The Secret Doctrine

        The unique and arguably unrivaled occult cosmological dissertation by H. P. Blavatsky remains to this day, 150 years after its publication, a colossal enigmatic book of inexplicable yet truly remarkable conceptualizations that continuously descends only tor reascend (conceptually speaking) into the most elegant Cosmic mystifications and abstractions only to be succeeded by sections of overwhelming precision & depth of nuance upon tangential connections to prior abstractions. The distinguishing, idiosyncratic thesis permeating The Secret Doctrine is the exposition of a primordial blueprint for the Universe's inceptive manifestation from First Causes into differentiation by descending involutionary processes begun in the remotest states of non-physicality increasingly becoming less refined until the state of extreme materialization into the nadir of 3d gross matter is reached. This state of hyper materialization is of course our plane of perception, termed the phenomenal Universe. This Cosmic schematic ventures far beyond even the most unorthodox metaphysics of whatever culture or era, being perhaps the most sophisticated, intricate cosmic origins story ever conceived in the human imagination. Of course, Blavatsky relegates the entirety of its originality and formulaic inception to her Tibetan masters disinclined to receive any level of praise except as a collator and compiler of the knowledge. 

     The complexity of it, its comprehensiveness, its abstract yet precise terminology, its immeasurable scope, and its elaborate principles of Natural Law equilibrating the Cosmic SuperStruicture on all planes of existence are exceedingly advanced and utterly arcane.  Blavatsky's dissertation of the Eastern Esoteric Cosmology follows along similar lines of philosophical and metaphysical thought inherent within such Esoteric movements as the Rosicrucian's, the Occult Kabbala in the Golden Dawn, ancient Neo-Platonism, Ancient Gnosticism, and Chaldean Magian Tradition. All of these Esoteric and Occult schools of spiritual philosophical thought recognize the concepts of the Eternal Absolute Causeless Cause, Emanationism, hierarchies of cosmic intelligences or celestial builders, Primordial point within the Circle or the Logos, the absolute periodicity of cosmic cycles, the manifestation of polarities being the necessity and causal stimulate for the process of differentiation to manifest within the primal singularity, the descent of Spirit into matter ( physicality) being an immutable law of universal evolution and simultaneously Spirit embeds its vibratory radiance within Matter (or cosmic substance) as its requisite vehicle for manifestation upon the innumerable layers of existence and rarefication of substance. 

      The Secret Doctrine's spiritual concepts are derived from extracts contained within an alchemically imperishable antediluvian manuscript replete with advanced knowledge on Eastern Occultism titled the "Book of Dyzan". According to Blavatsky, there are prolific quantities of undivulged, hidden manuscripts of lost occult knowledge along with literary works considered lost being perpetually under the sacred custodianship of the EASTERN Adepts who preserve them inside subterranean libraries inaccessible to Westerners. Blavatsky acquired access to some of these obscure repositories of ancient wisdom through a partial initiation into their Mystery Tradition as a neophyte and potentially attributable to her innate occult capacities particular to Blavatsky individually. She states that within this Sacred Book of Dyzan there is aggregated in its cryptic phraseology and mystery symbolism the totality of Occult Knowledge upon esoteric subjects such as cosmology, planetary evolution, reincarnation, the human root-races, reoccurring cosmic cycles, the nature of the Absolute, prehistoric Civilizations such as Atlantis and Lemuria, the principles within man, and substantial hierarchies of invisible forces & architectural intelligences to name just a few.  Throughout the initial one-third of both Volumes that jointly constitute The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky cites directly from (termed slokas in actuality) the impenetrable stanzas recorded in the Book of Dyzan. These stanzas are transcribed into westernized linguistic equivalents with intelligible terminology (the original inscriptions are recorded in an undecipherable language) to be comprehendible by Westerners. It was out of necessity that Blavatsky laboriously translated the stanzas, rendering the inscrutable vernacular of Eastern Initiates into linguistics intelligible to Western readers.  Even transcribed for dissemination to Westerners, the stanzas retain the cryptic, utterly foreign phraseology impenetrable, even for students of occultism, being specifically written in a symbolism of veiled meanings, with periodic & intentional blinds precisely inserted throughout, and totally bizarre conceptions resembling poetic gibberish. 

       She unequivocally states that these revealed stanzas are merely snippets of the profound knowledge contained within Dyzan's pages, in no way being the totality of its secret passages, the remaining hermetically sealed inside the Sacred Eastern Adytum of Adepts. What was revealed in TSD were simply the requisite portions of the Sacred Spring of Occultism deemed imperative to release in an attempt to restrain the ascending torrent of gross materialism currently entombing humanity within its repressive conceptual shackles. Accordingly, HP Blavatsky was only allowed to unveil these few precious fragments of sacred wisdom to the world with the majority remaining sealed until humanity's spiritual evolution attains the growth necessary for its reception.

      The Secret Doctrine was structured according to a specific purpose by Blavatsky which was to first provide the hitherto unknown occult eastern doctrines but then to systematically provide enormous proofs, from both Religion and Science, that her Doctrine is Universal, Perennial, and Boundless. Thus, her stated purpose is to utilize every and all proofs to correlate her Doctrine with the plethora of Ancient/Modern religious traditions in such a way as to definitively prove that they all originate from the one she reveals to the world. The multitude of Traditions she juxtaposes to the Eastern Doctrine range from Zoroastrianism, Chaldean Magianism, Judaism, Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism,  Freemasonry, Hermeticism, Qabbalism, Druidism, the Egyptian Religion, Grecian Mythology, Pythagorean Spiritualism, and even Chinese Spiritualism. 

       The Secret Doctrine asserts the immutable, eternal Law of periodicity with rhythmic fluctuations causing continuous interpenetrative cycles of Cosmic involution and evolution essentially equilibrating Celestial Superstructures from inevitability of inertia, inescapable within phenomenal manifestations. Thus, to emerge from the unavoidable descents into stagnation there is a perpetual process of celestial rejuvenation occurring throughout the Cosmos and restimulation to activity after inertia is reached. This Immutable Law is the harmonizing, countervailing all-pervasive potency perpetually compensating "matter's" tendencies toward extreme polarization; Its COMSIC activity functions through monumentally intricate structural systems of undulatory states of Essential flux, ingrained with absolute elasticity yet interwoven into a determinate process for cosmic progression.  Blavatsky expounds upon the cosmic pralayas and manvantaras, termed the "Days and Nights of Brahma", whereby the periodicity of manifestation and non-manifestation repeatedly occur throughout "existence". The Cosmogonic metaphysics within these arcane formulaic cycles are ponderously intricate systems involving the correlation of intelligent "forces" into manifested substantiality's. Consequently, the vast majority of these archetypal processes are exceedingly arduous to imagine or conceive in lieu of preliminary exposure to similar esoteric cosmologies.

         The premise underlying these cycles within cycles is the postulation of an eternal, undifferentiated, and unmanifested primal root-essence (Inscrutable Quintessence: SPACE) timelessly abiding in a pre-cosmic state of infinite "non-being" expanding periodically from within outwardly crystallizing "First Cause", or generative LOGOS, the temporal progenitor of all manifestation's "evolved' throughout endless cycles of cosmic BECOMING. This Infinite Unmanifested Essence awakens a new cycle of manifested activity through crystallization, of its essence, into a singular focus point which is the First Cause, or Brahma. The totality of this cycle of activity is termed, esoterically, a cosmic Manvatara, or "Day of Brahma". Once a full cycle completes itself and a "Day of Brahma" crosses into its twilight, the totality of the manifested Universe becomes dissolved and reabsorbed into the eternal unmanifested essence, ParaBrahmam, subsequently falling into a period of cosmic inactivity, which is termed a Pralaya or "Night of Brahma". Thus, there are rhythmic cycles of manifestation followed by ones of non-manifestation during which the cosmos is either in a state of active evolution or brooding in a state of inactive repose. There also exist many minor manvantaras and pralayas in terms of planetary evolution, monadic ensoulment, and cosmic "rounds". 

       The concept of incarnation, or reincarnation, expounded upon within the Secret Doctrine is one which is quite distinct, extensive, highly abstract, extremely complex, and sequential. It is conceived of as Monadic Ensoulment which occurs in stages and into a myriad of evolutionary types of existence. The Monad is not a new concept and is in fact an ancient one postulated by eminent philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato. However, in Blavatsky's rendition of the incarnating Monad it is extraordinarily well fleshed out with every stage of evolutionary development extrapolated upon.

      The Involuting Monad, according to Blavatsky, is the divine spark of the Logos or Dhyan Chohanic essence which is diffused and differentiated into every cosmic particle and life-form in manifested existence during cosmic manvataric cycles. The Monad is essentially a perpetually involuted reflection, a mimetic spark, of the Absolute Divine Essence which is progressively evolved, on ascendent scales, and spiritually self-actualized by the experiential ensoulment of this mirrored fractal into the countless differentiated materializing Upahdis, or vehicles of form. Consequently, these endless chains of ensouling Monads proceed along descending, from rarified to densely gross, lines of incarnation from closest proximity to the First Cause, the most spiritually divine & least developed, diving into the depths of exquisitely diversified yet gross manifestations, being ensnared within the plane of pure physicality (our realm), which are the emanations most removed from the Primary Causal Potencies reflecting the Logos (the ONE CAUSE).

    The consecutive and systematic involution of ensouling Monadic spark commences along elaborate sequential septenary chains of incarnation, that descend first into a finely mineralized spiritual vehicle (note: not a mineral FORM but equivalent to the states of mineral consciousness being wholly astral or ethereal in substance). Thereupon, the mineral state of monadic consciousness progresses into ensoulment within a state akin to plant life, followed by incarnation within states of animal life, and ultimately after incalculable ages emerges into the states of human life. The pre-Human states of existence are configured along a sequence of septenary, SEVEN, phases recurring in every stage of involution and evolution, and furthermore the septenary process occurs within in the Monads and ALSO within their cosmic environment altering seven times seven, reinaugurating the evolutionary process at finish of a ROUND before initiating the following ROUND of manifestation that re-begins back at the 1st Round but on a lower (or higher) level each time. Furthermore, not only are their seven Rounds but also seven Globes for them to evolute upon, each one becoming more densified with an inverted bell curve best visualizing this strange progression because once the 4th, bottom center, phase is completed the 5th on up is becoming re-spiritualized until it has re-attained the initial level of the 1st (but now 7th) Globe or Round. However, these various stages of incarnation occur over eons of time.

       One of the most interesting, controversial, and unique concepts within the Secret Doctrine are the seven Root-Races and each of their sets of seven sub-races. This Root-Race concept is delineated in the second volume of the Secret Doctrine titled Anthropogenesis and is essentially a highly elaborate and intricate evolutionary theory which postulates a very different starting-point for the origin of man in conjunction with a just as different developmental process for his natural unfoldment on earth. The seven-root races range from the most spiritual to the astro-etheric to the most physiologically perfect material forms in later races, and it also posits that mankind was originally without gendered types and that this differentiation into the two sexes occurred much later in his evolutionary process, though still much earlier than has been previously postulated by either Darwinian science or Christian theological dogmatism. 

        The Seven Root-Races begin with a our primordial progenitors which Blavatsky calls the Lunar Pitris. These Lunar Pitris are celestial beings which exist as an astro-spiritual group of monadic incarnates and are within the Dhyan Chohanic hierarchy of celestial beings considered to be collective Logoi (plural of Logos)of the Cosmic structure.  The Dhyan Chohans are the host of cosmic beings that impress upon matter the ideas found in the Cosmic Ideation, thus the Universal Mind (Cosmic Ideation) is seen as the "architect" ostensibly providing the schematic plan for the constructing and building the Universe, while these Dhyanis function as its masons and builders. The Lunar Pitris are the "Lunar Monads" which over eons cycle through evolutionary "rounds" ( kalpas) eventually manifesting an astral double (BHUTA) from themselves which become the RUPA (form) for the First Root Race Men. These Astral Doubles "ooze out" of the Pitris from the "ape-like" forms which they (Lunar Pitris) had evolved in the third round or Kalpa with this subtle, finer form serving as the model around which nature coalesces material man. Thus, it is only in the fourth round where these astral doubles become the Men of the First Human Root-Race and it is the fourth round of evolution out of seven total rounds that we are currently living. So the First Root-Race of mankind is essentially an astroetheric race of beings which contain within their celestial framework only the two highest principles out of the Seven which are the divine spark (incarnating monadic essence) and the spiritual soul called Bhuddi, often simply termed in combination as Atma-Bhuddi. This First Root Race is also considered to be mindless and without mind or intellect. They are also postulated to be enormous beings with a height well exceeding dozens of feet but are non-physical. 

         The Second Root-Race is generated by the First-Race in a process akin to Mitoses whereby the First Race concentrates a focal point of its inherent essence that protrudes from its astroetheric vehicle and eventually separates from its original form becoming the New Type of Man once segregated. This Second Root-Race  is more etheric than astral and is called the "sweat-born" Race due to how it was formed out of the First. The Second Root-Race originated in the Land of Hyperborea and was the second continent to arise out of the Ocean. 

          The Third Root Race is the one where the eventual separation into the two sexes occurs and when mankind becomes entirely physical and material in nature but both of these transformations occur in the latter half of the seven sub-races, the 4th 5th and 6th sub-races. This race is also referred to as the Egg-Born Race. The initial manifestation of the Third Root-Race is one which is semi-etheric, Androgynous, and of an Immense Height. This Third Root-Race resides on the Continent of Lemuria in the Pacific Ocean stretching from Easter Island all the way past the Indian Ocean area towards Madagascar. The First Half of this Root-Race is mostly non-physical and does not procreate due to being a Hermaphrodite but instead replicates itself in a process of egg laying, in essence, thus the term Egg-Born Race. In the second half of this Root-Race (4th, 5th, 6th sub-races) there manifest several pivotal and profound transformations which alter the evolutionary path it takes as well as the number of inner principles contained within the monadic vehicle.

       It is during the evolutionary stages after the Third sub-race in which these monumental physiological, psychological, and sociological changes occur, permanently altering the state of humanity into one wholly phasing into concrete physicality. The 4th sub-race is entirely unlike its predecessor, the 3rd one, in several distinctive facets. Unlike the earlier Third Root Race Sub Classes, this new 4th Sub-Race is one in which the Hermaphrodite begins to separate into two individualized gender types, male and female, along with becoming deeply enmeshed into material reality. This is the first time in humanity's evolutionary tract that the beings manifesting are nearly entirely material in nature and less etheric overall. Furthermore, this process of individuated off-spring not surprisingly leads to the first attempts at fully material intercourse between those produced, the males and females, and the first birthing  of new humans into existence as opposed to the strangely described replication methods of earlier Root Race Types. However, this is also the point within this cosmic narrative where high strangeness erupts due to the lack of adequate natural reproductive laws in place to prohibit inter-species mixing. This issue leads to, according to Blavatsky, some of the first physical men engaging in intercourse with animals which, due to the lack of natural biological fail-safes, of course produces a plethora of amalgamations and physiological nightmares roaming the earth. This occurrence could quite possibly be the true reasoning behind the plethora of ancient myths about heinous monsters and the heroes entrusted with their defeat such as Hercules. Blavatsky explains this bizarre scenario whereby 

       In the Secret Doctrine there is also substantial amounts of information devoted to expounding upon the proofs of prehistoric Antediluvian civilizations in reference to the submerged continents of Lemuria and Atlantis along with their inhabitants. Blavatsky provides voluminous amounts of evidence for their previous existence and extrapolates extensively upon the root-races postulated to have existed upon their continental shores. 

      In the Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky describes the septenary (seven) principles which comprise the entirety of humanities constitution from its divine spark (monad) to its intellectual soul to its material vehicle. These seven principles of man are easily correlated to various other esoteric traditions that also corroborate the septenary nature of humanity's cosmic make-up.