A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

by Alice A Bailey

  Space, again, is included in the idea of consciousness, and its utilisation of matter. Space, for the Logos, is literally the form wherein His conscious activities and purposes are worked out—the solar ring-pass-not. The space wherein a planetary Logos works out His plans is similarly as much of solar space as His consciousness is developed enough to use. Man again repeats the process and his ring-pass-not is included in the radius of his consciousness, and may be very circumscribed as in the case of the little evolved, or may be inclusive of a portion of planetary space of great extent, and even in the case of the very highly evolved may begin to touch the periphery of the sphere of influence of the planetary Logos in Whose body he is a cell.

  Space for the atom (for instance, the atom in the physical body of man) will be the radius of the form in which is found the greater centre of consciousness of which it is a part and it will be both attracted and repulsed—attracted and built into the form of the greater Life, yet repulsed and thereby prevented from moving from a certain point within that form.

  We have here dealt a little with time and space in their relation to a specific centre of consciousness; we have seen that they are simply forms of ideas to express the cyclic activity of an entity. The subject is exceedingly abstruse, due to the low stage of the human intelligence, which is as yet so occupied with the objective or material side of manifestation that the attraction existing between Spirit and Spirit is little more than a concept. When more of the human family have their centre of consciousness in the Ego and hence are busy with the work of repulsing matter, and with the withdrawal of [282] Spirit from form, then only will the transmutative process be comprehended, then only will time (as known in the three worlds) be transcended, and then only will space (as manifested to man through the three lower planes or the eighteen subplanes) be found to be a barrier. This same statement can be predicated of the seven Logoi and of the solar Logos, extending the idea to other planes, solar and cosmic. So also can it be narrowed down to the subhuman, and to the involutionary lives, remembering ever that as the consciousness is more confined and restricted so inertia, lack of response and limitation of radiation will be seen.

  By a close scrutiny of chart V, it will be apparent wherein lies the problem of the Logos, and wherein lies the accuracy of the correspondence between Him and His reflection Man.

  First. Both are in objective manifestation on the physical plane.

  Second. Both are at their point of deepest involution.

  Third. Both are trammelled by matter, and are developing consciousness (egoic consciousness) on the physical plane—man on the solar physical, and the Logos on the cosmic physical plane.

  Fourth. Man has to bring down into conscious full control, the God within. Through that control he must dominate circumstance, make his environment his instrument and manipulate matter. On cosmic levels the Logos does likewise. Both are far from achievement.

  Fifth. Both work in, with, and by, electrical force.

  Sixth. Both come under the laws governing forms and hence both are controlled in time and space by KARMA, which is the Law of forms. It has to do with quality, as force has to do with vibration.

  Seventh. Both work through forms made up of: [283]

  a. Three main types of forms: A mental form, one aspect of manifestation; an astral form, a second aspect; and a physical form, the third aspect. The mental vibration sets the key measure and seeks to utilise and co-ordinate the physical body at Will. It deals with or links up the consciousness to the three forms in one direction; it repulses and causes separation in another. The astral vibration deals with the quality, with the attractive measure. It is the psychic element. The physical is the meeting ground of consciousness with the material form. This last is the result produced by the union of the key measure and the quality of tone.

  b. Seven centres of force which hold the three forms in one coherent whole, and cause their vitalisation and their co-ordination. They put the triple unit into correlation with their main centre of consciousness on the higher planes, whether that centre is the causal body of man, of a planetary Logos, or of a solar Logos.

  c. Millions of infinitesimal cells, each embodying a lesser life, each in a condition of constant activity, and each repulsing other cells so as to preserve individuality or identity, yet each held to each by a central attractive force. Thus we have produced the objective form of a crystal, a vegetable, an animal, a man, a planet, a system.

  Finally, both work, therefore, in a dual manner and each demonstrates both attraction and repulsion.

  Attraction of matter to Spirit and the building of a form for the use of Spirit is the result of electrical energy in the universe, which in each case brings the lesser lives or spheres into its range of influence. The magnetic force, the life of the Logos gathers together His body of manifestation. The magnetic force of the Heavenly Man, the planetary Logos, gathers out of the solar ring-pass-not that which He needs for each incarnation.

  [284] The magnetic force of the Ego gathers, at each rebirth, matter within the particular sphere or scheme within which the Ego has place. So on down the scale, we find the lesser pursuing its round ever within the greater.

  Therefore we have (during a period of Attraction and Repulsion, or a life cycle) that which we call Time and Space, and this holds equally true in the life cycle of a Logos or an ant, or a crystal. There are cycles of activity in matter, due to some energising Will, and then Time and Space are known. There are cycles of non-being when Time and Space are not, and the energising Will is withdrawn. But we must not forget that this is purely relative, and only to be considered from the standpoint of the particular life or entity involved, and the special stage of awareness reached. All must be interpreted in terms of consciousness.

  The first type of cycle, or the period involved in one entire revolution of a sphere around its own centre of consciousness, is to the particular Entity involved (be he God or man) a lesser cycle. The second type of cycle or the period involved in the complete circling of an orbit, or the revolution of a sphere around the centre of which it is an integral part, we can consider as a greater cycle. The third type of cycle has not so much to do with the transition of the form through a certain location in space but as the cycle which includes both the greater and the lesser cycles. It has to do with the response of the ENTITY, to Whom our solar Logos is but a centre in His Body, to the contacts made on that centre and on its cosmic opposite. These two centres, for instance, our solar system and its cosmic opposite, in their interaction create a cycle period which has a relation to the “ONE WHO IS ABOVE OUR LOGOS.” This is, of course, beyond human conception, but must be included in our enumeration of cycles if exactitude is to be achieved. [285]

  VIII. WHY IS KNOWLEDGE BOTH EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC?

  (116)

  We can now take up the question next in order, which was worded: “Why do we consider certain aspects of knowledge esoteric and other aspects as exoteric?”

  The answer to this practically involves the realisation that some knowledge deals with the subjective side of life, and the other type of knowledge with the objective side; that one type of knowledge is concerned with energy and force (hence the danger of undue hasty revelation) and another with that which is energised. Therefore it will be apparent that until the faculty of ascertaining subjective information is achieved, whole ranges of facts will remain outside the scope of the consciousness of the majority.

  As we have been told, the goal of evolution is the attainment of consciousness on all planes; owing to the small evolutionary attainment of the race only the physical plane is as yet in any way brought under conscious control. The knowledge which deals with that plane, [286] the information which is concerned with densest objectivity, the sumtotal of facts connected with the five lower subplanes of the physical plane are (from the occult standpoint) considered exoteric. During the next two races the other two subplanes will be mastered, and the entire mass of knowledge concerned with physical and etheric
matter, with energy, form and experience on the physical plane, will be easily available to man, and concern only his five physical senses.

  Information and knowledge of the life evolving through the forms will for a considerably longer time be considered esoteric, as also will the apprehension and comprehension of the matter aspect, and the laws governing energy on the astral and the mental planes. This is stated in connection with average man, the rank and file of humanity. Objective or exoteric information is largely that obtained or ascertained by men in the Hall of Learning by means of the five senses, and by experiment. Experiment in due course of time and after many cycles of incarnation is transmuted into experience, and this produces eventually that which we call instinct, or the habitual reaction of some type of consciousness to a given set of circumstances, or of environment. These two factors of the senses and of experimental contact can be seen working out in the animal and human kingdoms; the difference between the two exists in the ability of the man consciously to remember, apprehend, anticipate, and utilise the fruits of past experience, and thus influence the present and prepare for the future. He employs the physical brain for this purpose. An animal likewise has an instinctual memory, apprehension, and an embryo anticipation, but (lacking mind) he is unable to adjust them to circumstances in the sense of prearrangement, and lacks the capacity consciously to utilise, and thus reap, the benefit of past events, and to learn from experience in the manner which a man does. The [287] animal uses the solar plexus in the same way that a man uses the brain; it is the organ of instinct.

  All that can be acquired by instinct and by the use of the concrete mind functioning through the physical brain can be considered as dealing with that which we call exoteric. It is thus evident how the range of fact will differ according to:

  a. The age of the soul.

  b. Experience developed and used.

  c. Condition of the brain and the physical body.

  d. Circumstances and environment.

  As time progresses and man reaches a fair state of evolution, mind is more rapidly developed, and a new factor comes gradually into play. Little by little the intuition, or the transcendental mind, begins to function, and eventually supersedes the lower or concrete mind. It then utilises the physical brain as a receiving plate, but at the same time develops certain centres in the head, and thus transfers the zone of its activity from the physical brain to the higher head centres, existing in etheric matter. For the mass of humanity, this will be effected during the opening up of the etheric subplanes during the next two races. This is paralleled in the animal kingdom by the gradual transference of the zone of activity from the solar plexus to the rudimentary brain, and its gradual development by the aid of manas.

  As we consider these points, it will become apparent that the esoteric aspects of knowledge are really those zones of consciousness which are not yet conquered, and brought within the radius of control of the indwelling Entity.

  The point to be emphasised is that when this is realised the true significance of the esoteric and the occult will be appreciated, and the endeavor of all KNOWERS will be to draw within the zone of their knowledge other [288] units who are ready for a similar expansion of consciousness. In this thought lies the key to the work of the Brotherhood. They attract by Their force into certain fields of realisation and endeavor and by that attraction and the response of those human atoms who are ready, the group soul on the upward arc, or a particular centre of a Heavenly Man, is co-ordinated.

  In the same way the animal is brought at a certain stage into the zone of influence of the lesser sons of mind—human beings who are the elder brothers of the animals, as the Masters of the Wisdom are the Elder Brothers where humanity is concerned. So the interlocking proceeds and the division of responsibility.

  IX. WHAT IS THE RELATION BETWEEN:

  a. The ten planetary schemes?

  b. The seven sacred planets?

  c. The seven chains in a scheme?

  d. The seven globes in a chain?

  e. The seven rounds on a globe?

  f. The seven root-races and the seven subraces?

  We have in this question a vast quantity of matter to deal with and it will be impossible for us to do more than to get a broad and general idea.

  The subject is so vast and the comprehensiveness of the interrelated points is so great that we shall only attain lucidity if we confine our attention to certain broad general conceptions, leaving the subsidiary points for more detailed elucidation at some later period.

  1. The Inter-related Parts

  Primarily I would suggest that we consider this subject only as it concerns a Heavenly Man, that we omit from our immediate calculations the consideration of the cellular composition of His body (those separated units of consciousness which we call deva and human [289] beings), and that we view the matter from what is to the human being, the group concept, and not the individual.

  The entire middle section of this treatise on the Fires has to do with the development of the consciousness of a Heavenly Man, and the application by Him of the knowledge gained (through the aid of manas or mind) in a previous solar system, to the acquisition of wisdom through objectivity, and to the transmutation of the earlier acquired faculty into applied Love. This is His work in the same sense that the work of the cells within His body is to develop the mind principle. When through experience in the three worlds the human units have accomplished this, they can then gain—through the final initiations—something of the group concept, or the conscious realisation of place, and of energised activity within the ring-pass-not of their particular planetary Logos. Therefore, we might consider the following points:

  First: The work of the units who go to the make-up of a particular planetary Logos. This is of a threefold nature:

  a. To attain the consciousness of the realised control of their own individual ring-pass-not, or of their own sphere of activity. This covers the period of evolution up to the first Initiation, or their entrance upon the Path, and thus into the spiritual kingdom. It concerns the awakening of consciousness on the three lower planes.

  b. To attain the consciousness of the particular centre in the body of one of the planetary Logoi—which centre embodies their group activity. This carries them to the fifth Initiation, and covers the period wherein consciousness is awakened on the five planes of evolution.

  c. To attain to the consciousness of the centre in the Body of the Logos of which any particular planetary [290] Logos is the sumtotal. This carries them to the seventh Initiation and covers the period of the awakening of consciousness on the seven planes of the solar system.

  These expansions are attained by the aid of mind, transmuted in due course of time into love-wisdom, and entail the conscious control of the entire seven planes of the solar system, or of the lowest cosmic plane.

  Second: The work of the Heavenly Men Who in their totality are the seven centres in the body of the Logos. This work is again threefold:

  a. To attain to full self-consciousness, or to individual consciousness on the five planes; to vibrate with conscious activity within Their Own ring-pass-not, a planetary scheme. This covers a period in the scheme of involution, and of that period during the evolutionary stage which is comprised within the first three rounds up to the entrance upon the fourth round.

  b. To attain to the consciousness of the solar Logos, within Whose body They form the centres. It entails the attainment by a Heavenly Man of a group consciousness of a sevenfold nature, or the achievement of accurate vibratory relationship with the other Heavenly Men Who form the other centres. It carries with it the capacity to have full conscious control on the seven planes of the solar system, and covers that period of development which is undergone in a planetary chain during the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. It should be borne in mind that a paralleling recognition should here be given to the fact that the solar Logos holds an analogous position in the body of a cosmic Entity to that held by a Heavenly Man in the body of a solar
Logos.

  c. To attain to the consciousness of a greater centre on cosmic levels. This covers the period of the seventh round, and gives to a Heavenly Man (when these rounds are viewed in the light of the Eternal Now, and not from the standpoint of time and of space) the consciousness of [291] the cosmic astral, or the second lowest plane of the cosmic planes. A great deal of the problem to be seen slowly working out at this time to a solution is due to the fact that the control of the Heavenly Man, Whose body our scheme may be, is as yet but partial, and His cosmic experience is as yet but imperfect. This necessarily affects the cells in His body in the same way that lack of astral control in the case of a human being, affects his vehicle. It might here be pointed out that the evolution of the Heavenly Men is unequal, and that our planetary Logos has not the control, for instance, that the Heavenly Man of the Venus chain has achieved. In each round one subplane of the cosmic astral plane is brought under control, and the consciousness of the Heavenly Man expands to include one subplane more. The planetary Lord of Venus has dominated and controlled the five subplanes and is working on the sixth. Our planetary Logos is engaged in a similar work on the fourth and fifth. The work, as in all cycles, overlaps and it might be explained thus:

  He is perfecting the control of the fourth subplane on the cosmic astral plane, and has nearly completed it. He is beginning to work at the control of the fifth subplane—a control which will be perfected in the fifth round.