On our globe this Substance is the second principle of the septenary Element -- Earth; in the atmosphere, it is that of air , which is the cosmic gross body; in the Sun it becomes the Solar body and that of the Seven rays; in sidereal space it corresponds with another principle, and so on.
The whole is a homogeneous Unity alone, the parts are all differentiations.
** Or the reverberation, and for sound, repercussion on our plane of that which is a perpetual motion of that Substance on higher planes.
Our world and senses are victims of Maya , ceaselessly.
*** An honest admission, that.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 526 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
is such that we have no word, except ether,* by which to express it.
It pervades and fills space, but alone it too is quiescent -- dead.** We bring together the two elements, the inert matter, the self-repulsive Ether (?) and thereupon dead (?) ponderable matter is vivified"; [ Ponderable matter may be inert but never dead -- this is Occult Law.
-- H.P.B.] .
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.
"through the particles of the ponderable substance the ether [ Ether ' s second principle.
-- H.P.B.] penetrates, and, so penetrating, it combines with the ponderable particles and holds them in mass, holds them together in bond of union; they are dissolved in the Ether." "This distribution of solid ponderable matter through ether extends, according to the theory before us, to everything that exists at this moment.
The ether is all-pervading.
The human body itself is charged with the ether [ Say astral light.
-- H.P.B.]; its minute particles are held together by it; the plant is in the same condition; the most solid earth, rock, adamant, crystal, metal, all are the same.
But there are differences in the capacities of different kinds of ponderable matter to receive sun-force, and upon this depends the various changing conditions of matter; the solid, the liquid, the gaseous condition.
Solid bodies have attracted caloric in excess over fluid bodies, and hence their firm cohesion; when a portion of molten zinc is poured upon a plate of solid zinc, the molten zinc becomes as solid because there is a rush of caloric from the liquid to the solid, and in the equalization the particles, previously loose or liquid, are more closely brought together.
.
.
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Metcalfe himself, dwelling on the above-named phenomena, and accounting for them by the unity of principle of action, which has already been explained, sums up his argument in very clear terms, in a comment on the densities of various bodies.
'Hardness and softness' (he says), 'solidity and liquidity, are not essential conditions of bodies, but depend on the relative proportions of ethereal and ponderable matter of which they are composed.
The most elastic gas may be reduced to the liquid form by the abstraction of caloric, and again converted into a firm solid, the particles of which would cling together with a force proportional to their augmented affinity for caloric.
On the other hand, by adding a sufficient quantity of the same principle to the densest metals, their attraction for it is diminished when they are expanded into the gaseous state, and their cohesion is destroyed.' " Having thus quoted at length the heterodox views of the great "heretic" -- views that need only a little alteration of terms here and there, the same eminent scientist -- an original and liberal thinker, undeniably -- proceeds to sum up those views, and continues: -- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Yet it is not Ether , but only one of the principles of Ether, the latter being itself one of the principles of Akasa.
** And so does prana (Jiva) pervade the whole living body of man; but alone, without having an atom to act upon, it would be quiescent -- dead; i.e.
, would be in laya , or as Mr.
Crookes has it, "locked in protyle ." It is the action of Fohat upon a compound or even a simple body that produces life.
When a body dies it passes into the same polarity as its male energy and repels therefore the active agent, which, losing hold of the whole , fastens on the parts or molecules, this action being called chemical.
Vishnu, the Preserver, transforms himself into Rudra-Siva, the Destroyer -- a correlation seemingly unknown to Science.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 527 WE DISAGREE.
"I shall not dwell at great length on this unity of sun-force and earth, which this theory implies.
But I may add that out of it, or out of the hypothesis of mere motion as force, and of virtue without substance, we may gather, as the nearest possible approach to the truth on this, the most complex and profound of all subjects, the following inferences: -- "( a ) Space, inter-stellary, inter-planetary, inter-material, inter-organic, is not a vacuum, but is filled with a subtle fluid or gas, which for want of a better term* we may still call, as the ancients did, Aith - ur -- Solar fire, AE THER.
This fluid, unchangeable in composition, indestructible, invisible,** pervades everything and all [ ponderable.
-- H.
P.
B.] matter,*** the pebble in the running brook, the tree overhanging, the man looking on, is charged with the ether in various degree; the pebble less than the tree, the tree less than man.
All in the planet is in like manner so charged!
A world is built up in ethereal fluid, and moving through a sea of it.
"( b ) The Ether, whatever its nature is, is from the sun and from the suns**** the suns are the generators of it, the store-houses of it, the diffusers of it.***** "( c .) Without the ether there could be no motion; without it particles of ponderable matter could not glide over each other; without it there could be no impulse to excite those particles into action.
"( d .) Ether determines the constitution of bodies.
Were there no ether there could be no change of constitution in substance; water, for instance, could only exist as a substance, compact and insoluble beyond any conception we could form of it.
It could never even be ice, never flint, never vapour, except for ether.
"( e .) Ether connects sun with planet, planet with planet, man with planet, man with man.
Without ether there could be no communication in the Universe; no light, no heat, no phenomenon of motion." Thus we find that Ether and elastic atoms are, in the alleged mechanical conception of the Universe, the Spirit and Soul of Kosmos, and that the theory -- put it any way and under whatever disguise -- always leaves a more widely opened issue for men of [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Verily, unless the occult terms of the Kabalists are adopted!
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The entire passage is a detailed treatment of the universal ether/astral light as a pervading medium that vivifies matter, determines the constitution of bodies, and connects all things in the universe.
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 maps the same Substance across multiple scales (Earth, atmosphere, Sun, sidereal space) and states that ether connects 'sun with planet, planet with planet, man with planet, man with man,' making each level a legible expression of the whole.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
'Ether connects sun with planet, planet with planet, man with planet, man with man. Without ether there could be no communication in the Universe' is a direct statement of hidden affinity binding all cosmic parts.
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 ether 'pervades and fills space' and 'the pebble in the running brook, the tree overhanging, the man looking on, is charged with the ether in various degree' — the divine principle is present within all things.
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 single Substance differentiating into successive levels (Earth, air, Sun, sidereal space), each a different expression of the same underlying principle.
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 ether as a subtle, invisible, all-pervading fluid that interpenetrates all matter and operates on planes beyond physical perception, with our senses being 'victims of Maya.'
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
'The whole is a homogeneous Unity alone, the parts are all differentiations' directly asserts a single undivided first principle from which all multiplicity flows.
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 explicitly discusses the interplay of inert/active, male/female energies, and notes that 'when a body dies it passes into the same polarity as its male energy and repels therefore the active agent,' treating opposites as degrees of the same principle.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage's central thesis is that all existence is one homogeneous Substance that merely differentiates into apparent multiplicities, making non-duality a core claim.