Chapter II.

CONSCIOUSNESS. § 1. The Meaning of the Word.
Let us now consider what we mean by consciousness, and see if this considera- tion will build for us the much longed- for ** bridge," which is the despair of modern thought, between consciousness and matter, will span for us the **gulf" alleged to exist for ever between them.
To begin with a definition of terms : consciousness and life are identical, two names for one thing as regarded from within and from without. There is no life without consciousness ; there is no consciousness without life. When we vaguely separate them in thought and analyse what we have done, we find that we have called consciousness turned
inward by the name of life, and life
32
CONSCIOUSNESS. 33
turned outwards by the name of con- sciousness. When our attention is fixed on unity we say life : when it is 6xed upon multiplicity' we say consciousness ; and we forget that the multiplicity is due to, is the essence of. matter, the reflecting surface in which the One becomes the Many. When it is said that life is "more or less conscious," it is not the abstraction life that is thought of. but "a living thing" more or less aware of its surroundings. The more or less awareness depends on the thickness, the density, of the enwrapping veil which makes it a living thing, separate rn>m its fellows. Annihilate in thought that veil and you annihilate in thought also life, and arc in That into which all opposices are resolved. the All.
This leads us to our next point : the existence of consciousness implies a scfiara* lion into two aspects of the fundamental all-undcriying Unity. The modem name of consciousness. " awareness," equally implies this. For you cannot hang up awareness in the void : awareness
34 STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
implies somethings of which it is aware, a duality at the least. Otherwise it exists not. In the highest abstraction of consciousness, of awareness, this duality is implied : consciousness ceases if the sense of limitation be withdrawn, is dependent on limitation for existence. Awareness is essentially awareness of limitation, and only secondarily awareness of others. Awareness of others conies into bein^ with what we call Self- consciousness, Self- awareness. This abstract Twain-in-One, consciousness- limitation, spirit - matter, life - form, are ever inseparable, they appear and dis- appear together ; they exist only in relation to each other ; they resolve into a necessarily unmanifest Unity, the supreme synthesis.
"As above, so below." Again let the ■■ below" help us ; let us look at conscious- ness as it appears when considered from the side of form, as we see it in a universe of conscious things. Electricity manifests only as positive and negative ; when these neutralise each other, electri- city vanishes. In all^things electricity
COWSCIOUSNESS. 35
, neutral, unmanifest : from all things it can appear, but not as positive only, or as negative only ; always as balancing amounts of both, over against each other, ,ind these ever tending to re-enter together into apparent nothingness, which is not nothingness but the source equally of both.
But if this be so, what becomes of the "gulf"? what need of the "bridge"? Consciousness and matter afTect each other because they are the two constit- uents of one whole, both appearing as they draw apart, both disappearing as they unite, and as they draw apart a relation exists ever between them.' There is no such thing as a conscious unit which does not consist of this inseparate duality, a magnet with two poles ever in relation to each other. We think of a leparatc something we call conscious- ness, and ask how it works on another
* Tbu rcUiion 'a nu^neiic, but of magneiism of the rabdefl kind, called Fotut, or Daivlprakriti, "The Light of the Logos." It is of SubuLuice, and in ii (he eueact of consdoutness and «Mcnce I but not drawn apafl.
^
36 STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
separate something we call matter There are no such two separate somethings, but only two drawn-apart but inseparaie aspects of That which, without both, is unmanifest, which cannot manifest in the one or the other alone, and is equally in both. There are no fronts without backs, no aboves without belows, no outsides without insides, no spirit without matter. They affect each other because inseparable parts of a unity, manifesting as a duality in space and time, The "gulf" appears when we think of a "spirit" wholly immaterial, and a " body " wholly material — i.e., of two things neither of which exists. There is no spirit which is not matter-enveloped : there is no matter which is not spirit- ensouled. The highest separated Self has its film of matter, and though such a Self is called " a spirit " because the consciousness- aspect is so predominant, none the less is it true that it has its vibrating sheath of matter, and that from this sheath all impulses come forth, which affect all other denser material sheaths in succession. To say this is not to materialise consciousni
Jsneii^^H
CONSCIOUSNESS.
37
muter I the i;a
only to recognise the fact that the two opposites, consciousness and mauer. are siraltly bound together, are never apart, not even in the highest Being. Nfatter is limitation, and without TunitAtion consciousness is not. So far from materialising consciousness, it puts h. as a ismtept in sharp antithesis to but it recognises the fact that
mn entity the one is not found with- the other. The densest matter, the _ jcal, has its core of consciousness ; the gas, the stone, the metal, is living. ONiscious, aware. Thus oxygen becomes amre of hydrogen at a certain tempera- hirc, and rushes into conbination with it
Let us now look out of consciousness from within, and see the meaning of the phrase : " Matter is limitation." Conscious- nas is the one Reality, In the fullest lensc of that much-used phrase : it follows CpOOi this that any reality found anywhere t» drawn from consciousness. Hence, everything which is thought, is, That consciousness in which everything is. nvfTthing literally. " possible " as well a^ "actual" — attuai being that which is
58 STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
thought of as existent by a separated consciousness in time and space, and possible all that which is not so being thought of at any period in time and any point in space — we call Absolute Con- sciousness. It is the All, the Eternal. the Infinite, the Changeless. Conscious- ness, thinking time and space, and of all forms as existing in them in succession and in places. Is the Universal Conscious- ness, the One, called by the Hindu the Saguiia Brahman — the Eternal with attributes — the Pratvag-atmA — the Inner Self : by the Christian, God ; by the Parst, HoRMUZD ; by the Mussulman, Allah. Consciousness dealing with a definite time, however long or short, with a definite space, however vast or restricted, is individual, that of a concrete Being, a Lord of many universes, or some universes, or a universe, or of any so-called portion of a universe, his portion and to him therefore a universe^these terms varying as to extent with the power of the con- sciousness ; so much of the universal thought as a separate consciousness can completely think, i.e., on which he can
oovsaousNess.
39
impose his own reality, can think of as existing like himself, is Ais universe. To each universe, the Being who is its Lord gives a share of his own indefeasible Reality: but is ever himself limited and controlled by the thought of his superior, the Lord of the universe in which kr exists as a form. Thus we. who are human betn^, existing in a solar system, are surrounded by innumerable forms which are the thought-forms of the Lord of our system, our tsiiVARA. or Riler ; the "divine measure" and the "axes of IfTOWth." thought by the Third Logos. govern the forms of our atoms, and tho furface thought of by Him as the limit of the atom and resistant, offers resistance to all similar atoms. Thus we receive our matter, and cannot alter it, save by the employment of methods also made by His thought : only so long as His thought continues can the atoms, with all composed of them, continue to exist, since they have no Reality save that given by His thought. So long as He retains them as His body by declaring: "I am this; these atoms are My body: they share My life;" so
40 A STCDT IS co3rsciorsxES&
long they will impose themselves as real on all the beings in this solar system, whose consciousnesses are clothed in similar garments. Wlien at the end of the Day of Manifestation He declares: " I am not this : these atoms are no longer My body ; they no longer share My life ; " then shall they vanish as the dream they are, and only that shall remain which is the thought -form of the Monarch of a vaster system.
Thus, as Spirits, we are inherently, indefeasibly divine, with all the splendour and freedom implied in that word. But we are clothed in matter which is not ours, which is the thought-forms of the Ruler of our system — controlled again by the Rulers of vaster systems in which ours is included — and we are only slowly learning to master and use it. When we realise our oneness with our Ruler, then the matter shall have no longer power over us, and we shall see it as the unreality it is, dependent on His will, which then we shall know as also ours. Then we can ** play '' with it, as we cannot while it blinds us with its borrowed Reality.
COKSaOVSMBSS.
41
Looking thus out of consciousness from vithin. wc sec even more plainly than we saw looking at it from the world of forms. that there is no "Kulf." and no need for a •' bridge." Consciousness changes, and each change appears in the matter sur- rounding it as a vibration, because the Logos has thought vibrations of matter as the invariable concomitant of changes in consciousness ; and as the matter is but the resultant of consciousness and its attributes are imposed upon it by active thought, any change in the Logic Con- KiousnesH would change the attributes of the matter of the system, and any change in a consciousness derived from Him shows itself in that matter as a. change ; this change in matter is a vibration, a rfaythmicaJ movement within the limits set by Him for the mobility of masses of mauer in that relation. " Change in con- sciousness and vibration of the matter limiting it" is a "pair." imposed by the thought of the Logos on all emb(xiicd consciousnesses in His universe. That such a constant relation exists is shown by ifae lact that a vibration in a material
42 A 5m>T
sheath acaxnpanyiiig a diangc in the €TA.sc'jMng oT&sciousQess. and causing a faimuitT vihrsnon in the sheath ensouled by another consciousness, is found to be accompanied by a chaise in that second consciousness similar to the change in the first.
la matter far subder than the physical — as mind-stuflr — the creadve power of con- sciousness is more readilv seen than in the dense material of the physical plane. Matter becomes dense or rare, and changes its combinations and forms, according to the thoughts of a consciousness active therein. While the fundamental atoms — due to the Logic thought — remain un- changed, they can be combined or disso- ciated at will. Such experiences open the mind to the metaphysical conception of matter, and enable it to realise at once the borrowed reality and the nonentity of matter.
A word of warning may be useful with regard to the often repeated phrases of "Consciousness in a body," "Conscious- ness en.souling a body," and the like. The student is a little apt to figure conscious-
OONSaOUSNESS.
oess as a kind of rarefied gas enclosed in a material receptacle, a kind of bottle. If be will think carefully he will realise that ibe resistant surface of the body is but a Logic thought-form, and it is there because titmgkt there. Consciousness appears as conscious entiues. because the Locos thinks uich separations, thinks the enclosing walls, makes such thought limitations. And these thot^ts of the Lofjos are due to His unity with the Universal Sklk. and are but a lition within the area of a particular
e of the Will to multiply. : careful dwelling in mind on the iciions above traced between Absolute iciousness, Universal Consciousness, and Individual Consciousness, will prevent the student from asking the question so often heard : Why is there any universe ? Why does AII Why should the Perfect become the tnperfcci, All-Power become the power- ~ ^ become the mineral, the brute,
i man ? I n this form the
werable, for it
question founded
faLse
:s. The Perfect is the All, the tocality. the Sum of Being. Within
44 A STUDY IN COVSCIOCSXESS.
its infinity, as above said, b everything contained, every potentialit)% as well as actuality, of existence. All that has been, is, will be. can be. ever is in that Fulness, that Eternal. Only Itself knows Itself in its infinite unimaginable wealth of Being. Because it contains all pairs of opposites, and each pair, in affirming itself, to the eye of reason annihilates itself and vanishes, It seems a Void. But endless universes arising in It proclaim It a Plenum. This Perfect never becomes the imperfect ; it becomes nothing ; It w all Spirit and Matter, Strength and Weakness, Knowledge and Ignorance, Peace and Strife, Bliss and Pain, Power and Impotence ; the innumerable opposites of manifestation merge into each other and vanish in non-manifestation. The All includes manifestation and non-manifes- tation, the diastole and systole of the Heart which is Being. The one no more requires explanation than the other ; the one cannot be without the other. The puzzle arises because men assert separately one of the inseparate pair of opposites — Spirit, Strength, Knowledge,
CONSCIOUSNESS.
45
become their oppositesr No attribuce exists without
Peace. Bliss, Power- ibould these becoi Tkrr do nol. its opposite : a pair only can manifest ; ever)p- front has a back, spirit and matter arise together : it is not thai spirit exists, and then miraculously produces mauer to limit and blind itself, but that ^'rit and matter arise in the Eternai. simultaneously as a mode of Its Being. 1 form of Self-expression of the All, Prat>'ag4un& and Mfilaprakriti. express- ing in time and spiace the Timeless and Spaceless.
^^Ti
J 2. The Monads.
'e have seen that by the action of the Third Logos a five-fold field has been provided for the development of Units of Consciousness, and that a Unit of Consciousness is a fragment, a portion of the Universal Consciousness, thought into separation as an individual entity veOed in matter, a Unit of the substance of the First Logos, to be sent forth on tbc secoiKl plane as a separate Being.
46 A STUDY Ur CONSCIOUSNESS.
Such Units are called technically Monads. These are the Sons, abiding from ever- lasting, from the beginning of a creative age, in the Bosom of the Father, who have not yet been " made perfect through suflferings" ;' each of them is truly "equal to the Father as touching his Godhead, but inferior to the Father as touching his manhood,"* and each of them is to go forth into matter in order to render all things subject to himself;^ he is to be **sown in weakness" that he may be ** raised in power ";^ from a static Logos enfolding all divine potentialities, he is to become a dynamic Logos unfolding all divine powers ; omniscient, omnipresent, on his own second plane, but unconscious, ** senseless," on all the others,^ he is to veil his glory in matter that blinds him, in order that he may become omniscient, omni- present, on all planes, able to answer to all divine vibrations in the universe instead of to those on the highest only.
^Hebrews, ii. lo. 'Athanasian Creed. ^ / Corinthians, xv. 28. * Ibid. 43. 5 H. P. Blavatsky. Key to Theosophy, See p. 53. for the principle, though applied to a lower stage.
CONSCIOUSNESS.
47
The Rieantng of this feeble description of a great truth may be glimpsed by the student by a consideration of the facts of cmbcyonic life and birth. When an Ego ix re -incarnating, he broods over the human mother in whom his future body is a-building, the vehicle he will one day inhabit That body is slowly built up of the substance of the mother, and the Ego can do little as to its shaping : it is an embryo, unconscious of its future, dimly cuosdous only of the flow of the maternal life, impressed by maternal ho)>es and fears, thoughts and desires ; nothing from the Ego affects it. save a feeble influence coming through the jwrmancnt physical atom, and it does not share, because it cannot answer to, the wide • reaching thoughls, the aspiring emotions of the Ego, as expressed by him in his causal body. That embryo must develop, must gradually assume a human form, must enter on an independent life. sep.'Lrate from that of his mother, must pass through seven years — as men count time — of such inde- pendent life, ere the Ego can fully ensoul iL But during that slow evolution, with
40 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS. ^B
its infantile helplessness, its childish follies, pleasures and pains, the Ego to whom it belongs is carrying on his own wider, richer, life, and is gradually coming into nearer and nearer touch with this body, in which alone he can work in the physical world, his touch being manifested as the growth of the ir
The condition of the Monad in relation to the evolution of his consciousness in a universe resembles that of the Ego in relation to his new physical body. His own world is that of the second, the anupAdaka, plane, and there he is fully conscious with the all-embracing Self- consciousness of his world, but not at first of selves, among whom he is separate, of "others." Let us try to see the stages through which he passes. He is first a spark in a flame : " I sense one Flame. O Gurudeva ; I see countless undetached sparks shining in it."' The Flame is the First Logos, the undetached sparks the Monads. His Will to manifest is also theirs, for they are the germ-cells in His
'Occult Catechism, quoted in The Secret Doctrine. i. 145.
tha
CONSCIOUSNESS. 49
body, that will presently have a separate life in His coming universe. Moved by this WiU, the sparks share the change called "the begetting of the Son," and pass intu the Second Logos and dwell in Him. Then, with the "proceeding" of the Third, there conies to them from Him the "spiritual individuality." that H. P. Blavatsky speaks of. the owning separateness. But still there is sense of " others," needed to re-act the sense of " I." The three aspects id conscioasness, theirs as sharing the Logic life, are still, lo use a figure of speech, " turned inwards," playing on each Other, asleep, unaware of a "without," sharing the all-SeLF-consciousness. The great Beings, called the Creative Orders,' arotise them lo '■ outer " life ; Will. Wis- dom, Activity awake to awareness of the " without"; a dim sense of " others" arises. so far as "others" may be in a world where all " ' forms ' intermingle and inter- penetrate," and each becomes " an indivi- dual Dhy&n Chohan, distinct from othen>."=
' See Tit Jidifrw of Man. Pp. 11, 11. • TTm Sier*$ Doitrim. i. 183.
50 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
At the first stage, spoken of above, when the Monads are, in the fullest sense' of the term, undetached, as "germ-cells in His body," the Will, Wisdom, and Activity in them are latent, not patent His Will to manifest is also their will, but theirs un- consciously ; He, Self-conscious, knows His object and His path ; they, not yet Self-conscious, have in them, as parts of His body, the moving energy of His Will, which will presently be their own indivi- dual Will to Live, and which impels them into the conditions wherein a separate- Self-conscious, instead of an all-Self-con- scious, life is possible. This leads them to the second stage in the life of the Second Logos, and to the Third. Then, comparatively separate, the awakening by the Creative Orders brings with it the **dim sense of 'others'" and of ** I," and with this a thrill of longing for a more clearly - defined sense of ** I " and of *' others"; and this is the ** individual Will to Live," and this leads them forth
' " The fullest sense," />., with no separate indivi- duality ; undetached, in truth, they ever remain above, ever shining in the Flame.
into the denser worlds, wherein such iharpcr definition alone becomes possible.
h is important to understand that tht evolution of the individual " I " is ii Sdf - chosen activity. We are here because we Will to Live : " none else' compels." Thi.s aspect of consciousness. the W^ill. \s dealt with in hiter chapters of this book, and here we need only ; the fact that the Monads are I- moved. Self-determined, in their into the lower planes of matter. field of manifestation, the fivefold To their vehicles in it, they lain as the Ego to his physical body, with their radiant divine life In loftier spheres, but brooding over their lower vehicles and manifesting more and more in them as they become more plastic. P. Btavatslcy speaks of this, as the is C)'c)in^ on downwards into
Everywhere in nature we see this same
ig after fuller manifestation of life,
constant Will to Live. The seed,
in the ground, pushes its growing;
• TAt SecrtI Dnttrimt. i. i6;.
4
52
STUDY TN CONSCIOUSNESS.
point upwards to the light The bud fettered in its sheathing calyx bursts its prison and expands in the sunshine. The chick within the egg splits its confining shell in twain. Everywhere life seeks expression, powers press to exercise them- selves. See the painter, the sculptor, the poet, with creative genius struggling within him : to create yields the subtlest pleasure, the keenest savour of exquisite delight. Therein is but another instance of the omnipresent nature of life, whether in the Locos, the genius, or in the ephemeral creature of a day : all joy in the bliss of living, and feel most alive when they multiply themselves by creation. To feel life expressing itself, flowing forth, expand- ing, increasing, this is at once the result of the Will to Live, and its fruition m the Bliss of living.
Some of the Monads, willing to live through the toils of the five-fold universe, in order to master matter and in turn to create a universe therein, enter into it to become a developed God therein, a Tree of Life, another Fount of Being. The shaping of a universe is the Day of
CONSCIOUSNESS.
53
Forth-g(nng : living is becoming ; life knoH-s itself by chanj^e. Those who will not to become masters of matter, creators, remain in their static bliss, excluded from the five-fold universe, unconscious of its activities. For it must be remembered that all the seven planes are interpene- trating, and that Consciousness on any fhiac means the power of answering to ihe vibrations of that particular plane. Just as a man may be conscious on the physical plane because his physical body is organised to receive and transmit to him ill vibrations, but be totally unconscious of the higher planes though their vibra- tions are playing on him. because he has oot yci organised sufficiently his higher ies to receive and transmit to him vibrations ; so is the Monad, the of Consciousness, able to be con- sdou unconscious on the lower five.
He will evolve his consciousness on these by taking from each plane some of its matter, veiling himself in this matter and forming it into a sheath by which he can come into contact with
54 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
that plane, gradually organising this sheath of matter into a body capable of functioning on its own plane as an expression of himself, receiving vibrations from the plane and transmitting them to him, receiving vibrations from him and transmitting them to the plane. As he veils himself in the matter of each successive plane he shuts away some of his consciousness, that of it which is too subtle for receiving or setting up vibrations in the matter of that plane. He has within him seven typical vibratory powers — each capable of producing an indefinite number of sub-vibrations of its own type — and these are shut off one by one as he endues veil after veil of grosser matter. The powers in con- sciousness of expressing itself in certain typical ways — using the word power in the mathematical sense, consciousness '*to the third,'' consciousness **to the fourth," etc. — are seen in matter as what we call dimensions. The physical power of consciousness has its expression in ** three-dimensional matter," while the astral, mental, and other powers of con-
CONSCIOUSN ESS.
55
need for their expression other dimensions of matter.
Speaking thus of Monads, we may feel as if wc were dealing with something far away. Yet is the Monad ver>' near to us, our Self, the very root of our being, ; innennost source of our life, the one llity. Hidden, unmanifest, wrapt in Dec and darkness is our Self, but our dousncss is the limited manifestation [ that Self, the manifested God in the of our bodies, which are His gmrments. As the Unmanifest is partially manifest in the Logos, as Divine Con- sciousness, and in the universe as the Body of the Locos', so is our unmanifest Self partially manifest in our conscious- ness, as the Logos of our individual sysiem, and in our body as the kosmos which clothes the consciousness. As above, so below.
Tliis hidden Seu' it is which is called the Monad, being verily the One. It is this which gives the subde sense of unity
D the fouing loom of 'I'irne I p]y, d weave Cut God the garment ihou Kcst Him by.
GOKTHK.
56 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
that ever persists in us amid all changes ; the sense of identity has here its source, for this is the Eternal in us. The three out-streaming rays which come from the Monad — to be dealt with presendy — are his three aspects, or modes of being, or hypostases, reproducing the Logoi of a universe, the Will, Wisdom, and Activity which are the three essential expressions of embodied consciousness, the familiar AtmA-Buddhi-Manas of the Theosophist
This consciousness ever works as a unit on the various planes, but shows out its tripHcity on each. When we study con- sciousness working on the mental plane, we see Will appearing as choice, Wisdom as discrimination, Activity as cognition. On the astral plane we see Will appearing as desire, Wisdom as love. Activity as sen- sation. On the physical plane. Will has for its instruments the motor organs (karmen- driyas). Wisdom the cerebral hemispheres. Activity the organs of sense (jMnen- driyas).'
' This assignment is tentative only. As matter is the feminine side, Sarasvati, belonging to Brahmi, seems to indicate the jninendriyas, and Duigi the karmendriyas.
CONSCIOUSNESS. 57
The full manifestation of these three aspects of consciousness in their highest forms takes place in man in the same order as the manifestation of the triple Locos in the universe. The third aspect, Activity, revealed as the creative mind, as the gatherer of knowledge, is the first to perfect its vehicles, and show forth its full energies The second aspect, Wisdom, revealed as the Pure and Compassionate Reason, is the second to shine forth, the Krishna, the Buddha, the Christ, in man. The third aspect, Will, is the last to reveal itself, the divine Power of the Sfelf, that which in its impregnable fulness is Beatitude, is Peace.
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD.
§ 1. The Coming Forth of the Monads.
When the five-fold field is ready, when the five planes, each with its seven sub- planes, are completed, so far as their primary constitution is concerned, then begins the activity of the Second Logos, the Builder and Preserver of forms. His activity is spoken of as the Second Life- Wave, the pouring out of Wisdom and Love— the Wisdom, the directing force, needed for the organisation and evolution of forms, the Love, the attractive force, needed for holding them together as stable though complex wholes. When this great stream of Logic life pours forth into the five-fold field of manifestation, it brings with it into activity the Monads, the Units of Consciousness, ready to begin their
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD.
59
work of evolution, to clothe themselves in matter.
Yet the phrase thai the Monads go forth is somewhat inaccurate ; that they ditne forth, send out their rays of life, would be truer. For they remain ever " in the bosom of the Father." while their life-rays stream out into the ocean of nutter, and therein appropriate the outenals needed for their energising in the universe. The matter must be appro- priated, rendered plastic, shaped into fitdng vehicles.
H. P. Blavatsky has described their forthduning In graphic allegorical terms, tsing a symbolism more expressive than Kteral-meaning words : " The primordial triangle, which — as soon as it has reflected inclf in the ' Heavenly Man,' the highest of the lower seven — disapjiears, returning ioio ' Silence and Darkness ' ; and the utral paradigmatic man. whose Monad (Atmi) is also represented by a triangle, as it has to become a ternary in conscious devachanic interludes."' The primordial Inangle, or the three-faced Monad of Will, • 7TW Stent Dotlriit. iii. P. 444.
6o A STUDY IN
Wisdom, and Activity, '' reflects itself " in the "Heavenly Man," as Atm^-Buddhi- Manas, and then " returns into Silence and Darkness." Atmi — often spoken of as the Monad of the lower, or astral man — has to become a ternary, a triple-faced unit, by assimilating Buddhi and Manas. The word '' reflexion " demands explanation here. Speaking generally, the term reflexion is used when a force manifested on a higher plane shows itself again on a lower plane, and IS conditioned by a grosser kind of matter in that lower manifestation, so that some of the effective energy of the force is lost, and it shows itself in a feebler form. As now used in a special instance, it means that a stream of the life of the Monad pours forth, taking as the vessel to contain it an atom from each of the three higher planes of the five-fold field — the third, the fourth, and the fifth — thus producing the ** Heavenly Man," the ** Living Ruler, Immortal," the Pilgrim who is to evolve, for whose evolution the system was brought into being.
**As the mighty vibrations of the Sun throw matter into the vibrations we call
THE PEOI'LING OF THE FIELD.
6i
his rays(which express his heat, electricity, and oiher energies), so does the Monad cause the atomic matter of the atmic, buddhic, and manasic planes — surrounding him as the ether of space surrounds the Sun — to vibrate, and thus makes to him- self a Ray. triple like his own three-fold nature. In this he is aided by Devas from a previous universe who have passed through a similar experience before ; these guide the vibratory wave from the Will- aspect to the Stmic atom, and the Stmic atom, vibrating to the Will-aspect, is called Atmd ; they guide the vibratory wave from the Wisdom-aspect to the buddhic uom, and the buddhic atom, vibratitig to the Wisdom-aspect, is called Buddhi ; also they guide the vibratory wave from the Activity-aspect to the mAnasic atom, and the mdnasic atom, vibra- ting to the Activity - aspect, is called Manas. Thus AtmS-Buddhi-Manas, the Monad in the world of manifestation, is formed, the Ray of the Monad, beyond the five-fold universe. Here is the mystery (rf" the Watcher, the Spectator, the aclion- les* AtmA. who abides ever in his triple
62 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
nature on his own plane, and lives in the world of men by his Ray, which animates his shadows, the fleeting lives on earth. . . . The shadows do the work on the lower planes, and are moved by the Monad through his Image or Ray, at first so feebly that his influence is well-nigh im- perceptible, later with ever - increasing power."*
Atmd-Buddhi- Manas is the Heavenly Man, the Spiritual Man, and he is the expression of the Monad, whose reflected aspect of Will is Atml, whose reflected aspect of Wisdom is Buddhi, whose reflected aspect of Activity is Manas. Hence we may regard the human Atm4 as the Will-aspect of the Monad, ensouling an aklshic atom ; the human Buddhi as the Wisdom - aspect of the Monad, ensouling an air (divine flame) atom ; the human Manas as the Activity-aspect of the Monad, ensouling a fiery atom. Thus in Atm4 - Buddhi - Manas, the spiritual Triad, or the Heavenly
' The Pedigree of Man, Pp. 25, 27 ; slightly modified, as in the book the passage refers to the fourth chain only.
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD. 63
Man. we have the three aspects, or energies, of the Monad, embodied in atomic matter, and this is the " Spirit " in man. the JivSlmd or Life-Self, the separated Self.' It is the germinal Spirit. and in its third asjicct the "baby Ego." It Ls identical in nature with the Monad, is tkt Monad, but is lessened in force and activity by the veils of matter round it. This lessening of power must not blind us to the identity of nature. We must ever remember that the human consciousness is a unit, and that though its manifestations var)', these variations are only due to the predominance of one or other of its aq>ect.s and to the relative density of the materials in which an aspect is working. Its manifestations, thus conditioned, vary. but it is itself ever one.
Such part, then, of the consciousness of the Monad as can express itself in a five- filld universe enters at 6rst thus into the higher matter of this universe, embodying
itself
an atom of each of the three
'The tcnn JlrJttiai u or course equally applicable lo the Morwd, but t» more often applied to its
64
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
higher planes; having thus shone forth and appropriated these atoms for his own use, the Monad has beg^n his work ; in his own subtle nature he cannot as yet descend below the anupidaka plane, and he is therefore said to be in " Silence and Darkness," unmanifest ; but he lives and works in and by means of these appro- priated atoms, which form the garment of his life on the planes nearest to his own. We may figfure this action thus :
1.
Adi
ii. Anupfldaka
iii. Atm&
iv.
Buddhi
j ; yfiuddhi
V.
Manas
MancL^
vi.
KAma
VI 1.
Sthala
THE PEOPLrNG OF THE FIELD. 65
This Spiritual Triad, as it is often oUled, Atmi-Ruddi-Manas. the Jivatma, is described as a seed, a germ, of divine Life, containing the potentialities of its own heavenly Father, its Monad, to be unfolded into powers in the course of evolution. This is the "manhood'" of the divine Son of the First Logos. animated by the " Godhead." the Monad — a mystery truly, but one which is repeated in many forms around us.
And now the nature, which was free in the subtle matter of his own plane, becomes bound by the denser matter, and hb powers of consciousness cannot as yei function in this blindin;^ veil. He is therein as a mere germ, an embryo, powerless, senseless, helpless, while the Monad oh his ovm plane is strong, conscious, capable, so far as his internal life is concerned ; the one is the Monad in Eternity, the other is the Monad in time and space ; the content of the Monad eternal is to become the extent of the Monad temporal and spatial. This at present embryonic life will evolve into a complex being, the expression of the
66 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
Monad on each plane of the universe. All-powerful internally on his own subtle plane, he is at first powerless, fettered, helpless, when enwrapped externally in denser matter, unable to receive through it, or to give out through it, vibrations. But he will gradually master the matter that at first enslaves him ; slowly, surely, he will mould it for Self-expression ; he is aided and watched over by the all- sustaining and preserving Second Logos, until he can live in it fully as he lives above, and become in his turn a creative Logos and bring forth out of himself a universe. The power of creating a universe is only gained, according to The Wisdom, by involving within the Self all that is later to be put forth. A Logos does not create out of nothing, but evolves all from Himself; and from the experiences we are now passing through, we are gathering the materials out of which we may build a system in the future.
But this spiritual Triad, this Jivltma, which is the Monad in the five-fold universe, cannot himself commence at
nea
^^^ nc
of I I subs
THE PEOPUNG OF THE FIELD. 67
once any separate self-directed activity. He cannot gather round himself any aggregations of matter a.s yet, but can only abide in his atomic vesture. The life of the Second Logos is to him as its mother's womb to the embryo, and within this the building begins. We may, in very truth, regard this stage of evolution, in which the Logos shapes, nourishes, and developes the germinating life, as being, for the Heavenly Man. or truly the Heavenly Embryo, a period corresponding to the -natal life of a human being, during lich he is slowly obtaining a body, which nourished meanwhile by the life-currents of the mother and formed out of her substance. Thus also with the Jiv&tmS, losing the life uf the Monad ; he must lit the building of his body on the rer planes, and he cannot emerge from this ante-natal life and be " born." until there is a body builded on the lower planes. The ■" birth " lakes place at the formation of the causal body, when the Heavenly Man is manifested as an infant Ego, a true Individuality, dwelling in a body on the physical plane. A tittle
68 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
careful thought will show how dose is the analogy between the evolution of the Pilgrim and that of each successive rebirth ; in the latter case the Jivltrnft awaits the formation of the physical body which is building as his habitation ; in the former the spiritual Triads* as a Collec- tivity, await the building of the systemic Quaternary. Until the vehicle on the lowest plane is ready, all is a preparation for evolution, rather than evolution itself — it is often termed involution. The evolution of the consciousness must begin by contacts received by its outer- most vehicle ; that is, it must begin on the physical plane. It can only become aware of an outside by impacts on its own outside ; until then it dreams within itself, as the faint inner thrillings ever outwelling from the Monad cause slight outward-tending pressures in the JiVcttmS, like a spring of water beneath the earth, seeking an outlet.
§ 2. The Weaving.
Meanwhile the preparation for the awakening, the giving of qualities to
THB PeOI>tlHG OF THE FIELD. 69
that which may be likened to formation of the tissues of the future body, is done by the life-power of the Second Logos — the second life -wave, rolling through plane after plane, impart- ing its own qualities to that seven-fold proto-matter. The life-wave, as said above, carries the Jivdtm&s with it as far as the atomic sub-plane of the fifth plane, the plane of Fire, of individualised creative power, of mind. Here they each have already an atom, the mSnasic, or mental veil of the Monad, the Logos Hooding these and the remaining atoms of the plane with His life. All these atoms, forming the whole atomic sub - plane, whether free or attached to Jivatmis, rightly be termed Monadic Essence : as in the course of evolution, presently be explained, differences arise between the attached and the non-altachcd atoms, the term Monadic Essence is usually employed for the non - attached, while the attached are called, for reasons which wi ll appear. " permanent atoms." We dc6ne Monadic Essence then as matter ensouled by the life of the
larm ^whet
JO A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
Second Logos. It is His clothing for the vivifying and holding together of forms; He is clad in atomic matter. His own life as Logos, separate from the life of Atmd-Buddhi- Manas in the man, separate from any lives on the plane — though He supports, permeates, and includes them all — is clothed only in atomic matter, and it is this which is connoted by the term of Monadic Essence. The matter of that plane, already by the nature of its atoms' capable of responding by vibrations to active thought-changes, is thrown by the second life-wave into combinations fit to express thoughts — abstract thoughts in the subtler matter, concrete thoughts in the coarser. The combinations of the second and third higher sub-planes constitute the First Elemental Kingdom; the combinations on the four lower sub- planes constitute the Second Elemental Kingdom. Matter held in such com- binations is called Elemental Essence, and is susceptible of being shaped into thought- forms. The student must not confuse this with Monadic Essence ; one
' By the Tanmitras, the divine Measures.
THE FBOPUNC OF THE FIELD.
7t
aiomic the other molecular, in con- Lion.
ic Second life-wave then rolls on into sixth plane, the plane of Water, of individualised sensation, of desire. The before- mentioned Devas link the Jivitni4- ottached. or pennuneni. units of the fifth plane to a corresponding number of atoms on the sixth plane, and the Second Lo^os Boods these and the remaining atoms with His own life — these atoms thus becoming Monadic Essence as explained above. The life- wave passes onwards, forming on each sub-plane the combinations fit to express sensations. These combinations constitute the i'hird Elemenul Kingdom, and the matter held in such combination is called Elemental Essence, as before, and on this sixth plane is susceptible uf being shaped into desire-forms.
Elemental Essence is thus seen to consist of aggregations of matter on each iW the six non-atomic sub-piancs of the mcoial and desire plaiies, aggregations which do not themselves serve as form.s lor any entity to inhabit, but as the
72
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
materials out of which such forms may be built.
The life- wave then rolls on into the seventh plane, the plane of Earth, of indi- vidualised activities, of actions. As before the J ivatm^-attached, or permanent, atoms of the sixth plane are linked to a corresponding number on the seventh plane, and the Second Logos floods these and the remaining atoms with His own life —all the.se atoms thus becoming Monadic Essence. The life- wave again passes onwards, forming on each sub-plane com- binations fitted to constitute physical bodies, the future chemical elements, as they are called on the three lower sub- planes.
Looking at this work of the second life wave as a whole, we see that its down- ward sweep is concerned with what may fairly be called the making of primary tissues, out of which hereafter subde and dense bodies are to be formed. Well has it been called in some ancient scriptures a "weaving," for such it literally is. The materials prepared by the Third Logos are woven by the Second Logos into threads
THE PEOPLING OP THE FIELD.
73
and inio cloths of which future garments — the subtle and dense bodies — will be made. As a man may take separate threads of flax, cotton, silk — themselves combinations of a simpler kind — and weave these into linens, into cotton or silk doth, these cloths in turn to be shaped into garments by cutting and stitching, so does the second Logos weave the matter- threads, weave these again into tissues, and then .shape them into forms. He is the Eternal Weaver, while we might think of the Third Logos as the Eternal Chemist. The latter works in nature as in a labora- tory, the former as in a manufactory. These similes, materialistic as they are, are not to be despised, for they are crutches to aid our limping attempts to understand.
This " weaving " gives to matter its characteristics, as the characteristics of the thread differ from those of the raw material, as the characteristics of the cloth differ from those of the threads. The Logos we aves the two kinds of cloth of mSnasic ■, of mind-stuff, and out of these will
I made later the causal and the mental
74 A STUDY IN C01ISCI0USlfES&
bodies. He weaves the doih of astral matter, of desune-stuflf, and out of this will be made later the desire body. That is to say, that the combiiiadoiis of matter formed and held together by the second life-wave have the characteristics which will act on the Monad when he comes into touch with others, and will enable him to act So will he be able to receive all kinds of vibrations, mental, sensory, etc The characteristics depend on the nature of the aggregations. There are seven great types, fixed by the nature of the atom, and within these innumerable sub-types. All this goes to the making of the materials of the mechanism of conscious- ness, which will be conditioned by all these textures, colourings, densities.
In this downward sweep of the life- wave through the fifth, sixth, and seventh planes, downward till the densest matter is reached, and the wave turns at that point to begin its sweep upwards, we must think, then, of its work as that of forming combi- nations which show qualities, and so we sometimes speak of this work as the giving of qualities. In the upward sweep we shall
THE PEOPLING OP T>IE FIELD. 75
lind that bodies arc built out of the matter thus prepared. But before we study the duping of these, we must consider the leven-fold division of this hfe-wave in its descent, and the coming forth of the "Shining Ones." the " Devas," the "Angels," the ■ Elementals." that belong also to this downward sweep. These are ibc " Minor Gods " t>f whom Plato speaks, frnm whom man derives his perishable bodies.
S3. The S>:ven ^TKt.\M.s.
question is constantly asked : Why this continual play by Theostiphists upon the number seven ? VVc speak of It as the " root-number of our system," and there is one obvious reason why this number should play an active part in the grouping of things, since wc arc concerned with the iriplicilies previously mentioned and explained. A triad
naturally produces a sepienate by its own internal relations, since its three fiactors can group themselves in seven urays and no more. We have spoken of
76 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
matter, outside the limits of a universe, as having the three qualities of matter — inertia, mobility, and rhythm — in a state of equilibrium. When the life of the Logos causes motion, we have at once the possibility of seven groups, for in any given atom, or group of atoms, one or other of these qualities may be more strongly energised than the others, and thus a predominant quality will be shown forth. We may thus have three groups, in one of which inertia will predominate, in another mobility, in a third rhythm. Each of these, again, sub- divides, according to the predominance in it of one or other of the remaining two qualities : thus in one of the two inertia groups, mobility may predominate over rhythm, and in the other rhythm over mobility, and so with the other two groups of mobility and rhythm. Hence arise the well-known types, classified according to the predominant quality, usually designated by their Sarpskrit terms, sdtvic, rajasic, and tSmasic, rhythmical, mobile, and inert, and have s^tvic, rajasic, and tamasic
imasic I'ood^^^B
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD. ^^
animals, men, etc. And we obtain seven groups in all : six subdivisions of the three, and a seventh in which the three qualities are equally active. [The varieties of type are simply intended to mark in each triad the relative energies of the qualities.]
Inkrtia. Mobility.
1
Rhythm.
1 Inehtia. Mobility, Rhythm. Inertia. Mobility. Rhythm,
i
1
1
1
\ Mobility. Rhythm, Inertia.
Mobility. Rhythm. Inertia,
1
I Rhythm. Inertia, Mobihty.
Rhythm. Inertia. Mobility.
The Life of the Logos, which is to flow into this matter, itself manifests in seven streams, or rays.
These ari.se similarly out of the three Aspects of Consciousness present in Him, as in all consciousnesse.s. since all are manifestations of the Universal Self. These are Bliss, or Ichchha, Will : Cognition, or Jnanam, Wisdom; Exist-
78 A STUDY nr coMsaou8ires&
ence, or Kriyft, Activity. So we have At seven streams, or ra.^ of- Logic fife :
Wtu. Wisdom. Acrnf i T V.
I
WiLi. JVisdMH. Activi^. Will. Wiidoin. AetitHiy.
Wisdom. Activity. WU. WiSDOH. Activity. Will.
AcriviTy. Will. Wisdom. Activity, Will. Wisdom.
All things may be regarded as grouped under these seven headings, the seven streams of Logic life composing the second life-wave, and we may think of it as flowing through the planes, descending through them ; so that, if we draw the planes horizontally, the life-wave would sweep vertically downwards through them. Moreover in each stream there will be seven primary sub-divisions, according to the type of matter concerned, and within these secondary sub-divisions, according to the proportions of the qualities within each type, and so on and on in
THE PEOPLING OF THE FIELD.
79
inoinncrablc variations. Into these we need not enter. It is enough to notice dtt seven types of matter and the seven types of consciousnesses. The seven streams of Logic life show out as the seven types of consciousnesses, and within each of these the seven types of matter-combinations are found. There are to be seen seven distinct types in each of the three Elemental Kingdoms and on the physical plane. Mnie. Biavatsky, in Tkt Secret Doctrine, dealinfj with man. quote-s from the stanzas of the Book of Dsjfdn, the fact that there were : ■' Seven of Them [Creators] each on His lot." forming the seven types of men, and these subdivided : " Seven times seven shadows of future men were born."' Here is the root of the differing temperaments of men.
^
i i. Thk :
1 Oke*.
We have now to consider another result
of the downward - sweeping Life -Wave.
have seen that it gives qualities to
- Im. tit, iL 18. 8i, 9S.
8o
A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
aggregHtions of matter on the fifth an? sixth planes, and that we have in the First Elemental Kingdom materials ready to clothe abstract thoughts : in the Second Elemental Kingdom materials rfeady to clothe concrete thoughts ; in the Third Elemental Kingdom materials ready to clothe desires. But In addition to impart- ing qualities to aggregations of matter, the Second Logos gives forth, during this stage of His descent, evolved beings, at various stages of development, who fonn the normal and typical inhabitants of these three kingdoms. These beings have been brought over by the Logos from a pre- ceding evolution, and are sent forth from the treasure-house of His life, to inhabit the plane for which their development fits them, and to coperate with Him. and later with man, in the working-out of His scheme of evolution. They have received various names in the various religions, but all religions recognise the fact of their existence and of their work. The Samskrit name Devas — the Shining Ones — -is the most general, and aptly describes the most marked characteristic
itic of thei^^J
THE PEOPUNG OF THE FIELD. 8l
ippearance, a brilliant luminous radiance.' The Hebrew, Christian, and Muhammadan fdigions call them Archangels and Angels. The Theosophist — to avoid sectarian con- notatiuns — names them, after their habitat. Elemcntals ; and this title has the further advantage that it reminds the student of tb«r connection with the five ■' Elements "' of the ancient world ; .•Either. Air. Fire. Water, and Earth. For there are similar beinjijrs of a higher type on the 4cmic and buddhic planes, as well as the Fire and Water Elemcntals of the mental and desire plane&, and the ethereal Elemcntals of the physical These beings have bodies (ormed out of the elemental essence ol the kingdom to which they belong. Hashing many-hued bodies, chanj^ing form at the will of the indwelling entity. They form a vast host, ever actively at work, labouring at the eletncntiU essence to improve its
* Tbc uuutaijon o( thia descriptive term as "Ooda" hu led lu much miupprchuiuiun of Eaalcm tbouiht The " ihiny-lhrec crorcs of Cods " are not Godt in the Wotcm sense of the term, which is the eqamknt of the Untverul Sklf, and secondarily of tke Logo*, bm un Dcvu, Shining Ones.
82 A STUDY IM COMKMUSirasit
quality, taking it to fonn their oWA tedie^ throwing it off and taking other portions of it, to render it more respon^ve; dusjr are also constandy busied in the a^pitig of forms, in aiding human Egos on' the way to re-incamati(m in building dieirtiev bodies, bringing materials a( die needed kind and helping in its UTangemetttft The less advwiced the Ego the gi«atei' the directive work of the Dera; with animals they do almost all the woric, and practically all with vegetables and minerals. They are the active agents in the work of the Logos, carrying out all the details of His world-plan, and aiding the countless evolving lives to find the materials they need for their clothing. All antiquity recognised the indispensable work they do in the worlds, and China, Egypt, India, Persia. Greece, Rome, tell the same story. The belief in the higher of them is not only found in all religions, but memories of those of the desire and of the ethereal physical plane linger on in folklore, in stories of " Nature -spirits," "Fairies." "Gnomes," "Trolls," and under many other names, memories of days when men were
THE PEOPLING
less deeply enwrapped in materia) interests.
ukI more jicnsitive to the influences thai
I pUyed upon them from [he subtler worlds.
This concentration on material interests.
necessary for evolution, has shut out the
working of the Elementals from human
waking consciousness : but this does not.
I of course, stop their working, though
» often rendering it less effective on the
physical plane.
At the stage we are considering, how- ever, all this work, except that of the ■ intpravcnient of the elemental essence, I lay in the far future, but the Shining Ones llkboured diligently at that improvement. There was thus a vast work of prepara- accomplished before anything in the Ivay of physical forms, such as we should I'lecognise. could appciir : a vast labour at Form side of things before embodied iciousnesses. save that of the Logos Old His Shining Ones, could do any- l^ai all. That which was to be human ciousncss at this point was a seed, own on the higher planes, unconscious of all without it. l-nder the impelling warmth of the Logic life, it sends out a
84 A STUDY IN CONSCIOUSNESS.
tiny rootlet downwards, which pushes its way into the lower planes, blindly, uncon- sciously, and this rootlet must form our next object of study.