Devoted to Spiritual and Philosophical Problems – by Manly P. Hall
August 1, 1934
Dear Friend:
Few authentic fragments have descended to us of the words of Pythagoras. Justin Martyr has preserved the following little known quotation from the Samian Sage:
“God is one. He is not, as some thinly, without the world, but within it, and entire in its entirety. He sees all that becomes, forms all immortal beings, is the author of their powers and performances, the origin of all things, the Light of Heaven, the Father, the Intelligence, the Soul of all beings, the Mover of all spheres.”
The fifth and sixth departments of Metaphysics deal particularly with God as the “Mover of all spheres,” the last attribute bestowed upon Deity by Pythagoras in the above definition. Therefore this lesson will be devoted to the nature of Energy and the nature of Creation, or the manifestation of Energy in worlds.
Modern science, in its effort to escape from the overshadowing influence of theology, has built a barrier of terminology between itself and the old mystical teachings. Although it has coined new words for old ideas, it has not been able, in any essential particular, to change the substance of these ideas; nor has science been able to substitute for the ancient theologies any more adequate explanation of universal Cause, purpose or destiny. Thus a scientist may reject the Christian trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost as imaginary personalities, yet in the face of this refection he postulates consciousness, intelligence and force as the foundations of existence, thus remaining a true trinitarian, consoling his prejudice with words alone.
The ancient philosophers affirmed the material universe to be suspended from the third aspect of the Divine Nature. This third aspect they denominated the Demiurgus, the Cosmocratore, the Artificer, the Feather of the Builders. The Greeks called him Zeus, and the Latins Jupiter. Thus, platonic ally speaking, the material universe is Deity in the aspect of Energy or action.
| This also we humbly beg, that Human Things may not prejudice such as are Divine, neither that from the unlocking of the Gates of Sense and the kindling of a greater Natural Light, anything of credulity or intellectual night may arise in our minds toward Divine Mysteries. — Sir F rancis Bacon |
The modern scholar has relegated Jupiter-Pan (the god of unfolding nature) to the limbo, substituting therefor the neutral term “energy. » The principle remains unchanged. We have gained nothing by the new word, in fact we have lost. Energy as Zeus was not only a subject for study but also one for veneration. The divine quality which the ancient theologists discovered in all parts of nature has been destroyed by the modern attitude towards learning. Thus energy is God with its divinity and intelligence left out and only its force remaining. The first step in the rescuing of the metaphysical tradition is, therefore, the reestablishment of the divine principle in substance and behind activity.
Energy is now defined as inherent power, whereas in ancient times it was defined as inherent Divinity. Energy is further defined as capacity for acting, thus it is the Mover of the Orphics. Energy is the root of force even as it is the support of phenomenal life. A study of energy involves two issues: its origin and its use. The universe is, composed of the substance of Being, is established by and in the substance of Wisdom, and is supported by and in the substance of Force. Thus, energy is the foundation of the whole material universe, the pedestal which upholds the world. In India it is indeed Vishnu who in the form of the strong animal, the boar, elevates creation upon his tusks.
In the Cabala the Tree of Life consists of three major trunks from which emanate numerous branches. These trunks are called Wisdom, Strength and Beauty and by them the creation is maintained. It is from these three trunks that Christendom has derived its triad of moral virtues—faith, hope and charity. Faith is the highest form of wisdom, hope the noblest aspect of strength, and charity is moral beauty. The Pythagoreans also had a triad of Being, Life and Light which supported their world order. To them the world issued from the principle of Light, for which reason Pythagoras declared the body of God to be composed of light. Light is the most perfect of all forms for in it the energy principle is the least obscured by material elements. We find reference to this thought in the first chapter of John: “In the beginning was the Word.” By the Word, Logos, or Fiat, is inferred Deity in its attribute of energy or force. John then says of God: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of man.” Thus the gospel establishes the Pythagorean foundation — God or Being, life and light. Though science may involve the issue by developing an elaborate terminology by which the simple truths become obscured by phraseology, the spiritual foundations of the world remain unmoved. The well-being of each individual depends upon his ability to rescue spiritual values from their present obscuration and to live in accordance with these values.
The ancients, in explaining the mystery of what we call energy, which to them was an emanation from divine Beings, classified these forces under several headings. There is first intellectual energy which emanates from the Zodiac and of which the body of Zeus, or the world-God, was formed. Intellectual energy was divided by Plato into two aspects termed intelligible and intellectual. Intelligible intellect was the energy of pure knowing — knowing being higher than thinking, for knowing comes from within and thinking which is intellectual intellect, arises from external stimulus.
Second, there is psychical energy which emanates from the planets. This energy is both compound and complex for in every evidence of it there is an admixture of the several qualities of the planetary bodies. This energy is moral and sensory. From it arises the impulsive and appetitive parts.
The third is vital energy which originates from the Sun and forms, so to speak, a common nutrition by which all physical organisms are supported. This energy is truly the food of the material world and all so called nourishment arises from the presence of this nutritive energy in various food stuffs. Around this principle modern scientists have built the vitamin theory.
The fourth is corruptive energy, originating from the Moon and bringing the corrosive, disintegrative principle of decay with it. The corruptive energy is necessary to prevent a stagnation of vital currents. Corruption preserves the circulation of energy by destroying organisms in which this energy has been collected and locked.
The fifth and last energy is seminal energy which arises from the earth itself and has, as its special province, the perpetuation of fertility. Without this special aspect of energy the propagative principle would fail, even as without solar energy the nutritive power would cease.
Thus, by philosophy, we come to know that we live, move and have our being in a sea of divine energy, supported by the Infinite Wisdom, and nourished by the Infinite Life. Energy as capacity or capability is also opportunity. As the infinite opportunity to do, it is by reflex the opportunity to be or to accomplish through action. Energy is that “magical agent” of the old transcendentalists by the proper use of which we build character and through the perversion of which we destroy ourselves and our world. Virtue and vice are manifestions of our capacity for action. No man thinks, feels or moves of himself but because of God (energy) within him. Every thought, emotion and action is a sacred mystery and not a meaningless accident as materialists would have us think. Wisdom arises out of the right use of mental energy; virtue out of the right use of emotional energy; and health out of the balance and integrity of physical energy. Life is a spiritual adventure in the use of divine forces and energies. He who uses them well lives well and is himself in a state of well being.
From the study of energy we naturally come to the nature of creation, for creation as a process is energy directed towards the formative processes. Creation as a condition is the manifested universe arising from the chemistry of energy and supported thereby.
As we look, about us at the multitude of forms which exist together in what we call the world, it is sometimes difficult for us to perceive the causes which brought these forms into being. We are bewildered by diversity, yet without some understanding of the reason for things as they are we cannot intelligently cooperate with the plan of life. What we commonly call creation is, philosophically speaking, formation. It is not really something coming out of nothing but rather forms growing from their seeds. Growth is energy unfolding through organisms. Things do not grow — energy unfolds in them. As the old theologists said, growth is God unfolding in his creations. Energy, moving from within outward, causes expansion. Expansion requires organization to support it. Organization in turn becomes a nucleous for further expansion. In the physical world this expansion, organization, expansion, etc. is accompanied by a certain physical increase. Upon the whole process we bestow the term growth. All things grow first in their internal parts, and their external parts merely increase to accomodate this internal expansion.
Man is constantly growing. For millions of years he has been evolving his present organism to meet the needs of the unfolding internal principle. Every organ and member of his physical body was the product of a desperate necessity for that organ and member. Every new faculty or soul power which man develops results in some modification and improvement in his physical structure. The human fingers are the product of millions of years of impulse. As time goes on the body of man will be still more greatly refined, new parts and members will be added, and the spiritual capacities will be markedly increased. These changes will bear witness to the eternal creative principle, to the action of which, according to Plato, there is no beginning, end or limitation. Energy and the creative impulse, working in partnership together, are the Builders of the worlds and their creatures. In space vast creative or formative processes are constantly going on. In the soul of man similar processes are continuously in action. The infinite potentiality for progress which is inherent in every atom of being is evident in what the ancients termed the “growing up of space.”[1]
Man, in the small sphere of his own existence, is not only part of the growing whole; he. has evolved to the place where he is capable of being a conscious agent, cooperating voluntarily with the divine order. He is capable of directing and using energy; he is capable of a mental, emotional and physical creative expression. What we term civilization, in its more refined aspects, is evidence to the creative impulse in man. The arts and sciences are avenues of expression. It is within the power of the intelligent man and woman to contribute a truly creative impulse to society.
The old Mystery Schools taught that true religion consisted of the right use of energy and opportunity; of realizing that the life which supports us is a sacred and spiritual force, the reverent use of which was regarded as a spiritual virtue. The misuse of energy and the inadequate or destructive use of the Divine Agent indicates an immature spiritual viewpoint. The purpose of energy is to create, preserve and beautify. Its proper use increases the amount of manifested good. The philosopher, realizing the energies of life to be the very bodies and souls of the gods, endeavors to use every element of his living to produce some permanent and constructive effect. The wasting of energy, its misuse or abuse, is a sacrilege of which no wise man wishes to be guilty.
By destroying the moral values of action and reducing the whole universal plan to a mechanistic program, science destroys the spiritual equation in action. Deprived in this way of its noblest part, action loses its virtue and becomes a contributing cause of the world’s woe. No one who sincerely understands the divine factors in life can be guilty of those evil doings by which our civilization is being destroyed. Energy is necessary to activate any motion, be it constructive or destructive. Creation comes into being through activated motion. Our ambitions, hopes, desires, etc. are the basis of the institutions which we upbuild. Life is a constant and continual sacrament. We live off of the blood of the gods and because our whole sustenance is divine, our lives should also be divinely inspired and we should live a code of action worthy of the spiritual life by which this code is supported.
Yours sincerely,
Manly P. Hall
944 West Tòth Street.
Los Angeles, Calif
[1] This an error from Manly P. Hall, humanity did not evolve and is not evolving. Humanity is devolving.
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