It was also taught by his pupil Ecphantus, and by Heraclides, a pupil of Plato.
The immobility of the Sun and the orbital rotation of the earth were shown by Aristarchus of Samos as early as 281 B.C .
to be suppositions accordant with facts of observation.
The Heliocentric theory was taught about 150 B.C ., by Seleucus of Seleucia on the Tigris.
-- [It was taught 500 B.C .
by Pythagoras.
-- H.
P.
B .] It is said also that Archimedes, in a work entitled Psammites, inculcated the Heliocentric theory.
The sphericity of the earth was distinctly taught by Aristotle, who appealed for proof to the figure of the Earth's shadow on the moon in eclipses (Aristotle, De Coelo, lib.
II, cap.
XIV.).
The same idea was defended by Pliny (Nat.
Hist., II., 65).
These views seem to have been lost from knowledge for more than a thousand years.
.
.
.
" ( Comparative Geology , Part IV., "Pre-Kantian Speculation," p.
551, by Alex.
Winchell, LL.D .).
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 118 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
millenniums ago, is a question that is treated separately.
Some were led to it by the natural progress in physical science and by independent observation; others -- such as Copernicus, Swedenborg, and a few more -- their great learning notwithstanding, owed their knowledge far more to intuitive than to acquired ideas, developed in the usual way by a course of study.* (See "A Mystery about Buddha.") By the "Six directions of Space" is here meant the "Double Triangle," the junction and blending together of pure Spirit and Matter, of the Arupa and the Rupa, of which the Triangles are a Symbol.
This double Triangle is a sign of Vishnu, as it is Solomon's seal, and the Sri-Antara of the Brahmins.
------- STANZA V.
-- ( Continued.
) 4.
F OHAT TRACES SPIRAL LINES TO UNITE THE SIX TO THE SEVENTH -- THE CROWN ( a ); AN A RMY OF THE S ONS OF L IGHT STANDS AT EACH ANGLE ( and ) THE L IPIKA -- IN THE MIDDLE WHEEL.
T HEY ( the Lipika ) SAY, " T HIS IS GOOD" ( b ).
T HE FIRST DIVINE WORLD IS READY, THE FIRST ( is now ), THE SECOND ( world ), THEN THE " D IVINE A RUPA" ( the formless Universe [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * That Swedenborg, who could not possibly have known anything of the esoteric ideas of Buddhism, came independently near the Occult teaching in his general conceptions, is shown by his essay on the Vortical Theory.
In Clissold's translation of it, quoted by Prof.
Winchell, we find the following resume : -- "The first Cause is the Infinite or Unlimited.
This gives existence to the First Finite or Limited." (The Logos in His manifestation and the Universe.) "That which produces a limit is analogous to motion.
(See first Stanza, supra .) The limit produced is a point, the Essence of which is Motion; but being without parts, this Essence is not actual Motion, but only a connatus to it." (In our Doctrine it is not a "connatus," but a change from eternal vibration in the unmanifested, to Vortical Motion in the phenomenal or manifested World).
.
.
"From this first proceed Extension, Space, Figure, and Succession, or Time.
As in Geometry a point generates a line, a line a surface, and a surface a solid, so here the connatus of a point tends towards lines, surfaces and solids.
In other words, the Universe is contained in ovo in the first natural point .
.
.
the Motion toward which the connatus tends, is circular, since the circle is the most perfect of all figures .
.
.
The most perfect figure of a Motion .
.
.
must be the perpetually circular, that is to say, it must proceed from the centre to the periphery and from the periphery to the centre." (Quoted from Principia Rerum Naturalia.
) This is Occultism pure and simple.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 119 THE EVOLUTION OF THE PRINCIPLES.
of Thought ) REFLECTS ITSELF IN C HHAYALOKA ( the shadowy world of primal form , or the intellectual ) THE FIRST GARMENT OF ( the ) ANUPADAKA ( c ) .
( a ) This tracing of "Spiral lines" refers to the evolution of man's as well as Nature's principles; an evolution which takes place gradually (as will be seen in Book II., on "The origin of the Human Races"), as does everything else in nature.
The Sixth principle in Man (Buddhi, the Divine Soul) though a mere breath, in our conceptions, is still something material when compared with divine "Spirit" (Atma) of which it is the carrier or vehicle.
Fohat, in his capacity of D IVINE L OVE ( Eros ), the electric Power of affinity and sympathy, is shown allegorically as trying to bring the pure Spirit, the Ray inseparable from the ONE absolute, into union with the Soul, the two constituting in Man the M ONAD, and in Nature the first link between the ever unconditioned and the manifested.
"The first is now the second" (world) -- of the Lipikas -- has reference to the same.
( b ) The "Army" at each angle is the Host of angelic Beings (Dhyan-Chohans) appointed to guide and watch over each respective region from the beginning to the end of Manvantara.
They are the "Mystic Watchers" of the Christian Kabalists and Alchemists, and relate, symbolically as well as cosmogonically, to the numerical system of the Universe.
The numbers with which these celestial Beings are connected are extremely difficult to explain, as each number refers to several groups of distinct ideas, according to the particular group of "Angels" which it is intended to represent.
Herein lies the nodus in the study of symbology, with which, unable to untie by disentangling it, so many scholars have preferred dealing as Alexander dealt with the Gordian knot; hence erroneous conceptions and teachings, as a direct result.
The "First is the Second," because the "First" cannot really be numbered or regarded as the First, as that is the realm of noumena in its primary manifestation: the threshold to the World of Truth, or S AT, through which the direct energy that radiates from the ONE REALITY -- the Nameless Deity -- reaches us.
Divine archetypal beings or eternal attributes dwelling within the Pleroma, often arranged in male-female syzygies.
The Dhyan-Chohans are described as 'angelic Beings appointed to guide and watch over each respective region from the beginning to the end of Manvantara,' functioning as divine archetypal beings governing cosmic regions.
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 Double Triangle is identified across traditions as 'a sign of Vishnu, as it is Solomon's seal, and the Sri-Antara of the Brahmins,' demonstrating structural reflection at every scale and across cultures.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
Fohat is explicitly described as 'the electric Power of affinity and sympathy' that brings pure Spirit into union with Soul, a direct expression of hidden cosmic affinity.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The passage identifies the ultimate source as 'the Nameless Deity' and states that the First 'cannot really be numbered or regarded as the First,' placing it beyond all categories in the realm of noumena.
The reunification of complementary divine principles (male-female, spirit-matter) as a symbol of wholeness and salvation.
The core image is the 'junction and blending together of pure Spirit and Matter, of the Arupa and the Rupa,' with Fohat as Divine Love (Eros) bringing the two into union to form the Monad.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage describes a cascading descent from the ONE REALITY through the First (noumena), the Second (SAT/World of Truth), the Divine Arupa, Chhayaloka, and the first garment of Anupadaka, with Dhyan-Chohans at each angle.
A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).
The passage traces a chain of transmission (Pythagoras, Plato, Heraclides, Ecphantus, Aristarchus, Seleucus, Archimedes) for esoteric cosmological knowledge across cultures and millennia.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text explicitly frames its content as 'Occultism pure and simple' and references esoteric ideas of Buddhism and the 'inner' meaning behind Swedenborg's conceptions, concealing liberating truth behind an outer scholarly presentation.
A non-physical dimension of reality, interpenetrating the physical world, populated by forces, beings, and forms ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, that can affect embodied life without being seen — Dion Fortune's 'mind-side of nature,' the astral plane of Western esotericism broadly construed. Distinct from astral_light (a specific transmitting medium or fluid operating within this realm, not the realm itself), pleroma (the divine fullness at the summit of a cosmic hierarchy, not a parallel plane coextensive with ordinary life), and animism (particular indwelling spirits bound to specific natural objects, not the general unseen dimension itself).
The passage describes multiple non-physical planes (Arupa, Chhayaloka, the intellectual) populated by the Dhyan-Chohans and other beings that are interpenetrating with the physical world.
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 passage describes the directional process of Spirit descending through successive planes (Arupa, Chhayaloka, the intellectual, the first garment) as a staged evolution/involution of principles, with Fohat tracing 'spiral lines' to unite them.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The passage states that Spirit and Soul constitute 'in Man the MONAD, and in Nature the first link between the ever unconditioned and the manifested,' making the human a small-scale image of the cosmic structure.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly names the MONAD as the union of pure Spirit and Soul in Man, and as 'the first link between the ever unconditioned and the manifested' in Nature.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage discusses the 'numerical system of the Universe,' the Six directions of Space, the Seventh (the Crown), and the difficulty of explaining 'the numbers with which these celestial Beings are connected.'
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 Arupa and Rupa (formless and form, spirit and matter) are presented as two poles of the same scale whose junction produces the manifested world.
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The passage distinguishes the Sixth principle (Buddhi, Divine Soul), the divine Spirit (Atma) of which it is the carrier, and the material body, presenting a multi-principled human constitution.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage refers to 'the ONE REALITY — the Nameless Deity' as the single source from which all energy radiates, and the entire structure flows from this undivided unity.
The Hermetic doctrine that nothing rests — matter, energy, mind, and spirit are a single continuum differing only in rate of vibration, from the grossest matter to the least material spirit. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (affinity resonating BETWEEN separate things) in being a claim about what constitutes any one thing in the first place, and from magical_equilibrium (Lévi's operational balancing technique, which presupposes some vibration doctrine rather than stating this general principle).
The Swedenborg footnote explicitly references 'a change from eternal vibration in the unmanifested, to Vortical Motion in the phenomenal or manifested World,' identifying vibration as the constitutive principle of all existence.