Hence man, although apparently its crown, would, by his advent have marked the close of creation; since creation, culminating in him, would at his death have entered on its decline" .
.
.
( p .
289).
This Kabalistic view is here quoted, to show its perfect identity in spirit with the Eastern doctrine.
Explain, or complete the teaching of the seven Suns with the seven systems of planes of being, of which the "Suns" are the central bodies, and you have the seven angelic planes, [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * This "central sun" of the Occultists, which even Science is obliged to accept astronomically, for it cannot deny the presence in Sidereal Space of a central body in the milky way, a point unseen and mysterious, the ever-hidden centre of attraction of our Sun and system -- this "Sun" is viewed differently by the Occultists of the East.
While the Western and Jewish Kabalists (and even some pious modern astronomers) claim that in this sun the God-head is specially present -- referring to it the volitional acts of God -- the Eastern Initiates maintain that, as the supradivine Essence of the Unknown Absolute is equally in every domain and place, the "Central Sun" is simply the centre of Universal life-Electricity; the reservoir within which that divine radiance, already differentiated at the beginning of every creation, is focussed.
Though still in a laya, or neutral condition, it is, nevertheless, the one attracting, as also the ever-emitting, life Centre.
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whose "Host" are gods thereof, collectively.
( See Comm.
to Stanza VII Book I .) They are the Head-group divided into four classes from the incorporeal down to the semi-corporeal, which classes are directly connected -- though in very different ways as regards voluntary connection and functions -- with our mankind.
They are three, synthesized by the fourth (the first and highest), which is called the "Central Sun" in the Kabalistic doctrine just quoted.
This is the great difference between the Semitic and the Aryan Cosmogony; one materializing, humanizes the mysteries of nature; the other spiritualizes matter, and its physiology is always made subservient to metaphysics.
Thus, though the seventh principle reaches man through all the phases of being, pure as an indiscrete element and an impersonal unity, it passes through (the Kabala teaches from ) the Central Spiritual Sun and Group the second (the polar Sun), which two radiate on man his Atma.
Group Three (the equatorial Sun) cement the Buddhi to Atman and the higher attributes of Manas, while group Four (the spirit of our visible sun) endows him with his Manas and its vehicle -- the Kama rupa, or body of passions and desires, the two elements of Ahamkara which evolve individualized consciousness -- the personal ego.
Finally, it is the spirit of the Earth in its triple unity that builds the physical body, attracting to it the Spirits of Life and forming his Linga Sarira.
Now, as everything proceeds cyclically, the evolution of man like everything else, the order in which he is generated is described fully in the Eastern teachings, whereas it is only hinted at in the Kabala.
Says the Book of Dzyan with regard to primeval man when first projected by the "Boneless," the incorporeal Creator: " First, the Breath, then Buddhi, and the Shadow-Son (the Body) were 'CREATED.' But where was the pivot (the middle principle, Manas)?
Man is doomed.
When alone, the indiscrete (undifferentiated Element) and the Vahan (Buddhi) -- the cause of the causeless -- break asunder from manifested life " -- " unless cemented and held together by the middle principle, the vehicle of the personal consciousness of J IVA"; explains the Commentary.
In other words, the two higher principles can have no individuality on Earth, cannot be man, unless there is ( a ) the Mind, the Manas-Ego, to cognize itself, and ( b ) the terrestrial false personality, or the body of egotistical desires and personal Will, to cement the whole, as if round a pivot (which it is, truly), to the physical form of man.
It is the Fifth and the Fourth principles* -- Manas and Kama rupa -- that contain the dual personality: the real immortal Ego ( if it assimilates itself to the two higher ) and the false and transitory personality, the mayavi or astral body, so-called, or the animal-human Soul -- the two hav- [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The Fourth, and the Fifth from below beginning by the physical body; the Third and the Fourth, if we reckon from Atma.
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ing to be closely blended for purposes of a full terrestrial existence.
Incarnate the Spiritual Monad of a Newton grafted on that of the greatest saint on earth -- in a physical body the most perfect you can think of -- i.e.
, in a two or even a three-principled body composed of its Sthula Sarira, prana (life principle), and linga sarira -- and, if it lacks its middle and fifth principles, you will have created an idiot -- at best a beautiful, soul-less, empty and unconscious appearance.
" Cogito -- ergo sum " -- can find no room in the brain of such a creature, not on this plane, at any rate.
There are students, however, who have long ago understood the philosophical meaning underlying the allegory -- so tortured and disfigured by the Roman Church -- of the Fallen Angels.
"The Kingdom of Spirits and spiritual action which flows from and is the product of Spirit Volition, is outside and contrasted with and in contradiction to the Kingdom of (divine) Souls and divine action."* As said in the text: -- " Like produces like and no more at the genesis of being, and evolution with its limited conditioned laws comes later.
The Self-Existentt are called C REATIONS, for they appear in the Spirit Ray, manifested through the potency inherent in its UNBORN Nature, which is beyond time and (limited or conditioned) Space.
Terrene products, animate and inanimate, including mankind, are falsely called creation and creatures: they are the development ( evolution ) of the discrete elements.
" (Com.
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 entire passage is structured on the axiom that the cosmic hierarchy (seven Suns, four angelic groups) is precisely mirrored in the human constitution (seven principles, corresponding vehicles), making each level a legible map of the others.
Narratives or doctrines of cosmic origin — how heaven, earth, and the primordial deities first came into being. The Kojiki's deities born alone on the Plain of High Heaven, Voluspo's Ginnungagap, Genesis's tohu wa-bohu, the Timaeus's Demiurge fashioning the Receptacle, the Hesiodic Theogony, the Kalevala's egg-cosmogony, Egyptian Nun-and-Atum. Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (structural-ontological cascade), letters_of_creation (mechanism of creation), and apocatastasis/frashokereti (end-state restoration); cosmogony is temporally-narrative beginning.
The passage narrates the origin of primeval man 'when first projected by the Boneless, the incorporeal Creator,' describing the sequence: Breath, then Buddhi, then the Shadow-Son (Body), with the middle principle as pivot.
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 Eastern Initiates' position that 'the supradivine Essence of the Unknown Absolute is equally in every domain and place' is a clear statement of divine immanence pervading all of creation.
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's central structure is the seven Suns/planes of being cascading from the Central Sun (the Unknown Absolute's focussed radiance) down through four angelic groups to the physical body of man.
The deeper aspect of the individual's own consciousness aligned with divine or spiritual truth, distinct from the ego or everyday personality — a locus of guidance and identity that can speak with its own recognisable 'voice' in moments of crisis, carrying memory or knowledge the ordinary self lacks. Distinct from inner_light (a static luminous quality or spark, not an alternate seat of identity and agency) and kingdom_within (the claim that the divine realm generally is present inside the individual, not this specific personal higher consciousness).
The 'real immortal Ego' that exists when the lower principles 'assimilate themselves to the two higher' (Atma and Buddhi) functions as a deeper aspect of consciousness distinct from the personal ego.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage explicitly describes the structured descent of spirit into matter stage by stage: from the indiscrete Element through Atma, Buddhi, Manas, Kama rupa, to the physical body, with 'the order in which he is generated' as the central teaching.
The persistent form or image of a human being that exists from birth to death, distinct from the impermanent physical matter.
The passage explicitly names the 'Linga Sarira' as the form built by the spirit of Earth in its triple unity, attracting the Spirits of Life to the physical body.
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.
Man is explicitly presented as the small-scale image of the cosmos: the seventh principle 'reaches man through all the phases of being,' and each cosmic group endows a specific human faculty, making the human the privileged mirror of the whole.
Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).
The passage describes the human as composed of higher spiritual principles (Atma, Buddhi), the middle principle (Manas), and the lower vehicle (Kama rupa and physical body), a clear tripartite or more division of the human being.