The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2 of 4: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and PhilosophyBlavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Religion
The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2 of 4: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna)
Theosophy
We are ready to concede the 100 millions of years offered by Geology,
since we are taught that our present physical mankind—or the Vaivasvata
Humanity—began only eighteen millions of years ago. But Geology has no
facts to give us for the duration of geological periods, as we have shown,
no more indeed than has Astronomy. The authentic letter from Mr. W.
Pengelly, F.R.S., quoted elsewhere, says:
It is at present, and perhaps always will be, _impossible_ to
reduce, even approximately, geological time into years or even
into millenniums.
And having never, hitherto, excavated a fossil man of any other than the
_present form_—what does Geology know of him? It has traced zones or
strata and, with these, primordial zoological life, down to the Silurian.
When it has, in the same way, traced man down to his primordial
protoplasmic form, then we will admit that it may know something of
primordial man. If it is not very material to “the bearings of modern
scientific discovery on modern thought,” whether
Man has existed in a state of constant though slow progression for
the last 50,000 years of a period of 15 millions, or for the last
500,000 years of a period of 150 millions,(157)
as Mr. S. Laing tells his readers, it is very much so for the claims of
the Occultists. Unless the latter show that it is a _possibility_, if not
a perfect certainty, that man lived eighteen millions of years ago, the
_Secret Doctrine_ might as well have remained unwritten. An attempt must,
therefore, be made in this direction, and it is our modern Geologists and
men of Science generally who will be brought to testify to this fact in
the Third Part of this Volume. Meanwhile, and notwithstanding the fact
that Hindû Chronology is constantly represented by the Orientalists as a
fiction based on no “actual” computation,(158) but simply a “childish
boasting,” it is nevertheless often twisted out of recognition to make it
yield to, and fit in with, Western theories. No figures have ever been
more meddled with and tortured than the famous 4, 3, 2, followed by
cyphers, of the Yugas and Mahâ Yugas.
As the whole Cycle of pre‐historic events, such as the evolution and
transformation of Races and the extreme antiquity of man, hangs upon the
said Chronology, it becomes extremely important to check it by other
existing calculations. If the Eastern Chronology is rejected, we shall at
least have the consolation of proving that no other—whether in the figures
of Science or of the Churches—is one whit more reliable. As Professor Max
Müller expresses it, it is often as useful to prove what a thing is not as
to show what it may be. And once we succeed in pointing out the fallacies
of both Christian and Scientific computations—by allowing them a fair
chance of comparison with our Chronology—neither of these will have a
reasonable ground to stand upon, in pronouncing the Esoteric figures less
reliable than its own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account