A Treatise on Cosmic Fire Page 19

  When the sense of hearing on all planes is perfected (which is brought about by the Law of Economy rightly understood) these three great Words or phrases will be known. The Knower will utter them in his own true key, thus blending his own sound with the entire volume of vibration, and thereby achieving sudden realisation of his essential identity with Those Who utter the words. As the sound of matter or of Brahma peals forth in his ears on all the planes, he will see all forms as illusion and will be freed, knowing himself as omnipresent. As the sound of Vishnu reverberates within himself, he knows himself as perfected wisdom, and distinguishes [219] the note of his being (or that of the Heavenly Man in whose Body he finds place) from the group notes, and knows himself as omniscient. As the note of the first or Mahadeva aspect, follows upon the other two, he realises himself as pure Spirit and on the consummation of the chord is merged in the Self, or the source from which he came. Mind is not, matter is not, and nought is left but the Self merged in the ocean of the Self. At each stage of relative attainment, one of the laws comes into sway,—first the law of matter, then the law of groups, to be succeeded by the law of Spirit and of liberation.

  II. THE SUBSIDIARY LAWS

  The subsidiary laws under the Law of Economy are four in number, dealing with the lower quaternary:

  1. The Law of Vibration, dealing with the key note or measure of the matter of each plane. By knowledge of this law the material of any plane in its seven divisions can be controlled. 2. The Law of Adaptation, is the law governing the rotary movement of any atom on every plane and subplane. 3. The Law of Repulsion, governs that relationship between atoms, which results in their non-attachment and in their complete freedom from each other; it also keeps them rotating at fixed points from the globe or sphere of opposite polarity. 4. The Law of Friction, governs the heat aspect of any atom, the radiation of an atom, and the effect of that radiation on any other atom.

  Every atom of matter can be studied in four aspects, and is governed by one or other, or all of the four above mentioned laws.

  a. An atom vibrates to a certain measure.

  b. It rotates at a certain speed. [220]

  c. It acts and reacts upon its environing atoms.

  d. It adds its quota to the general heat of the atomic system, whatever that may be.

  These general rules relating to atomic bodies can be extended not only to the atoms of the physical plane, but to all spheroidal bodies within the system, and including the system also, regarding it as a cosmic atom.

  The tiny atom of the physical plane, a plane itself, a planet, and a solar system all evolve under these rules, and all are governed by the Law of Economy in one of its four aspects.

  It might be added in closing, that this law is one that initiates have to master before They can achieve liberation. They have to learn to manipulate matter, and to work with energy or force in matter under this law; they have to utilise matter and energy in order to achieve the liberation of Spirit, and to bring to fruition the purposes of the Logos in the evolutionary process.

  SECTION TWO. The Fire of Mind - Solar Fire

  INTRODUCTORY QUESTIONS

  [223]1. What is the relation of the Son to the Sun?

  2. What is evolution, and how does it proceed?

  3. Why is the solar system evolving along the lines of duality?

  4. What is consciousness and what is its place in the scheme?

  5. Is there a direct analogy between a system, a planet, man and an atom?

  6. What is the mind aspect? Who are the Manasaputras?

  7. Why is the progress of evolution cyclic?

  8. Why is knowledge both exoteric and esoteric?

  9. What is the relation between—

  a. The ten schemes,

  b. The seven sacred planets,

  c. The seven chains in a scheme,

  d. The seven globes in a chain,

  e. The seven rounds of a chain,

  f. The seven rootraces and subraces?

  Before taking up the subject of the fire of mind under the schedule already outlined, it might be of profit if certain facts are here pointed out, and one or two points clarified. The subject we are undertaking to elucidate is one of profound mystery, and is the basis of all that is now seen and known, both objectively and subjectively. We have somewhat studied that pole of manifestation called matter. The subject we are now entering upon concerns several things which might be considered in general terms as Consciousness, and in specified terms as including the following subjects,—hence its fundamental importance. [224]

  a. The science of objectivity.

  b. The manifestation of the Son through the Sun and its attendant spheres, or the solar system in its entirety.

  c. The evolutionary development of consciousness in time and space, therefore, the evolution of spirit and matter.

  If the above three fundamentals are studied, it will be noted that they are very comprehensive, and, therefore, from the immensity of the theme, it will not be possible to do more than attempt to bring a general clarity of conception as to the broad outline of the process, and as to the gradual development of consciousness. For the sake of an intelligent following of this matter, it might be wise first to lay down a number of propositions which—(even if already known and appreciated)—will serve students as the scaffolding on which to erect the intended structure of knowledge. If a student of the Wisdom can grasp the nature of the general theme, he can then more easily and accurately fit the detailed information into its appropriate niche. Perhaps the best plan would be to formulate certain questions, and then proceed to answer them,—the answers to embody therefore the propositions that will be laid down. These questions arise naturally to the student of the Secret Doctrine, when he has reached the point where the big plan is becoming visible to him, but the pile of detailed material to be built in remains, as yet, inchoate. The questions we might ask and study are the following:

  1. What is the relationship of the Son to the Sun?

  2. What is evolution and how does it proceed?

  3. Why is this solar system evolving along the lines of duality?

  4. What is consciousness and what is its place in the present scheme of things? [225]

  5. Is there a direct analogy between the development of the following factors: a solar system, a planet, a man, and an atom?

  6. What is the mind aspect and why is the manasic or mental principle of such importance? Who are the Manasaputras, or the Sons of Mind?

  7. Why is the progress of evolution cyclic?

  8. Why, as yet, do we consider certain knowledge as esoteric, and other aspects of knowledge as exoteric?

  9. What is the relationship between

  a. The ten planetary schemes?

  b. The seven sacred planets?

  c. The seven globes in a chain?

  d. The seven rounds in a globe?

  e. The seven root races and the subraces?

  When we have endeavored to answer in brief and concise fashion these nine questions, and have grasped, through their replies, something of the purpose lying behind the evolution of the consciousness of the Son (with all that is included in that expression) we shall be in a position to go more intelligently into a consideration of the plan, and to grasp more accurately the immediate stage ahead to be attained, working from our present standpoint as a basis.

  We must ever remember that a curious interest and a far-seeing grasp of the plan of the Logos is of no importance to a man unless he correlates the present with that which he believes to lie in the future, unless he ascertains the point achieved, and realises wherein consists the work immediately to be undertaken in this gradual process of attaining full consciousness. [226]

  CHART IV

  Chart of the Pleroma according to Valentinus

  First the (Point), the Monad, Bythus (the Deep), the unknown and the unknowable Father. Then the (triangle), Bythus and the first emanated pair or Duad, Nous (Mind) and its syzygy Aletheia (Truth), Then the (Square), the dual D
uad, Tetractys or Quaternary, two males ||, the Logos (Word) and Anthrôpos (Man), two females, their syzygies, = Zoê (Life) and Ekklesia (the Church or Assembly), Seven in all. The triangle, the Potentiality of Spirit, the Square the Potentiality of Matter; the vertical straight line the Potency of Spirit, and the horizontal the Potency of Matter. Next comes the Pentagram, the Pentad, the mysterious symbol of the Manasaputras or Sons of Wisdom, which together with their syzygies make 10, or the Decad; and last of all, the Hexalpha or interlaced Triangles the Hexad which with their syzygies make 12, or the Dodecad. Such are the contents of the Pleroma or Completion, the Ideas in the Divine mind, 28 in all, for Bythus or the Father is not reckoned, as it is the Root of all. The two small circles within the Pleroma are the syzygy Christos-Pneuma (Christ and the Holy Spirit): these are after-emanations, and, as such, form one aspect, typify the descent of Spirit to inform and evolve Matter, which essentially proceeds from the same source; and another, the desent or incarnation of the Kumâras or the Higher Egos of Humanity.

  From “Lucifer” for May 1890

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  I. WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE SON TO THE SUN?

  This question brings us primarily to a consideration as to Who is the Son, and what is His function. Two [227] factors are universally recognised in all systems that merit the name of philosophy; they are the two factors of spirit and matter, of purusha and prakriti. There is at times a tendency to confound such terms as “life and form,” “consciousness and the vehicle of consciousness” with the terms “Spirit and matter.” They are related, but clarity of view would be facilitated if it were realised that prior to manifestation, or to the birth of a solar system, it is more correct to utilise the words, Spirit and matter. When these two are inter-related during manifestation, and after the cessation of the pralayic interval or interlude between two systems, then the terms, life and form, consciousness and its vehicles, are more correct, for during the period of abstraction consciousness is not, form is not, and life, demonstrating as an actual principle, is not. There is Spirit-substance but in a state of quiescence, of utter neutrality, of negativity, and of passivity. In manifestation the two are approximated; they interact upon each other; activity supersedes quiescence; positivity replaces negativity; movement is seen in place of passivity, and the two primordial factors are no longer neutral to each other, but attract and repulse, interact and utilise. Then and only then, can we have form animated by life, and consciousness demonstrated through appropriate vehicles.

  How can this be expressed? In terms of fire, when the two electric poles are brought into definite relationship we have demonstrated, along the line of occult sight and of occult feeling, both heat and light. This relationship is brought about and perfected during the evolutionary process. This heat and light are produced by the union of the two poles, or by the occult marriage of male and female, of Spirit (father) and matter (mother). In terms of the physical, this union produces the objective solar system, the Son of the Father and the Mother. In terms of the subjective, it produces the Sun, as the sum total of [228] the qualities of light and heat. In terms of fire, by the union or at-one-ment of electric fire (Spirit) and fire by friction (energised matter) solar fire is produced. This solar fire will be distinguished above all else by its evolutionary development, and by the gradual intensification of the heat to be felt, and of the light to be seen.

  For a clearer comprehension of this abstract matter, we might consider the microcosm, or man evolving in the three worlds. Man is the product of the approximation (at present imperfect) of the two poles of Spirit (the Father in Heaven) and of matter (the Mother). The result of this union is an individualised Son of God, or unit of the divine Self, an exact replica in miniature on the lowest plane of the great Son of God, the All-Self, who is in Himself the totality of all the miniature sons, of all the individualised Selves, and of each and every unit. The microcosm, expressed in other terms or from the subjective point of view, is a miniature sun distinguished by the qualities of heat and light. At present that light is “under the bushel,” or deeply hidden by a veil of matter, but in due process of evolution it will shine forth to such an extent that the veils will be lost from sight in a blaze of exceeding glory. At present the microcosmic heat is of small degree, or the magnetic radiation between the microcosmic units is but little felt (in the occult significance of the term), but as time proceeds, the emanations of heat,—due to intensification of the inner flame, coupled with the assimilated radiation of other units—will increase, and become of such proportions that the interaction between the individualised Selves will result in the merging to perfection of the flame within each one, and a blending of the heat; this will proceed until there is “one flame with countless sparks” within it, until the heat is general and balanced. When this is the case and each Son of God is a perfected Sun, characterised by perfectly expressed light and heat, [229] then the entire solar system, the greater Son of God, will be the perfected Sun.

  The system will then be characterised by a “blaze of refulgent glory,” and by a radiation that will link it up with its cosmic centre, and thus effect the liberation of the Son, and His return to the far distant source from whence the primal impulse originated. Therefore, bear in mind:

  First, that the Son is the radiant result of the union of Spirit and Matter, and may be considered as the totality of the solar system, the Sun and the seven sacred planets.

  Second, that the Son manifests through his qualities of light and heat, as does the solar Sun.

  Third, that the Son is the product of the electrical union of “fire by friction” and electric fire, and is Himself “solar fire” or the manifestation of the other two, hence that which is seen and that which is felt.

  Finally, that the Son, therefore, is the middle manifestation, and is produced by that which is above, and that which is below, in the occult sense. Therefore, the Son on His own plane (the cosmic mental plane), is the egoic body of the Logos in the same sense as the egoic body of the microcosm is the product of the union of the Monad, or Spirit, and matter. Just as the body egoic of man (that which is called the causal body) is only in process of formation, and is not yet perfected, so we may predicate the same of the solar system, as it expresses the Life of God. It is in process of perfecting. The Son, manifesting through the Sun and its sphere of influence, is yet in a state of gradual development, and not until each cell within His body is fully alive and vibrating to a uniform measure, will He be “full grown” and perfected. Not until His radiation and His display of light is perfectly seen and felt, will His place among the heavenly constellations (the Son of God in a cosmic sense) be fully achieved.

  [230] Not until each cell in His body is a sphere of radiant glory—a blaze of fire and light, and a source of magnetic radiation or heat, occultly expressed, will the Son in the Heavens “shine forth.” From the cosmic point of view, as we know, our sun is but of the fourth order, and on the lowest cosmic plane. When the Son has, through the Sun, attained full expression (that is, perfected His display of light and heat) then He will shine forth upon another plane, that of the cosmic mental. We have the analogy in the microcosm or man. When a man’s light fully shines forth, when his magnetic radiation has reached the stage of vivid interaction or group activity, then he has attained full self-expression, and has included within his sphere of influence and control the mental plane. He is then considered a Master. He also is of the fourth order; he is the quaternary. The etheric plane is the centre of his life in the physical sense, just as we are told that the sun and the planets esoterically are considered as existing in etheric matter. As above, so below, is the occult law. Therefore, the relationship of the Son of the Father, and of the Mother, is to the Sun the same as man’s relationship to the vehicle through which he functions. It is His mode of enterprise, His vehicle of expression; it is the form which His life animates for the specific purpose of

  a. Gaining experience.

  b. Making contact.

  c
. Developing full self-knowledge.

  d. Achieving full mastery or control.

  e. Attaining “manhood” cosmically. The cosmic Christ must measure up to the stature “of a full grown man,” as it is expressed in the Christian Bible.(Ep., 4:13)

  f. Expanding His consciousness.

  [231] All these stages have to be achieved on cosmic levels, in exactly the same sense as the microcosm, on systemic levels, likewise strives for similar ideals.

  II. WHAT IS EVOLUTION AND HOW DOES IT PROCEED?

  1. Life Cycles.

  I do not propose to deal here with the evolutionary process in any other way than briefly to indicate that the whole method of evolution is simply that of adjusting the matter aspect to the Spirit aspect, so that the former proves entirely adequate as a body of expression for the latter. The life cycle of the Son is one hundred years of Brahma in the same sense as man has a life cycle consisting of a certain number of years, dependent upon his karma. During the life cycle of a man, he expresses what is in him at his particular stage, and gradually develops from the stage of the ante-natal period wherein the Self overshadows the matter aspect until the period wherein that Higher Self takes full possession of the prepared form. This stage varies with every individual. From that time on fuller self-consciousness is sought, and the man (if proceeding normally) expresses himself through the form ever more adequately. Each life of lesser cycle in the great cycle of the Ego or Self, sees that expression more complete, brings the form more under control and develops a conscious realisation of the Self until there comes a culminating cycle of lives in which the Self within rapidly dominates, and takes full authority. The form becomes wholly adequate; the fusion of the two poles of Spirit and matter is fully brought about; and the light (fire) and heat (radiation) is seen and felt systemically. Then the form is either consciously utilised for specific ends or is vacated, and the man is liberated. Electric fire and fire by friction are fused, and the consequent solar fire blazes forth in radiant glory.