In his article "Universal Applications of Doctrine" (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 3), Mr. Judge reiterates the teaching of the hermetic philosophy that "man is a copy of the greater universe." We are fairly familiar with this idea, but in the following words—"He is a little universe in himself, governed by the same laws as the great one, and in the small proportions of a human being showing all those greater laws in operation, only reduced in time or sweep"—we have the former statement brought to life, as it were, and it becomes practical and useful. We often talk of universal laws and of the sevenfold universe, but we fail to see that all this is reflected in ourselves. Study of the wider universe takes us away from self-centredness, but it is also necessary for us to study ourselves, the little universe, in order to understand that greater universe. If, therefore, all the universal laws are at work within us, that is where we must turn to learn about them.

Starting with the definition of the "Monad," we read in The Theosophical Glossary:

In Occultism it often means the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, the immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal—Nirvana.

Though H.P.B. asks us to be metaphysically-minded when speaking of Monads or Monad, we have to see that, as Mr. Judge wrote in "The Synthesis of Occult Science" (U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 3), "Every Monad that is enclosed in a form, and hence limited by matter, becomes conscious on its own plane and in its own degree." Therefore, the atom is a Monad, every form is a Monad, and, though the degree of consciousness varies, yet all are one, for Nature must be regarded

as one complete whole, and so the student of occultism may stand at either point of observation. He may from the standpoint of Nature's wholeness and completeness follow the process of segregation and differentiation to the minutest atom conditioned in space and time; or, from the phenomenal display of the atom, he may reach forward and upward till the atom becomes and integral part of cosmos, involved in the universal harmony of creation.

Just as the atom is an integral part of the cosmos, so it becomes essential for us to grasp that we, too, are an integral part of the cosmos.

As H.P.B. says in Transactions:

He who would be an occultist must not separate either himself or anything else from the rest of creation or non-creation....He must think of himself as an infinitesimal something, not even as an individual atom, but as a part of the world-atoms as a whole, or become an illusion, a nobody, and vanish like a breath leaving no trace behind.

If all is one, and yet there are many states of matter, many states of consciousness and the evolution of many forms, how can we find universal law operating in us?

We are sufficiently familiar with the laws of evolution working up to the human kingdom, and it is because we fail to grasp the difference between man and the animal that we are muddled in our thinking and in our application of the laws of human evolution. We fail to grasp that though there are different degrees of awareness or of consciousness operating throughout, yet in every atom are all the powers of the One. These powers are either latent or active. The object of evolution is to activate that which is latent. If this be so, we have to find out what is the next step for us, what latent power in us has to become active. As Mr. Judge wrote in "The Synthesis of Occult Science":

When...the Monad has passed through the form of the animal ego, involved and unfolded the human form, the higher triad of principles awakens from the sleep of ages and overswhadowed by the "Manasa-putra" and built into its essence and substance.

We, as human beings, have, therefore, to think of the higher triad, the Atma-Buddhi-Manas. We know that Atma is everywhere. But what is Atma? It is not enough to say that it is "Spirit." We need to think of it as forming a triad with Buddhi and Manas. Evolution is the bringing down of divine or cosmic ideas on to the plane of denser matter, and the agent for this is the mind.

The Manasic or mind principle is cosmic and universal. It is the creator of all forms, and the basis of all law in nature. It is still in the process of development in us. The danger facing us at present, as Mr. Judge wrote in the same article, is that "self-consciousness, which from the animal plane looking upwards is the beginning of perfection, from the divine plane looking downward is the perfection of selfishness and the curse of separateness." It is therefore incumbent on us to learn more about the development of mind in us.

Mind, we are told, "is the latent or active potentiality of Cosmic Ideation, the essence of every form, the basis of every law, the potency of every principle in the universe," and we have still to see the practical aspect of this. Mr. Judge continues: "Human thought is the reflection or reproduction in the realm of man's consciousness of these forms, laws, and principles."

Our work is, therefore, with the mind, especially mind as the "conscious principle of the Monad." Our duty is to use the mind with understanding of its place in the scheme of things, that is, we have to take this centre of consciousness from the animal in us to the human in us, and then from the selfishness of the human-animal to the unselfishness and universality of the divine.

To understand this as a practical rather than theoretical proposition, we have to familiarize ourselves with the idea that

as the dawn of humanity illumines the animal plane, and as a guiding star lures the Monad to higher consciousness, so the dawn of divinity illumines the human plane, luring the monad to the supra-human plane of consciousness.

To make use of this idea, it is necessary to understand that when the Monad involves into matter and unfolds the human form, "the higher triad of principles awakens from the sleep of ages."

The fact that the animal-man is built into an overshadowed by the essence and substance of the Manasa-putra makes of man the "vehicle of a fully developed Monad, self-conscious and deliberately following its own line of progress"—a very different line of evolution from that of the insect, and even the higher animal, in which the higher triad of principles is absolutely dormant.

We read in The Secret Doctrine (II, 273):

...the evolution of Spirit into matter could never have been achieved, nor would it have received its first impulse, had not the bright Spirits sacrificed their own respective super-ethereal essences to animate the man of clay, by endowing each of his inner principles with a portion, or rather, a reflection of that essence.

We owe all we are, therefore, to this higher influence. But we also learn of the degradation into which man fell by reason of possessing the creative power.

No sooner had the mental eye of man been opened to understanding, than he felt himself one with the ever-present as the ever to be unknown and invisible ALL, the One Universal Deity. Endowed with divine powers, and feeling in himself his inner God, each felt he was a Man-God in his nature, though an animal in his physical Self. The struggle between the two began from the very day they tasted of the fruit of the Tree of Wisdom; a struggle for life between the spiritual and the psychic, the psychic and the physical. Those who conquered the lower principles by obtaining mastery over the body, joined the "Sons of Light." Those who fell victims to their lower natures, became the slaves of Matter. From "Sons of Light and Wisdom" they ended by becoming the "Sons of Darkness." They had fallen in the battle of mortal life with Life immortal, and all those so fallen became the seed of the future generations of Atlanteans. (S.D., II, 272)

The tragedy appears worse when we remember that

the Demon of Pride, Lust, Rebellion, and Hatred, has never had any being before the appearance of physical conscious man. It is man who has begotten, nurtured, and allowed the fiend to develop in his heart; he, again, who has contaminated the indwelling god in himself, by linking the pure spirit with the impure demon of matter. (S.D., II, 274)

We are now at a crucial point in our evolution. Mind must rise triumphant and move towards Spirit, or it will sink into the depths of matter. We are past the middle point of the Fourth Round; we are in the Fifth Race, the Aryan, and in the fifth sub-race of that Race. Already there are signs that the sixth sub-race is preparing to be formed. Human Races, we learn "are born one from the other, grow, develop, become old, and die" (S.D., 443-44). There is no escape for us.

Humanity is the child of cyclic Destiny, and not one of its Units can escape its unconscious mission, or get rid of the burden of its co-operative work with nature. Thus will mankind, race after race, perform its appointed cycle-pilgrimage. Climates will, and have already begun, to change, each tropical year after the other dropping one sub-race, but only to beget another higher race on the ascending cycle; while a series of other less favoured groups—the failures of nature—will, like some individual men, vanish from the human family without even leaving a trace behind. (S.D., II, 446)

What should we do, here and now, lest we too fall by the way and "vanish from the human family"?

In An Epitome of Theosophy Mr. Judge wrote:

As to the process of spiritual development, Theosophy teaches:

First. That the essence of the process lies in the securing of supremacy, to the highest, the spiritual, element of man's nature.

Second. That this is attained along four lines, among others.

The first of these four lines is "the entire eradication of selfishness in all forms, and the cultivation of broad, generous sympathy in, and effort for the good of others."

He goes into other details also, but we must note in the above quotation the italicized words—"broad, generous sympathy"—a quality we need to develop. No amount of struggle to attain the other steps in the process of spiritual development will be possible or useful without this quality, for it lies at the basis of all effort towards progress. Mr. Judge also speaks of "effort for the good of others," and this, along with sympathy, gives us an idea of the Dawning of Compassion and the development of the Spiritual Will. Note also the word "cultivation" in the above quotation. We sometimes think that all we need to do is to recognize what is right, what we ought to do; but if consistent, steady effort to cultivate this new aspect of life is lacking, we cannot but meet with failure. Cultivation is not easy. The ideas to be cultivated start in the mind, but, as with all thoughts, before they materialize in action we have to be permeated with the desire to achieve and to go on and on.

Let us find out our way, take the vision beautiful as our guiding star, and strive to remember during all our waking moments that "The Universe...exists for the sake of the soul's experience and emancipation." It is not what the personal mask achieves in life that matters; it is what the Ego can take away with it to devachan and beyond, and build into future lives, that counts.

However far removed we may be from the full radiance of the Higher Soul, we must find out what stops that radiance from shining through our every thought and act. What stops us from exercising control over the lower man? Perhaps it is because we do not yet separate what is lower from what is higher, and that higher from the Highest. We stand on the bridge. Self-effort in action, devotion to the Highest, and a constant struggle to "realize the Self" alone will help us.

Let us recognize ourselves as a little universe in which universal laws act. By learning how to use those laws we can prove our oneness with "God," and therefore our immortality.

Anger is a momentary insanity.

—Horace