Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge of the Theosophical Society. Discussions on the stanzas of the first volume of The secret doctrine

quite different. It is only then that they become Thinkers. Furthermore, Occultism, unlike modern Science, maintains that every atom of matter, once it has become distinct, is endowed with its own kind of Consciousness. Every cell in the human body (as in every animal) is endowed with its own specific power of discrimination, instinct, and—relatively speaking—intelligence.

Q. Can the Spiritual Beings original: "Ah-hi" be said to be enjoying bliss?

A. How could they be subject to bliss or the lack of it? Bliss can only be appreciated and recognized as such when suffering is known.

Q. But there is a distinction between happiness and bliss.

A. Even if that is true, there can be neither happiness nor bliss without a contrasting experience of suffering and pain.

Q. But we understood that "bliss" was intended to refer to the state of the Absolute.

A. This is even more illogical. How can the ABSOLUTE be said to "feel"? The Absolute can have no conditions or attributes. Only that which is finite and distinct can have any feeling or attitude attributed to it.

Q. Then the Spiritual Beings original: "Ah-hi" cannot be called conscious intelligences, since intelligence is so complex?

A. Perhaps the term is technically wrong, but due to the limited nature of European languages, there seems to be no other choice.

Q. But perhaps a phrase would represent the idea more correctly? The term seems to mean a force that is a unity, not a complex action and reaction of several forces, which the word "intelligence" implies. Perhaps "the spiritual reality behind physical force" original: "The noumenal aspect of phenomenal force" would better express the idea.

A. Or perhaps we may imagine the idea as a flame, which is a unity; the rays from this flame will be complex, each acting in its own straight line.

Q. But they only become complex when they enter into lower forms.

A. Exactly; even so, the Spiritual Beings original: "Ah-hi" are the flame from which the rays stream forth. They become more and more distinct as they fall deeper into matter, until they finally reach this world of ours with its millions of inhabitants and sensory beings; then they become truly complex.

Q. Then these beings, regarded as a primary essence, would be a unity? Can we view them that way?

A. You may; but the strict truth is that they only proceed from unity and are the first of its seven rays.

Q. Then can we call them the reflection of unity?

A. Are not the rays of a prism fundamentally one single white ray? From the one they become three; from the three, seven; and from those seven primary rays, they fall into infinity. Referring back to the so-called "consciousness" of the Spiritual Beings original: "Ah-hi", that consciousness cannot be judged by the standard of human perceptions. It exists on a completely different plane.

Q. "During deep sleep, the mind is not on the material plane"; should we therefore infer that during this time the mind is active on another plane? Is there any definition of the characteristics that distinguish the mind in the waking state from the mind during the sleep of the body?

A. There is, of course; but I do not think a discussion on it would be relevant or helpful right now. It is enough to say that often the reasoning faculty of the higher mind may be asleep, while the instinctual mind is fully awake. This is the physiological distinction between the upper brain original: "cerebrum" and the lower brain original: "cerebellum"; one sleeps while the other stays awake.

Q. What is meant by the term instinctual mind?

A. The instinctual mind finds expression through the lower brain original: "cerebellum" and is the same mind found in animals. In a sleeping human, the functions of the upper brain original: "cerebrum" cease, and the lower brain original: "cerebellum" carries them to the Starry Plane original: "Astral plane". This is an even more unreal state than the waking plane of illusion—which is how we describe the state most of you think is so real. And the Starry Plane original: "Astral plane" is even more deceptive because it reflects both good and bad indiscriminately and is very chaotic.

Q. The fundamental conditions of the mind in the waking state are space and time; do these exist for the mind original: "Manas" during the sleep of the physical body?

A. Not as we know them. Moreover, the answer depends on which Mind original: "Manas" you mean—the higher or the lower. Only the lower mind is prone to hallucinations about space and time; for instance, a person in a dream may live through the events of a lifetime in just a few seconds.* For the perceptions of the Higher Self original: "Ego", there is neither space nor time.

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• See the discussion on dreams added to the first issue of the TRANSACTIONS.