Thus it stands with both the Kabalistic and Occult names attached:
Lévi calls Nephesh that which we name Manas, and vice versâ. Nephesh is the Breath of (animal) Life in man—the Breath of Life, [pg 263] instinctual in the animal; and Manas is the Third Soul—the human in its light side, and animal, in its connection with Samaël or Kâma. Nephesh is really the “Breath of (animal) Life” breathed into Adam, the Man of Dust; it is consequently the Vital Spark, the informing Element. Without Manas, the “Reasoning Soul,” or Mind, which in Lévi's diagram is miscalled Nephesh, Âtmâ-Buddhi is irrational on this plane and cannot act. It is Buddhi which is the Plastic Mediator; not Manas, the intelligent medium between the upper Triad and the lower Quaternary. But there are many such strange and curious transformations to be found in the Kabalistic works—a convincing proof that this literature has become a sad jumble. We do not accept the classification, except in this one particular, in order to show the points of agreement.
We will now give in tabular form what the very cautious Éliphas Lévi says in explanation of his diagram, and what the Esoteric Doctrine teaches—and compare the two. Lévi, too, makes a distinction between Kabalistic and Occult Pneumatics.
| Says Éliphas Lévi, the Kabalist: | Say the Theosophists: |
| Kabalistic Pneumatics. | Esoteric Pneumatics. |
| 1. The Soul (or Ego) is a clothed light; and this light is triple. | 1. The same; for it is Âtmâ-Buddhi-Manas. |
| 2. Neshamah—pure Spirit. | 2. The same[391]. |
| 3. Ruach—the Soul or Spirit. | 3. Spiritual Soul. |
| 4. Nephesh—Plastic Mediator.[392] | 4. Mediator between Spirit and Man, the Seat of Reason, the Mind, in man. |
| 5. The garment of the Soul is the rind [body] of the Image [Astral Soul]. | 5. Correct. |
| 6. The Image is double, because it reflects the good and the bad. | 6. Too uselessly apocalyptic. Why not say that the Astral reflects the good as well as the bad man; man, who is ever tending to the upper Triad, or else disappears with the Quaternary. |
| 7. [Image—Body.] | 7. The Earthly Image. |
| Occult Pneumatics. | Occult Pneumatics. |
| (As given by Éliphas Lévi.) | (As given by the Occultists.) |
| 1. Nephesh is immortal, because it renews its life by the destruction of forms. [But Nephesh, the “Breath of Life,” is a misnomer, and a useless puzzle to the student.] | 1. Manas is immortal, because after every new incarnation it adds to Âtmâ-Buddhi something of itself; and thus, assimilating itself to the Monad, shares its immortality. |
| 2. Ruach progresses by the evolution of ideas (!?). | 2. Buddhi becomes conscious by the accretions it gets from Manas, on the death of man after every new incarnation. |
| 3. Neshamah is progressive, without oblivion and destruction. | 3. Âtmâ neither progresses, forgets, nor remembers. It does not belong to this plane; it is but the Ray of Light eternal which shines upon, and through, the darkness of matter—when the latter is willing. |
| 4. The Soul has three dwellings. | 4. The Soul—collectively, as the Upper Triad—lives on three planes, besides its fourth, the terrestrial sphere; and it is eternally on the highest of the three. |
| 5. These dwellings are: the Plane of Mortals; the Superior Eden; and the Inferior Eden. | 5. These dwellings are: Earth for the physical man, or Animal Soul; Kâma Loka (Hades, the Limbo) for the disembodied man, or his Shell; Devachan for the Higher Triad. |
| 6. The Image [man] is a sphinx that offers the riddle of birth. | 6. Correct. |
| 7. The fatal Image [the Astral] endows Nephesh with its aptitudes; but Ruach is able to substitute for it the Image conquered in accordance with the inspirations of Neshamah. | 7. The Astral, through Kâma (Desire), is ever drawing Manas down into the sphere of material passions and desires. But if the better Man, or Manas, tries to escape the fatal attraction, and turns its aspirations to Âtmâ (Neshamah), then Buddhi (Ruach) conquers, and carries Manas with it to the realm of eternal Spirit. |
It is very evident that the French Kabalist either did not sufficiently know the real tenet, or distorted it to suit himself and his objects. Thus he says again, treating upon the same subject, as follows; and we Occultists answer the late Kabalist and his admirers also as follows:
| 1. The Body is the mould of Nephesh; Nephesh the mould of Ruach; Ruach the mould of the garment of Neshamah. | 1. The Body follows the whims, good or bad, of Manas; Manas tries to follow the Light of Buddhi, but often fails. Buddhi is the mould of the “garments” of Âtmâ; for Âtmâ is no body, or shape, or anything, and because Buddhi is only figuratively its Vehicle. |
| 2. Light [the Soul] personifies itself in clothing itself [with a Body]; and personality endures only when the garment is perfect. | 2. The Monad becomes a personal Ego when it incarnates; and something remains of that Personality through Manas, when the latter is perfect enough to assimilate Buddhi. |
| 3. The Angels aspire to become men; a Perfect Man, a Man-God, is above all the Angels. | 3. Correct. |
| 4. Every 14,000 years the soul rejuvenates, and rests in the jubilean sleep of oblivion. | 4. Within a period, a Great Age, or a Day of Brahmâ, 14 Manus reign; after which comes Pralaya, when all the Souls (Egos) rest in Nirvâna. |
Such are the distorted copies of the Esoteric Doctrine in the Kabalah.