The Theosophical
Society in Australia

In this month's letter we shall begin our series of discussions on the major concepts of Theosophy. The ideas are offered quite undogmatically; and, in the limited scope of letters such as these, they are necessarily incompletely presented. It is our hope that you will pursue them further through the various study aids which will be recommended. We hope also that you will search beyond the words of the books to the living thoughts which inform them and, above all, that you will discover increasingly how an understanding of these great universal principles can illumine and bring order and meaning into your daily life.

Let us begin with the Unity of Life — a basic concept of every religion which has profoundly affected the history of humankind. Intimations of our common heritage are found in the eternal quest for that which is greater than the struggling little self; in one's aspiration to break through the barriers of loneliness and touch some universal source of being. And surely no life can be separate from that which is All Life, by whatever name this life may be called in the theologies of the world.

This is echoed today in the findings of science, as eloquently expressed by David Bohm, theoretical physicist: 'One is led to a new notion of unbroken wholeness which denies the classical idea of analysability of the world into separately and independently existing parts...We have reversed the usual classical notion that the independent elementary parts of the world are the fundamental reality, and that the various systems are merely particular contingent forms and arrangements of these parts. Rather, we say that inseparable quantum interconnectedness of the whole universe is the fundamental reality, and that relatively independently behaving parts are merely particular and contingent forms within this whole.' Theosophy says that this 'unbroken wholeness', this underlying unity of process, this 'interconnectedness' exists because all life is one. That is to say, the life which permeates and activates all nature - including, of course human beings - is one life, the Divine Life, manifesting in myriad forms.

In Theosophy it is held that all we know with our senses is an expression of that which lies forever beyond sense detection, although not beyond direct inner experience: an 'omnipresent, eternal, boundless and immutable substance principle' which is existence in itself, Beness rather than Being. Modern physics seems to bear witness to this Self Existence in its postulate of the 'continuum' - that which is continuous and infinite, beyond compounded nature, but from which compounded nature takes its rise. It is the Absolute of the philosopher. It can be termed Deity or God if one is careful to divorce these words from anthropomorphic connotations; it is without qualities although it is the source of all qualities; it is not that which acts but it is the root of all action.

Periodically, from this Root Cause, through the operation of ultimate law, universes are 'born'. This comes about through the primal establishment of duality in polarities which later - in terms of our understanding - become Spirit and Matter. These two, along with the relationship between them which makes action possible, compose the Trinity; and this third principle establishes relationships between polarities right on down to the world of our consciousness.

At the begim1ing of every cycle, there comes forth a host of graded intelligent beings - products of past evolutionary cycles - who step down the naked power at the various levels to the point where it can function without destroying. We see their activity in the building of forms, in the great evolutionary push of life through these forms in a bewildering multiplicity of expressions. We see it in what we term the operation of natural law.

Creation, then, is not a process of making something out of nothing. It is an outflow of energy from a hidden, mysterious source, then a limitation, a focussing or a direction of that energy producing certain results. We can observe this in our own creative activities,  whether these be in the arts such as music, painting, or dancing; whether they be in composing a letter, building a cabinet, decorating  a home, or any other pursuit which engages our faculties. The energy or the creative impulse comes from a source which, to us, is unconscious. Even the concept of the result to be achieved, which  is the archetype, is a conscious imperative which arises mysteriously out of the depths of the unconscious. With it comes the first and primary act of will -  a 'letting' ('And God said, Let there be light'). The determination of the field of operation, the directing,  the focussing  of the energy, and the carrying out of the work involved are all phases of conscious process. We must consciously establish and fulfil certain conditions which will channel the energy most potently. Often we must adapt or even change a method, discarding that which has proved useless and seeking more effective means to achieve the end we have in view. But the achievement itself comes almost as a surprise; release flows out through a process which we cannot command. And it brings bliss, a sense of 'moreness', an expansion and intensification of consciousness ('...and there was light.').

Since the rule is 'As above, so below', since there is a unity of process throughout nature, it is held in Theosophy that the most exalted Being in the universe, frequently spoken of as the Logos, is carrying out, on a scale inconceivable to us, a process of expanding consciousness in which we cannot help but share ('In Him we live and move and have our being') and that the ultimate goal is the perfection of humanity and its graduation from the human kingdom by the end of the cycle.

The impulse of all life is toward 'moreness'; it is ongoing and dynamic, whether it is working through the seed or the plant in your garden, through the greatest genius of an age, or through the farthest star in the solar system. It is endlessly resourceful, endlessly patient, as it seeks through all the myriad forms of expression to perfect itself, to achieve wholeness of consciousness.

The concept of the oneness of life gives dignity to our existence. We feel a sense of purpose in belonging to the divine scheme of things. And as we begin to realise this more deeply, we grow in wisdom and maturity, in a sense of responsibility toward ourselves and the world in which we live. Not, may it be said, in any attitude of dull and pious conformity, but with a joyous sense of participation in an intense and exquisite mystery, the Romance of the Spirit, the great Divine Drama in which each of us has a part to play and which would be incomplete without us. It has been said that 'our lives are our contribution to the Universe'.