A Textbook of Theosophy | Page 7

A SOLAR SYSTEM
The beginning of the universe (if ever it had a beginning) is beyond our
ken. At the earliest point of history that we can reach, the two great
opposites of spirit and matter, of life and form, are already in full
activity. We find that the ordinary conception of matter needs a
revision, for what are commonly called force and matter are in reality
only two varieties of Spirit at different stages in evolution and the real
matter or basis of everything lies in the background unperceived. A
French scientist has recently said: "There is no matter; there are nothing
but holes in the æther." This also agrees with the celebrated theory of
Professor Osborne Reynolds. Occult investigation shows this to be the
correct view, and in that way explains what Oriental sacred books mean
when they say that matter is an illusion.
The ultimate root-matter as seen at our level is what scientists call the
æther of space. [This has been described in Occult Chemistry under the
name of koilon.] To every physical sense the space occupied by it

appears empty, yet in reality this æther is far denser than anything of
which we can conceive. Its density is defined by Professor Reynolds as
being ten thousand times greater than that of water, and its mean
pressure as seven hundred and fifty thousand tons to the square inch.
This substance is perceptible only to highly developed clairvoyant
power. We must assume a time (though we have no direct knowledge
on this point) when this substance filled all space. We must also
suppose that some great Being (not the Deity of a solar system, but
some Being almost infinitely higher than that) changed this condition
of rest by pouring out His spirit or force into a certain section of this
matter, a section of the size of a whole universe. This effect of the
introduction of this force is as that of the blowing of a mighty breath; it
has formed within this æther an incalculable number of tiny spherical
bubbles, [The bubbles are spoken of in The Secret Doctrine as the holes
which Fohat digs in space.] and these bubbles are the ultimate atoms of
which what we call matter is composed. They are not the atoms of the
chemist, nor even the ultimate atoms of the physical world. They stand
at a far higher level, and what are usually called atoms are composed of
vast aggregations of these bubbles, as will be seen later.
When the Solar Deity begins to make His system, He finds ready to His
hand this material--this infinite mass of tiny bubbles which can be built
up into various kinds of matter as we know it. He commences by
defining the limit of His field of activity, a vast sphere whose
circumference is far larger than the orbit of the outermost of His future
planets. Within the limit of that sphere He sets up a kind of gigantic
vortex--a motion which sweeps together all the bubbles into a vast
central mass, the material of the nebula that is to be.
Into this vast revolving sphere He sends forth successive impulses of
force, gathering together the bubbles into ever more and more complex
aggregations, and producing in this way seven gigantic interpenetrating
worlds of matter of different degrees of density, all concentric and all
occupying the same space.
Acting through His Third Aspect He sends forth into this stupendous
sphere the first of these impulses. It sets up all through the sphere a vast

number of tiny vortices, each of which draws into itself forty-nine
bubbles, and arranges them in a certain shape. These little groupings of
bubbles so formed are the atoms of the second of the interpenetrating
worlds. The whole number of the bubbles is not used in this way,
sufficient being left in the dissociated state to act as atoms for the first
and highest of these worlds. In due time comes the second impulse,
which seizes upon nearly all these forty-nine bubble-atoms (leaving
only enough to provide atoms for the second world), draws them back
into itself and then, throwing them out again, sets up among them
vortices, each of which holds within itself 2,401 bubbles (49^2). These
form the atoms of the third world. Again after a time comes a third
impulse, which in the same way seizes upon nearly all these 2,401
bubble-atoms, draws them back again into their original form, and
again throws them outward once more as the atoms of the fourth
world--each atom containing this time 49^{3} bubbles. This process is
repeated until the sixth of these successive impulses has built the atom
of the seventh or the lowest world--that atom containing 49^{6} of the
original bubbles.
This atom of the seventh world is the