Page 45 (part 2)

10): -- "I speak only of a veritable material agent , refined, it may be, to the world at large, but actual and substantial : an agent having quality of weight and of volume, an agent susceptible of chemical combination, and thereby of change of physical state and condition, an agent passive in its action, moved always, that is to say, by influences apart from itself,* obeying other influences, an agent possessing no initiative power, no vis or energia naturae ,** but still playing a most important, if not a primary part in the production of the phenomena resulting from the action of the energeia upon visible matter" ( p. 379). As Biology and Physiology now deny, in toto , the existence of a "vital principle," this extract, together with de Quatrefages' admission, is a clear confirmation that there are men of science who take the same views about "things occult" as theosophists and occultists do. These recognise a distinct vital principle independent of the organism -- material, of course, as physical force cannot be divorced from matter , but of a substance existing in a state unknown to Science. Life for them is something more than the mere interaction of molecules and atoms. There is a vital principle without which no molecular combinations could ever have resulted in a living organism, least of all in the so-called "inorganic" matter of our plane of consciousness. By "molecular combinations" is meant, of course, those of the matter of our present illusive perceptions, which matter energises only on this, our plane. And this is the chief point at issue.*** [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This is a mistake, which implies a material agent, distinct from the influences which move it, i.e. blind matter and perhaps "God" again, whereas this ONE Life is the very God and Gods "Itself." ** The same error. *** "Is the Jiva a myth, as science says, or is it not?" ask some Theosophists, wavering between materialistic and idealistic Science. The difficulty of really grasping esoteric problems concerning the "ultimate state of matter" is again the old crux of the objective and the subjective. What is matter? Is the matter of our present objective consciousness anything but our SENSATIONS? True, the sensations we receive come from without , but can we really (except in terms of phenomena) speak of the "gross matter" of this plane as an entity apart from and independent of us? To all such arguments Occultism answers: True, in reality matter is not independent of, or existent outside, our perceptions. Man is an illusion : granted. But the existence and actuality of other, still more illusive, but not less actual , entities than we are, is not a claim which is lessened, but rather strengthened by this doctrine of Vedantic and even Kantian Idealism. [[Vol. 1, Page]] 604 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. Thus the Occultists are not alone in their beliefs. Nor are they so foolish, after all, in rejecting even the "gravity" of modern Science along with other physical laws, and in accepting instead attraction and repulsion. They see, moreover, in these two opposite Forces only the two aspects of the universal unit, called " M ANIFESTING M IND"; in which aspects, Occultism, through its great Seers, perceives an innumerable Host of operative Beings: Cosmic Dhyan-Chohans, Entities, whose essence, in its dual nature, is the Cause of all terrestrial phenomena. For that essence is co-substantial with the universal Electric Ocean, which is L IFE; and being dual, as said -- positive and negative -- it is the emanations of that duality that act now on earth under the name of "modes of motion"; even Force having now become objectionable as a word, for fear it should lead someone, even in thought, to separate it from matter! It is, as Occultism says, the dual effects of that dual essence, which have now been called centripetal and centrifugal forces, negative and positive poles, or polarity, heat and cold, light and darkness, etc., etc. And it is maintained that even the Greek and Roman Catholic Christians, are wiser in believing, as they do -- even if blindly connecting and tracing them all to an anthropomorphic god -- in Angels, Archangels, Archons, Seraphs, and Morning Stars: in all those theological Deliciae humani generis , in short, that rule the cosmic elements, than Science is, in disbelieving in them altogether, and advocating its mechanical Forces. For these act very often with more than human intelligence and pertinency. Nevertheless, that intelligence is denied and attributed to blind chance. But, as De Maistre was right in calling the law of gravitation merely a word which replaced "the thing unknown" ( Soirees ), so are we right in applying the same remark to all the other Forces of Science. And if it is objected that the Count was an ardent Roman Catholic, then we may cite Le Couturier, as ardent a materialist, who said the same thing, as also did Herschell and many others. ( Vide Musee des Sciences , August , 1856.) From Gods to men , from Worlds to atoms, from a star to a rush-light, from the Sun to the vital heat of the meanest organic being -- the world of Form and Existence is an immense chain, whose links are all connected. The law of Analogy is the first key to the world-problem, and these links have to be studied co-ordinately in their occult relations to each other. When, therefore, the Secret Doctrine -- postulating that conditioned or limited space (location) has no real being except in this world of illusion, or, in other words, in our perceptive faculties -- teaches that every one of the higher, as of the lower worlds, is interblended with our own objective world; that millions of things and beings are, in point of [[Vol. 1, Page]] 605 OCCULT AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. localization, around and in us, as we are around, with, and in them; it is no metaphysical figure of speech, but a sober fact in Nature, however incomprehensible to our senses. But one has to understand the phraseology of Occultism before criticising what it asserts. For example, the Doctrine refuses (as Science does, in one sense) to use the words "above" and "below," "higher" and "lower," in reference to invisible spheres, as being without meaning. Even the terms "East" and "West" are merely conventional, necessary only to aid our human perceptions. For, though the Earth has its two fixed points in the poles, North and South, yet both East and West are variable relatively to our own position on the Earth's surface, and in consequence of its rotation from West to East.