Anyone attempting to present the more recondite aspects of the Ancient Wisdom must be aware that as soon as he makes it evident to his readers that he takes certain matters seriously which would not apparently stand up under scientific scrutiny, he thereby lays himself open to ridicule. This is nothing new, and it is something that must be anticipated. If he fears ridicule, then he is not yet ready to devote himself to this work. When he is ready, he will come to realize that far stronger than disbelief and mockery on the part of others, is his own awareness of a sense of gratitude to those who have helped him to understand the teachings. He deems it a privilege beyond words to find himself in a position to pass these teachings along; and in adding what he can to the vast body of teachings that are available; he feels that he is taking an active part in a work far bigger than himself.
The fact that many of the ideas now to be presented are viewed by many as relics of a superstitious age is not of great importance. We can have no quarrel with genuine scientific research and discovery, and we acknowledge the part such work has played in eradicating many erroneous beliefs; but there is no justification whatsoever for assuming a thing to be untrue for no better reason than that it lies outside the province of modern science.
In our approach to the study of the planes of consciousness and the worlds functioning therein, we can do no better than continue to regard these planes as fields of force. In this manner we shall avoid the mistake too often made of thinking of them as flat surfaces, one above another. And in keeping with the method in wide use in theosophical books, we are going to consider that there are seven such fields of force of varying grades of spirituality on the one hand, or of materiality on the other, depending upon the viewpoint we take. The numbers 7, 10 and 12 are closely related, as has been brought out before, and their relationship will be further understood as we go along.
What then, are we trying to convey when we speak of these fields of force? The Ancient Wisdom views the Galactic Universe in its totality as a living cosmic being, an entity of such mighty power that nothing short of a universe could possibly represent it. This galaxy of which our solar system is a part is the outer manifestation, the wondrous garment of the Cosmic Divinity.
The vitality of this highly complex entity is not a simple thing to define. It functions in seven different aspects, and, adhering to the manner in which we are explaining these things, this cosmic vitality appears to us as the seven cosmic “fields of force,” each one establishing its own sphere of activity according to its own nature. These spheres of activity, and the energies functioning within them, are what we are accustomed to call the “planes of consciousness.”
The old maxim, “As above, so is it below,” provides a most useful key, which we must continually apply in order to build up the required picture. And since the Solar System is a part of the Galaxy and must contain within itself, in type at least, everything that the Galaxy itself has, so it follows that within the Solar System itself there are seven “fields of force” — on a somewhat less grandiose scale to be sure, but nevertheless they are the very structure of the Solar System itself in all its levels of consciousness. As it is not likely that our studies will carry us beyond the Solar system, except perhaps in the most general terms, it is in this sense that we shall be considering the cosmic fields of force, or the cosmic planes of consciousness.
All of the entities within the Solar System, regardless of their kind, are subservient to the Cosmic Vitality. The situation finds its parallel in the case of a human being. Each one of us is composed of myriads of subservient entities, better known among which are the cells of our bodies, which of course includes the blood cells. Every one of these is a living organism, highly complex in itself; yet they all function within the dominance of the vitality of the man while he is alive. At death, these living cells are no longer under this dominance, and we say that the body is in dissolution. So it is with the Solar System. All entities within it, regardless of the fact that they are individuals in their own right, are nonetheless subservient to the Cosmic Vitality in which they live, move and have their being; and were the entity that embodies itself as the Sun and his family of Planets to become “excarnate,” and the cosmic vitality were thereby to be withdrawn, all entities within the solar system would cease to function in concert, but would scatter, each one going into a condition that would be governed by its own nature.
Up to the present time we have been referring to the various fields of force, etc., in the most general terms it is time now to be more specific as to these teachings. These matters will be studied under three headings, to wit: 1. Gods, Monads and Atoms; 2. Tattvas and Bhûtas; and 3. Lokas and Talas. These are technical terms, not familiar to all students, and they will be studied as among the most important teachings concerning the nature of the Universe and of Man. It might very easily seem that these are merely several ways of speaking about the same things, but they most emphatically are not. They contain the teachings about three distinct factors, all of which are necessary to the structure and functioning of the universe; and to the end that we might establish a good working foundation on which to build, we might again refer to Fig. 5, which shows the three-dimensional Svastika with its three axes occupying the seven dots at the center of the Tetraktys. Remember the story of Thor's Hammer in its more complete form. In our present frame of reference, we might think of these three arms as representing Gods, Monads and Atoms.
It must be understood that there are two lines of evolution. This was brought out in the first chapter of this book, but the explanation at that time was necessarily brief and incomplete. It should now be understood that the terms Gods, Monads and Atoms refer to the consciousness or what we all the "right-hand” side of the universe. The matter side, or the "left-hand” side, is then referred to as comprising Chaos, Theos and Kosmos. There is a direct relationship between, in the first instance, Chaos and Gods; in the second instance between Theos and Monads; and lastly, between Cosmos and Atoms.
In order to clarify this aspect of the teachings; let us quote from G. de Purucker's Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy, pages 315-316:
“… let us write down a symbolic outline of the two lines of growth or development of the two fundamental cosmical hierarchies.
| On the left or matter side: | On the right or divine side, the light-side: |
| CHAOS | GODS |
| THEOS | MONADS |
| KOSMOS | ATOMS |
Corresponding each to each; and psychologically, so far as man is concerned, 1. the divine; 2. the spiritual or human; and 3. Kosmic-astral.
Chaos is a Greek word, and is usually thought to mean a sort of helter-skelter treasury of original principles and seeds of beings. Well, so it verily is, in one profound sense; only it is most decidedly and emphatically not “helter-skelter.” It is the Kosmic storehouse of all the latent or resting seeds of beings and things from former manvantara. Of course it is this, simply because it contains everything. It means space, not the highest Space, not the Parabrahman-Mûlaprakriti, the Boundless — not that. But the space of any particular hierarchy descending into manifestation, i.e., what space for it is at that particular period of its beginning of development. Remember the principle of relativity. There are no utter absolutes anywhere and never have been and never will be. The directive principles in Chaos are the gods of the corresponding column.
Theos is a Greek word meaning god. Corresponding to it are the monads. Kosmos was also used for a woman's paraphernalia, decoration, and all that kind of thing: cosmetics and robes and jewelry. It meant that which was arranged and kept along the lines and rules of harmony — i.e., the arrangement of the universe; and corresponding to it in the other column are the Atoms. Note the three correspondences: Chaos, Gods or divine beings, the kosmic Architects; then Theos, for the Builders, the Kosmocratores, corresponding to the Monads, the spirit-beings: then Kosmos, the universe, arranged as we see it; and the Atoms, or Vital-Astral seeds, on the divine side.
We do not speak here of chemical atoms, please understand. These belong to the Kosmos. As used in this outline, Gods, Monads and Atoms, we mean; 1. The divine; 2. the spiritual human; and 3. those ultimate particles of substance which inflame, which inspire, which vitalize, the material kosmos. Each to each: the gods work in the Chaos; the Monads work in and through the Theos, the Theoi, the Builders; and the Atoms as the semi-conscious, ultimate entities of matter, work through the Kosmos or the manifested universe, as prepared according to what is popularly called natural law, in other words the essential and inherent operations of Nature, deriving from the Gods and Monads.
Such an Atom, according to these parallel columns (which are H. P. Blavatsky's, of course) signifies the ultimate particle of matter, which ultimate particle is its (matter's) seventh principle, its highest principle; and for that reason the sun is called an Atom, because it is the seventh or highest degree of matter or prakriti on this plane. Prakriti means nature or the developing power, that which has brought forth manifestation. There are seven Kosmical Prakritis, and we are in the first or lowest; the seventh as you count downwards, the first if you count upwards. Each of these again has seven sub-planes. The sun as an entity is the highest entity of the kosmical system, the solar system. But what we see is merely its vehicle, its seventh or lowest or material Element or Principle, counting downwards…”
The important point to understand from the above is that there are two kinds of evolution, the left-hand or matter side, and the right-hand or divine side of the Universe. Each of these is threefold, Chaos, Theos and Kosmos on the one hand, and Gods, Monads and Atoms on the other.
At an earlier time we had spoken of the Architects and the Builders, referring to them as the two lines of evolution. It should be explained further that this is a bifurcation within that line of Cosmical Evolution identified as being on the “right-hand” or consciousness side of Nature. Since the Gods are the Architects, and the Monads are the Builders, the comparison between the Architects and the Builders was not and is not to be construed in the same manner as is the comparison between the spirit-side and the matter-side of Nature, or the “right-hand” side and the “left-hand” side.
It might be as well at this point to explain why there are these three aspects of the study, related to one another by all means, but nevertheless to be considered as separate lines of study. Well, it is something like the study of Astronomy. We may pursue the study along several lines, all of them related to astronomy, and yet each one providing its own special interests. Thus, the stars may be studied first of all in respect to their chemical and physical properties. In this, we learn something about the materials of which the stars are composed; and this leads us into an inquiry into the original formation of a star, the source of its energy, and its probable duration. A second approach would deal with a star's place in the Galaxy, its relationship to the stars around it, its motion not only as a part of the Galaxy, thereby sharing in the rotation of the galactic system as a whole, but its own proper motion, which, again, leads into a consideration of the gravitational forces that exerts upon other stars, and to which it is also subjected by other stars. In other words we might say that this second study of a star would deal with its position within and its relationship to Space.
Then the third study of the star would be along strictly theosophical lines, in which it is regarded as a living entity in its own right, yet sharing in the life and destiny of the greater entity of which it is a part. This would be the greatest study of all. And of course these three lines of study would find their parallels in the study of a human being. One might approach the study of a human being from a physiological standpoint, in which we inquire into the chemical constituents of the human body, and the marvelous processes that go on within it during the life of the individual. A second approach to the study of the man would be his relationship to his environment, especially perhaps in his relationship to his fellow humans.
The third and most important approach, and the one that would have the greatest interest for us would be that which sees him as a cosmic pilgrim, treading the long wearisome road back to the Divine Source from which he originally sprang. This is the study in which we are now engaged.
It is to be expected that the teaching concerning Gods, Monads and Atoms will find its counterpart in Man; and in the chapters to follow, this will be demonstrated. Before moving on to a more detailed study, however, it would be good to establish a pattern on which this study is to be built. To this end, let us turn once more to Fig. 5 which shows the three-axis Svastika, or the complete form of Thor's Hammer. This occupies the seven dots at the center of the sacred symbol known as the Tetraktys, composed of 10 dots. It was explained earlier that the three dots at the angles of the Tetraktys represent what we customarily call the three ‘unmanifested’ planes, while the seven dots at the center (outlining the Svastika) represent the seven relatively manifested planes. This symbolism served a preliminary usefulness.
One problem that anyone is likely to meet in unfolding a subject such as this is the necessity of making incomplete statements which may be right as far as they go, but which must await the time when a proper foundation has been laid before a more complete picture can be presented. So I would like to suggest now that the three dots at the apexes of the Tetraktys represent the consciousness side of Nature, and the three axes at the center, the matter side. This will give a picture of the teaching that it would not have been possible to present earlier. It does not make the former interpretation wrong, for the reason that the term “unmanifest” does not mean nonexistent.
Let us, then, consider a somewhat different and expanded interpretation: Let the three outer dots represent Gods, Monads and Atoms, and the three axes of the Thor's Hammer represent the three environments through which they work: Chaos, Theos and Kosmos.
The next few chapters will deal successively with: 1, Gods, or the Architects; 2, Monads of the Builders; and 3, Atoms — the amazing adventure of the Life-Atoms as the materials with which the Builders fashion the ever-living garment of Divinity known as the Universe.