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.With each plane it becomes more denseand material until it reaches this, our plane, on which the only worldapproximately known and understood in its physical composition by Science,is the planetary or Solar system-one sui generis, we are told.Q.What do you mean by sui generis?A.I mean that, though the fundamental law and the universal working of lawsof Nature are uniform, still our Solar system (like every other such systemin the millions of others in Cosmos) and even our Earth, has its own programof manifestations differing from the respective programs of all others.Wespeak of the inhabitants of other planets and imagine that if they are men,i.e., thinking entities, they must be as we are.The fancy of poets andpainters and sculptors never fails to represent even the angels as abeautiful copy of man-plus wings.We say that all this is an error and adelusion; because, if on this little earth alone one finds such a diversityin its flora, fauna, and mankind-from the seaweed to the cedar of Lebanon,from the jellyfish to the elephant, from the Bushman and negro to the ApolloBelvedere-alter the conditions cosmic and planetary, and there must be as aresult quite a different flora, fauna, and mankind.The same laws willfashion quite a different set of things and beings even on this our plane,including in it all our planets.How much more different then must beexternal nature in other Solar systems, and how foolish is it to judge ofother stars and worlds and human beings by our own, as physical sciencedoes!Q.But what are your data for this assertion?A.What science in general will never accept as proof-the cumulativetestimony of an endless series of Seers who have testified to this fact.Their spiritual visions, real explorations by, and through, physical andspiritual senses untrammeled by blind flesh, were systematically checked andcompared one with the other, and their nature sifted.All that was notcorroborated by unanimous and collective experience was rejected, while thatonly was recorded as established truth which, in various ages, underdifferent climes, and throughout an untold series of incessant observations,was found to agree and receive constantly further corroboration.The methodsused by our scholars and students of the psycho-spiritual sciences do notdiffer from those of students of the natural and physical sciences, as youmay see.Only our fields of research are on two different planes, and ourinstruments are made by no human hands, for which reason perchance they areonly the more reliable.The retorts, accumulators, and microscopes of thechemist and naturalist may get out of order; the telescope and theastronomer's horological instruments may get spoiled; our recordinginstruments are beyond the influence of weather or the elements.Q.And therefore you have implicit faith in them?A.Faith is a word not to be found in theosophical dictionaries: we sayknowledge based, on observation and experience.There is this difference,Page 43The Key To Theosophy - HP Blavatsky.txthowever, that while the observation and experience of physical science leadthe Scientists to about as many "working" hypotheses as there are minds toevolve them, our knowledge consents to add to its lore only those factswhich have become undeniable, and which are fully and absolutelydemonstrated.We have no two beliefs or hypotheses on the same subject.Q.Is it on such data that you came to accept the strange theories we findin Esoteric Buddhism?A.Just so.These theories may be slightly incorrect in their minor details,and even faulty in their exposition by lay students; they are facts innature, nevertheless, and come nearer the truth than any scientifichypothesis.-oOo-On The Septenary Constitution of Our PlanetQ.I understand that you describe our earth as forming part of a chain ofearths?A.We do.But the other six "earths" or globes, are not on the same plane ofobjectivity as our earth is; therefore we cannot see them.Q.Is that on account of the great distance?A.Not at all, for we see with our naked eye planets and even stars atimmeasurably greater distances; but it is owing to those six globes beingoutside our physical means of perception, or plane of being.It is not onlythat their material density, weight, or fabric are entirely different fromthose of our earth and the other known planets; but they are (to us) on anentirely different layer of space, so to speak; a layer not to be perceivedor felt by our physical senses.And when I say "layer," please do not allowyour fancy to suggest to you layers like strata or beds laid one over theother, for this would only lead to another absurd misconception.What I meanby "layer" is that plane of infinite space which by its nature cannot fallunder our ordinary waking perceptions, whether mental or physical; but whichexists in nature outside of our normal mentality or consciousness, outsideof our three-dimensional space, and outside of our division of time [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]