The Key to Theosophy: Being a Clear Exposition, in the Form of Question and Answer, of the Ethics, Science and Philosophy for the Study of Which the Theosophical Society Has Been FoundedBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
The Key to Theosophy: Being a Clear Exposition, in the Form of Question and Answer, of the Ethics, Science and Philosophy for the Study of Which the Theosophical Society Has Been Founded
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Theosophy
THEO. Not at all, for we see with our naked eye planets and even stars
at immeasurably greater distances; but it is owing to those six
globes being outside our physical means of perception, or plane
of being. It is not only that their material density, weight, or
fabric are entirely different from those of our earth and the
other known planets; but they are (to us) on an entirely different
_layer_ of space, so to speak; a layer not to be perceived or felt
by our physical senses. And when I say “layer,” please do not
allow your fancy to suggest to you layers like strata or beds laid
one over the other, for this would only lead to another absurd
misconception. What I mean by “layer” is that plane of infinite
space which by its nature cannot fall under our ordinary waking
perceptions, whether mental or physical; but which exists in
nature outside of our normal mentality or consciousness, outside
of our three dimensional space, and outside of our division of
time. Each of the seven fundamental planes (or layers) in space—of
course as a whole, as the pure space of Locke’s definition, not as
our finite space—has its own objectivity and subjectivity, its own
space and time, its own consciousness and set of senses. But all
this will be hardly comprehensible to one trained in the modern
ways of thought.
ENQ. What do you mean by a different set of senses? Is there anything
on our human plane that you could bring as an illustration of what
you say, just to give a clearer idea of what you may mean by this
variety of senses, spaces, and respective perceptions?
THEO. None; except, perhaps, that which for Science would be rather a
handy peg on which to hang a counter-argument. We have a different
set of senses in dream-life, have we not? We feel, talk, hear,
see, taste and function in general on a different plane; the
change of state of our consciousness being evidenced by the fact
that a series of acts and events embracing years, as we think,
pass ideally through our mind in one instant. Well, that extreme
rapidity of our mental operations in dreams, and the perfect
naturalness, for the time being, of all the other functions, show
us that we are on quite another plane. Our philosophy teaches
us that, as there are seven fundamental forces in nature, and
seven planes of being, so there are seven states of consciousness
in which man can live, think, remember and have his being. To
enumerate these here is impossible, and for this one has to turn
to the study of Eastern metaphysics. But in these two states—the
waking and the dreaming—every ordinary mortal, from a learned
philosopher down to a poor untutored savage, has a good proof that
such states differ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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