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The
Earth Chain
By
William
Quan Judge
Chapter
3 of
The
Coming now to our Earth the view put forward by
Theosophy regarding its genesis, its evolution and the evolution of the Human,
Animal and other Monads, is quite different from modern ideas, and in some
things contrary to accepted theories.
But the theories of today are not stable. They change
with each century, while the Theosophical one never alters because, in the
opinion of those Elder Brothers who have caused its repromulgation and pointed
to its confirmation in
ancient books, it is but a statement of facts in
nature. The modern theory is, on the contrary, always speculative, changeable,
and continually altered.
Following the general plan outlined in preceding
pages, the Earth is sevenfold. It is an entity and not a mere lump of gross
matter. And being thus an entity of a septenary nature there must be six other
globes which roll with it in space.
This company of seven globes has been called the
"Earth Chain," the "Planetary Chain." In Esoteric Buddhism
this is clearly stated, but there a rather hard and fast materialistic view of
it is given and the reader led to believe that the doctrine speaks of seven
distinct globes, all separated from though connected with each other. One is
forced to conclude that the author meant to say that the globe Earth is as
distinct from the other six as Venus is from Mars.
This is not the doctrine. The earth is one of seven
globes, in respect to man's consciousness only, because when he functions on
one of the seven he perceives it as a distinct globe and does not see the other
six. This is in perfect correspondence with man himself who has six other
constituents of which only the gross body is visible to him because he is now
functioning on the Earth -- or the fourth globe -- and his body represents the
Earth.
The whole seven "globes" constitute one
single mass or great globe and they all interpenetrate each other. But we have
to say "globe," because the ultimate shape is globular or spherical.
If one relies too closely on the explanation made by Mr. Sinnett it might be
supposed that the globes did not interpenetrate each other but were connected
by currents or lines of magnetic force. And if too close attention is paid to
the diagrams used in the Secret Doctrine to illustrate the scheme, without
paying due regard to the explanations and cautions given by H. P. Blavatsky,
the same error may be made. But both she and her Adept teachers say, that the
seven globes of our chain are in "coadunition with each other but not in
consubstantiality." (Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 166, first edition.) This
is
further enforced by cautions not to rely on statistics
or plane surface diagrams, but to look at the metaphysical and spiritual aspect
of the theory as stated in English. Thus from the very source of Mr. Sinnett's
book we have the statement, that these globes are united in one mass though
differing from each other in substance, and that this difference of substance
is due to change of center of consciousness.
The Earth Chain of seven globes as thus defined is the
direct reincarnation of a former chain of seven globes, and that former family
of seven was the moon chain, the moon itself being the visible representative
of the fourth globe of the old chain.
When that former vast entity composed of the Moon and
six others, all united in one mass, reached its limit of life it died just as
any being dies. Each one of the seven sent its energies into space and gave
similar life or vibration to cosmic dust -- matter, -- and the total cohesive
force of the whole kept the seven energies together. This resulted in the
evolving of the present Earth Chain of seven centers of energy or evolution
combined in one mass. As the Moon was the fourth of the old series it is on the
same plane of perception as the Earth, and as we are now confined in our
consciousness largely to Earth we are able only to see one of the old seven --
to wit: our Moon.
When we are functioning on any of the other seven we
will perceive in our sky the corresponding old corpse which will then be a
Moon, and we will not see the present Moon. Venus, Mars, Mercury and other
visible planets are all fourth-plane globes of distinct planetary masses and
for that reason are visible to us, their companion six centers of energy and
consciousness being invisible. All diagrams on plane surfaces will only becloud
the theory because a diagram necessitates linear divisions.
The stream or mass of Egos which evolves on the seven
globes of our chain is limited in number, yet the actual quantity is enormous.
For though the universe is limitless and infinite, yet in any particular
portion of Cosmos in which manifestation and evolution have begun there is a
limit to the extent of manifestation and to the number of Egos engaged therein.
And the whole number of Monads now going through evolution on our Earth Chain
came over from the old seven planets or globes which I have described. Esoteric
Buddhism calls this mass of Egos a "life wave," meaning the stream of
Monads. It reached this planetary mass, represented to our consciousness by the
central point our Earth, and began on Globe A or No. I, coming like an army or
river. The first portion began on Globe A and went through a long evolution
there in bodies suited to such a state of matter, and then passed on to B, and
so on through the whole seven greater states of consciousness which have been
called globes.
When the first portion left A others streamed in and
pursued the same course, the whole army proceeding with regularity round the
septenary route.
This journey went on for four circlings round the
whole, and then the whole stream or army of Egos from the old Moon Chain had
arrived, and being complete, no more entered after the middle of the Fourth
Round. The same circling process of these differently arrived classes goes on
for seven complete Rounds of the whole seven planetary centers of
consciousness, and when the seven are ended as much perfection as is possible
in the immense period occupied will have been attained, and then this chain or
mass of "globes" will die in its turn to give birth to still another
series.
Each one of the globes is used by evolutionary law for
the development of seven races, and of senses, faculties and powers appropriate
to that state of matter: the experience of the whole seven globes being needed
to make a perfect development. Hence we have the Rounds and Races. The Round is
a circling of the seven centers of planetary consciousness; the Race the racial
development on one of those seven.
There are seven races for each globe, but the total of
forty-nine races only makes up seven great races, the special septennate of
races on each globe or planetary center composing in reality one race of seven
constituents or special peculiarities of function and power.
And as no complete race could be evolved in a moment
on any globe, the slow, orderly processes of nature, which allow no jumps, must
proceed by appropriate means. Hence sub-races have to be evolved one after the
other before the perfect root race is formed, and then the root race sends off
its offshoots while it is declining and preparing for the advent of the next
great race.
As illustrating this, it is distinctly taught that on
the Americas is to be evolved the new -- sixth -- race; and here all the races
of the earth are now engaged in a great amalgamation from which will result a
very highly developed sub-race, after which others will be evolved by similar
processes until the new one is completed.
Between the end of any great race and the beginning of
another there is a period of rest, so far as the globe is concerned, for then
the stream of human Egos leaves it for another one of the chain in order to go
on with further evolution of powers and faculties there. But when the last, the
seventh, race has appeared and fully perfected itself, a great dissolution
comes on, similar to that which
I briefly described as preceding the birth of the
earth's chain, and then the world disappears as a tangible thing, and so far as
the human ear is concerned there is silence. This, it is said, is the root of
the belief so general that the world will come to an end, that there will be a
judgment-day, or that there have been universal floods or fires.
Taking up evolution on the Earth, it is stated that
the stream of Monads begins first to work up the mass of matter in what are
called elemental conditions when all is gaseous or fiery. For the ancient and
true theory is that no evolution is possible without the Monad as vivifying
agent. In this first stage there is no animal or vegetable. Next comes the
mineral when the whole mass hardens, the Monads being all imprisoned within.
Then the first Monads emerge into vegetable forms which they construct
themselves, and no animals yet appear.
Next the first class of Monads emerges from the
vegetable and produces the animal, then the human astral and shadowy model, and
we have minerals, vegetables, animals and future men, for the second and later
classes are still evolving in the lower kingdoms. When the middle of the Fourth
Round is reached no more Monads emerge into the human stage and will not until
a new planetary mass, reincarnated from ours, is made. This is the whole
process roughly given, but with many details left out, for in one of the rounds
man appears before the animals. But this detail need lead to no confusion.
And to state it in another way. The plan comes first
in the universal mind, after which the astral model or basis is made, and when
that astral model is completed, the whole process is gone over so as to
condense the matter, up to the middle of the Fourth Round. Subsequent to that,
which is our future, the
whole mass is spiritualized with full consciousness
and the entire body of globes raised up to a higher plane of development.
In the process of condensing above referred to there
is an alteration in respect to the time of the appearance of man on the planet.
But as to these details the teachers have only said, "that at the Second
Round the plan varies, but the variation will not be given to this
generation." Hence it is impossible for me to give it.
But there is no vagueness on the point that seven
great races have to evolve here on this planet, and that the entire collection
of races has to go seven times round the whole series of seven globes.
Human beings did not appear here in two sexes first.
The first were of no sex, then they altered into hermaphrodite, and lastly
separated into male and female. And this separation into male and female for
human beings was over 18,000,000 years ago. For that reason is it said, in
these ancient schools, that our humanity is 18,000,000 years old and a little
over.
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Nature is infinite in space and time -- boundless and eternal,
unfathomable and ineffable. The all-pervading essence of infinite nature can be
called space, consciousness, life, substance, force, energy, divinity -- all of
which are fundamentally one.
2) The finite and the infinite
Nature is a unity in diversity, one in essence, manifold in form. The
infinite whole is composed of an infinite number of finite wholes -- the
relatively stable and autonomous things (natural systems or artefacts) that we
observe around us. Every natural system is not only a conscious, living,
substantial entity, but is consciousness-life-substance, of a particular range
of density and form. Infinite nature is an abstraction, not an entity; it
therefore does not act or change and has no attributes. The finite, concrete
systems of which it is composed, on the other hand, move and change, act and
interact, and possess attributes. They are composite, inhomogeneous, and
ultimately transient.
3) Vibration/worlds within worlds
The one essence manifests not only in infinitely varied forms, and on
infinitely varied scales, but also in infinitely varying degrees of
spirituality and substantiality, comprising an infinite spectrum of vibration
or density. There is therefore an endless series of interpenetrating,
interacting worlds within worlds, systems within systems.
The energy-substances of higher planes or subplanes (a plane being a
particular range of vibration) are relatively more homogeneous and less
differentiated than those of lower planes or subplanes.
Just as boundless space is comprised of endless finite units of space,
so eternal duration is comprised of endless finite units of time. Space is the
infinite totality of worlds within worlds, but appears predominantly empty
because only a tiny fraction of the energy-substances composing it are
perceptible and tangible to an entity at any particular moment. Time is a
concept we use to quantify the rate at which events occur; it is a function of
change and motion, and presupposes a succession of cause and effect.
Every entity is extended in space and changes 'in time'.
All change (of position, substance, or form) is the result of causes;
there is no such thing as absolute chance. Nothing can happen for no reason at
all for nothing exists in isolation; everything is part of an intricate web of
causal interconnections and interactions. The keynote of nature is harmony:
every action is automatically followed by an equal and opposite reaction, which
sooner or later rebounds upon the originator of the initial act. Thus, all our
thoughts and deeds will eventually bring us 'fortune' or 'misfortune' according
to the degree to which they were harmonious or disharmonious. In the long term,
perfect justice prevails in nature.
Because nature is fundamentally one, and the same basic habits and
structural, geometric, and evolutionary principles apply throughout, there are
correspondences between microcosm and macrocosm. The principle of analogy -- as
above, so below -- is a vital tool in our efforts to understand reality.
All finite systems and their attributes are relative. For any entity,
energy-substances vibrating within the same range of frequencies as its outer
body are 'physical' matter, and finer grades of substance are what we call
energy, force, thought, desire, mind, spirit, consciousness, but these are just
as material to entities on the corresponding planes as our physical world is to
us. Distance and time units are also relative: an atom is a solar system on its
own scale, reembodying perhaps millions of times in what for us is one second,
and our whole galaxy may be a molecule in some supercosmic entity, for which a
million of our years is just a second. The range of scale is infinite:
matter-consciousness is both infinitely divisible and infinitely aggregative.
All natural systems consist of smaller systems and form part of larger
systems. Hierarchies extend both 'horizontally' (on the same plane) and
'vertically' or inwardly (to higher and lower planes). On the horizontal level,
subatomic particles form atoms, which combine into molecules, which arrange
themselves into cells, which form tissues and organs, which form part of
organisms, which form part of ecosystems, which form part of planets, solar
systems, galaxies, etc. The constitution of worlds and of the organisms that
inhabit them form 'vertical' hierarchies, and can be divided into several
interpenetrating layers or elements, from physical-astral to psychomental to
spiritual-divine, each of which can be further divided.
The human constitution can be divided up in several different ways: e.g.
into a trinity of body, soul, and spirit; or into 7 'principles' -- a lower
quaternary consisting of physical body, astral model-body, life-energy, and
lower thoughts and desires, and an upper triad consisting of higher mind
(reincarnating ego), spiritual intuition, and inner god. A planet or star can
be regarded as a 'chain' of 12 globes, existing on 7 planes, each globe
comprising several subplanes.
The highest part of every multilevelled organism or hierarchy is its
spiritual summit or 'absolute', meaning a collective entity or 'deity' which is
relatively perfected in relation to the hierarchy in question. But the most
'spiritual' pole of one hierarchy is the most 'material' pole of the next,
superior hierarchy, just as the lowest pole of one hierarchy is the highest
pole of the one below.
Each level of a hierarchical system exercises a formative and organizing
influence on the lower levels (through the patterns and prototypes stored up
from past cycles of activity), while the lower levels in turn react upon the
higher. A system is therefore formed and organized mainly from within outwards,
from the inner levels of its constitution, which are relatively more enduring
and developed than the outer levels. This inner guidance is sometimes active
and selfconscious, as in our acts of free will (constrained, however, by karmic
tendencies from the past), and sometimes it is automatic and passive, giving
rise to our own automatic bodily functions and habitual and instinctual
behavior, and to the orderly, lawlike operations of nature in general. The
'laws' of nature are therefore the habits of the various grades of conscious
entities that compose reality, ranging from higher intelligences (collectively forming the universal mind) to
elemental nature-forces.
10) Consciousness and its vehicles
The core of every entity -- whether atom, human, planet, or star -- is a
monad, a unit of consciousness-life-substance, which acts through a series of
more material vehicles or bodies. The monad or self in which the consciousness
of a particular organism is focused is animated by higher monads and expresses
itself through a series of lesser monads, each of which is the nucleus of one
of the lower vehicles of the entity in question. The following monads can be
distinguished: the divine or galactic monad, the spiritual or solar monad, the
higher human or planetary-chain monad, the lower human or globe monad, and the
animal, vital-astral, and physical monads. At our present stage of evolution,
we are essentially the lower human monad, and our task is to raise our
consciousness from the animal-human to the spiritual-human level of it.
Evolution means the unfolding, the bringing into active manifestation,
of latent powers and faculties 'involved' in a previous cycle of evolution. It
is the building of ever fitter vehicles for the expression of the mental and
spiritual powers of the monad. The more sophisticated the lower vehicles of an
entity, the greater their ability to express the powers locked up in the higher
levels of its constitution. Thus all things are alive and conscious, but the
degree of manifest life and consciousness is extremely varied.
Evolution results from the interplay of inner impulses and environmental
stimuli. Ever building on and modifying the patterns of the past, nature is
infinitely creative.
12) Cyclic evolution/re-embodiment
Cyclic evolution is a fundamental habit of nature. A period of
evolutionary activity is followed by a period of rest. All natural systems
evolve through re-embodiment. Entities are born from a seed or nucleus
remaining from the previous evolutionary cycle of the monad, develop to
maturity, grow old, and pass away, only to re-embody in a new form after a
period of rest. Each new embodiment is the product of past karma and present
choices.
Nothing comes from nothing: matter and energy can be neither created nor
destroyed, but only transformed. Everything evolves from preexisting material.
The growth of the body of an organism is initiated on inner planes, and
involves the transformation of higher energy-substances into lower, more
material ones, together with the attraction of matter from the environment.
When an organism has exhausted the store of vital energy with which it
is born, the coordinating force of the indwelling monad is withdrawn, and the
organism 'dies', i.e. falls apart as a unit, and its constituent components go
their separate ways. The lower vehicles decompose on their respective
subplanes, while, in the case of humans, the reincarnating ego enters a
dreamlike state of rest and assimilates the experiences of the previous
incarnation. When the time comes for the next embodiment, the reincarnating ego
clothes itself in many of the same atoms of different grades that it had used
previously, bearing the appropriate karmic impress. The same basic processes of
birth, death,
and rebirth apply to all entities, from atoms to humans to stars.
14) Evolution and involution of worlds
Worlds or spheres, such as planets and stars, are composed of, and
provide the field for the evolution of, 10 kingdoms -- 3 elemental kingdoms,
mineral, plant, animal, and human kingdoms, and 3 spiritual kingdoms. The impulse
for a new manifestation of a world issues from its spiritual summit or
hierarch, from which emanate a series of steadily denser globes or planes; the
One expands into the many. During the first half of the evolutionary cycle (the
arc of descent) the energy-substances of each plane materialize or condense,
while during the second half (the arc of ascent) the trend is towards
dematerialization or etherealization, as globes and entities are reabsorbed
into the spiritual hierarch for a period of nirvanic rest. The descending arc
is characterized by the evolution of matter and involution of spirit, while the
ascending arc is characterized by the evolution of spirit and involution of
matter.
In each grand cycle of evolution, comprising many planetary embodiments,
a monad begins as an unselfconsciousness god-spark, embodies in every kingdom
of nature for the purpose of gaining experience and unfolding its inherent
faculties, and ends the cycle as a self conscious god. Elementals ('baby
monads') have no free choice, but automatically act in harmony with one another
and the rest of nature. In each successive kingdom differentiation and
individuality increase, and reach their peak in the human kingdom with the
attainment of selfconsciousness and a large measure of free will.
In the human kingdom in particular, self-directed evolution comes into
its own. There is no superior power granting privileges or handing out favours;
we evolve according to our karmic merits and demerits. As we progress through
the spiritual kingdoms we become increasingly at one again with nature, and
willingly 'sacrifice' our circumscribed selfconscious freedoms (especially the
freedom to 'do our own thing') in order to work in peace and harmony with the
greater whole of which we form an integral part. The highest gods of one
hierarchy or world-system begin as elementals in the next. The matter of any
plane is composed of aggregated, crystallized monads in their nirvanic sleep,
and the spiritual and divine entities embodied as planets and stars are the
electrons and atomic nuclei -- the material building blocks -- of worlds on
even larger scales. Evolution is without beginning and without end, an endless
adventure through the fields of infinitude, in which there are always new
worlds of experience in which to become selfconscious masters of life.
There is no absolute separateness in nature. All things are made of the
same essence, have the same spiritual-divine potential, and are interlinked by
magnetic ties of sympathy. It is impossible to realize our full potential,
unless we recognize the spiritual unity of all living beings and make universal
brotherhood the keynote of our lives.
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Foundation of the
Original Theosophical Society 1875
The first Theosophical Society was founded
in New York on
November 17th 1875 by Helena
Petrovna Blavatsky,
Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan
Judge and others.
The Theosophical Movement now consists of a
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Tradition forward.
Cardiff Theosophical Society has been
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मूल थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी 1875 फाउंडेशन
पहले थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी को न्यूयॉर्क में स्थापित किया गया था
17 नवंबर Helena Petrovna Blavatsky द्वारा 1875,
कर्नल Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge और दूसरों.
थियोसोफिकल आंदोलन अब एक विविध रेंज के होते हैं
आगे थियोसोफिकल परंपरा ले जो संगठनों.
कार्डिफ थियोसोफिकल सोसायटी 1908 के बाद से ब्रह्मविद्या को बढ़ावा देने की गई है
_______________________________________
Mūla
thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī 1875
phā'uṇḍēśana
Pahalē thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī kō
n'yūyŏrka mēṁ sthāpita kiyā gayā thā
17 Navambara Helena Petrovna Blavatsky dvārā 1875,
Kamala Henry Steel Olcott, aura dūsarōṁ.
Thiyōsōphikala āndōlana aba ēka vividha
rēn̄ja kē hōtē haiṁ
Āgē thiyōsōphikala paramparā lē jō
saṅgaṭhanōṁ.
Kārḍipha thiyōsōphikala sōsāyaṭī 1908
kē bāda sē brahmavidyā
kō baṛhāvā
dēnē kī ga'ī hai
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