We will finish off our discussion on the topic of Involution and Evolution by looking at what our particular chain is all about. Our Chain, being the fourth, is the Chain of struggle, of balance, the Chain in which Spirit and Matter are to be interlinked and interwoven, so that the highest and the lowest, the two poles of nature, join in one complex being, Humanity. Humanity, being the starting point for higher evolution. I am obviously speaking from a very human-centric perspective. I am sure the Devas would have other opinions on the matter. As we are on the Fourth Globe, we are at the very centre of the struggle, at the point of keenest combat and of greatest difficulty. Here, on the Fourth Globe of the Fourth Chain in the Fourth Round, must be waged the greatest conflict of Spirit and Matter, to end in the triumph of Spirit, we hope.
We may note also that there is another cyclic process at work in the evolution of the seven kingdoms through the rounds of a chain. Each round evolves one kingdom to the highest perfection of its own type; future types, not belonging to that round, are of course present, but more or less embryonic, compared with their future development in succeeding rounds. Thus, in our chain, the kingdoms will be perfected as follows:
Round I-First Elemental Kingdom.
Round II-Second Elemental Kingdom.
Round III-Third Elemental Kingdom.
Round IV-Mineral Kingdom (our present round).
Round V-Vegetable Kingdom.
Round VI-Animal Kingdom.
Round VII-Human Kingdom.
It can be said that in the first round, on Globe A, the Builders give the seven archetypal forms for each kingdom. On Globe B they multiply forms containing the essentials of each archetype; on C they densify these forms; on D they shape them in still denser matter; on E they make them more complex and slightly refine them; on F they build them of finer matter; on G they finally perfect them. This is the method of the work of the builders of our chain, on every round, though on the first round, they only gather the matter around themselves, and dwell in it for some time, to assimilate it. In this work, they use only the four upper sub-planes of the matter of each plane. We are speaking in generalities here, which will be crystallised later when we talk about the earth chain, round by round, globe by globe. I hope you are excited at the thought of that.
Each round appears, in the case of humanity, to be especially devoted to the cultivation of a certain principle. The present (fourth) round, for example, should be devoted chiefly to the cultivation of emotion and desire, and the next, the fifth, to intellectual advancement. This general rule was modified on our globe. Why? Because the Lords of the Flame paid us a visit. This resulted in us being further advanced than was scheduled. We are already engaged in the unfolding of the intellect; at least some of us are. At the same time, it must be said that the intellect we now have is infinitesimal compared with what the average human will possess at the culminating point of the next or fifth round. Stop worrying about AI, we have a long way to go.
Yet another important principle must be taken into account. In each of our envelopes, we have seven subplanes. This is divided into a further seven sub-divisions. Something that has not been mentioned so far in any presentation. The body of a human and its envelopes, whilst containing matter of all the sub-planes and all the subdivisions, shows activity only in the sub-divisions corresponding to the number of chains or rounds experienced, or being experienced. Thus, in the second chain, and the second round, a human will be able to use its emotional and mental bodies only as far as the first and second sub-divisions of each sub-plane of emotional and mental matter. In the third round, it will be able to use the first, second and third, though not so fully in the case of the third as it does in the third round of the third chain, and so on. This should not be a complete surprise to you, as we have often talked about where a monad happens to be focused in any particular envelope, during its evolution through that envelope. This important take-home point here is that in successive rounds, each subdivision, even if active in the past, becomes even more vibrant in its functionality.
Let us just repeat that point again as it is important. In the Earth chain, the fourth chain of the scheme, in the second round, humanity was working with the first and second subdivisions of each sub-plane, and tentatively in the third and fourth sub-planes. Even if we gain access to and develop the use of matter on any specific subplane, when that subplane reappears in the next round, the matter of that plane is even further developed. Not until the seventh Race of the seventh round will we possess the splendid body in which every particle will thrill responsively to our every whim. Even then, however thrilled we may be, we will thrill ourselves even more and splendiferously in later chains. Now that is something to look forward to.
So that is a brief look at what involution and evolution are all about. If we think about the seven Kingdoms of Nature, the three elemental ones are all about involution and only involution. They are all secondary matter monads. Tertiary matter and quaternary matter enter stage left and the process of evolution begins. Let’s move on now and look and another topic, that of times and dates.
Very little information is available regarding the times occupied by Chains, Rounds, Globe periods, or even Races. It is, therefore, very difficult to make estimates of these vast time periods.
In exoteric Hindu books, definite numbers are given, but Helena Blavatsky states that it is impossible to rely fully on these because where the dates are given, they are convoluted and do not take into consideration many other factors.
Whilst there is no direct information on this matter, there is some reason to suspect that the time of the Rounds is not a fixed quantity, but that some are shorter than others. It has been thought that those yet to come, will probably not be so long as those through which we have already passed through. But here again, we have no certain information and it seems useless with so little data for us to speculate.
Having said all of that, let us speculate and throw some light on the question of the times spent in the earlier and later portions of evolution. Investigations have shown, by those who can, that whilst the earlier radical changes in the makeup of Humanity extended over vast periods of time, the later changes connected with the development of civilisations passed much more rapidly. Developments within civilisations took thousands of years, whereas the earlier and more radical changes occupied millions.
All we can do is mention the few statements made by various authorities and so let us proceed. According to occult records, the solar system has a life stretching behind it for some two billion years. Where was it before this time? In Pralaya, after having completed a previous incarnation. We are 300 million years are said to have elapsed in the Fourth Round, on Globe D, better known as the Earth. This is what Blavatsky and Leadbeater said and Laurency concurred. I do not know if Laurency was just parroting the earlier two authors or if he did some independent research. The next major event was the arrival of the Lords of Venus, who came to the Earth approximately 16½ million years ago.
The separation of the sexes, in the middle of the Third Root Race, the Lemurian, also took place some 16½ million years ago. But that separation was a long process, which extended over more than a million years and took place at different times in different parts of the world.
Our present Fifth Root Race, the Âryan, is thought to have made its appearance about a million years ago. 850,000 years have passed since the submersion of the last large island that was part of the continent of Atlantis. It was called Ruta. The small island of Daitya, still part of the Atlantian complex, was destroyed about 270,000 years ago. The catastrophe that occurred before the sinking of Poseidonis commenced in 75,025 B.C. Finally, the sinking of Poseidonis took place in 9,564 B.C. This was when the Hierarchy pulled up their sticks and left for a long holiday in Shamballa.
Fig: Cycles of Time
The table presented is said by Blavatsky to be ”exoteric” and ”accepted throughout India, and they dovetail pretty well with those of the Secret Works she had access to. We are said to be entering the Âryan Kâli Yuga. This table shows the condensed history of the animal and plant life on the earth. Some of the entries are supplied by a 19th-century German zoologist, Ernst Haeckel and linked with knowledge of contemporary rock strata. Two other columns give the contemporary races of Humanity and list the great cataclysms as are known to occult students.
Fig: Geological ages of man
That was quick and painless, simply because we know very little about what went on. Time to move on to look at the august personages of the Planetary Chain Logoi and other high officials. See you in the next presentation.