மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...6 (Rebirth)

THE BUILDING OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

HAVING now studied, in broad outline, the general plan of the, ”field” of evolution in our solar system, it will be useful to go over the ground again, filling in certain further details, and considering also the way in which the system is originally constructed out of primordial matter.

This time we shall commence with the large unit - the system as a whole - and steadily work our way down to the smaller units - the globes.

Before our solar system came into existence there existed the ultimate root-matter, the substance out of which will be fashioned every type of matter of which we have any knowledge. This root-matter is what scientists call the ether of space, and what has been described in Occult Chemistry under the name of koilon (Greek Koilos, hollow).

This must not, of course, be confused with the etheric matter which composes the finer part of our physical world.

To every physical sense, the space occupied by koilon appears empty: yet in reality this ether is far denser than anything of which we can conceive. Professor Osborne Reynolds, the originator of the celebrated theory, which agrees with occult investigation, defines its density as being 10,000 times greater than that of water, and its mean pressure as 750,000 tons to the square inch.

This substance is perceptible only to highly developed clairvoyant power. We must assume a time - though we have no direct knowledge on the point - when this substance filled all space. We must also suppose that some great Being - almost infinitely higher than the Logos of a solar system - changed this condition of rest by pouring out His spirit or force into a certain section of this matter, a section the size of a whole universe.

The effect of the introduction of this force is as that of the blowing of a mighty breath, forming within the ether, or koilon, an incalculable number of tiny spherical bubbles. These bubbles in koilon are the ultimate atoms out of which everything that we call matter is manufactured.

They are the atomic matter of the lowest cosmic plane. Out of them the Logos of our solar system will presently form the seven planes of our system, those seven planes, taken together, forming the lowest cosmic plane.

It is probable that the force by which the bubbles were originally formed is what H. P. Blavatsky called fohat, which she spoke of as ”digging holes in space,” thus reminding one of the recent dictum of a French scientist that ”there is no matter; there are nothing but holes in the æther.”

The bubbles are not like a soap-bubble, which is a film of water with an outer and an inner surface, enclosing air within it. They are like bubbles in sodawater, which have only one surface, where the air meets the water.
As has just been said, to the highest sight available the bubbles appear to be perfectly empty, so that it is not known whether any motion is going on inside them or not. Neither is it known whether they are rotating on their axes or not.

They seem to have no proper motion of their own, but they can be moved as a whole from without, singly or en masse, by an exertion of the will. No two bubbles ever under any circumstances
touch each other.

When the Solar Logos - the great Being of Whom our solar system is some representation, corresponding possibly to an incarnation, in the case of a human being - chose to manifest Himself, when He came forth out of eternity into time, and wished to form this system, He found ready to His hand this material, this infinite mass of tiny bubbles.

He commenced by defining an area, the limit of His field of activity, the limit, perhaps, of His own aura, a vast sphere, whose circumference is far larger than the orbit of the outermost
of His future planets.

Stupendous as this area would be, the distance between solar systems is yet out of all proportion greater than the systems themselves. Nevertheless, it is probable that the Logoi of the systems are actually in touch with one another, on the higher planes.

Within the limit of the sphere thus marked out He sets up a motion which sweeps together all the bubbles into a vast central mass, thus condensing or compressing the bubble-matter, which was originally scattered throughout the whole of the prodigious space, into a smaller region.

At a certain stage in that condensation, or compression - a stage when the radius of His globe still extended far beyond the orbit of the outermost planet of the system, as it exists to-day - He sets up within it a whirling motion, accompanied by intense electrical action, thus making a colossal vortex in many dimensions, the material of the nebula that is to be.

The compression of the whirling mass is continued through what to us would be untold ages: in fact, the vortex made by the Logos in the first place is still in action. In the course of  that process of compression, He, acting through His Third Aspect, sends out seven impulses or ”breaths.”

The first impulse sets up all through the sphere a vast number of tiny vortices, each of which draws into itself 49 bubbles, and arranges them in a certain shape. These little groupings of bubbles, so formed, are the atoms of the second plane or world - the anupâdaka or monadic plane.

The whole of the bubbles are not used in this way, but sufficient are left, in the disassociated state, to act as atoms of the first or âdi world.

In due time there comes a second impulse, which seizes upon nearly all the 49-bubble atoms - leaving sufficient to provide atoms for the anupâdaka world draws them back into itself,  disintegrates them into their component bubbles, and then, throwing them out again, sets up among them vortices, each of which holds within itself 49² or 2,401 bubbles. These are the atoms of the third world, the plane of âtmâ.

Again after a time comes a third impulse, which in the same way seizes upon nearly all the 2,401-bubble atoms - again leaving sufficient to form the atoms of the âtmic world - draws them back into itself, disintegrates them, and throws them out once more as the atoms of the fourth world, that of buddhi, each atom now containing 49³ or 117,649 bubbles.

The process is repeated until the sixth impulse has built the atoms of the seventh or lowest world , the physical plane, its atoms containing 496, or approximately 14,000 million of the original bubbles. These atoms are not, of course, the atoms of which chemists speak, but the ultimate atoms out of which all the chemical atoms are made.

The numbers of bubbles contained in the atoms of our seven planes are given in the following table:

It seems probable that electrons are astral atoms: for it is stated by scientists that a chemical atom of hydrogen contains from 700 to 1,000 electrons, and a chemical atom of hydrogen contains the equivalent of 882 astral atoms. This may be a coincidence, but that seems unlikely. Scientists thus appear to be disintegrating physical matter and discovering astral matter, though they will naturally think of astral matter as being a further subdivision of physical matter.

Bishop Leadbeater, from whose writings the above is quoted, does not know whether such disintegrated physical atoms re-form themselves, but when, by an effort of will, the physical atom is broken up into astral or mental atoms, it requires a continuation of the effort to hold the atoms temporarily in those different forms, and when the will-force is withdrawn the physical atom reappears.

This, however, seems to apply only to the breaking up of the ultimate physical atoms: when chemical atoms are broken into ultimate atoms, they remain in that condition, and do not return to their original state.

It should be noted that, although the atoms of any one plane, the physical for example, are not made direct from the atoms of the plane immediately above - the astral - yet, unless the bubbles had had the experience of passing through all the planes above, physical atoms could not be made of them.

The Hindu method of describing the process is as follows: Each plane has what is called a, ”tanmâtra” (literally, a measure of ”that”), and a, ”tattva” (literally, ”thatness” or ”inherent quality”). The tanmâtra is the modification in the consciousness of the Logos: the tattva is the effect produced in matter by that modification. We may compare the tanmâtras with the waves of an incoming tide, which run up on a sandy shore, retire, and are followed by other waves, which run up a little further. The tattvas we may compare with the little ridges made on the sand by the incoming waves, at the furthest line that they reach. The idea is symbolised in Diagram XI.

Every atom thus has its ”Thatness,” the word ,”That” being a reverent expression for the Divine Being. The measure of the vibration of the atom, imposed upon it by the Will of the Logos, is the Tanmâtra, the ”measure of That”; this is the axes of the atom, the angular divergence of which, within the fixed limits of vibration, determines its surface form.

Thus the consciousness of the Logos is within each atom, expressed within certain limitations, which we sometimes call ”planes.”

The process of the creation of matter in successive stages has often been described as the in-breathing and the outbreathing of the Deity.

The existence of matter depends absolutely upon the continuance of an idea in the mind of the Logos. If He chose to withdraw His force, for example, from the physical plane - to cease thinking it - every physical atom would instantly disintegrate, and the whole physical plane would disappear in an instant, like the light of a candle when it is blown out.

The ultimate physical atom has three movements of its own:

(1) rotation on its own axis;
(2) motion in a circular orbit;
(3) a pulsation like a heart, a constant expansion and contraction.

These three movements are always going on, and are unaffected by any force from outside. A force from outside - a ray of light, for example - will set the atom as a whole moving violently up and down, the amplitude of this movement being proportional to the intensity of the light, and the wave-length resulting from the movement of a number of atoms being determined by the colour of the light.

Besides the force of the Logos, which holds the atom together in its form, one of His forces is playing through it at a number of different levels. There are seven orders of this force, one of which comes into operation during each round, working through what are called the spirillæ in the atom. For a description of these spirillæ, as well as other details of the structure of the atom, the students is referred to Occult Chemistry (1919 edition, pp. 21-23, and Appendix, ii-vi.).

In interstellar space - between solar systems - the atoms are in the condition known as ”free,” lying far apart, and equidistant, this seeming to be their normal condition when undisturbed.

In the space between planets, however, they are never found free: even if they are not grouped in forms they are subject to a great deal of disturbance from cometic and meteoric matter, and also to considerable compression from what we describe as the attraction of the Sun.

From the above considerations, we perceive how it is that a man in, for example, his causal body, could move freely in the neighbourhood of a planet, where the atomic mental matter is in the compressed condition, but would not be able to move or function in far-away space, where the atoms remain free and uncompressed.

To continue with our description of the building of the solar system, we have now arrived at the stage where the vast whirling sphere contains within itself seven types of atomic matter, all one essentially, because all are built out of the same kind of bubbles, but differing in their degree of density. All these types are freely intermingled, so that specimens of each type would be found in a small portion of the sphere taken at random in any part of it, with, however, a general tendency of the heavier atoms to gravitate more and more towards the centre.

The Logos next sends out, still from His Third Aspect, aseventh impulse which, instead of drawing the physical atoms back into Himself and dissociating them into the original bubbles,draws them together into certain aggregations, thus making a number of different kinds of what may be called proto-elements; these again are joined together into the various forms which are known to science as chemical elements.

The making of these extends over a long period of ages, and they are made in a certain definite order, by the interaction of several forces, as is correctly indicated in Sir William Crookes' paper on The Genesis of the Elements.

The process of their making is even now not concluded: uranium is the latest and heaviest element, so far as we know, but others still more complicated may perhaps be produced in the future.

As the ages roll on, condensation increases, and presently the stage of a vast glowing nebula, usually of incandescent hydrogen, is reached. Various other systems in our universe are, of course, now passing through this stage, as may be seen by means of any large telescope.

In our own case, as the mass cooled, still rapidly rotating, it contracted and flattened until eventually it became rather a huge revolving disc than a sphere. Presently fissures appeared in this disc, and it broke into rings, presenting somewhat the appearance of the planet Saturn and its surroundings, though on a far larger scale.

As the time drew near when the planets would be required for the purposes of evolution, the Logos set up at a chosen point in the thickness of each ring a subsidiary vortex, into which a great deal of the matter of the ring was gradually collected.

The collisions of the gathered fragments caused a revival of the heat, the matter being reduced to a gaseous condition, forming a glowing ball which, as it cooled once more, gradually condensed into a physical planet fit to be the theatre of life such as ours. Thus were all the planets of our system formed.

In this particular part of our system, however, the physical planet which was formed was, not the Earth, but the Moon. For a reference to Diagram V will show that the first physical planet appears in the third chain, and that planet, in our Scheme of Evolution, was the Moon.

When the active life of the Moon, in the third chain, was over, a new vortex was set up, not far away from the Moon, and the rest of the matter of the ring was gradually gathered into it. The resultant collisions once more produced a ball of glowing gas, which enfolded the body of the Moon, and very soon reduced it to a similar condition.

As this combined mass gradually cooled, condensation took place round the two vortices, but by far the greater portion of the matter was attracted to the new vortex, which became the Earth, leaving the Moon a much smaller body than it had been, and altogether denuded of air and water.

The Moon was still, from the intense heat, in a plastic condition, like hot mud, and the Earth in its earlier stages was subject to the most tremendous volcanic convulsions. In the course of these, enormous masses of rock, often many miles in diameter, were thrown up into space, to vast distances in all directions.

The majority fell back on the Earth, but some of them struck the Moon while still in its plastic condition, and produced upon it many of those huge depressions, which we now call lunar craters. Some, but not many, of the lunar craters are, however, really volcanic craters.

The Moon is at present like a vast cinder, hard but porous, of a consistency not unlike that of pumice-stone, though harder. Scarcely any physical action of any sort is now taking place upon its surface. It is probably slowly disintegrating, and it seems that in the course of our seventh round it will break up altogether, and its matter will be used (with, presumably, some of that of the Earth) to build a new world, which will be the only physical globe of the fifth chain of our Scheme of Evolution (vide Diagram V). To that new globe whatever remains of the Earth will act as a satellite, just as the Moon now Serves the Earth.

In Theosophical literature, the Moon has often been described as the eighth sphere, because it is not one of the seven planets of our chain upon which evolution is taking place. It is therefore a ”dead end,” a place where only refuse gathers. It is a kind of dust-heap to the system, a kind of astral cesspool, into which are thrown decaying fragments of various sorts, such as the lost personality which has torn itself away from the ego.

மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...5 (Rebirth)

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

DIAGRAM VIII represents the solar system, with its 1O schemes of evolution, each consisting of 7 chains of 7 globes, the 7 rounds of each chain being indicated, as before, by the circles drawn through the globes.

The student will by now have clearly realised that, as the 7 chains of each scheme come into existence successively, Diagram VIII does not represent the solar system as it is at the present time, but is a collective picture of the stages through which it passes.

The actual state of the solar system at the present time is indicated in Diagram IX. The round on which each chain is at present engaged is shown, where it is known; where it is not known, the rounds are dotted. The chains of schemes 8, 9 and l0 are also shown dotted, as their present stage is not known.

The solar system at present therefore has 70 planets which, as previously said, may be regarded as having a definite location in space, and as revolving round, or in some way depending upon, our sun. These 70 planets are shown in Diagram X.


We may now make our final table as follows:


7   globe - periods  = 1 round.
49  globe = 7 rounds = 1 chain-period.
343 globe = 49 rounds= 7 chain-periods = 1 Scheme of Evolution.
10 Schemes of Evolution = our Solar system.

மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...4 (Rebirth)

SCHEMES OF EVOLUTION

IN the preceding chapter we saw that 7 successive chains, or 7 incarnations of a chain, make up a scheme of evolution.

A scheme of evolution is, in the main, a separate, distinct and self-contained field of evolution, though certain very important modifications of this general principle will be explained later.

Diagram VII illustrates the Earth Scheme of evolution, showing the 7 chains, each containing 7 globes, the 7 rounds of each chain being indicated by the circles running through the globes.

Be it noted, however, that although the whole 49 globes of the Scheme are shown in the diagram, not more than one set of 7 is usually in existence at any given time (save for a few ”corpses,” like our Moon, which have not completely disintegrated).

In the diagram, Mars, the Earth and Mercury are shown as belonging to the fourth chain, the Moon to the third chain.

What we now call the Moon is the last remnant of a much larger globe, which was the physical planet of the third chain, holding the same position in the third chain that the Earth holds in the fourth chain. In the seventh round of the Earth Chain, the Moon will disintegrate entirely, so that the Earth will be without a satellite.

In our solar system there are 1O separate and distinct Schemes of Evolution. The names by which they are known are those of the physical planets which, at the present time, happen to be part of them. The 10 schemes are:

(1) The Vulcan Scheme.
(2) The Venus Scheme.
(3) The Earth Scheme.
(4) The Jupiter Scheme.
(5) The Saturn Scheme.
(6) The Uranus Scheme.
(7) The Neptune Scheme.
(8)-(10) Have no names at present, as they have no physical 20 planets. No. 8 is sometimes called the ”Asteroids” Scheme.

The present stage of the 10 schemes is shown in the table on this side. The schemes are arranged in order of the nearness of their physical planets to the Sun.

The statement that in our seventh round our satellite, the Moon, will entirely disappear seems to be paralleled by a similar phenomenon in the case of the Venus Chain. The Venus Chain, being now in its seventh round, has no satellite. But some 150 years ago a number of astronomers recorded observations of a satellite of Venus, with a diameter estimated at 2,000 miles. Although it is usually supposed that those astronomers were mistaken, it seems more probable that the satellite did exist when they made their observations, but has since then disappeared, as will our own satellite in our seventh round.

It is stated that the material now forming the Asteroids will some time be made into a globe, which has been tentatively allocated to Scheme VIII. If we prefer to call this the Asteroids Scheme, it would come between the Earth and the Jupiter Schemes, the schemes being arranged in the order of the distances of their physical planets from the Sun.

In spite of the enigmatical statement by H. P. Blavatsky that Neptune is not in our solar system, there is no question that Neptune does revolve round the sun, and that the Neptunian Chain is part of our system, being one of the 10 chains. Experience having shown that many of the statements of H. P. Blavatsky, apparently contrary to known facts, have later proved to be true in some deeper and more esoteric sense, it may well be that her statement regarding Neptune will also eventually be found to be accurate, in some esoteric sense.

In The Secret Doctrine (Third Edition, Vol. I, pp. 186 -190), there are emphatic statements that Mars and Mercury do not belong to the Earth Chain. The statements, made by Dr. Besant and by Bishop Leadbeater, that they do belong to the Earth Chain, have been warmly challenged by certain occult students (vide The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett, compiled by A. T. Barker, 1923, Introduction, p. XIII, and Appendix, pp. 489-492). The present writer does not attempt to reconcile these apparently irreconcilable statements, but here follows those of the two later writers named, because his work is essentially a compilation of their works, rather than those of H. P. Blavatsky (vide Conclusion, p. 352).

In addition to these 1O schemes, there are also other evolutions taking place in the solar system, every inch of space being utilised.

Even in the koilon itself there may be proceeding anevolution of which we know nothing and can imagine nothing.

All space is filled with life, and there are even orders lower than that of the physical plane. Occasionally a human being may come into touch with that lower evolution, but such entanglement is always undesirable and harmful. That is not necessarily because the lower evolution is in any way to be regarded as evil, but because it is not meant for our humanity.

மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...3 (Rebirth)

CHAINS

As we have just seen, a chain consists of 7 globes, each of which has 7 periods of activity, so that 49 globe-periods make up 1 chain-period.

When the chain-period is completed, the globes which form it disintegrate, and the matter which composed them is re-formed to make 7 new globes. These 7 new globes then pass through 7 rounds of activity, precisely as before, and are then broken up, only to be re-formed once more into another set of 7 globes.

The process takes place 7 times, 7 chains, each consisting of 7 globes, being thus formed in succession, and each lasting for its 7 rounds of activity.

The individual globes, which are formed from the disintegrated matter of the preceding chain, although formed of the same ultimate material particles, are not composed of the same grades of matter. Diagram V makes clear what happens. The first chain is formed of

2 globes of âtmic matter,
2 globes of buddhic matter,
2 globes of higher mental matter,
1 globe of lower mental matter.

The second chain descends a step, in the order of its matter, so that it has

2 globes of buddhic matter,
2 globes of higher mental matter,
2 globes of lower mental matter,
1 globe of astral matter.

The third and fourth chains plunge still lower into matter, as indicated in Diagram V.

The diagram brings out several points of interest, which are worthy of note. Thus, out of the 49 globes in the whole series of 7 chains,

4 are âtmic,
8 are buddhic,
12 are higher mental,
12 are lower mental,
8 are astral,
5 are physical.

Thus only the first and seventh chains have purely âtmic globes; only the second and sixth have purely buddhic globes; all but the fourth chain have higher mental globes; all but the first and seventh have lower mental globes; only the third, fourth and fifth chains have physical globes.

The central plane of the five planes is the mental, and this plane alone is divided into two portions. Every one of the 7 chains has representative globes on the mental plane ; all but the fourth chain, in fact, having representatives on both the higher and the lower mental planes.

From this consideration, it is clear that the mental plane plays a part of great importance in man's evolution: for, of the whole 49 globes, 24, or nearly half, are on the mental plane. Hence the appropriateness of the occult definition of man as ”that being in the universe, in whatever part of the universe he may be, in whom highest Spirit and lowest Matter are joined together by Intelligence.”

So we may say also that in the series of 7 chains, the highest spiritual is joined to the lowest material by mental matter, the substance of intelligence. The disintegration of the globes into their component materials, and their re-integration into 7 new globes at a lower or higher level, as the case may be,is illustrated in Diagram VI.

The period between any two successive chains, during which the matter of the previous chain is in a state of disintegration, is known as the prâlaya of the chain, or the inter-chain prâlaya.

The whole series of 7 chains makes up what is called a Scheme of Evolution, or sometimes merely a Scheme.

We therefore now have this table:

7 globe-periods = 1 round,
49 - ” - = 7 rounds = 1 chain-period,
343 - ” - = 49 - ” - = 7 chain-periods = 1 Scheme ofEvolution.

We may note in passing that, as indicated in Diagram V, we are at present in the fourth chain of our Scheme of Evolution, and therefore at its lowest level of materiality. The precise point in that chain which we have now reached is, however, so important as to deserve separate consideration at a later stage of our study.

The 7 successive chains are sometimes spoken of as ”incarnations” of the chain. Chains are spoken of also as Planetary Chains.

A chain may be regarded as the Upâhi or vehicle of the Planetary Logos-an Entity who will be described in a later chapter. We may think of the Planetary Logos re-incarnating Himself in the 7 successive chains, each chain beginning with the fruitage of its predecessor, each handing on to its successor that which itself has made.

In the first 3 chains we may say Spirit or Life descends into matter; in the fourth chain Spirit and, Matter are interwoven and form innumerable relations; the last 3 chains are those of upward climbing, at the end of which all will return to the Planetary Logos, to merge into Îshvara with the fruitage of evolution.

மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...2 (Rebirth)

ROUNDS

ALTHOUGH the 7 globes of a chain all exist simultaneously, yet they are not all, at any given time, equally active in supporting life. Broadly speaking, at any given time, 1 globe only is active and fully functioning, the other 6 being in a dormant condition.

The globes come into full activity, i.e., they become fully inhabited by various classes of beings-with whom we shall deal in later chapters-in succession. First, globe A becomes active: after a vast period of time the life on it begins gradually to lessen and almost to disappear, passing to the next globe-B. Globe A then becomes dormant, whilst B begins to awaken.

After another vast period of time, globe B in turn ”goes to sleep,” the greater part of the life passing on to the next globe in order, globe C.

This process continues until each globe in turn has awakened from its sleeping condition, has supported the main stream of life for an eon, and again become dormant. The period during which a globe is fully active, supporting the main stream of life, is called a globe-period.

The passage of the cycle of life round all 7 globes is known as a round. A round thus consists of 7 globe periods, or world periods, as they are sometimes called.

When one round has been completed, the whole process begins again with the re-awakening of life on Globe A, its subsequent passage to Globe B, then to Globes C, D, E, F and G successively until a second round has been completed. The whole process is then repeated until 7 rounds have been completed.

Diagram IV illustrates the 7 rounds of the earth chain, the spiral line indicating the stream of life which passes 7 complete times round the whole chain of 7 globes.

We thus see that:

7 globe-periods make 1 round,and
49 globe-periods make 7 rounds or 1 chain-period.

We spoke above of each globe in succession passing, as the stream of life leaves it, into a dormant condition. When this happens, the life on the globe does not entirely cease: a small amount of life, a kind of nucleus, always remains, and serves several important purposes. We shall deal with this phenomenon later in its proper place. It is merely mentioned here in order to prevent the student from forming an inaccurate conception of what really takes place.

மறுபிறவி, 7 ஜென்ம தொடர்...1 (Rebirth)

GLOBES

WE shall commence our study of the ”field” in which evolution takes place, with the small unit, and proceed to build up the larger units out of the smaller, i.e., we shall pass from the particular to the general. This, it is considered, will be easier for the student than the reverse method of commencing with the large unit, and then dividing it up into its component and smaller units. Later , however, when we come to investigate the life which evolves in the ”field” we shall find it easier to adopt the reverse method, and, commencing with the large streams of life, proceed to divide them up into their component and smaller units. Thus we adapt our methods to the nature of our subject.

The earth and the other planets are known as globes. Our own earth is one of a series of 7 globes: that series is known as a chain, and the earth is the densest of the 7 globes of its chain.

The 7 globes of the earth chain consist of:

a.  2 lower mental globes.
b.  2 astral globes.
c.  3 physical globes.

The globes of every chain are not necessarily so constituted: but with that we shall deal in full detail presently.

When we speak, for example, of a lower mental globe, we mean one in which the densest type of matter it contains is lower mental: i.e., it has no astral or physical matter. Similarly, an astral globe has no matter denser than the astral, i.e., it has no encasement of physical matter.

Each globe, however, possesses ”counterparts,” as they are called, of the various grades of matter finer than itself: thus, a physical globe possesses its counterparts of astral, lower mental, higher mental, buddhic, and âtmic matter: an astral globe possesses a lower mental and all the higher matter counterparts. These facts may be symbolised thus (Diagram 1).

Any one globe, however, must not be imagined as occupying a position in space separate and distinct from its counterparts, because this is not the case. The counterparts of a globe occupy identically the same position in space as the globe itself, with this reservation, that the spheres of higher or finer matter are larger than those of lower matter, for they interpenetrate and and extend beyond the periphery of the lower matter spheres, just
as a man's astral body interpenetrates and extends beyond the confines of his physical body, his mental body beyond that again, and so on. A truer representation of the globes would therefore be as shown in Diagram II.

It is well known to students of science that particles of matter never actually touch one another, even in the densest substances. Moreover , the spaces between the particles are always far greater than the size of the particles themselves. Hence there is ample room, in any given portion of space, for every grade of atom, not only to lie between the atoms of denser matter, but also to move about quite freely among them and around them.

Consequently a physical globe, such as the earth, is not one world, but 7 interpenetrating worlds, all occupying the same pace, except that, as said, the finer types of matter extend further from the centre than do the denser types.

The 7 globes of a chain are, by recognised convention, known respectively as Globes A, B, C,D, E, F and G. In the earth chain, Globes A and G are lower mental, B and F are astral, C, D, and E are physical; C is the planet Mars, D is the Earth, and E is the planet Mercury. A, B, F and G have at present no names other than the letters which designate them. Diagram III represents the 7 globes of the earth chain.

The Hindu Purânas speaks of the globes of our chain as Dvîpas, the earth being called Jambudvîpa.

Each of the 7 globes, being a separate and distinct planet, may be regarded as having a definite location in space,  revolving round, or in some way dependent upon, our sun. The student will kindly observe and note the  various kinds of shadings used to designate the different orders of matter, as these shadings will be used throughout this book, wherever convenient, for the purpose named.

The physical being the densest, is represented by crossed lines. The astral, as being between the physical and the mental, is shown by lines inclined at 45° to the horizontal; the lower mental is represented by vertical lines, the higher mental by similar lines though further apart.

Buddhic matter is indicated by horizontal dotted lines, and âtmic matter by vertical dotted lines.

It is not easy for us to attach any meaning to the idea of a planet upon planes so exalted as the nirvânic (âtmic) or buddhic, and we are perhaps scarcely justified in using the term. All that is meant is that there is a certain location in space where the evolution of certain groups of entities is taking place through agencies which work on those exalted levels.

***to be continued***

Clairvoyance-5

Among the real psychic powers, however, which are attained by slow and careful self development, there are some which are of very great interest. For example, for one who can function freely in the mental body there are methods of getting at the meaning of a book, quite apart from the ordinary process of reading it. The simplest is to read from the mind of one who has studied but this is open to the objection that one gets not the real meaning of the work but that student's conception of the meaning, which may be by no
means the same thing. A second plan is to examine the aura of the book--a phrase which needs a little explanation for those not practically acquainted with the hidden side of things.

An ancient manuscript stands in this respect in a somewhat different position from a modern book. If it is not the original work of the author himself, it has at any rate been copied word by word by some person of a certain education and understanding, who knew the subject of the book, and had his own opinions about it. It must be remembered that copying (done usually with a stylus) is almost as slow and emphatic as engraving; so that the writer inevitably empresses his thought strongly on his handiwork. Any manuscript, therefore, even a new one, has always some sort of thought-aura about it which conveys its general meaning, or rather one man's idea of its meaning and his estimate of its value. Every time it is read by anyone an addition is made to that thought-aura, and if it be carefully studied the addition is naturally large and valuable.

This is equally true of a printed volume. A book which has passed through many hands has an aura which is usually better balanced than that of a new one, because it is rounded off and completed by the divergent views brought to it by its many readers; consequently the psychometrization of such a book generally yields a fairly full comprehension of its contents, though with a considerable fringe of opinions not expressed in the book, but held by its various readers.

On the other hand, a book used in a public library is not infrequently as unpleasant psychically as it usually is physically, for it becomes loaded with all kinds of mixed magnetism, many of them of a most unsavory character. The sensitive person will do well to avoid such books, or if necessity compels him to use them he will be wise to touch them as little as may be, and rather to let them lie upon a table than to hold them in his hand. Another factor to be remembered with regard to such books is that a volume written upon a special subject is most likely to be read by a particular type of person, and the readers leave their impress upon the aura of the volume. Thus a book violently advocating some sectarian religious views is not read except by persons who sympathize with its narrowness, and so it soon develops a decidedly unpleasant aura; and in the same way a book of an indecent or prurient nature quickly becomes loathsome beyond description. Old books containing magical formulae are often for this reason most uncomfortable neighbors. Even the language in which a book is printed indirectly affects its aura, by limiting its readers largely to a man of a certain nationality, and so by degrees endowing it with the more prominent characteristics of that nationality

In the case of a printed book there is no original copyist, so that at the beginning of its career it usually carries nothing but disjointed fragments of the thought of the binder and bookseller. Few readers at the present day seem to study so thoughtfully and thoroughly as did the men of old, and for that reason the thought forms connected with a modern book are rarely so precise and clear cut as those which surround the manuscripts of the past. The third method of reading requires some higher powers, in order to go behind the book or manuscript altogether and get at the mind of its author. If the book is in some foreign language, its subject entirely unknown, and there is no aura around it to give any helpful suggestion, the only ways to follow back its history to see from what it was copied (or set up in type, as the case may be) and so to trace out the line of its descent until one reaches its author. If the subject of the work be known, a less tedious method is to psychometricize that subject, get into the general current of thought about it, and so find a particular writer required, and see what he thinks. There is a sense in which all the ideas connected with a given subject may be said to be local--to be concentrated around a certain point in space--so that by mentally visiting that point one can come into touch with all the converging streams of thought about that subject, though they are linked by millions of lines with all sorts of other subjects.

Another interesting power is that of magnification. There are two methods of magnification which may be used in connection with the clairvoyant faculty. One is simply an intensification of ordinary sight. It is obvious that when in common life we see anything, and impact of some sort is made upon the retina--upon its physical rods and cones. The effects there produced, or the vibration set up, are transmitted, in some way by no means thoroughly understood, by the optic nerve to the gray matter of the brain. Clearly, before the true man within can become conscious of what is seen, these impressions made upon the physical brain-matter must be transmitted from that to the etheric matter, from that in turn to the astral, and from that to the mental--these different degrees of matter being, as it were, stations on the telegraph wire.

One method of magnification is to tap this telegraph wire at an intermediate station--to receive the impression upon the etheric matter of the retina instead of upon the physical rods and cones, and to transfer the impression received directly to the etheric part of the brain. By an effort of will the attention can be focused in only a few of the etheric particles, or even in one of them, and in that way a similarity of size can be attained
between the organ employed and some minute object which is to be observed.

A method more commonly used but requiring somewhat higher development, is to employ the special faculty of the center between the eyebrows. From the central portion of that can be projected what we may call a tiny microscope at the etheric level, having for its lens only one atom. In this way again we produce an organ commensurate in size with the minute objects to be observed. The atom employed may be either physical, astral or mental, but whichever it is it needs a special preparation. It must be opened up and brought into full working order, so that it is just as developed as it will be in the seventh round of our chain.

This power belongs to the causal body, so if an atom of lower level be used as an eyepiece a system of reflecting counterparts must be introduced. The atom must be adjusted to any sub plane, so that any required degree of magnification can be applied in order to suit the object which is being examined. A further extension of the same power enables the operator to focus his own consciousness in that lens through which he looks, and then to project it to distant points. The same power, by a different arrangement, it can be used for diminishing purposes when one wishes to view as a whole something far too large to be taken in at once by ordinary vision.

***End of Clairvoyance***

Clairvoyance -4

I should not advise anyone to allow himself to be thrown into mesmeric sleep for the purpose of gaining clairvoyant experiences. The domination of the will by that of another produces effects that few people realize. The will of the victim becomes weaker, and is more liable to be acted upon by others. In the scheme of things no man is forced to do anything; he is taught by receiving always the result of his actions; and it is better to allow clairvoyant powers to come gradually in the normal course of evolution, rather than to try to force them in any way.

We must not always assume that a man who sees something pertaining to higher planes is necessarily becoming clairvoyant. By clairvoyance, for example, we may undoubtedly see an apparition, but on the other hand there are various other ways in which a man may see or suppose himself to see something which to him would be exactly the same as an apparition.

The apparition of a dead person may be as follows:

(a) one's own imagination,
(b) A thought form produced by another person,
(c) or by the person seen,
(d) an impersonation,
(e) the etheric double of the person, or
(f) the real person actually there. In the last case one of three things must have happened--that is, supposing that the apparition is dead or sleeping and in his astral body, and that the man who sees him is himself in the physical body and wide awake.

Either:

(a) the dead man has materialized himself, and is for the time a physical object, which may be seen by any number of people with ordinary physical sense;

(b) the dead man is in his astral body, in which case only those possessing astral sight can perceive him; he has probably succeeded by some special effort in temporarily opening that sight for the person to whom he wishes to show himself, and is therefore most likely visible to that one person only, and not to any others who may happen to be present; or,

(c) the dead man has mesmerized the living, so as to impose upon him the idea that he sees a figure which is not really visible to him, though it may be really present.

If the apparition be an etheric double, it will not stray far away from the dense body to which it belongs or used to belong. An unpracticed apparition--one who is it new to the astral plane--often shows traces of the habits of his earth-life. He will enter and depart by a door or window, not yet realizing that he can pass through the wall just as easily. I have even seen one squeeze through the crack of a locked door; he might as well have tried the keyhole! But he moves as he has been accustomed to move--as he thinks of himself as moving. For the same reason an apparition often walks upon the earth, when he might just as well float through the air.

It is a mistake to think that if you see a vision, it must necessarily mean something for you, or be specially sent to you. If you for the moment become sensitive, you see what ever happens to be there: Suppose I am sitting in a room, and the curtain is drawn across the window, so that the street outside is invisible to me. Suppose the wind lifts the curtain for a moment, so that I get a glimpse of the street, I shall then see what ever happens to be passing at that moment. Let us imagine that I see a little girl in a red cloak, carrying a basket. The little girl is probably going about her own business, or perhaps her mother's; should I not be foolish if I chose to fancy that she had been sent there especially for me to see, and began to worry myself as to what could be symbolized by the red cloak and a basket? A flash of clairvoyance is usually just the accidental lifting of a curtain, and generally what is seen has no special relation to this seer.

There may occasionally be instances in which the curtain is in intentionally lifted by a friend because something of personal interest is passing; but we must not be too ready to assume that that is the case.

Clairvoyance -3

Special training should be arranged from early childhood for clairvoyant children. The modern system of education tends to suppress all psychic faculties, and most young people are overstrained by their studies. In Greece and Rome the psychic children were promptly isolated as vestal virgins or postulants for the priesthood, and specially trained. There is a natural tendency in the present day, apart from education, to repress these faculties. The best way to prevent the loss of these to the world is to put the boys into some sort of monastery where the monks know about a higher life and try to live it, for family life is not suitable for this development. Where such clairvoyance appears it ought to be encouraged, for many additional investigators a wanted for the Society's work, and those who begin young are likely to adapt themselves to it most readily.

People who are psychic by birth generally use the etherically double the great deal. People possess what has sometimes been called " etheric sight"--that is, site capable of observing physical matter in a state of exceedingly fine subdivision, though not yet capable of discerning the subtler matter of the astral plane--frequently see it, when the looking the at any exposed portion of the human body, such as the face of the hand, multitude's a tiny forms, such as dice, stars, and double pyramids. These belong neither to the thought-plane neither to the astral, but to the etheric part of the physical. There simply is the exceedingly minute physical emanations from the body--the waste matter, consisting largely of finely divided salts, which is constantly being thrown out in this manner. The character of these tiny particles varies from many causes. Naturally loss of health often alters them entirely, but any wave of emotion will affect them to a greater or lesser extent, and the even respond to the influence of any definite train of thought.

Professor Gates is reported as saying that the material emanations of the living body differ according to the states of mind as well as the conditions of the physical health; (b) that these emanations can be tested by the chemical reactions of some salts of selenium; (c) that these reactions are characterized by various tents or colours according to the nature of the mental impressions; (d) that forty different emotion-products, as he calls them, have already been obtained. 

People sometimes see the animated particles quivering with intense rapidity, and dashing about in the air before them. This again shows the possession of much increased of much etheric vision, not of mental. It is unfortunately only too common for the person who gains for the first time a glimpse of astral or even of etheric matter to jump at once to the conclusion that he is at least upon the mental level, if not upon the nirvanic, and holds in his hand the key to all the mysteries of the entire solar system. All that will come in good time, and these grander vistas will assuredly open before him one day; but he will hasten the coming of that desirable consummation if he makes sure of each step as he takes it, and tries fully to understand and make the best of what he has, before desiring more. Those who begin their experience with nirvanic vision are few and far between; for most of us, Progress must be slow and steady, and the safest motto for us is festina lente.