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

Answer: It is all one, of course; these are simply metaphorical expressions. Please notice that the "Eye" is not said to "see"; it only "sensed" the "All-Presence."

Question: Is it through this "Eye," then, that we receive such a sense, feeling, or consciousness?

Answer: It is through that "Eye," most definitely; but one must possess such an "Eye" before they can see, or become a Dangma a seer or purified soul.

Question: This is presumably the highest spiritual faculty?

Answer: Precisely; but who possessed it at that stage? There was no Dangma to sense the "All-Presence," because there were no human beings yet.

Question: Regarding verse (6), was it stated that the cause of Light was Darkness?

Answer: Here again, "Darkness" must be understood in a metaphorical sense. It is unquestionably Darkness to our intellect, because we can know nothing of it. As I have already told you, neither Darkness nor Light should be used as opposites, as they are in the differentiated world. "Darkness" is the term least likely to cause misconceptions. For instance, if the term "Chaos" were used, it might be confused with chaotic matter.

Question: The term "light" was surely never used to mean physical light?

Answer: Certainly not. Here, "light" is the first potentiality awakening from its laya a state of rest, dissolution, or non-differentiation condition to become a power. It is the first stir in undifferentiated matter that moves it toward objectivity and into a plane from which manifestation will begin.

Question: Later in "The Secret Doctrine," it is stated that light is made visible by darkness—or rather, that darkness exists originally, and light results from the presence of objects to reflect it (meaning the objective world). If we take a glass globe of water and pass an electric beam through it, the beam is invisible unless there are opaque particles in the water to reflect it, in which case specks of light are seen. Is this a good analogy?

Answer: I believe it is a very fair illustration.

Question: Isn't Light a differentiation of vibration?

Answer: That is what science tells us, and the same applies to Sound. We can see that the senses are, to a certain extent, interchangeable. How else would you

explain the fact that a person in a trance or a clairvoyant can sometimes read a letter by placing it on their forehead, the soles of their feet, or the pit of their stomach?

Question: That is an extra sense.

Answer: Not at all; it is simply that the sense of sight can be exchanged with the sense of touch.

Question: But isn't the sense of perception the beginning of a sixth sense?

Answer: That goes beyond the current example, which is merely the interchanging of the senses of touch and sight. However, such clairvoyants will not be able to tell you the contents of a letter they have not seen or touched. That would require the exercise of the sixth sense. The former is an exercise of senses on the physical plane; the latter is a sense on a higher plane.

Question: Physiology suggests it is very probable that every sense can be traced back to the sense of touch, which might be called the coordinating sense. This conclusion comes from embryological research, which shows that touch is the primary sense and that all others evolved from it. Therefore, all senses are more highly specialized or differentiated forms of touch.

Answer: This is not the view of Eastern philosophy. In the Anugita a portion of the Mahabharata, we read a conversation between a "Brahman" and his wife concerning the senses. Seven senses are mentioned, with "mind and understanding" being the other two, according to the translations by Mr. Trimbak Telang and Professor Max Müller. However, these terms do not convey the correct meaning of the Sanskrit words. According to the Hindus, the first sense is connected with sound. This can hardly be the sense of touch.

Question: By "touch," they most likely mean sensitivity or some sensory medium?

Answer: In Eastern philosophy, however, the sense of sound manifests first, followed by the sense of sight, as sounds pass into colors. Clairvoyants can see sounds and detect every note and modulation much more distinctly than they would through the ordinary sense of hearing or sound-vibration.

Question: Is it, then, that sound is perceived as a type of rhythmic movement?

Answer: Yes; and such vibrations can be seen from a greater distance than they can be heard.