2001-7-25 05:22:00
Larry is following the advice of Isaiah in dealing with the Alice A. Bailey (AAB) writings:
"He who believeth will not make haste." Those who create a sure foundation for a belief system
based on truth will proceed slowly and ask questions as they enter into new territory. This causes the symbolic seed to take strong root so it cannot be moved at
a later date.
There is always a danger for the seeker, and the danger that comes from the mind is to allow "the mind to slay the real."
How does this happen?
This happens when we are too attached to one or more foundation beliefs. If we happen to have a false foundation belief as a part of our mental calculations
then even the finest logic will be flawed and destroy that which is real, or true.
All of us are confronted with this at some point and the only way to dispel the foundation illusion
is through the intuition and sincere inquiry.
Foundation illusions are very difficult to dispel because they are usually tied in with a
mainstream thoughtform which is held by millions.
One teaching given out by Djwahl Khul (DK) that goes against the grain of a core foundation belief of many people is that the only planets out there in the solar
system are those that can be seen with the telescope in physical reality.
From one point of view this is not that logical because the majority also believe that there is a spirit world to which we go after death, and that there are
unseen angels and beings surrounding and influencing us.
If this is so then why is it difficult to believe there are also unseen planets made of matter of a higher frequency?
Having said this let us examine Larry's statements:
"One such fact was the claim that there existed an as yet undiscovered planet called Vulcan. Now that didn't mean much to me the first time I saw it. But later I found out more info that put it into perspective."
"As far as I can tell HPB (Helen P. Blavatsky) may have stated this and then AAB later. Interestingly enough that fits into a timeframe that makes one very suspicious of this as fact."
JJ:
HPB talks about Vulcan in mythology, but I cannot find a source of her teaching about the hidden planet Vulcan. Some theosophists assumed that the Vulcan of astronomical theory was the same as one of HPB's hidden planets.
Larry:
"At one time astronomers did in fact theorize that an unknown planet must exist inside the orbit of Mercury. They called this theoretical planet Vulcan. The reason they theorized of its existence was to explain certain observed irregularities in the orbit of Mercury that couldn't be explained with Newtonian laws of physics. Previously astronomers had discovered Neptune in a similar fashion. They had observed irregularities in the orbit of Uranus and using mathematical calculations had found out where a planet should be and that is how Neptune was discovered. So, given that it made sense to theorize about the existence of a planet Vulcan that explained Mercury's orbit.
"Interestingly enough this theory would have been credible during HPB's lifetime. It was not until some of Einstein's theory of relativity was applied to the problem that it was understood that this solely explained the orbit of Mercury and there was no need to posit a theory of the existence of a planet Vulcan. Of course this didn't happen until perhaps somewhere in the early to mid 20th century so HPB and AAB would be working off data that they wouldn't know would be found unnecessary scientifically.
"Now the discovery of Neptune was an embarrassment to astrology but soon afterwards astrologers started attributing influences of Neptune which they had never predicted before. Similarly astrologers apparently didn't give up on Vulcan even when Einstein proved it unnecessary to explain observed orbital mechanics."
JJ:
Of course a common erroneous belief among astrologers has no relation or bearing to any teaching of DK.
Larry:
"So it is easy to see how HPB and AAB could be claiming that Vulcan exists and how they wouldn't know that science would later repudiate the theory of its existence.
"I believe someone said here that Vulcan is hidden from view. One way that would be possible is if it was in an orbit on the other side of the sun from Earth, and if its orbit closely matched that of Earth so that the Sun would always be in between."
JJ:
This theory has been advanced by many and has been made popular by science fiction writers but is quite improbable and not even hinted at by DK.
Larry:
"Unfortunately I don't think that theory is tenable as even though we might not be able to observe it with a telescope, its influence through gravity should cause subtle perturbations of Earth's orbit that would be measurable."
JJ:
Agreed.
Larry:
"If Vulcan exists then I would guess it is small, dark, and its orbit is far out so that it doesn't have an easily measurable influence on the orbits of planets we can observe."
JJ:
"It is possible that there are planets of some kind beyond the orbit of Pluto, but nothing is hinted at one way or another on this by DK or the ancient [or ageless] wisdom.
Larry:
"But the rational inclination is to believe that HPB and AAB simply got 'caught out' on this one. It is things like that which make me hesitant to embrace the whole gamut of AAB's 'facts.'"
JJ:
First of all HPB did not even talk about the planet Vulcan (that I can find) so let us eliminate her from the equation and deal with Djwahl Khul through
Alice A. Bailey.
If we are going to deal with a problem of Djwahl Khul's writings then we must deal with what DK actually said, not with what some feel that he said. So the
question we must ask is: What did he actually teach about the planet Vulcan and hidden planets?
Djwahl Khul indeed does tell us that there are numerous unseen planets in our solar system made of etheric matter which our eyes cannot see and that there
are several major ones on par with the earth. Above the etheric there is also the astral and then the sphere made of mental, or thought matter. Unseen
planets in all three of these worlds number at least 70, with several of these being major earth-like planets unseen in etheric matter. One of these he says
is not too far distant and has subtle effects upon our earth which will one day be discovered and studied.
So what about Vulcan?
For several hundred years some have speculated about a planet with such a name. Then on March 28, 1859, an amateur French astronomer named Lescarbault
claimed to have seen a planet within the orbit of Mercury and notified famed astronomer and predictor of the discovery of Neptune, Urbain Le Verrier.
Le Verrier became enthused about the possibility of such a planet and researched every possibility on it.
He investigated 50 claimed sightings of Vulcan and found six that he thought to be reliable. From these sightings he formulated some basic information
on it.
Vulcan was 13 million miles from the Sun and took only 20 days for an entire orbit. It was quite small -- about 6% the diameter of Mercury.
However, since that time interest has come and gone and the existence of such a planet has never been proven. The latest revival was in 1970-71 when
several researches reported seeing several faint objects close to there sun during a solar eclipse. The problem is that if there is such a physical
planet then it is best studied during such an eclipse. Because of this restriction scientists are greatly restricted in their research.
So, what did Djwahl Khul say about Vulcan? Did he state that it was a physical planet within the obit of Mercury?
No, he did not.
What did he say then?
He stated that both our Sun and our moon veil Vulcan.
What did he mean by this?
He meant that astrologers give credit to the Sun and the Moon for certain astrological influences that do not originate with them, but instead are emanated
from the undiscovered planet which he called Vulcan, named so because this was the popular name of an undiscovered planet of his time.
The moon represents form building aspects through the stimulation of the circulation of etheric matter in our bodies and the Sun represents soul aspects
radiated by Vulcan.
He states: "Vulcan has been hitherto hidden, but its influence has steadily superseded all lunar control, for the personality or form side of life is lost
to sight in the radiance of the Sun, the soul. The light of Vulcan and the light of the Sun are one light..."
He often says that the Sun represents Vulcan in astrological influences and here he adds that the Sun and Vulcan are "one light." He also states that
"esoterically it is the heart of the Sun."
All this indicates that Vulcan is most probably one of those planets with no physical light as we know it, but exists in etheric matter invisible to
normal seeing.
He tells us however, that many people are developing etheric vision. You might recall that at the Gathering I gave some exercises to aid in the seeing of
etheric matter. He tells us that when this vision becomes more common place and developed that some of the invisible planets and star systems will be seen
and recognized as having a real existence. He tells us that when a Master looks up in the sky that instead of seeing twinkling stars that he sees a sky
full of brilliant light of which most of us are oblivious.
-- End Of Lesson Two, Part 21 --
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