Hoe kunnen we de archaïsche symboliek van de moeder, van de ruimte ervaren? Welk patroon kent de wet van Periodiciteit en hoe zijn wij daar zelf een uitdrukking van?
THEOSOPHY: ITS BENEFICENT POTENTIALITIES
Concerning the notion of Deity in the creation and governance of the
universe, there is a passage in the The Secret Doctrine:
Docent Geesteswetenschappen Kees Voorhoeve over Stanza I van De Geheime Leer
Interview Marleen Schefferlie
By Geoffrey A. Farthing
Theosophy is in its fulness a comprehensive
knowledge of the nature and the workings of Nature, in
which man plays a prime part. The human kingdom is
a critical stage in the immense evolutionary programme
when 'Man', the thinker, is born. The knowledge of
Theosophy is gained by generations of trained seekers
and enquirers, Initiates in the Arcane Mysteries.
It claims to be an expression of Truth, the facts of
existence. It is therefore not a matter of conjecture or
belief.
Nature herself is seen as a collectivity of all that comprises her in a
series of hierarchies of living beings from the very lowliest to the
highest, from the elements comprising the matter of our objective world,
up the evolutionary ladder through the kingdoms of Nature to man and
beyond, into the realms of super-humanity. Theosophy postulates grades of
superhuman beings which, as collective beings with their accumulated
wisdom and knowledge, comprise the 'creators' and 'governers' of our
planetary system.
Potentiality One: The Notion of Deity
Theosophy tells us that at the heart of all things is one common
Essence. This essence manifests as 'Life'. Everything is endowed with it;
there is no dead matter. Similarly everything has its degree of sentience,
even if only an ability to respond to, or just 'feel', i.e., react to outside
stimuli, and even memory. In its more developed forms sentience becomes
consciousness. This sentiency manifests from the lowliest elemental or
mineral forms, through the more complex ones of vegetable and animal, to
full-blown consciousness in man. Thereafter it passes through all gradations
to levels of awareness of a grandeur hardly dreamt of at our level of
evolution. Because of the developed faculties and purified spiritual nature
of these denizens of the highest levels of being, they may be regarded as
gods. As they have developed them in themselves, so they can bequeath to
man who can express them the most ennobling and compassionate
impulses. These increase as the ladder of evolution is ascended.
The notion of Deity can be regarded as Theosophy's foremost
beneficent potentiality. By it man, in his inner essence, is regarded as divine,
with an inseverable relationship to the Cosmos. He is not just in i t, he is of
it. This is exemplified in the theosophical constitution of man, wherein all
his principles reflect the cosmic planes of being. Cosmos functions on
various levels, from the physical to the highest spiritual.
The total universal process is an
expression of the One Life. This is the
animating dynamism behind the activities
of everything.
It is its life manifesting as its
internal energy. It is the vast dynamic force
which keeps the whole ordered process
going, right from the beginning of a period
of activity, i.e., the birth of the Cosmos
(Manvantara), to its end when the whole
mighty process subsides into rest (Pralaya)
bearing with it the fruits of its immense
period of activity. These fruits are the
aggregate experience of countless myriads of lives that have come and gone
in their season during the whole mighty process.
All is garnered and stored
as universal memory.
Deity is the very essence of each man's being. The influence of this
idea may at first be tentative and spasmodic but it increases as does his
spiritual nature with his experiences in his long series of personal lives. He
slowly becomes more or less conscious of his inner divine nature. This
manifests as inspired motivation in his actions; he feels the guidance of
conscience.
It [the Secret Doctrine] admits a Logos or a collective "Creator" of
the Universe; a Demiourgos - in the sense implied when one speaks
of an "Architect" as the "Creator" of an edifice, whereas that
Architect has never touched one stone of it, but, while furnishing the
plan, left all the manual labour to the masons; in our case the plan was
furnished by the Ideation of the Universe, and the constructive labour
was left to the hosts of intelligent Powers and Forces. But that
Demiourgos is no personal deity, - i.e., an imperfect extra-cosmic god
- but only the aggregate of the Dhyani-Chohans [Archangels] and the
other forces.
As to the latter -
They are dual in their character; being composed of
(a) the irrational brute energy, inherent in matter,
and the intelligent soul or cosmic consciousness
which directs and guides that energy, and which is
the Dhyani-Chohanic thought reflecting the
Ideation of the Universal Mind. [S. D. / 279]
The Theosophical Deity is an Entity, but only in
the sense of a collectivity, an aggregate of the Dhyani-
Chohans, described as "the highest gods ... the divine
intelligences charged with the supervision of Kosmos". (Theosophical
Glossary)
This might cause us to think of Deity as "out there", something apart
from us individually. We must, however, be mindful of the teaching in How
to Study Theosophy (H. P. B. - The Bowen Notes) where it says (p8),
No matter what one may study in the S. D., let the mind hold fast, as
the basis of its ideation, to the following ideas:
a) The FUNDAMENTAL UNITY OF ALL EXISTENCE. This unity
is a thing altogether different from the common notion of unit - as
when we say that a nation or an army is united; or that this planet is
united to that by lines of magnetic force or the like. The teaching is
not that. It is that existence is ONE THING, not any collection of
things linked together. Fundamentally there is ONE BEING.
The implications of this are profound, far reaching and hard to realize,
but the clear meaning is that there is not Deity and us. There is only one
thing. Everything, including each human being, is that 'One Thing'. For
Theosophy to become real, every student must come to this realization.
What a change in perspective, in attitude towards one s self, is thus
engendered!
This principle of UNITY is of greatest significance in the fields of
Science, Religion, Education and Ecology.
Unity expresses itself during manifestation as almost infinite
diversity. This diversity leads to the sense of separateness in humans
causing the prolific difficulties in human affairs. Eradication of the effects
of these difficulties in our society is a major benefit of this Potentiality. The
notion of Deity as Unity, when sufficiently realized and worked out,
becomes a powerful background to our attitudes.