Theos-Talk Archives (October 2004 Message tt00321)

Oct 20 2004

Dear Jerry: 

I mean metaphysical or abstract, and not physically defined (?) "space."

Capital Letters are for emphasis. In that context it is not "ordinary." 

Abstract SPACE is entirely indefinable. It is NOT relative to conditioned
"space" IT includes THAT and EVERYTHING ELSE. As I have said. it may be
considered the :eternal background" of ALL. 

That's as I see it.

Dal

----------------------------

May I offer:


ABSOLUTE

"The Universe is the periodical manifestation of this unknown Absolute
Essence. To call it "essence," however, is to sin against the very spirit
of the philosophy. For though the noun may be derived in this case from the
verb esse, "to be," yet IT cannot be identified with a being of any kind,
that can be conceived by human intellect. IT is best described as neither
Spirit nor matter, but both. "Parabrahmam and Mulaprakriti" are One, in
reality, yet two in the Universal conception of the manifested, even in the
conception of the One Logos, its first manifestation." SECRET DOCTRINE I
273



EVOLUTION FROM THE ABSOLUTE INTO MANIFESTATION


"Ain-Soph, the ABSOLUTE ENDLESS NO-THING, uses also the form of the ONE, the
manifested "Heavenly man" (the FIRST CAUSE) as its chariot (Mercabah, in
Hebrew; Vahan, in Sanskrit) or vehicle to descend into, and manifest
through, in the phenomenal world. But the Kabalists neither make it plain
how the ABSOLUTE can use anything, or exercise any attribute whatever,
since, as the Absolute, it is devoid of attributes; nor do they explain that
in reality it is the First Cause (Plato's Logos) the original and eternal
IDEA, that manifests through Adam Kadmon, the Second Logos, so to speak. SD
I p. 3



The Universe is worked and guided from within outwards. As above so it is
below, as in heaven so on earth; and man-the microcosm and miniature copy of
the macrocosm-is the living witness to this Universal Law and to the mode of
its action. The whole Kosmos is guided, controlled, and animated by almost
endless series of Hierarchies of sentient Beings, each having a mission to
perform, and who-whether we give to them one name or another, and call them
Dhyan-Chohans or Angels-are "messengers" in the sense only that they are the
agents of Karmic and Cosmic Laws."	SECRET DOCTRINE I 274


".each of these Beings either was, or prepares to become, a man, if not in
the present, then in a past or a coming cycle (Manvantara). They are
perfected, when not incipient, men They are "Living Ones," because they are
the streams projected on the Kosmic screen of illusion from the ABSOLUTE
LIFE; beings in whom life cannot become extinct, before the fire of
ignorance is extinct in those who sense these "Lives." Having sprung into
being under the quickening influence of the uncreated beam, the reflection
of the great Central Sun that radiates on the shores of the river of Life,
it is the inner principle in them which belongs to the waters of
immortality, while its differentiated clothing is as perishable as man's
body." SECRET DOCTRINE I 275-6 


PERFECTION OF MAN

".by paralyzing his lower personality, and arriving thereby at the full
knowledge of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute
SELF, man can, even during his terrestrial life, become as "One of Us." Thus
it is, by eating of the fruit of knowledge which dispels ignorance, that man
becomes like one of the Elohim or the Dhyanis; and once on their plane the
Spirit of Solidarity and perfect Harmony, which reigns in every Hierarchy,
must extend over him and protect him in every particular.:	by
paralyzing his lower personality, and arriving thereby at the full knowledge
of the non-separateness of his higher SELF from the One absolute SELF, man
can, even during his terrestrial life, become as "One of Us." Thus it is, by
eating of the fruit of knowledge which dispels ignorance, that man becomes
like one of the Elohim or the Dhyanis; and once on their plane the Spirit of
Solidarity and perfect Harmony, which reigns in every Hierarchy, must extend
over him and protect him in every particular."	SD I 276


=================================

 
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Schueler [mailto:gschueler@earthlink.net] 
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 10:12 PM
To: Theosophy Study List
Subject: Space and the Absolute

[Dallas:] <<And that is why it is said in THEOSOPHY that the ABSOLUTE
surrounds us all, and may be allegorized as "SPACE." >>

Using capital letters for an everyday word means what? Blavatsky used this
trick to indicate that her word meaning is not the normal one that we think
of. When we make statements using ABSOLUTE and SPACE it suggests a
reification that does not exist. 

The phrase "the ABSOLUTE surrounds us all" makes this "absolute" appear to
be a really existing external thing, when it is not. We cannot point to
space and say, "there that is SPACE!" The best that we can do is to point
to an area or region and say "there that is a space." "A" space is not
Space, nor is it SPACE. "A" space (small s) is a condtional reality. Space
(cap S) is a continuum. SPACE (all caps) is both a reification and
deification.

Space is a continuum in which events take place, and they do so in the
continuum of time. Capitalizing space or using all caps as if you were
shouting does nothing to tell us what is really going on. Motion through
Space is not what is really going on, but it is what appears to us to be
going on. 

Everything in conditional reality exists relative to everything else.
Relativity is a fact in our conditional reality. It is one pole of a
duality, the other being absolute. Absolute only exists in terms of
relative, in a comparison sense, because the two are a duality. When
Blavatsky uses the term Absolute, she always implies "that which seems to
be absolute in comparison to relative." When she caps it into ABSOLUTE she
is reifying it into a deity. She also does this with Parabrahman and other
terms. The ancients considered these to be deities, and in a sense they are.

Jerry S.
 


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