Band 2 Anthropogenesis - H.P. Blavatsky
Band 2 Anthropogenesis - H.P. Blavatsky
Band 2 Anthropogenesis - H.P. Blavatsky
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THE SEVEN SOULS OF THE EGYPTOLOGISTS.<br />
If one turns to those wells of information, "The Natural Genesis" and the Lectures of Mr. Gerald Massey, the proofs of the<br />
antiquity of the doctrine under analysis become positively overwhelming. That the belief of the author differs from ours<br />
can hardly invalidate the facts. He views the symbol from a purely natural standpoint, one perhaps a trifle too<br />
materialistic, because too much that of an ardent Evolutionist and follower of the modern Darwinian dogmas. Thus he<br />
shows that "the student of Bohme's books finds much in them concerning these Seven Fountain Spirits and primary<br />
powers, treated as seven properties of nature in the alchemistic and astrological phase of the mediaeval mysteries;"* and<br />
adds --<br />
"The followers of Bohme look on such matter as divine revelation of his inspired Seership. They know nothing of the<br />
natural genesis, the history and persistence of the Wisdom** of the past (or of the broken links), and are unable to<br />
recognise the physical features of the ancient Seven Spirits beneath their modern metaphysical or alchemist mask. A<br />
second connecting link between the Theosophy of Bohme and the physical origins of Egyptian thought, is extant in the<br />
fragments of Hermes Trismegistus.*** No matter whether these teachings are called Illuminatist, Buddhist, Kabalist,<br />
Gnostic, Masonic, or Christian, the elemental types can only be truly known in their beginnings.**** When the prophets or<br />
visionary showmen of cloudland come to us claiming original inspiration, and utter something new, we judge of its value<br />
by what it is in itself. But if we find they bring us the ancient matter which they cannot account for, and we can, it is natural<br />
that we should judge it by the primary significations rather than the latest pretensions.***** It is useless for us to read our<br />
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------<br />
* The Natural Genesis, Vol. I.. pp, 318-319.<br />
** Yet there are some, who may know something of these, even outside the author's lines, wide as they undeniably are.<br />
*** This connecting link, like others, was pointed out by the present writer nine years before the appearance of the work<br />
from which the above is quoted, namely in Isis Unveiled, a work full of such guiding links between ancient, mediaeval,<br />
and modern thought, but, unfortunately, too loosely edited.<br />
**** Ay; but how can the learned writer prove that these "beginnings" were precisely in Egypt, and nowhere else; and only<br />
50,000 years ago?<br />
***** Precisely: and this is just what the Theosophists do. They have never claimed," (original inspiration," not even as<br />
mediums, but have always pointed, and do now point to the "primary signification" of the symbols, which they trace to<br />
other [[Footnote continued on next page]]<br />
------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
[[Vol. 2, Page]] 631 THE SIDEREAL SEVEN.<br />
later thought into the earliest types of expression, and then say the ancients meant that.* Subtilized interpretations which<br />
have become doctrines and dogmas in theosophy have now to be tested by their genesis in physical phenomena, in<br />
order that we may explode their false pretensions to supernatural origin or supernatural knowledge.**<br />
But the able author of the "Book of the Beginnings" and of "The Natural Genesis" does -- very fortunately, for us -- quite<br />
the reverse. He demonstrates most triumphantly our Esoteric (Buddhist) teachings, by showing them identical with those<br />
of Egypt. Let the reader judge from his learned lecture on "The Seven Souls of Man."*** Says the author:--<br />
"The first form of the mystical SEVEN was seen to be figured in heaven by the Seven large stars of the great Bear, the<br />
constellation assigned by the Egyptians to the Mother of Time, and of the Seven Elemental Powers."<br />
Just so, for the Hindus place in the great Bear their seven primitive Rishis and call this constellation the abode of the<br />
Saptarishi, Riksha and Chitra-Sikhandinas. But whether it is only an astronomical myth or a primordial mystery, having a<br />
deeper meaning than it bears on its surface, is what their adepts claim to know. We are also told that "the Egyptians<br />
divided the face of the sky by night into seven parts. The primary Heaven was seven-fold." So it was with the Aryans. One<br />
has but read the Puranas about the beginnings of Brahma, and his "Egg" to see it. Have the Aryans taken the idea from<br />
the Egyptians? -- "The earliest forces," proceeds the lecturer, "recognized in nature were reckoned as seven in number.<br />
These became seven elementals, devils (?) or later, divinities. Seven properties were assigned to nature, as<br />
[[Footnote(s)]] -------------------------------------------------<br />
[[Footnote continued from previous page]] countries, older even than Egypt; significations, moreover, which emanate from<br />
a hierarchy (or hierarchies, if preferred) of living wise men, mortals, notwithstanding that Wisdom, who reject every<br />
approach to supernaturalism.<br />
* But where is the proof that the ancients did not mean precisely that which the theosophists claim? Records exist for<br />
what they say, just as other records exist for what Mr. G. Massey says. His interpretations are very correct, but equally<br />
one-sided. Surely nature has more than one physical aspect; for astronomy, astrology, and so on, are all on the physical,<br />
not the spiritual plane.<br />
** It is to be feared that Mr. Massey has not succeeded. We have our followers as he has his followers, and materialistic<br />
Science steps in and takes little account of both his and our speculations!<br />
*** The fact that this learned Egyptologist does not recognise in the doctrine of the "Seven Souls," as he terms our<br />
principles, or "metaphysical concepts," but "the primitive biology or physiology of the Soul," does not invalidate our<br />
argument. The lecturer touches on only two keys, those that unlock the astronomical and the physiological mysteries of