Stranger wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 9:00 pm
AshvinP wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 8:19 pm
Instead of debating the teachings of DtA, let's see if what Louth wrote can align with the holistic Ideas we discern through our own logical reasoning. If the higher hierarchies are not individual beings but rather represent
stages of our own centripetal evolution back to the Godhead, as all esotericists agree, then how could we 'bypass' stages of our own evolution? That is like a child bypassing the years of 14-35 because he 'realized' his direct connection to his adult Self. Or, conversely, like a child coming into existence when bypassing his father and mother who must give birth to him. We know such things don't stand up to reason.
Rephrased in a different way, at each point of our own centripetal evolution we have the ability to know and connect directly and introspectively to our own Self "bypassing" any structures seemingly external to us, and even any existing mind structures of our internal origin. However, the degree of this direct knowledge unfolds to us in layers and stages along the path of the spiritual evolution where at each stage we uncover deeper and deeper layers of it until we discover that there is actually no difference between the Divine Self of All and the very core of our own Self. At this point we also discover that such "bypassing of structures" was only seeming, because there are actually no structures "external" to the Self or separate from the Self.
Eugene,
I wonder if you hold open the
possibility that your 'bypassing' view could change if you learned the precise details by which humanity has involuted into the physical-perceptual plane we experience now. Are you familiar with the 'law of seven' in esoteric science? We could discuss the details of it endlessly, but for our purposes, I just want to briefly sketch out how all evolutionary cycles unfold through this archetypal sevenfold rhythm.
Is seven the perfect number? Now the whole tendency of modern thought is to recur to the archaic idea of a homogeneous neous basis for apparently widely different things; heterogeneity developed from homogeneity, as in the search for "protoplasm" in biology, "protyle"9 (the name given by Mr. Crookes to the hypothetical homogeneous substance of which the atom is composed) posed) in chemistry, and the force of which heat, electricity, light and magnetism are the differentiations. The direction which modern science is taking is toward a generalization founded on the perception of a harmony of numbers throughout out nature. So far back as the year 1844, an article appeared in the Medical Review in which the writer asserts the principle of a "generalization which shall express the fundamental laws of all (sciences) by one simple numerical ratio," and goes on to say that "from these (Whewell's Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences and Mr. Hay's researches into the laws of harmonious coloring and form) it would appear that the number seven is distinguished in the laws regulating the harmonious perception of forms, colors and sounds, and probably of taste also if we could analyze our sensations of this kind with mathematical accuracy."10
Again, there is a periodical septenary return of cycles in the rise and fall of diseases, and in the birth, growth, maturity, decay and death of insects, reptiles, fishes, birds, mammals and man himself. Dr. Laycock (Lancet, 1842-43), writing on the periodicity ity of vita phenomena records "a most remarkable illustration and confirmation of the law in insects," and, having given a number of illustrations from natural history, he adds, "The facts I have briefly glanced at are general facts and cannot happen day after day in so many millions of animals of every kind, from the larva or ovum of a minute insect up to man, at definite periods, from a mere chance or coincidence.... I think it is impossible to come to any less general conclusion than this: that, in animals, mals, changes occur in every three-and-a-half, seven, fourteen, twenty-one or twenty-eight days, or at some definite number of weeks." In regard to fevers, the same Dr. Laycock states that "whatever type the fever may exhibit, there will be a paroxysm on the seventh day...the fourteenth will be remarkable as a day of amendment," either cure or death taking place. "If the fourth (paroxysm) be severe, and the fifth less so, the disease will end at the seventh paroxysm, and. .change for the better will be seen on the fourteenth day, namely about three or four o'clock a.m., when the system is most languid." "This law," he says elsewhere, where, "binds all periodic vital phenomena together, and links the periods observed in the lowest annulose animals with those of man himself, the highest of the vertebrata."
Now if the mysterious Septenary Cycle be a law in nature, if it is found controlling the evolution and involution (or death) in the realms of entomology, ichthyology and ornithology, as in the kingdom of the animal, mammalia and man, why cannot it be present and active in the cosmos in general, and why should not an occultist be able to trace the same law in the life of the solar system, the planet and the races of men which inhabit it? The number seven is the factor element in occult science and in every ancient religion, because it is the factor element in nature.
-C. G. Harrison; Christopher Bamford. The Transcendental Universe
Upon further investigation, we can discern that what we are dealing with is a 3-year period of relatively instinctive development (involution) reflected across a Central period - a centrifugal to centripetal vortex - into another 3-year period of relatively conscious development (evolution). So the evolutionary process is a conscious re-membering of what was experienced through the involutionary process. By learning the living details of the latter, we gain real insight into those of the former. We need to always ward off the habitual linear time assumptions in order to appreciate the deeper significance of this archetypal rhythm. But, if this law pervades Nature and the microcosm is in fact an image of the Macrocosm, for which we can similary adduce much precise evidence, then it only stands to reason that our ascent to the Godhead proceeds lawfully through the rhythmic alternation of many nested sevenfold structures.
Are we going to introduce an untenable discontinuity here? We can hardly imagine what Nature would look like if there was any possibility of 'bypassing' the developmental rhythms described above. But, for some reason, our intellectual thought finds it perfectly 'natural' to allow for this bypassing possibility in spiritual evolution. What is the reason for this discontinuity if Nature and Spirit are One, i.e. two forces of the same Power? It can only be that this discontinuity does not exist, except as a conceptual reflection of our own personalized
preferences. For these reasons, the rigorous and unprejudiced scientific method for inquiries into processes of soul and spirit are just as important as they are for those of natural phenomena. I am reminded here of Goethe's excellent essay.
Goethe wrote:We may look at an object in its own context and the context of other objects, while refraining from any immediate response of desire or dislike. The calm exercise of our powers of attention will quickly lead us to a rather clear concept of the object, its parts, and its relationships; the more we pursue this study, discovering further relations among things, the more we will exercise our innate gift of observation. Those who understand how to apply this knowledge to their own affairs in a practical way are rightly deemed clever. It is not hard for any well-organized person, moderate by nature or force of circumstance, to be clever, for life corrects us at every step. But if the observer is called upon to apply this keen power of judgment to exploring the hidden relationships in nature, if he is to find his own way in a world where he is seemingly alone, if he is to avoid hasty conclusions and keep a steady eye on the goal while noting every helpful or harmful circumstance along the way, if he must be his own sharpest critic where no one else can test his work with ease, if he must question himself continually even when most enthusiastic—it is easy to see how harsh these demands are and how little hope there is of seeing them fully satisfied in ourselves or others. Yet these difficulties, this hypothetical impossibility, must not deter us from doing what we can. At any rate, our best approach is to recall how able men have advanced the sciences, and to be candid about the false paths down which they have strayed, only to be followed by numerous disciples, often for centuries, until later empirical evidence could bring researchers back to the right road.
...
When we intentionally reproduce empirical evidence found by earlier researchers, contemporaries, or ourselves, when we re-create natural or artificial phenomena, we speak of this as an experiment.
The main value of an experiment lies in the fact that, simple or compound, it can be reproduced at any time given the requisite preparations, apparatus, and skill. After assembling the necessary materials we may perform the experiment as often as we wish. We will rightly marvel at human ingenuity when we consider even briefly the variety of arrangements and instruments invented for this purpose. In fact, we can note that such instruments are still being invented daily.
As worthwhile as each individual experiment may be, it receives its real value only when united or combined with other experiments. However, to unite or combine just two somewhat similar experiments calls for more rigor and care than even the sharpest observer usually expects of himself. Two phenomena may be related, but not nearly so closely as we think. Although one experiment seems to follow from another, an extensive series of experiments might be required to put the two into an order actually conforming to nature.
Thus we can never be too careful in our efforts to avoid drawing hasty conclusions from experiments or using them directly as proof to bear out some theory. For here at this pass, this transition from empirical evidence to judgment, cognition to application, all the inner enemies of man lie in wait: imagination, which sweeps him away on its wings before he knows his feet have left the ground; impatience; haste; self-satisfaction; rigidity; formalistic thought; prejudice; ease; frivolity; fickleness—this whole throng and its retinue. Here they lie in ambush and surprise not only the active observer but also the contemplative one who appears safe from all passion.
-Goethe, The Experiment as Mediator Between Object and Subject
.