English
But each animal it ensouls draws equally on the common stock of knowledge and experi- ences ; one consciousness shares the fresh experience of each. When one animal of a given family, for example, suffers, the common soul suffers. Just as in the case of a human being, if the right hand is injured, the man suffers though his left hand or his foot may not be suffering. Language breaks down, because physical brain con- ceptions break down, when we try to interpret the relations of the various common souls of the animal kingdom with é@ach other. The volume of spirit, if that clumsy expression may be employed, which for a time is ensouling some low order of animal life, undoubtedly achieves progression as a whole, and at a later period must come to ensoul a higher order; but it would be premature for us to attempt an exact interpretation of the changes through which that progression is accom- plished. It is more important to comprehend the later progress of the differentiated animal towards true human individuality when, from some one of the high orders of animal life, a specific animal engenders a 476 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. Re-incarnating individuality, and thus passes, in due time, and after a protracted interlude of non-physical blissful rest, into the human kingdom. An important distinction has here to be drawn between a Re-incarnating entity and an imperishable Ego. ‘The mere partial development of the Manasic principle, which is an inseparable accompaniment of individualisation in its first stage, does not involve the acquisition of that attribute of fully developed humanity that has been spoken of sometimes as the Divine spark. That is the consequence of a union between the Atma- Buddhic principle, which is in a manner latent in every form of life and therefore in the newly developed Re-incarnating entity, and the ocean of Atma-Buddhi, brooding, so to speak, over the whole of creation. This union is stimulated by the growth of Manas, (reason or intelligence), and when accomplished the entity— to be thought of thenceforward as an imperishable Ego—is definitely represented on the Arupa plane of Devachan by a vehicle of consciousness appropriate to that condition—the Causal body—as it is now generally called by European Theosophists. henceforth that permanent vehicle of consciousness, the same through all successive incarnations, is the individuality of the entity concerned, clothing itself afresh each time it descends to the plane of matter in new garments of circumstance, but never losing any attributes that have once been absorbed into its own nature. The aggregation of fresh attributes by the Ego thus developed proceeds very slowly in the beginning. It is divine in its nature, but is not divine in its develop- INDIVIDUALITY. 477 ment. Great confusion of thinking on occult matters has sometimes ensued from a neglect to make this last distinction. There is a great difference between know- ledge and the capacity to learn. Without the imperish- able Ego, the being, even though differentiated and no longer merely an expression of a common soul shared by other similar manifestations, is incapable of the least touch with the higher Manasic consciousness. With the touch once established, the Karana Sharira once in existence, that capacity sets in, but the new entity does not derive knowledge directly from the ocean of Atma-Buddhi with which it is now connected by what may be thought of as a fine though indestructible thread. It derives its knowledge up to a point far in advance of the state of things we are talking about— through the experiences of lower plane embodiments. Many such embodiments may contribute but little to the result. The wholesale drift of evolution is slow, as the scale on which the Manvantaras are planned out should teach us. But none the less is it equally true that at a certain stage the slow process of growth is succeeded by a progress of marvellous rapidity. We may look upon the turning point from the one rate of progress to the other as a stage in evolution hardly less definite as such than the original union with the Atma-Buddhi or the original differentiation from the common soul system of the animal kingdom. The turning point is that at which the Ego concerned in some one or other of its embodiments, at last compre- hends Manasically its own nature, and dedicates its will force to the realisation of its divine potentialities, 478 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. the fulfilment of the purpose with which it has been called into being. That achievement is generally described in the language of occultism as getting on the Path; and from that time on, though progress may be in some cases retarded by specific deficiencies in the attributes of the Ego, which have not prepared it equally all round for higher progress, the onward movement is accomplished by leaps and bounds, compared to the previous gradual drift. While our thoughts are still subject to the limitations of physical incarnation, it is not possible to follow that . progress in imagination to the ultimate development it may bring about, but we may hold on meanwhile confidently to the conviction that whatever enlargement of consciousness becomes possible for the imperishable individuality in its progress through the higher realms of Nature, that individuality is imperishable. It is never lost, not even in the wonderful spiritual union with other aspects of the universal consciousness which takes place even on planes of spiritual existence, which can be touched by the consciousness of advanced individualities still animating a human body. Nothing has contributed more to repel untrained minds from the sublime avenues of thought opened up by occult teaching than the glowing language that has sometimes been used about the mergence of the Soul ultimately in the Divine consciousness—its re-union with God, or its absorption in Parabrahm—-whatever phrase may be used. This seems to the finite understanding to convey the idea of individual extinction, and for those to whom no blank negation of suffering, but life and INDIVIDUALITY. 479 more life is what they crave, the much-talked-of union is looked upon as tantamount to their own annihilation. This is an altogether baseless and deplorable delusion. The real union is an infinite expansion of the individual consciousness, and not a surrender thereof, and while it begins to be a reality, even for those who have ascended the great path but relatively a little way, the individual consciousness does not cease to be a reality as deep and profound, even if we reach in imagination to heights which can only as yet be dimly apprehended. In illustration of that thought, let us turn back to the very broadest view we can take of the Soul’s growth, and contemplate once again the whole system to which we belong in its spiritual rather than in its scientific aspect. Never mind for a moment the marvellous and intricate beauty of the mechanism through which the great purpose of the system is worked out. Jet us think rather of the intention with which the Logos of the system sets the whole undertaking on foot. Let us, in conclusion, approach the loftiest phase of our great theme, and endeavour, in so far as that may be possible for human minds functioning under our present limita- tions, to comprehend the spiritual purpose of the stupendous system to which we belong, the underlying Divine idea of which that system, with all its astound- ing complexity of concurrent evolutionary schemes and of infinitely diversified life, is the visible manifestation. Sometimes we may be enabled, in a certain measure, to comprehend a mighty achievement in Nature as regards the collective design, even when the resources 480 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. of power by which the result is brought about baffle our closest scrutiny. Remember that from the point of view of the Theosophist, there are no blind forces in the cosmos super-inducing worlds and systems by their accidental conflux. Whatever happens on the levels concerned with the inauguration of a solar system is the direct expression of the Will of a Being sufficiently exalted in attributes to be able to render that will objective,—to become the manifestation He has created, in the first instance, by thought. By a term familiar to us all as associated with the idea of Divinity, we are enabled reverentially to refer to the Being whose Will engenders and whose Life is merged in our solar system as the Logos of the system. We can even go further. We can conceive of Him as emanating in some unfathom- able manner from the Supreme Infinite Consciousness, and undertaking the creation of the system as a stupendous act of self-devotion. Within His nature there resides the potentiality of an all but boundless multiplication of His own individuality. Without the appropriate effort on His part, these innumerable possibilities would lie dormant in the Supreme Con- sciousness. He accomplishes in the creation of the system which He becomes, the first great act of what is sometimes called Sacrifice. His sacrifice—His sub- mission for the whole duration of the system to limita- tions—is not made, like the sacrifice of lesser beings, one for another or for others, but for those who are as yet non-existent. He gives out His life to the unborn— to those who, but for His self-devotion, would not have individual consciousness at all; in order that the whole INDIVIDUALITY. 481 volume of Divine consciousness may be richer by count- less additional centres of appreciative consciousness.