THE GENESIS AND NATURE OF SPACE
Symbology of Mathematical Knowledge--Manifestation and
Non-manifestation Defined--The Pyknon and Pyknosis--The
Kosmic Engenderment of Space--On the Consubstantiality of
Spatiality, Intellectuality, Materiality, Vitality and Kosmic
Geometrism--Chaos-Theos-Kosmos--Chaogeny and Chaomorphogeny--N.
MALEBRANCHE On God and the World--The Space-Mind--Space and Mind
Are One--The Kosmic Pentoglyph.
Geometry is concerned primarily with a study of the measurement of
magnitudes in space. Three coördinates are necessary and sufficient for
all of its determinations. Metageometry comprehends the study of the
measurement of magnitudes in conceptual space. For its purposes four
or _n_-coördinates are necessary and sufficient. Perceptual space is
that form of extension in which the physical universe is recognized
to have been created and in which it now exists. Conceptual space is
an idealized conception belonging to the domain of mathesis and has
no actual, physical existence outside of the mind. Mathematical space
represents the idealism of perceptual space.
Geometrical magnitudes may be defined as symbols of physical objects
and geometry as a treatise on the symbology of forms in space. In
fact, all cognitive processes are simply efforts at interpreting
the symbolism of sense-deliveries; and the difference between mere
knowledge and wisdom, which is the essence of all knowledge, is the
difference between the understanding of a symbol and the comprehension
of the essential nature of the thing symbolized. So long as knowledge
of space is limited to the understanding of a symbol or symbols by
which it is presented to the consciousness so long will it fall short
of the comprehension of the essential nature of space. In vain have
we sought in times past to understand space by studying relations,
positions and the characteristics of forms in space; in vain have
we based our conclusions as to its real nature upon the fragmentary
evidences which our senses present to our consciousnesses. It is
as if one had busied himself with one of the meshes in a great net
and confined his entire attention to what he found there, meanwhile
remaining in complete ignorance of the nature of the net, how it came
to be there, of what it is made and how great its extent may be.
There is ever a marked difference between a symbol and the thing which
it symbolizes. Words are the symbols of ideas; ideas, as they exist
in the mind, are the symbols of eternal verities as they exist in
the consciousness of the Logos of the universe. There may be a wide
diversity of symbolic forms which represent one single idea; as, for
instance, the variety of word forms which represent the idea of deity
in the various languages. Likewise there may be a multiplicity of ideas
which represent a single verity. But neither is the idea nor the word
the real thing in itself. That quality of a life-aspect which we call
its _thingness_ has an essential nature which cannot become the object
of consciousness except by virtue of its representation through ideas
and their symbolisms, and even then, the thing which we conceive is
not the nature of a quality of the life-aspect but an idea of it--a
symbol which stands for that idea. In order, therefore, for the mind
to arrive at an understanding of an eternal verity, such as space,
it must first be able to synthesize all of the representative ideas
and then abstract from their compositeness a notion of its essential
nature. But this can be done only by identifying the consciousness
with the essential being of the object considered. In other words, the
consciousness and the intrinsic being of forms, principles, forces
and processes must embrace each other in the intimacies of direct
cognition; the life which is consciousness and that life which is
essential being, being coeval, coördinate and mutually responsive, must
in so close a contact as here intimated reach an understanding of the
realism shared by both. That is, the human consciousness, following in
the wake of life and consisting of a specialized aspect of life itself,
will, by such an intimate approach to the life-principle of forms,
readily understand; for it has only to recognize a replica of itself
in rendering its judgment. But it is not claimed that such a state of
recognition by the consciousness of life itself can be attained at all
by ordinary means, neither is it believed that it is the next stage
in conscious evolution. However, it is not doubted but that such an
exaltation of the consciousness is possible, yea practical; but the
difficulties which beset the path of attainment in this direction are
so great that it may as well be considered unattainable. The mere fact
of these difficulties, however, only re-emphasizes the insufficiency
of the intellectual method. The identification of consciousness with
essential being is a procedure which cannot be accomplished by an act
of will directly and immediately. Because it is a process, a series of
unfoldments, an adjustment of the focus of consciousness to the kosmic
essentialities which constitute the substructure of the manifested
universe. In the very nature of things, a kosmic essentiality cannot
be viewed as being in manifestation especially in the same degree
as ordinary physical objects are manifest. The former is a state, a
potentiality, a dynamic force, an existence which should be thought
of as an extra-kosmic affair dwelling on the plane of unity or kosmic
origins; while the latter are the exact opposite of this. The one can
be seen, felt and sensed while the other is the roots which are not
seen but lie buried deeply in the heart of the universal plasm of being
and beyond the ken of sensuous apperception. The term _manifestation_
is both relative and flexible in its use. It is relative because
it will apply equally to all stages of cognition. A thing is in
manifestation when it is presentable to the ordinary means of cognition
belonging to any stage of conscious functioning; it is not in
manifestation when it is beyond the scope of the Thinker's schematism
of cognitive powers. Its flexibility is seen in its ready yieldance to
the entire range of implications inhering in the process of cognition,
fitting the simplest as well as the highest and most complex.
Great is the gulf which is interposed between manifestation and
non-manifestation; and yet the two, in essence, are one. They are
linked together as the stem of a flower is joined to its roots.
Likewise one is visible, palpable while the other is invisible,
impalpable though no less real and abiding. As the thin crust of
earth separates the stem, leaves and flowers from the roots so the
limitations of man's consciousness separate the manifest from the
unmanifest. Similarly, as when the surrounding earth is removed from
the roots and they are laid bare revealing their continuity and unity
with the outputting stem and flowers, so, when the limitations of
consciousness are removed by the subtle process of expansion to which
the consciousness is amenable so that it can encompass the erstwhile
unmanifest, it, too, will reveal the eternal unity of the kosmic
polars--manifestation and unmanifestation.
There is but one barrier to ultimate knowledge and that is the human
consciousness however paradoxical this may seem. The unutterable
darkness which shuts out the so-called "unknowable" from our
cognition is the limitation of man's upreaching consciousness. These
limitations constitute the difference between the human intellect and
the mind of the Logos. Nevertheless the outlying frontiers of man's
consciousness gradually are being pushed farther and farther without.
Every new idea gained, each new emotion indulged, each new conception
conquered, and every mental foray which the Thinker makes into the
realm of the conceptual, every exploration into the abysmal labyrinth
of man's inner nature are the self's expeditionary forces which are
gradually annihilating the frontier barriers of consciousness and thus
approaching more closely upon the _Ultima Thule_ of man's spiritual
possibilities.
Space is in manifestation. It exists and has being whether it is
viewed as an object, an entity or the mere possibility of motion. That
it offers an opportunity of motion and renders it possible for objects
to move freely from point to point cannot be denied and yet this fact
has no bearing whatever upon the essential nature of space. The very
fact of its appearance, its manifestation, makes it obvious that it is
the nether pole of that eternal pair of opposites--manifestation and
non-manifestation, being and non-being, which are essentially one.
It will be seen from figure 17 that the period of involution embraces
seven separate stages, the _monopyknon_, _duopyknon_, _tripyknon_,
etc., being the unit principle or engendering elements of the
respective stages. Involution comprises all creative activity from the
first faint stirrings of the void and formless chaos until the universe
has actually become manifest and dense physical matter has appeared.
It is divided into two cardinal periods, namely, the chaogenic period
during which primordial chaos is given its character and directive
tendencies for the world age. It is a phase of duration wherein the
fiat of kosmic order is promulgated, and consist of three stages,
monopyknosis, duopyknosis, tripyknosis[24] gradually, insensibly,
gradating into the fourth or _quartopyknotic_; the chaomorphogenic
period is likewise divided into three stages--_quintopkynosis_,
_sextopyknosis_ and _septopyknosis_, developing out of the fourth
gradually. The quartopyknotic stage is the stage of metamorphosis
or transmutation wherein the transition from non-manifestation to
manifestation is completed; it is also the stage of kosmic causation,
because from it spring the matured causes or "vital impetus" which
engender all that follow.
[24] See Fig. 18.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Involution and Evolution]
The close of the involutionary phase of the world age is marked by the
final deposition of dense physical matter and this is closely followed
by the beginnings of the evolutionary movement which, like the
involutionary movement, is divided into two cardinal periods, namely,
the morphogenic (during which are produced, in turn, insensible forms,
sensible forms and spiritual forms) and the kathekotic period which
marks the perfection, the consummation of the evolutionary movement.
These two cardinal periods of the evolutionary phase of duration and
the two cardinal periods of the involutionary phase complete the kosmic
age, the "Great Day of Brahma." The concentric circles, beginning with
the dot and ending with the seven concentric circles, and designated
as a, b, c, d, e, f, g, are representations of the constitution of the
respective units corresponding to each of the seven subdivisions. They
symbolize the seven degrees of condensation or pyknosis which comprise
the genesis of space, on the one hand, and on the other, the stages
of unfoldment. Because, during involution all potencies, powers and
characters were being infolded, involved; but during evolution, these
are being unfolded, expressed, evolved.
The figure 18 is another view of these two major movements, involution
and evolution. The genesis of space is here shown symbolized by the
Kosmic Egg. The seven stages of involution are referred to as, the
monopyknotic, duopyknotic, tripyknotic, quartopyknotic, quintopyknotic,
sextopyknotic and the septopyknotic; while the corresponding stages
of evolution are referred to as, the physical, the sentient, mental,
causative or spiritual, the triadic, duadic and monadic, indicating
that the principle of physicality is succeeded by the principles of
sentience, mentality, spirituality, and the three forms of kathekotic
being. This symbolism, it should be stated, is designed with respect
to the universe and man and has no reference to other possible
evolutions than the human and contemporaneous animal, plant and mineral
evolutions.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--The Genesis of Space]
To follow the ramifications of the symbolism above would involve a
survey of all branches of knowledge, and indeed, would be out of place
in this book. Only the widest general outlines can be suggested here
and it is believed that this is sufficient to enable the reader to
grasp the magnitude of the symbol and to understand its purpose and
intent.
It would appear, therefore, that if it is possible for the intellect to
traverse by means of a study of kosmic symbolism, used as a standard of
reference, the entire length of the bridge which engages the antipodes
into an eternal unity, something may be gained in the way of a more
definite and clearer understanding of the essential nature of space in
its relation to kosmogenesis.
In the diagram, figure 17, is shown a table which represents the
stages of space-genesis. It will be noted that the whole scheme is
divided into seven stages. It is not an arbitrary division simply but
a symbolic one and represents fullness, completeness, entirety. The
names given, namely, "monopyknotic, duopyknotic," etc., represent the
symbolic characteristics of each stage in its relation to the universe
in the process of becoming. The terms "monadic," "duadic," "triadic,"
etc., are representative of the seven planes of matter in the universe.
A _pyknon_ is a kosmic principle and represents the typal aspect
of kosmogenesis. It is a generic term and may be identified in its
relation to the various stages by the prefix. The monopyknon belongs to
the ulterior pole of the antipodes on the side of non-manifestation.
So do the _duopyknon_ and the _tripyknon_. Pyknosis is a process of
kosmic condensation, or limitation for purposes of manifestation. It
is a stage in the descent of the kosmic Spirit-Life, a degradation of
non-manifestation into manifestation, and is, therefore, the cardinal
causative principle of creation. The term pyknon being generic
is applicable alike to a particle of matter, a state of being, a
condition of existence, a process or a principle. The _monopyknon_ is,
accordingly, the primary aspect of the process of kosmic pyknosis. It
is the archetype and therefore all inclusive and omnipotential. But
whether regarded as a singularity or as a whole it should never be
divorced in thought from the primal act of creation. It represents the
first act of material differentiation in the being of the creative
Logos on the plane of non-manifestation. It is the beginning of every
great planetary or kosmic _manvantara_ or period of manifestation.
During either a planetary, solar or kosmic _pralaya_, or gestatory
period, the kosmic plasm is in a quiescent, undifferentiated condition.
This undifferentiated plasm when acted upon by the will of the Creative
Logos, _Fohat_, as He is sometimes called in Eastern Philosophies,
begins to become conditioned, begins to differentiate. The primal
act or stage in such a process is the formation or appearance of a
monopyknon. It then becomes the characteristic aspect of that stage.
Monopyknons are the quiescent, unawakened, though potential and
archetypal principles peculiar to the monopyknotic period of
space-genesis which are ultimately to become, on the physical plane,
singularities of life of whatsoever kind. _Thus the lineage of every
single life-form or principle in the universe runs unbroken back from
the present of the Now to the present of monopyknosis. So great is the
design of the kosmos that the entity which is now man or the atom was
started on its journey to this culmination at the break of the Great
Kosmic Day when the omni-pregnant wheels of monopyknosis first began to
turn._ Duopyknons and tripyknons constitute the two remaining stages
on the plane of non-manifestation. And their correspondences in every
stage of involution or the descent of spirit into matter are eternal
and kosmic. Likewise the lineage of the dual and triple aspects of
all life forms on the path of evolution may be traced rearward to the
duopyknotic and tripyknotic stages of kosmogenesis.
The metamorphosis by which the monopyknon becomes a duopyknon contrives
the differentiation of the pristine plasm of kosmic being so that the
first becomes the ensouling or vitalizing principle of the second;
and, in turn, the second becomes the vitalizing or inner principle
of the third; the third of the fourth and the fourth of the fifth
and so on throughout the series until the last is reached which is
the _septopyknon_. The septopyknon is, therefore, a seven-principled
form. It is both unitary and septenary--unitary in the sense that
the seven are really one and septenary for the reason that each of
the seven principles, in the course of evolution, becomes a separate
process specially adapted to functioning upon its peculiar plane of
matter. Thus it is seen that the utmost significance attaches to this
septenary pyknosis of the kosmic plasm of life. The implications of
this conception are, of course, too vast and multifarious to be set
down here. We shall have to dismiss it with one observation only, and
that is: _every single appearance of life and form in the totality of
such appearances is rooted in kosmic pyknosis where it has received its
inner vitalizing force, its form and the law of its mode and manner of
appearance together with the metes and bounds of its existence_.
These processes, monopyknosis and duopyknosis, are to be regarded as
taking place, each in its own period, everywhere throughout the Body
of Being of the Logos but on the plane of non-manifestation. They are
states of preparation for manifestation analogous to the germinative
period of the seed or the egg. They represent the first stirrings of
the kosmic plasm and contain the promise and potency of all that is
to succeed them. There is one other stage, coördinate with these two,
and that is the tripyknotic which completes the unmanifest trinity
and constitutes the archetypal vehicle whence proceeds the manifested
universe. The ensouling principle of the tripyknon is the duopyknotic
principle. But when the descent has reached the tripyknotic stage the
three have been merged into one and the characteristics which were
peculiar to each as a separate pyknon are then fused into a single
quality having three aspects which are mutually interdependent and
coördinate.
The unmanifest trinity, now complete as a result of the triple
pyknotic process, is the imperishable and ever sustaining radix, the
all-mother of the manifested universe. It is the Golden Egg laid by
the god _Seb_ at the beginning of a great life-cycle. It is also
_Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_, i.e., kosmic disorder, divine will or generating
element, and kosmic order or space. In it, as in an egg, resides
in kosmic potency all that the universe is to become in any "Great
Day of Brahma" or any Great Kosmic Life Cycle. Its eldest born is
SPACE, physiological and perceptual, and the latter is the eternal
father-mother of the universe. _Space is, therefore, the male-female
principle of manifestation; in its kosmic womb all forms are created,
developed, evolved and sustained._ Into it again, at the close of
the Great Day, all existences, forms and all principles matured and
ripened by the vicissitudes of kosmic evolution will be inhaled with
the return of the Great Breath of Life. The unmanifest trinity is
the archetype, and therefore, the pattern or model for the manifest,
embodying in potency all that the manifest may ever become. Forth from
the unmanifest proceeds space as a dynamic process endued with the
potentiality for generating all that the manifested universe contains.
The terms "unmanifest," "unconditioned" and "unlimited" have a special
meaning here and are used in the same sense as the mathematical term
"transfinite," and therefore, imply a transcending of any finite or
assignable degree or quality of manifestation. Hence they should
be distinguished from the term "absolute" which has a different
implication. So that although the triple process outlined above
may not be viewed except as a characterization of the plane of
non-manifestation, and hence of the primordial activity of the Creative
Logos, there is nothing in the symbolism to warrant the identification
of this process in any way with the Logos in absolution. For on this
view Absolute Being is, in a large measure, sacrificed when the
monopyknotic process is begun and the monopyknon (kosmic principle)
begins to appear. Absolute Being, while it may not be defined,
delineated or described may be symbolized by the ideograph: "action in
inaction"; "being in non-being"; "manifestation in non-manifestation";
for these are symbols merely and do not describe or delineate.
We have observed the subtle connection which exists between
manifestation and non-manifestation and have seen how that, as the
roots of a plant sustain the outer growth of stem and flowers, the
former being the matrix out of which proceeds the latter, and that
in like manner does the unmanifest sustain the manifest; it should,
therefore, be clear that the Body of Being of the Unmanifest Logos, in
a similar manner, is the basis and cause of all that is manifest or
in existence; _and yet it is more, it is essentially all that is and
all that the all is to be in manifestation at any time throughout the
immeasurable process of kosmogenesis_. _It is the Self of the Universe,
the meta-self of the great diversity of selves._ The Self, however,
although it cannot be said to exist except as a simple, homogeneous
quantity is nevertheless, in the very nature of things, a triunity,
and in essence, not only the basal element of the All-Space and the
concrete forms which exist therein, but is also identical in essence
and substance with space.
A stage has now been reached in the description of our symbolism when
it may be assumed, upon the basis of the foregoing, that the meta-self
has become manifest, i.e., in potential and dynamic appearance, as a
result of the triple process of pyknosis hereinbefore outlined. The
meta-self may then be identified with the Supreme Manifest Deity;
for there is ever a subtle identification of the manifest with the
unmanifest. Out of their action and interaction the universe is made
manifest and phenomenal and is thereby sustained. The reciprocity
of action between these two kosmic polars, is the metamorphotic key
to creation; it is the symbol of the procedure of Creative Will in
the act of creating. It is the transitional process whereby the
passage is made from non-being to being; from the unconditioned to
the conditioned; from undifferentiation to differentiation and is
reflected and symbolized in every natural process wherein matter is
transformed from one state to another, or life and mind and spirit
diffused, centralized and organized into ever new and higher forms and
expressions.
Another important notion to be gained in this connection is the fact
that it appears as a logical sequence to the foregoing that the being
of the manifested Logos must necessarily fill all space, yea more,
is that space in every conceivable essentiality. His limitations are
the limitations of space. His qualities, properties and attributes
are the qualities, properties and attributes of space and are only
different from the original spatial character when manifested through
a diversity of forms by whose very inner constitution and exterior
form the modifications are accomplished. _All matter in the universe,
all energy, and indeed, all manifestations or emanations of whatsoever
character, hue, tone or quality are, in reality, His being and nothing
but His being. There is, therefore, no form nor ensouling principle
whether of life, mind or sheer dynamism which can exist outside of
His being and be, even in the slightest degree, absolved from an
eternal identity therewith._ Once this idea is grasped and its varied
implications noted it then is no longer conceivable that any other
order or schematism can be possible in our universe, and that, too,
despite the multiform conceptions peculiar to the varied systems of
philosophy.
The matutinal dawn of creation came at the close of the tripyknotic
movement which resulted in the elaboration of materials, the initiation
of principles, processes and types, and the final preparation of the
field of evolution. The three processes or aspects of non-manifestation
projected in preparation for manifestation, namely, monopyknosis,
duopyknosis and tripyknosis represent the earliest stages of germinal
development. When these had closed, the Great Kosmic Egg began to
germinate; the first faint, indescribable signs of manifested life
began to appear. Involution set in. The fourth or quartopyknotic stage,
though only slightly differentiated, or rather representing that period
of kosmic involution when that which is to become the manifested
universe first begins to fall under the sway of kosmic order, is
nevertheless the basis of all great world processes. It is just midway
between the poles--manifestation and non-manifestation. During this
stage the life elements are receiving the imprints of character, being
endowed with directive tendencies and stored with such dynamism as will
persist throughout the Great Life Cycle in which they are to manifest.
It is here that begins the movement of involution, the storing away
of those elements and factors, no more and no less, that are to show
forth on the upward path of evolution; it is here that matter begins to
assume form; electrons, ions and atoms created, or, that those minute
processes which on the evolutionary side are to culminate in these
are originated. This is the metamorphotic stage. It is the laboratory
of the universe wherein _Fohat_, the Creative Logos, prepares the
materials out of which and in which the vast diversity of _morphons_
or forms is created. Quartopyknosis, accordingly, is the first active
step, on the plane of manifestation, which results in the appearance
of perceptual space and consequently of physical matter itself as well
as all the other grades of matter in the kosmos. Space, brought into
existence by the act of the Creative Logos in imposing limitation upon
His being, is in its primordial form composed of quartopyknons or
quadruplicate principles and tendencies which act in unison and to the
accomplishment of a single end or purpose. On this plane or during the
continuance of this period of space-creation, the roots of universal
law and order are produced. In it are planted the principles of good
and evil and a sharp line of demarkation established between all the
conceivable pairs of opposites which exist. It accounts for the duality
of life and form. Male-female; father-mother; positive-negative;
Rajah-Tamas (action-inaction)--all these find in this process their
eternal origination. It is the stage of harmony, bliss, ideality,
perfection, perfect equilibrium and balance. Here, innumerable ages
before they actually appear, the glow-worm and the daisy, the amoeba
and the dynosaur, man and the planetary gods alike abode their time
awaiting the toppling of the scales of kosmic potency when all would be
plunged headlong into the endless labyrinth of becoming.
The quartopyknotic process is similar in all details to the three
preceding processes, these latter being prototypes of all succeeding
stages of involution. The quintopyknon, accordingly, symbolizes the
quintuplicative action of life in its descending movement toward the
creation of matter in its densest form. That is, it is a five-fold
principle acting in unison and kosmic consistency, infolding in the
universal wherewithal that which is to become mental matter on the
side of evolution. Just, as may be seen in the diagram, Figure 17,
the quartopyknotic process symbolizes, on the involutionary side of
the life current that which is to become on the evolutionary side,
spiritual essence, so the quintopyknotic deposits the seeds of that
which is to become mental matter. During both the quartopyknotic and
the quintopyknotic processes all the potencies and promises, residing
on the plane of non-manifestation and destined to show forth as
spirit and mind are brought into a fuller and more marked degree of
manifestation and become the seeds of spirituality and mentality which
are to ripen and be ladened with the fruitage thereof many ages hence.
The reader should bear in mind that the processes here described are
thought of as taking place at the beginning and as having their roots
planted in eternal duration; that they refer to a period long before
the universe even resembled anything like its present aspect; at a
time even before there were individual minds to perceive it, before
even the gods--solar, planetary, super-solar and super-planetary were
in existence to take part in the matutinal ceremonials of creation's
vast hour of stillness. The mind must accustom itself to go back
of appearances, back of time, back of space itself and discern the
foundations of time, space and appearances being laid and to perceive
that which is no less than the action of the Supreme Deity Himself in
brooding over the primordial formlessness which is Himself, and from
which will gradually evolve the universe of qualities, conditions and
appearances.
The quintopyknon is, therefore, the base of the mind-principle in the
kosmos. All the qualities of mind whether in man or in the planetary
gods, whether in the moneron or the tyrannosaur, in the mountain or
the oak, reside in kosmic potency in the quintopyknon.
NICHOLAS MALEBRANCHE,[25] in one of his very lucid moments, beheld
the essential character of the symbology of space and was led to the
conclusion that God is space itself. To him it was equally certain that
all our ideas of space, geometrical or purely physiological, as well
as our notions of the great suprasensual domain of ideas, exist in
the kosmic deiform, or body of the Logos of Being. He saw "all things
in God." God did not create ideas; they are a part of God Himself;
God did not create mind; it is a part of Himself; no kind of matter
did He create; it is a veritable part of Himself and indissoluble
from Himself. The great outstanding implication of this philosophy is
that our consciousness of God is but a part of God's consciousness
of Himself; our consciousness of self and the not-self is but God's
consciousness of these things. There is no existence of anything,
either of the self or the not-self, except in this consciousness. It is
refreshing, therefore, to note that although the approach is made from
another and entirely different direction, almost the same conclusion as
to the ultimate resolution of all chaogenetic elements into what is the
very systasis or consistence of the great kosmic deiform, is reached.
[25] Vide _Recherche_, Chap. VII, also Philosophical Review,
V. 15, p. 401.--MALEBRANCHE.
But a marvelous vision comes with the dawn of this truth upon the lower
mind. It establishes clearly the truth of KANT'S notion when he said:
"Since everything we conceive is conceived as being in space, there is
nothing which comes before our mind from which the idea of space can
be derived; it is equally present in the most rudimentary perception
and the most complete." The mind cannot get away from the conception
of space, because, out of the very essence of space, as a result of
the quintopyknotic process, it was produced, created and organized.
The idea of space is, therefore, not derived from things in space nor
from their relations in space. _It sprang up with self-consciousness._
As soon as the Thinker became conscious of himself he became aware of
space. The very state of self-consciousness implies space. The self in
man is a specialized aspect of space. Indeed, it is a projection of
space. The moment the self can say: "I am," it also can complete the
declaration by saying: "_I am Space_." When the self looks out from
his six-walled cabin of imprisonment into the immensity of what we
call space he looks out into that which is himself and his immensity;
he perceives the source and the ever-present sustenance of his being
and recognizes his identity therewith, provided he does not allow
himself to become entangled in the philosophical difficulties which the
intellect is prone to throw around the simple, yet marvelously complex,
notion of self-consciousness.
This should settle, once for all, the question of _apriority_. The
_a priori_ inheres in quintopyknosis or kosmic psychogenesis. It is
the essential nature of mind; it is the mind's lines of organization;
it is the law of the mind's being and action. All mental perception
originates from things in space. No thought of any detail, of any state
or condition, whether limited or unlimited, related or isolated can be
conceived except it be of things in space. And this is so, because
_mind and space are one_. It is not so with our conception of time.
Time is merely an aspect of consciousness in its limitation and does
not inhere in the mind in the same manner that does space. In fact,
it is not a part of the mind's nature as it has been shown that space
is. It would, therefore, seem to be a grave mistake so to coördinate
the two notions. Space is the progenitor of mind and is continually
identified with mind. Time is the child of consciousness. That is, it
is one of the illusions of consciousness which the ego will shed as his
consciousness expands. Duration alone is a coördinate of space.
The mind now recognizes space as something apart and separate from
itself only because of its unconsciousness of the identity existing
between it and space. Just so, it is not by mind alone that the
_at-one_ state of consciousness shall be attained; for although in
one form or another it is able to gain some knowledge of the apparent
oneness of all life it cannot directly realize this oneness. In order
to do this fully it must be able consciously to identify itself with
the life, feel what it feels and experience what it experiences and
otherwise come into a conscious relationship with the root and source
of life. Space-consciousness is a simple, direct cognitive process;
while time-consciousness is a complex, and therefore, indirect process.
The former cannot be analyzed. That is, no analysis is necessary to
its sufficient comprehension; the latter must always be analyzed and
categorized for its sufficient apprehension. Every moment of time
whether past, present or future, when presented to the consciousness,
is determined by its relationship to some other moment of time. Space
is indivisible; time is divisible. Space is an intuitional concept;
time is an intellectual concept. Time belongs to phenomena. Space is
the root and source of phenomena. Time is the leaves of a tree while
space is the life of the tree.
Space-consciousness, in its relation to the present status of
mind-development, is itself an illusion; for despite the fact
that the Thinker's apperception of it as a state is simple,
direct and fundamental, it is only so because of the inability to
realize to itself the unity of the seeming two. The attainment
of space-consciousness or the space mind, which contrives the
understanding of the identity of mind and space also annihilates the
consciousness of space as a separate notion from the mind. Once the
Thinker's consciousness has arisen to that state where it perceives
its unity with space all sense of separateness is lost. Just as when
two molecules of hydrogen uniting with one molecule of oxygen to form
a new compound lose their identity in the new realization of unity, so
does the consciousness when by the alchemy of psychogenesis it becomes
identified with space, not only lose its identity as such, but also
any consciousness whatever that space exists as something separate
and distinct from itself. Imagine the whole of the duration aspect of
kosmogenesis crowded into an infinitesimal instant and the bulk of all
matter, suns, stars, worlds and planets, condensed into a space less
than the magnitude of an hydrogen ion and in this way a symbol of what
it may mean to attain unto absolute knowledge or unto the space-mind,
may be obtained.
Recurring to the process of quintopyknosis, it may be noted that the
quintopyknon or five-fold kosmic principle of life which we have seen
to be identical to the seeds of mental matter brought into existence
by the reaction of Fohatic energy or the Will of the Creative Logos
upon the substance of the quartopyknotic stage, is, symbolically
speaking, more dense and compact than the pyknons of the preceding
stages. It is ensouled by the quartopyknon. It is a rather complex
state of ensoulment consisting of four condensations or pyknoses.
The next stage in the process of kosmic involution which is also
concerned with the preparation of the evolutionary field is that of
sextopyknosis and implies the senary condensation of the original
world-stuff with the view to the formation of emotional or "astral"
matter. Identically the same process of ensoulment or involution
obtains upon the plane of sextopyknosis as have been observed to obtain
upon the preceding planes of involution. Involution must necessarily
precede evolution. That which has not been involved, enfolded or
ensouled cannot be evolved or unfolded. Whatever potencies, powers and
capabilities or qualities and characteristics that may appear at any
time in the universe of life and form must have first been involved
or enfolded or else they could not have been evolved. Space itself is
an evolution. It is a process of becoming, of unfolding, of flowering
forth. As it evolves more and more there will appear new and added
characteristics and qualities of life and form. New possibilities will
arise and in the end a supernal vision of a glorified universe will
burst into view.
The scheme of space-genesis is completed during the septopyknotic
process wherein the basal elements of dense physical matter and
its various gradations are produced and given character, form and
direction. But this completion means merely a temporary estopment in
the process of kosmogenesis which actually results in the formation
of physical matter in its crassest state. It does not mean a final
arrest of the entire process which is conceived of as continuing only
in a regressive manner back to a kathekotic[26] condition wherein
it embodies the fruitage of the entire scheme. The septopyknon,
accordingly, is a seven-ply pyknon in which are embodied, in varying
degrees of manifestation and phanerobiogenic (life-exhibiting)
quality, the essentialities of all that has preceded on all planes and
during all stages of space-genesis. That is to say--in the physical
life of the universe is confined the essence of all the series of
grades of life in the kosmos. In man's physical body are wrapped up
all the glories attainable in his long, almost unending pilgrimage
of evolution; in it are stored all the possibilities of the spirit;
all powers, all qualities, all characteristics, ever intended for
man's attainment are in the physical. But they must be evolved, they
must be unfolded and expressed. The physical must be _glorified_,
_spiritualized_, _deified_. For by the way of the glorification and
spiritualization of the flesh man may attain unto oneness with the
divinity in himself and consequently with the divine life of the world.
[26] _Kathekosis_ (from Chaos-Theos-Kosmos) is to evolution
what "chaogeny" is to involution. It is the end of evolution, but also
the beginning of involution, and in the latter function is known as
"chaogeny." See diagram No. 17.
To summarize: The genesis of space embraces seven stages, namely, the
monopyknotic, the duopyknotic and the tripyknotic which belong to the
plane of non-manifestation and are the primordial world-stuff and
together make up the unmanifest body of the Logos of Being. These
become the seed-germ of the universe of spatiality. The quartopyknotic
is the fourth stage in the process of space-genesis and is the
_metamorphotic_ or crucial stage during which non-manifestation is
metamorphosed into manifestation. In it the unmanifest becomes the
manifest. It corresponds to the plane of pure spirit, and indeed,
embodies within itself all the qualities which spirituality is to show
forth during the life of the kosmos. The quintopyknotic is the fifth
stage and corresponds to the mental plane, embodying in itself all
qualities of mentality in the universe and furnishing the basis and
essence of that which is to become the kosmic mind in manifestation.
The sextopyknotic is the sixth process and symbolizes the sixth stage
which embodies all the characteristics and properties of emotional
matter in the universe and is the basal element of the plastic essence
of sentient existence in the kosmos. The septopyknotic is the seventh
and final stage corresponding to the physical plane of the kosmos and
contains in its seven-fold constitution the seeds and potencies of all
the preceding stages, as well as all the characteristics and properties
which physical matter is destined to show forth during the _manvantara_
or world age. These seven processes result in the dynamic appearance
of space, the mother and container of all things, and complete the
involutionary aspects of kosmogenesis. Evolution began where involution
ceased and will end for this _manvantara_ when the last vestige of
those powers, capabilities and potencies which were involved shall have
been evolved unto kosmic perfection.
The measure of the Great Kosmic Space-form was sealed at the close of
the involutionary movement of the Great Life Wave. Then its metes and
bounds were fixed by the fringe of kathekosity which circumscribed it.
If it be true that the reader found it extremely difficult to grant
the connotations of the symbolism when the mental or quintopyknotic
stage was reached when illative cognizance was given to the fact that
space is also composed of mental matter, it may be still more difficult
to grant the claim that physical matter is also essentially a part of
space. But this is the implication. _And, therefore, it follows that
all matter, all energy, all life and all mind wherever it may be found
in the Great Space-Form is space itself and nothing but space._ Hence,
it appears that space is indeed the dynamism of the universe. In its
kosmic womb the great world egg was formed of its own substance solely
and in it still the universe of form persists and evolves withal.
If it be suitable for the physicist to talk of gravitation,
electricity, magnetism and force let him do so, for these terms serve
the present category of human knowledge; but the human mind will not
lament the day when it comes to recognize that these things, these
forces, these aspects are nothing more than space-activities and
space-phenomena. If a planet's place be preserved in space it is
because space, vital, dynamic, creative space, sustains it and from
its gentle, yet eternally firm grasp there is no escape. All that
the planets, suns and worlds are and all that they may ever become
in this _manvantara_ or world age have been derived from space, yea,
are of the very essence of spatiality. If the chemist choose to
talk of chemism, negative and positive, of combining properties and
dissociative phenomena let him also become aware that these phenomena
are but the external aspects of the inner and ephemeral life-processes
of space-forms and that ultimately these, too, may be traced back into
an eternal originality within the bosom of the all-mother, spatiality.
Dense physical matter, such as constitutes the physicality of
celestial bodies in its ultimate dissociation would, accordingly, be
resolved into the original chaogenetic formlessness which marked the
chaogeny of non-manifestation although it would naturally be orderly
and progressive passing through the seven stages, septopyknosis,
sextopyknosis, quintopyknosis, etc., until the end had been reached,
meanwhile exhibiting in each plane the phenomena peculiar to the
dissociative processes thereof. On this view space is a _plenum_ of
matter of varying degrees of intensity, ranging from the densest
physical to the most tenuous and formless matter of the highest levels
of the manifested universe. But as neither the dense material forms
nor the other grades of matter have an eternally enduring quality,
being alike subject to mutation, space likewise falls under the law of
becoming whereby it, too, must yield to the edict of kosmic disorder.
Some may be inclined to argue that since space and mind are one and
the same thing it must necessarily follow that whatever possibilities
of measurement may be found to exist in the mind would logically be
found to exist in space; and that since all the necessary conditions
of hyperspatial operations are proved to be existent in the mind the
case of the hyperspatiality of perceptual space is proved thereby. In
other words, if the fourth dimension can be proved to be mentally
construable it is also possible in perceptual space. But these
hypotheses are not granted, and neither will they be acceptable to
those minds who choose to take that view when it is known that there
is a marked difference between the mind that is purely intellectual
and mind that is purely intuitional or mind _a priori_. The intellect
is fashioned for matter only; it is so constructed as to fit squarely
into every nook and cranny, every groove and interstice in matter;
yet for the generating element, life, it has no aptitude nor suitable
congruence.
The attainment of the space-mind or kosmic consciousness would then
imply a mastery of all fundamental possibilities pertaining to all
degrees of matter. Thus by becoming conscious in the matter of all
the planes one makes a certain definite approach to this ultimate
state of consciousness until all the barriers between ordinary
self-consciousness and the consciousness of the space-mind have been
entirely obliterated.
Pyknosis, in all of its septenary aspects, is concerned primarily
with involution or the preparation of the chaogenetic elements for
the work of kosmic evolution. It may be thought of as being divided
into two great divisions, namely: _chaogeny_ and _chaomorphogeny_.
It is concerned with the organization of chaos, the establishment
of kosmic geometrism in the formless, void, arupic substance and
preparation for evolution. Chaogeny, of course, is that kosmic process
by virtue of which space itself becomes manifest and in which there
is no established order. Chaomorphogeny (from _Chaos + Morphe +
Geny_) signifies the activities of the creative Logos in laying the
foundations in primordial space-matter of the various star-forms,
including nebulæ, worlds, planets, suns, etc., of which Canopus,
Jupiter, Fomalhaut and Sirius and our own sun are examples, giving
direction and general tendence to their varied life-processes. Both
these processes are concerned with the preparation of the field and
its consequent fertilization in anticipation of its cultivation and
harvest. These two constitute kosmic involution or the great life
wave's passage on the downward arc of the Great World Egg or Circle.
It is during the chaomorphogenic cycle that the constitution of the
universe of manifestation is promulgated; when laws for its government
during that _manvantara_ are sketched out in the world of nascent
spatiality; when the archetype of every imaginable or possible form
is projected upon the impregnated screen of creation, then folded in,
pushed toward the center, involved, awaiting that time when the life
wave begins its passage upon the upward arc and evolution ensues,
calling forth all that has been enfolded in the bosom of the pyknotic
centers of manifestation. It is easily conceivable that here during the
troublous times of the chaomorphogenic enfoldment the now known six
directions of space were among the eternal edicts of space-genesis and
that that law which now makes it appear that three coördinates, and
only three, are sufficient for the determination of a point position
in space was imprinted in the very nature of that which was to become
space.
The kosmic field having been prepared as a result of the
chaomorphogenic activities, lowly and scarcely organized forms begin
to appear and the ascent upon the upward arc of the Great Cycle
commences. Evolution begins. Its scope is likewise divided into two
great stages, namely: (_a_) Morphogeny, the purpose of which is the
development of life-forms or pyknons which are to appear on the various
planets, stars, worlds and suns of the universe. It embraces the whole
span of the life-aspect on the evolutionary side of manifestation.
In this aspect is included also every conceivable adaptation of the
universal principle of life from the beginning of its movement to
the end. The universe is now functioning in and progressing through
the vicissitudes of this stage. That is, all the present observable
adaptations which the life-pyknon or principle is making, has made or
will make, are embraced within the scope of what is here designated
as the morphogenetic aspect of evolution. (_b_) The second and
last division of the arc of evolution is called _Kathekos_, thus
symbolizing the syncretism of the trinitarian aspects of kosmogenesis,
_Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_, perfected and united as a result of the labors
of manifestation. In this final summation of the labors of the
life-wave as it has progressed from involution through all the devious
manifestations of evolution are embodied the perfection and ultimate
elaboration and expression of all the pyknotic tendencies which were
established during the entire scope of space-genesis.
Thus it will be seen that the first three stages of space-genesis,
called chaogeny, encompass the first three pyknotic processes or
are analogous thereto while the latter called chaomorphogeny, the
organization and ensoulment of space-forms, embraces the latter four,
quartopyknosis, quintopyknosis, sextopyknosis and septopyknosis. This
division obtains on the involutionary side of the great life-cycle.
The upward arc of the Great Kosmic Egg or Cycle is also divided into
two great stages, namely, Morphogeny (manifestation of life through
the various forms which it assumes) and _Kathekos_, or the kathekotic
plane of perfected triunity which is represented by the evolutionary
union of _Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_. _Kathekos_ would, therefore, symbolize
the ultimate elaboration of Chaos into a well-ordered kosmos wherein
are expressed all the possibilities which inhered in the archetypal
plan of the Creative Logos or _Theos_ and in which all had reached
the ultimate perfection in the body of being of the Logos Himself.
But the kathekotic plane is to be distinguished from the original
_Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_ represented as functionating upon the plane of
non-manifestation during chaogeny. _Kathekos_ symbolizes the perfected
manifestations of the triune aspects of the Creative Logos through the
perfected forms resulting from the labors of kosmic evolution, while
_Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_ symbolized, as a triune _glyph_, the Unmanifest
Trinity in the primordial beginnings of space-genesis. One is the seed;
the other the fully matured plant; one the egg; while the other is the
full grown bird; one the root; the other the fruitage; one Alpha, the
other Omega; one the beginning, the other the end. The end, however,
is reached only that, in due time, the entire scheme may be commenced
again, once more utilizing the results of the preceding scheme of
evolution as the basis of the ensuing one. Thus after every Kosmic Day,
commences the Kosmic Night. The succession of kosmic days and nights is
infinite. This infinity of _becomings_ in the life of the kosmos is a
necessary outcome of eternal duration.
The above, thus briefly set down, is the symbolism of space-genesis.
It is commended to the reader as a basis for the conception that the
real, essential, perceptual space is something far more wonderful,
more fundamental than either the geometrician or the metageometrician
has ever dreamed of, and yet the latter's consciousness is undoubtedly
being appulsed by the fingers of a new species of conceptualizations
which, one day in the not too distant future, will arouse in it the
faint hungerings after the realization of the real space-nature. These
mathetic appetites thus brought into being will finally lead the
human mind into the Elysian fields of kosmic consciousness where for
another million years, perhaps, it may feed upon the mysteries and
hypermysteries to be found in the granaries of the Space-Mind.
The study of space in its wider and deeper meanings is necessary in
order that a clearer understanding of its true significance, as the
subject of geometric researches, may be gained. It is confessed,
however, that there is neither direct evidence nor implicative
authority for any assumption that the view herein outlined affords any
justification for the notion of the n-dimensionality of space. For,
although the line of reasoning indulged in must lead inevitably to the
conclusion that the worlds of spatiality, materiality, intellectuality
and spirituality, essentially and fundamentally one so far as origins
and qualities are concerned, were alike engendered by the same
generating element, life; and that spatiality being the primal basis
of the others is, nevertheless, under the exigencies of this aspect of
the kosmos, highly susceptible to the mensurative requirements of the
grossest, there appears to be no necessity for calling upon extraneous
considerations for assistance in our efforts to comprehend the various
connotations of the symbolism. Then, too, it is easily conceivable that
under conditions where these elements, spatiality, intellectuality and
materiality, are not only co-extensive but interpenetrative, there is
no justification for the assumption that they must exist in layers or
manifoldnesses or in discrete degrees, separated from one another as if
they were constituted of different substances and occupied different
spheres. For every single point in perceptual space is a focus for
lines drawn through every conceivable grade of materiality, spatiality
or intellectuality in the kosmos. And the same system of coördinates
which is necessary and sufficient for the localization of a point in
our space is also sufficient for the location of a point anywhere in
the entire world of spatiality, intellectuality or spirituality. In
fact, the external, visible worlds of materiality and spatiality are
nothing more than the _mass-termini_ of lines extending from divinity
to physicality; from primordial originality to kosmic modernity and it
is intellectually conceivable that progression back over the grooves
made by these mass-termini of lines would lead directly and unerringly
to originality itself. In spite of the manifold pyknoses which we have
shown to characterize the symbolism of space-genesis it is a very
simple matter; for the entire scheme could and must have proceeded
along strictly tridimensional lines. Tridimensionality must have
inhered in the primeval archetype of space or else it could not appear
as an outstanding fact of perceptual space now; for all that we can now
observe in space as characteristics must have first been included,
enfolded, involved, before it could have been evolved. Hence, it is
to be remembered that we are to-day dealing with the expressions of
tendencies and principles which inhered in the manifested universe as
potentialities in the very beginning.
The alphabet of space-genesis consists of five characters, namely,
the point, the line, the triangle, the square and the circle. These
are the pentagrammaton of space, of intellectuality, materiality and
of spirituality. They constitute the basis of kosmic geometrism.
With these all geometrical figures may be constructed; with them
all magnitudes may be delineated and projected. They describe every
conceivable activity of the Creative Logos and designate the bounds of
the entire scope of motility of kosmogenesis.
In figure 19, are shown the dot, the line, triangle, square and the
circle which together form the kosmic pentoglyph. The point symbolizes
kosmic inertia, inactivity or the beginning of motion; the line is the
first aspect of motion, the beginning of creation; the triple aspect of
kosmogenesis is symbolized by the triangle, _Chaos-Theos-Kosmos_, the
Unmanifest Trinity; the square emblematizes kosmic being in evolution;
while the circle is the syncretism of all these and stands for the
perfected kosmos, or the kosmos in process of perfection. Very truly
did PLATO remark: "God geometrizes"; for the _pentagrammaton_--the
point-line-triangle-square-circle--is the deity's way of manifesting
Himself. But there is here no need for space-curvature nor for
triangles whose value is greater or less than 180 degrees; there is no
need even for the mathematical fourth dimension.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Kosmic Pentoglyph]
It cannot be believed, however, that metageometricians are really in
earnest in what they suggest of hyperspace and _n_-dimensionality;
it cannot be believed that they are entirely satisfied with what
they have found of the so-called hyperspatial, and yet, some of
them are fanatically patriotic over the new-found domain; some are
even intolerant. But there are others who look upon the fabric of
metageometry as a stepping stone to space-realities, a mile-post on the
path to the realization of a higher consciousness, the consciousness of
the space-mind or kosmic consciousness. And may this not, after all,
be the goal of the human intellect, now slightly distraught by the
exuberances of youth and the joys of a new mental freedom? The work
of the future mathematicians will be the destruction of the tumorous
inconsistences to be found in the various non-Euclidean systems
of geometrical thought, the elimination of the novelties and the
nonsensicals, the synthesizing of those elements which are sanctioned
by the space-mind and the building thereon a sane interpretation of
space-phenomena in the light of illuminations received from greatly
extended faculties and a participation in that larger consciousness
into which the human race seems slowly to be immerging.
The domain of hyperspace is but the fairy-land of mathesis, peopled
with goblins, gnomes, kobolds, elves and fays which are the
spaces, dimensions, propositions, ensembles and theorems of the
metageometrician. But like the fairies and nature spirits of the unseen
about us, they have their bases in the real, objective world of facts
however difficult it may be to establish their direct connection with
it. As the gay, invisible sprites of phantom-land represent intelligent
natural forces at work in the furtherance of the evolution of forms, so
the impalpable things of mathesis are emblems of kosmic forces at work
in the upbuilding of structures of higher consciousness which shall be
towers of vision for the human soul whence it may view the hill-crests
of infinite knowledge and the low-lying plains of kosmic mysteries.
Finally, it has been noted that space is the very consistence of the
kosmos; it is the life, the form and both the outer and the inner
manifestation of the combined life and form; it is reality, also
illusion; it is concrete, also ideal. We have noted also that mind is
consubstantial with space and that space gives it its inner life and
nature as well as nourishes its outer growth and development. In fact,
we have seen that space and mind are _one_ essentially and that they
exist as aspects of the same thing, life. In whatever way, then, that
the mind normally views space that is the natural way. All attempts to
deviate from the natural way are, therefore, unsanctioned by the nature
of things. So long as geometry remains true to the nature of mind and
space so long will it be valid universally and possessed of kosmic
necessity and invariance. It behaves most unseemly when it departs from
its fealty to the nature of things _per se_.
Both the outlook of the mind upon the objective world as well as its
inlook upon its own states of consciousness or the subjective world
are tridimensional. Its growth is tridimensional, its nature is
likewise tridimensional, and there is not even the slightest tendence
either to perceive, conceive or perform in a four-dimensional manner,
mathematically speaking. Trace out the biologic development of each
mental faculty, from the mind of the moneron to the mind of the most
highly developed man and it will be found that everywhere and always,
without variation or exception, the nature of each of these has
been to express itself tridimensionally and naturally. There is not
even the slightest sign of so much as a germinal appetence for the
four-space; it would, therefore, seem almost a prostitution of mental
faculty to divert mental energy into the seemingly useless channel of
present-day metageometrical researches; yet, it must be admitted that
even though the end sought cannot be attained, the final results of the
intellectual delvings into the dread homogeneity of kosmic origins and
the consequent realization of the awesome coevalism of mind and space
whence shall arise the recognition of the wondrous unitariness of all
existences, will be that we shall come upon that thrice mysterious
contrivance--the Heart of Divinity, the Kosmic Space-Center in which
abide the roots of the _Great All_ in a marvelously indescribable unity
and infinite originality.
We may conclude, then, that hyperspatiality and all its appurtenances
are but the toys of the childhood of humanity. But, as the years
pass and the days of maturity come on apace, it, toy-like, will also
be discarded. And the mind will seize then upon the seriousness of
reality just as the matured youth responds to the stern realities of
life and manhood responsibilities. But no one can say that the toys of
childhood are wholly useless; no one can say that the joys which they
bring are entirely fatuous and unreal nor shall we attempt to intimate
that mathetic contrivances are without utility, without purpose and
significance in the life of the growing mind of humanity. But they,
too, will pass away.