Words are altogether insufficient to give an idea on which to form a conception of things which are beyond our intellectual comprehension as long as they do not live in our own consciousness; but we may look upon the seven Tattwas as represented by seven modes of vibrations of a cosmic ether, differing from each other not only quantitatively, but qualitatively, so that, for instance, Akasa Tattwa has a circular, Vayou Tattwa a spiral movement, etc.; but such a conception is quite inadequate, as we have to do with living forces, with states of the universal life or consciousness, manifesting themselves not only as the causes of the five modes of perception on the physical plane, but also upon the higher planes; enabling man, for instance, not only to feel the touch of an object upon the physical plane, but to feel with his astral sense the presence of an object upon the astral plane, and in his heart the touch of a spiritual power; to see not only physical light with the eyes of his body, but things in the astral light with his astral organs of seeing; to see intellectual truths and ideas with the eye of his intellect in the light of his intellect, and spiritual things with the eye of the spirit. In fact, everything that exists is a manifestation of Tattwas, or “vibrations of ether;” stationary in its aspect as “matter,” progressive in its aspect as “force;” matter is latent energy, force is active substance;[14] everything is life, consciousness, intelligence, dormant or active according to the conditions existing upon the plane upon which it becomes manifest; every substance is mind, and the forms which we see are only the symbols of the thoughts represented therein.
It is not our purpose within the narrow limits of this work to enter into a deeper investigation of this most interesting, sublime, and elevating science, which has been discussed at length in H. P. Blavatsky’s “Secret Doctrine”; we merely touch upon these points for the purpose of calling attention to it, as it represents an aspect and conception of nature immeasurably higher than the one represented by popular science, and therefore attainable only to those whose aspirations reach beyond this grossly material plane.
The “Secret Doctrine” informs us that in the course of evolution, this our planet has only attained its Kâmarupa or animal form of existence, and that the next higher state of Manas (mind) has hardly begun to become developed. This may be the reason why the science of mind is at present in its infancy, and grasped only by those gifted spirits who, like Paracelsus and others of his kind, by nobility of character and spirituality have outstripped the rest of mankind in higher knowledge; forming, so to say, the vanguard of the army, as it proceeds into the regions of the—not absolutely unknowable—but the unknown.
Modern astronomy teaches the science of the bodies of the planets and stars; the Astronomy of Paracelsus speaks of the spiritual forces represented by those planets, the counterparts of which exist in the constitution of man and as every force in nature acts upon its corresponding element in the nature of man, these universal forces produce certain effects upon those elements in man which exist upon the corresponding plane. Thus for instance it requires no argument to prove that the sun is the source of heat and light and life upon this planet, and that the physical body of man as well as that of the earth receives these energies from the radiations coming from the physical body of the sun; this being the corporeal visible centre of a power existing universally, and whose sphere of activity reaches as far as the limits of our solar system. We all live and have our being physically within the sphere of activity and consequently within the physical elements of the sun; in a similar sense we live and have our being spiritually in the spiritual body and substance of Love, and as the sun of the physical world shines upon our body; so the light of divine wisdom is all around us and ready to penetrate into our soul. Thus Paracelsus teaches that the moon corresponds to the astral body of man, and has certain effects upon it, causing certain states which may ultimately become outwardly manifested as certain moral or physical diseases, and similar correspondencies might be shown to exist between the universal powers represented by the visible planets and the corresponding elements existing in the constitution of man; but however important and interesting this subject may be it finds very little attention on the part of popular medical science, which is far too busy in investigating outward effects of a phenomenal character to find time for attending to that which produces all such phenomena and appearances.[15]
If the Astronomy of Paracelsus were understood, it would be found that man, far from creating his own thoughts, merely remodels the ideas that flow into his mind; that “thought-transference,” far from being a strange and rare occurrence, is as common as the transference of heat; that owing to the oneness of humanity we all feel and think within each other and act out each other’s thoughts. We would know better the real causes of crimes, insanity and disease, and find them to be controvertible terms. We might then perhaps also modify our views regarding the supposed free will and the amount of responsibility of man, and know that the power of will is not a myth, and witchcraft and sorcery no more impossible than the magic action of true love.
III.—Alchemy.
Not being masters of Alchemy, we are not capable of teaching the science of this pillar of medicine; neither could any information in regard to the way in which certain mysterious powers are used be of any service to those who, not having developed these powers, are not in possession of them. The following remarks are therefore rather intended to show what Alchemy is not, than to show what it is; for like every term symbolising a spiritual truth, which ever fell into the hands of the vulgar, so this term has been “besmirched with mud and prostituted openly in the market place,”[16] so as to be now almost beyond recognition.
The ancient alchemists used a mysterious language when speaking about mysterious things, nor could any modern alchemist express in plain language things for which our language has no words and common minds no conception. Children often speak more wisely than they know, sages know what they speak, but the half learned speak without knowing. The child receiving gifts from its parents on Christmas eve believes that the Christ has sent these presents, but the grown-up and clever boy becomes sceptical and laughs at that story. In that opinion he may now continue all his life, or he may become still more clever and find that the Christ is divine love, from which the love of his parents originated, inducing them to bestow gifts, and that the story which he believed when a child, was true after all. In the same sense Alchemy is either a truth or a superstition; it merely depends on the definition we give to this term.
Professor Justus von Liebig says: “Alchemy was never anything different from Chemistry,” and to this we agree in so far as both deal with substantial things, having certain affinities, and not with anything existing outside of nature; but while ordinary (physical) chemistry employs merely physical (mechanical) forces for the purpose of composing and decomposing material substances without causing anything new to grow, Alchemy employs the power of life and uses animated forces, establishing conditions under which something visible may grow from something invisible, in the same sense as a tree grows from a seed in the alchemical laboratory of nature. Chemistry and Alchemy are therefore two aspects of one and the same science, the one is the lower, the other the higher part. The chemist who decomposes salt into Na and Cl, and recombines it into NaCl, practises chemistry; the gardener establishing in his hot house the conditions under which the seed of a plant of a lower type is made to develop into a plant of a higher type, and the schoolmaster who makes an intelligent being out of a dunce, are practicing Alchemy, because they produce something more noble than the materials employed, out of the latent potencies contained therein.
Without the alchemy of nature no “physiological chemistry” could take place; without the action of a universally existing life principle, no human form could grow out of an ovum or fœtus, no child develop into a man. The human stomach is an alchemical laboratory in which miracles are performed which no modern chemist can imitate by merely chemical means; milk and bread are transformed into blood and flesh within the living retort of the human body, and wonders performed which modern chemistry in spite of its progress cannot accomplish, because it does not control the organising power of life.