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<blockquote>To awaken in it [the Monad] to life the latent consciousness, especially that of personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of the fifth [principle].<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>To awaken in it [the Monad] to life the latent consciousness, especially that of personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of the fifth [principle].<ref>Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. ''The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence'' No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.</ref></blockquote> | ||
== Pythagorean | == Pythagorean Monad == | ||
== Leibniz's | == Leibniz's Monad == | ||
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher described. His best known contribution to metaphysics is his theory of simple substances or monads, published in his book ''Monadology''. According to Leibniz, monads are elementary particles, being the ultimate elements of the universe. They are "substantial forms of being" with blurred perception of each other. The monads are centers of force, of which space, matter, and motion are merely phenomena. They are eternal, indecomposable, individual, subject to their own laws, un-interacting, and each reflecting the entire universe in a pre-established harmony. | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher described. His best known contribution to metaphysics is his theory of simple substances or monads, published in his book ''Monadology''. According to Leibniz, monads are elementary particles, being the ultimate elements of the universe. They are "substantial forms of being" with blurred perception of each other. The monads are centers of force, of which space, matter, and motion are merely phenomena. They are eternal, indecomposable, individual, subject to their own laws, un-interacting, and each reflecting the entire universe in a pre-established harmony. | ||
Revision as of 16:48, 10 September 2012
Monad (μονάς monas) is a Greek word for "unit". With the Pythagoreans it was a term for Divinity, the source or the One. In Theosophy the word monad refers to the two highest principles, ātman and buddhi, which assimilate the highest attributes of manas during the process of evolution.
General description
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky wrote:
The Monad of every living being . . . is an individual Dhyan Chohan, distinct from others, a kind of spiritual individuality of its own, during one special Manvantara. Its Primary, the Spirit (Atman) is one, of course, with Paramatma (the one Universal Spirit), but the vehicle (Vahan) it is enshrined in, the Buddhi, is part and parcel of that Dhyan-Chohanic Essence.[1]
The original dual monad, compelled by the circle of necessity, engages in a process of evolution from which emerges as a triad after assimilating the essence of manas during the stage of human evolution:
Monad (Gr.). The Unity, the one; but in Occultism it often means the unified triad, Atma-Buddhi-Manas, or the duad, Atma-Buddhi, that immortal part of man which reincarnates in the lower kingdoms, and gradually progresses through them to Man and then to the final goal— Nirvâna.[2]
The dual Monad
Ātman and buddhi, being universal, are not endowed with individual consciousness. Therefore the dual Monad is not conscious:
The sixth and seventh principles apart from the rest constitute the eternal, imperishable, but also unconscious “Monad.”[3]
The triple Monad
When the dual Monad absorbs the highest attributes of the fifth principle or manas, it becomes conscious:
To awaken in it [the Monad] to life the latent consciousness, especially that of personal individuality, requires the monad plus the highest attributes of the fifth [principle].[4]
Pythagorean Monad
Leibniz's Monad
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (July 1, 1646 – November 14, 1716) was a German mathematician and philosopher described. His best known contribution to metaphysics is his theory of simple substances or monads, published in his book Monadology. According to Leibniz, monads are elementary particles, being the ultimate elements of the universe. They are "substantial forms of being" with blurred perception of each other. The monads are centers of force, of which space, matter, and motion are merely phenomena. They are eternal, indecomposable, individual, subject to their own laws, un-interacting, and each reflecting the entire universe in a pre-established harmony.
Notes
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine vol. I, (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 265.
- ↑ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, The Theosophical Glossary (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 216.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.
- ↑ Vicente Hao Chin, Jr. The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 68 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 194.
Further reading
- Monad at Theosopedia