Hence, when " other worlds" are mentioned -- whether better or worse, more spiritual or still more material, though both invisible -- the Occultist does not locate these spheres either outside or inside our Earth, as the theologians and the poets do; for their location is nowhere in the space known to, and conceived by, the profane.
They are, as it were, blended with our world -- interpenetrating it and interpenetrated by it.
There are millions and millions of worlds and firmaments visible to us; there still greater numbers beyond those visible to the telescopes, and many of the latter kind do not belong to our objective sphere of existence.
Although as invisible as if they were millions of miles beyond our solar system, they are yet with us, near us, within our own world, as objective and material to their respective inhabitants as ours is to us.
But, again, the relation of these worlds to ours is not that of a series of egg-shaped boxes enclosed one within the other, like the toys called Chinese nests; each is entirely under its own special laws and conditions, having no direct relation to our sphere.
The inhabitants of these, as already said, may be, for all we know, or feel, passing through and around us as if through empty space, their very habitations and countries being interblended with ours, though not disturbing our vision, because we have not yet the faculties necessary for discerning them.
Yet by their spiritual sight the Adepts, and even some seers and sensitives, are always able to discern, whether in a greater or smaller degree, the presence and close proximity to us of Beings pertaining to other spheres of life.
Those of the (spiritually) higher worlds, communicate only with those terrestrial mortals who ascend to them, through individual efforts, on to the higher plane they are occupying.
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" T HE SONS OF Bhumi ( E ARTH) REGARD THE S ONS OF Deva - lokas (ANGEL-SPHERES) AS THEIR GODS; AND THE S ONS OF LOWER KINGDOMS LOOK UP TO THE MEN OF Bhumi , AS TO THEIR devas (GODS); MEN REMAINING UNAWARE OF IT IN THEIR BLINDNESS.
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T HEY ( me n) TREMBLE [[Vol.
1, Page]] 606 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
BEFORE THEM WHILE USING THEM ( for magical purposes ).
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T HE FIRST R ACE OF M EN WERE THE " Mind - born sons " OF THE FORMER.
T HEY ( the pitris and devas ) ARE OUR PROGENITORS.
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( Book II.
of Commentary on the Book of DZYAN.
) "Educated people," so-called, deride the idea of Sylphs, Salamanders, Undines, and Gnomes; the men of science regard as an insult any mention of such superstitions; and with a contempt of logic and common good sense, that is often the prerogative of "accepted authority," they allow those, whom it is their duty to instruct, to labour under the absurd impression that in the whole Kosmos, or at any rate in our own atmosphere, there are no other conscious, intelligent beings, save ourselves.* Any other humanity (composed of distinct human beings) than a mankind with two legs, two arms, and a head with man's features on it, would not be called human; though the etymology of the word would seem to have little to do with the general appearance of a creature.
Thus, while Science sternly rejects even the possibility of there being such (to us, generally) invisible creatures, Society, while believing in it all secretly , is made to deride the idea openly.
It hails with mirth such works as the Count de Gabalis , and fails to understand that open satire is the securest mask.
Nevertheless, such invisible worlds do exist.
Inhabited as thickly as our own is, they are scattered throughout apparent Space in immense number; some far more material than our own world, others gradually etherealizing until they become formless and are as " Breaths.
" That our physical eye does not see them, is no reason to disbelieve in them; physicists can see neither their ether, atoms, nor "modes of motion," or Forces.
Yet they accept and teach them.
If we find, even in the natural world with which we are acquainted, matter affording a partial analogy in the difficult conception of such invisible worlds, there seems little difficulty in recognizing the possibility of such a presence.
The tail of a comet, which, though attracting our attention by virtue of its luminosity, yet does not disturb or impede our vision of objects, which we perceive through and beyond it, affords the first stepping-stone toward a proof of the same.
The tail of a comet passes rapidly across our horizon, and we should neither feel it, nor be cognizant of its passage, but for the brilliant coruscation, often perceived only by a few interested in the phenomenon, while everyone else remains ignorant of its presence and passage through , or across, a portion of our globe.
This tail may, or may not, be an integral portion of the being of the comet, but its tenuity sub- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Even the question of the plurality of worlds inhabited by sentient creatures is rejected or approached with the greatest caution!
And yet see what the great astronomer, Camille Flammarion, says in his " Pluralite des Mondes.
" [[Vol.
1, Page]] 607 PLURALITY OF WORLDS.
serves our purpose as an illustration.
Indeed, it is no question of superstition, but simply a result of transcendental science, and of logic still more, to admit the existence of worlds formed of even far more attenuated matter than the tail of a comet.
By denying such a possibility, Science has played for the last century into the hands of neither philosophy nor true religion, but simply into those of theology.
To be able to dispute the better the plurality of even material worlds, a belief thought by many churchmen incompatible with the teachings and doctrines of the Bible,* Maxwell had to calumniate the memory of Newton, and try to convince his public that the principles contained in the Newtonian philosophy are those "which lie at the foundation of all atheistical systems." ( Vide Vol.
II., " Plurality of Worlds.
") "Dr.
Whewell disputed the plurality of worlds by appeal to scientific evidence," writes Professor Winchell.** And if even the habitability of physical worlds, of planets, and distant stars which shine in myriads over our heads is so disputed, how little chance is there for the acceptance of invisible worlds within the apparently transparent space of our own!
But, if we can conceive of a world composed (for our senses) of matter still more attenuated than the tail of a comet, hence of inhabitants in it who are as ethereal, in proportion to their globe, as we are in comparison with our rocky, hard-crusted earth, no wonder if we do not perceive them, nor sense their presence or even existence.
Only, in what is the idea contrary to science?
The perceptual faculty by which a trained practitioner directly sees phenomena on the astral plane — thought-forms, rapport-cords, auras, subtle entities — as visible forms, invisible to ordinary physical sight. Distinct from etheric_projection (the double's own active departure from the body, not a faculty for perceiving other things) and astral_light (the medium being perceived, not the faculty that perceives it).
The passage states that 'by their spiritual sight the Adepts, and even some seers and sensitives, are always able to discern the presence and close proximity to us of Beings pertaining to other spheres of life,' describing the perceptual faculty for seeing on subtler planes.
Naturally-existing, non-human intelligences native to a single element — earth, air, fire, or water — rather than the fourfold-composite human nature: Paracelsus's gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and undines; the Deva Kingdom or fairy kingdom of Western occultism, forming their own parallel kingdom capable of incarnating in or forming relationships with humans. Distinct from artificial_elemental (a manufactured thought-entity deliberately created by a single operator, not a naturally-occurring species) and animism (the general doctrine that nature-places host indwelling spirits, of which this is one specific taxonomic system organised around the four elements rather than locality).
The passage explicitly names Sylphs, Salamanders, Undines, and Gnomes as real beings and discusses the Deva-lokas (angel-spheres) as populated parallel kingdoms, while critiquing science's dismissal of them.
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 entire passage is devoted to describing invisible worlds interpenetrating the physical world, populated by beings imperceptible to ordinary senses yet as objective to their inhabitants as our world is to us.