Probably one
of the most difficult aspects of Blavatsky’s writing are the instances where
she presents comparative examples of ancient mythology/theology. It helps to
organize this information in charts and tables. On pages 55-56 of Isis Unveiled
vol. I, we encounter one of the first instances of these challenging passages –
it presents an introductory explanation of the basic theosophical trinitarian
metaphysics, sometimes called the triple logos in later writings, here designated
as Will, Force and Matter. The examples can be found mainly in middle platonic
and neoplatonic sources.
"the Will which becomes Force, and creates or organizes matter"
1a- Plato Timaeus
** See Movers' "Explanations," 268
|
Demiurgic Mind (Nous)
|
Primal Being
|
Idea of the to be created world
|
1b- Plato
Plutarch, "Isis and Osiris," i., vi.
|
Father – Divine Thought
|
Mother - Matter
|
Cosmos, the Son
|
2a- Chaldean Oracles
* Cory: "Chaldean Oracles," 243.
|
Father
|
Intellectual, spiritual Light of the Father
|
Soul that adorns great heaven(works of nature)
|
2b- Chaldean Oracles
Cory: "Fragments," 240.
|
Mundane God, old
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Winding form Aether/astral light
|
Mundane God, young
|
3- Philo
** Philo Judaeus: "On the Creation," x.
|
Divine Reason
|
Incorporeal world
|
(Creation)
|
4- Theogony of Mochus
Movers: "Phoinizer," 282.
|
Aether
|
Air
|
Ulom (intelligible God –visible universe of matter)
|
5- Orphic Hymns
K. O. Muller, 236.
|
Spiritual Egg
|
Aethereal Wind (Spirit of God)
|
Divine Idea - Eros-Phanes
|
6- Katakopanisad
Weber: "Akad. Vorles," 213, 214, etc.
|
Purusha Divine Spirit
|
Original Matter
|
Soul of the World (Atma, Brahm, Spirit of Life)
|
7-
"Spirit History of Man," p. 88
|
(Demiurgic Mind)
|
Older Horus - Idea of world in
Demiurgic Mind
|
Younger Horus - Idea from Logos clothed with matter
|
Summary
|
Will
|
Force
|
Matter
|
Years ago
the old German philosopher, Schopenhauer, disposed of this force and matter at
the same time; and since the conversion of Mr. Wallace, the great
anthropologist has evidently adopted his ideas. Schopenhauer's doctrine is that
the universe is but the manifestation of the will. Every force in nature is
also an effect of will, representing a higher or lower degree of its
objectiveness. It is the teaching of Plato, who stated distinctly that
everything visible was created or evolved out of the invisible and eternal
WILL, and after its fashion. Our Heaven — he says — was produced according to
the eternal pattern of the "Ideal World," contained, as everything
else, in the dodecahedron, the geometrical model used by the Deity.* With
Plato, the Primal Being is an emanation of the Demiurgic Mind (Nous),
which contains from the eternity the "idea" of the "to be
created world" within itself, and which idea he produces out of himself.**
The laws of nature are the established relations of this idea to the
forms of its manifestations; "these forms," says Schopenhauer,
"are time, space, and causality. Through time and space the idea varies in
its numberless manifestations."
* Plato:
"Timaeus Soerius," 97.
** See
Movers' "Explanations," 268.
These ideas
are far from being new, and even with Plato they were not original. This is
what we read in the Chaldean Oracles:* "The works of nature
co-exist with the intellectual [[noerio]], spiritual Light of the
Father. For it is the soul [[psuche]] which adorned the great heaven,
and which adorns it after the Father."
"The
incorporeal world then was already completed, having its seat in the Divine
Reason," says Philo** who is erroneously accused of deriving his
philosophy from Plato's.
In the Theogony
of Mochus, we find AEther first, and then the air; the two principles from
which Ulom, the intelligible [[noetos]] God (the visible universe
of matter) is born.***
In the
Orphic hymns, the Eros-Phanes evolves from the Spiritual Egg, which the
AEthereal winds impregnate, Wind**** being "the spirit of God," who
is said to move in AEther, "brooding over the Chaos" — the Divine
"Idea."
In the Hindu
Katakopanisad, Purusha, the Divine Spirit, already stands before the
original matter, from whose union springs the great Soul of the World,
"Maha =Atma, Brahm, the Spirit of Life";***** these latter
appellations are identical with the Universal Soul, or Anima Mundi, and
the Astral Light of the theurgists and kabalists.
Pythagoras
brought his doctrines from the eastern sanctuaries, and Plato compiled them
into a form more intelligible than the mysterious numerals of the sage — whose
doctrines he had fully embraced — to the uninitiated mind. Thus, the Cosmos
is "the Son" with Plato, having for his father and mother the Divine
Thought and Matter.******
"The
Egyptians," says Dunlap,******* "distinguish between an older and
younger Horus, the former the brother of Osiris, the latter the son
of Osiris and Isis." The first is the Idea of the world remaining
in the Demiurgic Mind, "born in darkness before the creation of the
world." The second Horus is this "Idea" going forth from the Logos,
becoming clothed with matter, and assuming an actual existence.********
Older Horus
Idea of world in Demiurgic Mind –- Logos
Younger Horus Idea from Logos clothed with matter
"The
mundane God, eternal, boundless, young and old, of winding form,"
********* say the Chaldean Oracles.
This
"winding form" is a figure to express the vibratory motion of the
Astral Light, with which the ancient priests were perfectly well acquainted,
though they may have differed in views of ether, with modern scientists; for in
the AEther they placed the Eternal Idea pervading the Universe, or the Will
which becomes Force, and creates or organizes matter.
* Cory:
"Chaldean Oracles," 243.
** Philo
Judaeus: "On the Creation," x.
*** Movers:
"Phoinizer," 282.
**** K. O.
Muller, 236.
***** Weber:
"Akad. Vorles," 213, 214, etc.
******
Plutarch, "Isis and Osiris," i., vi.
*******
"Spirit History of Man," p. 88.
********
Movers: "Phoinizer," 268.
*********
Cory: "Fragments," 240.
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