Heart The heart is the seat in the human body of buddhic consciousness, corresponding to the anahata chakra which is ruled by the planet Venus. There are three principal centers of the human body: the heart as the center of spiritual consciousness; the head as the center of mental consciousness; and the navel as the center of kamic or emotional consciousness.

The heart is the organ through which the higher ego acts, seeking to impress the lower self which works through the brain. In this sense the heart is the most important part of the body, and when developed leads to spiritual mastery, the unity of atma-buddhi-manas. In another sense, the heart corresponds to prana, "but only because Prana and the Auric Envelope are essentially the same, and because again as Jiva it is the same as the Universal Deity" (BCW 12:694).

Cosmically, the sun is the beating heart of the solar system, and the sunspot cycle of approximately 12 years represents the cycle of its beating, as it sends forth and receives back the circulations on many planes which sustain the solar system. The sun is "a beating heart; in another sense, it is a brain. There is a temptation to use the words heart and brain literally, and such usage wanders not far from fact. But it is not the physical globe which is the true head and heart, except insofar as the physical universe is concerned. The real head and the real heart, coalescing and working as one, are the divinity behind and above and within the physical vehicle of our glorious daystar" (FSO 299; cf SD 1:541-2).

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

Hayyah (Hebrew) (from hayah life, vitality.)

Sometimes Chiah, Chayah, Hay-yeh, etc. Life in the abstract; as an adjective, living; a living being or thing, and hence often a beast or an animal; in a collective plural, living beings including human beings.

In its connection with nephesh, equivalent to the Greek psyche or Latin anima, there is frequently found the phrase nephesh hayyah (living creature). Equivalent also to the Sanskrit prana or vitality; and when considered as an entity, it corresponds closely with the astral monad, for prana or vitality must have its astral vehicle or body to work through, such as the linga-sarira.

The vital spirit or spirit of life runs throughout all the seven principles whether human or cosmic, so that there is a direct and distinct application of this word even to the highest or spiritual part of any being. Indeed, life itself which permeates the entire human and cosmic constitution is derived originally from the spiritual monad, which explains why hayyah is connected in meaning with neshamah (spirit), being equivalent to buddhi.

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

Guardian Angel Christian term for the various classes of dhyanis which guard the worlds, races, nations, and mankind pertaining to them.

The five middle human principles are the essence of the sixfold dhyani-chohans and of the pitris. Equivalents are daimones, genii, theoi, devas, gods, Paracelsus' flagae, etc. The personal quality that pervades so much of Christianity represents them as special to each individual, which is true enough in a sense; and they may be anything from a ray of divine light from the core of our being, to the kind of karmic heirloom designated as one's lucky star.

As a matter of fact, there is for each human individual an ever watching, forever guiding and stimulating spiritual power within himself, his own spiritual ego which, when allowed by the brain-mind, infills the individual with its strength, wisdom, and peace.

(See also: Guardian Angel, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Hatha Yoga (Sanskrit) A lower form of yoga practice which uses physical means for purposes of self-development, teaching that it is possible to attain to a certain grade of psychomental abstraction and to develop some of the lower vital-astral powers, by means of a set of physical exercises and postures, by the regulation of the breath, or by certain other psychophysical methods. These methods are to be neither recommended nor followed, for they are exceedingly dangerous except when practiced in minor degree under the supervision of a teacher, and above everything else in full coordination with the higher forms of yoga.

Hatha yoga practices can be exceedingly dangerous to sanity and health. Being of nonphysical nature on one side, they can adversely affect the mind, and in extreme cases even dislodge the mind from its normal and proper seat, producing insanity. Being of a physical nature also, they interfere with the proper pranic circulations in the body; the pranas when left alone are usually productive of health, and when disturbed by attempted meddling produce disease.

One phase of hatha yoga is the pranayama (suppression of the breath), interference with the normal and healthy respiration of the body; a practice which can readily produce tuberculosis of the lungs. It is breathing deeply, healthfully, and as often as common sense suggests, that brings benefits to the body because bringing about a better oxygenation of the blood and therefore a better physical tone. In very rare circumstances only, where a chela has advanced relatively far mentally and spiritually, but has still an unfortunate and heavy physical karma as yet not worked out, it may possibly be proper, under the guidance of a genuine teacher, to use the hatha yoga methods in a limited degree, but only under the teacher's own eye. For this reason hatha yoga books are occasionally mentioned in theosophical literature -- the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, for example, is a hatha yoga scripture, but one of the highest type. But generally, hatha yoga practices are injurious and therefore unwise, for they distract the attention from things of the spirit and direct it to the lower parts of the constitution.

Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one's eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.

(See also: Hatha Yoga, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Homoeomerian (Homoiomerian) System (from Greek homoios similar + meros part)

The theory of the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras that the spiritual originants or seeds of all classes of beings and things existed in the primordial cosmic chaos, and that each such originant or seed was of like substance with all others, and therefore in a more extended sense likewise with the species to which these gave rise through emanational evolution. These seeds, particles, monads, or spiritual atoms were called homoiomere (of similar part -- often verging in meaning into identity).

It was the action of nous (cosmic intelligence) on chaos -- or in Hindu terms, of mahat on svabhavat -- which at the opening of a period of cosmic evolution separated and discriminated these quasi-identical atoms, starting them on their respective evolutions in the families of hierarchies to which they belong, the various individuals thereof manifesting as beings and things of various kinds, such as atoms of grain or gold, etc., each according to its original nature or svabhava.

This profound system of philosophy traces all things back to an original cosmic fountain or identical source, as seeds from the world tree, out of which has grown the theosophical concept of universal brotherhood.

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

Holy City Many spiritual traditions symbolize the goal of human attainment or the abode of the gods as a holy city. With the Hindus, Brahmapura is the capital of Brahma on Mt. Kailasa in the Himalayas or on Mt. Meru, as well as being the inmost chamber of the heart.

According to the Chhandogya Upanishad (8:1:1), within the Brahmapura "is an abode, a small lotus-flower; within it is a small space (antarakasa). What is within that, should be searched out; that, assuredly, is what one should desire to understand." Hiranyapura (golden city) stands for the sun and for the invisible, etheric regions of space; while the Siddhapura or White Island is both the indestructible home of adepts on earth and the poles of the earth or Mt. Meru.

The Jews and Christians speak of the City of God or heavenly Jerusalem, the secret or sacred Salem, which is the goal of human spiritual attainment. This is contrasted with the earthly Jerusalem, the earth or human world. In the Qabbalah, the Holy City symbolizes both the holy of holies and the maqom which is "(the Secret Place or the Shrine) on Earth: in other words, the human womb, the microcosmic copy and reflection of the Heavenly Matrix, the female space or primeval Chaos, in which the male Spirit fecundates the germ of the Son, or the visible Universe" (SD 2:84).

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

Human Kingdom One of the great kingdoms or divisions of monads on earth. Below it are the animal, plant, mineral, and also three elemental kingdoms; above are kingdoms of dhyanis or highly evolved human beings and gods. One of the critical points in evolution, at which self-consciousness is attained, although by no means fully developed. Here the spiritual and the material meet: the spiritual self finds its house in the organism built up of lower elements, and the two-natured human being of earth is thus formed. See MAN; ROOT-RACES

(See also: Human Ego, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Human Soul The clothing or ray of the human ego; it is the egoic center in manas, under the influence of both buddhi and the kamic nature.

We may speak of a threefold human soul -- buddhi-manas or the spiritual soul, manas or the human soul, and kama-manas or the animal soul, each the expression of its own ego. Each ego is the expression of its monad. The characteristic of the human soul is duality, affording the field for the interaction of spiritual and lower forces.

(See also: Human Monad, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Fetahil, Ptahil (Gnostic) With the Nazarene Gnostics, the builder of the material worlds. In the Codex Nazaraeus, Abatur, the Father, opens a gate and walks to the dark water (chaos) and looks down into it. The darkness reflects the image, whereupon a son appears or is emanated, the Logos or Demiurge, Fetahil. Because Fetahil is thus produced in order to bring forth the worlds of manifestation, the Codex describes him as being immersed in the abyss of primordial stuff or matter (chaos), soliloquizing on his inability alone to produce it.

Whereupon Spiritus (the Gnostic "Mother") appears and unites with Karabtanos, cosmic kama involved in primordial matter, thus bringing forth seven stellars. These are, however, seven imperfect figures "which represent also the seven capital sins, the progeny of an astral soul separated from its divine source (spirit) and matter, the blind demon of concupiscence. Seeing this, Fetahil extends his hand towards the abyss of matter, and says: -- 'Let the Earth exist, just as the abode of the powers has exited.' Dipping his hand in the chaos, which he condenses, he creates our planet" (SD 1:195).

The first Gnostic trinity, equivalent to the Christian Father-Mother-Son is composed of Ferho, Chaos, and Fetahil -- this first triad is concealed or nonmanifest -- a pure abstraction to us (IU 2:227).

In the Codex Nazaraeus Fetahil is also presented as one of the creative powers who were commanded to form man, and who tried to obey but failed because he was too pure; whereupon other and lower powers -- Iukabar Zivo -- had to be called to complete the work. In the hierarchical structure of the universe, all so-called creative powers of too high a rank are unable because of their spiritual purity and lofty state to form the lower planes until the intermediate ranges, in the gradually descending ladder of life, have been evolved or emanated into manifestation.

(See also: Fetahil, Ptahil, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Four Animals When used by Hebrews and Christians, the sacred animals seen by Ezekiel in his vision (Ezek 1:4-10): the man, the eagle, the ox or bull, and the lion.

"These four animals are, in reality, the symbols of the four elements, and of the four lower principles in man. Nevertheless, they correspond physically and materially to the four constellations that form, so to speak, the suite or cortege of the solar god, and occupy during the winter solstice the four cardinal points of the zodiacal circle" (SD 1:363).

Sometimes called the sacred animals of the Bible, they have been associated by Christians with the four evangelists. In this connection, "each represents one of the four lower classes of worlds or planes, into the similitude of which each personality is cast. Thus the Eagle (associated with St. John) represents cosmic Spirit or Ether, the all-piercing Eye of the Seer; the Bull of St. Luke, the waters of Life, the all-generating element and cosmic strength; the Lion of St. Mark, fierce energy, undaunted courage and cosmic fire; while the human Head or the Angel, which stands near St. Matthew is the synthesis of all three combined in the higher Intellect of man, and in cosmic Spirituality. . . . The Eagle, Bull and Lion-headed gods are plentiful, and all represented the same idea, whether in the Egyptian, Chaldean, Indian or Jewish religions, but beginning with the Astral body they went no higher than the cosmic Spirit or the Higher Manas -- Atma-Buddhi, or Absolute Spirit and Spiritual Soul its vehicle, being incapable of being symbolised by concrete images" (TG 121).

(See also: Four Animals, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Epoptes (Greek) (from epi at, upon + opt to see)

Sometimes epopt. In the Eleusinian Mysteries, seer, overseer, master mason, one who has the vision sublime; an initiate into the highest degree of the Mysteries (epopteia) who had attained, among other spiritual faculties and powers, that of spiritual clairvoyance.

The state attained, epopteia, was the seventh and highest degree of initiation in the Eleusinian Mysteries, when the inner god shone forth through the human being, so that the candidate was at one with his inner divinity.

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

Enoichion (Greek-Hebrew) (from Hebrew hanach to make narrow, be narrow; pressure; hence to initiate, train into the paths of consecration or dedication; probably from hanoch (Enoch) initiated, initiator)

The root-meaning of narrowness, that which is straightened or close, is reminiscent of the New Testament saying:

"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way" (Matthew 7:14) -- a direct reference to initiation. Thus enoichion can be rendered as a seer.

"Esoterically and spiritually Enoichion means the 'Seer of the Open Eye,' the inner spiritual eye" (SD 2:530).

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

Euthanasia (from Greek eu well +thanatos death)

Easy death, a painless death; used for the practice of mercifully killing people who would otherwise suffer a painful death. To decide if a person should or should not be kept alive by artificial means or a life ended by artificial means requires almost superhuman discernment. An individual is not his body nor even his mind, but fundamentally a spiritual being.

Physical suffering from bodily ills, however unpleasant, provides an opportunity to meet and dispose of certain karmic causes, and thereby learn and grow. Aside from the difficulty of preventing abuses in legalized euthanasia, the ethical and spiritual questions surrounding artificial prolongation and shortening of life remain extremely complex. The Stoics held that life is a gift of the gods and therefore no person has the right to reject that gift -- for oneself or another -- until the gods themselves call it back.

Also used for the power possessed by adepts to quit or drop their physical body painlessly, in order to work as nirmanakayas, which is the meaning of the stories in the Bible which speak of men being taken to heaven without dying.

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

Germ In cosomogenesis, the germ stands for the first well-developed localized cosmic entity, luminous and semi-astral, that is to be a future world, whether a globe or a sun.

Hence the germ is the developed resultant of the first cosmic impulse of the primeval intelligent formative principle working downwards into manifestation. This stage in the evolution of a cosmic entity, whether globe or sun, in Sanskrit is called hiranyagarbha (golden germ or womb), for out of the germ as from a womb springs or evolves the entity later to appear.

The Secret Doctrine (2:176) speaks of the self-existent Kama, born from the heart of Brahma, as the personification of "the first movement that stirred the ONE, after its manifestation from the purely abstract principle, to create, 'Desire first arose in It, which was the primal germ of mind; . . . the bond which connects Entity with Non-Entity.'"

Japanese cosmogony says that "out of the chaotic mass, an egg-like nucleus appears, having within itself the germ and potency of all the universal as well as of all terrestrial life" (SD 1:216).

The fourth order of celestial beings, the highest group among those monads invested with their appropriate forms for that plane, is the nursery of the human, conscious, spiritual souls, and they constitute, through the next lower order "the first group of the first septenary host -- the great mystery of human conscious and intellectual Being. For the latter are the field wherein lies concealed in its privation the germ that will fall into generation.

That germ will become the spiritual potency in the physical cell that guides the development of the embryo, and which is the cause of the hereditary transmission of faculties and all the inherent qualities in man" (SD 1:218-19).

See also BACTERIA

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

Germ Cell The early physical vehicle or carrier of the ' "spiritual plasm' that dominates the germinal plasm" in the development of the embryo (SD 1:219):

"every germ-cell, human or other, is the physical expression of inner, ethereal, and psycho-magnetic activities, and is a compact or bundle or sheaf of inner forces and substances ranging from the divine through intermediate degrees down to the astral and the physical, just as man, but on a much larger scale, himself is" (ET 899).

Each germ-cell is the precipitation or projection on and into the physical plane of an inner, psycho-ethereal radiation, an incarnation of a ray point originating in the inner worlds and contacting physical matter by psychomagnetic affinity, and thus arousing a proper particle or molecular aggregate of living physical substance into becoming a reproductive cell.

This ray point or tip of the imbodying ray or radiance, is not the reincarnating ego itself, but the tip of the projected ray issuing from the reimbodying ego. When this ego -- itself a ray from the spiritual monad -- reaches its own intermediate sphere, after leaving its parent-monad, it descends no farther into matter from that plane. But its radiated influence, its psychomagnetic ray, having stronger affinities for material worlds than itself, goes deeper into matter and there awakens into activity the life-atoms in each of the various planes between that of the reimbodying ego and the grossest matter of physical earth.

When this psycho-vital-electric or -magnetic ray awakens some particular life-atom in gross physical matter on earth, that life-atom so chosen belonged to the same reimbodying ego before, and therefore responds to its own "parent." It may even be regarded as the tip of the reimbodying ray from which it is precipitated into matter, "which physical matter, as atoms, is thus attracted around this tip, building first the material imbodiment of the said life-atom and by progressive accretion finally becoming the living germ-cell" (ET 900).

This descent of the ray tip into, and selection of, suitable earth of matter, has been the basis of all the various methods of procreation. The process began in the huge avoid form of the ethereal first root-race by simple division of this human cell, as the embryo today repeats in beginning its rapid review of racial records.

"One infinitesimal cell, out of millions of others at work in the formation of an organism, determining alone and unaided, by means of constant segmentation and multiplication, the correct image of the future man (or animal) in its physical, mental, and psychic characteristics. . . . those germinal cells do not have their genesis at all in the body of the individual, but proceed directly from the ancestral germinal cell passed from father to son through long generations" (SD 1:223n).

See also HEREDITY; PROCREATION; REPRODUCTION

(See also: Germ Cell, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Geber (Hebrew) (from gabar to be strong)

pl gibborim. Man, with the connotation of might or strength; hence a mighty or strong man. Intimately connected with the word kabbirim (kabiri or kabeiroi), geber has a triple meaning, signifying a mighty spiritual power or being, of angelic character, as well as giants or titans on earth -- the latter the reflection of the former. The planets, likewise, because of their indwelling spiritual angels or rectors, are frequently called by the same name.

See also Gibborim.

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

Guardian Angel Christian term for the various classes of dhyanis which guard the worlds, races, nations, and mankind pertaining to them.

The five middle human principles are the essence of the sixfold dhyani-chohans and of the pitris. Equivalents are daimones, genii, theoi, devas, gods, Paracelsus' flagae, etc. The personal quality that pervades so much of Christianity represents them as special to each individual, which is true enough in a sense; and they may be anything from a ray of divine light from the core of our being, to the kind of karmic heirloom designated as one's lucky star.

As a matter of fact, there is for each human individual an ever watching, forever guiding and stimulating spiritual power within himself, his own spiritual ego which, when allowed by the brain-mind, infills the individual with its strength, wisdom, and peace.

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

Hatha Yoga (Sanskrit) A lower form of yoga practice which uses physical means for purposes of self-development, teaching that it is possible to attain to a certain grade of psychomental abstraction and to develop some of the lower vital-astral powers, by means of a set of physical exercises and postures, by the regulation of the breath, or by certain other psychophysical methods. These methods are to be neither recommended nor followed, for they are exceedingly dangerous except when practiced in minor degree under the supervision of a teacher, and above everything else in full coordination with the higher forms of yoga.

Hatha yoga practices can be exceedingly dangerous to sanity and health. Being of nonphysical nature on one side, they can adversely affect the mind, and in extreme cases even dislodge the mind from its normal and proper seat, producing insanity. Being of a physical nature also, they interfere with the proper pranic circulations in the body; the pranas when left alone are usually productive of health, and when disturbed by attempted meddling produce disease.

One phase of hatha yoga is the pranayama (suppression of the breath), interference with the normal and healthy respiration of the body; a practice which can readily produce tuberculosis of the lungs. It is breathing deeply, healthfully, and as often as common sense suggests, that brings benefits to the body because bringing about a better oxygenation of the blood and therefore a better physical tone. In very rare circumstances only, where a chela has advanced relatively far mentally and spiritually, but has still an unfortunate and heavy physical karma as yet not worked out, it may possibly be proper, under the guidance of a genuine teacher, to use the hatha yoga methods in a limited degree, but only under the teacher's own eye. For this reason hatha yoga books are occasionally mentioned in theosophical literature -- the Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, for example, is a hatha yoga scripture, but one of the highest type. But generally, hatha yoga practices are injurious and therefore unwise, for they distract the attention from things of the spirit and direct it to the lower parts of the constitution.

Unfortunately, however, physical practices of various kinds seem to be particularly attractive to the average person because apparently within the sphere of easy performance. One does not know the dangers lurking there; but actually, to achieve even the minor results that come from perfect performance, greater effort and larger difficulties have to be encountered than in raising one's eyes to the nobler forms of yoga. It is always safe and indeed requisite for a disciple to practice the higher branches of yoga: jnana yoga, raja yoga, bhakti yoga, and karma yoga, which means the yoga of unselfish action in daily life. Consequently, when considered apart from the nobler forms of yoga there is not a particle of spirituality in all these hatha yoga practices.

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

Hayyah (Hebrew) (from hayah life, vitality.)

Sometimes Chiah, Chayah, Hay-yeh, etc. Life in the abstract; as an adjective, living; a living being or thing, and hence often a beast or an animal; in a collective plural, living beings including human beings.

In its connection with nephesh, equivalent to the Greek psyche or Latin anima, there is frequently found the phrase nephesh hayyah (living creature). Equivalent also to the Sanskrit prana or vitality; and when considered as an entity, it corresponds closely with the astral monad, for prana or vitality must have its astral vehicle or body to work through, such as the linga-sarira.

The vital spirit or spirit of life runs throughout all the seven principles whether human or cosmic, so that there is a direct and distinct application of this word even to the highest or spiritual part of any being. Indeed, life itself which permeates the entire human and cosmic constitution is derived originally from the spiritual monad, which explains why hayyah is connected in meaning with neshamah (spirit), being equivalent to buddhi.

(See also: Hayo Bischat, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Heart The heart is the seat in the human body of buddhic consciousness, corresponding to the anahata chakra which is ruled by the planet Venus. There are three principal centers of the human body: the heart as the center of spiritual consciousness; the head as the center of mental consciousness; and the navel as the center of kamic or emotional consciousness.

The heart is the organ through which the higher ego acts, seeking to impress the lower self which works through the brain. In this sense the heart is the most important part of the body, and when developed leads to spiritual mastery, the unity of atma-buddhi-manas. In another sense, the heart corresponds to prana, "but only because Prana and the Auric Envelope are essentially the same, and because again as Jiva it is the same as the Universal Deity" (BCW 12:694).

Cosmically, the sun is the beating heart of the solar system, and the sunspot cycle of approximately 12 years represents the cycle of its beating, as it sends forth and receives back the circulations on many planes which sustain the solar system. The sun is "a beating heart; in another sense, it is a brain. There is a temptation to use the words heart and brain literally, and such usage wanders not far from fact. But it is not the physical globe which is the true head and heart, except insofar as the physical universe is concerned. The real head and the real heart, coalescing and working as one, are the divinity behind and above and within the physical vehicle of our glorious daystar" (FSO 299; cf SD 1:541-2).

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

Egkosmioi or Enkosmioi (Greek) In the world or universe; applied by Proclus to his second highest rank of gods or planetary spirits, the first rank being the twelve huperouranioi (supercelestial).

They are the inspiring and inspiriting agencies in the universe, the indwelling gods whose spiritual, intellectual, and psychic movements provide the universe in which they exist with the respective ranges of spiritual, intellectual, and psychic intelligence and forces.

The very lowest range of these indwelling divinities, however, are but slightly above the elemental beings of the cosmic astral plane.

(See also: Egkosmioi, Enkosmioi, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Evolution (from Latin evolutio unrolling, opening)

The unfolding or bringing into manifestation of the inherent, already inwardly existing characteristics of a being; it is therefore growth from within, development. The process is universal, since the universe consists of living beings, all of which are growing because unfolding. Evolution presupposes two main factors: the entity which is evolving, and the form which is evolved. These two are related as spirit to matter, as the monad to its organism.

Every one of the countless beings which constitute the universe is essentially a spark of the universal divine fire, life, or spirit; and at any time is at one stage or another of a continuous career of unfolding growth. Every spark creates for itself a succession of forms by which it expresses more or less of its inherent qualities. The physical vehicles are merely the physical end-products; before these physical imbodiments are engendered, there are other imbodiments made of subtler grades of matter or consciousness-substance on intermediate planes, and astral stuff on the lower plane close to the physical. Evolution is a continual reaction between what is within and what is without: environment modifies growth; but without the urge of the indwelling monad, there could be no action upon environment, nor any reaction by environment.

Evolution is not a process of accretion from without; such accretion could not produce an organism unless the full plan of that organism existed already latently in ideation. Nor is evolution in the vegetable and animal kingdoms a process of mere transformism by which one physical organism changes into another. The changes take place because of the unfolding growth of the indwelling entity, each new evolutional enfoldment of the latter impacting on the body, and therefore more or less modifying it; and this indwelling entity in this manner builds for itself new forms suitable to its own changed or more largely unfolded states.

Theosophy does not hold to the idea of a single-track, end-on evolution from a protoplasmic speck to human being, without inner astral, mental, and spiritual urge from within. Rather, the plan of evolution as represented by the different classes and orders of beings on earth may be represented by a tree, whose main trunk is the human stem, from which (so far as this manvantara is concerned) the various animal types have issued like branches, each of them then entering upon a special unfolding development and differentiation of its own. Indeed, the same observation applies with equal force to the vegetable and mineral kingdoms, although their root-types issued from the human stem long aeons before the animal types appeared on earth.

Evolution is an ancient and cardinal tenet of the archaic wisdom and was formerly called emanation. In mankind, three distinct, principal lines of evolution take place and converge; the spiritual, the mental or manasic, and the astral-vital-physical. The manasic factor is derived from the perfected humanity of a previous manvantara, whose entrance into the human stock of the third root-race brought about the union of the heavenly and the terrestrial so as to make a complete self-conscious being who thereafter mirrors every plane in nature. In humankind, the divine monad, a spark of the universal spirit, emanates from itself its first vehicle, and thus is formed the spiritual monad, atma-buddhi. This monad, emanating from itself in its turn another vehicle, becomes the higher human soul or reimbodying ego; and the emanational process is continued throughout the human constitution by the formation of the astral-vital soul which in its turn emanates or oozes forth the physical body.

The process of evolution cannot be considered as ending. Just as below human beings there are less evolved kingdoms, so above are beings in whom fuller self-consciousness has been achieved than we have yet achieved, and still more of the divine potentialities realized. All evolution beneath humankind tends towards humanhood as its objective; but humanity itself has ever greater heights still before it to attain in the future.

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