Theosophy : Man Visible and Invisible by C.W. Leadbeater

	CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.	How These Things Are Known
II.	The Planes of Nature
III.	Clairvoyant Sight
IV.	Man’s Vehicles
V.	The Trinity
VI.	The Earlier Outpourings
VII.	The Animal Group-Soul
VIII.	The Upward Curve
IX.	Human Consciousness
X.	The Third Outpouring
XI.	How Man Evolves
XII.	What His Bodies Show Us
XIII.	Colors and Their Meaning
XIV.	The Counterpart
XV	Early Stages of Man's Development
XVI.	The Ordinary Person
XVII.	Sudden Emotions
XVIII.	More Permanent Conditions
XIX.	The Developed Man
XX.	The Health-Aura
XXI.	The Causal Body of the Adept
	Appendix


Plate I - Signification of the Colors


Plate II - Planes of Nature	Plate III - Three Outpourings


Plate IV - Involution and Evolution

THIS book was first published in 1902 and it has continued to be in demand through the years since then. Because of the great interest in extrasensory perception and in invisible aspects of man’s nature, it is now being published for the first time in a paperback edition in a slightly abridged form. A few passages which are not relevant today have been eliminated, but they do not affect the main thesis of the work. The original language of the author remains the same, with two exceptions. So as not to confuse the reader with the modern scientific use of the term “atom”, a change has been made in some places in the text by substituting the word “unit” where the author is referring to ultimate units of matter. In some places the word “savage” has been replaced by the term “primitive man” or “undeveloped man”. A brief appendix has been added to explain a few technical terms. The original colored plates, painted under the direction of Mr. Leadbeater, have been used.

1. MAN is a curiously complex being, and his evolution, past, present and future, is a study of perennial interest for all who can see and understand. Through what toilsome eternities of gradual development he has come to be what he is, to what round in the long ladder of his progress he has now attained, what possibilities of further progress the veil of the future conceals from us, these are questions to which few can be indifferent - questions which have been occurring all through the ages to everyone who has thought at all.

2. In the Western world the answers given have been many and various. There has been much dogmatic assertion, based on differing interpretations of alleged revelation; there have been many ingenious speculations, the fruit in some cases of close metaphysical reasoning. But dogmatism meets us with a story which is on the face of it manifestly impossible, while speculation moves chiefly along entirely materialistic lines, and endeavors to arrive at a satisfactory result by ignoring half of the phenomena for which we have to account. Neither dogmatism nor speculation approaches the problem from a practical point of view, as a matter which can be studied and investigated like any other science.

3. Theosophy comes forward with a theory based upon entirely different foundations. While in no way depreciating the knowledge to be gained either by study of the ancient scriptures or by philosophical reasoning, it nevertheless regards the constitution and the evolution of man as matters, not of speculation, but of simple investigation. When so examined, they prove to be parts of a magnificent scheme, coherent and readily comprehensible - a scheme which, while it agrees with and explains much of the old religious teaching, is yet in no way dependent on it, since it can be verified at every step by the use of the inner faculties which, though as yet latent in the majority of mankind, have already been brought into working order by a number among our students.

4. For the past history of man, this theory depends not only upon the concurrent testimony of the tradition of the earlier religions, but upon the examination of a definite record - a record which can be seen and consulted by anyone who possesses the degree of clairvoyance requisite to appreciate the vibrations of the finely subdivided matter upon which it is impressed. For its knowledge as to the future which awaits humanity, it depends, first, upon logical deduction from the character of the progress already made; second, on direct information supplied by men who have already reached those conditions which for most of us still constitute a more or less remote future; and third, on the comparison which anyone who has the privilege of seeing them may make between highly evolved men at various levels. We can imagine that a child who did not otherwise know the course of nature might reason that he would presently grow up and become a man, merely from the fact that he had already grown to a certain extent and in a certain way, and that he saw around him other children and young people at every stage of growth between his own and the adult level.

5. The study of the condition of man at the present time, of the immediate methods for his evolution, and of the effect upon that evolution of his thoughts, his emotions, his actions - all this is regarded by theosophical students as a matter of the application of well-known laws as a broad, general principle, and then of careful observations, of painstaking comparison of many cases in order to comprehend the detailed working of these laws. It is, in fact, simply a question of sight, and this book is published in the hope, first, that it may help earnest students who do not yet possess this sight to realize how the soul and its vehicles appear when examined by its means; and second, that the persons who are now beginning to exercise this vision more or less perfectly, may by it be helped to understand the meaning of what they see.

6. I am perfectly aware that the world at large is not yet convinced of the existence of this power of clairvoyant sight; but I also know that all who have really studied the question have found the evidence for it irresistible. If any intelligent person will read the authenticated stories quoted in my book Clairvoyance, and will then turn from them to the books from which they were selected, he will see at once that there is an overwhelming mass of evidence in favor of the existence of this faculty. To those who themselves can see, and are daily in the habit of exercising this higher vision in a hundred different ways, the denial of the majority that such sight is possible naturally seems ridiculous. For the clairvoyant the question is not worth arguing. If a blind man came up to us and assured us that there was no such thing as ordinary physical sight, and that we were deluded in supposing that we possessed this faculty, we in our turn should probably not feel it worth while to argue at great length in defense of our supposed delusion. We should simply say: “I certainly do see, and it is useless to try to persuade me that I do not; all the daily experiences of my life show me that I do; I decline to be argued out of my definite knowledge of positive facts.” Now this is precisely how the trained clairvoyant feels when ignorant people serenely pronounce that it is quite, impossible that he should possess a power which he is at that very moment using to read the thoughts of those who deny it to him!

7. I am not attempting, therefore, in this book to prove that clairvoyance is a reality; I take that for granted, and proceed to describe what is seen by its means. Neither will I here repeat the details given in the little book which I have mentioned as to the methods of

8. clairvoyance, but will confine myself to such brief statement of the broad principles of the subject as is absolutely necessary in order that this book shall be comprehensible to one who has not studied other theosophical literature.

11. THE first point which must be clearly comprehended is the wonderful complexity of the world around us - the fact that it includes enormously more than comes within the range of ordinary vision.

12. We are all aware that matter exists in different conditions, and that it may be made to change its conditions by variation of pressure and temperature. We have the three well-known states of matter, the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous, and it is the theory of science that all substances can, under proper variation of temperature and pressure, exist in all these conditions.

13. Occult chemistry shows us another and higher condition than the gaseous, into which also all substances known to us can be translated or transmuted; and to that condition we have given the name of etheric. We may have, for example, hydrogen in an etheric condition instead of as a gas; we may have gold or silver or any other element either as a solid, a liquid, or a gas, or in this other higher state which we call etheric.

14. In ordinary science we speak of an atom of oxygen, an atom of hydrogen, an atom of any of the substances which chemists call elements, the theory being that that is an element which cannot be further reduced, and that each of these elements has its atom and an atom, as we may see from the Greek derivation of the word, means that which cannot be cut, or further subdivided. Occult science has always taught that all these so-called elements are not in the true sense of the word elements at all; that what we call an atom of oxygen or hydrogen can under certain circumstances be broken up. By repeating this breaking-up process it is found that there is one substance at the back of all substances, and different combinations of its ultimate Units give us what in chemistry are called atoms of oxygen or hydrogen, gold or silver, lithium or platinum, etc. When these are all broken up we get back to a set of Units which are all identical, except that some of them are positive and some negative.

15. The study of these units and of the possibilities of their combination is in itself one of most enthralling interest. Even these, however, are found to be units only from the point of view of our physical plane; that is to say, there are methods by which even they can be subdivided, but when they are so broken up they give us matter belonging to a different realm of nature. Yet this higher matter also is not simple but complex; and we find that it also exists in a series of states of its own, corresponding very fairly to the states of physical matter which we call solid, liquid, gaseous, or etheric. Again, by carrying on our process of subdivision far enough we reach another unit - the unit of that realm of nature to which occultists have given the name of the astral world.

16. Then the whole process may be repeated; for by further subdivision of that astral unit we find ourselves dealing with another still higher and more refined world, though a world which is still material. Once again we find matter existing in definitely marked conditions corresponding at that much higher level to the states with which we are familiar; and the result of our investigations brings us once again to a unit - the unit of this third great realm of nature, which in Theosophy we call the mental world. So far as we know, there is no limit to this possibility of subdivision, but there is a very distinct limit to our capability of observing it. However, we can see enough to be certain of the existence of a considerable number of these different realms, each of which is in one sense a world in itself, though in another and wider sense all are parts of one stupendous whole.

17. In our literature these different realms of nature are frequently spoken of as planes, because in our study it is sometimes convenient to image them as one above another, according to the different degrees of density of the matter of which they are composed. It will be seen that in the accompanying diagram (Plate II) they are drawn in this way; but it must be very carefully borne in mind that this arrangement is merely adopted for convenience and as a symbol, and that it in no way represents the actual relations of these various planes. They must not be imagined as lying above one another like the shelves of a book-case, but rather as filling the same space and interpenetrating one another. It is a fact well known to science that even in the hardest substances no two atoms ever touch one another; always each atom has its field of action and vibration, and every molecule in turn has its larger field; so that there is always space between them under any possible circumstances. Every physical atom is floating in an astral sea - a sea of astral matter which surrounds it and fills every interstice in this physical matter. The mental matter in its turn interpenetrates the astral in precisely the same manner; so that all these different realms of nature are not in any way separated in space, but are all existing around us and about us here and now, so that to see them and to investigate them it is not necessary for us to make any movement in space, but only to open within ourselves the senses by means of which they can be perceived.

20. THIS brings before us another very important consideration. All these varieties of finer matter exist not only in the world without, but they exist in man also. He has not only the physical body which we see, but he has also within him what we may describe as bodies appropriate to these various planes of nature, and consisting in each case of their matter. In man’s physical body there is etheric matter as well as the solid matter which is visible to us (see Plates XXIV and XXV); and this etheric matter is readily visible to the clairvoyant. In the same way a more highly developed clairvoyant, who is capable of perceiving the more refined astral matter, sees the man represented at that level by a mass of that matter, which is in reality his body or vehicle as regards that plane; and exactly the same thing is true with regard to the mental plane in its turn. The soul of man has not one body, but many bodies, for when sufficiently evolved he is able to express himself on ail these different levels of nature, and he is therefore provided with a suitable vehicle of the matter belonging to each, and it is through these various vehicles that he is able to receive impressions from the world to which they correspond.

21. We must not think of the man as creating these vehicles for himself in the course of his future evolutions, for every man possesses them from the beginning, though he is by no means conscious of their existence. We are constantly using to a certain extent this higher matter within ourselves, even though it be unconsciously. Every time that we think, we set in motion the mental matter within us, and a thought is clearly visible to a clairvoyant as a vibration in that matter, set up first of all within the man, and then affecting matter of the same degree of density in the world around him. But before this thought can be effective on the physical plane it has to be transferred from that mental matter into astral matter; and when it has excited similar vibrations in that, the astral matter in its turn affects the etheric matter, creating sympathetic vibrations in it; and that in turn acts upon the denser physical matter, the grey matter of the brain.

22. So every time we think, we go through a much longer process than we know; just as every time we feel anything we go through a process of which we are quite unconscious. We touch some substance and feel that it is too hot, and we snatch away our hand from it instantaneously as we think. But science teaches us that this process is not instantaneous, and that it is not the hand which feels, but the brain; that the nerves communicate the idea of intense heat to the brain, which at once telegraphs back along the nerve-threads the instruction to withdraw the hand; and it is only as a result of all this that the withdrawal takes place, though it seems to us to be immediate. The process has a definite duration, which can be measured by sufficiently fine instruments; the rate of its motion is perfectly well defined and known to physiologists. Just in the same way thought appears to be an instantaneous process; but it is not, for every thought has to go through the stages which I have described. Every impression which we receive in the brain through the senses has to pass up through these various grades of matter before it reaches the real man, the ego, the soul within.

23. We have here a kind of system of telegraphy between the physical plane and the soul; and it is important to realize that this telegraph-line has intermediate stations. It is not only from the physical plane that impressions can be received; the astral matter within a man, for example, is not only capable of receiving a vibration from etheric matter and transmitting it to the mental matter, but it is also quite capable of receiving impressions from the surrounding matter of its own plane, and transmitting those through the mental body to the real man within. So the man may use his astral body as a means for receiving impressions from and observing the astral world which surrounds him; and in exactly the same way through his mental body he may observe and obtain information from the mental world. But in order to do either of these things, he must first learn how they are done; that is to say, he must learn to focus his consciousness in his astral body or in his mental body, just as it is now focussed in the physical brain. I have already treated this subject fully in my book Clairvoyance, so that I need do no more than refer to it here.

24. It should always be remembered that all this is a matter of direct knowledge and certainty to those who are in the habit of studying it, although it is presented to the consideration of the world merely as a hypothesis; but even the man who approaches the subject for the first time must surely see that in suggesting this we are not in any way claiming faith in a miracle, but simply inviting investigation of a system. The higher grades of matter follow on in orderly sequence from those which we already know, so that though to some extent each plane may be regarded as a world in itself, it is yet also true that the whole is in reality one great world, which can be fully seen only by the highly developed soul.

25. To aid us in our grasp of this, let us take an illustration which, although impossible in itself, may yet be useful to us as suggesting rather startling possibilities. Suppose that instead of the sight which we now possess, we had a visual apparatus arranged somewhat differently. In the human eye we have both solid and liquid matter; suppose that both these orders of matter were capable of receiving separate impressions, but each only from that type of matter in the outside world to which it corresponded. Suppose also that among men some possessed one of these types of sight and some another. Consider how very curiously imperfect would be the concept of the world obtained by each of these two types of men. Imagine them as standing on the seashore; one being able to see only solid matter, would be utterly unconscious of the ocean stretched before him, but would see instead the vast cavity of the ocean-bed, with all its various inequalities, and the fishes and other inhabitants of the deep would appear to him as floating in the air above this enormous valley. If there were clouds in the sky they would be entirely invisible to him, since they are composed of matter in the liquid state; for him the sun would be always shining in the daytime, and he would be unable to comprehend why, on what to us is a cloudy day, its heat should be so much diminished; if a glass of water were offered to him, it would appear to him to be empty.

26. Contrast with this the appearance which would be presented before the eyes of the man who saw only matter in the liquid condition. He would indeed be conscious of the ocean, but for him the shore and the cliffs would not exist; he would perceive the clouds very clearly, but would see almost nothing of the landscape over which they were moving. In the case of the glass of water he would be entirely unable to see the vessel, and would therefore be quite unable to understand why the water should so mysteriously preserve the special shape given to it by the invisible glass. Imagine these two persons standing side by side, each describing the landscape as he saw it, and each feeling perfectly certain that there could be no other kind of sight but his in the universe, and that anyone claiming to see anything more or anything different must necessarily be either a dreamer or a deceiver!

27. We can smile over the incredulity of these hypothetical observers; but it is exceedingly difficult for the average man to realize that in proportion to the whole that is to be seen, his power of vision is very much more imperfect than either of theirs would be in relation to the world as he sees it. And he also is strongly disposed to hint that those who see a little more than he does must really be drawing upon their imagination for their alleged facts. It is one of the commonest of our mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all that there is to perceive. Yet the scientific evidence is indisputable, and the infinitesimal proportion (as compared to the whole) of the groups of vibrations by which alone we can see or hear is a fact about which there can be no doubt. The clairvoyant is simply a man who develops within himself the power to respond to another octave out of the stupendous gamut of possible vibrations, and so enables himself to see more of the world around him than those of more limited perception.

30. If we turn to Plate II we shall see there a diagram of these planes of nature, and we shall also observe the names which have been employed to designate the vehicles or bodies of man which correspond to them. It will be noticed that the names used in theosophical literature for the higher planes are derived from Sanskrit, for in Western philosophy we have as yet[1] no terms for these worlds composed of finer states of matter. Each of these names has its especial meaning, though in the case of the higher planes it indicates only how little we know of those conditions.

31. Nirvana has for ages been the term employed in the East to convey the idea of the highest conceivable spiritual attainment. To reach Nirvana is to pass beyond humanity, to gain a level of peace and bliss far above earthly comprehension. So absolutely is all that is earthly left behind by the aspirant who attains its transcendent glory, that some European Orientalists fell at first into the mistake of supposing that it was an entire annihilation of the man - an idea than which nothing could be more utterly the opposite of the truth. To gain the full use of the exalted consciousness of this exceedingly elevated spiritual condition is to reach the goal appointed for human evolution during this aeon or dispensation - to become an adept, a man who is something more than man. For the vast majority of humanity such progress will be attained only after cycles of evolution, but the few determined souls who refuse to be daunted by difficulties, who as it were take the kingdom of heaven by violence, may find this glorious prize within their reach at a much earlier period.

32. Of the states of consciousness above this we naturally know nothing, except that they exist. “Para” signifies “beyond”, and “Maha” means “great”, so all the information conveyed by the names of these conditions is that the first is “the plane beyond Nirvana”, and the second is “the greater plane beyond Nirvana” - showing that those who bestowed these appellations thousands of years ago either possessed no more direct information than we have, or else, possessing it, despaired of finding any words in which it could be expressed.

33. The name of Buddhi has been given to that principle or component part of man which manifests itself through the matter of the fourth plane, while the mental plane is the sphere of action of what we call the mind in man. It will be observed that this plane is divided into two parts, which are distinguished by a difference in color and the names of “rupa” and “Arupa”, meaning respectively “having form” and “formless”. These are names given in order to indicate a certain quality of the matter of the plane; in the lower part of it the matter is very readily moulded by the action of human thought into definite forms, while on the higher division this does not occur, but the more abstract thought of that level expresses itself to the eye of the clairvoyant in flashes or streams. A fuller account of this will be found in the book Thought forms,[2] where are portrayed many of the interesting figures created by the action of thoughts and emotions.

34. The name “astral” is not of our choosing; we have inherited it from the medieval alchemists. It signifies “starry”, and is supposed to have been applied to the matter of the plane next above the physical because of the luminous appearance which is associated with the more rapid rate of its vibration. The astral plane is the world of passion, of emotion and sensation; and it is through man’s vehicle on this plane that all his feelings exhibit themselves to the clairvoyant investigator. The astral body of man is therefore continually changing in appearance as his emotions change, as we shall presently show in detail.

35. In our literature certain tints have usually been employed to represent each of the lower planes, following a table of colors given by Madame Blavatsky in her monumental work The Secret Doctrine;[3] but it should be clearly understood that these are employed simply as distinctive marks - that they are merely symbolical, and are not in any way intended to imply a preponderance of a particular hue in the plane to which it is applied. All known colors, and many which are at present unknown to us, exist upon each of these higher planes of nature; but as we rise from one stage to another, we find them ever more delicate and more luminous, so that they might be described as higher octaves of color. An attempt is made to indicate this in our illustrations of the various vehicles appropriate to these planes, as will be seen later.

36. It will be noticed that the number of planes is seven, and that each of them in turn is divided into seven sub-planes. This number seven has always been considered as holy and occult, because it is found to underlie manifestation in various ways. In the lower planes which are within the reach of our investigation the sevenfold subdivision is very clearly marked; and all indications seem to warrant the assumption that in those higher realms which are as yet beyond our direct observation a similar arrangement obtains, allowing for the difference of conditions.

37. As man learns to function in these higher types of matter, he finds that the limitations of the lower life are transcended, and fall away one by one. He finds himself in a world of many dimensions, instead of one of three only; and that fact alone opens up a whole series of entirely new possibilities in various directions. The study of these additional dimensions is one of the most fascinating that can be imagined. Short of really gaining the sight of the other planes, there is no method by which so clear a conception of astral life can be obtained as by the realization of the fourth dimension.

38. It is not my object at the moment to describe all that is gained by the wonderful extension of consciousness which belongs to these higher planes - indeed, I have done that already to some extent in a previous book. For the present we need refer only to one line of investigation - that connected with the constitution of man, and how he came to be what he is.

39. The history of his earlier evolution can be obtained by examination of those ineffaceable records of the past from which all that has happened since the solar system came into existence may be recovered, and caused to pass before the mind’s eye; so that the observer sees everything as though he had been present when it occurred, with the enormous additional advantage of being able to hold any single scene as long as may be required for careful examination, or to pass a whole century of events in review in a few moments if desired. This wonderful reflection of the divine memory cannot be consulted with perfect certainty below the mental plane, so for the ready reading of this earlier history it is necessary that the student shall at least have learnt to use with freedom the senses of his mental body; and if he is so fortunate as to have under his control the faculties of the still higher causal body, his task will be easier still. The question of these records has been more fully dealt with in Chapter VII of my little book on Clairvoyance, to which the reader may be referred for further details.

42. WE must now endeavor to understand how man comes into existence amidst this wonderful system of the planes of nature, and in order to do that we shall find ourselves compelled to take an excursion into the domain of theology.

43. When we search these records in order to discover the origin of man, what do we see? We find that man is the resultant of an elaborate and beautiful evolutionary scheme, and that in him three streams of divine life may be said to converge. One of the sacred scriptures of the world speaks of God as having made man in His own image - a statement which, when it is properly understood, is seen to embody a great occult truth. Religions agree in describing the Deity as threefold in His manifestation, and it will be found that the soul of man is also threefold.

44. It will, of course, be understood that we are speaking now not of the Absolute, the Supreme, and the Infinite (for of Him naturally we can know nothing, except that He is), but of that glorious Manifestation of Him who is the great Guiding Force or Deity of our own solar system - who is called in our philosophy the Logos of the system. Of Him is true all that we have ever heard predicated of the Deity - all that is good, the love, the wisdom, the power, the patience and compassion, the omniscience, the omnipresence, the omnipotence - all of this, and much more, is true of the Solar Logos, in whom, in very truth, we live and move and have our being. Unmistakable evidence of His action and His purpose surrounds us on every side as we study the life of the higher planes.

45. As He shows Himself to us in His work the Solar Logos is undoubtedly triple - three and yet one, a religion has long ago told us.

46. It is obviously impossible to picture this divine manifestation in any way, for it is necessarily entirely beyond our power either of representation or comprehension, yet a small part of its action may perhaps to some extent be brought within our grasp by the employment of certain simple symbols, such as those adopted in Plate II. It will be seen that on the seventh or highest plane of our system the triple manifestation of our Logos is imaged by three circles, representing His three aspects. Each of these aspects appears to have its own quality and power. In the First Aspect He does not manifest Himself on any plane below the highest, but in the Second He descends to the sixth plane, arid draws round Himself a garment of its matter, thus making a quite separate and lower expression of Him. In the Third Aspect He descends to the upper potion of the fifth plane, and draws round Himself matter of that level, thus making a third manifestation. It will be observed that these three manifestations on their respective planes are entirely distinct one from the other, and yet we have only to follow up the dotted lines to see that these separate persons are nevertheless in truth but aspects of the one. Quite separate, when regarded as persons, each on his own plane - quite unconnected diagonally, as it were; yet each having his perpendicular connection with himself at the level where these three are one.

47. Thus we see a very real meaning in the insistence of the Church “that we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance” - that is to say, never confusing in our minds the work and functions of the three separate manifestations, each on his own plane, yet never for a moment forgetting the Eternal Unity of the “substance”, that which lies behind all alike on the highest plane.

48. It is instructive to notice here exactly the true meaning of this word person. It is compounded of the two Latin words per and sona, and therefore signifies “that through which the sound comes” - the mask worn by the Roman actor to indicate the part which he happened at the moment to be playing. Thus we very appropriately speak of the group of temporary lower vehicles which a soul assumes when he descends into incarnation as his “personality”. Thus also these separate manifestations of the One on different planes are rightly thought of as persons.

49. Thus we see how it can be said: - “There is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost; but the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one - the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.” Truly the manifestations are distinct, each on its own plane, and consequently one appears lower than another; yet we have only to look back to the seventh plane to realize that “in this Trinity none is afore or after other, none is greater or less than another, but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal”. So also “every Person by himself is God and Lord”, “and yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord”.

50. See also how clear and luminous become many of the statements concerning the Second Aspect and His descent into matter. There is another and far wider meaning for this, as will be seen in Plate III, but what is true of that grander descent is true also of this, for when we think of the Aspect on the higher plane as the essential Godhead ensouling the manifestation in matter relatively lower, though still high above our ken, we see how He is “God, of the substance of his Father, begotten before the world; but man, of the substance of his Mother, born in the world”. For as an aspect of the divine He existed before the solar system, but His manifestation in the matter of the sixth plane took place during the life of that system.

51. So, “although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the manhood into God”. One, that is, not only because of the essential Unity, but because of the glorious power of drawing back into Himself all that has been acquired by the descent into lower matter. But this belongs more especially to that greater descent illustrated for us in Plate III.

52. The greatest schism which has ever occurred in the Christian Church was that between the Eastern and Western branches, the Greek Church and the Roman. The doctrinal reason alleged for it was the supposed corruption of the truth, by the introduction into the Creed of the word filioque at the Council of Toledo in the year 589.

53. The question at issue was whether the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father alone, or from the Father and the Son. Our diagram enables us to see what was the point at issue; and furthermore, it shows us, curiously enough, that both parties were right, and that if they had only clearly understood the matter there need have been no schism at all.

54. The Latin Church held, quite reasonably, that there could be no manifestation on the fifth plane of a Force which admittedly came from the seventh, without a passage through the intermediate sixth, so they declared that He proceeded from the Father and the Son. The Greek Church, on the other hand, insisted absolutely on the distinctness of the Three Manifestations, and quite rightly protested against any theory of a procession from the First Manifestation through the Second such as would be typified in our diagram if we drew a diagonal line through the First, Second, and Third. The dotted line on the right of Plate II, showing how the Third Aspect descends through the planes and finally manifests on the Fifth, is of course the key to the true line of procession, and the absolute harmony of the two conflicting ideas.

55. The wonderful way in which man is made in the image of God may be seen by comparing the triad of the human soul with the Trinity in manifestation above it. So astonishingly material have been the orthodox conceptions, that this text has literally been interpreted as referring to the physical body of man, and made to mean that God created man’s body in a shape which He foresaw as that which Christ would choose to assume when He came on earth.

56. A glance at Plate II shows us at once the true meaning of those words. Not the physical body of man, but the constitution of his soul, reproduces with marvellous exactitude the method of Divine manifestation. Just as three aspects of the Divine are seen on the seventh plane, so the Divine Spark of the spirit in man is seen to be triple in its appearance on the fifth plane. In both cases the Second Aspect is able to descend one plane lower, and to clothe itself in the matter of that plane; in both cases the Third Aspect is able to descend two planes and repeat the process. So in both cases there is a Trinity in Unity, separate in its manifestations, yet one in the reality behind.

57. Each of the three Aspects or Persons or Manifestations of the Logos has an especial part to play in the preparation and development of the soul of man. What these parts are we shall endeavor to make clear by the help of the diagram given on Plate III. The horizontal subdivisions indicate the planes, precisely as in Plate II, and above them will be seen three symbols belonging to the series described by Madame Blavatsky in The Secret Doctrine. The highest represents the First Aspect of the Logos, and bears only a central dot, signifying the primary manifestation in our system. The Second Aspect of the Logos is symbolized by a circle divided by a diameter, showing the dual manifestation which is always associated with the Second Person of any of the Trinities, while the lowest circle contains the Greek Cross, one of the most usual symbols of the Third Aspect.

60. IT is from this Third Aspect that the first movement towards the formation of the system comes. Previous to this movement we have in existence nothing but the atomic state of matter in each of the planes of nature, none of the aggregations or combinations which make up the lower sub-planes of each having yet been formed. But into this sea of virgin matter (the true Virgin Maria) pours down the Holy Spirit, the Lifegiver, as He is called in the Nicene Creed; and by the action of His glorious vitality the units of matter are awakened to new powers and possibilities of attraction and repulsion, and thus the lower subdivisions of each plane come into existence. It will be seen that this is symbolized in the diagram by a line descending from the lowest circle straight through all the planes, growing broader and darker as it comes, to show how the Divine Spirit becomes more and more veiled in matter as it descends, until many are quite unable to recognize it as divine at all. Yet the living force is nevertheless there, even when it is most strictly confined in the lowest of its forms.

61. Into this matter thus vivified, the second great out-pouring of the Divine Life descends. Thus the Second Person of the Trinity takes form not of the “virgin” or unproductive matter alone, but of the matter which is already instinct and pulsating with the life of the Third Person, so that both the life and the matter surround Him as a vesture, and thus in very truth He is “incarnate of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary”, which is the true rendering of a prominent passage in the Christian creed. (See The Christian Creed.)

62. Very slowly and gradually this resistless flood pours down through the various planes and kingdoms, spending in each of them a period equal in duration to one entire incarnation of a planetary chain, a period which, if measured as we measure time, would cover many millions of years. This flood is symbolized in Plate III by the line which, starting from the second of the circles, sweeps down the left-hand side of the oval, gradually darkening as it approaches its nadir. After passing that point it commences its upward arc and rises through the physical, astral and lower mental planes until it meets the third great outpouring, which is typified by the line starting from the highest circle and forming the right-hand side of the great oval. Of this meeting we shall say more hereafter, but for the moment let us turn our attention to the descending arc. To aid us the better to comprehend this, let us turn to Plate IV. This diagram, though it looks so different, in fact corresponds very closely with Plate III; the variously colored column on the left is identical with the downward-sweeping curve on our left in Plate III, and all the pyramidal figures which make the rest of the diagram are simply representations of the earlier part of the upward curve on the right of Plate III, pictured at various stages of its growth.


Plate IX Mental Body of the Average Man	Plate X Astral Body of the Average Man	Plate XI Sudden Rush of Affection	Plate XII Sudden Rush of Devotion


Plate XIII Intense Anger	Plate XIV Shock of Fear	Plate XV Average Man in Love	Plate XVI Irritable Man


Plate XVII Miser	Plate XVIII Deep Depression	Plate XIX Devotional Type	Plate XX Scientific Type


Plate XXI Causal Body of the Developed Man	Plate XXII Mental Body of the Developed Man	Plate XXIII Astral Body of the Developed Man	Plate XIV Normal Health Aura


Plate XXV Health Aura in Disease	Plate XXVI Causal Body of the Arhat

Man Visible and Invisible

C. W. Leadbeater