Theosophy in
EVOLUTION
From the writings of William Quan Judge, a pioneering
Theosophist and
co-founder of the orginal Theosophical
Society, founded in
theosophycardiff@uwclub.net
William
Quan Judge
1851
- 1896
Evolution
by
William Quan Judge
THE word
"evolution" is the best word from a theosophical standpoint to use in
treating of the genesis of men and things, as the process which it designates is
that which has been always stated in the ancient books from whose perusal the
tenets of the wisdom religion can be gathered. In the Bhagavad Gita we find
coming on of Brahma's night they are resolved into it
again," and that this process goes on from age to age. This exactly states
evolution as it is defined in our dictionaries, where it is said to be a
process of coming forth or a development.
The
"days and nights of Brahma" are immense periods of time during which
evolution proceeds, the manifestation of things being
the "day" and their periodical resolution into the Absolute the
"night."
If, then,
everything is evolved, the word creation can only be properly applied to any
combination of things already in existence, since the primordial matter or
basis cannot be created.
The basis of
the theosophical system is evolution, for in Theosophy
it is held that all things are already in esse, being
brought forth or evolved from time to time in conformity to the inherent law of
the Absolute.
The very next
question to be asked is, What is this inherent law of
the Absolute? as nearly as can be stated. Although we
do not and cannot know the Absolute, we have enough data from which to draw the
conclusion that its inherent law is to periodically come forth from
subjectivity into objectivity and to return again to the former, and so on
without any cessation.
In the
objective world we have a figure or illustration of this in the rising and
setting of the sun, which of all natural objects best shows the influence of
the law. It rises, as H. P. Blavatsky says, from the (to us) subjective, and at
night returns to the subjective again, remaining in the objective world during
the day. If we substitute, as we must when attempting to draw correspondences
between the worlds, the word "state" for locality or place, and
instead of the sun we call that object "the Absolute," we have a
perfect figure, for then we will have the Absolute rising above the horizon of
consciousness from the subjective state, and its setting again for that
consciousness when the time of night arrives that is, the night of Brahma. This
law of periodicity is the same as that of the cycles, which can be seen
governing in every department of nature.
But let us
assume a point of departure so as to get a rapid survey of evolution theosophically considered. And let it be at the time when
this period of manifestation began. What was projected into the objective world
at that time must have been life itself, which under the action of the law of
differentiation split itself up into a vast number of lives, which we may call
individual, the quantity of which it is not possible for us of finite mind to
count.
In the Hindu
system these are called Jivas and Jivatman.
Within these lives there is contained the entire plan to be pursued during the
whole period of manifestation, since each life is a small copy of the great All
from which it came. Here a difficulty arises for studious minds, calling for
some attention, for they may ask "What then do you do with that which we
call 'matter', and by and through which the lives manifest themselves?"
The reply is
that the so-called matter is an illusion and is not real matter, but that the
latter--sometime known in
It may then
be further asked, "Have we not been led to suppose that that which we
supposed was matter but which you now say is an illusion is something
absolutely necessary to the soul for acquiring experience of nature?" To
this I reply that such is not the case, but that the matter needed for the soul
to acquire experience through is the real unseen matter. It is that matter of
which psychic bodies are composed, and those other "material" things
all the way up to spirit. It is to this that the Bhagavad Gita refers where it
says that spirit (purusha) and matter (prakriti)
are coeternal and not divisible from each other.
That which we
and science are accustomed to designate matter is nothing more than our limited
and partial cognition of the phenomena of the real or primordial matter. This
position is not overturned by pointing to the fact that all men in general have
the same cognitions of the same objects, that square objects are always square
and that shadows fall in the same line for all normal people, for even in our
own experience we see that there is such a thing as a collective change of
cognition, and that thus it is quite possible that all normal people are merely
on the single plane of consciousness where they are not yet able to cognize
anything else. In the case of hypnotizing everything appears to the subject to
be different at the will of the operator, which would not be possible if
objects had any inherent actuality of their own apart from our consciousness.
In order to
justify a discussion of the Theosophical system of evolution, it is necessary
to see if there be any radical difference between it and that which is accepted
in the world, either in scientific circles or among Theologians. That there is
such a distinction can be seen at once, and we will take first that between it
and Theology. Here, of course, this is in respect to the genesis of the inner
man more especially, although Theology makes some claim to know about race
descent.
The Church
either says that the soul of each man is a special creation in each case or
remains silent on the subject, leaving us, as it was once so much the fashion
to say, "In the hands of a merciful Providence," who after all says
nothing on the
matter. But when the question of the
race is raised, then the priest points to the Bible, saying that we all come
from one pair, Adam and Eve.
On this point
Theology is more sure than science, as the latter has no data yet and does not
really know whether we owe our origin to one pair, male and female, or to many.
Theosophy,
on the other hand, differs from the Church, asserting that Paramatma
alone is self-existing, single, eternal, immutable, and common to all
creatures, high and low alike; hence it never was and never will be created;
that the soul of man evolves, is
consciousness itself, and is not specially created for each
man born on the earth, but assumes through countless incarnations different
bodies at different times. Underlying this must be the proposition that, for
each Manvantara or period of manifestation, there is a definite number of souls
or egos who project themselves into the current of evolution which is to
prevail for that period or manvantara.
Of course
this subject is limitless, and the consideration of the vast number of systems
and worlds where the same process is going on with a definite number of egos in
each, staggers the minds of most of those who take the subject up. And of
course I do not mean to be understood as saying that there is a definite number
of egos in the whole collection of systems in which we may imagine evolution as
proceeding, for there could be no such definiteness considered in the mass, as
that would be the same as taking the measure of the Absolute.
But in
viewing any part of the manifestation of the Absolute, it is allowable for us
to say that there are to be found such a definite number of egos in that
particular system under consideration; this is one of the necessities of our
finite consciousness.
Following out
the line of our own argument we reach the conclusion that, included within the
great wave of evolution which relates to the system of which this earth is a
part, there are just so many egos either fully developed or in a latent state.
These have gone round and round the wheel of rebirth, and will continue to do
so until the wave shall meet and be transformed into another.
Therefore
there could be no such thing as a special creation of souls for the different
human beings born on this earth, and for the additional reason that, if there
were, then spirit would be made subservient to illusion, to mere human bodies.
So that in
respect to theology we deny the propositions, first, that there is any special
creation of souls, second, that there is, or was, or could be by any
possibility any creation of this world or of any other, and third, that the
human race descended from one pair.
In taking up
the difference existing between our theory and that of science we find the task
easy. Upon the question of progress, and how progress or civilization may be
attained by man, and whether any progress could be possible if the theories of
science be true, our position is that there could be no progress if the law of
evolution as taught in theschools is true, even in a
material sense.
In this
particular we are diametrically opposed to science. Its assumption is that the
present race on the earth may be supposed to belong to a common stock which in
its infancy was rude and barbarous, knowing little more than the animal, living
like the animal, and learning all it now knows simply by experience gained in
its contest with nature through its development. Hence they give us the paleolithic age, the neolithic
age, and so on. In this scheme we find no explanation of how man comes to have
innate ideas. Some, however, seeing the necessity for an explanation of this
phenomenon, attempt it in various ways; and it is a phenomenon of the greatest
importance. It is explained by Theosophy
in a way peculiar to itself, and of which more will be said as we go on.
William Quan
Judge
The Path
August 1890
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