The
Writings of C
The Formation
of a Solar
System
From
A Textbook of
Theosophy
By
C
The
beginning of the universe (if ever it had a beginning) is beyond our ken. At
the earliest point of history that we can reach, the two great opposites of
Spirit and matter, of life and form, are already in full activity. We find that
the ordinary conception of matter needs a revision, for what are commonly
called force and matter are in reality only two varieties of Spirit at
different stages in evolution, and the real matter or basis of everything lies
in the background unperceived. A French scientist has recently said: “There is
no matter; there is nothing but holes in the aether”.
This
also agrees with the celebrated theory of Professor Osborne Reynolds. Occult
investigation shows this to be the correct view, and in that way explains what
Oriental sacred books mean when they say that matter is an illusion.
The
ultimate root-matter as seen at our level is what scientists call the aether of
space. ( This has been described in Occult Chemistry under the name of koilon)
To every physical sense the space occupied by it appears empty, yet in reality
this aether is far denser than anything of which we can conceive. Its
density
is defined by Professor Reynolds as being ten thousand times greater than that
of water, and it means pressure as seven hundred and fifty thousand 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 this point) when this
substance filled all space. We must also suppose that some great Being (not the
Deity of a solar system, but some Being almost infinitely higher than that)
changed this condition of rest by pouring out His spirit or force into a
certain section of this matter, a section of the size of a whole universe. The
effect of the introduction of this force is at that of the blowing of a mighty
breath; it
has
formed within this aether an incalculable number of tiny spherical bubbles (The
bubbles are spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the holes which Fohat digs in
space), and these bubbles are the ultimate atoms of which what we call matter
is composed. They are not the atoms of the chemist, nor even the ultimate atoms
of the physical world. They stand at a far higher level, and what are usually
called atoms are composed of vast aggregations of these bubbles, as will be
seen later.
When
the Solar Deity begins to make His system, He finds ready to His hand this
material – this infinite mass of tiny bubbles which can be built up into
various kinds of matter as we know it. He commences by defining the limit of
His field of activity, a vast sphere whose circumference is far larger than the
orbit of the outermost of His future planets. Within the limit of that sphere
He sets up a kind of gigantic vortex – a motion which sweeps together all the
bubbles into a vast central mass, the material of the nebula that is to be.
Into
this vast revolving sphere He sends forth successive impulses of force,
gathering together the bubbles into ever more and more complex aggregations,
and producing in this way seven gigantic interpenetrating worlds of matter of
different degrees of density, all concentric and all occupying the same space.
Acting
through His Third Aspect, He sends forth into this stupendous sphere the first
of these impulses. It sets up all through the sphere a vast number of tiny
vortices, each of which draws into itself forty-nine bubbles and arranges them
in a certain shape. These little groupings of bubbles so formed are the atoms
of the second of the interpenetrating worlds. The whole number of the bubbles
is not used in this way, sufficient being left in the dissociated state to act
as atoms for the first and highest of these worlds. In due time comes the second
impulse,
which seizes upon nearly all these forty nine bubble atoms (leaving only enough
to provide atoms for the second world), draws them back into itself and then,
throwing them out again, sets up among them vortices, each of which holds
within itself 2,401 bubbles (49 2). These form the atoms of the third
world.
Again after a time comes a third impulse, which in the same way seizes upon
nearly all these 2,401 bubble atoms, draws them back again into their original
form, and again throws them outward once more as the atoms of the fourth world
– each atom containing this time 49 3 bubbles. This process is repeated until
the sixth of these successive impulses has built the atom of the seventh or
lowest world – that atom containing 49 6 of the original bubbles.
This
atom of the seventh world is the ultimate atom of the physical world – not any
of the atoms of which chemists speak, but that ultimate out of which all their
atoms are made. We have at this stage arrived at that condition of affairs in
which the vast whirling sphere contains within itself seven types of matter,
all
one in essence, because all built 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 center.
The
seventh impulse sent out from the Third Aspect of the Deity does not, as
before, draw back the physical atoms which were last made into the original
dissociated bubbles, but draws them together into certain aggregations, thus
making a number of different kinds of what may be called proto-elements, and
these
again are joined together into the various forms which are known to science as
chemical elements. The making of these extends over a 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. Indeed the process of their making it is not even nowconcluded;
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
ages roll on the condensation increased, and presently the stage of a vast
glowing nebula was reached. As it cooled, still rapidly rotating, it flattened
into a huge disc and gradually broke up into rings surrounding a central body –
an arrangement not unlike that which Saturn exhibits at the present day, though
on a far larger scale. As the time drew near when the planets would be required
for the purposes of evolution, the Deity set up somewhere in the thickness of
each ring a subsidiary vortex, into which a great deal of the matter of the
ring
was
by degrees collected. The collisions of the gathered fragments caused a revival
of the heat, and the resulting planet was for a long time a mass of glowing
gas. Little by little it cooled once more, until it became fit to be the
theatre of life such as ours. Thus were all the planets formed.
Almost
all the matter of those interpenetrating worlds was by this time concentrated
into the newly formed planets. Each of them was and is composed of all those
different kinds of matter. The earth upon which we are now living is not merely
a great ball of physical matter, built of the atoms of that lowest
world,
but has also attached to it an abundant supply of matter of the sixth, the
fifth, the fourth and other worlds. It is well known to all students of science
that particles of matter never actually touch one another, even in the hardest
of substances. The spaces between them are always far greater in proportion
than their own size – enormously greater. So there is ample room
for
all the other kinds of atoms of all those other worlds, not only to lie between
the atoms of the denser matter, but to move quite freely among them and around
them. Consequently this globe upon which we live is not one world, but seven
interpenetrating worlds, all occupying the same space, except that the finer
types of matter extend further from the center than does the denser matter.
We
have given names to these interpenetrating worlds for convenience in speaking
of them. No name is needed for the first, as man is not yet in direct
connection with it; but when it is necessary to mention it, it may be called
the divine world. The second is described as the monadic, because in it exist
those Sparks of the divine Life which we call the human Monads; but neither of
these can be touched by the highest clairvoyant investigations at present
possible for us.
The
third sphere, whose atoms contain 2,401 bubbles, is called the spiritual world,
because in it functions the highest Spirit in man as now constituted. The
fourth is the intuitional world (Previously called in theosophical literature
the buddhic plane) because from it come the highest intuitions. The fifth is
the
mental
world, because of its matter is built the mind of man. The sixth is called the
emotional or astral world, because the emotions of man cause undulations in its
matter. (The name astral was given to it by mediaeval alchemists, because its
matter is starry or shining as compared to that of the denser world). The seventh
world, composed of the type of matter which we see all around us, is called the
physical.
The
matter of which all these interpenetrating worlds are built is essentially the
same matter, but differently arranged and of different degrees of density.
Therefore
the rates at which these various types of matter normally vibrate differ also.
They may be considered as a vast gamut of undulations consisting of many
octaves. The physical matter uses a certain number of the lowest of these
octaves, the astral matter another group of octaves just above that, the mental
matter a still further group, and so on.
Not
only has each of these worlds its own type of matter; it has also its own set
of aggregations of that matter – its own substances. In each world we arrange
these substances in seven classes according to the rate at which their
molecules vibrate. Usually, but not invariably, the slower oscillation involves
also
a larger molecule – a molecule, that is built up by a special arrangement of
the smaller molecules of the next higher subdivision. The application of heat
increases the size of the molecules and also quickens and amplifies their
undulation, so that they cover more ground, and the object as a whole expands,
until
the point is reached where the aggregation of molecules breaks up, and the
latter passes from one condition to that next above it. In the matter of the
physical world the seven subdivisions are represented by seven degrees of
density of matter, to which, beginning from below upwards, we give the names
solid liquid, gaseous, etheric, super-etheric, subatomic and atomic.
The
atomic subdivision is one in which all forms are built by the compression into
certain shapes of the physical atoms, without any previous collection of these
atoms into blocks or molecules. Typifying the physical ultimate atom for the
moment by a brick, any form in the atomic subdivision would be made by
gathering
together some of the bricks, and building them into a certain shape.
In
order to make matter for the next lower subdivision, a certain number of the
bricks (atoms) would be first gathered together and cemented into small blocks
of say four bricks each, five bricks each, six bricks or seven bricks; and then
these blocks so made would be used as building-stones. For the next subdivision
several of the blocks of the second subdivision cemented together in certain
shapes would form building-stones, and so on to the lowest.
To
transfer any substance from the solid condition to the liquid (that is to say,
to melt it) is to increase the vibration of its compound molecules until at
last they are shaken apart into the simpler molecules of which they were built.
This process can in all cases be repeated again and again until finally any and
every
physical substance can be reduced to the ultimate atoms of the physical world.
Each
of these worlds has its inhabitants, whose senses are normally capable of
responding to the undulations of their own world only. A man living (as we are
all doing) in the physical world sees, hears, feels, by vibrations connected
with the physical matter around him. He is equally surrounded by the astral and
mental and other worlds which are interpenetrating his own denser world, but of
them he is normally unconscious, because his senses cannot respond to the
oscillations of their matter, just as our physical eyes cannot see by the
vibrations of ultraviolet light, although scientific experiments show that they
exist and there are other consciousnesses with differently-formed organs who
can see by them. A being living in the astral world might be occupying the very
same space as a being living in the physical world, yet each would be entirely
unconscious of the other and would in no way impede the free movement of the
other. The same is true of all the other worlds. We are at this moment
surrounded by these worlds of finer matter, as close to us as the world we see,
and their inhabitants are passing through us and about us, but we are entirely
unconscious of them.
Since
our evolution is centered at present upon this globe which we call the earth,
it is in connection with it only that we shall be speaking of these higher
worlds, so in future when I use the term “astral world” I shall mean by it the
astral part of our own globe only, and not (as heretofore) the astral part of
the whole solar system. This astral part of our own world is also a globe, but
of astral matter. It occupies the same place as the globe which we
see,
but its matter (being so much lighter) extends out into space on all sides of
us further than does the atmosphere of the earth – a great deal further. It
stretches to a little less than the mean distance of the moon, so that though
the two physical globes, the earth and the moon, are nearly 240,000 miles
apart, the astral globes of these two bodies touch one another when the moon is
in
perigee,
but not when she is in apogee. I shall apply the term “mental world” to the
still larger globe of mental matter in the midst of which our physical earth
exists. When we come to the still higher globes we have spheres large enough to
touch the corresponding spheres of other planets in the system, though their
matter also is just as much about us here on the surface of the solid earth as
that of the others. All these globes of finer matter are a part of us, and are
all revolving round the sun with their visible part. The student will do well
to accustom himself to think of our earth as the whole of this mass of
interpenetrating worlds – not only the comparatively small physical ball in the
center of it.
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Tekels Park to be Sold to a
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Concerns are
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The Spiritual
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Classic Introductory Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy
By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
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