Existence Dictionary

Alchemy ; in Arabic Ul-Khemi, is, as the name suggests, the chemistry of nature. Ui-Khemi or Al-Kimia, however, is only an Arabianized word, taken from the Greek chemeia, (chemeia) from cumoz -  "juice", sap extracted from a plant.

Says Dr. Wynn Westcott: "The earliest use of the actual term ‘alchemy’ is found in the works of Julius Firmicus Maternus, who lived in the days of Constantine the Great. The Imperial Library in Paris contains the oldest-extant alchemic treatise known in Europe;it was written by Zosimus the Panopolite about 400 A.D. in the Greek language, the next oldest is by Eneas Gazeus, 480 A.D."

It deals with the finer forces of nature and the various conditions in which they are found to operate. Seeking under the veil of language, more or less artificial, to convey to the uninitiated so much of the mysterium magnum as is safe in the hands of a selfish world, the alchemist postulates as his first principle the existence of a certain Universal Solvent by which all composite bodies are resolved into the homogeneous substance from which they are evolved, which substance he calls pure gold, or summa materia. This solvent, also called menstvuum universale, possesses the power of removing all the seeds of disease from the human body, of renewing youth and prolonging life. Such is the lapis philosophorum (philosopher’s stone).

Alchemy first penetrated into Europe through Geber, the great Arabian sage and philosopher, in the eighth century of our era; but it was known and practised long ages ago in China and in Egypt, numerous papyri on alchemy and other proofs of its being the favourite study of kings and priests having been exhumed and preserved under the generic name of Hermetic treatises. (See "Tabula Smaragdina"). Alchemy is studied under three distinct aspects, which admit of many different interpretations, viz.: the Cosmic, Human, and Terrestrial. These three methods were typified under the three alchemical properties - sulphur, mercury, and salt.

Different writers have stated that there are three, seven, ten, and twelve processes respectively; but they are all agreed that there is but one object in alchemy, which is to transmute gross metals into pure gold. What that gold, however, really is, very few people understand correctly. No doubt that there is such a thing in nature as transmutation of the baser metals into the nobler, or gold. But this is only one aspect of alchemy, the terrestrial or purely material, for we sense logically the same process taking place in the bowels of the earth. Yet, besides and beyond this interpretation, there is in alchemy a symbolical meaning, purely psychic and spiritual.

While the Kabbalist-Alchemist seeks for the realization of the former, the Occultist-Alchemist, spurning the gold of the mines, gives all his attention and directs his efforts only towards the transmutation of the baser quaternary into the divine upper trinity of man, which when finally blended are one. The spiritual, mental, psychic, and physical planes of human existence are in alchemy compared to the four elements, fire, air, water and earth, and are each capable of a threefold constitution, i.e., fixed, mutable and volatile.

Little or nothing is known by the word concerning the origin of this archaic branch of philosophy; but it is certain that it antedates the construction of any known Zodiac, and, as dealing with the personified forces of nature, probably also any of the mythologies of the world; nor is there any doubt that the true secret of transmutation (on the physical plane) was known in days of old, and lost before the dawn of the so-called historical period. Modern chemistry owes its best fundamental discoveries to alchemy, but regardless of the undeniable truism of the latter that there is but one element in the universe, chemistry has placed metals in the class of elements and is only now beginning to find out its gross mistake.

Even sonic Encyclopedists are now forced to confess that if most of the accounts of transmutations are fraud or delusion, "yet some of them are accompanied by testimony which renders them probable. . . By means of the galvanic battery even the alkalis have been discovered to have a metallic base.

The possibility of obtaining metal from other substances which contain the ingredients composing it, and of changing one metal into another . . . must therefore be left undecided. Nor are all alchemists to be considered impostors. Many have laboured under the conviction of obtaining their object, with indefatigable patience and purity of heart, which is earnestly recommended by sound alchemists as the principal requisite for the success of their labours."

(Pop. Encyclop.)

(See also: Alchemy , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Mysticism

A word originally derived from the Greek and having a wide range of meaning in modern religion and philosophy. A mystic may be said to be someone who has intuitions or intimations of the existence of inner and superior worlds, and who attempts to achieve conscious communion with them and the beings inhabiting these inner and invisible worlds.

From the theosophical or occult point of view, a mystic is one who has inner convictions often based on inner vision and knowledge of the existence of spiritual and ethereal worlds of which our outer physical world is but a manifestation; and who has some inner knowledge that these worlds or planes or spheres, with their hosts of inhabitants, are intimately connected with the origin, destiny, and even present nature of the world which surrounds us.

The average mystic, however, is one who lacks the direct guidance derived from personal teaching received from a master or spiritual superior.

(See also: Mysticism , New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Nidana (Sanskrit) [from ni down, into + the verbal root da to bind]

That which binds, to earth or to existence, philosophically speaking. Originally meaning bond, rope, halter -- that which binds. From this arose the implication of binding cause, or bonds of causation, and hence in Buddhist philosophy it signifies cause of existence, the concatenation of cause and effect.

The twelve nidanas given as the chief causes are:

1)    jati (birth) according to one of the chatur-yoni, the four modes of entering incarnation, each mode placing the being in one of the six gatis;

2)    jara-marana (decrepitude) and death, following the maturity of the skandhas;

3)    bhava, which leads every sentient being to be born in this or another mode of existence in the trailokya and gatis;

4)    upadana, the creative cause of bhava which thus becomes the cause of jati, and this creative cause is the clinging to life;

5)    trishna (thirst for life, love, attachment);

6)    vedana (sensation) perception by the senses, the fifth skandha;

7)    sparsa (the sense of touch) contact of any kind, whether mental or physical;

8)    shadayatana (the organs of sensation) the inner or mental astral seats of the organs of sense;

9)    nama-rupa (name-form, personality, a form with a name to it) the symbol of the unreality of material phenomenal appearances;

10)  vijnana, the perfect knowledge of every perceptible thing and of all objects in their concatenation and unity;

11)  samskara, action on the plane of illusion; and

12) avidya (nescience, ignorance) lack of true perception.

Nidana is also a title of Brahma, considered as the first cause, being the kosmic living aggregate of vital bonds forming the universe into an organic whole; reproduced through its own internal energies from the preceding manvantara.

(See also: Nidana , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Bhava (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root bhu to be, become)

Being; coming into existence, birth, production, origin; worldly existence, the world. As used in Buddhist literature, the continuity of becoming, one of the links in the twelvefold chain of causation (nidanas), therefore also birth. As the third nidana, bhava is the karmic agent which leads every new sentient being to be born in this or another mode of existence in the trailokya and gatis.

As a proper noun, the name of a deity, also applied as a title to the gods Agni, Siva, and Rudra.

See also ABHAVA

(See also: Bhava , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Mulaprakriti mulaprakrti (Sanskrit) [from mula root + prakriti nature]

Root-nature; undifferentiated cosmic substance in its highest form, the abstract substance or essence of what later through various differentiations become the prakritis, the various forms of matter, concrete or sublimate. It is precosmic root-substance, the root-principle of the world stuff and all in the world; that aspect of parabrahman or space which underlies all the ethereally or materially objective planes or space of universal nature.

It is again unmanifested primordial stuff or substance, divine-spiritual, undifferentiated, and therefore indestructible, eternal, parentless, and abstractly the Mother -- space itself, and the vehicle, lining, or alter ego of parabrahman. It is "the noumenon of undifferentiated Cosmic Matter. It is not matter as we know it, but the spiritual essence of matter, and is co-eternal and even one with Space in its abstract sense. Root-nature is also the source of the subtile invisible properties in visible matter. It is the Soul, so to say, of the one infinite Spirit. The Hindus call it Mulaprakriti, and say that it is the primordial substance, which is the basis of the Upadhi or vehicle of every phenomenon, whether physical, mental or psychic. It is the source from which Akasa radiates" (SD 1:35).

Mulaprakriti along with parabrahman are the two aspects of the one universal principle which is unconditioned to any human conception, and similarly eternal. Parabrahman is unconditioned and undifferentiated reality, and mulaprakriti is its veil or inseparable vehicle. To the First Logos or cosmic ego emerging in parabrahman, "once this ego starts into existence as a conscious being having objective consciousness of its own, we shall have to see what the result of this objective consciousness will be with reference to the one absolute and unconditioned existence from which its starts into manifested existence.

From its objective standpoint, Parabrahmam appears to it as Mulaprakriti. . . . Parabrahmam by itself cannot be seen as it is. It is seen by the Logos with a veil thrown over it, and that veil is the mighty expanse of cosmic matter" (N on BG 20-1). Mulaprakriti stands in the same relation to parabrahman as the Qabbalistic Life of Space does to 'Eyn Soph; similarly on lower planes, it is what pradhana is to Brahman, or what prakriti is to Brahma.

(See also: Mulaprakriti, mulaprakrti , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

DEATH...is reference to the physical body NOT the Soul or Spirit, which is usually believed to go on to another body in the exercise of REINCARNATION. DEATHING: is the exercise of sitting with a 'dying' person as comforter or can be the ritual exercised to ease the soul 'over' into its new existence. DEATH IN SERVICE: meaning service to life; is the natural death such as from illness, old age, child birth, rescue attempts or self sacrifice to help another. BUT does NOT include murder, execution, suicide, war, torture deaths, etc. TO ME...Death is that state of existence consisting of change, evaluation, planning, & forgetting...DenElder

(See also: DEATH , Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

A Theosophical definition of Immortality :

Immortality

A term signifying continuous existence or being; but this understanding of the term is profoundly illogical and contrary to nature, for there is nothing throughout nature's endless and multifarious realms of being and existence which remains for two consecutive instants of time exactly the same. Consequently, immortality is a mere figment of the imagination, an illusory phantom of reality. When the student of the esoteric wisdom once realizes that continuous progress, i.e., continuous change in advancement, is nature's fundamental procedure, he recognizes instantly that continuous remaining in an unchanging or immutable state of consciousness or being is not only impossible, but in the last analysis is the last thing that is either desi

rable or comforting. Fancy continuing immortal in a state of imperfection such as we human beings exemplify  - which is exactly what the usual acceptance of this term immortality means. The highest god in highest heaven, although seemingly immortal to us imperfect human beings, is nevertheless an evolving, growing, progressing entity in its own sublime realms or spheres, and therefore as the ages pass leaves one condition or state to assume a succeeding condition or state of a nobler and higher type; precisely as the preceding condition or state had been the successor of another state before it.

Continuous or unending immutability of any condition or state of an evolving entity is obviously an impossibility in nature; and when once pondered over it becomes clear that the ordinary acceptance of immortality involves an impossibility. All nature is an unending series of changes, which means all the hosts or multitudes of beings composing nature, for every individual unit of these hosts is growing, evolving, i.e., continuously changing, therefore never immortal. Immortality and evolution are contradictions in terms. An evolving entity means a changing entity, signifying a continuous progress towards better things; and evolution therefore is a succession of state of consciousness and being after another state of consciousness and being, and thus throughout duration. The Occidental idea of static immortality or even mutable immortality is thus seen to be both repellent and impossible.

This doctrine is so difficult for the average Occidental easily to understand that it may be advisable once and for all to point out without mincing of words that just as complete death, that is to say, entire annihilation of consciousness, is an impossibility in nature, just so is continuous and unchanging consciousness in any one stage or phase of evolution likewise an impossibility, because progress or movement or growth is continuous throughout eternity. There are, however, periods more or less long of continuance in any stage or phase of consciousness that may be attained by an evolving entity; and the higher the being is in evolution, the more its spiritual and intellectual faculties have been evolved or evoked, the longer do these periods of continuous individual, or perhaps personal, quasi-immortality continue. There is, therefore, what may be called relative immortality, although this phrase is confessedly a misnomer.

Master KH in The Mahatma Letters, on pages 128-30, uses the phrase ``panaeonic immortality" to signify this same thing that I have just called relative immortality, an immortality  - falsely so called, however  - which lasts in the cases of certain highly evolved monadic egos for the entire period of a manvantara, but which of necessity ends with the succeeding pralaya of the solar system. Such a period of time of continuous self-consciousness of so highly evolved a monadic entity is to us humans actually a relative immortality; but strictly and logically speaking it is no more immortality than is the ephemeral existence of a butterfly. When the solar manvantara comes to an end and the solar pralaya begins, even such highly evolved monadic entities, full-blown gods, are swept out of manifested self-conscious existence like the sere and dried leaves at the end of the autumn; and the divine entities thus passing out enter into still higher realms of superdivine activity, to reappear at the end of the pralaya and at the dawn of the next or succeeding solar manvantara.

The entire matter is, therefore, a highly relative one. What seems immortal to us humans would seem to be but as a wink of the eye to the vision of super-kosmic entities; while, on the other hand, the span of the average human life would seem to be immortal to a self-conscious entity inhabiting one of the electrons of an atom of the human physical body.

The thing to remember in this series of observations is the wondrous fact that consciousness from eternity to eternity is uninterrupted, although by the very nature of things undergoing continuous and unceasing change of phases in realization throughout endless duration. What men call unconsciousness is merely a form of consciousness which is too subtle for our gross brain-minds to perceive or to sense or to grasp; and, secondly, strictly speaking, what men call death, whether of a universe or of their own physical bodies, is but the breaking up of worn-out vehicles and the transference of consciousness to a higher plane. It is important to seize the spirit of this marvelous teaching, and not allow the imperfect brain-mind to quibble over words, or to pause or hesitate at difficult terms.

See also: Immortality , Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul

ANIMISM (Latin, anima: "air, soul"):

 The belief that all life is produced by a spiritual force separate from matter;

 The belief that natural phenomena and objects are alive and have souls;

 The doctrine of the existence of soul as independent of matter;

 The belief in the existence of spirits, demons, etc.

(See also: ANIMISM , Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

NOTHING

The ultimate origin of the universe. The entire panoply of the manifest world is but an expression or eversion of the primordial vacuum. Nothing always equals something, so the underside of non-existence is existence. ("The reference of things in existence is preformed in the realm of non-existence.") Anything can be considered a universe, so the same thing that allowed the universe to come out of nothing applies to anything else coming out of nothing. Nothingness, of course, is the creative element in rooms, boxes, wombs, vacuums, empty sheets of paper, etc.

Contrasting is an important aspect of Nothing. To understand a thing, its opposite must be brought to bear. To add dark and light results in Nothing. To subtract one equality from the other eliminates both minuend and subtrahend. All opposites extend into nothing. Thus, the opposite of multiplication by tens is the infinitesimals. The zero could have been used to measure the dimensions of minus reality.

Importance and dominance are a function of location and position rather than of substance per se.

(See also: NOTHING , Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul,)

Jati (Sanskrit) (from the verbal root jan to be born, come forth from intrinsic inner vital power)

Birth, production, the form of existence fixed by birth; also rank, family, race. In Buddhism, one of the twelve nidanas (causes of existence).

"The cause and the effect in the mode of birth taking place according the 'Chatur Yoni,' when in each case a being, whether man or animal, is placed in one of the six (esoteric seven) gati or paths of sentient existence, which esoterically, counting downward, are:

(1)  the highest Dhyani (Anupadaka);

(2)  Devas;

(3)  Men;

(4)  Elementals or Nature Spirits;

(5)  Animals;

(6)  lower Elementals;

(7)  organic Germs.

These are in the popular or exoteric nomenclature, Devas, Men, Asuras, Beings in Hells, Pretas (hungry demons), and Animals" (TG 103).

(See also: Jati , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

 Adhidaiva:

the principle of subjective existence

(See also:  Adhidaiva , Body Mind and Soul)

pluralism (pluralistic): Doctrine that holds existence to be composed of three or more distinct and irreducible components, such as God, souls and world.

See: dvaitaadvaita.

pluralistic realism: A term for pluralism used by various schools including Meykandar Saiva Siddhanta, emphasizing that the components of existence are absolutely real in themselves and not creations of consciousness or God.

(See also: Pluralism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Yggdrasil (Scandinavian, Icelandic) [from ygr fierce, awesome, brooding + drasill steed, gallows]

The Norse Tree of Life, on which Odin, Allfather of the universe, is mounted or hanged during a period of manifestation. From the tree drops the honeydew which feeds all creatures. The squirrel Ratatosk (intelligence) runs up and down its trunk, while on its topmost bough perches an eagle with a hawk seated between its eyes.

The tree has three roots watered by three wells. One is in Asgard, home of the gods, where it is watered by the three norns: the past (Urd, origin), the present (Verdandi, becoming), and the future which is created by them -- owing (Skuld, debt). A second root penetrates the world of matter, where it is watered from the well of the giant Mimer whose waters are experience of life. Odin gave one eye as forfeit in order to receive a draft of that well, while Mimer has the use of Odin's eye which is sunk in the bottom of the well. The third root is watered by Hvergelmir, source of all the rivers of lives (kingdoms of nature) which rises in Niflheim, the world of mists (nebulae) where worlds are born.

Yggdrasil is not immortal. Its lifetime is coeval with the hierarchy the tree is used to represent. Its leaves are constantly being eaten by four stags, its bark is nibbled by two goats, and its roots are gnawed by the serpent Nidhogg which, in due course, will topple the "noble ash tree." During the first half of its life, the tree is named Mjotvidr (measure increasing); during the latter half Mjotudr (measure diminishing). When in due course the tree dies, its indwelling consciousnesses (Life and Lifthrasir), the human race, will be secreted in the "memory hoard of the sun" until their next emergence into a new existence.

(See also: Yggdrasil , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

creation: The act of creating, especially bringing the world into ordered existence. Also, all of created existence, the cosmos. Creation, according to the monistic-theistic view, is an emanation or extension of God, the Creator. It is Himself in another form, and not inherently something other than Him.

See: cause, tattva.

(See also: Creation , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Anirvachaniya:

Anirvachaniya: indescribable; neither  existence nor non-existence.

(See also: Anirvachaniya , Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

monistic theism: Advaita Ishvaravada.

Monism is the doctrine that reality is a one whole or existence without independent parts. Theism is the belief that God exists as a real, conscious, personal Supreme Being.

Monistic theism is the dipolar doctrine, also called panentheism, that embraces both monism and theism, two perspectives ordinarily considered contradictory or mutually exclusive, since theism implies dualism.

Monistic theism simultaneously accepts that God has a personal form, that He creates, pervades and is all that exists - and that He ultimately transcends all existence and that the soul is, in essence, one with God. Advaita Siddhanta (monistic Saiva Siddhanta, or Advaita Ishvaravada Saiva Siddhanta) is a specific form of monistic theism.

See: advaita, Advaita Ishvaravada, Advaita Siddhanta, dvaita-advaita, panentheism, theism.

(See also: Monistic theism , Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Naraka (Sanskrit). In the popular conception, a hell, a "prison under earth". The hot and cold hells, each eight in number, are simply emblems of the globes of our septenary chain, with the addition of the "eighth sphere" supposed to be located in the moon.

This is a transparent blind, as these "hells" are called vivifying hells because, as explained, any being dying in one is immediately born in the second, then in the third, and so on; life lasting in each 500 years (a blind on the number of cycles and reincarnations).

As these hells constitute one of the six gati (conditions of sentient existence), and as people are said to be reborn in one or the other according to their Karmic merits or demerits, the blind becomes self-evident. Moreover, these Narakas are rather purgatories than hells, since release from each is possible through the prayers and intercessions of priests for a consideration, just as in the Roman Catholic Church, which seems to have copied the Chinese-ritualism in this pretty closely. As said before, esoteric philosophy traces every hell to life on earth, in one or another form of sentient existence.

(See also: Naraka , Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary,)

Immortality:

Various beliefs based on the assumption that some aspect of personal existence survives death.

(See also: Immortality , Psychic, Psychic Dictionary, Parapsychology, Parapsychology Dictionary)

Reality Words such as reality, truth, and good are understood in reference to their opposites; and the opposite of reality is appearance or illusion. There can be but one fundamental or all-pervading reality, and the word in this sense becomes an equivalent to the one All, parabrahman, by contrast with which all else is maya or appearance.

Reality when implying various conceptions is therefore a relative term, and we can but say that one thing is real by comparison with another thing which is relatively unreal. A dream seems real enough until we awake, and then our waking mind seems real; yet this also will seem unreal when we awake to a still higher consciousness.

Reality, like truth and unity, cannot be an object of knowledge except by intuition, which then functions on its own plane; for any mental faculty beneath intuition is itself relatively unreal, and its findings or deductions partake of the nature of their source; and all such deductions are understandable only by reference to their opposites. It is precisely this existence in nature of opposites which brings about the various mayas under which human understanding necessarily labors.

(See also: Reality , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Science [from Latin scientia from scire to know]

In its widest sense formulated knowledge, a knowledge of structure, laws, and operations. The unity of human knowledge may be artificially divided into religion, philosophy, and science. Science and philosophy, as presently understood, have in common the quality of being speculative, as opposed to religion, which in the West is supposed to be founded merely on faith and moral sentiments.

The present distinction between science and philosophy lies largely in their respective fields of speculation. What is known as modern science investigates the phenomena of physical nature and by inferential reasoning formulates general laws therefrom. Its method is called inductive and its data are so-called facts -- i.e., sensory observations; whereas deductive philosophy starts from axioms. Yet a scientist, in order to reason from his data at all, must necessarily use both induction and deduction.

Modern science has limited its field of study to the laws of physical nature; but in the 20th century the illusive and entirely phenomenal nature of matter and energy, formerly assumed to be eternal and indestructible, is better realized by scientists who have traced the chain of physical causation to a point beyond physical limits altogether and admit that the physical world consists of phenomena occurring in an ultraphysical substance.

In modern sciences dealing with biology, evolution, and anthropology, legitimate inference from facts has been much interfered with by preconceived ideas. Modern science suffers from its failure to see the necessity of postulating an astral or formative world behind the physical, this astral world being in itself but one stage in a rising scale or ladder of invisible worlds. To ascertain the facts upon which to build a true inductive system, we must admit the existence in man of means of direct perception other than those afforded by the physical senses.

(See also: Science , Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

ANCESTOR WORSHIP: The belief inherent in some religions, such as Shintoism, that asserts the continued existence of the deceased and the influence that the living descendants have upon their existence. Descendants have an obligation to support their ancestors through their actions and reverence.

(See also: ANCESTOR WORSHIP , Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)