The latter is either "awake" or "asleep." The Svabhavikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul), speculate only upon the active condition of this "Essence," which they call Svabhavat, and deem it foolish to theorise upon the abstract and "unknowable" power in its passive condition.
Hence they are called atheists by both Christian theologians and modern scientists, for neither of the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Nominalists, arguing with Berkeley that "it is impossible .
.
.
to form the abstract idea of motion distinct from the body moving" (" Prin.
of Human Knowledge, " Introd ., par.
10), may put the question, "What is that body, the producer of that motion?
Is it a substance?
Then you are believers in a Personal God?" etc., etc.
This will be answered farther on, in the Addendum to this Book; meanwhile, we claim our rights of Conceptionalists as against Roscelini's materialistic views of Realism and Nominalism.
"Has science," says one of its ablest advocates, Edward Clodd, "revealed anything that weakens or opposes itself to the ancient words in which the Essence of all religion, past, present, and to come, is given; to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly before thy God?" Provided we connote by the word God, not the crude anthropomorphism which is still the backbone of our current theology, but the symbolic conception of that which is Life and Motion of the Universe , to know which in physical order is to know time past, present, and to come, in the existence of successions of phenomena; to know which, in the moral, is to know what has been, is, and will be, within human consciousness.
( See " Science and the Emotions.
" A Discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, Finsbury, London, Dec.
27 th, 1885.) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 4 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
two are able to understand the profound logic of their philosophy.
The former will allow of no other God than the personified secondary powers which have worked out the visible universe, and which became with them the anthropomorphic God of the Christians -- the male Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning.
In its turn, rationalistic science greets the Buddhists and the Svabhavikas as the "positivists" of the archaic ages.
If we take a one-sided view of the philosophy of the latter, our materialists may be right in their own way.
The Buddhists maintained that there is no Creator, but an infinitude of creative powers, which collectively form the one eternal substance, the essence of which is inscrutable -- hence not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher.
Socrates invariably refused to argue upon the mystery of universal being, yet no one would ever have thought of charging him with atheism, except those who were bent upon his destruction.
Upon inaugurating an active period, says the Secret Doctrine, an expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from within outwardly, occurs in obedience to eternal and immutable law, and the phenomenal or visible universe is the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion.
In like manner, when the passive condition is resumed, a contraction of the Divine essence takes place, and the previous work of creation is gradually and progressively undone.
The visible universe becomes disintegrated, its material dispersed; and 'darkness' solitary and alone, broods once more over the face of the 'deep.' To use a Metaphor from the Secret Books, which will convey the idea still more clearly, an out-breathing of the 'unknown essence' produces the world; and an inhalation causes it to disappear.
This process has been going on from all eternity, and our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no end." -- ( See " Isis Unveiled " ; also " The Days and Nights of Brahma " in Part II.
) This passage will be explained, as far as it is possible, in the present work.
Though, as it now stands, it contains nothing new to the Orientalist, its esoteric interpretation may contain a good deal which has hitherto remained entirely unknown to the Western student.
The first illustration being a plain disc the second one in the Archaic symbol shows , a disc with a point in it -- the first differentiation in the periodical manifestations of the ever-eternal nature, sexless and infinite "Aditi in THAT" (Rig Veda), the point in the disc, or potential Space within abstract Space.
In its third stage the point is transformed into a diameter, thus It now symbolises a divine immaculate Mother-Nature within the all-embracing absolute Infinitude.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 5 PROEM.
When the diameter line is crossed by a vertical one , it becomes the mundane cross.
Humanity has reached its third root-race; it is the sign for the origin of human life to begin.
When the circumference disappears and leaves only the it is a sign that the fall of man into matter is accomplished, and the FOURTH race begins.
The Cross within a circle symbolises pure Pantheism; when the Cross was left uninscribed, it became phallic.
It had the same and yet other meanings as a TAU inscribed within a circle or as a "Thor's hammer," the Jaina cross, so-called, or simply Svastica within a circle By the third symbol -- the circle divided in two by the horizontal line of the diameter -- the first manifestation of creative (still passive, because feminine) Nature was meant.
The first shadowy perception of man connected with procreation is feminine, because man knows his mother more than his father.
Hence female deities were more sacred than the male.
Nature is therefore feminine, and, to a degree, objective and tangible, and the spirit Principle which fructifies it is concealed.
By adding to the circle with the horizontal line in it, a perpendicular line, the tau was formed -- -- -- the oldest form of the letter.
It was the glyph of the third root-race to the day of its symbolical Fall -- i.e.
, when the separation of sexes by natural evolution took place -- when the figure became , the circle, or sexless life modified or separated -- a double glyph or symbol.
With the races of our Fifth Race it became in symbology the sacr', and in Hebrew n'cabvah, of the first-formed races;* then it changed into the Egyptian (emblem of life), and still later into the sign of Venus, Then comes the Svastica (Thor's hammer, or the "Hermetic Cross" now), entirely separated from its Circle, thus becoming purely phallic.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly criticises 'the crude anthropomorphism which is still the backbone of our current theology' and the 'male Jehovah, roaring amid thunder and lightning' as a personification of secondary powers rather than the true Essence.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The eternal cyclical process in which the universe is progressively created and then 'gradually and progressively undone' suggests periodic restoration to the original state.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The Svabhavikas 'deem it foolish to theorise upon the abstract and unknowable power in its passive condition,' and the essence is described as 'inscrutable' and 'not a subject for speculation for any true philosopher' — the divine is known only by negation and withdrawal of positive predicates.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The archaic symbols (disc, point, diameter, cross) are explicitly mapped onto stages of cosmic manifestation and root-race development, reflecting the Hermetic principle that each level is a legible map of the others.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage narrates how the phenomenal universe comes into being through expansion of the Divine essence 'in obedience to eternal and immutable law,' and how it is undone through contraction — a clear account of cosmic origin and dissolution.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The 'unknown essence' whose passive condition is 'unknowable' and 'inscrutable,' and which is 'concealed' behind the feminine Nature, expresses the supreme principle's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The universe is described as an 'expansion of this Divine essence' — the divine is not merely transcendent but is the very substance of the cosmos, pervading it as its ground.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The 'one eternal substance' that is 'sexless and infinite' and whose essence is 'inscrutable' suggests an undivided, partless first principle, though the passage also speaks of 'an infinitude of creative powers' within it.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The passage explicitly states that 'Nature is therefore feminine' and that the first creative manifestation is 'still passive, because feminine,' establishing the masculine-feminine generative principle as a structural feature of creation.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage notes that while the illustration 'contains nothing new to the Orientalist, its esoteric interpretation may contain a good deal which has hitherto remained entirely unknown to the Western student,' indicating layered meaning.
The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.
The passage explicitly states that the process has been going on 'from all eternity' and that 'our present universe is but one of an infinite series, which had no beginning and will have no end.'
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The 'expansion of this Divine essence from without inwardly and from within outwardly' producing 'the ultimate result of the long chain of cosmical forces thus progressively set in motion' describes a staged directional descent of spirit into matter, complemented by the reverse contraction.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage describes 'the one eternal substance' whose essence is 'inscrutable' and 'sexless and infinite,' from which all creative powers collectively form — a single undivided first principle.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The active/passive condition of the Essence, and the expansion/contraction cycle, express the Hermetic principle that apparent opposites are two extremes of the same underlying reality.
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
The distinction between the active condition (which can be speculated upon) and the passive/unknowable condition, along with the contrast between the 'profound logic' of the philosophy and the 'one-sided view' of materialists, implies two registers of legitimate understanding.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
The out-breathing/inhalation metaphor and the cyclical expansion-contraction of the Divine essence from 'all eternity' is a clear expression of cosmic pendulum motion between poles.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage describes 'the one eternal substance' from which all creative powers collectively form, and the universe as an expansion and contraction of a single Divine essence — all existence is one reality oscillating between active and passive states.