Page 90 (part 3)

Darwinism only meets Evolution at its midway point -- that is to say when astral evolution has given place to the play of the ordinary physical forces with which our present senses acquaint us. But even here the Darwinian Theory, even with the "expansions" recently attempted, is inadequate to meet the facts of the case. The underlying physiological variation in species -- one to which all other laws are subordinate and secondary -- is a sub-conscious intelligence pervading matter, ultimately traceable to a REFLECTION of the Divine and Dhyan-Chohanic wisdom.* A not altogether dissimilar conclusion has been arrived at by so well known a thinker as Ed. von Hartmann, who, despairing of the efficacy of unaided Natural Selection, regards evolution as intelligently guided by the U NCONSCIOUS (the Cosmic Logos of Occultism). But the latter acts only mediately through F OHAT, or Dhyan-Chohanic energy, and not quite in the direct manner which the great pessimist describes. It is this divergence among men of Science, their mutual, and often their self -contradictions, that gave the writer of the present volumes the courage to bring to light other and older teachings -- if only as hypotheses for future scientific appreciation. Though not in any way very learned in modern sciences, so evident, even to the humble recorder of this archaic clearing, are the said scientific fallacies and gaps, that she determined to touch upon all these, in order to place the two teachings on parallel lines. For Occultism, it is a question of self-defence, and nothing more. So far, the "Secret Doctrine" has concerned itself with metaphysics, pure and simple. It has now landed on Earth, and finds itself within the domain of physical science and practical anthropology, or those branches of study which materialistic Naturalists claim as their rightful domain, coolly asserting, furthermore, that the higher and more perfect the working of the Soul, the more amenable it is to the analysis and explanations of the zoologist and the physiologist alone. ( Haeckel on " Cell-Souls and Soul-Cells. ") This stupendous pretension comes from one, who, to prove his pithecoid descent, has not hesitated to include among the ancestors of man the Lemuridae ; which have been promoted by him to the rank of Prosimiae, indeciduate mammals, to which he very incorrectly attributes a decidua [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * The " principle of perfectibility " of Nageli; von de Baer's " striving towards the purpose "; Braun's " Divine breath as the inward impulse in the evolutionary history of Nature"; Professor Owen's " tendency to perfectibility, etc.," are all veiled manifestations of the universal guiding F OHAT, rich with the Divine and Dhyan-Chohanic thought. [[Vol. 2, Page]] 650 THE SECRET DOCTRINE. and a discoidal placenta.* For this Haeckel was taken severely to task by de Quatrefages, and criticised by his own brother materialists and agnostics, as great, if not greater, authorities than himself, namely, by Virchow and du Bois-Reymond.** Such opposition notwithstanding, Haeckel's wild theories are, to this day, called scientific and logical by some. The mysterious nature of Consciousness, of Soul, Spirit in Man being now explained as a mere advance on the functions of the protoplasmic molecules of the lively Protista, and the gradual evolution and growth of human mind and "social instincts" toward civilization having to be traced back to their origin in the civilization of ants, bees, and other creatures, the chances left for an impartial hearing of the doctrines of archaic Wisdom, are few indeed. The educated profane is told that "the social instincts of the lower animals have, of late, been regarded as being clearly the origin of morals, even of those of man" (!) and that our divine consciousness, our soul, intellect, and aspirations have "worked their way up from the lower stages of the simple cell-soul" of the gelatinous Bathybius -- ( See Haeckel ' s " Present Position of Evolution " Notes ) , -- and he seems to believe it. For such men, the metaphysics of Occultism must produce the effect that our grandest orchestral and vocal oratorios produce on the Chinaman: a sound that jars upon their nerves. Yet, are our esoteric teachings about "angels," the first three pre -animal human Races, and the downfall of the Fourth, on a lower level of fiction and self-delusion than the Haeckelian "plastidular," or the inorganic "molecular Souls of the Protista "? Between the evolution of the spiritual nature of man from the above Amoebian Souls, and the alleged development of his physical frame from the protoplastic dweller in the Ocean slime, there is an abyss which will not be easily crossed by any man in the full possession of his intellectual faculties. Physical evolution, as modern Science teaches it, is a subject for open controversy; spiritual and moral development on the same lines is the insane dream of a crass materialism. Furthermore, past as well as present daily experience teaches that no truth has ever been accepted by the learned bodies unless it dovetailed [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Vide infra, M. de Quatrefages' expose of Haeckel, in § ii., "The Ancestors Mankind is offered by Science." ** Strictly speaking du Bois-Reymond is an agnostic, and not a materialist. He has protested most vehemently against the materialistic doctrine, which affirms mental phenomena to be merely the product of molecular motion. The most accurate physiological knowledge of the structure of the brain leaves us "nothing but matter in motion," he asserts; " we must go further, and admit the utterly incomprehensible nature of the psychical principle which it is impossible to regard as a mere outcome of material causes." [[Vol. 2, Page]] 651 AN EXCHANGE OF MUTUAL COMPLIMENTS. with the habitual preconceived ideas of their professors. "The crown of the innovator is a crown of thorns": -- said G. St. Hilaire. It is only that which fits in with popular hobbies and accepted notions that as a general rule gains ground. Hence the triumph of the Haeckelian ideas, notwithstanding their being proclaimed by Virchow, du Bois-Reymond, and others as the " testimonium paupertatis of natural Science." Diametrically opposed as may be the materialism of the German Evolutionists to the spiritual conceptions of Esoteric philosophy, radically inconsistent as is their accepted anthropological system with the real facts of nature, -- the pseudo-idealistic bias now colouring English thought is almost more pernicious. The pure materialistic doctrine admits of a direct refutation and appeal to the logic of facts.