(5.) Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS: i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane of perception.
We men must remember that because we do not perceive any signs -- which we can recognise -- of consciousness, say, in stones, we have no right to say that no consciousness exists there.
There is no such thing as either "dead" or "blind" matter, as there is no "Blind" or "Unconscious" Law.
These find no place among the conceptions of Occult philosophy.
The latter never stops at surface appearances, and for it the noumenal essences have more reality than their objective counterparts; it resembles therein the mediaeval Nominalists, for whom it was the Universals that were the realities and the particulars which existed only in name and human fancy.
(6.) The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards.
As above so it is below, as in heaven so on earth; and man -- the microcosm and miniature copy of the macrocosm -- is the living witness to this Universal Law, and to the mode of its action.
We see that every external motion, act, gesture, whether voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is produced and preceded by internal feeling or emotion, will or volition, and thought or mind.
As no outward motion or change, when normal, in man's external body can take place unless provoked by an inward impulse, given through one of the three functions named, so with the external or manifested Universe.
The whole Kosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to perform, and who -- whether we give to them one name or another, and call them Dhyan-Chohans or Angels -- are "messengers" in the sense only that they are the agents of Karmic and Cosmic Laws.
They vary infinitely in their [[Vol.
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respective degrees of consciousness and intelligence; and to call them all pure Spirits without any of the earthly alloy "which time is wont to prey upon" is only to indulge in poetical fancy.
For each of these Beings either was, or prepares to become, a man, if not in the present, then in a past or a coming cycle (Manvantara).
They are perfected, when not incipient, men; and differ morally from the terrestrial human beings on their higher (less material) spheres, only in that they are devoid of the feeling of personality and of the human emotional nature -- two purely earthly characteristics.
The former, or the "perfected," have become free from those feelings, because ( a ) they have no longer fleshly bodies -- an ever-numbing weight on the Soul; and ( b ) the pure spiritual element being left untrammelled and more free, they are less influenced by maya than man can ever be, unless he is an adept who keeps his two personalities -- the spiritual and the physical -- entirely separated.
The incipient monads, having never had terrestrial bodies yet, can have no sense of personality or EGO-ism.
That which is meant by "personality," being a limitation and a relation, or, as defined by Coleridge, "individuality existing in itself but with a nature as a ground," the term cannot of course be applied to non-human entities; but, as a fact insisted upon by generations of Seers, none of these Beings, high or low, have either individuality or personality as separate Entities, i.e., they have no individuality in the sense in which a man says, " I am myself and no one else;" in other words, they are conscious of no such distinct separateness as men and things have on earth.
Individuality is the characteristic of their respective hierarchies, not of their units; and these characteristics vary only with the degree of the plane to which those hierarchies belong: the nearer to the region of Homogeneity and the One Divine, the purer and the less accentuated that individuality in the Hierarchy.
They are finite, in all respects, with the exception of their higher principles -- the immortal sparks reflecting the universal divine flame -- individualized and separated only on the spheres of Illusion by a differentiation as illusive as the rest.
They are "Living Ones," because they are the streams projected on the Kosmic screen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE LIFE; beings in whom life cannot become extinct, before the fire of ignorance is extinct in those who sense these "Lives." Having sprung into being under the quickening influence of the uncreated beam, the reflection of the great Central Sun that [[Vol.
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radiates on the shores of the river of Life, it is the inner principle in them which belongs to the waters of immortality, while its differentiated clothing is as perishable as man's body.
Therefore Young was right in saying that "Angels are men of a superior kind" and no more.
They are neither "ministering" nor "protecting" angels; nor are they "Harbingers of the Most High" still less the "Messengers of wrath" of any God such as man's fancy has created.
To appeal to their protection is as foolish as to believe that their sympathy may be secured by any kind of propitiation; for they are, as much as man himself is, the slaves and creatures of immutable Karmic and Kosmic law.
The reason for it is evident.
Having no elements of personality in their essence they can have no personal qualities, such as attributed by men, in their exoteric religions, to their anthropomorphic God -- a jealous and exclusive God who rejoices and feels wrathful, is pleased with sacrifice, and is more despotic in his vanity than any finite foolish man.
Man, as shown in Book II., being a compound of the essences of all those celestial Hierarchies may succeed in making himself, as such, superior, in one sense, to any hierarchy or class, or even combination of them.
"Man can neither propitiate nor command the Devas, " it is said.
But, by paralyzing his lower personality, and arriving thereby at the full knowledge of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF, man can, even during his terrestrial life, become as "One of Us." Thus it is, by eating of the fruit of knowledge which dispels ignorance, that man becomes like one of the Elohim or the Dhyanis; and once on their plane the Spirit of Solidarity and perfect Harmony, which reigns in every Hierarchy, must extend over him and protect him in every particular.
The chief difficulty which prevents men of science from believing in divine as well as in nature Spirits is their materialism.
The main impediment before the Spiritualist which hinders him from believing in the same, while preserving a blind belief in the "Spirits" of the Departed, is the general ignorance of all, except some Occultists and Kabalists, about the true essence and nature of matter.
The doctrine and worldview that natural phenomena, places, and objects possess inherent spirit, soul, or personality — and that the cosmos is populated by countless local, plural, embodied divine agents: kami in mountain and tree, sidhe in cairn and well, landwights in field and stone, nymphs in spring and grove, haltija in forest and lake, lares and penates in household and threshold, Iamblichean daemons in element and place. Distinct from monotheism (single transcendent God), pantheism (one underlying substance), and emanation_hierarchy (cascading single source); animism's signature is the plurality, locality, and embodied-in-landscape character of the divine.
The claim that 'Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS' and that there is no 'dead' or 'blind' matter attributes inherent consciousness to all natural objects, though it is framed as universal consciousness rather than local embodied spirits.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage criticizes exoteric religions for attributing 'personal qualities' and a 'jealous and exclusive God who rejoices and feels wrathful, is pleased with sacrifice' to the divine, identifying this as anthropomorphic error.
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The passage states that the perfected beings are free from personality because 'they have no longer fleshly bodies -- an ever-numbing weight on the Soul,' directly characterizing the body as a hindrance to spiritual freedom.
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 directly quotes and elaborates the Hermetic axiom: 'As above so it is below, as in heaven so on earth,' and uses it to explain the mode of universal action from within outwards.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The passage states that 'Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS' and that 'There is no such thing as either dead or blind matter,' asserting the divine is present within all things pervasively.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The passage refers to 'the immortal sparks reflecting the universal divine flame' as the higher principles of hierarchical beings, individualized only on the spheres of Illusion.
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 'almost endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings' as 'streams projected on the Kosmic screen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE LIFE,' varying infinitely in degrees of consciousness, forming a clear cascading hierarchy from the One Divine.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage states that 'by eating of the fruit of knowledge which dispels ignorance, that man becomes like one of the Elohim,' presenting direct knowledge as the soteriological means of elevation.
The deeper aspect of the individual's own consciousness aligned with divine or spiritual truth, distinct from the ego or everyday personality — a locus of guidance and identity that can speak with its own recognisable 'voice' in moments of crisis, carrying memory or knowledge the ordinary self lacks. Distinct from inner_light (a static luminous quality or spark, not an alternate seat of identity and agency) and kingdom_within (the claim that the divine realm generally is present inside the individual, not this specific personal higher consciousness).
The passage distinguishes the 'higher SELF' from the lower personality, describing it as the aspect that is non-separate from the One absolute SELF and that man can access by 'paralyzing his lower personality.'
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 a non-physical dimension populated by sentient beings (Dhyan-Chohans, Angels, Devas) that are ordinarily imperceptible to physical senses, and notes that materialism prevents scientists from believing in 'divine as well as in nature Spirits.'
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 cosmos as 'worked and guided from within outwards' with hierarchies as 'streams projected on the Kosmic screen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE LIFE,' indicating a directional descent from the unconditioned to manifested levels.
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 explicitly states 'man -- the microcosm and miniature copy of the macrocosm -- is the living witness to this Universal Law,' making the human the privileged mirror of cosmic structure.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage explicitly references 'incipient monads, having never had terrestrial bodies yet, can have no sense of personality or EGO-ism,' using the term as a technical unit of the hierarchy.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage describes the state where man arrives at 'the full knowledge of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF' and becomes 'as One of Us,' which is a merging of individual identity with the divine.
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 'noumenal essences' which 'have more reality than their objective counterparts' and surface appearances, holding two registers of reality as legitimate on their own planes.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The passage describes man's potential to become 'One of Us' and to be encompassed by 'the Spirit of Solidarity and perfect Harmony' through knowledge that dispels ignorance, implying a return to the divine source.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The passage identifies 'the full knowledge of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF' as the path by which man becomes 'One of Us,' making recognition of one's true divine nature the primary liberating act.
The passage states that each hierarchical Being 'either was, or prepares to become, a man, if not in the present, then in a past or a coming cycle (Manvantara),' implying transmigration across cosmic cycles.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts the 'non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF' and that 'the nearer to the region of Homogeneity and the One Divine, the purer and the less accentuated that individuality,' pointing to ultimate oneness.