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attempt, then, denies that any real unit-being called the Mind needs to be assumed
as undergoing a process of development according to laws of its own. . . . On the
other hand, all attempts to account for the orderly increase in complexity and
comprehensiveness of the mental phenomena by tracing the physical evolution of
the brain are wholly unsatisfactory to many minds. We have no hesitation in
classing ourselves among this number. Those facts of experience which show a
correspondence in the order of the development of the body and the mind, and
even a certain necessary dependence of the latter upon the former, are, of course,
to be admitted; but they are equally compatible with another view of the mind's
development. This other view has the additional advantage that it makes room for
many other facts of experience which are very difficult of reconciliation with any
materialistic theory. On the whole, the history of each individual's experiences is
such as requires the assumption that a real unit-being (a Mind) is undergoing a
process of development, in relation to the changing condition or evolution of the
brain, and yet in accordance with a nature and laws of its own (p. 616).
How closely this last "assumption" of science approaches the teachings of the Occult philosophy
will be shown in Part II of this article. Meanwhile, we may close with an answer to the latest
materialistic fallacy, which may be summarized in a few words. As every psychic action has for
its substratum the nervous elements whose existence it postulates, and outside which it cannot
act; as the activity of the nervous elements is only molecular motion, there is therefore no need to
invent a special and psychic Force for the explanation of our brain work. Free-Will would force
Science to postulate an invisible Free-Willer, a creator of that special Force.
We agree: "not the slightest need," of a creator of "that special" or any other Force. Nor has
anyone ever claimed such an absurdity. But between creating and guiding, there is a difference
and the latter implies in no way any creation of the energy of motion, or, indeed, of any special
energy. Psychic mind (in contradistinction to manasic or noetic mind) only transforms this
energy of the "unit-being" according to "a nature and laws of its own" -- to use Ladd's felicitous
expression. The "unit-being" creates nothing but only causes a natural correlation in accordance
with both the psychical laws and laws of its own; having to use the Force, it guides its direction,
choosing the paths along which it will proceed, and stimulating it to action. And, as its activity is
sui generis, and independent, it carries this energy from this world of disharmony into its own
sphere of harmony. Were it not independent it could not do so. As it is, the freedom of man's will
is beyond doubt or cavil. Therefore, as already observed, there is no question of creation, but
simply of guidance. Because the sailor at the wheel does not create the steam in the engine, shall
we say that he does not direct the vessel?
And, because we refuse to accept the fallacies of some psycho-physiologists as the last word of
science, do we furnish thereby a new proof that free will is an hallucination? We deride the
animalistic idea. How far more scientific and logical, besides being as poetical as it is grand, is
the teaching in the Kathopanishad, which, in a beautiful and descriptive metaphor, says that:
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STUDIES IN OCCULTISM
46
"The senses are the horses, body is the chariot, mind (kama-manas) is the reins, and intellect (or
free will) the charioteer." Verily, there is more exact science in the less important of the
Upanishads, composed thousands of years ago, than in all the materialistic ravings of modern
"physico-biology" and "psychophysiology" put together!
II
The knowledge of the past, present, and future, is embodied in Kshetrajna (the
"Self"). -- Occult Axioms
Having explained in what particulars, and why, as Occultists, we disagree with materialistic [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]