Cosmic Doctrine - Softcover

Dion Fortune

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578631602 ISBN 13: 9781578631605

Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser, 2003

Synopsis

Over seventytwo years ago, beginning at the Vernal Equinox in Glastonbury, Fortune started receiving communications from the Inner Planes concerning the creation of the universe, the evolution of humanity, natural law, the evolution of consciousness, and the nature of mind. This is her record, in a revised edition, and includes previously unpublished material that is still relevant today!

About this title

About the Author

Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 1890-1946), founder of the Society of the Inner Light, is recognized as one of the most luminous figures of 20th-century esoteric thought. A prolific writer, pioneer psychologist, powerful psychic, and spiritualist, she dedicated her life to the revival of the Western Mystery Tradition. She was also a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, whose members included A. E. Waite, Aleister Crowley, and W. B. Yeats.

From the Back Cover

Over seventy-two years ago, beginning on the Vernal Equinox in Glastonbury, Dion Fortune started receiving communications from the Inner Planes concerning the creation of the universe, the evolution of humanity, natural law, the evolution of consciousness, and the nature of the mind. Her written record of this experience forms the basis for The Cosmic Doctrine.

Fortune examines the limbo where Science and Magic interact, where the cosmology of the "Big Bang" and chaos theory run parallel to the evolutionary process. She also illustrates the true nature of Good and Evil, which is generally viewed from an individual's own highly subjective and very personal perspective, and provides further insights into the interaction of the positive and negative polarity within the universal scheme of things. A cryptic warning accompanies these clearly outlined concepts: this book is designed to train the mind rather than inform it. In other words, it is intended to induce in the reader a particular attitude to both the inner and outer world.

Unpublished until 1949, and then only in a privately printed edition, Fortune and her followers considered the material too dangerous for general release. This revised and definitive edition includes original material left out of previous editions and illuminating diagrams by one of Fortune's closest collaborators.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

THE COSMIC DOCTRINE

By DION FORTUNE

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

Copyright © 2000 Society of Inner Light, London
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-160-5

Contents

MILLENIUM PREFACE
INTRODUCTION BY DION FORTUNE
INTRODUCTION II BY ONE OF THE
COMMUNICATING ENTITIES
Section I THE EVOLUTION OF THE COSMOS
1. THE FIRST MANIFESTATION
2. THE FIRST TRINITY
3. THE BUILDING OF THE ATOM
4. THE EVOLUTION OF THE ATOM
5. THE GENESIS OF A SOLAR SYSTEM
6. COSMIC INFLUENCES ON A SOLAR SYSTEM
Section II THE EVOLUTION OF THE LOGOS AND HIS REGENTS
7. THE EVOLUTION OF A GREAT ENTITY
8. THE RELATION OF A GREAT ENTITY TO THE COSMOS
9. THE PROJECTION OF THE CONCEPT OF THE UNIVERSE
10. THE RELATION BETWEEN THE PROJECTED IMAGE AND THE LOGOIDAL 
CONSCIOUSNESS
11. AUTO-REACTIONS AND COSMIC MEMORY
12. THE BIRTH OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE UNIVERSE
13. THE BEGINNINGS OF MIND AND GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS
14. THE SEED-ATOM BUILDING A SEVENTH PLANE BODY
15. EVOLUTION OF THE FIRST PLANETARY FORM
16. EVOLUTION OF THE LORDS OF FLAME, FORM AND MIND
17. THE INFLUENCE OF THE REGENTS UPON THE GLOBES
18. THE GOAL OF EVOLUTION OF A LIFE SWARM
Section III INFLUENCES UNDER WHICH THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY IS 
CONDUCTED
19. TABULATED SUMMARY OF INFLUENCES
20. COSMIC INFLUENCES
21. THE LOGOIDAL RELATION TO THE MANIFESTED UNIVERSE
22. INFLUENCES OF THE MANIFESTED UNIVERSE
23. TEACHING CONCERNING OTHER EVOLUTION'S INHABITING A PLANET 
SIMULTANEOUSLY
24. INFLUENCES WHICH HUMANITY EXERTS UPON ITSELF
25. THE LAW OF ACTION AND REACTION
26. THE LAW OF LIMITATION
27. THE LAW OF SEVEN DEATHS
28. THE LAW OF IMPACTATION, OR THE TRANSMISSION OF ACTION FROM ONE PLANET 
TO ANOTHER
29. THE LAW OF THE ASPECTS OF FORCE, OR POLARITY
30. THE LAW OF THE ATTRACTION OF OUTER SPACE
31. THE LAW OF THE ATTRACTION OF THE CENTRE
AFTERTHOUGHTS
DIAGRAMS BY C. T. L.
INDEX
SOCIETY OF INNER LIGHT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER 1

THE FIRST MANIFESTATION

Knowledge falls into two divisions - the record of facts and the explanationthereof.

Knowledge can only consist of that which is present in the mind. That which doesnot enter the mind cannot be known. Therefore you can only know that which youhave senses to interpret to you. As new senses open up, more planes of existencecan be known. There is, however, a limit to the knowledge of the finite.Perception ceases at the barrier of manifestation. Of that which lies beyond wecan only know by analogy.

The Unmanifest is pure existence. We cannot say of It that it is Not. Althoughit 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 appearanceand a becoming. Of this Unmanifest we can only say IT IS. IT is the verb 'to be'turned back upon itself. IT is a state of pure 'being' without qualities andwithout 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 if itis in manifestation it is not unmanifest. Therefore the very fact that we canknow it proves that it is not unmanifest. The Unmanifest is the Great Negation;at the same time it is the infinite potentiality which has not occurred. It isbest conceived of under the image of inter-stellar space.

In the occult teachings you have been given certain images, under which you areinstructed to think of certain things. These images are not descriptive butsymbolic, and are designed to train the mind, not inform it. Therefore you maythink of the Unmanifest as inter-stellar space; and of the Logos as a Sunsurrounded by His Solar System of Planets and of the emanations of the Logos asRays. The Unmanifest is the only Unity. Manifestation begins when dualityoccurs. The prime duality is 'Space' and 'Movement'.

The first manifestation was a current in space. The metaphor I must use mayconvey nothing to your mind. All I can say is that space was moving. You willfind these clues are a clue to much.

Now when space moves it has this peculiar quality - being frictionless it neverloses momentum but continues to flow.

When space moves two forces are at work:-

(a) The force which causes it to move, being the desire of space for momentum.

(b) The force which had hitherto caused it not to move, being the desire ofspace for inertia.

These two factors are present in all motion , but the desire for movement, beingthe stronger, overcomes the desire for inertia, and the desire for inertiacontinues as a check upon the movement. Therefore the movement is pulled uponslightly. That is why there is no such thing as a straight line in the Cosmos.All movement therefore has a slight curve in its projection, thereforeeventually it returns to the spot whence it started, and forms a spinning ring.(see Fig. 1)

Now the prime movement is just a flowing of space that returns after long aeonswhence it started, and then renews its journey. This sets up a spinning belt ofenormous circumference. This belt spins on one plane for immense aeons of time;spins with a changeless spinning. But its tendency is to communicate its motionto the space about it, which leads more space to flow into the spinning (allthis, remember, is metaphor). The spinning in one plane continues until thestresses which it generates evoke a new movement, and a second current in spaceis set up at right angles to the first, and the same process is repeated. Thesespinning planes of force may be conceived of as resembling the Rings of Saturn,(see Fig. 2)

We have now two spinning planes which, at two points cut each other, and it isworthy of note that the second plane forms outside the first and is thereforelarger in diameter.

For countless aeons these planes spin at right angles to each other, and thewhole of evolution turns upon the difference in size between the planes. Whenthe larger has got up to the same speed as the smaller and older, it commencesto attract one aspect of it, the consequence being that the older circle isdrawn towards the newer. (see Fig. 3)

Now the first circle must be conceived of as having an upper and a lowersurface. The upper surface of the outflowing arc may be conceived of as positiveand the lower as negative. The reverse being the case in the inflowing arc. (seeFig. 4) Likewise with the second circle to arise.

These circles are mutually attracting and repelling each other; so that youconceive the upper surface of the outflowing arc of the first circle, beingpositive, rising up towards its corresponding aspect in the second circle, andthe lower circle in the returning arc pressing downwards, so that you get asecond movement imparted to the spinning disc. When this secondary movement hascompleted its first circuit and set up its steady revolution, the new Cosmos isin being. That is the prime beginning of a Cosmos expressed in the nearestapproximate metaphor.

The secondary spin of the first circuit is the Ring-Pass-Not, and the circuit ofthe second formation is that sphere which sets a bound to Chaos. On the outersphere there is a secondary derivation, and though a spinning circle of motion,represents for that Cosmos, the prime stillness, - the immobility in which it isrooted; - it is the thrust-block of the force of the Cosmos, that which resists,which alone enables momentum to be achieved and you may call it the Ring-Chaosthe prime evil. It is evolved from the reaction of the prime force in order totake its thrust. It spins at right angles to the prime spin. It counteracts it.It was the attraction of the Ring-Chaos inducing a secondary spin in the Ring-Cosmoswhich forms the Ring-Pass-Not.

Now that movement in the Ring-Cosmos, spinning in one plane and rotating whileit spins as if upon an axis, sets the bounds beyond which the creatures of thatuniverse cannot pass, even in thought. But this universe is a sphere encircledby two lines of force - the Ring-Cosmos and the Ring Chaos - rotating at rightangles to each other.

The momentum of the Ring-Cosmos is the source of force from which evolutiondraws its momentum; and the rotation of the Ring-Chaos is the source of forcefrom which dissolution draws its power.

Evolution is a thrust from the surface towards the centre.

Devolution, or Dissolution is a suction into outer space.

The Ring-Chaos does not belong to the universe it encircles, but to outer space.That is an important point in connection with it.

The Ring-Cosmos has its desires turned towards the sphere it encircles.

The Ring-Chaos has its desires turned towards the space that encircles it.

The Ring-Cosmos seeks to extend the centre.

The Ring-Chaos seeks to expand the circumference.

The Ring-Cosmos tends to solidify by contraction.

The Ring-Chaos to return to the Unmanifest, whence it arose, and therefore, ifits influence were unchecked, to reduce the universe it encircles tonothingness.

The Ring-Cosmos, if its influence were unchecked, would be static in theimmediate present.

These two influences are the source of all the force in the Cosmos-

The Ring-Cosmos because it concretes - builds up.

The Ring-Chaos because it diffuses - never grows.

Now these two Rings we will call Good and Evil; Life and Death; Light andDarkness; Spirit and Matter; Being and Not-Being; God and Devil; because each ofthese potencies has its root in its respective Ring. But let it be clearlyconceived that the Ring "Good" and the Ring "Evil" are not good and evil as youunderstand them, but merely spinning circles of force at right angles to eachother, and therefore in opposition, and it is merely the angle of the first toarise which is called "good" and the angle in opposition to the prime plane iscalled "evil" and it might well be that in another Cosmos the first plane wouldbegin to spin at another angle - the angle of your "evil", it would still be"good" to its Cosmos, because "good" and "evil" do not depend upon any plane orangle, but are simply relative to each other. The first force to arise is called"good" because, from it arises the line of force called evolution. Allsubsequent secondary forces are measured by that standard. In so far as theymove in the same angle they are reckoned to be "good". In so far as theyapproach to a right angle they are reckoned to be in opposition and are called"evil". Evil is simply that which is moving in the opposite direction toevolution. Evil is that which approaches the plane of movement of the Ring-Chaosand therefore tends to revert to the Unmanifest. All evil that builds up with auniverse is attracted towards the Ring-Chaos and is self- destroyed, because thevery name "evil" means a force which tends to non-existence.

So you can conceive of evil under two aspects:-

(a) That which enables you to lock up the forces of good by opposition, and sosecure stability - a foot-hold. Evil enables you to get a purchase on space.

(b) Evil, if allowed to function unopposed, is the 'Scavenger of the Gods'therefore said the Great One, our Master, "resist not evil". When you resistevil you lock up good. You lock up the force of good which holds the evil inert.This serves no useful purpose, unless you have a superabundance of good whichshall stand upon the platform thus formed and leap up from it to greaterheights. Therefore it is not enough to meet hate with love - evil with good.This is the course of the ignorant and the reason why exoteric religion has madeso little impression in the world. You must hate with hate sufficiently to causea locking up of the force. You must hate the hate and, having rendered evilinert by opposition, the love can take its stand upon the firm platform and useit as a thrust-block.

Therefore you only oppose evil when you wish to do constructive work - when youwish to make something new. You never oppose the evil when you wish to destroy.You make a vacuum round it. You prevent opposition from touching it.

Then, being unopposed, it is free to follow the law of its own nature, which is,to join the motion of the Ring-Chaos. It, therefore, passes out to the peripheryof the universe until it meets the spin of the Ring-Pass-Not which it cannot getthrough, but it has gone to a place of such primitive simplicity that it isresolved into its own elements, and these elements are drawn into the attractionof the nearest motion, which is the nature of the Ring-Cosmos, which is thenature of good.

Therefore evil, when unopposed, resolves itself into the undifferentiated rawmaterial of existence - the first form of manifestation. It ceases to beorganised. It ceases to have qualities. It starts afresh at the beginning,transmuted through neutrality into good. It is the spin of these two Rings whichgive the influences that play upon creation.

You are now in a position to know why the mystery of evil is the secret of theinitiates, because when you understand evil it is exceedingly useful. But theundisciplined man, if he knew the usefulness and goodness of evil, would use itdynamically on the positive side of its manifestation, not statically byavailing himself of its negative qualities as does the Initiate.

You see, it is a matter of geometry. That is why numbers are so important, andremember, numbers in occultism refer to the degrees of angles. The degrees ofthe numbers of White occultism are marked in the Ring-Cosmos. The degrees of thenumbers of evil are marked in the Ring-Chaos. Always think of the number inreferring to the degree of an angle of two intersecting lines of force, andremember that when you operate on more than one plane you get the angles of theintersecting of the planes. You will have more instruction about that.

Every plane has three Rings, like the Cosmos. Also you can get intersectionsbetween different types of movement like Time and Space. These things will bestudied later.

CHAPTER 2

THE FIRST TRINITY

You have found, no doubt, that the teaching is abstruse and unfamiliar. Believeme it is more difficult to give than to receive, for that which is described sogreatly transcends the condition upon which language has been built up, that thevery images have to be built in your consciousness before they can be evoked byany spoken word.

You have to conceive of the Cosmos, in its primal aspect, as consisting of threespinning movements. All that is nothing but movement - movement in space - puremovement. For the prime movement which gives rise to all that is, commencesbefore there is anything to move. The Cosmos then, is bounded by that movementwhich is called the Ring-Pass-Not. But besides the Ring-Pass-Not there aremovements in two directions. There are the Ring Cosmos and Chaos - good andevil, and they are the sources of the forces which are known to you by thesenames. But though these forces influence that which is within the Ring-Pass-Not,they cannot pass beyond it.

These three Rings are the three 'primaries' of the Cosmos - the first Trinity,that is why the Supreme Being is always conceived of as a Trinity; and three isthe fundamental number. Everything in the end is reducible to these threeinfluences. Whatever subsequent stresses arise may be analysed into thebalancing of these three forces:-

(a) The force of the Ring-Cosmos which tends towards the centre.

(b) The force of the Ring-Chaos which tends towards outer space.

(c) The force of the Ring-Pass-Not which holds the balance between them andprevents either of these forces from going to extremes.

The Ring-Pass-Not, however, is derived from the Ring Cosmos and thereforepartakes of its nature rather than of that of the Ring-Chaos.

The Ring-Chaos must always be thought of as having its affinity with the outerspace of the Unmanifest, and a tendency to return to unmanifestation. It lookstowards the past, and ever seeks the conditions of the past.

The Ring-Cosmos endeavours to focus, as the Ring-Chaos endeavours to diffuse.

The tendency of the Ring-Cosmos is towards the future.

The Ring-Chaos can never build anything, because whatever forces it mayoriginate diffuse, unconfined, into outer space, but the Ring-Cosmos, inconjunction with the Ring-Pass-Not conserves its forces. For the forces whichthe Ring-Cosmos radiated into that space within its circumference cannot passout again because they are confined by the influences of the Ring-Pass-Not.Therefore they act and interact among themselves producing ever greater andgreater elaboration of influences.

Let us now return to the point in Time when the Ring-Pass-Not had completed itsfirst revolution and the Cosmos is in being.

Any form of force, when it has reached the maximum momentum of its type ofmovement, gives rise to the secondary movements which serve to carry off theexcess of force which it is generating, for force begets force when moving underfrictionless conditions.

The prime activity is MOVEMENT.

The secondary activity is LIGHT.

The third activity is SOUND.

The movement of the Ring-Cosmos sets up secondary swirls within the area of itsinfluence, its tendency is to draw more and more space into its spin. It cannotextend itself externally because it is limited by the sphere of the Ring-Chaos,it therefore extends itself internally, so that the spinning belt finallybecomes a spinning disc with the centre immobile. (Fig. 4)

The spinning disc, being rotated by the secondary movement, which is the Ring-Pass-Not,becomes the spinning sphere. (Fig. 5)

The interaction of the two forms of movement is naturally neutralising,consequently there is a break-up of the simple movement of the disc into aseries of compromises. The chief point of activity ceases to be thecircumference and becomes the centre. (Fig. 6)

(Continues...)

Excerpted from THE COSMIC DOCTRINE by DION FORTUNE. Copyright © 2000 Society of Inner Light, London. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Red Wheel/Weiser
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1578631602
• ISBN 13: 9781578631605
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 212