WE despair of ever knowing the origin of the universe, its aim, its laws, or its intentions; and we end by doubting whether there be any. It were wiser very humbly1 to confess that we are not able to conceive them. It is probable that, if the universe to-morrow were to yield us the key of its riddle2, we should be as incapable3 of understanding how to use it as is a dog to whom we show the key of a clock. In revealing its great secret to us, it would teach us hardly anything; or at least the revelation would have but an insignificant4 influence upon our life, our happiness, our ethics5, our efforts, and our hopes. It would soar at such heights that no one would perceive it; at most it would disencumber the sky of our[230] religious illusions, leaving only the infinite void of the ether in their place.
2
For that matter, there is no saying but that we once possessed6 this revelation. It is highly possible that the religions of nations which have disappeared, such as the Lemurians, the Atlanteans and many others, were aware of it and that we have discovered its remains7 in the esoteric traditions that have come down to us. It must not indeed be forgotten that there exists, side by side with the outward, scientific history, a secret history of mankind which derives8 its substance of legends, myths, hieroglyphics9, strange monuments and mysterious writings from the hidden meaning of the primitive10 books. One thing is certain, that, though the imagination of those who interpret this occult history is often venturesome, all that they declare is not to be despised and deserves to be examined more seriously one day than has hitherto been done.
[231]The essence of this esoteric revelation is very well summed up by M. Marc Saunier, a disciple11 of Fabre d’Olivet and Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, in his book, La Légende des symboles.
“The Initiates12,” he says, “have always regarded each continent as a being subject to the same laws as man. For them, the minerals constitute its skeleton, the flora14 its flesh, the fauna15 its nerve-cells and the human races the grey matter of its brain. This continent itself is but an organ of the earth, wherein each man is treated as a thinking cell and whereof the thought is represented by the sum of human thoughts. The earth itself is but an organ of the solar system, which in turn is considered as an individual; and our solar system thus becomes merely an organ of another being of the infinite, whose heart would appear in the star Alpha in Aries. And lastly, by a final synthesis, we come to the Cosmos17, which expresses the general sum of all things, in a being whose body is the[232] world and whose thought is the universal intelligence, exalted18 by the religions to the rank of a deity19.”
The basis of their doctrine20 is plainly evolutionistic. Each continent has merely transformed, in its own time and according to its own ideal, the seeds which came from the Hyperborean tracts21; and man is but the result of an animal evolution. For the rest, they borrow it in part from the Hindus, thus anticipating by many thousands of years the latest hypotheses of our modern science.
3
But, without loitering in these shifting sands, let us go direct to clear and reliable sources. We possess, in the sacred and secret books of India, of which we know only an infinitesimal part, a cosmogony which no European conception has ever surpassed. It would not be correct to say that it attained22, at the first endeavour, the ultimate limits beyond which the mind of[233] man could not venture without dissolving in the infinite, for it was the work of centuries of which we do not know the tale; but it indisputably preceded all the others, its birth was earlier than anything that we know and, at the beginning of all things, it exceeded in grandeur24 all that we have learnt and all that we can imagine.
It was the first, for instance, long before our historic periods, to give us a dizzy yet concrete idea of the infinity25 of time. The Book of Manu teaches us that twelve thousand years of mortals are but a day and a night to the gods; their year, therefore, consisting of three hundred and sixty days, numbers 4,320,000 years. A thousand years of the gods make but one of Brahma’s days, that is to say, 4,320,000,000 human years, representing the total life of our globe; and Brahma’s night is of equal duration. Three hundred and sixty of these days and nights make one of this god’s years; and a hundred of these years constitute one of his lives, that is to say, the duration of the universe, which is represented[234] by the formidable figure of 311,090,000,000,000 years. After this he begins a new life. At present we have not yet attained the noon of Brahma’s actual day nor half the life-time of our terrestrial globe.
To complete this outline of the stupendous chronology of the Vedas, I continue to profit by some notes received from my war-time godson, who has a thorough knowledge of this unduly26 neglected science. For the rest, it will be seen that chronology and cosmogony are here in intimate connection:
“The day of Brahma (4,320,000,000 years) is divided into fourteen lives of Manu, consisting alternately of seven Manvantaras and seven Pralayas. The word Manvantara signifies the interval27 between two Manus: one of these appears in the dawn and the other in the twilight28 of this period of terrestrial activity. The morning Manu gives the Manvantara its name and the evening Manu presides over[235] the Pralaya, that is to say, the period of dissolution, or negative status quo, death, sleep, or inertia29, as the case may be, which divides two waves of life.
“Universal evolution is a chain without beginning or end, each link of which in turn appears and disappears in our field of consciousness. Brahma himself dies only to be reborn. But for the sovereign of the worlds, as for a random30 star or the least of organized creatures, there is death and dissolution only from the individual point of view. Darkness is the ransom31 to be paid for light, the evening balances the morning, age is the price of youth and death the reverse of life. In reality, however, all evolution is at the same time continuous and discontinuous; the Manvantaras and Pralayas are at once simultaneous and successive; each individual life is engendered32 by its elemental double and engenders33 its residual34 double. Every decline of life in a given place coincides with an increase of being in a corresponding place and proceeds by means of a rebirth[236] in a fresh place. Fundamentally, there is no individual life. We are at once ourselves and another, ourselves and several others, ourselves and all others, ourselves and the Universe, ourselves and infinity.
“The evolution of our terrestrial globe is an infinitesimal cycle of this universal evolution, corresponding merely with a day and a night of Brahma, and is divided into fourteen cycles, each consisting of a Manvantara and a Pralaya. The cycle of organic evolution upon our solidified35 globe represents only one of these subdivisions, that is to say, the radius36 of the organic sphere is only a fourteenth part of the radius of the mineral sphere. Mineral evolution is manifestly continuous from the formation of the globe to its dissolution. If, between the periods of geological activity, there exists a Pralaya of any kind, this latter, despite the etymology37 of the word, must be not a dissolution, which would be perfectly38 inconceivable from the logical and scientific point of view, but a period of inertia or abatement,[237] of which the hypothesis is readily admissible and of which the glacial periods, occurring in the very course of the present Manvantara, afford us an example. In the earlier cycles of Manu, the earth passed in succession through the various stages of condensation39 which science regards as igneous40 and which correspond with the ethereal, gaseous41 and liquid evolution of the elements. During these long periods, the life of the present existed potentially in the soul of the earth and actually on other globes than ours.”
4
But we will proceed no further with this outline, which would become so complicated as to be inextricable. Let us remember simply the magnificent doctrine of the reincarnation, which is the most ancient reply, the only decisive and, no doubt, the most plausible43 reply, to all the problems of justice and injustice44, the immortal45 torture of mortals, and its corollary, the law of Karma, which, as my godson so truly[238] says, “is the most wonderful of ethical46 discoveries: it represents abstract liberty and is enough to enfranchise47 the human will from any superior or even infinite being. We are our own creators and the sole captains of our fate; no other than ourselves rewards or punishes us; there is no sin, but only consequences; there is no morality, but only responsibilities. Now Buddha48 taught that, merely by virtue49 of this sovran law, the individual must be reborn to reap what he has sowed; and this certainty of rebirth was enough to neutralize50 the horror of death.”
Is all this nothing more than imagination, than the dreams of brains more ardent51 than our own, the hallucinations of ascetics52 which amaze the young and the immobility or the echo of immemorial traditions bequeathed by other races, or by races anterior53 to man and more spiritual? It is impossible to decide; but, whatever its origin, it is certain that the monument whereof we have seen but a corner of the[239] pedestal is prodigious54 and that it has not a human aspect. All that we can say is that our modern sciences, notably55 archæology, geology and biology, confirm rather than invalidate either of these revelations.
5
But this is not the question for the moment. Let us suppose that one of these revelations, for instance, that of the sacred books of India, were true, incontestable and scientifically proved by our researches; or that an interplanetary communication or a declaration of some superhuman being no longer permitted us to doubt its authenticity56: what influence would such a revelation have upon our life? What would it transform in our life, what novel element would it add to our morality or our happiness? No doubt it would work but a very slight change. It would pass too high above us; it would not descend58 to our level; it would not touch us; we should lose ourselves in its immensity; and upon the whole, knowing everything, we[240] should be neither happier nor wiser than when we knew nothing.
Not to know what he has come upon this earth to do: that is man’s great and everlasting59 torment60. Now we must perforce admit that the actual truth of the universe, if some day we learn it, will probably be very similar to one or other of those revelations which, while appearing to teach us everything, teach us nothing at all. It will at least possess the same inhuman61 character. It will necessarily be as unlimited62 in both space and time, as abysmal63, as foreign to our senses and our brain. The more tremendous, the more majestic64 the revelation, the greater chance will it have of being true; but also, the more remote from us it is, the less will it interest us. We can hardly hope to escape from this discouraging dilemma65: those revelations, explanations or interpretations66 which are too petty will not satisfy us, because we shall instinctively68 feel them to be insufficient69; while those which are too great will pass us by too far to affect us.
[241]
6
It nevertheless seems desirable that this revelation of the sacred books of India should be authentic57 and that our knowledge, still so slight, so unimportant, so timid and so incoherent, should gradually confirm, as indeed it unwittingly does daily, certain points scattered70 through the boundless71 immensity of this immemorial truth.
It would in any case, even if it did not succeed in affecting us directly, possess the advantage of enlarging our horizon, which is narrower than we suppose, until it embraces infinity; of studding this infinity with magnificent landmarks72; of animating73 it, peopling it, filling it with wonderful faces, making it a living, perceptible, almost comprehensible thing.
We all know that we dwell in infinity; but this infinity is, for us, only a bare and barren word, a black and uninhabitable void, a formless abstraction, a lifeless expression, to which our imagination can give only a momentary74 vitality75, at the cost of a[242] tiring, solitary76, unskilful, unassisted, ungrateful and unfruitful effort. We hold ourselves, in fact, pent in this terrestrial world of ours and in our brief historic ages; and at the most we raise our eyes, from time to time, towards the other planets of our solar system and project our thoughts, which are discouraged from the beginning, as far as the nebulous periods that preceded man’s advent77 on our globe. More and more deliberately78 we are directing the whole activity of our intelligence upon ourselves; and, by a regrettable optical illusion, the more it restricts its field of action, the deeper we believe it to be probing. Our thinkers and philosophers, fearing lest they should stray as their predecessors79 did before them, no longer concern themselves with any but the least disputable aspects, problems and secrets; but, if these are the least disputable, they are also the least sublime80; and man, in his quality as a terrestrial animal, becomes the sole object of their investigations81. The scientists, on the other[243] hand, are accumulating minor83 data and observations whose weight is stifling84 them; yet they no longer dare to thrust them aside or open them out, so as to ventilate them by some general law, some salutary hypothesis, for those which they have hitherto ventured to advance have been pitiably contradicted, one after the other, and scouted85 by experience.
Nevertheless, they are right to act as they do and to continue their investigations according to their narrow and restricted methods; but we are entitled to observe that, the closer they believe that they have drawn86 to a fugitive87 truth, the greater are their uncertainty88 and confusion, the more precarious89, imaginary and insufficient seem the foundations upon which they based their confidence and the more fully90 do they perceive the immense distance that still divides them from the least of life’s secrets. As one of the most illustrious of them, Sir William Grove91, prophetically remarked:
[244]
“The day is fast approaching when it will be confessed that the Forces we know are but the phenomenal manifestations92 of Realities we know nothing about, but which were known to the Ancients and by them worshipped.”
7
This, indeed, is what we are bound to think if we study slightly this primitive revelation, this ancient wisdom and what has grown out of it. Man once knew more than he now knows. He was ignorant perhaps of the enormous mass of petty details which we have observed and classified and which have enabled us to subdue93 certain forces which he never thought of turning to account: but it is probable that he understood better than we do their nature, their essence and their origin.
The higher civilization of humanity, which history traces back tentatively to five or six thousand years before Christ, is perhaps far more ancient; and, without admitting, as has been asserted, that the Egyptians kept astronomical94 records through a period of six hundred and thirty[245] thousand years, we may consider it as established that their observations embraced two precessional cycles, two sidereal95 years, or fifty-one thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six solar years. Now they themselves were not initiators but initiates, who derived96 all that they knew from a more ancient source. It was the same with the Semites, in the matter of their primitive books and their Kabbalah; and the Greeks, among whom all those who really taught us something about the origin and constitution of the world and its elements, about nature and divinity, mind and matter, men such as Hesiod, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato and the Neo-Platonists, were likewise initiates, that is to say, they were men who, having travelled in Egypt or India, had drunk of the same one and immemorial spring. Our prehistoric97 religions, Scandinavian or Germanic and the Druidism of the Celts, those of China and Japan, of Mexico and Peru, despite numerous deformations98, were also derived from the same source, even as our great western[246] metaphysics, which preceded our modern materialism99, with its somewhat sordid100 outlook, and notably the metaphysics of Leibnitz, Kant, Schelling, Fichte and Hegel have approached it and, more or less unconsciously, slaked101 their thirst at it.
It is therefore certain that through the Greeks, through the Bible, through Christianity, which is its last echo, for the author of the Apocalypse and St. Paul were initiates, we are all steeped in this revelation; that there is not and never has been any other; that it is the great human or superhuman revelation; and that consequently it would be right and salutary to study it more attentively102 and more profoundly than we have hitherto done.
8
Where does the source of this revelation lie? We place it in the east because nearly everything that we know about it is found in the sacred books of India. But it is almost certainly of western or rather Hyperborean origin and dates back to[247] those wonderful vanished Atlanteans, whose last Protoscythian colonies flourished over eleven thousand years ago and whose existence can no longer be denied.
Remember that famous passage in Plato:
“One day, when Solon was conversing103 with the priests of Saïs on the history of the remote ages, one of them said:
“‘O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children!... There is not an opinion, not a tradition of knowledge among you that is old.... You know nothing of that noble race of heroes of whom you are a remnant.... Nine thousand years, as our annals record, have elapsed since what I am about to tell you.... The most famous of your actions was the overthrow104 of the island of Atlantis, which lay over against the Pillars of Hercules, was greater than Libya and Asia put together and was the passage to other islands and to a great ocean whereof the Mediterranean105 Sea was but a harbour; and within[248] the Pillars the empire of Atlantis reached in Europe to Tyrrhenia and in Libya to Egypt. This mighty106 power was arrayed against Egypt and Greece and all the Mediterranean countries. Then your city did bravely and won renown107 throughout the earth. For, risking her own existence, she repelled108 the invader109 and gave liberty to all the nations within the Pillars. Soon after, earthquakes arose and floods; and your warlike race was swallowed up by the earth; and the island of Atlantis also disappeared in the sea.’”
This page in the Timæus is the first glimpse that history properly so-called affords of the immense chaos110 of the antediluvian111 period. Modern researches and discoveries have confirmed it step by step. To quote Roisel, who devoted112 a remarkable113 book to the Atlanteans, a work less well-known than those of Scott Elliott and Rudolf Steiner, but one that does not admit of the slightest doubt:
[249]
“It is proved that, long before the historic ages, the Atlanticans had acquired a marvellous science whose elements mankind is hardly beginning to reconstitute and whose mighty relics115 are found in ancient Gaul, Egypt, Persia, India and the central portion of the American continent. More than ten thousand years before our era, they knew the precession of the equinoxes, the slow changes which many stars experience in their courses and the thousand secrets of nature. They had processes of which modern industry has not yet fathomed116 the mysteries.”
9
The outcome of these studies is that humanity never underwent a disaster to be compared with the disappearance117 of Atlantis. It will perhaps need thousands of years to repair that loss and to reascend to the level of a civilization which had certainties of which we laboriously118 glean119 the scattered remnants, regarding the origin and movements of the universe, the energy of matter, the unknown forces of this and[250] other worlds, the life beyond the grave and a social organization and political economy similar to those of the bees. Nothing could better prove the uselessness of man’s effort than this unparalleled loss, if we did not strive to hope in spite of all.
A nation of wonderful metallurgists, who had discovered the means of tempering copper120 for which we are still seeking, a nation of fabulous121 engineers, whose geometry, as Professor Smyth tells us, began where Euclid’s ends, they lifted and transported to enormous distances, by mysterious methods, rocks weighing fifteen hundred tons and strewed123 the world with those fantastic moving stones known as “mad stones” and “stones of truth,” stones weighing five hundred tons and so ingeniously poised124 on one of their corners that a child can move them with its finger, whereas the united impetus125 of two hundred men would be incapable of overturning them, stones which, from the geological point of view, never belong to the spot where they are found. A nation of explorers[251] who had traversed and colonized126 the whole surface of the earth, a nation of scholars, mathematicians127 and astronomers128, they appear to have been above all things ruthless rationalists and logicians, endowed with, so to speak, a metallic129 brain, the lateral130 lobes42 of which were much more highly developed than ours. They applied131 their incomparable faculties132 exclusively to the study of the exact sciences; and the sole object of their energies was the conquest of truth. But the study of the invisible and the infinite, under their powerful scrutiny133, itself becomes an exact science; and the main idea of their cosmogony, by virtue of which everything issues from the ocean of cosmic matter or from the boundless waves of the eternal ether, soon to return and to reemerge, disfigured and overladen with numberless myths by the imagination of their degenerate134 descendants or settlers: this main idea forms the base of every religion. It is improbable that man will ever discover one to equal it or replace it.
[252]
10
It is in the sacred books of India that we find the surest and most plentiful135 traces of this cosmogony or of this revelation. Less than a century ago, men were almost wholly unaware136 of the existence of these sacred books. Their interpreters have taken two different paths. On the one hand, scholars whom we may describe as official have supplied translations of a certain number of texts, which might also be called official, texts which they do not always understand and which their readers understand even less. On the other hand, initiates, genuine or pretended, with the assistance of adepts137 of an occult fraternity, have suggested a new and more impressive interpretation67 of these same texts or of others still more secret. They still, rightly or wrongly, inspire a certain distrust. We are obliged to admit the authenticity and the antiquity138 of certain traditions, of certain primitive and essential writings, though it is impossible to assign[253] an approximate date to them, so completely are they merged139 in the mists of the prehistoric ages. But they are almost incomprehensible without keys and commentaries; and it is here that our doubts and hesitations140 begin. A large number of those commentaries are likewise very ancient and in their turn need keys; others appear to be more recent; lastly, others seem to be contemporary; and it is often difficult to draw a dividing line between that which may well exist in the original and that which the interpreters believe to exist in the original or which they more or less deliberately add to it. Now the most striking, the most impressive and in any case the most lucid141 part of the doctrine is often contained in the commentaries.
Next, as I have observed, comes the question of the keys, which is intimately connected with the foregoing. These keys are more or less workable and command more or less respect; sometimes they seem fanciful or arbitrary; they are delivered only with curious precautions, singly[254] and grudgingly143; and they are apt to unlock several superimposed meanings. And all this is accompanied by fantastic reticences, by so-called dangerous or terrible secrets, withheld144 at the decisive moment, and by revelations which, it is contended, cannot be communicated until many centuries have elapsed. Doors through which we were about to pass are slammed in our faces just as we were at last catching145 a glimpse of a long-promised horizon; and behind each of them hides a supreme146 initiate13, a still living master, the sacred guardian147 of the ultimate mysteries, who knows all things, but can or will say nothing.
Observe, moreover, that a host of more or less intelligent illuminati, of elderly women and unbalanced spinsters, of simple-minded people who accept, blindly and off-hand, that which they do not understand, of discontented, unsuccessful, vain or crafty148 persons who fish in troubled waters, in a word, all the usual suspect mob that gathers round any more or less mysterious doctrine, science or phenomenon, has[255] discredited149 these first esoteric interpretations, of which the very source is none too dear. Lastly, let us add that the burning of the famous library of Alexandria, in which all the knowledge of the east was amassed150, the destruction in the sixteenth century, under the Mogul Akbar, of thousands of Sanskrit volumes, the systematic151 and merciless demolition152, especially during the first few centuries of the Church and in the Middle Ages, of all that referred or alluded153 to this dreaded154 and embarrassing revelation, have deprived us of our best means of control. The adepts, it is true, assert on the other hand that the true texts, as well as the ancient commentaries which alone enable them to be understood, still exist in the secret crypts and subterranean155 libraries of Thibet or the Himalayas, libraries of books more innumerable than any which we possess in the west, and that they will reappear in a more enlightened age. It is possible, but in the meanwhile they are of no help to us.
[256]
11
Be this as it may, what we have is enough to perplex us greatly; and the control allowed by the fragments which have been saved from historic antiquity absolutely removes all suspicion of more or less recent fraud or deception156 in respect of the essentials. Moreover, any fraud or deception of this nature seems hardly possible and would be so ingenious that we should be obliged to marvel114 at it as a phenomenon almost as remarkable as that whereof it would be seeking to give the illusion; and we should have to admit that the mind of man has never insinuated157 itself so far into the infinity of time and space, or into the origin of things, and has never risen to such heights. Had this revelation profited by all the attainments158 of our latter-day science and thought, it could not have furnished us with theories more satisfactory, more logical, more coherent, more plausible, more synthetic159, or worthier160 of the infinity which they strive to embrace[257] and often seem to attain23, on the rhythm of the eternities, the ebb161 and flow of the eternal Becoming, the never-ending cycle and the periodic existences of the ego142, the birth, movement and evolution of the worlds, the divine breath and the intelligence that animate162 it, on Maya, the eternal illusion of ignorance, the struggle for life, natural selection, the gradual development and transformation163 of stars and men, the functions and energies of the ether, immortal and infallible justice, the intermolecular and fantastic activity of matter, on the nature of the soul and the existence of the vast, nameless power that governs the universe, in a word, on all the riddles164 that assail165 and all the mysteries that overwhelm us.
But, let us hasten to repeat it, there could not seriously be any question of fraud, because the texts or traditions that might be regarded with suspicion are corroborated166 by other texts, such as the sacred inscriptions167 of Egypt, which no one thinks of contesting. At most we may come upon a[258] few passages antedated168 by the imprudent zeal169 of adepts or commentators170, a few interpolations which merely embroider171 the majestic lines. Taking it as a whole, we have to do with a revelation which dates back infinitely172 farther than all that we have called the prehistoric ages, wherefore it is legitimate173 that our astonishment174 should be unbounded.
12
Very good, it will be said, this interpretation of the universe, this anthropocosmogenesis is the loftiest, the most spacious175, the most wonderful, the most unassailable that has ever been conceived; it teems176 in every part with human thought and imagination; but what is it all based upon? When all is said, we have here only magnificent hypotheses, boldly disguised as authoritative177, dogmatic and peremptory178 declarations, but every one incapable of verification. This is the objection which I myself put forward, a little hastily, in one of the early chapters of Our Eternity179.
[259]It is indeed undeniable that we shall not for some time to come, that perhaps we shall never know the truth about the origin and the end of the universe or any of the other problems which these declarations profess122 to solve. But it is curious to note that science, despite itself, is daily drawing nearer to one or other of these declarations and that it is unable to set aside or to contradict any of them. There is for example, a certain study of the genesis of the elements, by the well-known chemist, Sir William Crookes, which unconsciously becomes plainly occultist, while the discovery of the radioactivity of matter reproduces precisely180 the theory of vortices of the initiate Anaxagoras. It is the same, mutatis mutandis, with the function attributed to the ether, the latest, indispensable postulate181 of our scientists. It is the same with the supreme and essential functions of certain minute glands183 of which modern medicine is only now beginning to rediscover the importance and which probably hold hidden the primordial184 secrets of life:[260] the thyroid gland182, which directs growth and intelligence; the suprarenal gland, which governs the unconscious muscle that is the heart; and the pineal gland, the most mysterious of all, which brings us into relation with the unknown worlds. It is the same again with astronomy, when the manifest insufficiency of our so-called cosmic laws, notably that of gravitation, propounds185 a host of questions which only the cosmogony of the east is able to answer. But this would require a long enquiry, which I am not qualified186 to undertake.
For the rest, nothing obliges us to accept these declarations as dogmas. There is no question here of a religion which imposes upon us its blind faith, its Credo quia absurdum. We are quite entitled to regard them as mere16 hypotheses, as immense, incomparable antediluvian poems, of which the Mosaic187 Genesis is but a disfigured fragment. But, even as hypotheses or poems, it must be admitted that they are prodigious, that we have nothing better, nothing more probable to set against[261] them and that, in view of their incontestable antiquity, of their prehistoric origin, they seem really superhuman.
Must we admit, as the occultists contend, that they come to us from beings superior to man, from more spiritual entities188, living under unknown conditions, who occupied our earth or the neighbouring planets before our coming; from a Lemuro-Atlantean civilization which, in its megalithic monuments, has left indelible traces in the memory of the peoples and on the face of our earth? It is quite possible; but here again we are free to await the confirmations189 of Hindu, Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian and Persian archæology, which on this point, as on so many others, has not spoken its last word.
13
I am well aware that this revelation, as apparently190 all those which may be made in the course of time, dates back to and ends in the unknowable, the insoluble mystery of divinity, of being, or existence; and[262] it necessarily stops short before the barrier of this unknowable, which is as impenetrable and impregnable as a cliff that is infinite in every dimension and formed of a single block of black diamond. There is nothing to be done; we can but halt; we cannot even seek to outflank it, to approach it from the other side, for the other side, if we could reach it, would necessarily be like the side in front of us, seeing that the non-existence of everything would be just as inexplicable191, just as incomprehensible as its existence. It is true that, in the secret recesses192 of the doctrine, the universe and all that it contains is known as Maya, that is to say, the eternal illusion, so that the two irreconcilable193 mysteries unite in a still greater mystery which man’s intelligence can no longer approach.
Fundamentally, the primitive riddle, the primordial mystery not being elucidated194, all the rest illumines only the steps that lead from comparative knowledge to absolute ignorance. It will probably be the same with all the revelations that may address[263] themselves to man’s intelligence so long as he continues on this planet, for this intelligence doubtless has limits which no effort can enlarge. But in the meantime it is certain that these steps, which lead to nothing, nevertheless, at the first onset195 and from the earliest days led him to the highest point which his intelligence has attained or can hope to attain. The most ancient explanation embraces straightway all the attempts at explanation that have hitherto been offered. It harmonizes the positivism of science with the most transcendental idealism; it accepts matter and spirit; it reconciles the mechanical impulsion of atoms and worlds with their intelligent guidance. It gives us an unconditioned divinity, “a causeless cause of all the causes,” worthy196 of the universe which is this divinity itself and of which all the divinities that have succeeded it in all our religions are but scattered, mutilated and unrecognizable members. It offers us, lastly, in its law of Karma, by virtue of which each being undergoes in[264] his successive lives the consequences of his actions and gradually purifies himself, the loftiest, justest and most unassailable, the most fertile, consoling and hopeful moral principle that could ever be proposed to man. Because of all this it appears worthy of investigation82, respect and admiration197.
14
This respect and admiration, however, do not militate against our liberty to choose or reject many things, or to reserve them while we wait for further light. When we are told, for instance, that the Cosmos is guided by an infinite series of hierarchies198 of sensient beings, each having a mission to fulfil, which are the agents of the Karmic and Cosmic laws; when it is added that each of these beings was a man in an earlier Manvantara, or is preparing to become one in the present or in a future Manvantara, that they are perfected men, or nascent199 men, and that, in their higher and less material spheres, they do not differ morally from terrestrial human beings[265] save in that they do not possess the sense of personality and of emotional nature; when, lastly, we are assured that what we call unconscious Nature is in reality a complex of forces manipulated by semi-intelligent beings (Elementals) directed by the High Planetary Spirits (Dhyani-Shohans), whose total forms the Word Manifest of the non-manifest Logos and constitutes at the same time both the intelligence of the universe and its immutable200 law, we can do homage201 to the ingenuity202 of these speculations203, as to that of thousands of others which perhaps embrace the truth more closely than our best and most recent scientific hypotheses; we are free to take what we please from them and to leave what we please. All this, I grant, is by no means proved, is not verified, or cannot be verified, save in certain details, whereas the great fundamental outlines will probably always escape the control of our unequipped intelligence. But what we must, I repeat, admire without reserve is the prodigious spiritual edifice204 offered by[266] the sum total of this revelation, the immense intellectual effort which, since the dawn of humanity, has attempted to unravel205 the unfathomable chaos of the origin, structure, progress, direction and end of the universe and which appears to have succeeded to this extent, that hitherto nothing has been found that equals it, or is not inspired by it or, often unconsciously, returns to it.
15
I said in the first part of this essay that too lofty a revelation, even were it incontestable, would have hardly any influence upon our life, that it would change little in it, that it would occur too far from us in the immensity of space and that it would not sink into our hearts and minds. Was it thus with that of which we are now speaking, which is the only truly superhuman and yet acceptable and almost unassailable revelation that we have had? Yes and no, according to the point of view which we take up. All that it contains of too great a character, except its notion of[267] eternity, has not really modified our ideas, has not permeated206 into our habits. It has not even profoundly affected207 the peoples who have handed it down to us and who, abandoning any endeavour to understand it, have transformed it into a barbarous and monstrous208 anthropomorphic polytheism. It is more or less the same everywhere. All the religions, from the pagan religions of China and Japan, Gaul and ancient Germany, Mexico and Peru, down to Christianity with its variants209 and its offshoots, have issued from it; but all have not been able to live and govern men, save by disfiguring and mutilating it, by dwarfing210 it to the lowest stature211 of the souls of their time, by altering it beyond recognition. It is therefore highly probable that matters would be the same with any other and greater revelation, if such were possible, even though this had all the signs of a divine, direct, authentic, indubitable, irrefutable, irrecusable revelation, in a word, with that which we are still awaiting without daring to hope for it.
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1
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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2
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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3
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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4
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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5
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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6
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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8
derives
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| v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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9
hieroglyphics
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| n.pl.象形文字 | |
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10
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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12
initiates
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| v.开始( initiate的第三人称单数 )；传授；发起；接纳新成员 | |
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13
initiate
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| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
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14
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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cosmos
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| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
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18
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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20
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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22
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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23
attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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24
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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infinity
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| n.无限，无穷，大量 | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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28
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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inertia
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| adj.惰性，惯性，懒惰，迟钝 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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engenders
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34
residual
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| adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的 | |
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solidified
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| （使）成为固体，（使）变硬，（使）变得坚固( solidify的过去式和过去分词 )； 使团结一致； 充实，巩固； 具体化 | |
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36
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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etymology
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| n.语源；字源学 | |
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38
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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39
condensation
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| n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠 | |
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40
igneous
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| adj.火的，火绒的 | |
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41
gaseous
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| adj.气体的，气态的 | |
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42
lobes
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| n.耳垂( lobe的名词复数 )；（器官的）叶；肺叶；脑叶 | |
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43
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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44
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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45
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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46
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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47
enfranchise
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| v.给予选举权，解放 | |
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48
Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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49
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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50
neutralize
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| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
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51
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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52
ascetics
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| n.苦行者，禁欲者，禁欲主义者( ascetic的名词复数 ) | |
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53
anterior
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| adj.较早的；在前的 | |
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54
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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56
authenticity
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| n.真实性 | |
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57
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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58
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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60
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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61
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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63
abysmal
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| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
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64
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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65
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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68
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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69
insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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70
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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71
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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72
landmarks
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| n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址） | |
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73
animating
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| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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76
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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80
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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81
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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82
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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83
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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85
scouted
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| 寻找，侦察( scout的过去式和过去分词 )； 物色（优秀运动员、演员、音乐家等） | |
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86
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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88
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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89
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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sidereal
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| adj.恒星的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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deformations
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| 损形( deformation的名词复数 )； 变形； 畸形； 破相 | |
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99
materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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100
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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slaked
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| v.满足( slake的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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102
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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104
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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105
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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108
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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invader
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| n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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antediluvian
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| adj.史前的，陈旧的 | |
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112
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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114
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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115
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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116
fathomed
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| 理解…的真意( fathom的过去式和过去分词 )； 彻底了解； 弄清真相 | |
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117
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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118
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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119
glean
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| v.收集(消息、资料、情报等) | |
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120
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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121
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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122
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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123
strewed
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| v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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124
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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125
impetus
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| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
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126
colonized
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| 开拓殖民地，移民于殖民地( colonize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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127
mathematicians
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| 数学家( mathematician的名词复数 ) | |
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128
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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129
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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130
lateral
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| adj.侧面的，旁边的 | |
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131
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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132
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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133
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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134
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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135
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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136
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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137
adepts
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| n.专家，能手( adept的名词复数 ) | |
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138
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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139
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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140
hesitations
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| n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃 | |
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141
lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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142
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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143
grudgingly
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144
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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145
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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146
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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147
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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148
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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149
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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150
amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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151
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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152
demolition
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| n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹 | |
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153
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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154
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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155
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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156
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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157
insinuated
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| v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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158
attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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159
synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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160
worthier
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| 应得某事物( worthy的比较级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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161
ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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162
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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163
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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164
riddles
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| n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜 | |
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165
assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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166
corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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167
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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168
antedated
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| v.（在历史上）比…为早( antedate的过去式和过去分词 )；先于；早于；（在信、支票等上）填写比实际日期早的日期 | |
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169
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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170
commentators
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| n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员 | |
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171
embroider
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| v.刺绣于(布)上；给…添枝加叶，润饰 | |
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172
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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173
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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174
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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175
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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176
teems
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| v.充满( teem的第三人称单数 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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177
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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178
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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179
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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180
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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181
postulate
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| n.假定，基本条件；vt.要求，假定 | |
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182
gland
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| n.腺体，(机)密封压盖，填料盖 | |
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183
glands
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| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
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184
primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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185
propounds
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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186
qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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187
mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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188
entities
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| 实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 ) | |
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189
confirmations
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| 证实( confirmation的名词复数 )； 证据； 确认； （基督教中的）坚信礼 | |
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190
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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191
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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192
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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193
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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194
elucidated
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| v.阐明，解释( elucidate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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195
onset
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| n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始 | |
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196
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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197
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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198
hierarchies
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| 等级制度( hierarchy的名词复数 )； 统治集团； 领导层； 层次体系 | |
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199
nascent
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| adj.初生的，发生中的 | |
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200
immutable
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| adj.不可改变的，永恒的 | |
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201
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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202
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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203
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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204
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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205
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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206
permeated
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| 弥漫( permeate的过去式和过去分词 )； 遍布； 渗入； 渗透 | |
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207
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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208
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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209
variants
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| n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体 | |
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210
dwarfing
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| n.矮化病 | |
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211
stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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