Theos-Talk Archives (August 1994 Message tl00028)

This is by Eldon Tucker

----
              The Theosophical First Cause

    When we speak of a "first cause," we are usually think-
ing of an idea out of western philosophy. The idea is that
everything is started or caused by something else, but that
there was some first impulse, some first cause which origin-
ated all that followed. This is attributed to God creating
the universe. And that creation is either an initial im-
pulse, giving it a start, although it could as  well be a
continuous stream of creative energy allowing the continued
existence of the universe.
    There are many ideas involved in this that we quickly
move beyond in our theosophical studies. One is the idea of
a personal God, a particular being, however grand, which is
a Supreme Being and creator of all. Another is the idea of a
Universe, however big, which can be called the totality of
all that is.
    A clear distinction is made between the Totality, Tat,
the Great Unknowable, and any particular world or universe
with its hosts of creative intelligences collectively known
as its Creator. The infinite is truly not-finite, and is not
simply a finite thing that is biggest, best, most grand, or
top-most among lesser finite things.
    To understand the workings of Nature, to follow in our
philosophical thought the coming into being of a world, we
have to limit ourselves to a particular world, and examine
what happens with it. In "The Secret Doctrine," it is men-
tioned that even the highest Dhyani-Chohans have not penetr-
ated beyond our Solar System.
    So let us pick a world, and limit our inquiry, so that
we can go on: the Earth Planetary Chain. This world comes
into being in a greater world, the Solar System or Solar
Chain. It is built out of the life energies and materials of
a bigger, already-present world into which it is being born.
It is not built out of nothing, but needs a bigger world to
host its existence.
    The same is true, no matter how big the world or unive-
rse that we may consider: that world needs an already-exis-
ting parent, a still grander world, to host it, to give it a
home for its existence. And its parent requires an even-
vaster parent to host it. This progression goes on, to
bigger and bigger realms, without end. It is an endless
series, and could be considered a Golden Chain of Being.
    For our Earth Chain, picture it as out of existence, in
Pralaya, and now wanting to manifest itself. The term used
for individuals wanting rebirth is "Tanha." There is a
similar feeling for the Earth Chain as well, a similar
thirst for renewed existence.
    Picture black, empty space, inclusive of everything,
without end or boundary or limit of any kind. It contains
the vast potential of anything at all that can be. No matter
how much of it we may contain in our consciousness, there
are more, truly an unlimited supply of being-ness. Our
ability to contain this Space is only limited by ourselves,
limited by our ability to expand, to reach out, to embrace
it. This Space is the Void or the womb of the unmanifest,
the side of life in which we experience non-being.
>   From the point of view of our Earth, this Space could
be called Parabrahman. The Earth itself, as its essential
nature or Swabhava, its karmic storehouse and Monadic Es-
sence that make it was it is, can be called Brahman. And
Brahman could be pictured as an Egg, a great Cosmic Egg that
exists in this Space, in the void.
    But the line of demarcation between Parabrahman and
Brahman, the egg shell itself, is fuzzy, chaotic, nebular.
There is a gradual fading out, rather than a clear-cut
boundary between where Brahman ends and Parabrahman begins.
In a sense, Brahman reaches out and embraces the farthest
reaches of Parabrahman, but in a practical sense, there is a
reach, an extent, a scope to what Brahman can include in its
consciousness, before reaching the unknown.
    We also find that there is a part of us that cor-
responds to Brahman and Parabrahman. We have the experience
of Nirvana and Paranirvana. In Nirvana, we have left manife-
station, and find ourselves in this same Void, this Space,
and there is a distinction between our effective reach or
scope, defining our Auric Egg, our Monadic Essence, our
Swabhava, our storehouse of karma, and the totality of all
that is. The Nirvana of a Buddha of Compassion is far vaster
in reach than that of a Pratyeka Buddha; and its reach is
even further than the nirvanic sleep of lesser beings. There
is a scope to things, different with each Monad, with each
being, even in this state of non-existence.
    The Cosmic Egg always exists, although in a sense it
never exists, because it is completely unmanifest, and never
directly descends into being, as life and form are taken on.
There is a periodic hunger for existence, and at such times
it sends a ray of its consciousness into manifestation. A
seed arises in the Cosmic Egg, a dot appears in the circle,
a laya-center is opened allowing entry into manifestation in
a particular world. And a world starts to come into being.
    This Cosmic Seed could be called Brahma, the creative
god of the world that is now starting to appear. Hosts of
lesser beings flood into existence in and through Him, and
we find a world in formation. The first period involves
setting up the superstructure of the world, getting everyth-
ing into place for the dramas that will follow. The stage
set is constructed, and the props put into place, before the
first Act is played. And then the drama of life begins.
    Unlike the chaotic boundary between Brahman and Para-
brahman, the boundary between Brahma (the First Logos) and
Brahman, is sharp, clear-cut, well defined. This is due to
the clarity but also the limitation of manifest existence.
Choices have been made and specific attributes have been
taken on.
    Consider the attribute of color. Before a color is
chosen, it is possible to be any and all colors, based upon
our varying preferences. Pick a specific color, though, say
orange, and there is quite a sharp distinction. The vast
spectrum of possibilities has been manifest as orange. All
the possibilities still exist in their own realm, but only
orange is manifest. As we bring things forth in life, we
make specific choices as every point along the way. Each
choice brings something into manifestation.
    Another example comes from quantum physics. Give a
single electron two paths to follow, but do not look which
way it is going, and it will go both ways. It will act as a
wave rather than a particle. The wave-like attribute has an
analogy to the unmanifest state, to Brahman. The particle-
like attribute's analogy is to the manifest state, to Brah-
ma, and all that comes forth from it.
    Now observe which way the electron is going. See which
of the two paths that it is following. It no longer acts as
a wave; it acts as a particle. The electron now only follows
one pathway. Our act of observation has made it manifest.
Our consciousness interaction with it has brought it into
manifestation. There is a similar self-conscious reflection
done by Brahman, and in us as Monads, which brings us into
manifestation, which allows us to project a ray of our
consciousness into the worlds of being.
    It's important to note that when we speak of Brahma,
which what we observe is not one being presiding over the
creation of a world, like the Christian God, having a per-
sonal interaction with every creature in creation.
    First, we are not created. We are provided an oppor-
tunity to come into being, in and through the world, but
preexist the world and are not forever tied to it. It is our
parent, our host, our landlord, but not our creator in the
Christian sense. Much like the Egg of Brahman, we have our
Auric Egg, which transcends manifest existence, and there is
a part of us which can be found in the still, dark, quiet
place where time is not. There is a part of us rooted in the
Unchangeable, in the Forever Perfect. We are rooted in the
highest, and are not the lowly creatures of some minor
deity.
    Secondly, Brahma is much like us in the sense that it
is a being at its own level. Its self-conscious activities
are with beings at its own scale of existence. It has only a
vegetative sense of our existence. And it is the same with
us and the life-atoms, the individual cells and atoms that
make up our bodies. Our existence provides a world to host
their lives, but we are engaged with beings of our own
scale. We talk to other people, not to one-after-another of
the hundreds of billions of cells in our bodies.
    What then, within our world, enacts the Laws of Nature?
What forms the ruling creative spiritual intelligence that
guides things? Not one being, a personal God, Brahma, but a
collective host of spiritual beings. There is grade after
grade of higher beings, from the Celestial Buddhas down
through the lowest of the Dhyani-Chohans. And then within
our Human Kingdom itself, there is the Hierarchy of Compas-
sion, headed by the Human Buddhas, Sixth Rounders, down and
through the noble-minded men and women of society. We all
participate in both living and guiding the drama of life.
    Coming to what might be called a "First Cause," we are
at the start of a new world period, a new Manvantara. The
Dhyani-Chohans give the initial impulse that starts the
existence. They set the keynote for the new period. The
initial seed from which all will grow has been planted. The
opening refrain that defines the theme of the melody to come
has been played.
    Out of this keynote, and according to its basic theme,
the Dhyani-Chohans formulate the architecture of the world,
> from which lesser beings build from, and still lesser
beings manifest as the materials used. First come the story-
writers, then the actors, then the builders of the stage
props. Even at the highest levels of participation in the
creation of our world, we have collective hosts of intel-
ligences. When we say "the Celestial Buddha," for instance,
it is a collective name, not the title of a single godlike
being.
    We first have the totality, Parabrahman. Within it is
Brahman, the innermost nature of the great one, unmanifest
and unseen, the Cosmic Egg. And within Brahman is formed the
Seed, Brahma. A world is formed. And we are Brahma's life-
atoms, rushing into existence in and through him, along with
the other hosts of beings that inhabit our Earth Chain.
    This pattern of Parabrahman, Brahman, and Brahma could
apply to any world or universe. It is a general pattern. Our
experience of it is as Paranirvana, Nirvana, and Atma. Life
works the same at any scale of being. Discover the key to
one, and the others can be unlocked as well!