Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tl00109)

Richard Ihle writes-->
Purusha exists apart [from Prakriti], of course.

Tom Robertson writes-->
I was of the impression that, just like dozens of other pairs of opposites I
could list, spirit cannot exist without matter.

RI-->
Since my last post, I found several more instances where HPB seems to
translate ~Purusha~/~Prakriti as "~Spirit~/~Matter~."  I continue to regard
this as an error, certainly from the "psychogenetic" viewpoint and very
probably from Kapila's famous usage of the terms as well.

The bigger problem is probably the use of the term "matter" for ~Prakriti~.
 After many years of reflection about this, I have come to believe that
"Substance" would be a better equivalent, since virtually ~everything~ except
Undifferentiated Consciousness (Atman, Self, Soul) seems to get included.
 Even prana, inner pictures, thoughts, etc. are often considered
manifestations/evolutes of Universal Substance.

Despite a sometimes confusing way of presenting the material, I do believe
HPB was on-track in her basic understanding, however.  For example, on p.135
in COLLECTED WRITINGS she predicted that modern science was "on the eve of
discovering that consciousness is universal."  This seems to me that she also
understood that Undifferentiated Consciousness is an all-pervading,
pre-existing "Raw Immaterial" (just as Prakriti is the Raw Material).  Most
of science, I am afraid, is still of the opinion that consciousness is
"created" somewhere along track of material evolution.

I am not certain what you mean by "spirit cannot exist without matter
[because they are an example of pair of opposites]."  While probably true
from one stance, it is more complicated from another.  I once tried, not too
sucessfully, to describe Substance as a "circular-interpenetrating-continuum
of the
Spiritual-pranic-physical-emotional-mental-Spiritual-pranic-physical-emotional
-mental-Spiritual. . . ."

And I blame HPB for being confusing?  Anyway, notice the shift here from the
cosmological to the human view of things.  With the basic pranic-physical
(energy-matter) building blocks, simple material/biological evolution then
produces some of the latter manifestations of Substance by which the Self is
"contaminated" (egoically deluded) and thus, by comparison, learns more of
Its Own Nature.

And some people on this list still regard Ken Wilber as the most abstruse
bore of the New Age?

Godspeed,

Richard Ihle



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