Words are altogether insufficient to give an idea on which to form a conception of things which are beyond our intellectual comprehension as long as they do not live in our own consciousness; but we may look upon the seven _Tattwas_ as represented by seven modes of vibrations of a cosmic ether, differing from each other not only quantitatively, but qualitatively, so that, for instance, _Akasa Tattwa_ has a circular, _Vayou Tattwa_ a spiral movement, etc.; but such a conception is quite inadequate, as we have to do with living forces, with states of the universal life or consciousness, manifesting themselves not only as the causes of the five modes of perception on the physical plane, but also upon the higher planes; enabling man, for instance, not only to feel the touch of an object upon the physical plane, but to feel with his astral sense the presence of an object upon the astral plane, and in his heart the touch of a spiritual power; to see not only physical light with the eyes of his body, but things in the astral light with his astral organs of seeing; to see intellectual truths and ideas with the eye of his intellect in the light of his intellect, and spiritual things with the eye of the spirit. In fact, everything that exists is a manifestation of _Tattwas_, or “vibrations of ether;” stationary in its aspect as “matter,” progressive in its aspect as “force;” matter is latent energy, force is active substance;[14] everything is life, consciousness, intelligence, dormant or active according to the conditions existing upon the plane upon which it becomes manifest; every substance is mind, and the forms which we see are only the symbols of the thoughts represented therein. It is not our purpose within the narrow limits of this work to enter into a deeper investigation of this most interesting, sublime, and elevating science, which has been discussed at length in H. P. Blavatsky’s “Secret Doctrine”; we merely touch upon these points for the purpose of calling attention to it, as it represents an aspect and conception of nature immeasurably higher than the one represented by popular science, and therefore attainable only to those whose aspirations reach beyond this grossly material plane. The “Secret Doctrine” informs us that in the course of evolution, this our planet has only attained its _Kâmarupa_ or animal form of existence, and that the next higher state of _Manas_ (mind) has hardly begun to become developed. This may be the reason why the science of mind is at present in its infancy, and grasped only by those gifted spirits who, like Paracelsus and others of his kind, by nobility of character and spirituality have outstripped the rest of mankind in higher knowledge; forming, so to say, the vanguard of the army, as it proceeds into the regions of the—not absolutely unknowable—but the _unknown_.