowers . . . . which is eternal and the seed of
which is the Brahman (the deity); and cutting it with that excellent
sword -- knowledge (secret wisdom) -- one attains immortality and casts
off birth and death."
This is the Tree of Life, the Asvattha tree, only after the
cutting of which the slave of life and death, MAN, can
be emancipated.
But the men of Science know nought, nor will they hear of the "Sword
of Knowledge" used by the adepts and ascetics. Hence the one-sided
remarks of the most liberal among them, based on and flowing from undue
importance given to the arbitrary divisions and classification of
physical science. Occultism heeds them very little, and nature still
less. The whole range of physical phenomena proceed from the Primary
of Ether -- Akasa, as dual-natured Akasa proceeds from
undifferentiated Chaos, so-called, the latter being
the primary aspect of Mulaprakriti, the root-matter
and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahmam. Modern Science
may divide its hypothetically conceived ether in as many ways as it
likes; the real AEther of Space will remain as it is
throughout. It has its seven principles, as all the rest of nature has,
and where there was no Ether there would be no sound,
as it is the vibrating sound-board in nature in all of its
seven differentiations. This is the first mystery the Initiates of old
have learned. Our present normal physical senses were (from our present
point of view) abnormal in those days of slow and progressive downward
evolution and fall into matter. And there was a day when all that which
in our modern times is regarded as phenomena, so puzzling to the
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* Ahamkara, I suppose, that Egoship (or
Ahamship) which leads to every error.
** The elements are the five tanmatras of earth, water, fire, air and
ether, the producers of the grosser elements.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 537 WHAT IS NERVOUS ETHER?
physiologists now compelled to believe in them -- such as thought
transference, clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc.; in short, all that
which is called now "wonderful and abnormal" -- all that and much more
belonged to the senses and faculties common to all humanity. We are,
however, cycling back and cycling forward; i.e., having lost in
spirituality that which we acquired in physical development until almost
the end of the Fourth Race, we (mankind) are as gradually and
imperceptibly losing now in the physical all that we regain once more in
the spiritual re-evolution. This process must go on until the
period which will bring the Sixth Root-Race on a parallel line with the
spirituality of the Second, long extinct mankind.
But this will hardly be understood at present. We must return to Dr.
Richardson's hopeful though somewhat incorrect hypothesis about "nervous
ether." Under the misleading translation of the word as "Space"
(Akasa), it has just been shown in the ancient Hindu
system as the "first born" of the One, having but one quality, SOUND
(which is septenary). In esoteric language this "One" is the "Father"
Deity, and "Sound" is synonymous with Logos (Verbum, or the
Son). Whether consciously or otherwise, it must be the
latter; and Dr. Richardson, while preaching an Occult doctrine --
chooses the lowest form of the septenary nature of that "SOUND" and
speculates upon it, adding: --
"The theory, I offer, is that the nervous Ether is an animal
product. In different classes of animals it may differ in
physical quality so as to be adapted to the special wants of the
animal, but essentially it plays one part in all animals, and is
produced, in all, in the same way. . . ."
Herein lies the nucleus of error leading to all the resultant
mistaken views. This "Nervous Ether" is the lowest principle of the
Primordial Essence which is Life. It is animal vitality
diffused in all nature and acting according to the conditions it
finds for its activity. It is not an "animal product," but the living
animal, the living flower or plant are its products. The animal
tissues only absorb it according to their more or less morbid or healthy
state -- as do physical materials and structures (in their
primogenial State -- nota bene) -- and
henceforward, from the moment of the birth of the Entity, are regulated,
strengthened, and fed by it. It descends in a larger supply to
vegetation in the Sushumna sun-ray which lights and feeds the
moon, and it is through her beams that it pours its light upon, and
penetrates man and animal, more during their sleep and rest, than when
they are in full activity. Therefore Dr. Richardson errs again in
stating that: --
"The nervous ether is not, according to my idea of it, in itself
active, nor an excitant of animal motion in the sense of a
force; but it is essential as supplying the conditions by which
the motion is rendered possible." (It is just the reverse.) .
. . . "It is the conductor of all vibrations of heat, of light, of
sound, of electrical action, of mechanical
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 538 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
friction.* It holds the nervous system throughout in perfect
tension, during states of life (true). By exercise it
is disposed of (rather generated) . . . and when
demand for it is greater than the supply, its deficiency is
indicated by nervous collapse or exhaustion.** It accumulates in the
nervous centres during sleep, bringing them, if I may so speak, to
their due tone, and therewith raising the muscles to awakening and
renewed life. . . ."
Just so; this is quite correct, and as comprehensible. Therefore,
"The body fully renewed by it, presents capacity for motion, fulness of
form, life. The body bereft of it presents inertia, the
configuration of shrunken death, the evidence of having lost
something physical that was in it when it lived."
Modern Science denies the existence of a "vital principle." This
extract is a clear proof of its grand mistake. But this "physical
something," that we call life-fluid -- the Liquor Vitae of
Paracelsus -- has not deserted the body, as Dr.
Richardson thinks. It has only changed its state from activity to
passivity, and become latent owing to the too morbid state of the
tissues, on which it has no more hold. Once the rigor mortis
absolute, the "Liquor Vitae" will re-awaken into
action, and begin its work on the atoms chemically.
Brahma-Vishnu -- the creator and the Preserver of Life -- will have
transformed himself into Siva the Destroyer.
Lastly he writes on p. 387: --
"The nervous Ether may be poisoned; it may, I mean, have diffused
through it, by simple gaseous diffusion, other gases or vapours derived
from without; it may derive from within products of substances swallowed
and ingested, or gases of decomposition produced during disease in the
body itself."
And the learned gentleman might have added on the same Occult
principle: "That the 'nervous Ether' of one person can be poisoned by
the 'nervous Ether' of another person or his auric emanations.
But see what Paracelsus said of 'Nervous Ether'": --
"The Archaeus is of a magnetic nature, and attracts or repels
other sympathetic or antipathetic forces belonging to the same
plane. The less power of resistance for astral influences a person
possesses, the more will he be subject to such influences. The vital
force is not enclosed in man, but radiates (within) and around him like
a luminous sphere (aura) and it may be made to act at a distance. . . .
It may poison the essence of life (blood) and
cause diseases, or it may purify it after
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* The conductor in the sense of Upadhi -- a
material or physical basis; but, as the second principle of the
universal Soul and Vital Force in Nature, it is
intelligently guided by the fifth principle thereof.
** And too great an exuberance of it in the nervous system leads as
often to disease and death. If it were the animal system which
generated it, such would not be the case, surely. Hence,
the latter emergency shows its independence of the system, and
connection with the Sun-Force, as Metcalfe and Professor Hunt explain
it.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 539 THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE.
it has been made impure, and restore the health" (Paragranum;
"Life of Paracelsus," by Dr. F. Hartmann.)
That the two, Archaeus and "nervous Ether," are identical, is shown
by the English Scientist, who says that the tension of it generally
may be too high or too low; that it may be so "owing to local
changes in the nervous matter it invests." . . . "Under sharp excitation
it may vibrate as if in a storm and plunge every muscle under cerebral
or spinal control into uncontrolled motion --unconscious convulsions."
This is called nervous excitation, but no one, except Occultists,
knows the reason of such nervous perturbation or explains the
primary causes of it. The "principle of Life" may kill when too
exuberant, as also when there is too little of it. But
this principle on the manifested (or our) plane is but the effect and
the result of the intelligent action of the "Host" --
collectively, Principle -- the manifesting LIFE and
LIGHT. It is itself subordinate to, and emanates from
the ever-invisible, eternal and Absolute ONE LIFE
in a descending and a re-ascending scale of hierarchic degrees -- a true
septenary ladder, with SOUND (or the Logos) at the
upper end and the Vidyadharas* (the inferior Pitris) at the lower.
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------
* In a recent work on the Symbolism in Buddhism and Christianity (in
Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, rather, many later rituals and dogmas in
Northern Buddhism in its popular exoteric form, being
identical with those of the Latin Church) some curious facts are to be
found. The author of this volume, with more pretensions than erudition,
has indiscriminately crammed into his work ancient and modern Buddhist
teachings, and sorely confused Lamaism with Buddhism. On page 404 of
this volume, called "Buddhism in Christendom, or Jesus the
Essene," our pseudo-Orientalist devotes
himself to criticizing the "Seven Principles" of the Esoteric Buddhists,
and attempts to ridicule them. On page 405, the closing page, he speaks
enthusiastically of the Vidyadharas, "the seven great
legions of dead men made wise." Now, these "Vidyadharas," whom some
Orientalists call "demi-gods," are in fact, exoterically, a kind of
Siddhas, "affluent in devotion," and, esoterically,
they are identical with the seven classes of Pitris, one class of which
endow man in the Third Race with Self-Consciousness by incarnating in
the human shells. The "Hymn to the Sun," at the end of his queer volume
of mosaic, which endows Buddhism with a personal god (!!), is
an unfortunate thrust at the very proofs so elaborately collected by the
unlucky author.
Theosophists are fully aware that Mr. Rhys Davids has expressed his
opinion on their beliefs likewise. He said that the theories propounded
by the author of Esoteric Buddhism "were not Buddhism, and were not
Esoteric." The remark is the result of (a) the unfortunate
mistake of writing "Buddhism" instead of "Budhaism," or Budhism,
i.e., of connecting the system with Gautama's religion
instead of with the Secret Wisdom taught by Krishna, Sankaracharya, and
by many others, as much as by Buddha; and (b) of the
impossibility of Mr. Rhys Davids knowing anything of true esoteric
teachings. But he is, at all events, the greatest Pali and Buddhist
scholar of the day, and whatever he may say is entitled to respectful
hearing. But when one who knows no more of exoteric Buddhism on
scientific and materialistic lines, than he knows of esoteric
philosophy, defames those whom he honours with his spite, and assumes
with the Theosophists the airs of a profound scholar, one can only smile
and -- heartily laugh at him.
[[H. P. Blavatsky, Vol. 1, Page]] 540 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Of course, the Occultists are fully aware of the fact that the
Vitalist "fallacy," so derided by Vogt and Huxley, is, nevertheless,
still countenanced in very high scientific quarters, and, therefore,
they are happy to feel that they do not stand alone. Thus, Professor de
Quatrefages writes: --
"It is very true we do not know what life is; but
no more do we know what the force is that set the
stars in motion. . . . . Living beings are heavy, and therefore subject
to gravitation; they are the seat of numerous and various physico-chemical
phenomena which are indispensable to their existence, and which must be
referred to the action of etherodynamy (electricity, heat, etc.). But
these phenomena are here manifested under the influence of another
force. . . . . Life is not antagonistic to the inanimate forces,
but it governs and rules their action by its laws."*
--------------
-------------------------------------------------
* "The Human Species," p. 11.
from
The Secret Doctrine,
by H. P. Blavatsky
**
**
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