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    "slug": "vol-1-cosmogenesis",
    "name": "Volume I — Cosmogenesis"
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 38,
    "slug": "40-viii-life-force-or-gravity-529",
    "title": "VIII. LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY? ... 529",
    "of": 48,
    "words": 6267,
    "text": "## VIII. LIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY? ... 529\n\n\nThe Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky, Vol 1, bk 3, ch 8\n\n###### The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky -- Vol.\n1\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 529 MYSTERIOUS SUN FLUID.\n\n##### VIII.\nLIFE, FORCE, OR GRAVITY.\n\n**T**HE* imponderable *fluids have had their\nday; \"mechanical Forces\" are less talked about; Science\nhas put on a new face for this last quarter of a century; but\ngravitation has remained, owing its life to new combinations after\nthe old ones had nearly killed it. It may answer scientific hypotheses\nvery well, but the question is whether it answers as well to truth,\nand represents a fact in nature. Attraction by itself is *not\n*sufficient to explain merely planetary motion; how can it\npresume to explain the rotatory motion in the infinitudes of Space?\nAttraction alone will never fill all the gaps, unless a special\nimpulse is admitted for every sidereal body, and the rotation\nof every planet with its satellites is shown to be due to some\n*one cause *combined with attraction. And even then, says\nan astronomer (\"*Philosophie Naturelle*,\"*\nart. *142), Science would have to name that cause.\n\nOccultism has named it for ages, and so have all the ancient philosophers;\nbut then all such beliefs are now proclaimed exploded superstitions.\nThe \"extra cosmic\" God has killed every possibility\nof belief in *intra* cosmic intelligent Forces, yet who,\nor what is the original *pusher *in that motion? \"When\nwe have learned the cause, *unique et speciale*,* *that\npushes, we will be ready to combine it with the one which attracts,\"\nsays Francoeur (\"*Astronomie*,\"* p. *342).\nAnd again -- \"Attraction between the celestial bodies is\nonly repulsion: it is *the Sun that drives them incessantly\nonward; *for otherwise, their motion would stop.\"\n\nIf ever this theory of the Sun-Force being the primal cause of\nall life on earth and motion in heaven is accepted, and if that\nother far bolder one of Herschell -- about certain organisms in\nthe Sun -- is accepted even as a provisional hypothesis, then\nwill our teachings be vindicated, and esoteric allegory shown\nto have anticipated Modern Science by millions of years, probably,\nfor these are the Archaic teachings. Marttanda (the Sun) watches\nand threatens -- without abandoning the central position to which\nhis Mother, Aditi, relegated him -- his seven brothers, the planets;\n\"he pursues them, turning slowly around himself . . . and\nfollows them from afar, moving in the same direction that they\ndo, on the path that encircles their houses\" -- or the orbit.\n(*See Comment to Stanza IV.*,* Book I.*)* *It\nis the Sun-fluids or Emanations that impart all motion and awaken\nall into life, in the Solar System. It is attraction and repulsion,\nbut not as understood by modern physics and according to the law\nof gravity; but in harmony with *the laws of Manvantaric motion*\nde-\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 530 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nsigned from the early *Sandhya*,* *the Dawn of the\nrebuilding and higher *reformation *of the System. These\nlaws are immutable; but the motion of all the bodies, which motion\nis diverse and alters with every *minor *Kalpa -- is regulated\nby the *Movers*,* *the Intelligences within the\nCosmic Soul. Are we so very wrong in believing all this? Well,\nhere is a modern and a great man of Science who, speaking of vital\nelectricity, uses language far more akin to Occultism than to\nmodern materialistic thought. We refer the sceptical reader to\nan article on \"The Source of Heat in the Sun,\" by Robert\nHunt , F.R.S., (in \"*Popular Science Review*,\"*\n*Vol. IV., p. 148), who, speaking of the luminous envelope\nof the Sun and its \"peculiar curdy appearance,\" says:\n--\n\n\"Arago proposed that this envelope should be called the Photosphere,\na name now generally adopted. By the elder Herschell, the surface\nof this photosphere was compared to mother-of-pearl. . . . . It\nresembles the Ocean on a tranquil summer-day, when its surface\nis slightly crisped by a gentle breeze. . . . Mr. Nasmyth has\ndiscovered a more remarkable condition than any that had previously\nbeen suspected . . . objects which are peculiarly lens-shaped\n. . . . like 'willow leaves . . . . different in size . . . .\n. not arranged in any order crossing each other in all directions\n. . . . . with an irregular motion among themselves . . . . .\n. . They are seen approaching to and receding from each other,\nand sometimes assuming new angular positions, so that the appearance\n. . . . . has been compared to a dense shoal of fish, which, indeed,\nthey resemble in shape. . . . The size of these objects gives\na grand idea of the gigantic scale upon which physical (?) operations\nare carried out in the Sun. They cannot be less than 1,000 miles\nin length, and from two to three hundred miles in breadth. *The\nmost probable conjecture which has been offered *respecting\nthose leaf or lens-like objects, is *that the photosphere* *is\nan immense ocean of gaseous matter (what kind of \"matter?\")\n. . . in a state of intense (apparent) incandescence, and that\nthey are perspective projections of the sheets of flame. . . .\"\n\nSolar \"flames\" seen through telescopes are *reflections*,*\n*says Occultism. But see what Occultists have to say to this\nin Book I.\n\n\"Whatever they may be (those sheets of flame), *it is evident\nthey are the immediate sources of solar heat and light. *Here\nwe have a surrounding envelope of photogenic matter,** which pendulates\nwith mighty energies, and by communicating its motion to the ethereal\nmedium in stellar space, produces heat and light in far distant\nworlds. We have said that those forms have been compared to certain\norganisms, and Herschell says, 'Though it would be too daring\nto speak of such organizations as *partaking of life *[why\nnot?],*** yet we do not know that vital action is competent to\ndevelop heat, light, and electricity.' . . *. Can it be that\nthere is truth in this fine thought? May the pulsing of vital\nmatter*\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* And the *central mass*,* *too, as will be found,\nor rather the centre of the reflection.\n\n** That \"matter\" is just like the reflection in a mirror\nof the flame from a \"photogenic\" *lamp*-*wick.*\n\n*** *See *\"*Five Years of Theosophy*,\"*\n*p. 258 -- answer to this speculation of Herschell's.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 531 SUN-FORCE AND EARTH-FORCE.\n\n*in the central Sun of our System be the source of all that\nlife which crowds the earth, and without doubt overspreads the\nother planets, to which the Sun is the mighty Minister?*\"\n. . .\n\nOccultism answers these queries in the affirmative; and Science\nwill find this to be the case, one day.\n\nAgain, on p. 156, Mr. Hunt writes: --\n\n\"But regarding Life -- Vital Force -- as a power far more\nexalted than either light, heat, or electricity, and indeed *capable\nof exerting a controlling power over them all*\"* *(this\nis absolutely occult). . . . . \"we are certainly disposed\nto view with satisfaction that speculation which supposes the\nphotosphere to be *the primary seat of vital power*,* *and\nto regard *with a poetic pleasure that hypothesis which refers\nthe Solar energies to Life.*\"\n\nThus, we have an important scientific corroboration for one of\nour fundamental dogmas -- namely, that (*a*) the Sun is\nthe store-house of Vital Force, which *is *the* Noumenon\n*of Electricity; and (*b*) that it is from its mysterious,\nnever-to-be-fathomed depths, that issue those life currents which\nthrill through Space, as through the organisms of every living\nthing on Earth. For see what another eminent physician says, who\ncalls this (our life-fluid) \"nervous Ether.\" Change\na few sentences in the article, extracts from which now follow,\nand you have another *quasi*-*Occult treatise *on\nLife Force. This once, it is again Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S.,\nwho gives his views in the \"*Popular Science Review*,\"*\nVol. X.*,* p. *380-3, on \"Nervous Ether,\"\nas he has on \"Sun-Force\" and \"Earth-Force\":\n--\n\n\"The idea attempted to be conveyed by the theory is, that\nbetween the molecules of the matter, solid or fluid, of which\nthe nervous organisms, and, indeed, of which all the organic parts\nof a body are composed, there exists a refined subtle medium,\nvaporous or gaseous, which holds the molecules in a condition\nfor motion upon each other, and for arrangement and rearrangement\nof form; a medium by and through which all motion is conveyed;\nby and through which the one organ or part of the body is held\nin communion with the other parts, by which and through which\nthe outer living world communicates with the living man: a medium,\nwhich, being present, enables the phenomena of life to be demonstrated,\nand which, being universally absent, leaves the body actually\ndead. . . . . .\"\n\nAnd the whole Solar System falls into *Pralaya *--*\n*the author might have added. But let us read further:\n\n. . . \"I use the word *Ether *in its general sense as\nmeaning a very light, vaporous or gaseous matter; I use it, in\nshort, as the astronomer uses it when he speaks of the Ether of\nSpace, by which he means a subtle but material medium. . . . .\nWhen I speak of a *nervous *Ether, I do not convey that the\nether is existent in nervous structure only: I believe truly that\nit is a special part of the nervous organization; but, as nerves\npass into all structures that have capacities for movement and\nsensibilities, so the nervous ether passes into all such parts;\nand as the nervous ether is, according to my view, a direct product\nfrom blood, so we may look upon it as a part of the atmosphere\nof the blood.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 532 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\n. . . The evidence in favour of the existence of an elastic medium\npervading the nervous matter and capable of being influenced by\nsimple pressure is all-convincing. . . . In nervous structure\nthere is, unquestionably, a true nervous fluid, *as our predecessors\n*taught*** The precise chemical (?)** composition of this\nfluid is not yet well known; the physical characters of it have\nbeen little studied. Whether it moves in currents, we do not know;\nwhether it circulates, we do not know; whether it is formed in\nthe centres and passes from them to the nerves, or whether it\nis formed everywhere where blood enters nerve, we do not know.\nThe exact uses of the fluid we do not consequently know. It occurs\nto my mind, however, that the veritable fluid of nervous matter\nis not of itself sufficient to act as the subtle medium that connects\nthe outer with the inner universe of man and animal. I think --\nand this is the modification I suggest to the older theory --\nthere must be another form of matter present during life; a matter\nwhich exists in the condition of vapour or gas, which pervades\nthe whole nervous organism, *surrounds as an enveloping*\n*atmosphere*** *each molecule of nervous structure, and is\nthe medium of all motion, communicated to and from the nervous\ncentres. . . . When it is once fairly presented to the mind that\nduring life *there is in the animal body a finely diffused form\nof matter*,* *a vapour filling every part -- and even\nstored in some parts; a matter constantly renewed by the vital\nchemistry; a matter as easily disposed of as the breath, after\nit has served its purpose -- a new flood of light breaks on the\nIntelligence .\" . . . .\n\nA new flood of light is certainly thrown on the wisdom of ancient\nand mediaeval Occultism and its votaries. For Paracelsus wrote\nthe same thing more than three hundred years ago, namely, in the\nsixteenth century, as follows: --\n\n\"The whole of the Microcosm is potentially contained in the\n*Liquor Vitae*,* *a nerve fluid . . . in which is\ncontained the nature, quality, character, and essence of beings.\"\n. . . (*De Generatione Hominis*). . . . \"The Archaeus\nor *Liquor Vitae *is an essence that is equally distributed\nin all parts of the human body. . . . The *Spiritus Vitae *takes\nits origin from the* Spiritus Mundi. *Being an *emanation\nof the latter*,* *it contains the elements of all cosmic\ninfluences, and is therefore the cause by which the action of\nthe stars (cosmic forces) upon the invisible body of man (his\n*vital lingasharira*)* *may be explained.\"\n(*De Viribus Membrorum. *See* *\"Life of Paracelsus\"\nby Franz Hartmann, **M.D., F.T.S.**)\n\nHad Dr. Richardson studied all the secret works of Paracelsus,\nhe would not have been obliged to confess so often -- \"we\ndo not know\" . . . . \"it is not known to us\" .\n. . . etc., etc. Nor would he have ever pronounced the following\nsentence, recanting the best portions of his independent *rediscovery*,*\n*in which he says (*p*. 384): --\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* Paracelsus for one, who called it *liquor vitae*,*\n*and* Archaeus.*\n\n** Rather *alchemical *--* *\"composition.\"\n\n*** \"This vital force . . . radiates around man like a luminous\nsphere\" . . . says Paracelsus in *Paragranum.*\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 533 PANTHEISM OR MONOTHEISM.\n\n\"It may be urged that in this line of thought is included\nno more than the theory of the existence of the ether . . . .\nsupposed to pervade space. . . . . It may be said that this universal\nether pervades all the organism of the animal body as from without,\nand as part of every organization. This view would be Pantheism\nphysically discovered *if it were true *(*!!*) It fails\nto be true because it would destroy the individuality of every\nindividual sense. . . . .\"\n\nWe fail to see it, and *we know *it is not so. Pantheism\n*may* be \"physically *rediscovered.*\"\nIt was known, seen, and felt by the whole of antiquity. Pantheism\nmanifests itself in the vast expanse of the starry heavens, in\nthe breathing of the seas and oceans and the quiver of life of\nthe smallest blade of grass. Philosophy rejects one *finite\n*and* imperfect *God in the universe, as the anthropomorphic\ndeity of the monotheist is represented by his followers. It repudiates\nin its name of *Philo*-*Theo*-*Sophia *the\ngrotesque idea that Infinite, *Absolute *Deity should,\nor rather *could*,* *have any, whether direct or\nindirect, relation to finite illusive evolutions of matter, and\ntherefore cannot imagine a universe *outside *that Deity,\nor the latter absent from the smallest speck of animate or inanimate\nsubstance.* Why either the Ether of Space, or \"nervous Ether\"\nshould \"destroy the individuality of every sense\" seems\nincomprehensible for one acquainted with the real nature of that\n\"nervous ether\" under its Sanskrit, or rather esoteric\nand Kabalistic name. Dr. Richardson agrees that --\n\n\"If we did not individually produce the medium of communication\nbetween ourselves and the outer world, if it were produced from\nwithout and adapted *to one kind of vibration alone*,*\n*there were fewer senses required than we possess: for, taking\ntwo illustrations only -- ether of light is not adapted for sound,\nand yet we hear as well as see; while air, the medium of motion\nof sound, is not the medium of light, and yet we see and hear.\"\n\nThis is not so. The opinion that \"Pantheism *fails to\nbe true *because it would destroy the individuality of every\nindividual sense\" shows that all the conclusions of the learned\ndoctor are based on the modern physical theories, though he would\nfain reform them. But he will find it impossible to do this unless\nhe allows the existence of spiritual senses to replace the gradual\natrophy of the physical. \"We see and hear,\" in accordance\n(of course in Dr. Richardson's mind) with the explanations of\nthe phenomena of sight and hearing, by that same materialistic\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* This does not mean that every bush, tree or stone is God or\n*a* god; but only that every speck of the manifested material\nof Kosmos belongs to and is the substance of \"God,\"\nhowever low it may have fallen in its cyclic gyration through\nthe Eternities of the ever becoming,; and also that every such\nspeck individually, and Kosmos collectively, is an aspect and\na reminder of that universal *One Soul *--* *which\nphilosophy refuses to call God, thus limiting the eternal and\never-present root and essence.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 534 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nscience which postulates that we cannot see and hear otherwise.\nThe Occultists and mystics know better. The Vedic Aryans were\nas familiar with the mysteries of sound and colour as our physiologists\nare on the physical plane, but they had mastered the secrets of\nboth on planes inaccessible to the materialist. They knew of a\ndouble set of senses; spiritual and material. In a man who is\ndeprived of one or more senses, the remaining become the more\ndeveloped: *e.g*., the blind man will recover his sight\nthrough the senses of touch, of hearing, etc., and he who is deaf\nwill be able to hear through sight, by *seeing audibly *the\nwords uttered by the lips and mouth of the speaker. But these\nare cases that belong to the world of matter still. The spiritual\nsenses, those that act on a higher plane of consciousness are\nrejected *a priori *by physiology because the latter is\nignorant of the sacred science. It limits the action of ether\nto vibrations, and, dividing it from air -- though air is simply\n*differentiated *and compound ether -- makes it assume\nfunctions to fit in with the special theories of the physiologist.\nBut there is more real science in the teachings of the Upanishads\nwhen these are correctly understood, than the Orientalists, who\ndo not understand them at all, are ready to admit. *Mental\nas well as physical correlations of the seven senses *(seven\non the physical and seven on the mental planes) are clearly explained\nand defined in the Vedas, and especially in the Upanishad called\nAnugita: \"The indestructible and the destructible, such is\nthe double manifestation of the Self. Of these the indestructible\nis the existent (the true essence or nature of Self, the underlying\nprinciples). The manifestation as an individual (or entity) is\ncalled the destructible.\" Thus speaks the **A**SCETIC\nin Anugita; and also: \"Every one who is twice-born (initiated)\nknows such is the teaching of the ancients. . . . . Space is the\nfirst entity. . . . . Now Space (*Akasa*,* *or the\nnoumenon of Ether) has one quality . . . and that is sound only\n. . . and the qualities of sound are Shadga, Rishabha, Gandhara,\nMadhyama, Panchama, and beyond these five Nishada and Dhaivata\";\n(the Hindu gamut). These seven notes of the scale are the principles\nof sound. (*Vide *ch. xxxvi. of *Anugita.*) The\nqualities of every Element, as of every sense, are septenary,\nand to judge and dogmatize on them from their manifestation (likewise\nsevenfold in itself) on the material or objective plane above\nis quite arbitrary. For it is only by the **S**ELF\nemancipating itself from these (seven) causes of illusion that\none acquires the knowledge (secret wisdom) of the qualities of\nobjects of sense on their dual plane of manifestation -- the visible\nand the invisible. Thus it is said: --\n\n\"State this wonderful mystery . . . . . Hear the assignment\nof causes exhaustively. The nose, and the tongue, and the eye,\nand the\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 535 THE SEVEN PHYSICAL SENSES.\n\nskin, and the ear as the fifth (organ of sense) Mind and Understanding,*\nthese seven (senses) should be understood to be the causes of\n(the knowledge of their) qualities. Smell, and taste, and colour,\nsound, and touch as the fifth, the object of the mental operation,\nand the object of the Understanding (the highest spiritual sense\nor perception), *these seven are causes of action. *He\nwho smells, he who eats, he who sees, he who speaks, and he who\nhears as the fifth, he who thinks, and he who understands, these\nseven should be regarded as the *causes of the agents*.**\nThese (the agents) being possessed of qualities (*sattwa*,*\nrajas*,* tamas*),* *enjoy* *their own\nqualities, agreeable and disagreeable\" (*Anugita*)*.*\n\nThen one reads in the Bhagavadgita (chap. vii.) the Deity (or\nKrishna) saying: --\n\n\". . . . Only some know me truly. Earth, Water, Fire, Air,\nSpace (or* Akasa*,* *AEther), Mind, Understanding\nand Egoism (or the perception of all the former on the illusive\nplane). . . This is *a lower *form of my nature. Know (that\nthere is) another (form of my) nature, and higher than this, which\nis animate, O you of mighty arms! and by which this Universe is\nupheld. . . . All this is woven upon me, like numbers of pearls\nupon a thread (*Mundakopanishad*,* *p. 298). . .\n. I* am the taste *in the\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The division of the physical senses into five, comes to us from\ngreat antiquity. But while adopting the number, no modern philosopher\nhas asked himself how these senses could exist, *i.e.*,\nbe perceived and used in a self-conscious way, unless there was\nthe *sixth *sense, mental perception to register and record\nthem; and (this for the Metaphysicians and Occultists) the **S**EVENTH\nto preserve the spiritual fruition and remembrance thereof, as\nin a Book of Life which belongs to Karma. The ancients divided\nthe senses into five, simply because their teachers (the Initiates)\nstopped at the *hearing*,* *as being that sense\nwhich developed in the *physical plane *(got dwarfed rather,\nlimited to this plane) only at the beginning of the Fifth Race.\n(The Fourth Race already had begun to lose the *spiritual *condition,\nso pre-eminently developed in the Third Race.)\n\n** The modern commentators, failing to comprehend the subtle meaning\nof the ancient Scholiasts, take this sentence, \"causes of\nthe agents,\" to mean \"that the powers of smelling, etc.,\nwhen attributed to the Self, make him appear as an agent, as an\nactive principle\" (!), which is entirely fanciful. These\n\"seven\" are understood to be the causes of the Agents,\nbecause \"the objects are causes, as their enjoyment causes\nan impression.\" It means esoterically that they, these seven\nsenses, *are caused by the ***A**GENTS, which\nare the \"deities,\" for what does, or can, the sentence\nwhich follows this one mean? \"Thus,\" it is said, \"these\nseven (senses) are the causes of emancipation\" (*i.e.*,\nwhen these causes are made ineffectual). \"And among the learned\n(the wise Initiates) who understand the qualities *which are\nin* *the position *(in the nature, rather) *of the\ndeities*,* *each in its place,\" means simply that\nthe \"learned\" understand the nature of the *noumenoi*\nof the various phenomena; and that \"qualities,\" in this\ninstance, mean the qualities of the high planetary or Elementary\ngods or Intelligences, which rule the elements and their *products*,*\n*and not at all \"the senses,\" as the modern commentator\nthinks. For the \"learned do not suppose their senses to have\naught to do with them, any more than with their **S**ELF.\"\n(*Vide *pp. 278 and 279 of the VIII. Vol. of \"The\nSacred Books of the East.\" *Anugita.*)\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 536 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nwater, O son of Kunti! I am the light of the sun and moon. I am\n. . . sound ('*i.e.*, the Occult essence which underlies\nall these and the other qualities of the various things mentioned,'\n*Transl.*),* *in space . . . the fragrant smell\nin the earth, refulgence in the fire . . . etc., etc.\"\n\nTruly, then, one should study Occult philosophy before one begins\nto verify and seek the mysteries of nature on its surface alone,\nas he alone \"who knows the truth about the qualities of nature,\nwho understands the creation of all entities . . . is emancipated\"\nfrom error. Says the \"preceptor\": \"Accurately understanding\nthe great tree of which the unperceived (Occult nature, the root\nof all) is the sprout from the seed (Parabrahmam) which consists\nof the understanding (*Mahat*,* *or the universal\nintelligent Soul) as its trunk, the branches of which are the\ngreat egoism,* in the holes of which are the sprouts, namely,\nthe senses, of which the great (Occult, or invisible) elements\nare the flower-bunches,** the gross elements (the gross objective\nmatter), the smaller boughs, which are always possessed of leaves,\nalways possessed of flowers . . . . which is eternal and the seed\nof which is the Brahman (the deity); and cutting it with that\nexcellent sword -- knowledge (secret wisdom) -- one attains immortality\nand casts off birth and death.\"\n\nThis is the Tree of Life, the Asvattha tree, only *after *the\ncutting of which the slave of life and death, **M**AN,\ncan be emancipated.\n\nBut the men of Science know nought, nor will they hear of the\n\"Sword of Knowledge\" used by the adepts and ascetics.\nHence the one-sided remarks of the most liberal among them, based\non and flowing from undue importance given to the arbitrary divisions\nand classification of physical science. Occultism heeds them very\nlittle, and nature still less. The whole range of physical phenomena\nproceed from the* Primary *of Ether -- Akasa, as dual-natured\nAkasa proceeds from undifferentiated *Chaos*,* *so-called,\nthe latter being the primary *aspect *of* *Mulaprakriti,\nthe root-matter and the first abstract Idea one can form of Parabrahmam.\nModern Science may divide its hypothetically conceived ether in\nas many ways as it likes; the *real* AEther of Space will\nremain as it is throughout. It has its seven principles, as all\nthe rest of nature has, and where there was no Ether *there\nwould be no sound*,* *as* *it is the vibrating\nsound-board in nature in all of its seven differentiations. This\nis the first mystery the Initiates of old have learned. Our present\nnormal physical senses were (from our present point of view) abnormal\nin those days of slow and progressive downward evolution and fall\ninto matter. And there was a day when all that which in our modern\ntimes is regarded as phenomena, so puzzling to the\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n** Ahamkara*,* *I suppose, that *Egoship *(or\nAhamship) which leads to every error.\n\n** The elements are the five tanmatras of earth, water, fire,\nair and ether, the producers of the grosser elements.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 537 WHAT IS NERVOUS ETHER?\n\nphysiologists now compelled to believe in them -- such as thought\ntransference, clairvoyance, clairaudience, etc.; in short, all\nthat which is called now \"wonderful and abnormal\" --\nall that and much more belonged to the senses and faculties common\nto all humanity. We are, however, cycling back and cycling forward;\n*i.e.*, having lost in spirituality that which we acquired\nin physical development until almost the end of the Fourth Race,\nwe (mankind) are as gradually and imperceptibly losing now in\nthe physical all that we regain once more in the spiritual *re*-evolution.\nThis process must go on until the period which will bring the\nSixth Root-Race on a parallel line with the spirituality of the\nSecond, long extinct mankind.\n\nBut this will hardly be understood at present. We must return\nto Dr. Richardson's hopeful though somewhat incorrect hypothesis\nabout \"nervous ether.\" Under the misleading translation\nof the word as \"Space\"* *(*Akasa*),*\n*it has just been shown in the ancient Hindu system as the\n\"first born\" of the One, having but one quality, SOUND\n(which is septenary). In esoteric language this \"One\"\nis the \"Father\" Deity, and \"Sound\" is synonymous\nwith *Logos *(Verbum, or the *Son*)*. *Whether\nconsciously or otherwise, it must be the latter; and Dr. Richardson,\nwhile preaching an Occult doctrine -- chooses the lowest form\nof the septenary nature of that \"SOUND\" and speculates\nupon it, adding: --\n\n\"The theory, I offer, is that the nervous Ether *is an\nanimal product. *In* *different classes of animals it\nmay differ in physical quality so as to be adapted to the special\nwants of the animal, but essentially it plays one part in all\nanimals, and is produced, in all, in the same way. . . .\"\n\nHerein lies the nucleus of error leading to all the resultant\nmistaken views. This \"Nervous Ether\" is the lowest principle\nof the Primordial Essence which is *Life. *It is *animal\nvitality *diffused in all nature and acting according to the\nconditions it finds for its activity. It is not an \"animal\nproduct,\" but the living animal, the living flower or plant\nare *its *products. The animal tissues only absorb it according\nto their more or less morbid or healthy state -- as do *physical\n*materials and structures (*in their primogenial State\n*--* nota bene*)* *--* *and henceforward,\nfrom the moment of the birth of the Entity, are regulated, strengthened,\nand *fed *by it. It descends in a larger supply to vegetation\nin the *Sushumna *sun-ray which lights and feeds the moon,\nand it is through her beams that it pours its light upon, and\npenetrates man and animal, more during their sleep and rest, than\nwhen they are in full activity. Therefore Dr. Richardson errs\nagain in stating that: --\n\n\"The nervous ether is not, according to my idea of it, in\n*itself active*,* nor an excitant of animal motion in the\nsense of a force; *but it is essential as supplying the conditions\nby which the motion is rendered possible.\" (It is *just\nthe reverse.*) . . . . \"It is the conductor of all vibrations\nof heat, of light, of sound, of electrical action, of mechanical\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 538 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nfriction.* It holds the nervous system throughout in perfect tension,\nduring states of life (*true*)*. *By exercise it is\ndisposed of (*rather generated*)* *. . . and when demand\nfor it is greater than the supply, its deficiency is indicated\nby nervous collapse or exhaustion.** It accumulates in the nervous\ncentres during sleep, bringing them, if I may so speak, to their\ndue tone, and therewith raising the muscles to awakening and renewed\nlife. . . .\"\n\nJust so; this is quite correct, and as comprehensible. Therefore,\n\"The body fully renewed by it, presents capacity for motion,\nfulness of form, *life. *The body bereft of it presents\ninertia, the configuration of shrunken death, *the evidence\nof having lost something physical that was in it when it lived.*\"\n\nModern Science denies the existence of a \"vital principle.\"\nThis extract is a clear proof of its grand mistake. But this \"physical\nsomething,\" that we call life-fluid -- the* Liquor Vitae\n*of Paracelsus -- has not *deserted the body*,*\n*as Dr. Richardson thinks. It has only changed its state from\nactivity to passivity, and become latent owing to the too morbid\nstate of the tissues, on which it has no more hold. Once the *rigor\nmortis *absolute, the \"*Liquor Vitae*\"*\n*will re-awaken into action, and begin its work on the atoms\n*chemically. *Brahma-Vishnu -- the creator and the Preserver\nof Life -- will have transformed himself into Siva the *Destroyer.*\n\nLastly he writes on p. 387: --\n\n\"The nervous Ether may be poisoned; it may, I mean, have\ndiffused through it, by simple gaseous diffusion, other gases\nor vapours derived from without; it may derive from within products\nof substances swallowed and ingested, or gases of decomposition\nproduced during disease in the body itself.\"\n\nAnd the learned gentleman might have added on the same Occult\nprinciple: \"That the 'nervous Ether' of one person can be\npoisoned by the 'nervous Ether' of another person or his *auric\nemanations. *But* *see what Paracelsus said of 'Nervous\nEther'\": --\n\n\"The Archaeus is of a magnetic nature, and *attracts or\nrepels *other sympathetic or antipathetic forces belonging\nto the same plane. The less power of resistance for astral influences\na person possesses, the more will he be subject to such influences.\nThe vital force is not enclosed in man, but radiates (within)\nand around him like a luminous sphere (aura) and it may be made\nto act at a distance. . . . It *may poison the essence of life\n*(*blood*)* and cause diseases*,* *or\nit may purify it after\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* The conductor in the sense of *Upadhi *--* *a\nmaterial or physical basis; but, as the second principle of the\nuniversal Soul and *Vital *Force in Nature, it is *intelligently\n*guided by the fifth principle thereof.\n\n** And too great an exuberance of it in the nervous system leads\nas often to disease and death. If it were the *animal system\nwhich generated it*,* *such would not be the case,\nsurely. Hence, the latter emergency shows its independence of\nthe system, and connection with the Sun-Force, as Metcalfe and\nProfessor Hunt explain it.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 539 THE LIFE-PRINCIPLE.\n\nit has been made impure, and restore the health\" (*Paragranum;\n*\"*Life of Paracelsus*,\"* *by Dr.\nF. Hartmann.)\n\nThat the two, Archaeus and \"nervous Ether,\" are identical,\nis shown by the English Scientist, who says that the tension of\nit *generally *may be too high or too low; that it may\nbe so \"owing to local changes in the nervous matter it invests.\"\n. . . \"Under sharp excitation it may vibrate as if in a storm\nand plunge every muscle under cerebral or spinal control into\nuncontrolled motion --unconscious convulsions.\"\n\nThis is called nervous excitation, but no one, except Occultists,\nknows the reason of such nervous perturbation or explains the\n*primary *causes of it. The \"principle of Life\"\nmay kill *when too exuberant*,* *as also when there\nis too little of it. But this principle on the manifested (or\nour) plane is but the effect and the result of the *intelligent\naction *of the \"Host\" -- collectively, Principle\n-- the manifesting **L**IFE and **L**IGHT.\nIt is itself subordinate to, and emanates from the ever-invisible,\neternal and Absolute **O**NE **L**IFE\nin a descending and a re-ascending scale of hierarchic degrees\n-- a true septenary ladder, with **S**OUND (or the\nLogos) at the upper end and the Vidyadharas* (the inferior Pitris)\nat the lower.\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* In a recent work on the Symbolism in Buddhism and Christianity\n(in Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, rather, many later rituals\nand dogmas in Northern Buddhism in its *popular exoteric form*,*\n*being identical with those of the Latin Church) some curious\nfacts are to be found. The author of this volume, with more pretensions\nthan erudition, has indiscriminately crammed into his work ancient\nand modern Buddhist teachings, and sorely confused Lamaism with\nBuddhism. On page 404 of this volume, called \"*Buddhism\nin Christendom*,* or Jesus the Essene*,\"* *our\n*pseudo*-*Orientalist *devotes himself to criticizing\nthe \"Seven Principles\" of the Esoteric Buddhists, and\nattempts to ridicule them. On page 405, the closing page, he speaks\nenthusiastically of the *Vidyadharas*,* *\"the\nseven great legions of dead men made wise.\" Now, these \"Vidyadharas,\"\nwhom some Orientalists call \"demi-gods,\" are in fact,\nexoterically, a kind of Siddhas, \"affluent in devotion,\"\nand, *esoterically*,* *they are identical with the\nseven classes of Pitris, one class of which endow man in the Third\nRace with Self-Consciousness by incarnating in the human shells.\nThe \"Hymn to the Sun,\" at the end of his queer volume\nof mosaic, which endows Buddhism with a *personal god *(!!),\nis an unfortunate thrust at the very proofs so elaborately collected\nby the unlucky author.\n\nTheosophists are fully aware that Mr. Rhys Davids has expressed\nhis opinion on their beliefs likewise. He said that the theories\npropounded by the author of Esoteric Buddhism \"were not Buddhism,\nand were not Esoteric.\" The remark is the result of (*a*)\nthe unfortunate mistake of writing \"Buddhism\" instead\nof \"Budhaism,\" or *Budhism*,* i.e.*,*\n*of connecting the system with Gautama's religion instead\nof with the Secret Wisdom taught by Krishna, Sankaracharya, and\nby many others, as much as by Buddha; and (*b*) of the\nimpossibility of Mr. Rhys Davids knowing anything of true esoteric\nteachings. But he is, at all events, the greatest Pali and Buddhist\nscholar of the day, and whatever he may say is entitled to respectful\nhearing. But when one who knows no more of exoteric Buddhism on\nscientific and materialistic lines, than he knows of esoteric\nphilosophy, defames those whom he honours with his spite, and\nassumes with the Theosophists the airs of a profound scholar,\none can only smile and -- heartily laugh at him.\n\n####### [[Vol. 1, Page]] 540 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.\n\nOf course, the Occultists are fully aware of the fact that the\nVitalist \"fallacy,\" so derided by Vogt and Huxley, is,\nnevertheless, still countenanced in very high scientific quarters,\nand, therefore, they are happy to feel that they do not stand\nalone. Thus, Professor de Quatrefages writes: --\n\n\"It is very true we do not know *what *life* is;\n*but no more do we know *what* the force *is *that\nset the stars in motion. . . . . Living beings are heavy, and\ntherefore subject to gravitation; they are the seat of numerous\nand various physico-chemical phenomena which are indispensable\nto their existence, and which must be referred to the action of\netherodynamy (electricity, heat, etc.). But these phenomena are\nhere manifested *under the influence of another force*.\n. . . . Life is not antagonistic to the inanimate forces, but\nit governs and rules their action by its laws.\"*\n\n--------------\n\n[[This page continued in next section]]\n\n####### [[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------\n\n* \"*The Human* *Species*,\"* *p.\n11.\n\nNext Section\n\nContents",
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