His "reduced universes," of which "there are as many as there are Monads" -- is the chaotic representation of our Septenary System with its divisions and sub-divisions.
As to the relation his Monads bear to our Dhyan-Chohans, Cosmic Spirits, Devas and Elementals, we may reproduce briefly the opinion of a learned and thoughtful theosophist, Mr.
H.
A.
Bjerregaard, on the subject.
In an excellent paper "On the Elementals, the Elementary Spirits, and the relationship between them and Human Beings," read by him before the "Aryan Theosophical Society of New York" (see P ATH, Nos.
10 and 11, of Jan.
and Feb.
1887), Mr.
Bjerregaard formulates distinctly his opinion.
.
.
.
.
"To Spinoza, substance is dead and inactive, but to Leibnitz's penetrating mind everything is living activity and active energy.
In holding this view, he comes infinitely nearer the Orient than any other thinker of his day , or after him.
His discovery that an active energy forms the essence of Substance is a principle that places him in direct relationship to the Seers of the East.
" And the lecturer proceeds to show that to Leibnitz atoms and elements are centres of force , or rather "spiritual beings whose very nature is to act," for the elementary particles are not acting mechanically, but from an internal principle.
They are incorporeal spiritual units ("substantial," however, but not immaterial in our sense) inaccessible to all changes from without, and indestructible by any external force.
Leibnitz's monads, adds the lecturer, "differ from atoms in the following particulars, which are very important for us to remember, otherwise we shall not be able to see the difference between elementals and mere matter." .
.
.
.
"Atoms are not distinguished from each other, they are qualitatively alike; but one monad differs from every other monad qualitatively; and every one is a peculiar world to itself.
Not so with atoms; they are absolutely alike quantitatively and qualitatively, and possess no individuality of their own.** Again, the atoms (molecules, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * "Leibnitz's Dynamism," says Professor Lachelier, "would offer but little difficulty if, with him, the Monad had remained a simple atom of blind force.
But .
.
.
." One perfectly understands the perplexity of modern materialism!
** Leibnitz was an absolute Idealist in maintaining that "material atoms are contrary to reason" ( Systeme nouveau , Erdmann, p.
126.
col.
2).
For him matter was a simple representation of the monad, whether human or atomic.
Monads, he thought (as we do), are everywhere.
Thus the human soul is a monad, and every cell in the human body has its monad, as every cell in animal, vegetable, and even in the (so-called) inorganic bodies.
His atoms are the molecules of modern Science, and his monads those simple [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol.
1, Page]] 631 MAYA AND MAHAMAYA.
rather) of materialistic philosophy can be considered as extended and divisible, while the monads are mere mathematical points and indivisible.
Finally, and this is a point where these monads of Leibnitz closely resemble the elementals of mystic philosophy -- these monads are representative Beings.
Every monad reflects every other.
Every monad is a living mirror of the Universe within its own sphere.
And mark this, for upon it depends the power possessed by these monads, and upon this depends the work they can do for us; in mirroring the world, the monads are not mere passive reflective agents, but spontaneously self - active ; they produce the images spontaneously, as the soul does a dream.
In every monad, therefore, the adept may read everything, even the future.
Every monad or Elemental is a looking-glass that can speak.
.
." It is at this point that Leibnitz's philosophy breaks down.
There is no provision made, nor any distinction established, between the "Elemental" monad and that of a high Planetary Spirit, or even the human monad or Soul.
He even goes so far as to sometimes doubt whether "God has ever made anything but Monads or substances without extension." ( Examen des Principes du P.
Malebranche.
) He draws a distinction between Monads and Atoms,* because, as he repeatedly states, "bodies with all their qualities are only phenomenal, like the rainbow.
.
.
.
Corpora omnia cum omnibus qualitatibus suis non sunt aliud quam phenomena bene fundata , ut Iris " (Letter to Father Desbosses, Correspondence , letter xviii.) -- but soon after he finds a provision for this in a substantial correspondence, a certain metaphysical bond between the monads -- vinculum substantiale.
Esoteric philosophy, teaching an objective Idealism -- though it regards the objective Universe and all in it as Maya , temporary illusion -- draws a practical distinction between collective illusion, Mahamaya , from the purely metaphysical stand-point, and the objective relations in it between various conscious Egos so long as this illusion lasts.
The adept, therefore, may read the future in an Elemental Monad, but he has to draw for this object a great number of them, as each monad represents only a portion of the Kingdom it belongs to.
"It is not in the object, but in the modification of the cognition of the object that the Monads are limited.
They all go confusedly to the infinite, to the all, but they are all limited and distinguished by the [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- [[Footnote continued from previous page]] atoms that materialistic Science takes on faith, though it will never succeed in interviewing them -- except in imagination.
But Leibnitz is rather contradictory in his views about Monads.
He speaks of his Metaphysical Points and Formal Atoms , at one time as realities , occupying space; at another as pure Spiritual ideas; then again endows them with objectivity and aggregates and positions in their co-relations.
* The atoms of Leibnitz have, in truth, nothing but the name in common with the atoms of the Greek Materialists, or even the molecules of modern Science.
He calls them formal atoms, and compares them to the substantial forms of Aristotle.
(See Systeme Nouveau , § 3.) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 632 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
degrees of distinct perceptions." (§ 60, Monadologie .)* And as Leibnitz explains, "All the portions of the Universe are distinctly represented in the Monads, but some are reflected in one monad , some in another; " but a number of monads could represent simultaneously the thoughts of the two millions of inhabitants of Paris.
But what say the Occult Sciences to this, and what do they add?
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 discusses 'elementals of mystic philosophy,' distinguishes them from mere matter, and equates them with monads as 'representative Beings' that are 'a looking-glass that can speak.'
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage states 'the adept may read the future in an Elemental Monad,' implying direct experiential knowledge of hidden realities through esoteric practice rather than ordinary cognition.
The Hermetic doctrine that THE ALL is Mind, and the Universe is mental in nature — a created thought held in the mind of THE ALL. Distinct from unity_of_being in specifying WHAT the underlying oneness is (mind, not an unspecified single substance), and from logos (a mediating ordering word BETWEEN a transcendent God and a separate material world) in collapsing that mediation entirely — under mentalism there is no world outside mind to mediate to.
The passage presents reality as fundamentally composed of 'spiritual beings whose very nature is to act' and 'active energy,' with matter being merely 'phenomenal, like the rainbow'—aligning with the doctrine that the underlying nature of existence is mental/spiritual.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The entire passage is a detailed exposition of Leibnitz's monads—their nature as indivisible spiritual units, their qualitative distinctness, their reflective and self-active character, and their relationship to Theosophical elementals.
Organized, persisting groups — fraternities, orders, lodges — that maintain esoteric knowledge or practices as an institution distinct from public religion or mainstream society, holding 'the keys' collectively rather than through any one master-disciple pair. Distinct from esoteric_lineage (a genealogical chain of individual transmission, not an institution) and hidden_sayings (the concealment of a teaching's meaning, independent of whether any organized body holds it).
The passage references the 'Aryan Theosophical Society of New York' as the venue for Bjerregaard's paper, naming an organized esoteric body that maintains and disseminates occult knowledge.