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    "title": "CHAPTER VII.",
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    "text": "## CHAPTER VII.\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE- WAVE.\n\nA general account has already been given\nof the way in which the great evolutionary\nlife-wave sweeps round and round the seven\nworlds which compose the planetary chain of\nwhich our earth is a part. Further assistance\nmay now be offered, with the view of expanding\nthis general idea into a fuller comprehension of\nthe processes to which it relates. And no one\nadditional chapter of the great story will do\nmore towards rendering its character intelligi-\nble than an explanation of certain phenomena\nconnected with the progress of worlds, that\nmay be conveniently called obscurations.\n\nStudents of occult philosophy who enter on\nthat pursuit with minds already abundantly\nfurnished in other ways are very liable to mis-\ninterpret its earlier statements. Everything\ncannot be said at once, and the first broad\nexplanations are apt to suggest conceptions in\nregard to details which are most likely to be\nerroneous with the most active-minded and\n\n172 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nintelligent thinkers. Such readers are not con-\ntent with shadowy outlines even for a moment.\nImagination fills in the picture, and if its work\nis undisturbed for any length of time, the au-\nthor of it will be surprised afterwards to find\nthat later information is incompatible with that\nwhich he had come to regard as having been\ndistinctly taught in the beginning. Now in\nthis treatise the writer's effort is to convey\nthe information in such a way that hasty weed-\ngrowths of the mind may be prevented as far\nas possible ; but in this very effort it is neces-\nsary sometimes to run on quickly in advance,\nleaving some details, even very important de-\ntails, to be picked up during a second journey\nover the old ground. So now the reader must\nbe good enough to go back to the explanation\ngiven in Chapter III. of the evolutionary prog-\nress through the whole planetary chain.\n\nSome few words were said then concerning\nthe manner in which the life impulse passed on\nfrom planet to planet in \" rushes or gushes ;\nnot by an even continuous flow.\" Now the\ncourse of evolution in its earlier stages is so\nfar continuous that the preparation of several\nplanets for the final tidal-wave of humanity\nmay be going on simultaneously. Indeed, the\npreparation of all the seven planets may, at one\nstage of the proceedings, be going on simulta*\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 173\n\nneously, but the important point to remember\nis that the main wave of evolution — the fore-\nmost growing wave — cannot be in more than\none place at a time. The process goes on in\nthe way which may now be described, and\nwhich the reader may be the better able to fol-\nlow, if he constructs either on paper or in his\nown mind a diagram consisting of seven circles\n(representing the worlds) arranged in a ring.\nCalling them A, B, C, etc., it will be observed\nfrom what has been already stated that circle\n(or globe) D standi for our earth. Now the\nkingdoms of Nature as known .to occultists, be\nit remembered, are seven in number ; three hav-\ning to do with astral and elementary forces,\npreceding the grosser material kingdoms in the\norder of their development. Kingdom 1 evolves\non globe A, and passes on to B, as kingdom 2\nbegins to evolve on A. Carry out this system\nand of course it will be seen that kingdom 1 is\nevolving on globe G, while kingdom 7, the hu-\nman kingdom, is evolving on globe A. But\nnow what happens as kingdom 7 passes on to\nglobe B ? There is no eighth kingdom to en-\ngage the activities of globe A. The great pro-\ncesses of evolution have culminated in the final\ntidal-wave of humanity, which, as it sweeps on,\nleaves a temporary lethargy of Nature behind.\nWhen the life-wave goes on to B, in fact, globe\n\n174 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nA passes for the time into a state of obscura-\ntion. This state is not one of decay, dissolu-\ntion, or anything that can be properly called\ndeath. Decay itself, though its aspect is apt\nto mislead the mind, is a condition of activity\nin a certain direction, this consideration afford-\ning a clue to the meaning of a great deal which\nis otherwise meaningless in that part of Hindu\nmythology which relates to the deities presid-\ning over destruction. The obscuration of a\nworld is a total suspension of its activity ; this\ndoes not mean that the moment the last human\nmonad passes on from any given world that\nworld is paralyzed by any convulsion, or sub-\nsides into the enchanted trance of a sleeping\npalace. The animal and vegetable life goes on\nas before, for a time, but its character begins to\nrecede instead of advancing. The great life-\nwave has left it, and the animal and vegetable\nkingdoms gradually return to the condition in\nwhich they were found when the great life-\nwave first reached them. Enormous periods of\ntime are available for this slow process by\nwhich the obscured world settles into sleep, for\nit will be seen that obscuration in each case\nlasts six times l as long as the period of each.\n\n1 Or we may say five times, allowing for the half period of\nmorning which precedes and the half period of evening which fol-\nlows the dav of full activity.\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 175\n\nworld's occupation by the human life-wave.\nThat is to say, the process which is accom-\nplished as above described in connection with\nthe passage of the life-wave from globe A to\nglobe B is repeated all along the chain. When\nthe wave passes to C, B is left in obscuration\nas well as A. Then D receives the life-wave,\nand A, B, C are in obscuration. When the\nwave reaches G, all the preceding six worlds\nare in obscuration. Meanwhile the life-wave\npasses on in a certain regular progression, the\nsymmetrical character of which is very satis-\nfactory to scientific instincts. The reader will\nbe prepared to pick up the idea at once, in\nview of the explanations already given of the\nway in which humanity evolves through seven\ngreat races, during each round period on a\nplanet ; that is to say, during the occupation\nof such planet by the tidal wave of life. The\nfourth race is obviously the middle race of the\nseries. As soon as this middle point is turned,\nand the evolution of the fifth race on any given\nplanet begins, the preparation for humanity be-\ngins on the next. The evolution of the fifth\nrace on E, for example, is commensurate with\nthe evolution, or rather with the revival, of the\nmineral kingdom on D, and so on. That is to\nsay, the evolution of the sixth race on D coin-\ncides with the revival of the vegetable kingdom\n\n176 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\non E ; the seventh race on D with the revival\nof the animal kingdom on E ; and then when\nthe last monads of the seventh race on D have\npassed into the subjective state or world of ef-\nfects, the human period on E begins, and the\nfirst race begins its development there. Mean-\nwhile the twilight period on the world preced-\ning D has been deepening into the night of ob-\nscuration in the same progressive wa}^ and\nobscuration there definitely sets in when the\nhuman period on D passes its half-way point.\nBut just as the heart of a man beats and respi-\nration continues, no matter how profound his\nsleep, there are processes of vital action which\ngo on in the resting world even during the most\nprofound depths of its repose. And these pre-\nserve, in view of the next return of the human\nwave, the results of the evolution that preceded\nits first arrival. Recovery for the re-awaking\nplanet is a larger process than its subsidence\ninto rest, for it has to attain a higher degree of\nperfection against the return of the human life-\nwave than that at which it was left when the\nwave last went onward from its shore. But\nwith every new beginning, Nature is infused\nwith a vigor of its own, — the freshness of a\nmorning, — and the later obscuration period,\nwhich is a time of preparation and hopefulness\nas it were, invests evolution itself with a new\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 177\n\nmomentum. By the time the great life-wave\nreturns, all is ready for its reception.\n\nIn the first essay on this subject it was\nroughly indicated that the various worlds mak-\ning up our planetary chain were not all of the\nsame materiality. Putting the conception of\nspirit at the north pole of the circle and that of\nmatter at the south pole, the worlds of the de-\nscending arc vary in materiality and spiritual-\nity, like those of the ascending arc. This varia-\ntion must now be considered more attentively\nif the reader wishes to realize the whole pro-\ncesses of evolution more fully than heretofore.\n\nBesides the earth, which is at the lowest ma-\nterial point, there are only two other worlds of\nour chain which are visible to physical eyes, —\nthe one behind and the one in advance of it.\nThese two worlds, as a matter of fact, are Mars\nand Mercury, — Mars being behind and Mer-\ncury in advance of us : Mars in a state of en-\ntire obscuration now as regards the human life-\nwave, Mercury just beginning to prepare for its\nnext human period.1\n\n1 It may be worth while here to remark for the benefit of people\nwho ma}* be disposed, from physical science reading, to object\nthat Mercury is too near the Sun, and consequently too hot to be a\nsuitable place of habitation for man, that in the official report of\nthe Astronomical Department of the United States on the recent\n■'Mount Whitney observations \" statements will be found that\nmay check too confident criticisms of occult science along that line.\n\n178 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nThe two planets of our chain that are behind\nMars, and the two that are in advance of Mer-\ncury, are not composed of an order of matter\nwhich telescopes can take cognizance of. Four\nout of the seven are thus of an ethereal nature,\nwhich people who can only conceive matter in\nits earthly form will be inclined to call immate-\nrial. But they are not really immaterial at all.\nThey are simply in a finer state of materiality\nthan the earth, but their finer state does not in\nany way defeat the uniformity of Nature's de-\nsign in regard to the methods and stages of their\n\nThe results of the Mount Whitney observations on selective absorp-\ntion of solar rays showed, according to the official reporter, that it\nwould no longer be impossible to suggest the conditions of an at-\nmosphere which should render Mercury habitable at\" the one ex-\ntreme of the scale, and Saturn at the other. We have no concern\nwith Saturn at present, nor, if it were necessary to explain on oc-\ncult principles the habitability of Mercury, should the task be at-\ntempted with calculations about selective absorption. The fact is\nthat ordinary science makes at once too much and too little of the\nSun, as the storehouse of force for the solar system, — too much in\nso far as the heat of planets has a great deal to do with another in-\nfluence quite distinct from the Sun, an influence which will not be\nthoroughly understood till more is known than at present about the\ncorrelations of heat and magnetism, and of the magnetic, meteoric\ndust, with which inter-planetary space is pervaded. However, it\nis enough — to rebut any objection that might be raised against\n1he explanations now in progress, from the point of view of Jpyal\ndevotees of last year's science — to point out that such objections\nwould be already out of date. Modern science is very progressive,\n— this is one of its greatest merits, — but it is not a meritorious\nhabit with modern scientists to think, at each stage of its progress,\n)hat all conceptions incompatible with that stage must necessarily\nbe absurd.\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE- WAVE. 179\n\nevolution. Within the scale of their subtle\n\"invisibility,\" the successive rounds and races\nof mankind pass through their stages of greater\nand less materiality just as on this earth ; but\nwhoever would comprehend them must compre-\nhend this earth first, and work out their deli-\ncate phenomena by correspondential inferences.\nLet us return, therefore, to the consideration of\nthe great life-wave in its aspects on this planet.\nJust as the chain of worlds treated as a unity\nhas its north and south, its spiritual and ma-\nterial, pole, working from spirituality down\nthrough materiality up to spirituality again, so\nthe rounds of mankind constitute a similar se-\nries which the chain of globes itself might be\ntaken to symbolize. In the evolution of man\nin fact, on any one plane as on all, there is a\ndescending and an ascending arc ; spirit, so to\nspeak, involving itself into matter, and matter\nevolving itself into spirit. The lowest or most\nmaterial point in the cycle thus becomes the\ninverted apex of physical intelligence, which is\nthe masked manifestation of spiritual intelli-\ngence. Each round of mankind evolved on the\ndownward arc (as each race of each round if\nwe descend to the smaller mirror of the cosmos)\nmust thus be more physically intelligent than\nits predecessor, and each in the upward arc\nmust be invested with a more refined form of\n\n180 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nmentality commingled with greater spiritual in-\ntuitiveness. In the first round, therefore, we\nfind man a relatively ethereal being compared\neven on earth with the state he has now at-\ntained here, not intellectual, but super-spiritual.\nLike the animal and vegetable shapes around\nhim, he inhabits an immense but loosely organ-\nized body. In the second round he is still gi-\ngantic and ethereal, but growing firmer and\nmore condensed in body, — a more physical\nman, but still less intelligent than spiritual.\nIn the third round he has developed a perfectly\nconcrete and compacted body, at first the form\nrather of a giant ape than of a true man, but\nwith intelligence coming more and more into\nthe ascendant. In the last half of the third\nround his gigantic stature decreases, his body\nimproves in texture, and he begins to be a ra-\ntional man. In the fourth round intellect, now\nfully developed, achieves enormous progress.\nThe direct races with which the round begins\nacquire human speech as we understand it.\nThe world teems with the results of intellectual\nactivity and spiritual decline. At the half-way\npoint of the fourth round here the polar point\nof the whole seven-world period is passed.\nFrom this point outwards the spiritual Ego\nbegins its real struggle with body and mind\nto manifest its transcendental powers. Iu\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 181\n\nthe fifth round the struggle continues, but the\ntranscendental faculties are largely developed,\nthough the struggle between these on the one\nhand with physical intellect and propensity is\nfiercer than ever, for the intellect of the fifth\nround as well as its spirituality is an advance\non that of the fourth. In the sixth round\nhumanity attains a degree of perfection both\nof body and soul, of intellect and spirituality,\nwhich ordinary mortals of the present epoch\nwill not readily realize in their imaginations.\nThe most supreme combinations of wisdom,\ngoodness, and transcendental enlightenment\nivhich the world has ever seen or thought of\nwill represent the ordinary type of manhood.\nThose faculties which now, in the rare efflores-\ncence of a generation, enable some extraordi-\nnarily gifted persons to explore the mysteries\nof Nature and gather the knowledge of which\nsome crumbs are now being offered (through\nthese writings and in other ways) to the ordi-\nnary world, will then be the common appanage\nof all. As to what the seventh round will be\nlike, the most communicative occult teachers\nare solemnly silent. Mankind in the seventh\nround will be something altogether too God-\nlike for mankind in the fourth round to fore-\ncast its attributes.\n\nDuring the occupation of any planet by the\n\n182 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nhuman life- wave, each individual monad is\ninevitably incarnated many times. This has\nbeen partly explained. If one existence only\nbe passed by the monad in each of the branch\nraces through which it must pass at least once,\nthe total number accomplished during a round\nperiod on one planet would be 343, — the third\npower of seven. But as a matter of fact each\nmonad is incarnated twice in each of the\nbranch. races, and also comes in, necessarily, for\nsome few extra incarnations as well. For rea-\nsons which are not easy for the outsider to di-\nvine, the possessors of occult knowledge are\nespecially reluctant to give out numerical facts\nrelating to cosmogony, though it is hard for the\nuninitiated to understand why these should be\nwithheld. At present, for example, we shall\nnot be able to state what is the actual duration\nin years of the round period. But a concession,\nwhich only those who have long been students\nof occultism by the old method will fully appre-\nciate, has been made about the numbers with\nwhich we are immediately concerned ; and this\nconcession is valuable at all events, as it helps\nto elucidate an interesting fact connected with\nevolution, on the threshold of which we have\nnow arrived. This fact is that while the earth,\nfor example, is inhabited, as at present, by\nfourth-round humanity, by the wave of human\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 183\n\nlife, that is to say, on its fourth journey round\nthe circle of the worlds, there may be present\namong us some few persons, few in relation to\nthe total number, who, properly speaking, be-\nlong to the fifth round. Now, in the sense of\nthe term at present employed, it must not be\nsupposed that by any miraculous process any\nindividual unit has actually traveled round the\nwhole chain of worlds once more often than his\ncompeers. Under the explanations just given\nas to the way the tide- wave of humanity pro-\ngresses, it will be seen that this is impossible.\nHumanity has not yet paid its fifth visit even\nto the planet next in advance of our own. But\nindividual monads may outstrip their compan-\nions as regards their individual development,\nand so become exactly as mankind generally will\nbe when the fifth round has been fully evolved.\nAnd this may be accomplished in two ways :\nA man born as an ordinary fourth-round man\nmay, by processes of occult training, convert\nhimself into a man having all the attributes of\na fifth-round man, and so become what we may\ncall an artificial fifth rounder. But indepen-\ndently of all exertions made by man in his pres-\nent incarnation, a man may also be born a fifth\nrounder, though in the midst of fourth-round\nhumanity by virtue of the total number of his\nprevious incarnations.\n\n184 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nIf x stands for the normal number of incarna-\ntions which in the course of Nature a monad\nmust go through during a round period on one\nplanet, and y for the margin of extra incarna-\ntions into which by a strong desire for phys-\nical life he may force himself during such a\nperiod, then, as a matter of fact, 24^ (x -\\- y)\nmay exceed 28 x ; that is to say, in 3^ rounds\na monad may have accomplished as many in-\ncarnations as an ordinary monad would have\naccomplished in four complete rounds. In less\nthan 3| rounds the result could not have been\nattained, so that it is only now that we have\npassed the half-way point of evolution on this\nhalf-way planet that the fifth rounders are be-\nginning to drop in.\n\nIt is not possible in the nature of things that\na monad can do more than outstrip his com-\npanions by more than one round. This consid-\neration, notwithstanding Buddha was a sixth-\nround man ; but this fact has to do with a great\nmystery outside the limits of the present calcu-\nlation. Enough for the moment to say that\nthe evolution of a Buddha has to do with some-\nthing more than mere incarnations within the\nlimits of one planetary chain.\n\nSince large numbers of lives have been recog\nnized in the above calculations as following one\nanother in the successive incarnations of an\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 185\n\nindividual monad, it is important here, with\nthe view of averting misconceptions, to point\nout that the periods of time over which these\nincarnations range are so great chat vast inter-\nvals separate them, numerous as they are. As\nstated above, we cannot just now give the act-\nual duration of the round periods. Nor, indeed,\ncould any figures be quoted as indicating the\nduration of all round periods equally, for these\nvary in length within very wide limits. But\nhere is a simple fact which has been definitely\nstated on the highest occult authority we are\nconcerned with. The present race of human-\nity, the present fifth race of the fourth-round\nperiod, began to evolve about one million of\nyears ago. Now it is not yet finished ; but\nsupposing that a million years had constituted\nthe complete life of the race,1 how would it\nhave been divided up for each individual\nmonad ? In a race there must be rather more\nthan 100, and there can hardly be 120, incarna-\ntions for an individual monad. But say even\nthere have been already 120 incarnations for\n\n1 The complete life of a race is certainly much longer than\nthis ; but when we get to figures of this kind we are on very deli-\ncate ground, for precise periods are very profound secrets, for rea-\nsons uninitiated students (\"lay chelas,\" as the adepts now say,\ncoining a new designation to meet a new condition of things) can\nonly imperfectly divine. Calculations like those given above may\nbe trusted literally as far as they go, but must not rashly be made\nthe basis of others.\n\n186 ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.\n\nmonads in the present race already, and say\nthat the average life of each incarnation was a\ncentury ; even then we should only have 12,000\nyears out of the million spent in physical ex-\nistence against 988,000 years spent in the sub-\njective sphere, or there would be an average of\nmore than 8,000 years between each incarna-\ntion. Certainly these intervening periods are\nof very variable length, but they can hardly\neven contract to anything less than 1,500 years,\n— leaving out of account, of course, the case of\nadepts who have, placed themselves quite out-\nside the operation of the ordinary law, — and\n1,500 years, if not an impossibly short, would\nbe a very brief, interval between two rebirths.\n\nThese calculations must be qualified by one\nor two considerations, however. The cases of\nchildren dying in infancy are quite unlike those\nof persons who attain full maturity, and for\nobvious reasons, that the explanations now al-\nready given will suggest. A child dying be-\nfore it has lived long enough to begin to be\nresponsible for its actions has generated no\nfresh Karma. The spiritual monad leaves that\nchild's body in just the same state in which it\nentered it after its last death in Devachan. It\nhas had no opportunity of playing on its new\ninstrument, which has been broken before even\nit was tuned. A re-incarnation of the monad,\n\nTHE HUMAN TIDE-WAVE. 187\n\ntherefore, may take place immediately, on the\nline of its old attraction. But the monad so\nre-incarnated is not to be spiritually identified\nin any way with the dead child. So, in the\nsame way, with a monad getting into the body\nof a born idiot. The instrument cannot be\ntuned, so it cannot play on that any more than\non the child's body in the first few years of\nchildhood. But both these cases are manifest\nexceptions that do not alter the broad rule\nabove laid down for all persons attaining ma-\nturity, and living their earth lives for good or\nevil.",
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