But though the apes descend from man, it is certainly not the fact that the human Monad, which has once reached the level of humanity, ever incarnates again in the form of an animal.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 186 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
having reached its lowest depths, begins to strive onward and to get spiritualized with every new Race and with every fresh cycle.
Therefore the student must take care not to see contradiction where there is none, as in "Esoteric Buddhism" Rounds are spoken of in general, while here only the Fourth, or our present Round, is meant.
Then it was the work of formation; now it is that of reformation and evolutionary perfection.
Finally, to close this chapter anent various, but unavoidable misconceptions, we must refer to a statement in "Esoteric Buddhism" which has produced a very fatal impression upon the minds of many Theosophists.
One unfortunate sentence from the work just referred to is constantly brought forward to prove the materialism of the doctrine.
On p.
48, 5th Edition, the Author, referring to the progress of organisms on the Globes, says that "the mineral kingdom will no more develop the vegetable .
.
.
than the Earth was able to develop man from the ape, till it received an impulse." Whether this sentence renders literally the thought of the author, or is simply (as we believe it is) a lapsus calami , may remain an open question.
It is really with surprise that we have ascertained the fact that "Esoteric Buddhism" was so little understood by some Theosophists, as to have led them into the belief that it thoroughly supported Darwinian evolution, and especially the theory of the descent of man from a pithecoid ancestor.
As one member writes: "I suppose you realise that three-fourths of Theosophists and even outsiders imagine that, as far as the evolution of man is concerned, Darwinism and Theosophy kiss one another." Nothing of the kind was ever realised, nor is there any great warrant for it, so far as we know, in "Esoteric Buddhism." It has been repeatedly stated that evolution as taught by Manu and Kapila was the groundwork of the modern teachings, but neither Occultism nor Theosophy has ever supported the wild theories of the present Darwinists -- least of all the descent of man from an ape.
Of this, more hereafter.
But one has only to turn to p.
47 of "Esoteric Buddhism," 5th edition, to find there the statement that "Man belongs to a kingdom distinctly separate from that of the animals." With such a plain and unequivocal statement before him, it is very strange that any careful student should have been so misled unless he is prepared to charge the author with a gross contradiction.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 187 AN ERRONEOUS OPINION.
Every Round repeats on a higher scale the evolutionary work of the preceding Round.
With the exception of some higher anthropoids, as just mentioned, the Monadic inflow, or inner evolution, is at an end till the next Manvantara.
It can never be too often repeated, that the full-blown human Monads have to be first disposed of, before the new crop of candidates appears on this Globe at the beginning of the next cycle.
Thus there is a lull; and this is why, during the Fourth Round, man appears on Earth earlier than any animal creation, as will be described.
But it is still urged that the author of "Esoteric Buddhism" has "preached Darwinism" all along.
Certain passages would undoubtedly seem to lend countenance to this inference.
Besides which the Occultists themselves are ready to concede partial correctness to the Darwinian hypothesis, in later details, bye-laws of Evolution, and after the midway point of the Fourth Race.
Of that which has taken place, physical science can really know nothing, for such matters lie entirely outside of its sphere of investigation.
But what the Occultists have never admitted, nor will they ever admit, is that man was an ape in this or in any other Round; or that he ever could be one, however much he may have been "ape-like." This is vouched for by the very authority from whom the author of "Esoteric Buddhism" got his information.
Thus to those who confront the Occultists with these lines from the above-named volume: "It is enough to show that we may as reasonably -- and that we must, if we would talk about these matters at all -- conceive a life-impulse giving birth to mineral form, as of the same sort of impulse concerned to raise a race of apes into a race of rudimentary men.
" To those who bring this passage forward as showing "decided Darwinism," the Occultists answer by pointing to the explanation of the Master (Mr.
Sinnett's "teacher") which would contradict these lines, were they written in the spirit attributed to them.
A copy of this letter was sent to the writer, together with others, two years ago (1886), with additional marginal remarks, to quote from, in the " Secret Doctrine.
" It begins by considering the difficulty experienced by the Western student, in reconciling some facts, previously given, with the evolution of man from the animal, i.e.
, from the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms, and advises the student to hold to the doctrine of analogy and correspondences.
Then it touches upon the mystery of the Devas, [[Vol.
1, Page]] 188 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
and even Gods, having to pass through states which it was agreed to refer to as "Inmetallization, Inherbation, Inzoonization and finally Incarnation," and explains this by hinting at the necessity of failures even in the ethereal races of Dhyan Chohans.
Concerning this it says: "Still, as these 'failures' are too far progressed and spiritualized to be thrown back forcibly from Dhyan Chohanship into the vortex of a new primordial evolution through the lower kingdoms.
.
.
.
." After which only a hint is given about the mystery contained in the allegory of the fallen Asuras, which will be expanded and explained in Book II.
When Karma has reached them at the stage of human evolution, "they will have to drink it to the last drop in the bitter cup of retribution.
Then they become an active force and commingle with the Elementals, the progressed entities of the pure animal kingdom, to develop little by little the full type of humanity." These Dhyan Chohans, as we see, do not pass through the three kingdoms as do the lower Pitris; nor do they incarnate in man until the Third Root Race.
Thus, as the teaching stands: " Man in the First Round and First Race on Globe D , our Earth , was an ethereal being ( a Lunar Dhyani , as man ), non-intelligent but superspiritual; and correspondingly , on the law of analogy , in the First Race of the Fourth Round.
In each of the subsequent races and sub-races .
.
.
he grows more and more into an encased or incarnate being , but still preponderatingly ethereal.
.
.
.
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 'law of analogy' is explicitly invoked as the governing principle connecting the First Race on Globe D to the First Race of the Fourth Round, making each level 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 the origin and staged development of humanity from ethereal beings through successive races, describing how man 'grows more and more into an encased or incarnate being.'
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The 'Monadic inflow' and the spiritual principle within each human being that strives onward to get spiritualized with every new Race implies fragments of divine spirit within material existence.
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 of spiritual beings (Dhyan Chohans, Pitris, Elementals, humans) with distinct levels of evolution and spiritualization.
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 from the Master (Sinnett's teacher) through Sinnett to the author, establishing a credential of secret wisdom passed from master to disciple across time.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage itself is esoteric teaching that corrects misunderstandings of earlier esoteric works, and references a 'Master' whose explanations are given to selected students, implying concealed inner meaning.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The passage explicitly discusses 'Incarnation' as a named stage in the evolutionary process, and describes how man 'grows more and more into an encased or incarnate being' through successive races.
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 ethereal beings (Dhyan Chohans as 'Lunar Dhyani'), non-intelligent but superspiritual entities, and other non-physical dimensions of reality that interpenetrate 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 explicitly describes the directional descent of spirit into matter through named stages (Inmetallization, Inherbation, Inzoonization, Incarnation) and the progressive encasement of ethereal beings into incarnate form across successive races — the core of the involution doctrine.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'human Monad' is explicitly named as the spiritual principle that, once it reaches humanity, never incarnates again in animal form, and the 'Monadic inflow' is discussed as a key mechanism of evolution.
Sacred knowledge transmitted as living speech rather than fixed writing — scripture carried in memory, song, and telling, renewed in each generation; the unwritten canon of a tradition.
The reference to the 'Master' (Mr. Sinnett's teacher) sending a letter with 'additional marginal remarks' and the chain of instruction from teacher to student suggests living transmission of knowledge.
The passage describes the Monad's transmigration through different forms and races, with the explicit statement that the human Monad never incarnates again in animal form, and the cyclical movement of Monads through Rounds.