Substance

Substance ou Matière. Les théosophistes emploient le mot dans un sens double, qualifiant la substance de perceptible et d'imperceptible ; et faisant une distinction entre les substances matérielle, psychique et spirituelle (voir "Śuddha Sattva"), entre substance idéale (c'est-à-dire, existant sur les plans supérieurs) et réelle.

(source : "Glossaire Théosophique" d'Héléna Blavatsky)

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Manifestation de la Substance-Matière (leçon 1)

L'instruction que je m'apprête à vous donner est d'une infinie importance, et j'essaierai de la rendre aussi simple que possible, dans l'espoir qu'elle sera comprise par les étudiants dont les occasions pour acquérir une connaissance sont comptées. De la compréhension totale de ce sujet dépend la pleine compréhension de nombreuses instructions précédentes, ainsi que de bien d'autres à venir.

L'Univers visible en tant que tout, ainsi que chacune des parties organiques ou constitutives de cet univers, que ce soit un soleil, une planète, un homme, ou une molécule, est essentiellement amené en manifestation sur le plan physique, en tant que Substance ou Matière, par le plan de la Vie en-soi ou Spirituel, en énergisant, au travers du pouvoir (Fohatique) de la volonté, des forces potentielles contenues et confinées dans certaines couleurs se manifestant le temps d'une grande période ou Kalpa dans la sphère du Mental. Ces couleurs sont d'un bien plus grand ordre que leurs reflets, les couleurs du plan physique.

Quand un nouveau cycle de vie de la manifestation commence, pour n'importe laquelle des parties individualisée ou séparée de l'Univers Entier, cela apparaît d'abord comme une concentration de couleurs scintillantes, qui vibre rapidement, d'un point défini dans l'Espace Ethérique, qui s'étale vers l'extérieur du plan physique (ainsi nommé), dans un mouvement circulaire, en spirale. Le diamètre du dernier champ extérieur de la spirale est déterminé par la somme de l'énergie en expansion impartie à la concentration [de couleurs scintillantes] par l'impulsion initiale. Quand cette énergie atteint l'extrémité de sa puissance dans le dernier champ de la spirale, un centre neutre est en processus de création au moyen du contact et de l'interaction des forces négatives de contraction spécifique au plan physique, avec celles induites par l'action de l'énergie Spirituelle, ou Positive, mentionnée précédemment. Le centre neutre, qui, dans la création d'un monde, devient l'anneau équatorial, se manifeste dans les règnes animal et humain en tant que Plexus Solaire.

en cours de traduction

From the centre, the spiral of color decreases in exact ratio to another point, resulting in the formation of a rapidly revolving globe of color, partially flattened at each Pole, and hollow so far as physical substance is concerned ; but in reality containing all the potencies, as well as the Skandas – the stored up good and evil tendencies of preceding manifestations of the incarnating Ego, or entity - and the latent forces which will bring effects into action as causes of subsequent effects, at the right time and in the right place, as determined by the Law of Karma. In this globe also resides the alchemical power transmuting physical substance into Spiritual energy, and "vice versa", as food is transmuted by the powers of digestion and assimilation ; into flesh and blood, and finally into physical energy. If this spiral globe of color could be seen by physical eyes at the beginning of an era of manifestation, it would seem to enclose a certain portion of clear space. On the highest Spiritual plane all lines of demarcation would disappear, and it would be indistinguishable, as far as form is concerned, from all the great ocean of Ether, the store-house of all energies and potencies ; but on the higher astral, the plane of soul, it would be visible to Spiritual eyes as an individualized Entity - call it Angel, Or Deva-God, whichever you like - so far transcending in beauty, glory and power any description ever given by human tongue or pen, that it is useless to attempt to convey any impression of it to the human mind ; it must be seen and recognized to be understood. It belongs to the army of archangels which surround the Throne of God, situated in the hearts of every one of that vast throng, and which exists potentially in the heart of every human being. For illustration, take a piece of paper ; consider one side of it as the Spiritual, the other side as the physical plane. Separate one single point, among many others, of white light on the Spiritual plane (or side) of the paper ; then imagine a flash of Light, or Creative Energy, darting from some other point and impinging upon, thus imparting a more rapid vibration, or another mode of motion to, the point under consideration. This mode of motion (Fohatic energy) imparting a forward movement, would drive the substance contained in the point, through the piece of paper (the fibre of which would correspond to the astral, or middle plane) to the other side (the physical plane) and then proceed to form, by the process of spiral movement, above referred to, a complete globe of color from the point of its appearance on the physical plane as represented on the paper. There are always forty-eight spiral rings on either side of the middle, or equatorial line, the latter being the forty-ninth from either end. This spiral sheath of color encloses the substance on the plane of action in and through which the energy which passes into it from the first point of manifestation will work in conjunction with the forces of color, for the creation of an individualized life, whether it be a cell, man or world. The auric correspondence to this hollow globe obtains throughout a whole era of individualized manifestation, however long or short that may be, as its particular sphere of creative energy, as does also the globe of color which constitutes the aura of each cell, man, or world. In the materialization of a world there gradually forms, just within the globe of color (as the result of interaction of interior and exterior forces), first, a rapidly revolving sphere of heat and subsequently, moisture. In the creation of a world the power of attraction which the combined energy and force hold within its mass, draws to this moisture the Cosmic dust which is floating in space. For long ages of time, great quantities of dust and falling masses from other worlds, in the form of meteors, etc., intercepted by or attracted to it, gradually transform this (so to speak) lining of the color globe into the crust of such a world as the one you are now living upon. But innumerable Kalpas before this occurred, the substance, with which the Spiritual energy manifesting in the point was clothed, had passed through many phases of existence from a molecule to a God. And the Spiritual Entity, or World-builder, visibly represented by that point of Light, has voluntarily and intelligently assumed the labor, responsibility and sacrifice of creating from its own substance, a world, in which other manifesting entities of lower orders may gain the necessary physical experience to fit them also in time for Spiritual existence as Angels or Gods. A corresponding process to the one outlined above occurs in the birth of every child or animal on the physical plane. The creative emanation of the male contains a definite portion of the substance generated on the Spiritual plane by the interaction of masculine and feminine forces as previously explained between the two points of light, or the creative fires ; and the product, by contact and interaction with the ovum or egg budded from the ovaries of the female sex, results in impregnation. A certain residue is used by Nature in the formation of a state of matter comparable to the inner lining of the spiral globe of color, within which gestation is accomplished. The Uterus, or outer covering, corresponds to the color globe, but is not the globe ; for the Uterus, as well as every other organic structure, has its own peculiar spiral globe of color, or aura.

Despite innumerable explanations and descriptions of the planes of manifestation, students are continually misinterpreting terms and location. The diagram shown below will aid in many ways. First of all, however, you must charge your mind with the fact that there is in reality no high nor low, no hard nor fast lines ; that all manifestation is from within outward ; that all planes penetrate and interpenetrate each other.

The dot on the top indicates the Unmanifested, the Absolute, the positive potencies. The one at the bottom indicates the negative of the above – the reservoir in which had been generated and from which had been projected into space, all potential energies belonging to the physical plane, and into which would be cast all manifested matte that had fulfilled its mission ; as well as all of nature's abortions an seeming abnormal conditions, to be in some future age energized again by the positive forces of life, and so given another opportunity. It is also known as Chaos.

Each horizontal line in the diagram indicates the positive and negative aspects of some plane or sphere of consciousness ; that part of each line to the right of the centre representing the positive pole, that to the left the negative. The line through the centre indicates interaction of Spirit and Matter.

This diagram must not be confounded with others which illustrate the same truths, or the different planes or forces. In a certain sense this stands alone.

(source : Les Enseignements du Temple de Maître Hilarion)