.' You can never impress it too profoundly on the minds of those to whom you impart some of the esoteric teachings.
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." Again, here are more extracts from another letter written by the same authority.
This time it is in answer to some objections laid before the Teachers.
They are based upon extremely scientific, and as [[Vol.
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futile, reasonings about the advisability of trying to reconcile the Esoteric theories with the speculations of Modern Science, and were written by a young Theosophist as a warning against the "Secret Doctrine" and in reference to the same subject.
He had declared that if there were such companion Earths "they must be only a wee bit less material than our globe." How then was it that they could not be seen?
The answer was: -- ".
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Were psychic and spiritual teachings more fully understood , it would become next to impossible to even imagine such an incongruity.
Unless less trouble is taken to reconcile the irreconcileable -- that is to say , the metaphysical and spiritual sciences with physical or natural philosophy , ' natural ' being a synonym to them ( men of science ) of that matter which falls under the perception of their corporeal senses -- no progress can be really achieved.
Our Globe , as taught from the first , is at the bottom of the arc of descent , where the matter of our perceptions exhibits itself in its grossest form .
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Hence it only stands to reason that the globes which overshadow our Earth must be on different and superior planes.
In short , as Globes , they are in CO-ADUNITION but not IN CONSUBSTANTIALITY WITH OUR EARTH and thus pertain to quite another state of consciousness.
Our planet ( like all those we see ) is adapted to the peculiar state of its human stock , that state which enables us to see with our naked eye the sidereal bodies which are co-essential with our terrene plane and substance , just as their respective inhabitants , the Jovians , Martians and others can perceive our little world: because our planes of consciousness , differing as they do in degree but being the same in kind , are on the same layer of differentiated matter .
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What I wrote was ' The minor Pralaya concerns only our little STRINGS OF GLOBES.' ( We called chains ' Strings ' in those days of lip-confusion.
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' To such a string our Earth belongs.' This ought to have shown plainly that the other planets were also ' strings ' or CHAINS .
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If he ( meaning the objector ) would perceive even the dim silhouette of one of such ' planets ' on the higher planes , he has to first throw off even the thin clouds of the astral matter that stands between him and the next plane .
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." It becomes patent why we could not perceive, even with the help of the best earthly telescopes, that which is outside our world of matter.
Those alone, whom we call adepts, who know how to direct their mental vision and to transfer their consciousness -- physical and psychic both -- [[Vol.
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to other planes of being, are able to speak with authority on such subjects.
And they tell us plainly: -- " Lead the life necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge and powers , and Wisdom will come to you naturally.
Whenever your are able to attune your consciousness to any of the seven chords of ' Universal Consciousness ,' those chords that run along the sounding-board of Kosmos , vibrating from one Eternity to another; when you have studied thoroughly ' the music of the Spheres ,' then only will you become quite free to share your knowledge with those with whom it is safe to do so.
Meanwhile , be prudent.
Do not give out the great Truths that are the inheritance of the future Races , to our present generation.
Do not attempt to unveil the secret of being and non-being to those unable to see the hidden meaning of Apollo ' s HEPTACHORD -- the lyre of the radiant god , in each of the seven strings of which dwelleth the Spirit , Soul and Astral body of the Kosmos , whose shell only has now fallen into the hands of Modern Science .
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Be prudent , we say , prudent and wise , and above all take care what those who learn from you believe in; lest by deceiving themselves they deceive others .
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for such is the fate of every truth with which men are , as yet , unfamiliar .
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Let rather the planetary chains and other super- and sub-cosmic mysteries remain a dreamland for those who can neither see , nor yet believe that others can.
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." It is to be regretted that few of us have followed the wise advice; and that many a priceless pearl, many a jewel of wisdom, has been cast to an enemy unable to understand its value and who has turned round and rent us.
" ' Let us imagine ,' wrote the same Master to his two 'lay chelas,' as he called the author of 'Esoteric Buddhism' and another gentleman, his co-student for some time -- ' let us imagine THAT OUR EARTH IS ONE OF A GROUP OF SEVEN PLANETS OR MAN-BEARING WORLDS.
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( The SEVEN planets are the sacred planets of antiquity , and are all septenary.
) Now the life-impulse reaches A , or rather that which is destined to become A , and which so far is but cosmic dust (a "laya centre") .
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etc.
' " In these early letters, in which the terms had to be invented and words coined, the "Rings" very often became "Rounds," and the "Rounds" life-cycles, and vice versa.
To a correspondent who called a "Round" a "World-Ring," the Teacher wrote: "I believe this will lead to a further confusion.
A Round we are agreed to call the passage [[Vol.
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of a monad from Globe A to Globe G or Z.
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The 'World-Ring' is correct.
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Advise Mr.
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strongly, to agree upon a nomenclature before going any further.
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" Notwithstanding this agreement, many mistakes, owing to this confusion, crept into the earliest teachings.
The Races even were occasionally mixed up with the "Rounds" and "Rings," and led to similar mistakes in "Man." From the first the Master had written -- "Not being permitted to give you the whole truth , or divulge the number of isolated fractions .
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I am unable to satisfy you." This in answer to the questions, "If we are right, then the total existence prior to the man-period is 637," etc., etc.
To all the queries relating to figures, the reply was, "Try to solve the problem of 777 incarnations.
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Though I am obliged to withhold information .
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The perceptual faculty by which a trained practitioner directly sees phenomena on the astral plane — thought-forms, rapport-cords, auras, subtle entities — as visible forms, invisible to ordinary physical sight. Distinct from etheric_projection (the double's own active departure from the body, not a faculty for perceiving other things) and astral_light (the medium being perceived, not the faculty that perceives it).
The passage describes adepts who 'know how to direct their mental vision and to transfer their consciousness — physical and psychic both — to other planes of being' and who can perceive 'the dim silhouette of one of such planets on the higher planes.'
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 passage states that 'our planes of consciousness, differing as they do in degree but being the same in kind, are on the same layer of differentiated matter,' implying a structural correspondence between levels of the cosmic hierarchy.
A state of awareness transcending ordinary human consciousness, often involving unity with the universe or higher dimensions.
The passage explicitly names 'Universal Consciousness' with its 'seven chords' and describes the goal of attuning one's consciousness to these chords as a state transcending ordinary human perception.
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 describes 'the life-impulse reaches A, or rather that which is destined to become A, and which so far is but cosmic dust (a laya centre),' narrating the origin of a globe from undifferentiated cosmic matter.
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 hierarchical structure of globes on different planes, with our Earth 'at the bottom of the arc of descent' where matter is 'grossest' and superior globes 'overshadowing' it on 'different and superior planes.'
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 references 'the same authority,' 'the Teachers,' 'lay chelas,' and a chain of instruction from Master to student, implying a lineage of esoteric transmission.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage states that 'Lead the life necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge and powers, and Wisdom will come to you naturally,' and that only adepts who can 'direct their mental vision' can perceive higher planes, emphasizing direct experiential knowledge over intellectual reasoning.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage is saturated with the imperative to conceal: 'Do not give out the great Truths... to our present generation,' 'Do not attempt to unveil the secret of being and non-being to those unable to see the hidden meaning,' and 'Let rather the planetary chains... remain a dreamland for those who can neither see nor yet believe.'
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 describes 'planetary chains and other super- and sub-cosmic mysteries,' multiple strings of globes, and seven man-bearing worlds, presenting a cosmos vastly exceeding the visible solar system.
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 entire passage is structured around the existence of multiple planes of being (companion Earths, higher planes, astral matter) that are imperceptible to physical senses and instruments, requiring adepts to 'throw off the thin clouds of astral matter' to perceive them.
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 explicit statement that our Globe is 'at the bottom of the arc of descent, where the matter of our perceptions exhibits itself in its grossest form' names the directional process of spirit descending into progressively denser matter.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly mentions 'the passage of a monad from Globe A to Globe G or Z' as the definition of a Round, identifying the monad as the unit that traverses the chain of globes.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage is pervaded with numerological significance: seven planets, seven chords, seven strings of the heptachord, 777 incarnations, and the septenary structure of the chain of globes.
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 passage distinguishes between the 'metaphysical and spiritual sciences' and 'physical or natural philosophy,' asserting that the latter is limited to 'that matter which falls under the perception of their corporeal senses,' implying two legitimate registers of truth at different planes.
The 'problem of 777 incarnations' and 'the passage of a monad from Globe A to Globe G or Z' both reference the transmigration of the soul/monad across multiple lives and globes.
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 passage explicitly uses vibrational language: 'those chords that run along the sounding-board of Kosmos, vibrating from one Eternity to another' and the need to 'attune your consciousness to any of the seven chords of Universal Consciousness.'