SECTION THREE

Chapter XVII

THE BUILDING OF A WORLD

Considering once more the pattern which was brought out at the conclusion of the last chapter, we find ourselves in a better position to understand why the life-atoms and the monads which issue forth from the three highest Tattvas are altogether different in type from those which emanate from the four lower Tattvas.  It will likewise be understood that in the case of the “human chain” a man's own life-atoms which spring forth from his Âtman, his Buddhi and his Manas will be quite different in type from those which emanate from his Kâma, his Prana, his Linga-sarîra and his Sthula-sarira.  This matter points to a teaching which was hinted at in the chapter on the Seven Jewels of Wisdom, wherein we discussed the processes of Involution and Evolution, or Nivritti and Pravritti.

We stress again that there are actually two lines of evolution going on side by side in the Universe.  It might be better of as Evolution taking two directions at once — in order to avoid the erroneous idea that entities pursuing one line of evolution will forever belong to it, never being able to participate in the other process of evolutionary growth.  Let us therefore put it in this manner:

One aspect of evolution takes the form, as previously explained in this case of the Human Principles, of progressive manifestation or unrolling, something like the unrolling of a scroll, so that from Âtman is produced Buddhi; from ATMs-Buddhi is produced Manas; and from these in turn are produced Kâma, Prana, Linga-sarîra and Sthula-sarira.  This is the course of evolution depicted as coming from above and working to produce all of the vehicles in which the Monadic Essence is seeking to clothe itself.

The other line of evolution exhibits itself in the process whereby each of the human monads is striving upwards so that in time the Animal Monad in Man may become a Human Monad; the Human Monad may become a Manasaputric Monad, and so on.

In looking for evidence of these two lines of Evolution on a mundane scale, we point to the teaching explaining the descent of the Mânasaputras, wherein these higher beings reached down to help early humanity.  And again, to the teaching of the Silent Watcher or the Great Sacrifice.  It was from this lofty Being that radiated, as portions of itself, other divine entities, and from these again were emanated yet others of a somewhat less lofty caliber, and so on through a succession of Teachers of even less grandiose caliber, and eventually to ourselves.

The upward process of evolution on the mundane scale was touched upon in describing the manner in which the various Pitris developed the earliest races of mankind on this Globe during this Round, following a pattern established more or less clearly in previous Rounds.  In this case, Mankind was first of all in its infancy.  At that time it was represented mostly by the Lunar Pitris or the Barhishads; and as evolution proceeded towards the point when these members of the infant race merely developed sufficiently so that they could receive the Light of Mind, the higher beings known as the Mânasaputras were also ready, and they “descended” and incarnated in the Human Race, thus giving to it the ability to think and to discern.  Conversely, there is always the urge to “come up higher,” which if followed to its conclusion, will result in the present members of the human race eventually finding themselves in a position to help as Mânasaputras to awaken the light of mind in a human race that will flourish ages hence on a world not yet fashioned.

Thus we can see the two lines of Evolution proceeding side by side, the one reaching downward in order to raise what is low, and the other striving upwards in order to attain the condition of cosmic consciousness, that men may become Mânasaputras in their own turn.

This dual aspect of evolution “reaching down from above” and the “striving upwards” is unknown to the exponents of modern theories of evolution, and it is this lack which makes the story so one-sided.  Pick up any modern book on the subject and the story is always the same.  Evolution is explained as a change of form resulting from a long series of adaptations and specialization, due in great measure to changes in environment.  Thus from a protoplasmic slime out of the sea came the lowly creatures that would one day be men and women capable of laying the foundations of our great civilizations.  There is never any variation from the theme, and the evolutionists have all the evidence in the form of fossils to prove their point.  Facts are facts, they tell us.

Yes, facts are facts, the Theosophist will agree, but a fossil is not a fact.  Things are not facts.  They can help to explain certain facts; but some facts can be very elusive and never appear in the theories of modern science.  The great clamor is always for proof.  Well, you cannot always prove a fact, but you can prove the existence of a thing; therefore the position of the theosophical student appears to be weak.  He is faced with things which are proven and told he must prove his ideas.

He is dealing with a way of thinking which results in the crystallization of the mind, whereby a thing cannot be accepted unless it is proven.  And since “God” or Cosmic Intelligence cannot be proven, therefore it does not exist.  Hence the materialistic viewpoint.  But mere rejection of an idea does not disprove it.  For if a thing were to depend solely upon our acceptance for its existence, the world would become greatly impoverished.  All those unprovable traits of character which add dignity to human life would have to go into the discard.  All our finest intuitions and our aspirations would have to go, and we should be reduced to a race of brain-mind  automata, obeying but one law, the survival of the fittest.  Let us thank the stars above that this is not so.

The factor that is missing is the concept of the stream of evolution which is unfolding from within itself the many principles or sheaths of consciousness, starting with the highest Âtman, and continuing on downwards in the manner just explained.  Without this all-important key, we can never hope to answer some of the most perplexing questions that have always confronted us.

We must not make the mistake, however, of discounting the work of Darwin and other equally dedicated men.  They made a significant contribution to human knowledge.  The mistake that has been made is that we have failed to see that they presented a one-sided picture of evolution, and therefore the concept as presented was necessarily incomplete.  At just about the same time that Darwin was carrying on his exhaustive research., the other side of the picture was being presented, and it is humanity's loss that it was not taken seriously save by a few intuitive minds.  H. P. Blavatsky was publishing her books, and had they been more widely studied and understood, they could have shed the light of the Esoteric Philosophy upon the work of the scientists of her day, and our understanding of life would have been far richer than it is.

One might use the simile of the iceberg: Only about one tenth of the ice shows itself above the water.  That tenth would represent the work of such men as Darwin.  It was a part of the iceberg, to be sure, but by far the greater part lay beneath the surface.  This was the Ancient Wisdom,  and every student has the opportunity of exploring these hidden depths and discovering the teachings that may broaden his own understanding of the universe about him.

We continue our theme along the lines which were emphasized at the conclusion of Chapter XVI, wherein the distinction was made between the triad and the lower quaternary and it was shown that this pattern applies in several manners.  It is time now to present the paradigm of the Globe Chain in the form that is familiar to most theosophical students.  The Talas and Lokas have been included because our studies have brought us to the point where their connection with the Globes of the Chain can be readily appreciated.

In the beginning of our studies we limited ourselves to a conception of the life-processes as commencing on Globe A, the entities pursuing their development throughout all the seven Globes until they reach Globe G, and considering a Round to be completed at the conclusion of their time-period on that Globe.  We furthermore studied that it is during the first Round that the Globe Chain is actually built, and that once established, the Globes serve as schools of experience for the armies of monads which make up the various kingdoms which flourish on them.

We should like to present now a concept of a Globe Chain which will be consistent with the general subject of Mathematical Symbolism.  It may offer some new insights into the workings of the life-processes, particularly as they apply to the concept of Involution and Evolution.  For the time being we shall confine ourselves to the concept of the seven Globes on the four manifested planes, and proceed into the more advanced teachings later on.

Let us then turn to Plate 8 wherein an Icosahedron is shown enclosing a Dodecahedron, both of these enclosing an Octahedron at the center.  It was explained in an earlier chapter how the Icosahedron is taken to represent the energic or consciousness aspect of the Universe, while the Dodecahedron is taken to represent the more vehicular aspect, and the Octahedron thus formed by the lines emanating from both figures then represents Man as the child of the dual Universe.  Now Plate 8 shows that we have drawn this at the center of a Tetraktys, using the seven interior dots for this purpose.  Furthermore, the Icosahedron, Dodecahedron and Octahedron are seen to be enclosed in circles, as is also the Tetraktys.  These should really be thought of as being concentric spheres, although for ease of comprehension, we shall see them at this time as circles only.  Also note that each circle is drawn half continuous, and half dotted lines, representing the principle of duality once more, since these will eventually be used to represent the planes of consciousness which we have already come to see as being dual in character.

Note also that three more circles have been added to the figure joining together the four circles above mentioned, and we discover that the seven circles combine to form two spirals, one drawn with a continuous line, and the other with a dotted line.

In Fig. 10 we have lifted these spirals from the geometrical figures, and shown how they may form the basis of a Globe Chain diagram.  We have filled in the Globes from A to G only

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Fig. 10 — Lokas and Talas in a Globe Chain
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for the moment.  We have also indicated by the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 how the Talas are related to the planes of consciousness within which these globes function; and in like manner, the letters a, b, c and d indicate the corresponding Lokas.

These four Loka-Talas form the four circles that had enclosed the Regular Polyhedral in Plate 8, and the three other circles which serve to complete the spirals represent lines of communication, as it were, between the various spheres of consciousness.  This is highly suggestive of the mystical processes whereby the hosts of life-atoms are carried from Globe to Globe, not to mention the armies of monads themselves as they pursue their Rounds and Races.

Let us follow these spirals around.  Start at the bottom of the figure and follow the involute clockwise in to the center of the diagram.  We have passed successively through the circles representing Globes A, B, C and D.  Halfway through D, the involute is joined to the dotted line evolute which we will follow around, leading us through Globes E, F and G.  Thus, by a spiral motion we have represented one Round of the Earth Chain.  The first portion of the curve, leading us through the Talas as we progress from Globe A through Globe B and C and into Globe D, is called the Downward Arc, and that portion leading us through the Lokas, as we pass from Globe D on up to Globe G, is known as the Upward Arc.  

The process of tracing these spirals leads us to a concept of the Globe Chains as it is expanded in the deeper teachings.  In following the curves leading from Tala to Tala, we traced parts of three other circles which have been identified only as “lines of communication.”  This idea is rally very important and will be further expanded at another time when we lift this diagram out of the consideration of individual Chains into that of the Solar System as a whole.  However, we must proceed step by step.

We have reached the point where we must inquire: What happens at the ending of a Round through the Globes and the commencement of a new Round?  How do the entities make the passage from Globe G to Globe A for the beginning of the next Round?  On this point lies the deeper teaching about the complete Globe Chains, each of which contains not seven but twelve Globes, five of which are referred to as the unmanifested Globes.  Her we come to an interesting point, to wit: If a thing is not manifest, does it exist?  If these five Globes are unmanifest, how can they be spoken of as though they were Globes, having a spherical shape?

Well, the shape of a thing is its outward appearance, and this is not necessarily the only thing that may be said about it, nor is it necessarily the most important.  What shape is a thought?  If you cannot describe it in terms of outline, does that negate its existence?

We must remind ourselves that “unmanifest” does not mean non-existent.  Quite the reverse.  In the earlier chapters of this book we drew a distinction between the unmanifest, the partially manifest and the manifest.  We may relate these to life itself.  In any human endeavor there are always the three necessities: the need, the plan and the work.  It is exactly the same idea.

We must understand furthermore that in dealing with a subject such as planes of consciousness, there is the question of relative degrees of manifestation.  Thus Globe D may be thought of as being fully manifest, Globes C and E somewhat less fully manifest so far as this plane of existence is concerned, although they are no doubt fully manifest on their own planes.  Then again, Globes B and F are still less manifest from our standpoint than are Globes C and E; and so on to Globes A and G, which are the least manifest of all from the standpoint of this physical world.  Nevertheless even they are fully manifest on their own planes.

But the case is not similar with whatever Globes there might be on the three higher planes.  The distinction must be along lines similar to that which was drawn when we considered the higher triad and the lower quaternary.  Actually, the nature of the Globes on these three higher planes is as different from that of Globes A to G as the Higher Triad of Man, his Âtman, Buddhi and Manas are different from his principles associated with his lower quaternary.

Man experiences certain types of consciousness as he passes through the Globes of the Earth Chain, and if we are to have an adumbration of the consciousness which belongs to the three highest planes, then we must think in terms of Atmic, Buddhic and true Manasic consciousness.  These may be present and functioning within Man on all the Globes, but in the lower globes they are colored by his other principles, whereas when the monads pass through the higher planes during the intervals between the Rounds, they are in a condition of Nirvana, and they enjoy pure consciousness of an Atmic quality in the highest plane, of the Buddhic quality in the second, and of the higher Manasic quality in the third plane.

We may now relate the three connecting circles of Fig 1 and which were thought of as the “lines of communication” to these three higher planes of consciousness, and we may also indicate the “unmanifested” Globes on these three unmanifested planes.  Since it is customary to identify them with letters, we do so with the same letters that are used to designate the manifested Globes, but with the prime mark (´) after the letter, thus:

In placing these letters upon the five “unmanifested” circles, we shall have the completed diagram as in Fig. 11.  We are now in a position to see that a Round does not really begin with Globe A, but with Globe D' (which combines within itself the quality of Atala and Satya-loka) proceeds through Globes C', B', A, B, C, D, E, F, G, F', E' and is ended on D'.  In this manner there is a continuance of life, and what has been called a rest period between Rounds is really a change of consciousness.  However, because the life-wave passing through these higher spheres is absent from the manifested Globes, we say that these latter are in their inter-Round obscuration.

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Fig. 11 — The Expanded Globe Chain
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To follow the spirals representing the Round through all twelve Globes, we must now start at the place near the center of the diagram where we see the arrow, and follow the evolute clockwise until it reaches the outermost point where it is joined by the involute, and follow this around to Globe D, and thence outwards again on the evolute, and thence to the involute once more, stopping at the arrow.  Thus we have traced the spirals outwards and inwards twice over.

While on that portion of the spirals which relate to the unmanifested Globes, we are concerned with them only, so we disregard the manifested Globes through which the spirals must necessarily lead; and vice versa, while tracing the curve through Globes A to C, we disregard that portion of the curve which must necessarily pass through the unmanifested Globes.  This points up the fact that in the last analysis, although a diagram may be useful in its ability to explain some of the more difficult aspects of the teachings, it may also have its limitations; and while we may certainly profit by the elucidation of the teachings which they can bring, we must avoid the tendency of placing too much emphasis upon them.  After all, since this is a study of consciousness, there are many roads which can lead to the same realization.

One more point is worth noting before we leave this portion of the book which has dealt mainly with the study of Monads.  As we traced the spirals outwards and then inwards, outwards again and then inwards, we have symbolized what is known in the Esoteric Philosophy as the “out-breathing and the in-breathing” or the cyclic exhaling and inhaling of the “Great Breath” as the Universe is called.   The word Brahma, as pointed out before, is from the Sanskrit verb-root brih, meaning to expand or to breathe.

And now we are ready to take up more specifically the study of the Atoms, represented by the third arm of Thor's Hammer.