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of "Ha Idra Zuta Kadisha." "Becomes one body" means that all is reabsorbed once more into the one element, the spirits of men becoming Nirvanees and the elements of everything else becoming again what they were before -- protyle or undifferentiated substance. "Sabbath" means rest or Nirvana. It is not the seventh day after six days but a period the duration of which equals that of the seven "days" or any period made up of seven parts. Thus a pralaya is equal in duration to the manwantara, or a night of Brahma is equal to this "day." If the Christians will follow Jewish customs they ought to adopt the spirit and not the dead letter thereof: i.e. , to work one week of seven days and rest seven days. That the word "Sabbath" had a mystic significance is shown in the contempt shown by Jesus for the Sabbath day, and by what is said in Luke xviii. 12. Sabbath is there taken for the whole week. (See Greek text where the week is called Sabbath. "I fast twice in the Sabbath.") Paul, an Initiate, knew it well when referring to the eternal rest and felicity in heaven, as Sabbath; "and their happiness will be eternal, for they will ever be ( one ) with the Lord and will enjoy an eternal Sabbath. " (Hebrew iv. 2.) [[Vol. 1, Page]] 241 THE TRUE AND THE FALSE KABALA. The difference between the two systems, taking the Kabala as contained in the Chaldean Book of Numbers , not as misrepresented by its now disfigured copy, the Kabala of the Christian mystics --the Kabala and the archaic esoteric Vidya, is very small indeed, being confined to unimportant divergences of form and expression. Thus Eastern occultism refers to our earth as the fourth world, the lowest of the chain, above which run upward on both its sides the six globes, three on each side. The Zohar , on the other hand, calls the earth the lower, or the Seventh , adding that upon the six depend all things which are in it, "Microprosopus." The "smaller face," smaller because manifested and finite, "is formed of six Sephiroth ," says the same work. "Seven kings come and die in the thrice - destroyed world " -- (Malkuth our earth, destroyed after each of the three rounds which it has gone through). "And their reign (of the seven kings) will be broken up." ( Book of Numbers , 1. viii., 3.) This relates to the Seven Races, five of which have already appeared, and two more have still to appear in this Round. The Shinto allegorical accounts of Cosmogony and the origin of man in Japan hint at the same belief. Captain C. Pfoundes studied for nearly nine years in the monasteries of Japan the religion underlying the various sects of the land. . . . . . "The Shinto idea of creation," he says, "is as follows: Out of chaos ( Konton ) the earth ( in ) was the sediment precipitated, and the Heavens ( yo ) the ethereal essences which ascended: Maa ( jin ) appeared between the two. The first man was called Kuni-to ko tatchi-no-mikoto, and five other names were given to him , and then the human race appeared, male and female. Isanagi and Isanami begat Tenshoko doijin , the first of the five gods of the Earth." These "gods" are simply our five races, Isanagi and Isanami being the two kinds of the "ancestors," the two preceding races which give birth to animal and to rational man. It will be shown (Vol. II. Pt. II.) that the number seven, as well as the doctrine of the septenary constitution of man, was pre-eminent in all the secret systems. It plays as important a part in Western Kabala as in Eastern Occultism. Eliphas Levi calls the number seven "the key to the Mosaic creation and the symbols of every religion." He shows the Kabala following faithfully even the septenary division of man, as the diagram he gives in his " Clef des Grands Mysteres " is septenary. This [[Vol. 1, Page]] 242 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. may be seen at a glance on page 389, " Une prophetic et diverses pensees de Paracelse ," however cleverly the correct thought is veiled. One needs also only to look at the diagram (Plate VII. in Mr. Mathers' Kabala) "the formation of the Soul"* from the same "Key of the Great Mysteries" by Levi to find the same, though with a different interpretation. Thus it stands with both the Kabalistic and the Occult names attached: -- [[Footnote(s) to diagram]] ------------------------------------------------- * Nephesch is the "breath of (animal) life" breathed into Adam, the man of dust; it is consequently the Vital Spark , the informing element. Without Manas , or what is miscalled in Levi's diagram Nephesch instead of Manas, "the reasoning Soul," or mind, Atma-Buddhi are irrational on this plane and cannot act. It is Buddhi which is the plastic mediator, not Manas, "the intelligent medium between the upper Triad and the lower Quaternary." But there are many such strange and curious transformations to be found in the Kabalistic works -- a convincing proof that its literature has become a sad jumble. We do not accept the classification except in this one particular, in order to show the points of agreement. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 243 OCCULT AND KABALISTIC DOCTRINES. We will now give in tabular form what the very cautious Eliphas Levi says in explanation of his diagram, and what the Esoteric Doctrine teaches -- and compare the two. Levi, too, makes a distinction between Kabalistic and Occult Pneumatics. (See " Histoire de la Magic ," pp. 388, 389.) [[first column]] Says Eliphas Levi, the Kabalist: -- K ABALISTIC P NEUMATICS. 1. The Soul (or EGO) is a clothed light; and this light is triple. 2. Neschamah -- "pure Spirit." 3. Ruach -- the Soul or Spirit. 4. Nephesch -- plastic mediator.** 5. The garment of the Soul is the rind (body) of the image (astral Soul). 6. The image is double, because it reflects the good as the bad. 7. Imago, body. ------- O CCULT P NEUMATICS. As given by Eliphas Levi. 1. Nephesh is immortal because it renews its life by the destruction of forms.