CHAPTER II

THE OTHER WORLDS
Though great rivers are still being discovered in Brazil, the unexplored regions of the earth are shrink- ing year by year. This would be a matter only of con- gratulation were it not that our "natural-born trav- elers" will suffer the pangs of unsatisfied desire. How may that fever of discovery inherent in the race be cooled except by offering new realms for exploration? And where may those realms be found now that the visible earth has been raked, scraped, dissected, weighed and analysed? Obviously we must turn our attention towards those other worlds to which seers have pointed for so many centuries without awakening much inter- est, it would seem, until now.
Advanced thinkers have already come to the conclu- sion that we are living not only on the surface of a physical globe, but also in the midst of a normally un- seen world. While many are beginning to suspect that this subtle world may be scientifically studied, a few are causing much shrugging of the shoulders by affirm- ing that it has already been carefully investigated and described, its inhabitants classified and its phenomena tabulated. This statement is a strong one, we must ad- mit, but it is made by those who have done the work and denied by those who have not even taken the trouble to read the reports of the investigations. Now these reports are exceedingly interesting and, while undoubt- edly many details are lacking — for the study of a new world is a Herculean task — nevertheless what has been discovered instructs as well as fascinates.
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THE OTHEE WOELDS
Unfortunately our understanding of this invisible realm is oftentimes obscured because, strangely enough, we usually adopt one of two attitudes, both of which are illogical. Either we regard the whole matter as a jumble of freakish fancies and the result of unwhole- some speculation, or we swing to the other extreme and veil everything related to this unseen realm in unjusti- fied mystery and reverence, and speak of its phenomena with bated breath. Mystery is the shadow cast on nature by ignorance.
There seems to be an ingrained scepticism in most people concerning anything non-physical. It is fre- quently so pronounced that it distorts their opinions and prevents an unbiased judgment. This is certainly true when it comes to the consideration of the evidence for the existence of a sup'erphysical world. Many persons dogmatically declare, without any investigation whatso- ever, that such a world does not exist, not realizing that opinions based on prejudices are valueless and that, as they are unacquainted with the numerous discoveries which have been made, their statements carry no weight whatever. It is significant that all those who have studied carefully the available evidence affirm their con- viction that a non-physical realm does exist.
Theosophical investigation of this unseen realm has shown that it is composed of several interpenetrating regions or worlds, of which only two, however, are of practical importance in this preliminary study. These two subtle worlds are contained one within the other, the solid physical earth being embedded in the very heart of the two. We may think of them as two vast spheres surrounding the earth not unlike a giant at- mosphere, yet at the same time permeating everywhere the physical matter of the earth with the same ease that water vapor spreads through the air. One sphere is larger than the other and therefore extends much farther
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THEOSOPHY SIMPLIFIED
out into space, but both of them surround us all the time, although we are normally unconscious of their existence. As the earth swings through space, following its pathway round the sun, these spheres move with it just as does the physical atmosphere.
Thus, strange as it may seem, we are living in three worlds at once and we shall find, if we continue our studies, that human evolution is intimately connected with all three. These subtle worlds are as objective arid "real" to those conscious of them as the earth is "real" to us, and we should not think of them as shadowy un- realities because unknown to the physical senses. The matter of which they are formed is not physical in its characteristics and, for want of better descriptive terms, has been called emotional and mental matter; the sig- nificance of these names will be seen later.
The trend of recent scientific discoveries has been' to- wards the infinitesimal — the dissection of the atom. For- merly it was believed that atoms were the ultimate units or bricks out of which all physical forms were built. Now it is known that the atoms themselves are complex structures, formed of differently grouped "bundles" of particles indeutical in their nature. Several years ago, in a remarkable paper read before one of the English scientific societies, Sir William Crookes advanced the theory of a primitive substance underlying all the dif- ferent kinds of physical matter. He called this theo- retical substance "protyle" and presented some illumina- tive data in support of his point of view. At that time, Crookes' conclusions were not accepted, but now, through a series of brilliant investigations made possible by the refinement of electrical experimentation, the existence of electrons or ultimate particles has been generally acknowledged by scientists.
Electrons are considered by many scientists to be not "things in themselves" but merely centres of force in
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THE OTHEE WOELDS
the invisible ether which surrounds and penetrates all things. Theosophical investigators, through direct ob- servation made possible by certain awakened senses, have determined that every physical object, including the human body, is bathed and duplicated in etheric matter, through which flow continually electrical, magnetic and other forces closely associated with physical life. It was noticed that there were four densities or grades of this ether, forming, with the solids, liquids and gases with which we are familiar, seven densities of physical mat- ter; for the ether itself is physical though invisible to the normal human eye.
This brings us to the important fact that there is no gulf between the physical and the next interpenetrating world. The matter of the denser world is formed in- directly out of the matter of the subtler. During the experiments of theosophical investigators, in which they studied the structure of matter, it was found that by a strong effort of the will — which set certain forces in action — it was possible to break up the particles of the finest physical ether. When this was done the character- istics of the resultant particles entirely changed; they were no longer physical in their nature. They proved to be the molecules of the densest matter of the inter- penetrating subtle world.
The molecules of this world, the emotional or astral world, obey laws different from those governing physical matter. They do not expand with heat nor contract with cold as physical molecules do. They follow a law of gravity of their own. The vibrations which move through them permit an increased power of vision out of all proportion greater than physical sight. The matter itself is extremely mobile, responding particularly in a most marvelous way to the play of emotions — hence the name, emotional matter. Its response to emotion, desire and passion is greater than that of air to sound and
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THEOSOPHY SIMPLIFIED
ether to artificial light, for it carries the vibrations a long distance from the person generating them, and ripples into quivering masses of color varying in hue according to the type of emotion. Another striking characteristic of this matter is that it is readily moulded into various forms by emotion which, though evanescent, usually per- sist for several hours or days, vibrating all the time at the same rate as the original oscillation which brought them into existence.
The densest matter of the emotional world duplicates every physical object, so that it is possible while moving in its lower levels to observe what is taking place physic- ally. Not that the physical objects themselves are visible when one is observantly active in the emotional body, but the counterparts in subtle matter of those objects are readily seen. In fact, those who are not very observant or, for one reason or another, are not aware that they are moving about in the astral world, frequently do not detect any difference between objects formed of physical matter and the subtle duplicates of those objects. Farther out in those regions of the emotional world which are some distance from the surface of the earth, varied scenes of great beauty and interest are found — the products of the creative imagination of the people living there.
The emotional world is thickly populated with all types of living things, human and non-human, not on its surface as is the case with the earth, but within it, even as fish live in the sea and birds in the air. Limbs are not necessary for walking nor wings for flying, for desire and will are the motive powers which move us from place to place in this unseen world, but nevertheless we preserve the same appearance there as here, probably from habit, but also possibly from some deeper law of form which controls all creation.
The non-human creatures follow a line of evolution
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THE OTHER WORLDS
which has little to do directly with the human. They range in intelligence from the level of our lowest animals to lofty types far wiser than men — the angelic presences of religious tradition. They do not have physical bodies resembling ours, but appear in subtle bodies made of radiant emotional matter.
Animals also are there who have lost their physical bodies by death. They spend a brief though happy period in the emotional world before being born again of animals of the same species.
In this world are found millions of human beings, in- cluding not only the entire population that is living on earth at any one time — for, remember, we possess emo- tional bodies in addition to the physical — but also prac- tically all those who have lost their physical bodies by death during the last thirty years. Those who have been "dead" longer than this have usually passed into the still more subtle world known as the mental or heaven world.
Lastly, there is found a very small number — contrasted with the millions of souls receiving their education on this planet — of the Masters. They are the great Teachers mentioned so frequently in theosophical literature, and it is they who have charge of human evolution.
The mental or heaven world referred to is a much larger sphere englobing the physical earth and the emo- tional world and yet at the same time interpenetrating the two. It may be reached therefore, not by moving in space, for it is all around us, but by learning to focus our consciousness in the mental body which is formed of its matter — a very difficult feat.
To realize again the close relationship between the different worlds, it should be noted that the exceedingly delicate matter of the mental world, which may truly be called "mind stuff/' may be obtained by breaking up the finest matter of the emotional world. The mental world stands in the same relation to the emotional world as the
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THEOSOPHY SIMPLIFIED
latter does to the physical. Mental matter displays a set of characteristics all its own. It is marked chiefly by its instant response to the force of thought, breaking into cascades of restless, changing colors with every mental impulse. The matter is most luminous and beautiful as a result of its ceaseless vibrations. To quote the words of one investigator :
"These vibrations give rise to the most exquisite and constantly changing colors, waves of varying shades like the rainbow hues in mother-of-pearl, etherealized and brightened to an indescribable ex- tent, sweeping over and through every form, so that each presents a harmony of rippling, living, lumi- nous, delicate colors, including many not known to earth. Words can give no idea of the exquisite beauty and radiance shown in combinations of this subtle matter, instinct with life and motion."1
In accordance evidently with some process intimately connected with the structural formation of the solar system, the matter of the mental world, in common with that of the emotional and of the physical world, is dis- tinguished by seven grades or densities. In the mental world, however, there is an important division of these different grades of matter into two groups, the four denser grades forming collectively what is called the lower mental world, the three subtler the higher mental world.
This is not an arbitrary division ; it is based on certain differences in the matter itself. That of the lower mental world responds to what we call concrete thoughts and gives rise to mental images, pictures and forms ; that of the higher mental world responds to our abstract thoughts by sending out waves of force in all directions.
•','•1 '.•r.M'fl!, i The Ancient Wisdom, by Annie Besant, p. 146.
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THE OTHEE WORLDS
There are almost countless intelligences dwelling in the heaven world. It is the realm of those lofty beings spoken of in sacred scriptures as angels or devas. It is also the true home of the Masters and their pupils, and here it is that they do most of their beneficent work of helping humanity in its age-long pilgrimage towards perfection.
The souls of all human beings are here — a vast host of egos — some of them in physical incarnation, others resting and growing spiritually between one physical in- carnation and the next. Since the heaven world is all around us, a soul never leaves that realm of bliss when taking an incarnation on earth ; it merely gathers round itself, to form bodies, the matter of the lower worlds with which it wishes to come into contact, and then trains these young bodies to respond to its more mature powers. As souls, we obtain only the physical body through the help of parents; the mental and emotional bodies we make for ourselves. Thus every moment of every day we, as souls, dwell in the heaven world ; we are as much spirits now as we ever shall be, though it is true that much of our soul consciousness is shut away by the limitations of the brain.
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