Second Semester - Section 1

A Treatise on Cosmic Fire pp. 161-206

Note:  Please keep in mind that it is not necessary to understand it all at first reading.  The sections are repeated and developed further along the book.  Trust that as you read further the detailed whole will become clear to you.

Motion and the Centers

1.             p. 162: Why are the three requirements to prepare for the awakening of the fires and development of the centers necessary?

The Nature of the Centers

2.             p. 163-5: What is the relation between the five kingdoms, the five planes, the five senses and the five centers tabulated on these two pages?

3.             p. 163: What is the numerological significance of the superhuman kingdom being the fifth?

4.             p. 165: What are the centers occultly considered?  How is this definition different from the usual one?  How do the centers relate to the divine will?

5.             p. 166: What is the justification for calling the monadic plane "the plane of the seven rays"?

6.             p. 166: What is the true "body of fire"?  When does it appear and what is its function?

7.             p. 168: As you contemplate the numbers of petals in each chakra, what significances come to you?  Why is each chakra expressing through the specific number of petals designated in this tabulation?

8.             p. 168: The head center "has within its sphere of influence seven other centers with itself as synthesis".  How can this fact be related to our solar system, i.e.  to the sun and planets?

9.             p. 169-170: Contemplate the interesting succession of triangles here listed.  What is the essential meaning of each triangle, and how does each member of the triangle contribute to that meaning?  Why should these particular triangles be specifically related to the stages of evolution assigned to them by the Tibetan?

10.         p. 171-2: Consider the five fundamental symbols in relation to the stages of development of the centers.  Why is each symbol appropriate to and descriptive of one of the phases of the development of the centers?

11.         p. 172-3: Contemplate deeply the phrases from the Old Commentary.  What is its meaning to you?  The Tibetan states that if these sentences are meditated upon they will have a definite effect upon one of the centers.  Which of these centers do you suppose He means, and why?

The Centers in connection with the Rays

12.         p. 174-178: Compare the three phases of development under the sway of the Personality Ray, the Egoic Ray and the Monadic Ray respectively.  What, in essence, is accomplished in each?  Why is there such a disparity in their duration?  Why do they accelerate rather than become more prolonged?

13.         p. 177: What are the major profound implications for the study of the seven rays to be found in the tabulation on this page?  Please interpret the cryptic statements on p. 177, and give your ideas of what it means for there to be a "ninefold choice of rays for the Ego".  Is there significance, or not, to the fact that the word ego is spelled both with a capital 'E' and with a small 'e'?

14.         p. 178: Why are "the personality triangles ... brought to full activity according to the ray of the Monad or Spirit"?

15.         p. 178: How can the five triangles listed (pp. 169-170) be correlated with the personality ray, the egoic ray and the monadic ray?

16.         p. 179: What is the significance of the fact that the permanent atoms are enclosed within the periphery of the causal body?

17.         p. 180-1: What in essence is the relationship between the Heavenly Men and the Grand Man of the Heavens?

18.         p. 181: What are the four exoteric and three esoteric Kumaras?  Where does Sanat Kumara fit in this classification?

19.         p. 181: As you contemplate the triangle of planets Earth/Mars/Mercury, what strikes you as the significance of this triangle?  How is it different from the meaning of the triangle Venus/Earth/Saturn? 

20.         p. 182: Can you think of any justification for the statement that "Venus corresponds to the heart center in the body logoi"?  What about Jupiter and Neptune?

21.         p. 182: What are the implications of the following:  "The seven stars in the constellation of the Great Bear are the correspondences to the seven head centres in the body of that Being, greater than our Logos"?

The Centers and Kundalini

22.         p. 183: How can it be said that God is Fire?  What is fire?  Is it fire as we know it?  What are some synonyms or terms closely related to the concept of fire?

23.         p. 183-4: Consider the presented summary on the nature of Kundalini.  Choose three points you absorb from reading this summary.

The Centers and the Senses, Normal and Supernormal

24.         p. 186-189: Define the nature of the senses.  Which are the higher senses and which the lower?  Or are high and low relative?  Why are the psychic capacities listed  associated with specific senses by the Tibetan?  Define each of the higher correspondences of the senses beginning with the mental planet and working upwards to the buddhic and atmic planes.

25.         p. 190-202: Review the sense of hearing in in each of these pages.  What of occult significance did you learn?

26.         p. 190-202: Review the sense of touch in in each of these pages.  What of occult significance did you learn?

27.         p. 190-202: Review the sense of sight in in each of these pages.  What of occult significance did you learn?

28.         p. 190-202: Review the sense of taste in in each of these pages.  What of occult significance did you learn?

29.         p. 190-202: Review the sense of smell in in each of these pages.  What of occult significance did you learn?

30.         p. 194: Please give your interpretation of the following: "...the whole object of the senses is to reveal the not-self, and to enable the Self therefore to differentiate between the real and the unreal".

31.         p. 199: Discuss the concept of separation  in relation to Involution, Evolution and Evolution on the Path?

32.         p. 200: Review the summation of the meanings of the senses.  What, cumulatively, does this summation reveal to you?

33.         p. 203-4: How does the awakening of the centers on the various planes correspond to the different levels of the Path?  What is the reason for this correspondence?

34.         p. 204: Study the profound footnote.  Do you think that a Heavenly Man is the same Entity as a Planetary Logos?  If so why?  If not, why not?

35.        p. 205: Describe the evolution of the human being from the point of view of fire.  What is meant by the statement: "... the Sons of Mind are FLAME"?


Second Semester - Section 2

A Treatise on Cosmic Fire pp. 207-243

The Centers and Initiations

1.             p. 207-09: Review the process of the application of the Rod of Initiation. Give a brief summary in sequence of the effect upon the centers and the human energy system of the application of the Rod.

2.             p. 210-212: Compare the three Rods of Initiation wielded by the Bodhisattva, the Lord of the World and the Solar Logos. What are the major distinctions between these Rods and their effects?

3.             p. 212: What is the relationship between Fohat and the charging of the Rods of Initiation?  What do you understand by:  "This greatest Rod ... carries a voltage of pure fohatic force from cosmic level."

The Law of Economy

Its effects in matter

4.             p. 214-216: Review the major functions of the three aspects of divinity.  Why is each aspect properly correlated with the aspect of divinity under which it is listed?

5.             p. 215: Please explain the first aspect of divinity in terms of what the Tibetan calls" the will to exist"?

6.             p. 216: Which cosmic Entities, do you suppose, stand behind the three great Cosmic Laws: the Law of Economy, the Law of Attraction, and the Law of Synthesis?

7.             p. 217: Review the extensive footnote (92) from Some Thoughts on the Gita. What are two or three major points of interest which emerged for you from the reading of this footnote?

8.             p. 217-219: Study carefully this profound section on the Sacred Word, cosmically and systemically considered. What revelation comes to you through this study? What significance do you detect in the assertion that seven letters of the Divine Name are associated with the second aspect of divinity, and nine letters are associated with the third aspect? Are three letters associated with the first aspect?  Does the word A U M spaced thus mean something different from AUM?

Its subsidiary laws

9.             p. 219: Consider the four subsidiary laws placed under the law of Economy.  What does the Law of Vibration mean to you?  What may be its practical significance?

10.         p. 219: Consider the four subsidiary laws placed under the law of Economy.  What does the Law of Adaptation mean to you?  What may be its practical significance?

11.         p. 219: Consider the four subsidiary laws placed under the law of Economy.  What does the Law of Repulsion mean to you?  What may be its practical significance?

12.         p. 219: Consider the four subsidiary laws placed under the law of Economy.  What does the Law of Friction mean to you?  What may be its practical significance?

13.         p. 219-220: Consider the four ways in which every atom of substance can be studied. What significance do these four ways of study have in relation to man, the human atom?

Solar fire (The Fire of Mind)

Introductory questions

Nine virtually unanswerable questions are here posed.  Although the human mind cannot fathom the true answers to these questions , attempt a guess as a stimulus to the process of the evocation of the intuition. 

14.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 1 in terms which are simple and understandable.

15.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 2 in terms which are simple and understandable.

16.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 3 in terms which are simple and understandable.

17.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 4 in terms which are simple and understandable.

18.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 5 in terms which are simple and understandable.

19.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 6 in terms which are simple and understandable.

20.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 7 in terms which are simple and understandable.

21.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 8 in terms which are simple and understandable.

22.         p. 223: Seek to formulate a response to question 9 for yourself in terms which are simple and understandable to yourself.

23.         p. 226: What is the relationship of the Son to the Sun?  Study the chart of the Pleroma according to Valentinus.  What is "the Pleroma"?  How would you interpret each of the geometrical figures in the design?

24.         p. 227: Why are heat and light produced from the union of the two poles?  What have heat and light to do with the manifestation of that aspect of divinity known as the Son?

25.         p. 229-231: Study the meaning of the "Son"? Who or What is the Son? What ideas impress you the most within this section? What is the relation of the Son to the cosmic mental plane? Is He already polarized upon this plane or is He destined to achieve its polarization on it?

26.         p. 232-233: What is evolution and how does it proceed?  Consider the tabulation concerning that which "Man, the Heavenly Man and the Cosmic Man have to do".  What, principally, is revealed to you through the study of this tabulation? Can you apply these processes, expressed so technically as they are, to your individual evolutionary development?

27.         p. 233 (footnote 94): Based upon a review of the names of the Seven Heavenly Men, are They or are They not the same as the Seven Planetary Logoi?

28.         p. 234: Consider the parallelism between The Son, the Grand Man of the Heavens; a Heavenly Man; and a Human Being.  What are, to you, the most striking structural and functional parallels between these three kinds of Existences?

29.         p. 236: What is a Dragon of Wisdom, why is this Dragon said to be "swallowing its tail"? 

Why is the solar system evolving along the line of duality?

30.         p. 239: The duality of the solar system is said to be dependent upon four factors.  Do these factors make sense to you? Express your understanding of each one clearly and briefly.

31.         p. 239: Why can the Solar Logos not be considered equivalent to the personal God of the Christians?

32.         p. 241: How do you understand the following?: "Electric fire or Spirit, united to fire by friction (heat) produces solar fire or light"  . What is the practical demonstration of this principle in your own individual evolutionary process?

33.         p. 241: Explain the following:  Humanity is that evolution through which the Son aspect is to express itself most perfectly in this cosmic incarnation.  Please explain "man" from this cosmic perspective.

34.         p. 242: Why is the first aspect of divinity designated as "Mahadeva"?

35.         p. 242: How can our solar Logos be described as a "cosmic Arjuna"? What does this say about His Rays, His point of cosmic evolution, and his affiliation with the seven solar systems and with two reddish orange stars in particular?

36.         p. 243: Explain in your own words how duality produces: a) objectivity, b) evolution itself, c) the development of quality, d) time and space. Be adventurous in your speculations.


Second Semester - Section 3

A Treatise on Cosmic Fire pp. 243-288

What is Consciousness?  What is its place in the scheme of things?

1.             p. 243: Enlarge upon the following definition of consciousness: " Consciousness might be defined as the faculty of apprehension, and concerns primarily the relation of the Self to the no-self, of the Knower to the Known, and of the Thinker to that which is thought about"?

2.             p. 243: We are often told that consciousness arises from the interaction between spirit and matter.  "It is produced by the union of the two poles, and the process of interplay and of adaptation that necessarily ensue".  In your own words, what does this really mean to you?  Can you explain this interplay— and the arising of consciousness from it—in terms that make sense to you?

3.             p. 244: Explain the relationship between "Life" and "Realization".

4.             p. 244: Give your interpretation of the following anent the Son of the Father and the Mother: "This Son is objectively the solar system, inherently will or power, and subjectively He is love-wisdom".

5.             p. 244: What are the "Heavenly Men"?  Are they Planetary Logoi, or a sub-division of Planetary Logoi?  Can you support your answer with documentation from the Tibetan?

6.             p. 244: What does it mean that the "units" in the bodies of the Heavenly Men are composed of deva and human monads?  Into what kinds of groups do you think there units are formed?  What might be the function of such groups?

7.             p. 245: Please differentiate between the three principles: 1) "I am"; 2) "I am that"; 3) "I am that I am".  Why are these particular word forms chosen to describe the three stages of development?  What is the condition of the consciousness (whether microcosmic or macrocosmic) in each of these stages?

8.             p. 245: Why, when comparing  systems, super-systems and sub-systems according to the Law of Analogy, is the analogy "never exact in detail but only in certain broad basic correspondence"?

9.             p. 246: Consider the following statement—paradoxical to those familiar with modern scientific terminology—and explain: "An atom contains within itself differentiated molecules, which in their totality form the atom itself".  What is the meaning of"molecules" in this statement and how is it different from the usual meaning?

10.         p. 246: Does the statement that a  physical atom contains 14,000,000,000 archetypal atoms hold, from the perspective of numerical analysis, any important implications?

11.         p. 246: To what in larger systems are the"three major spirals and seven lesser" of the atom analogous?

12.         p. 246: Explain the following statement from The Secret Doctrine: "Atoms and souls are synonymous in the language of Initiate".

13.         p. 246: Explain: "The atom belongs wholly to the domain of metaphysic".

14.         p. 246: Explain: "Atoms are vibration".

15.         p. 247: Is an atom a form?  If so, how is it justifiably said that"it is the aggregation of atoms that produces form"?

16.         p. 247: Is the tenfoldness of the atom an actual structural description, or is the tenfoldness symbolical of the "eventual synthesis internally from the seven into the three "and not structural at all?  Consult a picture of Babbitt's atom.

17.         p. 247: How does an atom's supposed tenfoldness relate to modern scientific descriptions of the atom?

18.         p. 247: By what justification can a man be seen as "spheroidal in form"?

19.         p. 248: In what way, do you suppose, does the "will-to-be" prove a factor of animation for the objective form of any system?

20.         p. 248: With what planet might one correlate the "persistent will-to-be"?

21.         p. 248: Consider and comment upon the following view of man: "As seen from the higher planes man demonstrates as a sphere (or spheres) of differentiated matter, vibrating to a certain measure, tinctured by a certain color, and rotating to a fixed key—the key of his life cycle"?  Does the phrase "rotating to a fixed key "strike you as mysterious?

22.         p. 248: What, in your estimation, is man's "egoic pole"?  Do you suppose rotation around man's egoic pole is at all correlated with certain astronomical measures, such as the daily rotation of the Earth, the revolution of the Moon around the Earth, or the revolution of the Earth around the Sun?

23.         p. 248: Do you suppose the point of evolution reached can be defined mathematically?

24.         p. 248: What thoughts occur to you when you compare the development of man's principles with the development of the spirillae of the atom?

25.         p. 249: Is there any difference between being an "atom" in the body of a Heavenly Man and being a "cell"?  What, do you suppose, is the function of a cell?

26.         p. 249: Consider the nucleus of the causal body as bringing the whole "under rule and government".  What, then, has this nucleus to do with the constellation Leo and the star, Regulus, and why?

27.         p. 250: What does paragraph 'a' tell you about the nature of the Heavenly Man?  Is the Heavenly Man the Lord of a Chain, or is He the Planetary Logos Himself?

28.         p. 250 (footnote): What does it mean that the Heavenly Men are "the polar opposites to the Pleiades"?

29.         p. 250 (footnote): Does it surprise you to read that "our system is masculine occultly and the Pleiades is feminine"?  Justify your answer.

30.         p. 251: From the following does it seem to you that the Heavenly Man is the Planetary Logos Himself?: "... the entire planetary scheme is tinctured by a certain color, is rotating to a fixed key which is the key of His [the Heavenly Man's] life cycle within the still greater mahamanvantara or logoic cycle".

31.         p. 251: Is it possible that the term"Heavenly Man" is being used as an occult blind to indicate three different types of Entities—namely, a Planetary Logos, or a Chain Lord, or the Lord of a Globe?  Is there any evidence for this hypothesis?

32.         p. 251: On what level do you suppose the Tibetan is speaking in the following: "The action and the interaction between the life animating the groups or the Heavenly Men, and the life animating the atoms or men who form the units in groups is both mysterious and wonderful"?

33.         p.251: What does the Tibetan mean in speaking of the Heavenly Man's "Rotary motion, or His particular cycling activity around His life wheel, a planetary scheme"?  Is actual physical rotation involved here, or are we dealing with the factor of rounds whether of a chain or of a scheme?

34.         p. 252: In calling the Heavenly Men "Divine Manasaputra" what is meant?  Who are Those who are simply called"manasaputra"?

35.         p. 252: Did you ever ponder on:  "... to merge eventually Their [our] separated identities in the One Identity retaining simultaneously full consciousness or individualized self-apprehension"?  If not do it now!  And comment upon the above quote.

36.         p. 252: Is there an aspect of every entity which is not  expressed as principles? 

37.         p. 252: Can it be that the three are one, and that the one manifests through seven?  Say what you can about this interesting interplay between the 7, the 3, the 10, the 1, and the 8.

38.         p. 253: Consider the following: "Only four principles in the Heavenly Men are as yet manifesting to any extent, though One of Them is rather in advance of the others, and has the fifth principle vibrating adequately, while certain others are in process of perfecting the fourth".  Is that "One" the Planetary Logos of Venus, or the Chain Lord of our Planetary Logos' second or Venus Chain?  Can you find other references which make the first option the preferred answer?

39.         p. 253: Give your interpretation of the following: "The dense physical body is not a principle for a Heavenly Man, hence the Law of Economy is transcended".

40.         p. 254-255: On these pages the Tibetan seems to link the Heavenly Man with the "activity animating the planetary chain".  From this context, then, is the Heavenly man related to the planetary scheme or to a planetary chain?  Do you sense that occult blinding is here in process?  Notice particularly the use of "chain" (singular) and not "chains" (plural).  As you read these pages do you suppose the Tibetan is blinding us by a dual use of the word "chain"—in one case meaning a complete planetary scheme, and in the other merely a planetary chain within the scheme?

41.         p. 255: Consider the following enigmatic statement anent the Solar Logos, the Grand Man of the Heavens: "The Sun holds a position analogous to the nucleus of life at the centre of the atom.  This sphere comprises within its periphery the seven planetary chains [italics MDR] with the synthesizing three, making the ten of logoic manifestation".  Why is this statement enigmatic?  Does it strike you as strange that the Tibetan does not use the term planetary schemes  instead of planetary chains?  Consider p. 250 on which are found the words, "Each scheme of seven chains...".

42.         p. 256: What are the Heavenly Men from the perspective of the following?:  "He [the Solar Logos] has (for the animating centres of His body) the seven major groups or the seven Heavenly Men, who ray forth Their influence to all parts of the logoic sphere...".

43.         p. 256: What is the "certain color" by which the life of the Logos (the Solar Logos) is tinctured?  He has many names, and one of them gives the clue.

44.         p. 256: What, have we any idea, is the"central solar pole" around which the Grand Man of the Heavens rotates?  For the Man it may well be the Monad.  For the Planet, the pole may well be Polaris (or any other pole star within the 25,000 year cycle).  For the Grand Man of the Heavens.....What?

45.         p. 256: Is it justifiable to call a "Day of Brahma" a solar systemic "round"?  There are chain rounds, we know, and scheme rounds, we infer.  Can any telling analogy be drawn between these various kind of rounds? 

46.         p. 257: From all we have read about the "three", whether in relation to an atom, a man, a Heavenly Man or a Grand Heavenly Man, can we say that the "three" in their initial state are essentially undifferentiated?

47.         p. 257: As the word "primary" is used in all these descriptions of atom, man, Heavenly Man and Grand Heavenly Man, does it always refer to the Monad of the entity or Entity concerned?  Why or why not?

48.         p. 257: Explain the following: "This ultimate principle is His [the Solar Logos'] primary coloring.  Each principle is embodied in one of the schemes, and is being worked out through one of the Heavenly Men".

49.         p. 257-258: Consider the goal of the Solar Logos and draw its analogy to our Planetary Logos (Heavenly Man) and to your own life: "He [the Grand Heavenly Man] seeks first  to find the secret of His own existence, and to achieve full Self-Consciousness; secondly,  to ascertain the position and place of His polar opposite; thirdly  to merge and blend with that polar opposite.  This is the cosmic marriage of the Logos".

50.         p. 258: What, do you suppose, are the "certain cosmic centers" from which magnetic stimulation is received by the Solar Logos, acting upon His subjective life?  "These find their sources on cosmic buddhic level".  Consult the chart of p. 344 of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.   Why is the solar system called the"solar scheme"?  Is something about the larger structure in which our solar system finds its place hereby implied?

51.         p. 258: If there are ten schemes animated by the Solar Logos, are there ten chains animated by each Planetary Logos (i.e., Heavenly Man)?

52.         p. 259: Consider the process of"obscuration" and relate the numbers 1 and 9 to this process.

53.         p. 258-9: What are the implications of the following for man and his superiors in the Hierarchy? "The solar Logos is distinguished...7.  By His unfoldment of Consciousness, the time factor being controlled by the measure of the unfoldment of all the conscious units in His body".  Is the greater limited by the lesser?

What is the mind aspect?  Why is the manasic principle of such importance?  Who are the manasaputras?

54.         p. 259: What is a "mystery"?  What makes a mystery a mystery?  What thoughts come to you as you read that "the mystery of electricity" is "the profoundest mystery of the whole manifested solar system"?

55.         p. 259: Why, in your estimation, is the following true:  "... the revelation of the close connection between mind and fohat or energy, or between thought power and electrical phenomena—the effect of fohatic impulse on matter—is fraught with peril,... ".

56.         p. 259: Is the following another way of describing the period of and following the third initiation?: "When the lower is under the control of the higher, or when the quaternary is merging into the triad, then man can be trusted with the remaining four fundamentals".

57.         p. 260: Why do you suppose "psychology" is related to the Fourth Fundamental of the Secret Doctrine?

58.         p. 260: What does the following definition of man reveal to you: "Man, in essential essence, is the higher triad demonstrating through a gradually evolving form, the egoic or causal body, and utilising the lower threefold personality as a means to contact the lower three planes.  All this has for purpose the development of perfect self-consciousness".

59.         p. 261: Why is the causal body called "the shrine for the buddhic principle"?

60.         p. 261: In the enumeration of the vehicles/principles of man, explain why there are eight instead of seven, and how the ultimate seven will eventuate. 

61.         p. 261: What, in your own words,  does the following mean?: "The ultimate seven will be seen when buddhi and manas are merge".

62.         p. 261: Give your interpretation of the following: "When mind become unduly developed and ceases to unite the higher and the lower, it forms a sphere of its own.  This is the greatest disaster that can overtake a human unit".  Relate the idea of "the eighth sphere" to the foregoing assertion.

63.         p. 262: If vehicles are objective forms, what does it mean that there is "a psychic development we call the seven principles"?

64.         p. 262 (footnote): Add your thought to the following anent Kamamanas: "Kamamanas—that blending of the mental and the desire element that forms the personality or common brain-intelligence of the man".  "The energies that express themselves through the lower kinds of mental matter are so changed by it into slower vibrations that are responded to by astral matter that the two bodies are continually vibrating together and become very closely interwoven".

65.         p. 262-3: What do you make of the idea that "the psychic nature of the Monad is twofold": "Active intelligence" and "Latent love-wisdom"?

66.         p. 263: Why in relation to Prakriti are "Active intelligence" and "The Divine Manasaputra" linked?

67.         p. 263-4: What differences exist when considering man's principles "prior to objectivity", as opposed to "in manifestation"?

68.         p. 264: Make three tabulations detailing and contrasting:  1) "sevenfold objectivity.......the material form"; 2) "sevenfold subjectivity....the psychic evolution"; 3) "sevenfold spirituality....the life of the Entity".

69.         p. 264: Give first the fivefold and then the sevenfold tabulation relating to "the spiritual life of the Monad".

70.         p. 265: Give your interpretation of why "the lowest enumeration [of principles] for the little evolved man at the present time "should be as presented.

71.         p. 266: What are "the three lines of development which must be remembered when considering the evolution of the Manasaputra"?  Why must these three lines of development be remembered?

72.         p. 266: Please interpret the following: "The Objective Development.  This is sevenfold in evolution and in time, ninefold during obscuration, and tenfold at dissolution".  Are only seven spheres visible in evolution and in time?

73.         p. 266: In considering Macrocosmic Objective Development, which are "the two [planets] which are hid"?  Are they really "hid"?

74.         p. 266: Give your understanding of the statement by H.P.B.  that "the numbering of the principles is a question of spiritual progress".

75.         p. 267: Consider the tabulations of the microcosm.  What justification can you give for considering the causal body and the physical body as the "two synthesising bodies "in the microcosm?

76.         p. 266-7: Do you believe that the 10 centers in the Grand Heavenly Man, in the Heavenly Man and in Man the Microcosm are simultaneously active and without overlap?

77.         p. 267: Consider man's sevenfold psychic development.  What do you learn from this enumeration?

78.         p. 268: Interpret the following: "... subjective evolution is the main enterprise of the Logos,  of a planetary Logos and of a man".

79.         p. 268: Interpret the following: "Just as objectivity is dual, life-form, so subjectivity is dual, mind-love, and the blending of the two produces consciousness".

80.         p. 269: Contrast the seven elements listed on this page.  Why is the akasha called "The Light of God"?  Why is the aether called "The heat of matter"?

81.         p. 270 (footnote 13): Consider the many definitions of the Divine Manasaputras and give your interpretation.  Can you conclude that the Heavenly Men and the Divine Manasaputras are equivalent?

82.         p. 270: From the following can we be sure regarding the identity of the Heavenly Men?: The Divine Manasaputras are "...the seven planetary Logoi, and are the Lords of the Rays, the seven Heavenly Men"?

83.         p. 270-271: If the Tibetan says that consideration of "the relationship between the cells in the human vehicles, and the cells in the bodies of a Heavenly Man, will be productive of illumination if carefully studied",  what does He mean?

84.         p. 270: Consider the following terminology in footnote 14: "The Sons of Mind:  are known by various terms, such as:——'The Manasaputras, the Prajapatis, the Kumaras, the Primordial Seven, the Rudras, the Heavenly Men, the Rishis, the Spirits before the Throne".  It becomes clear, does it not, that the same term can be used on a number of different levels, and that one must know the level in order to interpret properly?  Please comment.

85.         p. 271: Share your insights upon reading the following: "Just as a human being has an originating source, the Monad, and a semi-permanent vehicle, the causal body, but manifests through his lower principles (of which the dense physical is not one) so a Heavenly Man has an originating source, His Monad, a semi-permanent body on the monadic levels of the solar system, but manifests through three lower sheaths, our atmic, buddhic and manasic levels.  He is extraneous to the astral and physical planes just as a human being is to the physical".

86.         p. 271: What has the following to do with the third initiation at which the Lord of the World (considered as the personality of the Planetary Logos) presides: "The human being realizes his relationship (as a cell in the body) to a Heavenly Man only when he is developing the consciousness of the Ego on its own plane".

87.         p. 271: Comment on the following: "...the groups of causal bodies are the lowest forms through which a Heavenly Man manifests, just as the physical body is the lowest through which a human being manifests, and this in its etheric connotation".

88.         p. 271-72: The following statements are of profound import when considering the status of the Heavenly Man vis-a-vis the human Master of the Wisdom.  What do these statements mean to you?: "He [the Heavenly Man] developed consciousness on the three lower planes of the three worlds during the first solar system, again in relation to the cells of His body.  Man is repeating His endeavor up to the fifth Initiation which will bring him to a stage of consciousness achieved by a Heavenly Man in a much earlier mahamanvantara".  What is a mahamanvantara?  Is it the duration of 100 Years of Brahma, or it is of a duration as stated on p. 793.  of A Treatise On Cosmic Fire?

89.         p. 272: Compare and contrast the three focal points for expression of a man, a Heavenly Man and a Solar Logos?  Between which two entities man/Heavenly Man or Heavenly Man/Solar Logos, is there a greater discrepancy?

90.         p. 272: Between Whom and why is there a greater parallel: between man and the Heavenly Man or between man and the Grand Man of the Heavens (the Solar Logos)?

91.         p. 272: What implications can you think of in relation to the following statement: "The buddhic plane is consequently the fourth cosmic ether".

92.         p. 272: Read carefully points 'd'.  and 'e'.  Can you discover an occult level blind?

93.         p. 273: What are "the forty-nine centres ... of the seven Heavenly Men"?

94.         p. 273: What does the Tibetan mean that "a centre may be made up of many groups"?

95.         p.273: What are 'centers' and what types of centers are groups?

96.         p. 273: Think of the following in trying to determine the intra-solar-systemic origin of the human being: "Human beings therefore find their place within one of the forty-nine centres....of the seven Heavenly Men".  What might this tell us about Monadic Rays and Triadal Rays?  May it be that in considering our planetary origin, we have also to consider the particular chain within that planetary scheme from which we more specifically originated?

97.         p. 273: Interpret the following:  "The seven Rishis of the Great Bear are to Them [the Heavenly Men] what the Monad is to the evolving human unit".

Why is the progress of evolution cyclic?

98.         p. 273-274: Can you, in your own words, differentiate between the concepts: Repetition in time, Repetition in fact, and Repetition in Space?

99.         273: Interpret the following: "When the vitalising force is contacting at stated periods a certain set of atoms, it will call forth from them a specific sound which will demonstrate objectively as environing circumstances".

100.     p. 274: What is "Plane Repetition" and how does it work?

101.     p. 275: Elucidate the following: "The interplay between the two [the Self and the not-self] by the aid of mind produces that which we call environment or circumstance".

102.     p. 275: Share your impressions of the following statement: "The general law, which produces cyclic effect, is the Law of Attraction and Repulsion, of which the subsidiary law is the Law of Periodicity, and of Rebirth".

103.     p. 275: Interpret the following: "When Spirit and matter sound the same note evolution will cease".

104.     p. 275: Apply the following to your life: "When the note sounded by the form is stronger than that of Spirit, we have attraction between forms.  When the note sounded by Spirit is stronger than that of matter and form, we have Spirit repelling form".

105.     p. 275: Consider the tabulation on "the battlefield of life" and locate yourself.

106.     p. 275: Interpret these words: "To the synchronisation of the notes, or to the lack of synchronisation, may be attributed all that occurs in the world cycles".

107.     p. 275-276: Consider the process of evolutionary completion and abstraction in musical terms.

108.     p. 276: What thoughts come to you in reading the following: "Primarily....it may be posited that the Law of Attraction is the demonstration of the powers of Spirit, whilst the Law of Repulsion governs the form.  Spirit attracts Spirit throughout the greater cycle.  In lesser cycles, Spirit temporarily attracts matter.  The tendency of Spirit is to merge and blend with Spirit.  Form repulses form, and thus brings about separation".

109.     p. 276: Consider rebirth as the means of exercizing acquired faculty.

110.     p. 277: Consider the factor of "rotation".  What comes to your mind when you think, in relation to the human being, of "the rotation of the various sheaths around the central consciousness during any one incarnation"?

111.     p. 277: Do you suppose, with respect to the human being, that all sheaths or fields of expression, rotate at the same speed around the central nucleus?  If the rates of rotation are different do you suppose they correlate to the cycles of the heavenly bodies?

112.     p. 277: What is meant, in relation to a Heavenly Man, by "the rotation of a globe within a chain, or the period of one incarnation"?

113.     p. 277: When considering the rotation of the Sun in space, is one rotation of the physical Sun upon its axis meant, or the rotation of the entire solar system?  How long are these respective periods?

114.     p. 277-278: "... the ideas dealt with in conection with cyclc evolution cannot be posited apart from the concept of consciousness.  The ideas of time, of space and of activity (from the point of view of the occultist), can only be conceived as relative to some conscious entity, to some Thinker".  Explain why this is so. 

115.     p. 278: Give your understanding of time "as a succession of states of consicousness".

116.     p. 278: Elucidate the following from The Secret Doctrine: "The Universe is in reality but a huge aggregation of states of consciousness".

117.     p. 279: State in your own terms the difference you perceive between Causal consciousness and Human consciousness.

118.     p. 279: Elucidate the following: "Animal, vegetable and mineral consciousness...  differs from the human consciousness...primarily in that it does not co-ordinate, or deduce and recognise separate identity".

119.     p. 279: "... : Atomic consciousness, demonstrating through successive states of repulsion and attraction.  In this last definition lies the key to the other states of consciousness".  Why is it so?

120.     p. 279: Apply the following idea, related to atomic attraction, to the human being: "One thing to be borne in mind in the concept of mutual attraction is the preservation of identity in cohesion".

121.     p. 279: Why is the Tibetan so insistent upon the idea that "even in cohesion identity is preserved"?

122.     p. 280: Apply the following anent a Heavenly Man to the human being, to yourself: "A planet repulses a planet similarly charged, for it is a known law that like particles repel each other, but occultly it is a known law that they will eventually attract each other as the vibration becomes sufficiently strong".

123.     p. 280: How is SEX "the basis of activity"?  How is radiatory activity "simply the interplay between male and female"?

124.     p. 280: Consider and comment upon the following unusual definition of time: "Time [is] that process of activity, or that progression in development, wherein the indwelling Consciousness is seeking its opposite, and coming under the Law of Attraction, which leads to atomic, human, planetary, spiritual, solar and cosmic marriage".

125.     p. 280: What are the psychological implications of the following: "The emotion of like or of dislike is nothing else but the realisation by the conscious entity of the swinging into his magnetic radius of an atomic form which he is led, by the very law of his own being, to either attract or repulse".

126.     p. 280: Can the following be made practical in your life: "Only when the form is transcended, and Spirit seeks out Spirit, will the phenomenon of repulsion cease".

127.     p. 280: Here again, an unusual definition of time:  "The duration of the interplay, the period of the search of Spirit for Spirit, and the vibratory processes necessitated by the utilisation of the form, this we call Time, whether in connection with a man, a planetary Logos or the Deity".

128.     p. 281: Define space  from the perspective of the Solar Logos, the Planetary Logos, the man and the atom.

129.     p. 281: What sort of man would have a space so enlarged that it "may begin to touch the periphery of the sphere of influence of the planetary Logos in Whose body he is a cell"?

130.     p. 281: Discuss repulsion as a preventative from occupying space.

131.     p. 281: Discuss the psychological definition of time and space as "simply forms of ideas to express the cyclic activity of an entity".

132.     p. 281-2: Interpret the following and apply it to your present life of discipleship: "When more of the human family have their centre of consciousness in the Ego and hence are busy with the work of repulsing matter, and with the withdrawal of Spirit from from, then only will the transmutative process be comprehended, then only will time (as known in the three worlds) be transcended, and then only will space (as manifested to man through the three lower planes or the eighteen subplanes) be found to be a barrier".

133.     p. 282: What do you learn about the cycle of the Solar Logos by reading that both He and man "are at their point of deepest involution"?

134.     p. 282: Explain Karma as "the Law of Form".

135.     p. 282-3: Consider the many ways in which man and the Solar Logos are involved in parallel processes.  What do you learn from this tabulation?

136.     p. 283: Contrast the "key measure" related to the mental vibration with "the quality of tone" related to the astral vibration.  In what manner is the physical vehicle "the result produced by the union of the key measure and the quality of tone"?

137.     p. 284: Consider time and space in relation to the following: "There are cycles of activity in matter, due to some energising Will, and then Time and Space are known.  There are cycles of non-being when Time and Space are not, and the energising Will is withdrawn".

138.     p. 284: Why does the Tibetan insist that "all must be interpreted in terms of consciousness".

139.     p. 284: Give your essential understanding of the three types of cycles based upon rotation, revolution and bi-polar interplay.  How is the symbol of the triangle  involved in this last type of cycle?

Why is knowledge both esoteric and exoteric?

140.     p. 285: What is the essential difference between subjective and objective knowledge?  Are these terms relative?  If so, how so?

141.     p. 285: When you survey human achievement, do you agree with the Tibetan regarding "the small evolutionary attainment of the race"?

142.     p. 285: Consult the tabulation in the footnote.  To which of the Six Schools of Indian Philosophy do you feel most attracted, and why?

143.     p. 286: Does the rate of mastery of one subplane per human race seem slow to you?  Which are the two subplanes which the Tibetan discusses here?

144.     p. 286: Why are the five senses and the method of experiment related to the "Hall of Learning"?

145.     p. 286: Comment on the Tibetan's definition of instinct: "...the habitual reaction of some type of consciousness to a given set of circumstances".

146.     p. 286: What, according to the Tibetan, is the principle differentiation between the human approach to experience and the animal's approach?  What do they have in common?  What is different and distinct?

147.     p. 287: Enlarge upon the solar plexus as "the organ of instinct".

148.     p. 287: Do you agree with the Tibetan's description of that which is esoteric:  "The esoteric aspects of knowledge are really those zones of consciousness which are not yet conquered, and brought within the radius of control of the indwelling entity"?

149.     p. 282-288: What is your reaction to the consequences of this "The endeavor of all KNOWERS will be to draw within the zone of their knowledge other units who are ready for a similar expansion of consciousness"?