Man: Fragments of a Forgotten History

The world, at this late day, expects so little truth about the origin and infancy of man that it extends but a grudging consideration to anything beyond the vaguest surmises and the most shadowy outlines; and is always ready to condemn, what it would call, the credulous temerity of an individual, who ventures accurately to survey regions of investigation which it pronounces inexplorable.

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Excerpt:

The small band of esoteric teachers, the inheritors of the secret knowledge of the ages, have till lately found silence to be the only means for its preservation. But the time has arrived for the world to receive a portion of their accumulated wealth. The choice, however, of the present method, so different from all preconceived ideas of the fitness of things, is sure to give rise to feelings of a very varied character. The question would naturally suggest itself why the discovery of ancient books and manuscripts, undeniably authentic and plainly historical, should not have been made the occasion for the revival of the forgotten lore, if the present generation is to be at all instructed in the story of the origin and infancy of its ancestors. The allegorical character, however, of ancient writings which renders them unintelligible to all but the initiated reader, prevents such a course being adopted: hence the necessity of the present plan.

It is herein attempted to show mankind of today what man was ages before those usually reckoned as the era of his first appearance on earth; and the early conditions of the race and its progressive growth will be found to teem with interest and instruction even in the meager account that follows. It will, perhaps, be asked - What is the source of information, who are the Teachers? They are the sages of the East, the inheritors of the knowledge of the Magian, the Chaldean, the Egyptian, and the ancient Rishis of India; from one of whom, a beloved and revered Master, known to many in the West as well as in the East, the present writers have received the instruction, part of which is presented to the world in the following pages. With the accuracy of the information here afforded, if not with its fulness, the writers are satisfied, and they give it with the sincere hope that the world, for its own enlightenment, will extent to it an open-minded and wise consideration, notwithstanding the imperfections which the shortcomings of the writers may have produced.

The writers were perfect strangers to each other until they met last spring, and the circumstances which brought them together will be found narrated in the following prefaces. The mystical student of psychology, who knows the inadequacy of a bare statement of facts for the presentation of psychic incidents, will hardly need an apology for the form in which the narratives are cast.

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The septenary division adopted by the different schools of the Esoteric philosophy, has in many cases called forth against it the charge of puerility. A closer acquaintance with the subject, however, must needs impress one with the strictly scientific character of this method of classification. Following the mystic idealists, we may divide the whole range of existence into different states of consciousness, with their appropriate objects or functions. According to these philosophers, existence is coextensive with consciousness; absolute unconsciousness is absolute negation. Now, it is within ordinary experience that consciousness manifests itself in three different states, namely, the consciousness of a man awake, the consciousness of a man dreaming, and the consciousness of one in a state of dreamless slumber. The first two states are recognized by all, the last requires a few words of explanation. It is true, in waking moments one has some conception of the dreaming consciousness, but none at all of the consciousness of dreamless slumber; its existence, nevertheless, is proved by the fact that the identity of the ego is never lost, and the beginning and conclusion of such slumber are strung together in consciousness. Had there been a cessation of all consciousness for one moment there is no conceivable reason for its reappearance. Besides these three states, all mystics hold, as no doubt is the case, that there is a fourth state of consciousness, which may be called transcendental consciousness. A glimpse of this state may be obtained in the abnormal condition of exstasis.

As to the objects of these states of consciousness it is easily seen that they exhaust the whole range of existence. All that admits of perception by the senses belongs to the first state of consciousness, which is conditioned by our familiar notions of time and space. The objects perceived in dreams, though possessing all the elements of reality to the dreamer, are not identical with the objects of waking consciousness, although similar to them. The dreamer's notions of time and space are different from those of the man awake. A change in these notions involves a corresponding change in the nature of objects to which the characteristic of reality is assigned. A miser dreaming of acquisition of wealth experiences as much pleasure as when actually feasting his eyes on his accumulated treasures. While awake, however, the wealth acquired in dream will excite no interest. Similarly, while dreaming, the fact that the acquisition will not preserve its reality in waking life, will have, if noticed at all, only a moment's recognition and then be forced out of the mind, as it plunges deeper into the contemplation of the objects dreamed of.

The last phenomenon is noted by all who pay any attention to their dreams and the laws governing them. The objects of waking consciousness are usually called material, and their counterparts perceptible by the dreamer have been called astral, adopting the phraseology of Paracelsus and his fellow-thinkers. The objects of the other two states of consciousness, being beside our present purpose, do not call for more than passing recognition. The four states of consciousness mentioned above, it is hardly necessary to note, are not separated from each other by impassable chasms, but are all closely interrelated and form one synthetic whole. A little consideration will show that these four states, combined in the way contemplated, must produce six states; the synthetic unity of them all being the seventh. If the four points of a square be taken to represent the four states, their combinations will produce the four sides of the square and the two diagonals - six in all - and the figure itself. The result of the combination, considered apart from its components, will be represented by a circumscribing circle. In this symbol, which had its origin in remote antiquity, the circle is the infinite. All from which phenomenal existence, emblematized by the square and its diagonals, proceeds. Hence, squaring the circle is sometimes taken to symbolize the process of evolution.

The interdependence of the subject and objects of consciousness will be clearly perceived form the above considerations. The seven states of consciousness viewed in reference to the subject, man, are the seven individual principles, and in reference to the object, matter, are the seven universal cosmic principles; the seventh principle, however, in each case includes in itself the other six, and in point of fact, though forming the last term in both these classifications, is really one. In the infinite the subject and the object merge into each other.

Each of these principles is divided into seven; and each subdivisions is again divided into seven; the septenary division in fact is carried on indefinitely. Our revered Teacher says on this point:-" Whenever any question of evolution or development in any kingdom presents itself to you, bear constantly in mind that everything comes under the septenary rule of series in these correspondences and mutual relations throughout Nature." The number of septenary divisions being limitless, no nomenclature is capable of exhibiting the real interrelations of all the terms. But if cross division is guarded against, each septenary will be found complete in itself and the comprehension of one septenary will render it easy to pursue the investigations backwards and forwards by following the Law of Correspondences.

There is one peculiarity of these septenary divisions which requires prominent mention. In tracing the process by which the present state of man and his universe evolved from anterior states, it is plain, the beginning must be made at the other pole. The present state is objective and material, the starting point must therefore be subjective and spiritual; it must not be forgotten, however, that these terms are relative and not absolute. In the ultimate reality matter and spirit are identical; matter in that connection being but what Kant calls objective reality, and spirit abstract consciousness. The mystical philosophers maintain that the ultimate reality is absolute consciousness, which has objective existence and is not insubstantial, unreal. According to the language of some Brahmanical philosophers the ultimate reality is the mystic union of Prakriti (Matter) and Purusha (Spirit).

To return to our subject from abstract metaphysical considerations which need not detain us longer than necessary for the elucidation of the theme which concerns us more immediately. In every septenary the first and the last will be respectively Matter and Spirit, or Spirit and Matter, according as we view it from the side of evolution or involution. The process of evolution is endless, and the last principle has always to work back to the first, but on a higher plane; if the curve of evolution re-entered into itself, the process would come to an end. The fitting symbol of evolution is not a circle, but a spiral eternally progressing.

Evolution, or the manifestation of one permanent Noumenon in an infinite variety of phenomenal existence, involves in itself the notion of cycles, and can only be understood by being studied in some particular and defined period of time. In the phenomenal universe, we find that no point of time can be thought of without thinking of previous points of time. It is clear therefore that an object which exists at any given moment, must have always existed before, in some form or other. The pre-existing form is said to cause the subsequent form; further consideration will show that cause and effect differ only in form but are identical in substance, and that the effect always contains in itself the cause. It is one of the fundamental propositions of Eastern philosophical systems that the effect is the unfoldment of the cause in time. The only method by which the recondite facts of man's spiritual evolution can be presented to the general reader is that of deductions from universal truths relating to the nature of his consciousness. These metaphysical truths are consequently to be borne in mind for a correct understanding of the subject.

Evolution, as we have seen, admits of study only in its progress during any given period of time; and this period of time is marked off into cycles and sub-cycles, according to the development of the seven principles and their endless septenary divisions. Extant literature of the Esoteric Doctrine discloses only one chapter of the great book of Evolution - the period of our planetary Manvantara. At the commencement of this period the material or rather objective universe of humanity slowly emerges from its spiritual or subjective condition, and then having reached its consummation resolves back into spiritual existence. The ante-natal spiritual condition of man's universe is such as to be subjective to all egos which can, in any sense be called human.

The evolutionary process of which we are the products requires for its complete unfoldment seven planets, corresponding to the seven principles of the human universe. The evolution of the entire system is too vast and complicated to be described within any reasonable limits. A small section of it only can be traced, leaving the student to follow out the rest, with the help of the Law of Correspondences.

It has been stated that the planetary Manvantara, as well as the whole range of existence evolved in it, are divided into an indefinite number of septenaries. Remembering this and the other fact that the evolutionary process works spirally and in alternate periods of relative activity and repose, the subject becomes easy of comprehension. We may for our present purpose consider the evolutionary process as a spiral with seven curves. Emerging from the spiritual or subjective condition, which to us egos, imprisoned in matter, is a perfect blank, the evolving existence describes the first curve producing the first representative of spiritual life in the material or objective universe. This is the first principle of our planetary system.

To a being whose perceptions can cognize the ante-natal spiritual condition of our universe as objective, this first principle will have an analogy to the first spiritual principle; for the law of septenaries obtains as much in the spiritual as in material existence. But to another, whose objective perception does not penetrate beyond the first material principle, all the seven spiritual principles will be present in this one. The next wave of evolution, producing the second principle, is represented by the curve, which was contained in the first in a potential, or unmanifested condition, and which in its own turn contains the first, as the effect includes the cause. The same relation is continued all through. To come to particulars, each of the seven curves is really a spiral itself, formed by seven curves, among which the same interrelations subsist as among the major curves; all the subdivisions proceed in a similar manner. The illustration adopted applies to the principles and sub-principles evolved as well as to the time occupied in their evolution.