The Unmanifest
is pure existence. We cannot say of it that it
is not. Although it is not manifest, it is. IT
is the source from which all arises. IT is the
only "Reality." It alone is substance. IT alone
is stable; all else is an appearance and a becoming.
Of this Unmanifest we can only say "IT IS." IT
is the verb "to be" turned back on itself. IT
is a state of pure "being." without qualities
and without history. All we can say of IT is that
it is not anything that we know, for if we know
anything it must be in manifestation for us to
know it, and of it is in manifestation that proves
that it is not unmanifest. The Unmanifest is the
Great Negation; at the same time IT is the infinite
potency which has not occurred. It is best conceived
of under the image of interstellar space; and
of the Logos as a Sun surrounded by its Solar
System of Planets; and the emanations of the Logos
as Rays. The Unmanifest is the only Unity. Manifestation
begins when duality occurs.
The prime duality
is "space" and "movement." The first manifestation
was a current in space; all we can say is that
"space" was moving. Ponder this state and you
will find much.
Now, when space
moves it has this peculiar quality. Being frictionless
it never loses momentum, but continues to flow.
When space moves two factors are at work:
-
The force
which causes it to move, being the desire
of space for momentum.
-
The force
which has hitherto caused it not to move,
being the desire of space for inertia.
These two factors
are present in all motion, but the desire for
movement, being stronger, overcomes the desire
for inertia, and the desire for inertia continues
as a check upon the movement. Therefore the movement
is pulled upon slightly. That is why there is
on such thing as a straight line in the Cosmos.
All movement has a slight curve in its projection;
therefore, eventually it returns to the point
whence it started, and forms a spinning ring.
Now, the prime
movement is just a flowing of space that returns
after long eons whence it started, and then renews
its journey. This sets up a spinning belt of enormous
circumference. This belt spins in one plane for
immense eons of time; spins with a changeless
spinning. But its tendency is to communicate its
motion to the space about it, which leads more
space to flow into the spinning. (All this, remember
is metaphor.) The spinning in one plane continues
until the stresses which it generates evoke a
new movement, and a second current in space is
set up at a right angle to the first, and the
same process is repeated.
We now have two
spinning planes, one within the other, and it
is worth noting that the sound plane forms out
side the first, and is therefore lager in diameter.
For countless
eons these planes spin at right angles to each
other, and the whole of evolution turns upon the
difference in size between the planes. When the
larger has attained the same speed as the smaller
and older, it commences to attract one aspect
of it, the consequence being that the older circle
is drawn towards the newer.
Now, the first
circle must be conceived of as having an upper
and a lower surface. The upper surface of the
out flowing arc may be conceived of as positive,
and the lower as negative. The reverse being the
case in the inflowing arc.
Likewise with
the second circle to arise.
These circles
are mutually attracting and repelling each other;
so that you can conceive the upper surface of
the out flowing arc (of the first circle) being
positive, rising up towards its complementary
aspect in the second circle, and the lower surface
in the returning arc pressing downwards, so that
you get a second movement imparted to the spinning
disc. When this secondary movement has completed
its first circuit and sets up its steady revolution,
the new Cosmos is in being. That is the prime
beginning of a Cosmos expressed in the nearest
approximate metaphor.
The secondary
spin of the first circuit is the Ring-Pass-Not,
and the circuit of the of the second formation
is that sphere which sets a bound to Chaos. On
the outer sphere there is also a secondary derivation,
and though a spinning circle of motion, it represents,
for that Cosmos, the prime stillness, the immobility
in which it is roots, it is the thrust-block of
the force of the Cosmos, that which resists, which
alone enable momentum to be achieved, and you
may call it the Ring-Chaos, the "Prime Opposition."
It is evolved from the reaction of the prime force
in order to take its thrust It spins at right
angles to the prime spin. It counteracts it. It
was the attraction of the Ring-Chaos which set
the Ring-Cosmos in its second motion, and so formed
that secondary spin which we call the Ring-Pass-Not,
the prime limitation. Therefore, at base, it is
the Prime Opposition which enables the Cosmos
to come into being.†
† See "The Cosmic
Doctrine," by Dion Fortune
Saturday 28 December, 2024 