III. RESULTS OF ITS ACTIVITY. - Part 2
It was in connection with this transmutative process that the alchemists of old occupied themselves, but seldom did they reach the stage wherein it was possible for them to concern themselves with the response of the two types of positive energy to each other, and with the consequent escape of a lesser positive force to its greater attractive centre. When they did (with a few exceptions) they were brought up against a dead wall, for though they had succeeded in locating the radiating principle in substance, or in the true form, and had managed to pierce through (or to negate) both the dense physical [1066] body and the etheric form, yet they had no perception of the nature of the central force which was drawing the life they were concerned with out of its apparently legitimate sphere into a new realm of activity. Some few did possess this knowledge but (realising the danger of their conclusions) refused to put in writing the result of their investigations.
If students will study the laws of transmutation, [cccix]11 as already apprehended, and above all, as incorporated in the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, bearing this in mind, some interesting results might be brought about. Let them remember that that which "seeks liberty" is the central electric spark; that this liberty is achieved first of all through the results brought about by the activity of the "frictional fire" which speeds up its internal vibration; then by the work upon the atom, or the substance of solar fire, which causes:
a. Orbital progression,
b. Stimulative vibration,
c. Awakened internal response,
until finally electric fire is contacted. This is true of all atoms:
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a. The atom of substance,
b. The atom of a form whatsoever it be,
c. The atom of a kingdom in nature,
d. The atom of a planet,
e. The atom of a solar system.
In every case the three fires or types of energy play their part; in every case the four stages are passed through; in every case transmutation, transference, or radiation takes place, and the result of the escape of the central positive energy is achieved, and its absorption into a greater form, to be held in place for a specific cycle by the stronger energy.
This process of rendering radioactive all the elements has, as we have seen, occupied students down the ages. The alchemists of the middle ages beginning with the simpler elements and starting with the mineral kingdom sought to find out the secret of the liberating process, to know the method of release, and to understand the laws of transmutation. They did not succeed in the majority of cases because, having located the essence, they had no idea how to deal with it when released, nor (as we have seen) had they any conception as to the magnetic force which was drawing the released essence to itself.
To comprehend the law and therefore to be able to work perfectly with it, the experimenting student must have the ability to release the essence from its form. He must know the formulae and words which will direct it to that particular focal point in the mineral kingdom which stands in the same correspondential relation to the mineral monad as the Ego on its own plane stands to the man who casts off his physical and true forms through death. This involves knowledge only committed to the pledged disciple; if chance students stumble upon the law, and theoretically know the process, they would do well to proceed no further until they have learned how [1068] to protect themselves from the interplay of forces. As we well know, the workers with radium, and those who experiment in the world's laboratories, suffer frequently from loss of limb or life; this is due to their ignorance of the forces they are dealing with. The liberated essences become conductors of the greater force which is their magnetic centre, because they are responsive to it, and it is this force which produces the distressing conditions sometimes present in connection with radioactive substances. Every radioactive atom becomes, through this conductive faculty, a releasing agent; and they consequently cause what we call burns. These burns are the result of the process of releasing the essential life of the atom of physical substance being dealt with.
There might here be noted the curious phenomenon, in the human kingdom which is erroneously termed the prolongation of life; it might more truthfully be called the perpetuation of the form. Medical science today strains every effort to retain life in forms diseased and inadequate; these Nature, if left to herself, would long ago have discarded. They thereby imprison the life, and force back the life essence again and again into the sheath at the moment of liberation. In course of time and with more knowledge, true medical science will become purely preventative. It will concentrate its ability on preserving the atomic life of the human atom, and at furthering the preservative protective processes, and the functionary smoothness of the atomic rotary life, thus conducing to the correct following of the human orbital path. But further than that it will not go, and when the course of nature has been run, when the wheel of life has run down, when the hour for liberation has struck, when the time has come for the return of the essence to its centre, then the work will be recognised as completed, and the form discarded. But this will not, however, be possible until the human family has reached a stage [1069] when, through pure living and clean thinking, the present corruptions have been eliminated. Men will then function on into old age, or until the Ego, realising the particular work to be accomplished in any one life has been duly worked out, calls in the lower spark of life, and withdraws the central point of fire. This naturally presupposes knowledge and faculties at present lacking.
All these thoughts can be extended to include entire kingdoms of nature, the globes of a chain, the chains themselves, a planetary scheme or a solar system.
The moon is an interesting instance of the transmutative or liberating process practically completed in a globe: the essential life of the human kingdom has withdrawn and found a new field of expression. All animal life has equally been absorbed by a greater centre in another chain. Practically the same can be said of the vegetable kingdom on the moon though there are a few of the lower forms of the vegetable life (of a kind unrecognisable by us) still to be found there; whilst the mineral kingdom is radioactive and the essence of all mineral forms is fast escaping.
In connection with the kingdoms of nature, it must be remembered that their growth and eventual radiation is dependent upon the cyclic purpose of the planetary Logos, and upon the currents of force which play upon His planetary body, and which emanate from other planetary schemes.
All atoms become radioactive as the result of a response to a stronger magnetic centre which response is brought about through the gradual evolutionary development of consciousness of some kind or another. This is known to be true in a small degree in connection with the mineral kingdom though scientists have not yet admitted that radiation is thus caused. Later they will, but only when this general theory which is here laid down in connection with all atoms is admitted by them to be a plausible [1070] hypothesis. Then the goal of their endeavour will be somewhat changed; they will seek to ascertain through clear thinking and a study of the involved analogy what focal points of magnetic energy may be regarded as existing, and how they affect the atoms in their environment. One hint only can here be given. Light upon these dark problems will come along two lines.
First, it will come through the study of the place of the solar system in the universal whole, and the effect that certain constellations have upon it; secondly, it will come through a close study of the effect of one planetary scheme upon another, and the place of the moon in our own planetary life. This will lead to a close investigation of polar conditions in the earth, of the planetary magnetic currents, and of the electrical intercourse between our earth, and the Venusian and Martian planetary schemes. When this has been accomplished, astronomy and esoteric astrology will be revolutionised, and the nature of solar energy as an expression of an Entity of the fourth rank will be appreciated. This will come at the close of this century after a scientific discovery of even greater importance to the scientific world than that as to the nature of the atom. Until that time it will be as difficult to express the hylozoistic conception in terms of exact science as it would be for the sixteenth century ancestor of present humanity to conceive of the atom as being simply an aspect of force, and not objective and tangible. Hence further elucidation will but serve to confuse.
In considering this vast subject of radiation, which is the result of spiral-progressive movement, it might be of interest if I here pointed out that in every kingdom of nature there are certain focal points of energy which, as the aeons gradually sweep along, bring the atomic substance of which all forms in all kingdoms are composed to the point where they become radioactive and achieve [1071] liberation. (The term "liberation" really means the ability of any conscious atom to pass out of one sphere of energised influence into another of a higher vibration, of larger and wider expanse of conscious realisation.)
Broadly speaking, it might be said that:
The mineral kingdom is responsive to that type of energy which is the lowest aspect of fire, of those internal furnaces which exert an influence upon the elements in the mineral world, and which resolve these atomic lives into a gradual series of ever-higher types of mineral energy. For instance, the type of energy which plays upon iron ore, or which produces tin, is emanated from a different centre in the body of the Entity informing the mineral kingdom to that which converts the elements into those wondrous jewels, the diamond, the sapphire, the emerald or the ruby. The energy of the particular centre involved is likewise responsive to force originating in the centre in the body of the planetary Logos—which centre depends upon the kingdom to be vivified. In dealing with these kingdoms, therefore, the relations might be briefly indicated—
KINGDOM PLANETARY CENTRE
a. Human..................................Heart centre.
b. Animal..................................Throat centre.
c. Vegetable..............................Solar plexus.
d. Mineral.................................Spleen.
The planetary egoic centre is, of course, the transmitter to all the others, and it should be borne in mind in this connection that every centre transmits three types of force, with the exception of the spleen which hands on the solar fires, pranic force, pure and simple. Students will eventually ascertain how to group the various types in the different kingdoms according to the type of energy they display in fullest measure, remembering that only in the fourth kingdom, the human, is the highest of the three types (that which produces self-consciousness) [1072] manifesting; in the others it is latent. This will become apparent if the method of lunar individualisation is studied.
The vegetable kingdom is responsive to the particular type of energy which produces the phenomenon of water, or moisture. Through the effect of water every higher type of plant life is evolved, and through the combination of heat and water results are brought about which produce new types. The herbal scientist who is producing new species is really occupied with the effect of sex energy in the second kingdom of nature; he will do well to deal with all plant life as energy points responsive to other and greater energy centres. Much will be learned along this line when electricity and colored lights are more freely used in experimental stations. Sex, in the mineral kingdom, or chemical affinity, is the display in that kingdom of the second type of magnetic force; in the vegetable kingdom the same thing can be studied in the seed life, and in the fertilisation processes of all plants. Neptune, the God of the Waters, has a curious relationship to our planetary Logos, and also to the Entity Who is the informing life of the second kingdom.
The animal kingdom is responsive to a type of energy which is neither fire nor water but is a combination of the two. They are also the first of the kingdoms on the physical plane to be responsive to sound, or to the energy emanating from that which we call noise. This is an occult fact worthy of close attention. The energy emanating from the Entity Who is the informing Life of the third kingdom in nature has five channels of approach, that is five centres. That animating the fourth kingdom has seven, for the mind and the intuition are added. In the second kingdom there are three centres, but their manifestation is so obscure as to seem practically nonexistent to the human mind. In the first or mineral kingdom, the avenue of approach is limited to one centre. [1073] It will be observed, therefore, that the stimulation of magnetic energy proceeds from what might be regarded as jumps, 1-3-5-7. Each kingdom starts with a specific equipment, and during the process of evolution within the kingdom adds to it so that the liberated life enters the next kingdom with its old equipment plus one.
The human kingdom is equally responsive to energy. This time it is the energy of fire at its highest manifestation in the three worlds. It must be borne in mind that we are referring to the positive energy of the greater Whole as it affects the lesser positive energetic points. We are not referring to form energy.
The atom becomes responsive to form energy or to that which surrounds it. It becomes conscious and then becomes responsive to the force of the kingdom in which it is a part. It gradually becomes responsive to stronger influences or to the force emanating from the Entity Who is the life of that kingdom.
Finally, the atom becomes conscious of planetary energy, or responsive to the Heavenly Man Himself. It then transcends the kingdom in which it has been, and is elevated into another kingdom in which the cycle is again repeated.
This can all be expressed in terms of consciousness but in this section we will limit the thought simply to that of energy. In summation it might be said that:
1. The planetary Logos has seven centres, as has man.
2. The informing Life of the animal kingdom has five centres, and the animal kingdom has five prototypes on the archetypal plane, whereas man has seven prototypes.
3. The informing Life of the vegetable kingdom has three centres of force on His Own plane, and there are, therefore, but three basic types of plant life. [1074] All that we know are but differentiations of those three.
4. The informing Life of the mineral kingdom works through one centre.
b. Radiation in the Five Kingdoms. We have seen that the cause of radiation is the response of the positive life in any atom to the attractive power of the positive life in a greater atom. Expressed in other words, we might say that the deva life of any atomic form proceeds with its evolution, and by a series of "releases" transfers itself during the manvantaric cycles out of one kingdom into another until every atom has achieved self-determination, and thus the purpose of the Heavenly Man for any particular mahamanvantara is satisfactorily accomplished. As might be expected, therefore, when the subject is viewed as a whole and not from the standpoint of any one kingdom, there are in the evolutionary process five major at-one-ments.
1. At-one-ment with the mineral kingdom.
2. At-one-ment of the mineral monad with the vegetable kingdom.
3. At-one-ment of the vegetable monad with the animal kingdom.
The progressive life has now made three at-one-ments or expanded its realisation three times.
4. At-one-ment with the human kingdom.
5. At-one-ment with the Heavenly Man or with the great planetary life.
Along these five stages, one of them is considered in this solar system to be the most important, and that is the at-one-ment with the human kingdom. For this particular greater cycle, the goal of evolution is man; when individualisation is achieved and self-determination is awakened, the Monad or Divine Pilgrim has attained that which expresses the logoic purpose most perfectly. The [1075] later stages but set the crown upon the victor, and the final at-one-ment with the divine Self is but the consummation of the fourth stage. Students will find it of interest to work out the correspondence between the five initiations and these five unifications. There is a close connection between the two. By understanding the laws of the different kingdoms, much can be learned anent the conditions governing the five Initiations. It will be found that the initiations mark stages in response to contact and to realisation which have their interesting germs in the five kingdoms.
It might here be pointed out with propriety that radiation is the result of transmutation; transmutation marks the completion of a cycle of rotary-spiralling activity. No atom becomes radioactive until its own internal rhythm has been stimulated to a point where the positive central life is ready for the imposition of a higher vibratory activity, and when the negative lives within the atomic periphery are repulsed by the intensity of its vibration, and are no longer attracted by its drawing qualities. This is due to the coming in and consequent response to the magnetic vibration of a still stronger positive life which releases the imprisoned central spark and causes what might from some aspects be called the dissipation of the atom. This process, nevertheless, in the majority of cases covers such a vast period of time that the human mind is unable to follow the process.
The radioactive period is much the longest in the mineral kingdom, and shortest of all in the human. We are not concerned with radiation in the spiritual kingdom at the close of the mahamanvantara, so no comment will here be made.
It is interesting to note that during this round, owing to planetary decision, the process of producing human radiation or "release" is being artificially stimulated through the method which we call initiation, and the [1076] short cut to intensive purification and stimulation is open to all who are willing to pass through the divine alchemical fire. Simultaneously, in the other kingdoms of nature a process somewhat similar in kind though not in degree is being attempted. The tremendous manipulation of ores, the scientific work of the chemist, and scientific investigation is analogous in the mineral kingdom to the world processes which are being utilised to liberate the human spark. Out of the chaos and turmoil of the World War, for instance, and the weight of metal undergoing violent disintegration the mineral monad emerged as from an initiatory test, incomprehensible as this may seem. It will be apparent that a great simultaneous movement is on foot to produce more rapid radiation in all the kingdoms of nature so that when the cycle is run the process of planetary radiation may be consummated. This intensive culture is not proceeding upon all the planets but only upon a very few. The others will run a longer cycle. The initiatory cultural process which has in view the stimulation of magnetic radiation or transmutation is but an experiment. It was tried first on Venus, and on the whole proved successful, resulting in the consummation of the planetary purpose in five rounds instead of seven. This was what made it possible to utilise Venusian energy upon the Venus chain and the Venus globe of our scheme and thus cause the phenomenon of forced individualisation in Lemurian days. It was the intensive stimulation of the third kingdom of nature during the third root race which artificially unified the three aspects. The process of stimulating through the medium of Venusian energy was really begun in the third round when the triangle of force was completed, and ready to function. It is this factor which occultly makes the third Initiation of such tremendous importance. In it the human triangle is linked, the Monad, the [1077] Ego and the personality, or Venus, the Sun and the Earth are symbolically allied.
Enough has here been indicated to give the student room for thought, though one more word in this connection might be added. In the potentially radioactive qualities of the four kingdoms of nature with which we are most concerned will be found an interesting analogy to the functions of the four planetary schemes which (in their totality) form the logoic quaternary. This applies also in a lesser degree to the four chains which form the planetary quaternary. All have to become radioactive and all their principles have to be transmuted and the form for which they are responsible transcended.
When the subject of radiation is more completely comprehended, it will be found that it demonstrates one more instance of the unity of all life, and furnishes one more corroborative indication of the synthetic nature of the entire evolutionary process. In every instance that which radiates from each kingdom of nature is one and the same. The radioactive human being is the same in nature (differing only in degree and in conscious response) as the radioactive mineral; in every case it is the central positive life, the electric spark or that which is its correspondence, which radiates. There are, therefore, seven correspondences in this connection in the solar system, seven types which radiate, or seven classes of entities which demonstrate ability to transcend their normal motion and to transfer themselves into some greater sphere in due course of evolution. These are:
1. The mineral monad of the mineral kingdom, or the central positive nucleus in all atoms and elements.
2. The monad in the vegetable kingdom, or the central positive life of every plant and vegetable growth.
3. The monad in the animal kingdom or the positive life of each type.
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4. The human Monads in their myriads of groups.
5. The Monad of any particular type, or form.
6. The planetary Monad, the sum total of all the lives within a planetary scheme.
7. The solar Monad or the sum total of all lives in the solar system.
Each of these is first rotary in its activity, or self-centred; later each simultaneously with its original motion demonstrates spiral-cyclic activity. Thereby it becomes "aware" of form, and finally becomes radioactive. During this final period it transcends the form, and escapes from out of it, becoming thus conscious of, and able to participate in, the activity of the still greater enveloping whole.
c. Radiation and Cyclic Law. Scattered throughout this Treatise, are numerous indications of the cyclic nature of this phenomenon, and students should bear in mind that in all which concerns radiation, as in all else, there will be periods of quiescence, and periods of intensified activity. This will be seen quite clearly in connection with the fourth kingdom of nature. A period of radioactivity is being entered upon now in which men and women will achieve a larger realisation; they will begin to transcend their human limitations, and to enter the fifth kingdom one by one, and unit by unit. This period, as far as the larger cycle is concerned, began when the Door of Initiation was opened in Atlantean days, but many lesser cycles have occurred, for the influx into the fifth kingdom is equally governed by cyclic law, by periodic ebb and flow. At the close of the fourth root race there was a period of distinctive radioactivity, and many hundreds of men passed out of the fourth Creative Hierarchy into another and a higher one. Many posts held hitherto by Venusian Entities were vacated in order that our humanity might occupy them, and a vast interchain [1079] radiation went on as many of the Kumaras and certain lesser existences quitted our earth chain, and entered upon subtler, and more advanced work. Then the activity gradually ebbed until a recurring cycle brought in influences which produced a new radiation, though not of such a strength as in the preceding period.
Another period of radioactivity occurred during the time of the Buddha and many achieved Arhatship in those days. That period was the highest point of what is occultly termed "a cycle of the third degree," and a similar degree of radiatory activity has not been reached since that time. Human radiation of a very slight nature was felt about the time of Christ, but it only lasted for a couple of hundred years, and though individuals here and there have since achieved the goal, yet no large numbers have passed successfully through the fires of transmutation, and thus transcended the fourth kingdom. The cycle is again on the upward turn; about the fourteenth century the human kingdom began to be noticeably radioactive, and we are on the way to the fulfilment of a "cycle of the second order" or of a period of transcendence of a still greater activity than in the time of the Buddha. It will become demonstrably great when certain conditions have been fulfilled.
First, when the present world chaos has subsided. Next, when the present generation has consummated its work of reconstruction. Third, when the coming great Lord has entered upon His mission upon earth, thereby increasing the vibration in every kingdom of nature, but particularly in the second and fourth.
Fourth, when the movement, inaugurated at the close of each century by the Trans-Himalayan Lodge is under way, and the psycho-scientific Egos who are its agents have made their presence felt.
Finally, when a movement is instituted by the Lodge, working in connection with the fourth root race; it will [1080] also be part of the stimulative process, and will result in the rendering radioactive of some of the foremost thinkers of that race. It will be their day of opportunity, and so great is the importance attached to this that a Member of the Lodge, Confucius as he has been called in the past, will incarnate in order to superintend the work. The preliminary steps are being taken now, and Egos are coming in who will endeavour to direct the energies of this race on to the right line though the peak of the cycle of stimulation will not be until the middle of the next century. It is needless for me to point out that all such movements are first felt as disturbing, and only when the dust of turmoil, and the noise of clashing forces have died away will purpose be seen emerging. This is very apparent in Russia at the present time.
A great factor and one that it is hard to explain so that the average thinker can understand it is the cyclic coming in of egos who are at a point in evolution where they are ready for their first radioactive life. In one great department of hierarchical endeavour all egos are divided into two groups, according to their cycle and according to their type of energy. These grades are in turn subdivided according to the quality and the vibratory effect to be induced upon any one kingdom of nature by their united, or single, incarnation. This might be illustrated by pointing out that by the gradual coming in of human beings who are vegetarians by natural inclination and by the appearance of egos who are interested specifically in the welfare and nurture of the animals (as is the case so noticeably now) we have the cyclic appearance of a whole group of human units who have a definite karmic relation to the third kingdom. This relation is of a kind differing in specific detail from the meat-eating, and oft inhuman, groups of the past five hundred years.
It might be of profit and of interest if we here enumerated some of the occult terms applied to some of these [1081] differentiated groups, remembering that we are only touching upon a few out of a vast number, and only name those the terminology of which conveys information and educational benefit to the student:
1. The units of inertia,
2. Atoms of rhythmic centralisation,
3. Units of primary radiation,
4. The sons of heavy rhythm,
5. The points of fiery excellence (a name given oft to magnetic, highly-evolved types),
6. Tertiary points of secondary fire,
7. Magnetic flames (given to chelas and initiates of certain degrees),
8. Positive sons of electricity,
9. Rotating units of the seventh order,
10. Points of light of the fourth progression,
11. Electric sparks,
12. Units of negative resistance,
13. The equilibrised atoms.
Many more names might be given but these will suffice to indicate the general nature of these energy summations, under which all the members of the human family are gathered and placed according to:
a. Their rhythm,
b. Their quality,
c. Their heat,
d. Their light,
e. Their magnetic influence,
f. Their radiation,
g. Their activity.
This tabulation is but an extension of the major one which grouped all Egos under the divisions of colour, sound and vibration. A similar enumeration has also grouped the atoms in the other kingdoms of nature, and [1082] even the Dhyan Chohans of the highest rank find their place in the hierarchical archives of this fifth (or third) department.
A cyclic tabulation is of equal interest but is of a totally different nature, carrying to the initiated and intuitive investigator many hints of an evolutionary and historical value. Again we might append a brief epitome of some of the expressions used and of some of the names under which human beings are grouped in the archives of this the seventh department:
1. Units of the fire-mist stage,
2. Points of lunar origin,
3. Sons of the sun,
4. Devas of the fourth degree,
5. Flames from interplanetary spheres,
6. Atoms from the crimson sphere—a reference to certain Egos who have come to the earth from the planetary scheme whose note is red,
7. The successful Vyasians,
8. The points in the third planetary petal, and groups of others related to the twelve petalled planetary lotus,
9. The lovers of low vibration,
10. The rejectors of the eighth scheme,
11. The points of triple resistance,
12. The followers of the ARHAT,
13. The cyclic sons of peace,
14. The recurring sons of war,
15. The specks within the planetary eye,
16. The recognised points within the chakras. These naturally exist in ten groups.
Each name conveys to the mind of the initiate some knowledge as to the place in evolution of the Monad concerned, the nature of its incarnations, and its place in cyclic evolution.
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The same method of grouping is used in connection with all the kingdoms though only in the case of the fourth and the fifth kingdoms are individual atoms dealt with; the tabulations and records for the other kingdoms are concerned with groups. When a group is known, the nature, vibration, and rhythm of the atom within that group is immediately apparent.