Thus the Monads of Class 2 reach the incipient human stage only in the Second Round, and so on up to the middle of the Fourth Round.
But at this point -- and on this Fourth Round in which the human stage will be fully developed -- the "Door" into the human kingdom closes; and henceforward the number of "human" Monads, i.e.
, Monads in the human stage of development, is complete.
For the Monads which had not reached the human stage by this point will, owing to the evolution of humanity itself, find themselves so far behind that they will reach the human stage only at the close of the seventh and last Round.
They will, therefore, not be men on this chain, but will form the humanity of a future Manvantara and be rewarded by becoming "Men" on a higher chain altogether, thus receiving their Karmic compensation.
To this there is but one solitary exception , for very good reasons, of which we shall speak farther on.
But this accounts for the difference in the races.
It thus becomes apparent how perfect is the analogy between the processes of Nature in the Kosmos and in the individual man.
The latter lives through his life-cycle, and dies.
His "higher principles," corresponding in the development of a planetary chain to the cycling Monads, pass into Devachan, which corresponds to the "Nirvana" and states of rest intervening between two chains.
The Man's lower "principles" are disintegrated in time and are used by Nature again for the formation of new human principles, and the same process takes place in the disintegration and formation of Worlds.
Analogy is thus the surest guide to the comprehension of the Occult teachings.
This is one of the "seven mysteries of the Moon," and it is now revealed.
The seven "mysteries" are called by the Japanese Yamaboosis , the mystics of the Lao-Tze sect and the ascetic monks of Kioto, the Dzenodoo -- the "seven jewels." Only the Japanese and the Chinese [[Vol.
1, Page]] 174 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
Buddhist ascetics and Initiates are, if possible, even more reticent in giving out their "Knowledge" than are the Hindus.
But the reader must not be allowed to lose sight of the Monads, and must be enlightened as to their nature, as far as permitted, without trespassing upon the highest mysteries, of which the writer does not in any way pretend to know the last or final word.
The Monadic Host may be roughly divided into three great classes: -- 1.
The most developed Monads (the Lunar Gods or "Spirits," called, in India, the Pitris), whose function it is to pass in the first Round through the whole triple cycle of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms in their most ethereal, filmy, and rudimentary forms, in order to clothe themselves in, and assimilate, the nature of the newly formed chain.
They are those who first reach the human form (if there can be any form in the realm of the almost subjective) on Globe A in the first Round.
It is they, therefore, who lead and represent the human element during the second and third Rounds, and finally evolve their shadows at the beginning of the Fourth Round for the second class, or those who come behind them.
2.
Those Monads that are the first to reach the human stage during the three and a half Rounds, and to become men.* [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * We are forced to use here the misleading word "Men," and this is a clear proof of how little any European language is adapted to express these subtle distinctions.
It stands to reason that these "Men" did not resemble the men of to-day, either in form or nature.
Why then, it may be asked, call them "Men" at all?
Because there is no other term in any Western language which approximately conveys the idea intended.
The word "Men" at least indicates that these beings were "MANUS," thinking entities, however they differed in form and intellection from ourselves.
But in reality they were, in respect of spirituality and intellection, rather "gods" than "Men." The same difficulty of language is met with in describing the "stages" through which the Monad passes.
Metaphysically speaking, it is of course an absurdity to talk of the "development" of a Monad, or to say that it becomes "Man." But any attempt to preserve metaphysical accuracy of language in the use of such a tongue as the English would necessitate at least three extra volumes of this work, and would entail an amount of verbal repetition which would be wearisome in the extreme.
It stands to reason that a MONAD cannot either progress or develop, or even be affected by the changes of states it passes through.
It is not of this world or plane , and may be compared only to an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol.
1, Page]] 175 THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE MONADS.
3.
The laggards; the Monads which are retarded, and which will not reach, by reason of Karmic impediments, the human stage at all during this cycle or Round, save one exception which will be spoken of elsewhere as already promised.
Now the evolution of the external form or body round the astral is produced by the terrestrial forces, just as in the case of the lower kingdoms; but the evolution of the internal or real MAN is purely spiritual.
It is now no more a passage of the impersonal Monad through many and various forms of matter -- endowed at best with instinct and consciousness on quite a different plane -- as in the case of external evolution, but a journey of the "pilgrim-soul" through various states of not only matter but Self-consciousness and self-perception, or of perception from apperception.
(See " Gods , Monads and Atoms.
") The M ONAD emerges from its state of spiritual and intellectual unconsciousness; and, skipping the first two planes -- too near the ABSOLUTE to permit of any correlation with anything on a lower plane -- it gets direct into the plane of Mentality.
But there is no plane in the whole universe with a wider margin, or a wider field of action in its almost endless gradations of perceptive and apperceptive qualities, than this plane, which has in its turn an appropriate smaller plane for every "form," from the "mineral" monad up to the time when that monad blossoms forth by evolution into the DIVINE MONAD.
But all the time it is still one and the same Monad, differing only in its incarnations, throughout its ever succeeding cycles of partial or total obscuration of spirit, or the partial or total obscuration of matter -- two polar antitheses -- as it ascends into the realms of mental spirituality, or descends into the depths of materiality.
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The passage implies periodic restoration: Monads that miss the human stage in this cycle will reach it in a future Manvantara, and the 'ever succeeding cycles' suggest recurrence of all things through vast periodicities.
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 explicitly states 'how perfect is the analogy between the processes of Nature in the Kosmos and in the individual man' and declares 'Analogy is thus the surest guide to the comprehension of the Occult teachings,' directly expressing the Hermetic axiom of structural reflection at every scale.
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The Monad is described as 'an indestructible star of divine light and fire,' and the first class of Monads are called 'Lunar Gods or Spirits' who pass through 'the most ethereal, filmy, and rudimentary forms'—light as the fundamental divine quality.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
Monads are described as 'an indestructible star of divine light and fire, thrown down on to our [plane],' passing through various material forms in which they are partially obscured—functionally equivalent to fragments of divine light trapped in matter awaiting liberation.
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 cascade from the Absolute (too near to permit correlation) through planes of Mentality down through mineral, vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms, with Monads flowing downward through successive levels of materialization.
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 a chain of esoteric knowledge held by Japanese Yamaboosis, Chinese Buddhist ascetics, and Hindu traditions, implying a historical transmission of secret wisdom across cultures.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage explicitly notes that the writer does not 'trespass upon the highest mysteries' and that various traditions (Japanese, Chinese, Hindu) are 'even more reticent in giving out their Knowledge,' framing the teaching as esoteric and reserved.
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—Devachan, the plane of Mentality, the 'almost subjective' realm of the first-class Monads, and the 'astral'—as real dimensions interpenetrating physical existence where spiritual processes unfold.
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 structured descent of the impersonal Monad through mineral, vegetable, animal, and human forms as a directional process of spirit passing through matter, complemented by its eventual evolution upward—the classic involution-evolution pairing.
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 draws a detailed structural parallel between the individual man's life cycle (higher principles passing into Devachan, lower principles disintegrating) and the cosmic cycling of Monads through planetary chains, making the human the privileged mirror of cosmic process.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The entire passage is a detailed classification and description of Monads—their three classes, their evolution through Rounds, their nature as 'an indestructible star of divine light and fire,' and their journey through successive forms.
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 passage identifies 'two polar antitheses'—the partial or total obscuration of spirit versus the partial or total obscuration of matter—as the fundamental structural opposition through which the Monad cycles.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The Monads' cycling through states of obscuration implies an eventual return from matter to spirit, and the 'pilgrim-soul' journey through ascending states of self-consciousness suggests a progressive return toward the divine.
The passage describes Monads cycling through multiple Rounds and Manvantaras, passing through mineral, vegetable, animal, and human forms in successive incarnations across vast cosmic cycles.