They say that what is called collectively Monads by Leibnitz -- roughly viewed, and leaving every subdivision out of calculation, for the present** -- may be separated into three distinct Hosts, which, counted from the highest planes, are, firstly, "gods," or conscious, spiritual Egos; the intelligent architects, who work after the plan in the Divine Mind.
Then come the Elementals, or Monads , who form collectively and unconsciously the grand Universal Mirrors of everything connected with their respective realms.
Lastly, the atoms, or material molecules, which are informed in their turn by their apperceptive monads, just as every cell in a human body is so informed.
(See the closing pages of Book I.) There are shoals of such informed atoms which, in their turn, inform the molecules; an infinitude of monads, or Elementals proper, and countless spiritual Forces -- Monadless , for they are pure incorporealities,*** except under certain laws, when they assume a form -- not necessarily human.
Whence the substance that clothes them -- the apparent organism they evolve around their centres?
The Formless ("Arupa") Radiations, existing in the harmony of Universal Will, and being what we term the collective or the aggregate of Cosmic Will on the plane of the subjective Universe, unite together an infinitude of monads -- each the mirror of its own Universe -- and thus individualize [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Leibnitz, like Aristotle, calls the created or emanated monads (the Elementals issued from Cosmic Spirits or Gods) -- Entelechies , [[ Entelecheia ]] -- and "incorporeal automata.
" (§ 18, Monadologie.
) ** These three "rough divisions" correspond to spirit , mind (or soul), and body , in the human constitution.
*** Brother C.
H.
A.
Bjerregaard, in his lecture (already mentioned), warns his audience not to regard the Sephiroth too much as individualities , but to avoid at the same time seeing in them abstractions.
"We shall never arrive at the truth," he says, "much less the power of associating with those celestials , until we return to the simplicity and fearlessness of the primitive ages, when men mixed freely with the gods, and the gods descended among men and guided them in truth and holiness" (No.
10, Path ) .
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"There are several designations for 'angels' in the Bible which clearly show that beings like the Elementals of the Kabala and the monads of Leibnitz, must be understood by that term rather than that which is commonly understood.
They are called 'morning stars,' 'flaming fires,' 'the mighty ones,' and St.
Paul sees them in his cosmogonic vision as 'Principalities and Powers.' Such names as these preclude the idea of personality, and we find ourselves compelled to think of them as impersonal Existences .
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as an influence , a spiritual substance, or conscious Force.
" ( Path , No.
11, p.
322.) [[Vol.
1, Page]] 633 THE WHEELS OF LIFE.
for the time being an independent mind, omniscient and universal; and by the same process of magnetic aggregation they create for themselves objective, visible bodies, out of the interstellar atoms.
For atoms and Monads, associated or dissociated, simple or complex, are, from the moment of the first differentiation, but the principles , corporeal, psychic and Spiritual, of the "Gods," -- themselves the Radiations of primordial nature.
Thus, to the eye of the Seer, the higher Planetary Powers appear under two aspects: the subjective -- as influences , and the objective -- as mystic FORMS, which, under Karmic law, become a Presence , Spirit and Matter being One, as repeatedly stated.
Spirit is matter on the seventh plane; matter is Spirit -- on the lowest point of its cyclic activity; and both -- are M AYA.
Atoms are called "Vibrations" in Occultism; also "Sound" -- collectively.
This does not interfere with Mr.
Tyndall's scientific discovery.
He traced, on the lower rung of the ladder of monadic being, the whole course of the atmospheric vibrations -- and this constitutes the objective part of the process in nature.
He has traced and recorded the rapidity of their motion and transmission; the force of their impact; their setting up vibrations in the tympanum and their transmission of these to the stolithes, etc., etc., till the vibration of the auditory nerve commences -- and a new phenomenon now takes place: the subjective side of the process or the sensation of Sound.
Does he perceive or see it?
No; for his speciality is to discover the behaviour of matter.
But why should not a psychic see it, a spiritual seer, whose inner Eye is opened, and who can see through the veil of matter?
The waves and undulations of Science are all produced by atoms propelling their molecules into activity from within.
Atoms fill the immensity of Space, and by their continuous vibration are that MOTION which keeps the wheels of Life perpetually going.
It is that inner work that produces the natural phenomena called the correlation of Forces.
Only, at the origin of every such "force," there stands the conscious guiding noumenon thereof -- Angel or God, Spirit or Demon -- ruling powers, yet the same.
As described by Seers -- those who can see the motion of the interstellar shoals, and follow them in their evolution clairvoyantly -- they are dazzling, like specks of virgin snow in radiant sunlight.
Their velocity is swifter than thought, quicker than any mortal physical eye could follow, and, as well as can be judged from the tremendous rapidity of their course, the motion is circular.
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Standing on an open plain, on a mountain summit especially, and gazing into the vast vault above and the spacial infinitudes around, the whole atmosphere seems ablaze with them, the air soaked through with these dazzling coruscations.
At times, the intensity of their motion produces flashes [[Vol.
1, Page]] 634 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
like the Northern lights during the Aurora Borealis.
The sight is so marvellous, that, as the Seer gazes into this inner world, and feels the scintillating points shoot past him, he is filled with awe at the thought of other, still greater mysteries, that lie beyond, and within, this radiant ocean.
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However imperfect and incomplete this explanation on "Gods, Monads and Atoms," it is hoped that some students and theosophists, at least, will feel that there may be indeed a close relation between materialistic Science, and Occultism, which is the complement and missing soul of the former.
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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 Seer who 'can see through the veil of matter' and perceive the motion of interstellar shoals, the dazzling coruscations, and the subjective aspects of Planetary Powers exemplifies the perceptual faculty of directly seeing phenomena on a subtler plane.
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 footnote explicitly states that the three cosmic divisions 'correspond to spirit, mind (or soul), and body, in the human constitution,' making each cosmic level a legible map of the others.
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 is structured entirely around a three-tier hierarchy (gods/spiritual Egos → Elementals → atoms) counted from the highest planes, with the Formless Radiations uniting monads in a cascading descent from the Divine Mind.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage contrasts the scientific observer who traces only the objective behavior of matter with the 'psychic' or 'spiritual seer' whose inner Eye is opened to perceive the subjective side directly, implying salvific direct experiential knowledge.
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 an inner world of interstellar atoms, coruscations, and Planetary Powers visible only to the Seer's opened inner eye, interpenetrating the physical world and populated by forces and beings ordinarily imperceptible.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The passage makes the human being the privileged mirror of the cosmos by stating the three cosmic hosts correspond directly to the tripartite human constitution of spirit, mind, and body.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
Monads are the central ontological unit of the passage — Leibniz's monads are separated into three hosts, described as mirrors of their own universes, and contrasted with atoms and spiritual Egos throughout.
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 declaration 'Spirit is matter on the seventh plane; matter is Spirit — on the lowest point of its cyclic activity; and both — are MAYA' is a direct expression of the doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature differing only in degree.
The Hermetic doctrine that nothing rests — matter, energy, mind, and spirit are a single continuum differing only in rate of vibration, from the grossest matter to the least material spirit. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (affinity resonating BETWEEN separate things) in being a claim about what constitutes any one thing in the first place, and from magical_equilibrium (Lévi's operational balancing technique, which presupposes some vibration doctrine rather than stating this general principle).
The passage explicitly states 'Atoms are called Vibrations in Occultism' and that their continuous vibration is the MOTION which keeps the wheels of Life perpetually going, presenting vibration as the fundamental constitutive principle of matter.