In the physical universe we have the four informing physical
globes, so that as a whole or in its parts, it is "a string of
seven globes," reaching from the highest spirit to the lowest
matter. The awakened Universal Consciousness in vibration
--undifferentiated in the three globes above, differentiated in
the four globes below--in its last analysis is all one. But there
is a gulf between matter and spirit, radically dividing them, and
in the physical universe we are concerned only with physics and
physical laws, until we reach its outmost boundaries and come in
touch with the spiritual planes beyond.
This is the view of the universe at first glance, as in the
smaller universe of this earth we at first see only its solid and
liquid globes. And even after the discovery of the gas, we do
not apprehend its important work in and behind the others until
it has been pointed out to us. Nor do we at first apprehend the
work of the spiritual in the material, and the object of
metaphysics is to show, through the physics, the connection
between them that the spirit works through matter; that where we
can see but four there are seven beads on each material string;
and that the last bead of each string is itself a chain of beads,
the "chain of seven" applying only to the seventh manifestation,
or prakriti, while the "strings" apply to the way in which they
come.
On each unraveled string leading from our central sun down to a
planet there are seven beads corresponding to the seven globes in
the chain of each planet, each to each, yet not the same. There
is a distinction, and it is no wonder there should have been
confusion at first and a mixing of "strings" with "chains." The
physics as they progress will clear this confusion away.
In the manasic globe, which is the first differentiation of that
which forms the spiritual globes above, the resulting mind or
manasa is mainly the differentiated Divine Mind of the highest.
It has a "chain" of two globes only, itself and the Divine Mind
globe, although its "string" of globes is four.
It is the perfected differentiation of the Buddhi in manasa
that causes the formation of the pranic globes, which have
chains of four and strings of five, and the full and perfect
differentiation of the Atma in manasa-prana that causes the
formation of the etheric globes, which have chains of six and
strings of six. Consciousness, Buddhi and Atma are practically
the same as the manasa, prana, and ether, each to each, only the
latter are differentiated and the former are not.
Each of the three astral globes is the reflection in matter of
the three spiritual globes beyond, each to each, and all to all.
The difference between matter and spirit is a difference in
Motion only. Both are vibrating, so that both are in mechanical
motion, from force without, like the waves of the ocean, but only
the matter has what we may properly call motion of its own, or
that produced from within--from the atom and each organism of it
up to the ALL, as the vibration is from the ALL down to the atom.
It is this centre of force in an atom, this motion outside of
vibration, or rather beside it, which we call "differentiation."
Brinton's "daring psychological speculation" that "mind was
coextensive with motion" (from organization) was but a repetition
of one of the most ancient axioms.
Take our solar etheric globe. It has two other globes of matter,
consubstantial; a globe of prana and a globe of manasa. They
are not beyond it, or beside it, but one with it, atom for atom.
But what are they in reality? Globes of Atma, Buddhi, and
Consciousness in which the atoms, having organized, are in
motion, are they not?
Let this motion in this material universe cease, and matter would
melt away and resolve into spirit. From spirit it came, to
spirit it belongs, and to spirit it returns.
Behind each and every astral globe, whether the globe be but an
astral atom, or an astral planet, or an astral world; beyond its
physics there is a meta-physical globe, its cause, and that
is the real globe, of which the astral is but a temporary
phenomenon. Take a spiritual globe and differentiate it. The
Motion resulting produces a material astral globe. Stop the
motion; bring it to a state of rest. The astral shadow
disappears. It was merely spiritual phenomena.
Each and every astral atom is a model in miniature of the
material and spiritual universe. Each and every prakritic atom
is the joint result of spirit and matter united and working
together--of physics and metaphysics; and in its last analysis
pure spirit; pure metaphysics.
Behind each and every prakritic atom of our earth there are six
other atoms (or globes), three material shadows and three
spiritual realities, so that it is a string of seven--the whole
universe in miniature--material and spiritual. And all things
combined and formed on a prakritic base are a chain of seven
--whether a peach or a planet.
The "chain" belongs to the prakritic plane. The lines of descent
from the Light through the star and sun to planet are "strings."
The "chains" are beads of the same size strung on a thread. The
strings are beads of different sizes strung on a thread. The
beads of the chain are in coadunition--in the same space, as gas
in water and the water in a sponge.
In metaphysics this earth can only be regarded as a chain of
seven globes, its three astral globes in coadunition having their
three spiritual doubles. Of course no one of the higher globes
can be seen by the prakritic eye, but that is not to say the
astral world cannot be seen by the astral eye in sleep, or by the
person who qualifies himself for the astral world, through the
development of his astral body. "No upper globes of any chain in
the solar system can be seen," says H.P. Blavatsky in the Secret
Doctrine (vol. I, p. 187), yet she means by astronomers, not by
sages. And she does not mean the upper globes in the stellar
system of Alcyone and its companions.
In pure physics the earth can only be regarded as a chain of four
globes consubstantial and in coadunition--four in and three out.
This makes seven, and the metaphysician when talking physics uses
the metaphysical terms interchangeably and speaks of "the chain
of seven globes" meaning in one sentence the four material globes
making this earth; in another meaning the line of descent or
string of beads of different sizes reaching down from the Divine
Consciousness; and in still another the seven beads or globes of
the same size in coadunition to form this earth chain. To the
student who is thoroughly grounded in the eastern physics this
interweaving of the physical and metaphysical presents no
difficulties; but to the western mind just beginning the study
it is a tangle.
We can now see what is meant by illusion, or Maya, and understand
why such stress is laid upon it by every teacher.
Take the physical side first. The motion of a top gives it bands
of color to our eyes that it does not have at rest. They are
temporary and not permanent, a result of motion merely; illusion
and not reality.
The motion of the material atoms of the four planes, in harmony
with their vibration, a motion the spiritual world does not have,
produces all material phenomena. This is of course within the
kinetic belts, for above or below them there is no change, and
its phenomena are the mere change in relation of one atom to
another caused by motion. The changes are not real. They
disappear when the motion stops. They have no existence in
matter above or below the belt.
All phenomena of every kind are as much an illusion as the
supposed bands of colour around the top. The illusion is the
result of changes of relation in differentiated atoms caused by
their motion. Without this motion the four material globes would
dissolve into the atomic dust of the manasic world, with all that
is within them. The whole material universe is all illusion; a
mere temporary relation of its atoms through motion, without
Reality or permanence.
What then is real? What is not illusion? That which is beyond
the physical, that which is its cause and root; broadly, the
metaphysical, which is not the result of differentiated atoms
through relation. What was real in the top is real here. What
was illusion in the top is illusion here.
The meta-physical or spiritual (the terms are interchangeable)
does not have to pass beyond the manasic globe to get on the
solid ground of reality. The spiritual world is here in every
physical atom and in every aggregation of them; in every planet,
sun, and star; for they are seven, each and every one, not four.
Behind the illusion of one atom or many, whether here or on
Alcyone, there is reality and permanency in the undifferentiated
cause, the spiritual archetype, the three higher beads on the
string which are the proper study of metaphysics.