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The Planetary Chains
From
A Textbook of Theosophy
By
C
The scheme of
evolution of which our Earth forms a part is not the only one in our solar
system, for ten separate chains of globes exist in that system which are all of
them theatres of somewhat similar progress. Each of these schemes of evolution
is taking place upon a chain of globes, and in the course of each scheme its
chain of globes goes through seven incarnations. The plan, alike of each scheme
as a whole and of the successive incarnations of its chain of globes, is to dip
step by step more deeply into matter, and then to rise step by step out of it
again.
Each chain
consists of seven globes, and both globes and chains observe the rule of
descending into matter and then rising out of it again. In order to make this
comprehensible let us take as an example the chain to which our Earth belongs.
At the
present time it is in its fourth or most material incarnation, and therefore
three of its globes belong to the physical world, two to the astral world and
two to the lower part of the mental world. The wave of Divine Life passes in
succession from globe to globe of this chain, beginning with one of the
highest, descending gradually to the lowest and then climbing again to the same
level as that at which it began.
Let us for
convenience of reference label the seven globes by the earlier letters of the
alphabet, and number the incarnations in order. Thus, as this is the fourth
incarnation of our chain, the first globe in this incarnation will be 4A, the
second 4B, the third 4C, the fourth (which is our Earth) 4D, and so on.
These globes
are not all composed of physical matter. 4A contains no matter lower than that
of the mental world; it has its counterpart in all the worlds higher than that,
but nothing below it. 4B exists in the astral world; but 4C is a physical
globe, visible to our telescope, and is in fact the planet which we know as
Mars. Globe 4D is our own Earth, on which the life-wave of the chain is at
present in action. Globe 4E is the planet which we call Mercury – also in the
physical
world. Globe
4F is in the astral world, corresponding on the ascending arc to globe 4B in
the descent; while globe 4G corresponds to globe 4A in having its lowest
manifestation in the lower part of the mental world. Thus it will be seen that
we have a scheme of globes starting in the lower mental world, dipping through
the astral into the physical and then rising into the lower mental through the
astral again.
Just as the
succession of the globes in a chain constitutes a descent into matter and an
ascent from it again, so do the successive incarnations of a chain. We have
described the condition of affairs in the fourth incarnation; looking back at
the third, we find that that commences not on the lower level of the mental
world but on the higher. Globes 3A and 3G, then, are both of higher mental
matter, while globes (Page123) 3B and 3F are at the lower mental level. Globes
3C and 3E belong to the astral world, and only globe 3D is visible in the
physical world. Although this third incarnation of our chain is long past, the
corpse of this physical globe 3D is still visible to us in the shape of that
dead planet the Moon, whence that third incarnation is usually called the lunar
chain.
The fifth
incarnation of our chain, which still lies very far in the future, will
correspond to the third. In that, globes 5A and 5G will be built of higher
mental matter, globes 5B and 5F of lower mental matter, globes 5C and 5E of
astral matter, and only globe 5D will be in the physical world. This planet 5D
is of course not yet in existence.
The other
incarnations of the chain follow the same general rule of gradually decreasing
materiality; 2A, 2G, 6A and 6G are all in the intuitional world; 2B, 2F, 6B and
6F are all in the higher part of the mental world; 2C, 2E, 6C and 6E are in the
lower part of the mental world; 2D and 6D are in the astral world. In the same
way 1A, 1G, 7A and 7G belong to the spiritual world; 1B, 1F, 7B and 7F are in
the intuitional world; 1C, 1E, 7C and 7E are in the higher part of the mental
world; 1D and 7D are in the lower part of the mental world.
Thus it will
be seen that not only does the life-wave in passing through one chain of globes
dip down into matter and rise out of it again, but the chain itself in its
successive incarnations does exactly the same thing.
There are ten
schemes of evolution at present existing in our solar system, but only seven of
them are at the stage where they have planets in the physical world.
These are:
(1) that of
an unrecognized planet Vulcan, very near the sun, about which we have very
little definite information. It was seen by the astronomer Hersche, but is now
said to have disappeared. We at firstunderstood that it was in its third incarnation;
but it is now regarded as possible that it has recently passed from its fifth
to its sixth chain, which would account for its alleged disappearance;
(2) that of
Venus, which is in its fifth incarnation, and also therefore has only one visible
globe;
(3) that of
the Earth, Mars and Mercury, which has three visible planets because it is in
its fourth incarnation;
(4) that of
Jupiter,
(5) that of
Saturn,
(6) that of
Uranus, all in their third incarnations; and
(7) that of
Neptune and the two unnamed planets beyond his orbit, which is in its fourth
incarnation, and therefore has three physical planets as we have.
In each
incarnation of a chain (commonly called a chain-period) the wave of Divine Life
moves seven times round the chain of seven planets, and each such movement is
spoken of as a round. The time that the life-wave stays upon each planet, is
known as a world-period, and in the course of a world-period there are seven
great root-races. As has been previously explained, these are subdivided into
sub-races, and those again into branch races. For convenience of reference we
may state this in tabular form:
7
Branch-Races 1- Sub-Race
7 Sub-Races
1-Root-Race
7
Root-Races1-World-Period
7
World-Periods 1-Round
7
Rounds1-Chain-Period
7
Chain-Periods 1-Scheme of Evolution
10 Schemes of
EvolutionOur System Evolution
It is clear
that the fourth root-race of the fourth globe of the fourth round of a fourth chain-period
would be the central point of a whole scheme of evolution, and we find
ourselves at the present moment only a little past the point. The Aryan race,
to which we belong, is the fifth root-race of the fourth globe, so that the
actual middle point fell in the time of the last great root-race, the
Atlantean. Consequently the human race as a whole is very little more than
halfway
through its evolution, and those few souls who are already nearing Adeptship,
which is the end and crown of this evolution, are very far in advance of their
fellows.
How do they
come to be so far in advance? Partly and in some cases because they have worked
harder, but usually because they are older egos – because they were
individualized out of the animal kingdom at an earlier date, and so have had
more time for
the human part of their evolution.
Any given
wave of life sent forth from the Deity usually spends a chain-period in each of
the great kingdoms of nature. That which in our first chain was ensouling the
first elemental kingdom must have ensouled in the second of those kingdoms in
the second chain, the third of them in the Moon-chain, and is now in the
mineral kingdom in the fourth chain. In the future fifth chain it will ensoul
the vegetable kingdom, in the sixth the animal, and in the seventh it will
attain humanity.
From this it
follows that we ourselves represented the mineral kingdom on the first chain,
the vegetable on the second, and the animal on the lunar chain. There some of
us attained our individualization, and so we were enabled to enter this
Earth-chain as men. Others who were a little more backward did not succeed in
attaining it, and so had to be born into this chain as animals for a while
before they could reach humanity.
Not all of
mankind, however, entered this chain together. When the lunar chain came to its
end the humanity upon it stood at various levels. Not Adeptship, but what is
now for us the fourth step on the Path, was the goal appointed for that chain.
Those who had attained it (commonly called in theosophical literature the Lords
of the Moon) had, as is usual, seven choices before them as to the way in which
they would serve. Only one of those choices brought them, or rather a few of
them, over into this Earth-chain, to act as guides and teachers to the earlier
races. A considerable proportion – a vast proportion, indeed – of the Moon-men
had not attained that level, and consequently had to appear in this Earth-chain
as humanity. Besides this, a great mass of the animal kingdom of the Moon-chain
was surging up to the level of individualization, and some of its members had
already reached it, while many others had not. These latter needed further
animal incarnations upon the Earth-chain, and for the moment may be put aside.
There were
many classes even among humanity, and the manner in which these distributed
themselves over the Earth-chain needs some explanation. It is the general rule
that those who have attained the highest possible in any chain, on any globe,
in any root-race, are not born into the beginning of the next chain, globe or
race, respectively. The earlier stages are always for the backwardentities, and
only when they have already passed through a good deal of evolution and are
beginning to approach the level of those others who had done better, do the
latter descend into incarnation and join them once more. That is to say, almost
the earlier half of any period of evolution, whether it be a race, a globe or a
chain, seems to be devoted to bringing the backward people up to nearly the
level of those who have got on better; then these latter also (who, in the
meantime, have been resting in great enjoyment in the mental world) descend
into incarnation along with the others, and they press on together until the
end of the period.
Thus the
first of the egos from the Moon who entered the Earth-chain were by no means
the most advanced. Indeed they may be described as the least advanced of those
who had succeeded in attaining humanity – the animal-men. Coming as they did
into a chain of new globes, freshly aggregated, they had to establish the forms
in all the different kingdoms of Nature. This needs to be done at the beginning
of the first round in a new chain, but never after that; for though the
life-wave is centered only upon one of the seven globes of a chain at any given
time, yet life has not entirely departed from the other globes. At the
present
moment, for example, the life-wave of our chain is centered in this Earth, but
on the other two physical globes of our chain, Mars and Mercury, life still
exists. There is still a population, human, animal and vegetable,
andconsequently when the life-wave goes round again to either of those planets
there will be no necessity for the creation of new forms. The old types are
already there, and all that will happen
will be a sudden marvellous fecundity, so that the various kingdoms will
quickly increase and multiply, and make a rapidly increasing population instead
of a stationary one.
It was, then,
the animal-men, the lowest class of human beings of the Moon-chain, who
established the forms in the first round of the Earth-chain. Pressing closely
after them were the highest of the lunar animal kingdom, who were soon ready to
occupy the forms which had just been made. In the second journey round the
seven globes of the Earth-chain, the animal-men who had been the most backward
of the lunar humanity were leaders of this terrene humanity, the highest of the
moon-animals making its less developed grades. The same thing went on in the
third round of the Earth-chain, more and more of the lunar animals attaining
individualization and joining the human ranks, until in the middle of that
round on this very globe D which we call the Earth, a higher class of human
beings – the Second Order of moon-men – descended into incarnation and at once
took the lead.
When we come
to the fourth, our present round, we find the First Order of the moon-men
pouring in upon us – all the highest and the best of the lunar humanity who had
only just fallen short of success. Some of those who had already, even on the
Moon, entered upon the Path soon attained its end, became Adepts and passed
away from the Earth. Some few others who had not been quite so far advanced
have attained Adeptship only comparatively recently – that is, within the last
few thousand years, and these are the Adepts of the present day.
We, who find
ourselves in the higher races of humanity now, were several stages behind Them,
but the opportunity lies before us of following in Their steps if we will.
The evolution
of which we have been speaking is that of the ego himself, of what might be
called the soul of man; but at the same time there has been also an evolution
of the body. The forms built in the first round were very different from any of
which we know anything now. Properly speaking, those which were made on our
physical earth can scarcely be called forms at all, for they were constructed
of etheric matter only, and resembled vague, drifting and almost shapeless
clouds. In the second round they were definitely physical, but still shapeless
and light enough to float about in currents of wind.
Only in the
third round did they begin to bear any kind of resemblance to man as we know
him today. The very methods of reproduction of those primitive forms differed
from those of humanity today, and far more resembled those which we now find
only in very much lower types of life. Man in those early days was androgynous,
and a definite separation into the sexes took place only about the middle of
the third round. From that time onward until now the shape of man has been
steadily evolving along definitely human lines, becoming smaller and more
compact than it was, learning to stand upright instead of stooping and
crawling, and generally differentiating itself from the animal forms out of
which it had been evolved.
One curious
break in the regularity of this evolution deserves mention. On this globe, in
this fourth round, there was a departure from the straightforward scheme of
evolution. This being the middle globe of a middle round, the midmost point of
evolution upon it marked the last movement at which it was possible for members
of what had been the lunar animal kingdom to attain individualization.
Consequently a
sort of strong effort was made – a special scheme was arranged to give a final
chance to as many as possible. The conditions of the first and second rounds
were specially reproduced in place of the first and second races – conditions
of which in the earlier rounds these backward egos had not been able fully to
take advantage. Now, with the additional evolution which they had undergone
during the third round, some of them were able to take suchadvantage, and so
they rushed in at the very last moment before the door was shut, and became
just human. Naturally they will not reach any high level of human development,
but at least when they try again in some future chain it will be some advantage
to them to have had even this slight experience of human life.
Our
terrestrial evolution received a most valuable stimulus from the assistance
given to us by our sister globe, Venus. Venus is at present in the fifth
incarnation of its chain, and in the seventh round of that incarnation, so that
its inhabitants are a whole chain and a half in front of us in evolution.
Since,
therefore, its people are so much more developed than ours, it was thought
desirable that certain Adepts from the Venus evolution should be transferred to
our Earth in order to assist in the specially busy time just before the closing
of the door, in the middle of the fourth root-race.
These august
Beings have been called the Lords of the Flame and the Children of the
Fire-mist, and They have produced a wonderful effect upon ourevolution. The
intellect of which we are so proud is almost entirely due to Their presence,
for in the natural course of events the next round, the fifth, should be that
of intellectual advancement, and in this our present fourth round we should be
devoting ourselves chiefly to the cultivation of the emotions. We are therefore
in reality a long way in advance of the program marked out for us; and such
advance is entirely due to the assistance given by these great Lords of the
Flame. Most of Them stayed with us only through that critical period of our
history; a few still remain to hold the highest offices of the Great White
Brotherhood until the time when men of our own evolution shall have risen to
such a height as to be capable of relieving their august Visitors.
The evolution
lying before us in both of the life and of the form; for in future rounds,
while the egos will be steadily growing in power, wisdom and love, the physical
forms also will be more beautiful and more perfect than they have ever yet
been. We have in this world at the present time men at widely differing stages
of evolution, and it is clear that there are vast hosts of savages who are far
behind the great civilized races of the world – so far behind that it is quite
impossible that they can overtake them. Later on in the course of our evolution
a point will be reached at which it is no longer possible for those undeveloped
souls to advance side by side with the others, so that it will be necessary
that a division should be made.
The
proceeding is exactly analogous to the sorting out by a schoolmaster of the
boys in his class. During the school year he has to prepare his boys for a
certain examination, and by perhaps the middle of that school year he knows
quite well which of them will pass it. If he should have in his class some who
are hopelessly behind the rest, he might reasonably say to them when the middle
period was reached:
“It is quite
useless for you to continue with your fellows, for the more difficult lessons
which I shall now have to give will be entirely unintelligible to you. It is
impossible that you can learn enough in the time to pass the examination, so
that the effort would only be a useless strain for you, and meantime you would
be a hindrance to the rest of the class. It is therefore far better for you to
give upstriving after the impossible, and to take up again the work of the
lower class which you did not do perfectly, and then to offer yourselves for
this examination along with next year’s class, for what is now impossible for
you will then be
easy”.
This is in
effect exactly what is said at a certain stage in our future evolution, to the
most backward egos. They drop out of this year’s class and come along with the
next one. This is the “aeonian condemnation” to which reference was made a
little while ago. It is computed that about two fifths of humanity will drop
out of the class in this way, leaving the remaining three fifths to go on with
far greater rapidity to the glorious destinies which lie before them.
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Theosophy Cardiff Nirvana Pages
Classic Introductory
Theosophy Text
A Text Book of Theosophy By C
What Theosophy Is From the Absolute to Man
The Formation of a Solar System The Evolution of Life
The Constitution of Man After Death Reincarnation
The Purpose of Life The Planetary Chains
The Result of Theosophical Study
An Outstanding
Introduction to Theosophy
By a student of
Katherine Tingley
Elementary Theosophy Who is the Man? Body and Soul
Body, Soul and Spirit Reincarnation Karma
Preface to the American Edition Introduction
Occultism and its Adepts The Theosophical Society
First Occult Experiences Teachings of Occult Philosophy
Later Occult Phenomena Appendix
Preface
Theosophy and the Masters General Principles
The Earth Chain Body and Astral Body Kama – Desire
Manas Of Reincarnation Reincarnation Continued
Karma Kama Loka
Devachan
Cycles
Arguments Supporting Reincarnation
Differentiation Of Species Missing Links
Psychic Laws, Forces, and Phenomena
Psychic Phenomena and Spiritualism
Karma Fundamental Principles Laws: Natural and Man-Made The Law of Laws
The Eternal Now
Succession
Causation The Laws of Nature A Lesson of The Law
Karma Does Not Crush Apply This Law
Man in The Three Worlds Understand The Truth
Man and His Surroundings The Three Fates
The Pair of Triplets Thought, The Builder
Practical Meditation Will and Desire
The Mastery of Desire Two Other Points
The Third Thread Perfect Justice
Our Environment
Our Kith and Kin Our Nation
The Light for a Good Man Knowledge of Law The Opposing Schools
The More Modern View Self-Examination Out of the Past
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We Grow By Giving Collective Karma Family Karma
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