The Cosmic Doctrine: Influences of the Manifested Universe, Part One

   March 11, 2020
   John Michael Greer
   5 Comments

   This week we  continue a monthly discussion of The  Cosmic Doctrine by Dion
   Fortune, which  I consider the most  important work of 20th  century occult
   philosophy. Climb in and fasten your seat  belts; it's turning out to be as
   wild a ride  as I expected. If  you're just joining us now,  please go back
   and read  the previous  commentaries, which are  listed here;  the material
   covered  in these  earlier  posts  is essential  to  making  sense of  what
   follows.

   As noted in  earlier posts, there are two widely  available editions of The
   Cosmic  Doctrine, the  revised  edition  first published  in  1956 and  the
   Millennium Edition  first published  in 1995,  which reprints  the original
   privately  printed  edition  of  1949.  You can  use  either  one  for  the
   discussions that follow. The text varies somewhat between the two editions,
   but the concepts and images are the same, and I'll be referring to both.

   Assigned Reading:

   Revised Edition: Chapter  20, "The Logoidal Relationship  to the Manifested
   Universe," pp. 92 to the second to  last paragraph on p. 94, ending "...are
   produced in this way."

   Millennium  Edition:   Chapter  21,  "The  Logoidal   Relationship  to  the
   Manifested Universe,"  from the third  paragraph on p. 124,  beginning with
   "The teaching of the last two lectures..."  to the end of the chapter on p.
   127.

   Commentary:

   This  is  an  extremely  dense  chapter full  of  information  relevant  to
   practical magic; in the Revised Edition, it's also twice as long as most of
   the other chapters,  and so we'll be spreading out  our discussion over two
   months. Pay close attention as we  go-many of the details covered here have
   direct practical application  not only to magical practice  but to everyday
   life and to the wider realms of politics and society.

   Fortune begins her discussion by  talking about the influences from outside
   the solar  system that were  the subject  of previous chapters.  (She calls
   these influences  "extra-universal," remember, because the  word "universe"
   in her day was still sometimes used  as a label for the solar system rather
   than the  entire cosmos.) For  the sake  of clarity, she  distinguishes two
   phases in this  process: first there are the Cosmic  influences that act on
   the Logos,  and then  there are the  influences of the  Logos on  the solar
   system that result from these Cosmic factors.

   While the theological mainstream in her time and ours sees God as incapable
   of  change and  growth, Fortune's  theology has  no place  for any  form of
   static perfection. Everything  in her great cosmic  metaphor is perpetually
   changing,  reacting to  variations  in its  environment,  and growing  into
   greater  richness  and  complexity  over  time.  Interestingly,  this  same
   point was  made by  the philosopher Alfred  North Whitehead,  whose process
   philosophy also rejected the idea of static divine perfection in favor of a
   vision of the Cosmos in which God  and the Cosmos were both developing over
   time.

   The possibility  that Fortune  read Whitehead's  work is  not a  detail her
   biographers  seem  to  have  discussed, but  the  dates  work.  Whitehead's
   famous Tarner  lectures of 1919,  which set  out the principles  of process
   philosophy, were  published in book form  in 1920 as The  Concept of Nature
   and saw some  discussion in the literate  end of the press  and the general
   public, and the  first version of The Cosmic Doctrine  was written in 1922.
   Whether or not Fortune was influenced by Whitehead directly, her ideas drew
   on the  same trends in the  intellectual life of  the time as his,  and one
   direction in which work with The  Cosmic Doctrine might proceed in years to
   come would involve a close comparison of Fortune's ideas with Whitehead's.

   The transformations of  the Solar Logos, the god of  this solar system, are
   of course not all caused by  influences streaming in from the Cosmos. There
   are also the influences that come out of the evolution of the solar system,
   mediated by  the swarms of Divine  Sparks that journey down  the planes and
   then return. Like the influences of the Cosmos, the influences of the solar
   system's evolution also  shape the way the Logos acts  on its solar system,
   and so  both these  sets of  influences become part  of the  environment in
   which  you and  I, dear  reader,  lead our  lives  and pursue  the work  of
   spiritual evolution.

   There are  other influences  that shape  our evolutionary  environment, and
   these other influences are the main subject of this chapter.

   The concept of "tracks in space,"  which was introduced at the beginning of
   The Cosmic  Doctrine, is essential to  recall as a basis  for what follows.
   Any repeated action or reaction inscribes  a "track in space," and so tends
   to  become stereotyped.  Seen from  within Fortune's  metaphor, the  entire
   solar system-and indeed the entire Cosmos-is  simply a pattern of tracks in
   space  through which  atoms and  atomic composites  (themselves made  up of
   tracks in  space) live and move  and have their being.  That pattern, which
   Fortune calls an abstract  mould, has been built up over  time by the Solar
   Logos, using the  swarms of Divine Sparks as its  instrument. This abstract
   mould includes  all the laws of  nature studied by scientists,  and a great
   many other laws of which scientists are completely ignorant at present.

   These laws were  not all laid down  at the beginning of time.  Some of them
   came into being with the evolution of  the Lords of Flame, others with that
   of the Lords of Form, still others through the epigenetic play of the Lords
   of Mind, and we ourselves, as members of a swarm, are laying down tracks in
   space that will  someday be laws of  nature for the beings  that come after
   us. Think of  these tracks in space  as being stacked like the  levels of a
   building; the ground  floor consists of the laws of  physics and astronomy,
   which were laid down by the Lords of Flame; the first floor, which requires
   the support  of the  ground floor,  consists of the  laws of  chemistry and
   biology, which were laid down by the Lords of Form; the second floor, which
   requires the  support of the previous  two floors, consists of  the laws of
   ethology  (animal behavior)  and psychology,  which were  laid down  by the
   Lords of Mind, and so on. Each depends on the ones before it.

   Thus  each kingdom  of manifested  existence in  the solar  system-radiant,
   mineral, vegetable, animal,  and human-rises on a  foundation consisting of
   tracks in space, which Fortune calls  the elemental essence of the kingdom.
   Understand the laws  that govern each kingdom and you  have the capacity to
   work with  those laws and  make things happen  in that kingdom.  As Fortune
   points out,  this is  the basis  of practical magic.  Notice that  magic as
   Fortune describes it  is thus the opposite of supernatural,  unless we take
   the "super"  in supernatural to  mean "extremely," as in  "supercharged" or
   "supercooled";  magic is  extremely, wholly,  utterly natural,  the use  of
   natural  patterns to  bring about  natural results  in accordance  with the
   natural human faculty of will.

   Of course the difficulty creeps in here because the established sciences of
   the modern  Western world consider only  the material world to  be natural;
   everything else  is supernatural, or  unnatural, or simply  nonexistent. As
   our  text says,  this  is a  strange  fruit of  epigenesis!  To the  occult
   philosopher, the material world is  the lower three-sevenths of the densest
   and (metaphorically) lowest of the planes, the physical plane, which is one
   of seven subdivisions  of the seventh and densest Cosmic  plane; the modern
   sciences are thus  limiting themselves to 3/343rds of the  whole Cosmos, or
   3/49ths of this solar system-which seems a little restrictive.

   An equal but opposite mistake is  made by those religious philosophies that
   insist that  the material world is  pure illusion and that  only the higher
   planes are  real. Dion  Fortune was  raised in  one of  these-the Christian
   Science church-and  she encountered many  others in her time,  ranging from
   the more  extreme end  of New  Thought to  westernized versions  of certain
   Asian spiritual traditions. To Fortune,  both these views are mistaken. The
   material world  has its own  laws and  principles, which have  been studied
   intensively by  modern science. When  we are  dealing with the  behavior of
   matter and the denser sorts of energy, those laws need to be recognized and
   taken into account, but there are other modes and manifestations and planes
   of being which  have their own laws, and which  have powerful influences on
   human life.

   Now comes  a point of crucial  importance. "The forces of  each plane," our
   text explains, "are supreme upon their  own plane, controllers of the plane
   below,  and, when  in  contact with  the  plane above,  are  in their  turn
   controlled."

   Let's take  this a  step at  a time.  The planes  are not  simply arbitrary
   divisions of  an unbroken continuum; each  plane is a reality  unto itself,
   and under at least some circumstances, the forces of each plane govern that
   plane. In the case of the physical  plane, for example, the forces known to
   modern science generally rule what happens on their plane. The same is true
   of  every  other  plane.  Occultists  have summed  up  this  insight  in  a
   convenient phrase: "The planes are discrete and not continuous."

   Under certain  circumstances, however,  the forces of  one plane  can spill
   over into a plane  below it, and control what happens  in that lower plane.
   When that  happens, the  forces of  one plane can  control the  activity of
   certain phenomena on the next  lower plane. There's nothing supernatural or
   miraculous  about this;  it  happens every  time you  decide  to reach  for
   something,  and  your  hand  moves:  certain forces  of  the  upper  astral
   plane-those  belonging  to the  personality-control  the  activity of  your
   material body, which is part of the physical plane.

   Notice that this  control is limited by the nature  of the plane below-your
   hand remains a hand, and can only do those things that hands are capable of
   doing-and it  is also limited by  the nature of the  connection between the
   planes-you can move your  hand, but you can't move a  coffee cup unless you
   use  your  hand to  do  it.  At  the same  time,  the  hand guided  by  the
   personality can do  things that the hand cannot do  when the personality is
   not guiding it-say, in a state of sleep or unconsciousness.

   The same relationship, finally, can extend  above the lower mind as well as
   below  it. The  personality  can  reach upward  to  make  contact with  the
   Individuality and take  direction from it. The  personality remains itself,
   and does  not stop being  a personality; it  continues to exercise  all its
   usual functions  on its  own plane-but the  influence of  the Individuality
   guides its actions and makes it  capable of doing things that a personality
   cannot do  by itself. Many  people have had  the experience of  receiving a
   sudden flash  of intuition that  enables them to  find their way  through a
   difficult situation successfully; this is  an example of the upward contact
   we're discussing.

   The next  paragraph of our  text is just  as complex, and  requires equally
   careful unpacking. "For example, the laws of logic are supreme in the realm
   of mind.  The images  of mind control  the forms of  the emotions,  but the
   images of  mind are  themselves controlled by  the spiritual  forces." Here
   again, let's take this a step at a time.

   The laws of  logic are the laws  of that portion of the  mental realm human
   beings  can  experience  at  this  stage of  our  evolution;  in  Fortune's
   taxonomy, they belong to the lower mental plane, and on that plane they are
   absolute. Where  they make contact  with the  planes below, they  also have
   power there-for example,  the application of logic to the  phenomena of the
   physical plane is  the basis of modern  science. At the same  time, just as
   the control of  the hand by the  personality only goes so far,  so does the
   control of matter by logic. There have, after all, been plenty of perfectly
   logical deductions about the world by qualified scientists that have turned
   out to be dead wrong.

   Less obvious but in  many ways more significant is the role  of the mind in
   controlling the  emotions. As a  trained psychotherapist, Dion  Fortune had
   plenty of direct experience with the myriad ways that garbled ideas held in
   the mind  can misshape  the emotional  life. Since  her time,  that linkage
   became  the  focus  of  several  schools  of  psychotherapy,  such  as  the
   Transactional Analysis of  Dr. Eric Berne and  the Rational-Emotive Therapy
   of Dr. Albert Ellis;  both these, and many other modes  of therapy as well,
   focus on teaching patients  to untangle counterproductive thought processes
   so that  the corresponding tangles  of the  emotional life will  unravel in
   turn.

   The same  process, again, works  upwards as well  as down, and  back before
   psychotherapy was  taken over by  the pharmaceutical industry, some  of the
   most innovative and promising ventures in the field focused on finding ways
   to make that  connection between the personality and  the Individuality, so
   that inner  guidance from the spiritual  plane can sort out  the tangles of
   the mental  plane and allow  the emotional life  to right itself.  That was
   also a  central theme of Fortune's  own work with healing,  as described in
   books such as The Circuit of Force and, on another plane, her Rites of Isis
   and of Pan.

   That act  of reaching upward is  of critical importance, and  not just when
   your emotional life is a mess. The next four paragraphs of our text explain
   why. Chapter 18  of The Cosmic Doctrine discussed the  Left-Hand Path in an
   abstract manner; here Fortune begins a more detailed analysis of that Path.
   (The term  "Left-Hand Path" has been  used in many different  ways over the
   last two centuries or so; in Fortune's terminology, remember, the Left-Hand
   Path is the  path of regression, of  falling back into an  earlier phase of
   evolution.)

   To understand  what follows,  it's necessary to  remember that  to Fortune,
   every act of creation descends through  the planes of being to the physical
   plane, the  plane of  effects, and then  cycles back up  the planes  to its
   source.  When all  goes as  it should,  the impetus  that sets  the act  of
   creation  in motion  begins  on  the first  or  upper  spiritual plane  and
   descends all the way  to the seventh or physical plane,  and then rises all
   the way back up, as shown in the diagram to the left.

   At our  present stage of  evolution, the  proper completion of  the circuit
   depends on  the actions of  the personality,  which functions on  the upper
   astral  and lower  mental planes.  If  the personality  reaches upwards  to
   connect with the descending influence from the Individuality, the result is
   a complete circuit, and the personality is energized and empowered with the
   forces of the  higher planes. If the personality closes  itself against the
   contact with the Individuality, on the  other hand, the higher planes never
   come  into  play. In  the  absence  of  occult  training or  certain  other
   influences, the result  is the starved, empty state of  the psyche so often
   encountered today, which  leads so many people  to try to fill  the void at
   the center of their beings with the  chatter of the mass media or the false
   certainties of ideology.

   Bring occult  training into play,  however, and things  become considerably
   more serious.  The disciplines of any  form of occult training  link up the
   levels  of the  self from  the personality  on down,  and the  result is  a
   half-circuit  in which  force flows  down from  the lower  mental or  upper
   astral  plane to  the  physical plane  and  back up  to  where it  started.
   Inevitably a short circuit occurs, and  the force flows across at the level
   of the lower mental or upper astral  planes, as shown in the diagram to the
   right. The force is  guided, not by the higher planes,  but by the patterns
   laid down  in the subjective mind  during our species' descent  through the
   planes; it is therefore subconscious rather than conscious.

   Thus  the forces  that come  through to  the conscious  mind are  shaped by
   subconscious drives and  automatisms rather than the  expanded awareness of
   the upper  mental and spiritual planes.  The result is a  debasement of the
   personality, in which complex mental abilities  end up being used for crude
   and unthinking ends.  I suspect many of  us have met people  like this, who
   display a  surface patina of  intellectual brilliance or  personal charisma
   that conceals  a complete  inability to think  reflectively and  an equally
   complete unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions.

   If Fortune's correct-and  her comments here are supported by  those of many
   other occult  authors-those who  follow this  path are  not simply  left to
   their own karma. Because their actions  can affect the broader life-wave of
   which we  are all parts, those  greater beings who have  responsibility for
   overseeing human evolution  can intervene and send the  corrupted soul back
   down the ladder of evolution to try again. Notes Fortune, "Certain types of
   mischievous malicious idiots  are produced in this way"-and  "idiot" was in
   Fortune's time a specific medical  diagnosis, equivalent to profound mental
   retardation.

   The moral to  this story is that  there's a point to the  injunction in the
   Golden  Dawn rituals  to  begin every  working with  an  invocation of  the
   Higher. Reach up the planes  through prayer, contemplation, and meditation,
   and you'll stay on the track of evolution.

   Notes for Study:

   As already noted, The Cosmic Doctrine  is heavy going, especially for those
   who don't have  any previous exposure to occult philosophy.  It's useful to
   read through the assigned chapter once or twice, trying to get an overview,
   but after  that take it a  bit at a time.  The best option for  most people
   seems to  be to set aside  five or ten minutes  a day during the  month you
   spend on this chapter. During that  daily session, take one short paragraph
   or half of a  long one, read it closely, and think  about what you've read,
   while picturing  in your mind's  eye the image  you've been given  for that
   passage of text.

   As you  proceed through the chapter  and its images, you're  likely to find
   yourself facing questions  that the text doesn't answer. Some  of those are
   questions  Fortune wants  you to  ask yourself,  either because  they'll be
   answered later in the  book or because they will encourage  you to think in
   ways that will help  you learn what the text has to say.  It can be helpful
   to  keep a  notebook in  which to  write down  such questions,  as well  as
   whatever thoughts and insights might come to you as you study the text.

   Questions and comments can also be posted here for discussion. (I'd like to
   ask that  only questions and  comments relevant  to The Cosmic  Doctrine be
   posted here, to help  keep things on topic.) We'll go on  to the next piece
   of the text on April 8, 2020. Until then, have at it!