Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tl00061)

Tom Robertson writes-->
I infer that you disagree with HPB's idea, as expressed in "The Secret
Doctrine," that homogeneous spirit and matter are eternal.  I see no reason
not to believe it.

Jerry Schueler writes-->
No, I agree with HPB.  But what is "homogeneous matter?" She means that
spirit and matter per se always exist in some form. But material atoms and
molecules come and go, just like all  material forms come and go.  All
aggragates or compounds are maya, as Buddhism teaches.  In the above quote,
HPB is referring
 to Purusha and Prakriti as defined in Hinduism.  This is not spirit and
matter as we normally think of them, but rather their original states.

Richard Ihle writes-->
Because I am persuaded that THE SECRET DOCTRINE has "much in common" with the
Sankhya theosophy of Kapila, I was surprised to see Tom's reference to "HPB's
idea that homogeneous spirit and matter are eternal."  Is this just a
paraphrase, Tom, or do you have a particular reference?  (Don't worry about
it if you don't.)

While the idea of "universal spirit" is true enough, I would be surprised to
learn that HPB juxtaposed it with "universal matter" somewhere since it would
tend to confuse a Kapila-influenced basic notion of Prakriti and Purusha.
 ~Prakriti~ I regard as universal matter-Spirit in its eternal, self-existing
form.  Purusha exists apart, of course, but can get "snagged" into cosmic
evolution because its ultra-rarefied Nature has a "verisimilitude" with the
ultra-rarefied Nature of one of Prakriti's "components"--Buddhi.

I simply translate ~Buddhi~ as "Spirit" (notwithstanding the psychological
spin of "discrimination" usually put on it), and so does HPB at least in one
place (Vol. XII, p. 53, COLLECTED WRITINGS).  In any case, it seems to be
both Kapila's and my understanding that ~Buddhi~ is the "most rarefied" form
of matter.  "Universal matter" makes sense as ~Prakriti~ in the manner Jerry
describes it; however, while "Spirit" is also universal in its role as the
highest "gradient" of matter, it IS NOT equivalent in Kapila's system to
~Purusha~, which is ~Atman~, "Self," or "Soul," I believe.

It was not clear to me from the post whether Jerry was translating ~Purusha~
as "Spirit" or "Soul."  I hope it was the latter, but I will continue to like
him either way.  (In Tom's case, however, I'm keeping my affections on hold
for a while longer to see if Ann warms up to him first. . . .)

(Just kidding; I like him, too.)

Godspeed,

Richard Ihle