Theosophical Society,
The Life Principle
by
H P Blavatsky
A FEW years back a very interesting controversy raged between
several scientists of reputation. Some of these held that spontaneous
generation was a fact in nature, whilst others proved the contrary; to the
effect that, as far as experiments went, there was found to be biogenesis, or
generation of life from previously existing life, and never the production of
any form of life from non-living matter.
An erroneous assumption was made in the first instance that heat,
equal to the boiling point of water, destroyed all life organisms; but by
taking hermetically sealed vessels containing infusions, and subjecting them to
such or a greater degree of heat, it was shown that living organisms did appear
even after the application of so much heat. By more careful experiments, the
following fact was brought to light, that spores of Bacteria, and other animalculae, which generally float in the air, can, when
dry, withstand a greater degree of heat, and that when the experiments are made
in optically pure air, no life ever appears, and the infusions never putrefy.
Along with the fact of biogenesis, we must note, however, Mr.
Huxley's caution, when he says, "that with organic chemistry, molecular
physics, and physiology yet in their infancy, and every day making prodigious
strides, it would be the height of presumption for any man to say that the
conditions under which matter assumes the qualities called vital, may not some
day be artificially brought together"; and, again, "that as a matter
not of proof, but of probability, if it were given me to look beyond the abyss
of geologically recorded time, to the still more remote period, when the earth
was passing through chemical and physical conditions which it can never see
again, I should expect to be a witness of the evolution of living protoplasms from non-living matter." Tracing inorganic
matter upwards to the form which approaches most nearly to
vital organisms, we come to those complex substances called
"colloids," which are something like the white of an egg, and form
the last stage of the ascending line from inorganic matter to organic life.
Tracing life downwards we ultimately reach "protoplasm,"
called by Huxley "the physical basis of life," a colourless,
jelly-like substance, absolutely homogeneous without parts or structure.
Protoplasm is evidently the nearest approach of life to matter; and if life
ever originated from atomic and molecular combinations, it was in this form.
Protoplasm in its substance is a nitrogenous carbon compound,
differing only from other similar compounds of the albuminous
family of colloid by the extremely complex composition of its atoms. Its
peculiar qualities, including life, are not the result of any new and peculiar
atom added to the known chemical compounds of the same family, but of the
manner of grouping and motions of these e1ements.1 Life in its essence is
manifested by the faculties of nutrition, sensation, movement, and reproduction,
and every speck of protoplasm develops organisms which possess these faculties.
The question has been asked whether this primitive speck of protoplasm can be
artificially manufactured by chemical processes. Science has answered in the
negative, as it knows as yet of no process by which any combination of
inorganic matter could be vivified.
The law of evolution has now been satisfactorily proved to pervade
the whole of the Universe, but there are several missing links, and, doubtless,
the discoveries of modern science will in course of time bring many new facts
to light on these obscure points which at present defy all search.
Far more important than the question of the origin of species is the great
problem of the development of life from what is looked upon as the inanimate
mineral kingdom.
Every discovery of science, however limited it may be, affords food
for thought, and enables us to understand how far we are to believe on the
ground of observation and experiment, and how far we theorize in the right
direction.
Science has not been able to prove the fact of "spontaneous
generation" by
experiment, but the
best of scientists think it safe to believe that there must have been
spontaneous generation2 at one time. Thus far, scientific thought is in accord
with esoteric teachings.
Occult philosophy has it, that motion, cosmic matter,
duration, space, are
everywhere. Motion is
the imperishable life, and is conscious or
unconscious, as the case
may be. It exists as much during the active period of the Universe, as during
Pralaya, or dissolution, when the unconscious life still maintains the matter
it animates in sleepless and unceasing motion.
Life is ever present in the atom or matter, whether organic or
inorganic--a
difference that occultists
do not accept. When the life energy is active in
the atom, that
atom is organic; when dormant or latent, the atom is inorganic.
The Jiva, or life principle, which
animates man, beast, plant, and even a
mineral, is a form of force indestructible since this force is the
one life, or animal mundi, the universal living soul,
and since the various modes in which objective things appear to us in nature in
their atomic aggregations, such as minerals, plants, animals, etc., are all the
different forms or states in which this force manifests itself. Were it to
become for one single instant inactive, say in a stone, the particles of the
latter would lose instantly their cohesive property, and disintegrate as
suddenly, though the force would still remain in each of its particles, but in
a dormant state.
When the life force is disconnected with one set of atoms it
becomes immediately attracted by others; but in doing so, it does not abandon
entirely the first set, but only transfers its vis viva, or living power--the energy of motion--to
another set. But because it manifests itself in the next set as what is called
Kinetic energy, it does not follow that the first set is deprived of it
altogether; for it is still in it, as potential energy, or life latent.
More than any other, the life principle in man is one with which we
are most familiar, and yet are so hopelessly ignorant
as to its nature. Matter and force are ever found allied. Matter without force, and force without matter, are inconceivable. In the
mineral kingdom the universal life energy is one and unindividualized;
it begins imperceptibly to differentiate in the vegetable kingdom, and from the
lower animals to the higher animals, and man, the differentiation increases at
every step in complex progression.
When once the life-principle has commenced to differentiate, and
has become
sufficiently
individualized, does it keep to organisms of the same kind, or does it after
the death of one organism go and vivify an organism of another kind? For instance,
after the death of a man, does the Kinetic energy which kept him alive up to a
certain time go after death and attach itself to a protoplasmic speck of the
human kind, or does it go and vivify some animal or vegetable germ?
After the death of a man, the energy of motion which vitalized his
frame is said to be partly left in the particles of the dead body in a dormant
state, while the main energy goes and unites itself with another set of atoms.
Here a distinction is drawn between the dormant life left in the particles of
the dead body and the remaining Kinetic energy, which passes off elsewhere to
vivify another set of atoms. Is not the energy that becomes dormant6 life in
the particles of the dead body a lower form of energy than the Kinetic energy,
which passes off elsewhere; and although during the life of a man they appear
mixed up together, are they not two distinct forms of energy, united only for
the time being?
A student of occultism writes as follows:
Jiva, or the
life-principle, is subtle super-sensuous matter, permeating the entire physical
structure of the living being, and when it is separated from such structure
life is said to be extinct. A particular set of conditions is necessary for its
connection with an animal structure, and when those conditions are disturbed it
is attracted by other bodies presenting suitable conditions.
Every atom has contained within it its own life, or force, and the
various atoms which make up the physical frame always carry with them their own
life wherever they travel. The human or animal life principle, however, which
vitalizes the whole being, appears to be a progressed, differentiated, and
individualized energy of motion, which seems to travel from organism to
organism at each successive death. Is it really, as quoted above, "subtle
super-sensuous matter," which is something distinct from the atoms that
form the physical body?
(1) If so, it becomes a sort of a monad, and would be something
akin to the higher human soul which transmigrates from body to body.
Another and more important question is:--Is the life-principle, or Jiva,
something different
from the higher or spiritual soul? Some Hindoo
Philosophers hold that these two principles are not distinct, but one and the
same.
(2) To make the question plainer, it may be enquired whether
occultism knows of cases in which human beings have been known to live quite separated from their spiritual soul?
(3) A correct comprehension of the nature, qualities, and mode of
action of the principle, called "Jiva," is
very essential for a proper understanding of the very first principles of
Esoteric Science, and it is with a view to elicit further information from
those who have kindly promised to give help to the Editors of LUCIFER on deep
questions of the science, that this feeble attempt has been made to formulate a
few questions which have been puzzling almost every student of Theosophy.
Ahmedabad
Theosophical Society,
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