The Theosophical
Society in Australia

A question that frequently arises concerns the use of the term 'race' in the First Object of the Society. Related to that question is another one, which may be phrased in this way: 'In theosophical literature, we read about root races; just what is meant by that term?' However the question is worded, it is extremely important, particularly since the subject is a very complex one and has been so often distorted and misinterpreted. Therefore, we would like to address it in this letter.

First we should point out that the use of the term 'race' in the Society's First Object carries the generally understood connotation of the word. Remember that the Society is, first of all, dedicated to overcoming the prejudices and antagonisms which have grown out of the artificial separations within the human family on the basis of skin colour and other physical characteristics. The Society was formed to emphasise the ideal of 'brotherhood' without any of the customary distinctions that have for so long divided us, and so the word 'race' was included as referring to what today we might call 'ethnic' groups or even different nationalities. Prejudices still exist in the world based on nationality, ethnicity, and all the other factors mentioned in the First Object. We still have much to do to bring about a genuine realisation of brotherhood!

Theosophy itself, however, is the ancient or ageless wisdom, which has come down from time immemorial from sources almost lost in antiquity. It deals with universal principles which do not vary 'from eternity to eternity', although our human understanding and uses of those principles or laws may be modified from time to time. The term 'race' found in the basic literature of theosophy has a much wider meaning and scope than its limited current usage, for it was not intended to refer to colour of skin or to ethnic groups, but, as we shall see, to developmental stages of consciousness.

One of the subjects dealt with in theosophical literature is the magnificent plan of evolution, not only physical or biological evolution, but more significantly spiritual evolution or unfoldment. In studying the concept of evolution from a theosophical perspective, the student will come across frequent references to 'root races'. This was a term first used by A. P. Sinnett, an early Theosophist who was the recipient of a number of letters from the Mahatmas M. and K.H., considered by many to be the 'Inner Founders' of the Society. That correspondence, as has already been mentioned, has been published as The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett. Now in those letters, one of the Mahatmas, commenting on Mr. Sinnett's terminology (including the term 'root race'), indicated that their (that is, the Mahatma's) terms were 'nearly untranslatable', so he was advised to decide what terms would designate the various concepts they were trying to communicate to him.

Geoffrey A. Barborka, a well-known theosophical writer, has termed a root race 'a major evolutionary developmental stage, proceeding in seven cyclic states or stages'. In each cycle one of the physical senses and one level of consciousness are awakened. Before the cycle  of one major stage has been fulfilled, another will begin, for there is necessarily some overlapping, the later cycle taking its rise at some point in the earlier one and springing from a corresponding evolutionary impetus on an ever-ascending spiral. Humanity, in the course of evolution, moves from one stage to the next. When one evolutionary task has been fulfilled, another will be undertaken. The colour of  the skin or any other minor characteristic of the physical body in which an Ego may incarnate at any time is not an indication of the 'root race' or developmental stage of consciousness of the individual. So we must drop all thought of outer appearance in studying this vast subject as it is dealt with in theosophical literature.

This literature suggests that there are seven root races - evolutionary developmental stages - on this globe during this particular life cycle. In each of these root races there are said to be seven minor cycles, called subraces, and many still smaller cycles designated as branch races. Generally, groups of nations are said to make up these branch races, although there are no hard and fast divisions between them, since all are working according to their own characteristics on the major evolutionary stage in which the root race is involved. It may be suggested, for example, that as all human beings have five physical senses, we are all at the fifth developmental stage, or in the fifth root race, but we are all at varying stages of development within that 'race'.

As we read further in the literature of theosophy, we may feel that the descriptions of planetary chains, rounds and races are quite abstract, theoretical and remote from everyday life and the work of personal transformation or spiritual unfoldment. This is not really so. For example, we read in The Mahatma Letters that each of us must evolve through every race and every one of its branches and, moreover, that we incarnate many times, not only in each root race but in each of the 49 subdivisions.  All peoples of the earth are minglings of several strains.  All the stages are embedded in the past of every human being; each of us has something of all of them within. So when we read  or speak about the role of these root races, we are really reading and talking about ourselves, for we embody them all in our own consciousness.

In connection with Letter No. 8, which discussed the subject of dharma, the question was asked: 'How does dharma apply to nations as well as to individuals?' Perhaps this question seemed purely academic. But it can take on added meaning when we consider that the dharma - or that which we might think of as the 'evolutionary assignment' - of any group or nation can hardly be other than the composite dharma of the individuals who make up that group, and that the Egos involved have a particular role to play in humanity's evolution. Nations and peoples come and go, each supplying a particular field of development for the Egos incarnating in them, and each contributing to the total achievements of the entire group.

In the letter on reincarnation, we mentioned that we might consider life as a great school through which each one of us must pass. If we may elaborate on this somewhat, using it as the context for a discussion of the root races, we may see something of the tremendously important part they play in human evolution; we may catch a thrilling glimpse of the Plan, of organisation and order in what might otherwise seem mere environmental accident.

As we look back through the years of our growth we can realise that each of us, when we graduated from high school or college, was the same individual who started in the first grade and that, through concentrating on the lessons at hand, we unfolded our understanding, developed our latent capacities and talents, and perhaps contributed something to the group of which we were a part. We were fulfilling our individual dharma. In a corresponding manner we can think of the billions of Egos making up mankind as developing through the cyclic evolutionary processes of the root races.

In this analogy, a root race might be said to represent a grade in life's school in which a major group of lessons must be mastered; the subraces would be classes within the grade, and the branch races, groups within the classes. Our attendance through all the classes and grades is obligatory. In each grade, concentration on a particular aspect of consciousness is the 'assignment' and this must be learned through seven different approaches represented by the various classes. And just as there is a certain amount of recapitulation as we pass from one grade to another in the process of education so familiar to us in this life, so it is with the larger education. Each grade, or root race, must recapitulate all the previous training and begin to concentrate on a new aspect; and the foreshadowings of still other aspects begin to appear. We can see how ridiculous it is to assume that one grade or class is superior to another, for all are necessary if the Egos are to complete their evolutionary education and pass their 'final examinations'.

According to theosophical literature, all the sub- and branch races of four major root races have appeared; in other words, four 'major evolutionary developmental stages' have been completed. It is said that the first two of these stages left no historical or geological records because there were no dense physical bodies such as humanity wears today. These stages were followed by the third and fourth root races called the Lemurian and Atlantean. Now, it is said, five minor cycles, or subraces, of the fifth major cycle, or root race, have appeared; the fifth root race has as its task the awakening of the abstract mind. There are traces of the beginning of the sixth minor cycle or subrace, and this will be followed by the seventh, which will complete the accomplishments of the fifth root race. But before this can happen, the sixth root race will have been born and the sixth major evolutionary stage will have begun. Then the intuition will be awakened and the faculty of clairaudience developed. Again, it can be seen that, in the theosophical sense, race is a matter of concentrating on certain aspects of consciousness and cannot possibly have anything to do with the colour of one's skin.

The seventh root race, when it appears in the far distant future and to which we shall all belong, will, we are told, bring a civilisation based on a full knowledge of our spiritual 'kingship'. There will be the possibility of direct perception and the natural development of the faculty or sense of clairvoyance. Meanwhile, we can hasten our evolution if we will apply ourselves to our evolutionary dharma in such a manner as to complete our assignments ahead of time and thus be able to help onward those who are having a difficult struggle.

You might consider taking some time to contemplate the millions of outer roles and identities we have held life after life, as we learn our lessons of selflessness and compassion. Think of the vastness of each phase of development known as a root race, of the millions of years involved in each cycle and sub-cycle, of the immense span of the evolutionary undertaking.

And then consider: the human race as it now exists is ONE race - a single biological species with only the most superficial differentiation. We are one of the most uniform and homogeneous of all species. All of us have within ourselves the fruit of all the past root races and the seed of all the future ones, so in a sense we are, here and now, all races in one. What we call the root races are simply the expressions in time of one or another of the aspects of our total humanity.

In closing this letter on a very large topic, let me leave you with some words of N. Sri Ram, one of our past International Presidents:

Let me have no other aim than Nature's aim; no other plan than the plan of God; no other love than the love of humanity; no other will than the will of Eternity.

Some Suggested Reading

The Peopling of the Earth  by Geoffrey A Barborka
The Divine Plan by Geoffrey A Barborka, Chapter VIII
The Story of Human Evolution by Geoffrey A Barborka

Many references to the subject of root races, planetary chains and rounds, may be found both in The Secret Doctrine and in The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett.