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

Differentiated essence had returned to an undifferentiated state. The sentence "Father, Mother, and Son" is the original model of the Christian type—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—the last of which was, in early Christianity and Gnosticism, the female "Sophia" (Wisdom). It means that all creative and sensitive forces, and the effects of those forces which constitute the universe, had returned to their original state: all was merged into one. During the Mahapralayas Great Dissolutions, nothing but the Absolute exists.

Q. What are the different meanings of Father, Mother, and Son? In the Commentary, they are explained as (a) Spirit, Substance, and Universe; (b) Spirit, Soul, and Body; (c) Universe, Planetary Chain, and Man.

A. I have just completed that with my own extra definition, which I think is clear. There is nothing to be added to this explanation unless we begin to anthropomorphize to attribute human characteristics to abstract concepts.

Q. Taking the last terms of the three series, do the ideas of Son, Universe, Man, and Body correspond with one another?

A. Of course they do.

Q. And are these terms produced from the remaining pair of terms of each trinity? For instance, the Son from the Father and Mother, humanity from the Planetary Chain and the Universe, and so on? And finally, in Pralaya, is the Son merged back again into its parents?

A. Before the question is answered, you must be reminded that the period preceding so-called Creation is not discussed; we only discuss the period when matter had begun to differentiate but had not yet assumed form. "Father-Mother" is a compound term meaning primordial Substance or Spirit-matter. When it begins to move from Homogeneity uniformity/sameness toward Heterogeneity diversity/variety through differentiation, it becomes positive and negative. Thus, from the "Zero-state" (or laya a point of dissolution or non-differentiation) it becomes active and passive, instead of passive alone. As a consequence of this differentiation—the result of which is evolution and the subsequent Universe—the "Son" is produced. The "Son" is that same Universe, or manifested Cosmos, until a new Mahapralaya.

Q. Or is it the ultimate state in laya, or at the zero point, as in the beginning before the stage of the Father, Mother, and Son?

A. There is very little reference to what existed before the Father-Mother period in The Secret Doctrine. If Father-Mother exists, then a condition such as Laya cannot, of course, exist.

Q. Father and Mother are therefore later than the Laya condition?

A. Exactly; individual objects may be in Laya, but the Universe cannot be so when Father-Mother appears.

Q. Is Fohat the vitalizing power or "cosmic electricity" one of the three: Father, Mother, or Son?

A. Fohat is a general term used in many senses. He is the light (Daiviprakriti) of all three Logoi—the personified symbols of the three spiritual stages of Evolution. Fohat is the sum total of all the spiritual creative ideas above, and of all the electro-dynamic and creative forces below, in Heaven and on Earth. There seems to be great confusion and misunderstanding concerning the First and Second Logos. The first is the potentiality already present yet still unmanifested in the heart of Father-Mother. The Second is the abstract collective group of creators called "Demiurgi" from the Greek for "builders" or "craftsmen" or the Builders of the Universe. The third logos is the final differentiation of the Second and the individualization of Cosmic Forces, of which Fohat is the chief; for Fohat is the synthesis of the Seven Creative Rays or Dhyan Chohans Spiritual Lords or celestial beings which proceed from the third Logos.

Q. During a Manvantara, when the Son is in existence or "awake," does the Father-Mother exist independently or only as manifested in the Son?

A. In using the terms Father, Mother, and Son, we should be careful not to anthropomorphize the concept. The first two are simply centrifugal outward-moving and centripetal inward-moving forces, and their product is the "Son." Furthermore, it is impossible to exclude any of these factors from the concept in Esoteric Philosophy.

Q. If so, then another point arises: it is possible to conceive of centripetal and centrifugal forces existing independently of the effects they produce. Effects are always regarded as secondary to the cause or causes.

A. But it is very doubtful whether such a concept can be maintained in, or applied to, our symbolism. If these forces exist, they must be producing effects; if the effects cease, the forces cease with them, for who could know of them?

Q. But they exist as separate entities for mathematical purposes, do they not?

A. That is a different thing. There is a great difference between nature and science, or reality and philosophical symbolism. For the same reason, we divide a human being into seven principles, but this does not mean that...