Theos-Talk Archives (September 1995 Message tl00477)

I have been discussing manvantaric evolution for
some time, but I don't think I have been getting
my position through very well. Let me try one
more time. The Esoteric Wisdom Tradition, I
believe, teaches that all manifestation is a huge
circle. Within this circle are a great many
spirals.

HPB says it best when she says "The first lesson
taught in Esoteric philosophy is, that the
incognizable Cause does not put forth evolution,
whether consciously or unconsciously, but only
exhibits periodically different aspects of
itself' to the perception of finite' Minds" (SD
Vol II, p 487). She also show a picture of our
previous manvantara or planetary chain, the
Moon, compared with our present, the Earth, on
page 172 of Vol I. This picture shows a direct
horizontal crossover. She says, and show, that
the Moon and the Earth are on the same plane.
They would seem to be cycles. To me, this
implies that THE DIVINE MONAD DOES NOT EVOLVE.
Why? Because it is outside of time, and evolution
and growth are time-dependent concepts. There
is, of course, relative evolution in the sense of
growth along the upward Arc of Ascent. Evolution
and involution are spirals within the Great
Breath, which is a very large circle. However,
this evolution and involution has to do with the
temporary expressions of the divine monad, such
as the human monad. Not the divine monad itself.

OK, so far so good. But then G de P comes along
and says: "This is the destiny of all evolving
lives, man included: endless growth, endless
duration in which to learn ... throughout future
time... etc" (The Esoteric Tradition, p 198).
And then a few pages later goes even further and
says: "When one speaks of the relative perfection
that may be and certainly will be in due course
of the revolving ages attained by the evolving
Monads, this term perfection' must not be
misunderstood to imply either static immobility
after its attainment, or, on the other hand,
the reaching of an absoluteness in evolutionary
unfoldment beyond which further evolution is
impossible. Such attaining of a purely
hypothetical absolute' ultimate is impossible
.. How can an evolving Monad reach an end,
whence there is nothing further in the way of
growth or farther progress?" (p 213).

On the surface, these views seem to conflict.
Not only does G de P's view conflict with HPB's
view, but it also conflicts with mysticism
and esoteric occultism - both of which he was
very familiar.

I think that these views can be reconciled by
suggesting that HPB is viewing manvantaric
manifestation from the viewpoint of the divine
monad, which is to say from spirit looking
downward into matter. From this viewpoint, there
is no real evolution, and the divine monad simply
self-expresses in a large circle through the
cosmic planes of manifestation, with lots of
spirals in between. G de P, on the other hand,
is viewing manvantaric expression from the
viewpoint of the human monad, which is to say
from matter upward into spirit. From this
viewpoint, the human monad evolves without
seeming end, while growing forever. If we
remember that HPB defines eternity as the length
of a manvantara, then there is no real conflict
between these two views.

 Jerry S.