Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00297)

Kim writes>
>Dear Rich [Taylor],
>You are quite mistaken here. Please keep them on the list. If Alexis
>(and the rest of the gang) and you (and no offence intended) perhaps could
>argue in private instead.... (since it seems unrelated to theosophy).
>   With this said I would love to participate in a discussion on the MSS
>which served as a basis for "Voice of Silence" and "Secret Doctrine." Since
>both works are described as secret, we would have to expect them to be not
>extant nor even widely distributed and known in Tibet. They may of course
>turn up in the future.

Richard Ihle writes>
Kim, much wisdom in your words as usual.  Now, let me try to tap some of your
excellent knowledge as well.

One of the things which caught my eye many years ago was H.P.B.'s way of
wording the well-known Kabalistic saying.  Her version:  "The Breath becomes
a stone; the stone, a plant; the plant, an animal; the animal, a man; the
man, a spirit; and the spirit, a god."  (I had previously heard versions
which left out *Breath* and/or used *angel* for *spirit*.)

Now, this seemed significant to me because H.P.B.'s rendering seemed much
more in keeping with my own meditative observation of the "sequence of
differentiated consciousnesses."  It also seems to correspond nicely with the
"Eastern terminology" I provided Eldon a while back:

>[quoting earlier post] All this [the general problem of one's own theosophy
not quite matching up with conventional definitions for terminology etc.]
notwithstanding, here is a little table of correspondences (*Chronological
Age* [potential egoic delusions of the next Cycle begin at the mid-point of
the present]; *Cycle*; *Possible Eastern Term* [; Kabalistic Term]):

1-7. . . . .Animating. . . . .*Prana*  [Breath]
7-14. . . . .Physical. . . . .*Sthula*  [stone]
14-21. . . . .Desire-Feeling. . . . .*Kama*  [plant]
21-28. . . . .Desire-Mental. . . . .*Kama-Manas*  [animal]
28-35. . . . .Mental. . . . .*Manas*  [man]
35-42. . . . .Spirit-Mental. . . . .*Buddhi-Manas*  [spirit]
42-49. . . . .Spirit. . . . .*Buddhi*  [god]
>

Kim, it seems clear to me that the foregoing table looks at things from an
individual "Psychogenetic" perspective rather than the more macro
Cosmogenetic or Anthropogenetic.   My question to you is this:  Is H.P.B.'s
inclusion of *Breath* in the scheme an innovation on her part, or is *Breath*
(or something equivalent) also present in original Kabalistic or Eastern
writings that you are aware of?   (I.e., were the other versions I heard
first simply the result of people passing along the incomplete saying?)

Thanks.  (And thanks for remaining a "dry" theosophist in every kind of
"weather". . . .)

Godspeed,

Richard Ihle