Page 36 (part 3)

The extreme tenuity of a comet's mass is also proved by the phenomenon of the tail, which, as the comet approaches the sun, is thrown out sometimes to a length of 90 millions of miles in a few hours. And what is remarkable, THIS TAIL IS THROWN OUT AGAINST THE FORCE OF GRAVITY by some repulsive force , probably electrical, so that it always points away from the Sun (!!!) And yet, thin as the matter of comets must be, IT OBEYS THE COMMON LAW OF GRAVITY ( !? ), and whether the comet revolves in an orbit within that of the outer planets, or shoots off into the abysses of Space, and returns only after hundreds of years, its path is, at each instant, regulated by the same force as that which causes an apple to fall to the ground. " ( Ibid , p. 17.) Science is like Caesar's wife, and must not be suspected -- this is evident. But it can be respectfully criticised, nevertheless. At all events, it may be reminded that "the apple" is a dangerous fruit. For the second time in the history of mankind, it may become the cause of the FALL -- this time, of "exact" Science. A comet whose tail defies the law of gravity right in the Sun's face can hardly be credited with obeying that law. In a series of scientific works on Astronomy and the nebular theory, written between 1865 and 1866, the present writer, a poor tyro in Science, has counted in a few hours, no less than thirty-nine contradictory hypotheses offered as explanations for the self-generated, primitive rotatory motion of the heavenly bodies. The writer is no astronomer, no mathematician, no scientist; but was obliged to examine these errors in defence of Occultism, in general, and what is still more [[Vol. 1, Page]] 505 THE PARADOXES OF SCIENCE. important, in order to support the occult teachings concerning astronomy and Cosmology. Occultists were threatened with terrible penalties for questioning scientific truths. But now they feel braver -- Science is less secure in its "impregnable" position than they were led to expect, and many of its strongholds are built on very shifting sands. Thus, even this poor and unscientific examination of it was useful, and it was certainly very instructive. We have learned a good many things, in fact, having studied with particular care especially those astronomical data that would be the most likely to clash with our heterodox and "superstitious" beliefs. So, for instance, we have found there, concerning gravitation, the axial and orbital motions, that synchronous movement having been once overcome, in the early stage -- it was enough to originate a rotatory motion till the end of Manvantara. We have also come to know in all the aforesaid combinations of possibilities with regard to incipient rotation -- most complicated in every case, -- some of the causes to which it may have been due , as well as some others to which it ought and should have been due, but, in some way or other, was not. Among other things, we were informed that incipient rotation may be provoked with equal ease in a mass in igneous fusion , and in one that is characterised by glacial opacity (" Heaven and Earth ") . That gravitation is a law which nothing can overcome , but which, nevertheless, is overcome in and out of season by the most ordinary celestial or terrestrial bodies -- the tails of impudent comets, for instance. That we owe the universe to the holy creative Trinity, called Inert Matter , Senseless Force and Blind Chance. Of the real essence and nature of any of these three, Science knows nothing, but this is a trifling detail. Ergo , we are told that, when a mass of cosmic or nebular matter -- whose nature is unknown (entirely so), and which may be in a state of fusion (Laplace), or dark and cold (Thomson), for "this intervention of heat is itself a pure hypothesis " (Faye) -- decides to exhibit its mechanical energy under the form of rotation, it acts in this wise. It (the mass) either bursts into spontaneous conflagration, or it remains inert, tenebrous, and frigid, both states being equally capable of sending it, without any adequate cause , spinning through space for millions of years. Its movements may be retrograde and they may be direct, about a hundred various reasons being offered for both motions, in about as many hypotheses. Anyhow, joining the maze of stars, whose origin belongs to the same miraculous and spontaneous order -- for "the nebular theory does not profess to discover the origin of things , but only a stadium in material history" ( Winchell: World-Life ) -- those millions of suns, planets, and satellites, composed of inert matter, will whirl on in most impressive and majestic symmetry around the firmament, moved [[Vol. 1, Page]] 506 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. and guided only, their inertia notwithstanding, " by their own internal motion. " Shall we wonder after this if learned mystics, pious Roman Catholics, and even such learned astronomers as were Chaubard and Godefroy,* have preferred the Kabala and the ancient systems to the modern dreary and contradictory exposition of the Universe? The Zohar makes a distinction, at any rate, between "the hajaschar ("the light Forces"), the hachoser ("Reflected Lights"), and the simple phenomenal exteriority of their spiritual types." ( See Kabala Denudata , II, 67.) The question of "gravity" may now be dismissed, and other hypotheses examined. That physical Science knows nothing of "Forces" is clear. We may close the argument, however, by calling to our help one more man of Science -- Professor Jaumes, Member of the Academy of Medicine at Montpellier. Says this learned man, speaking of Forces: -- "A cause is that which is essentially acting in the genealogy of phenomena, in every production as in every modification. I said that activity (or Force) was invisible. . . . To suppose it corporeal and residing in the properties of matter would be a gratuitous hypothesis. . . To reduce all the causes to God. . . . would amount to embarrassing oneself with a hypothesis hostile to many verities. But to speak of a plurality of forces proceeding from the Deity and possessing inherent powers of their own, is not unreasonable. . . . and I am disposed to admit phenomena produced by intermediate agents called Forces or Secondary Agents. The distinction of Forces is the principle of the division of Sciences; so many real and separate forces, so many mother-Sciences. . . . No: Forces are not suppositions and abstractions, but realities, and the only acting realities whose attributes can be determined with the help of direct observation and induction." (" Sur la distinction des Forces ," published in the Memoires de l ' Academie des Sciences de Montpellier , Vol. II., fasc.