Or How to Take the Course
Pointed Out by the Wise Men of All Ages
Robert Crosbie
Robert Crosbie

There is a correspondence between each and every
planet in our solar
system; and there are organs in our bodies which
correspond to the various planets
“In the silence of our own hearts there
pulsates that One Life, which beats in
correspondence in the action of the lungs,
the action of the tides, the flux and reflux which
is going on all the time and everywhere in nature.”
“We must build a higher and greater
civilization than ever yet has existed. Whether
it is accomplished in this or in ten million
lives (…), it must ultimately be brought about.”
The “Law of
Correspondences” is a greater subject than people are liable to suspect; yet we
all know something of correspondences in the simple facts of nature - the seven
colors of the spectrum, the seven notes of the scale. Each color of each octave
corresponds to the same color of another octave.
We see only a certain number of rates of vibration,
but above the number perceptible to us are those too fine for us to perceive
with our physical senses, and, also below, are vibrations too coarse for our
perception. We stand in the middle, as it were, of a great range of
perceptions, aware of only a portion of the universe in which we live. The same
is true with regard to sounds - from the note do up to si ; do corresponds to every other do in the seven octaves which we are able to perceive
physically; but these seven octaves are merely a portion of all the great
octaves of nature above us and below us. There is correspondence between the
high and the low throughout all nature, because the great Center of Life, of
Consciousness, of Perception is the same in every being of whatever grade;
and because from within that Center proceeds all action. The use of the power to act which is inherent in that Center is the cause of
all manifestation.
All things which are visible come from the invisible.
In the evolution of a planet there is a beginning in homogeneous, radiant
matter - such as composes the Milky Way
- the basis of all subsequent forms that are brought about, or produced, by the
beings existent in that homogeneous
state. Each being is a Center and each Center is the same as the One Great
Center. Proceeding from the same Source, necessarily, all beings proceed under
the same laws. The same Law rules all beings. The power to act and the
subsequent reaction - the law of laws which we know as Karma - is brought into
operation by all beings to produce the manifested universe and all the differentiations
in forms and substance. Thus there is a connection between each being and every
other being. There is a correspondence between each being and every other
being. There is a correspondence between the constituents of each being and the
constituents of every other being.
The law which rules the atoms of our world as well as
the highest spiritual beings in it - that law inherent in the Center of each
being - proceeds in a definite, orderly mode.
This progress is known to be divided into seven degrees,
or the septenary nature, from the states of fine matter down to the matter that
we now know in the body. All beings go through forms in the various states, and
not only do they go through them but they possess them at the present time. Man
possesses every body which ever has
existed for him in any stage of matter. But our planet is one of many planets.
It exists in a solar system which is one of many solar systems. There are
inhabitants of other planets - some of them below us in point of development, and
others so much higher than we that if we knew the state of their progress we
would esteem them divine beings. All beings of each and every planet are of the
same Center and proceed under the same universal law of manifestation. Thus,
there is a correspondence between each and every planet: we are related to
Mars, to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon by certain
correspondences; in fact, there are organs in our bodies which correspond to
the various planets.
At the root of all these correspondences with planets,
beings and states of matter, and behind all these points of attachment with
every thing - the most minute as well as the coarsest - lies a tremendous,
almost immeasurable SCIENCE related to all portions of the universe, to every
state of matter and every plane of consciousness - a science which by our
self-induced and self- devised efforts it is possible for us to attain within ourselves. For knowledge does not
exist outside of us, nor does knowledge exist without the knowers of it. Always the knowers
of the greater knowledge have achieved it through observation and experience.
Those Beings who are greater than we are and who have
handed down to us Theosophy - the
science of life and the art of living -
in the far distant past had to go through similar experiences to those
we are now encountering. So again we see there is a correspondence in ourselves
with those higher Beings, and, as well, with lower beings. We have to manifest
as various classes of beings, some on higher planes and some on lower planes.
The forms of the kingdoms below us are embodiments of minor grades of
consciousness on their way up to our estate, which they will reach when we have
progressed to still higher states, under the law of evolution. For evolution of
form is always brought about by the extension of the Consciousness of the being
inhabiting the form, and our own purpose, as spiritual beings connected with
all states of matter, is to evolve a better and better instrument on this plane
of being to correspond to, or be accessible to, those inner states of being and
higher planes of consciousness which we all in reality possess.
It may seem strange to us that we possess what we know
nothing of, and that there are powers latent in us which in our present case we
are unable to manifest. But we ought to see that we have the power to learn. We
have the power to learn sciences of various kinds, or languages entirely
different from those we now know. The power to learn is within us. We could not
learn these things if they were new - that is, due to some formation of nature
separate from ourselves. There is a power that we may gain over all nature, and
use, for in fact nothing is of use by
way of knowledge that cannot be practical for the true evolution of man, for
the forwarding of humanity. There is a certain knowledge in the possession of
some which relates to the occult sciences, to powers which we do not presently
possess but which are latent in us - the reason for either latency or
possession lying in the fact that this life is the reaping of what has gone on
before.
As day succeeds day and life succeeds life, as planet
succeeds planet and solar system succeeds solar system, so we have come down
through the immeasurable past to the present conditions - to conditions, let it
be remembered, where spirit and matter conjoin, where man may become higher
than any being in our solar system because he is conjoined with the lower
kingdoms; because he may so increase his knowledge in connection with those
lower kingdoms that he may raise them up and use the powers that exist there
and are produced by beings of every grade. Let us remember, too, that even on
this physical plane there are beings other than those we ordinarily see in
mineral, vegetable, animal and human embodiments; there are invisible beings
existing in what we call our air, in the ether, in electricity, in fire - for
it is life everywhere in this universe; there is not a hand’s breadth of vacant
“dead” space anywhere.
However minute, visible or invisible, the forms of
life may be, they are Centers of Consciousness, beginnings of perception, the
beginnings of individuality - ever increasing from form to form until the human
form is reached, and then, on and on. For we as human beings are not the
product of this earth. Our bodies are; but as spiritual beings we were present
before this earth was formed. Once more we have come down through the stairway
of the seven worlds from that primal state which is the very Center of being,
plus all that we had gained before in other worlds. We bring with us all that
we have gained in similar states and planes of substance before, and go on with the world in each stage, just
as we go on from day to day with our various occupations. Thus we may see that
there is a continuity throughout the entire course of evolution; what we have
to learn is that knowledge of it along the line of true correspondences will
never be acquired by mere study, nor by information given us by any being or
beings whatever.
True knowledge has to be gained through an increasing
perception of the universality of all law and the universal line of progress
for every being of whatever grade. We have to think and practise altruism before the higher and more recondite powers of
the universe can be placed in our possession for our use. The thought and the
motive must be that which makes for the good of all beings. What has been given
to us in the philosophy of Theosophy is for the purpose of arousing the
attention of that Center within us which can see, which can know and which can
do, when it resumes its own nature and status. For there is a deep knowledge of
all these things in the soul of every human being and the soul knows what it
needs; it can understand when the brain cannot understand; it can feel when the
senses are not capable of transmitting feeling. This knowledge is open to every
human being; but only when the mind that we now possess is in exact accord with
the nature of the indwelling Spirit, shall we begin to see, from within
outwards, all the lines of correspondence and relation that exist between us
and all other beings.
Only when we realize that we are a part of the Great
Chain of being, that no one of us is unnecessary and no one can drop out, that
the development is one for all, that we are all from the same Source and going
towards the same goal; only when we shall think and act from that basis, will
we move onward with the great force proceeding from the Center in that true
direction which leads to enlightenment and power.
The law of correspondences constitutes a science which
is perhaps beyond the idea of any one of us. Can we realize that all beings are
forces and all forces proceed from beings? Can we realize that there are forces
or beings in nature which can be moved without the lifting of a finger - just
by the thought, just by the will of one who knows the law of correspondences?
Fortunate, indeed, it is that men as they are now
constituted, with the wrong ideas that rule their actions, do not possess these
powers which they could use against their fellow men! For is it not true that
if we had them we would use them to blot out of existence many human beings who
are running counter to our own ideas? And those beings are, just like
ourselves, controlled by ideas foreign to the true progress of the whole and
must meet the exact results of their wrong course of thought. Even without
knowing it, perhaps, we may fight the battle of humanity merely by taking one
idea of Theosophy - one universal idea - towards the freedom of the soul, and holding
to that help. But we have to go much farther than that, which is but one step
on the way. We have to realize within ourselves the kind of bodies, inner and
outer, which we possess and the powers that belong to those bodies. We must
bring those higher powers into operation through this physical body. We must
build a higher and greater civilization than ever yet has existed. Whether it
is accomplished in this or in ten million lives, whether we go straight to the
goal or through suffering after suffering, it must ultimately be brought about.
We are here for a great purpose. A great mission lies
before every one of us, as well as a great knowledge. We are here as knowing,
self-conscious beings, buried in, and identified with this body, with this
matter. Involved in the very work we had to do on this plane of being, we have
forgotten our own true natures. It behooves us to understand what our true
nature is and to think and act in accordance with it. Let us remember, too,
that “the true nature” is not far away; it is right within us - within our
hearts.
In the silence of our own hearts there pulsates that
One Life, which beats in correspondence in the action of the lungs, the action
of the tides, the flux and reflux which is going on all the time and everywhere
in nature. Can we not see that the laws of correspondences are the same now
that they were millions of years ago? Nor has humanity changed. We have changed
the conditions surrounding us, but we ourselves are experiencing the same
desires, the same feelings, the same stupidities which were ours millions of
years ago. We have not advanced spiritually beyond the civilizations that are
dead and gone, but in what we call “advancement” we have made merely another
closer bond to physical existence. So there is much for us to do.
We move from death to death until we realize our true
natures and take the course pointed out by the Wise Men of all ages - the
course by which They gained Their wisdom. Theosophy was brought into the world
to wake up the souls who are in the least degree susceptible to an awakening,
to join that body of pilgrims moving on their way with their faces turned in
the direction of the Masters of Wisdom, regardless of their present conditions,
quickly or slowly clearing away their defects that they may be the pioneers and
helpers and guides of the humanities that are to follow.
Moving on with courage and confidence in the Great
Beings, they gradually learn and come to a resumption of those powers which we
all possess but do not express. Nor can one express in words the power, the
happiness, the freedom from fear of any kind, the realization, while in a body,
of immortality which spiritual knowledge brings.
This knowledge and these powers are within the reach
of all of us. As the ancients said, “The Great Self shines in all beings, but
in all it does not shine forth.” We may
reach that One Self, the One Spirit, whence come all law, all possibilities -
which has the power to produce all changes, but of itself changes not at all -
ever the experiencer, the enjoyer or the sufferer of the changes. Power comes
from this knowledge, which springs up spontaneously within us because it
resides in the innermost parts of our natures.
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The above article
is reproduced from the volume “The
Friendly Philosopher”, by Robert Crosbie, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles, 1945,
pp. 283-290.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the
ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by
Carlos Cardoso Aveline.

Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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