Matter

In the Theosophical view matter, as well as as spirit, are the manifestation of one principle that is beyond the range and reach of thought. W. Q. Judge wrote:

Theosophy postulates an eternal principle called the unknown . . . The perceived universe is the manifestation of this unknown, including spirit and matter, for Theosophy holds that those are but the two opposite poles of the one unknown principle. They coexist, are not separate nor separable from each other, or, as the Hindu scriptures say, there is no particle of matter without spirit, and no particle of spirit without matter.

Spirit (or life) and matter are thus seen as the two aspects of the same principle. H. P. Blavatsky is reported to have said:

There is no dead matter. Every last atom is alive. It cannot be otherwise since every atom is itself fundamentally Absolute Being. Therefore there is no such thing as ‘spaces’ of Ether, or Akasha, or call it what you like, in which angels and elementals disport themselves like trout in water. That’s a common idea. The true idea shows every atom of substance no matter of what plane to be in itself a LIFE.

Theosophy postulates the existence of different states of matter, from the highest cosmic matter down to the physical matter, forming seven planes "each more dense on the way down to the plane of our senses than its predecessor, the substance in all being the same only differing in degree." All forms of matter are differentiations of a primordial one element, differentiation that is ultimately a māyā or illusion:

The homogeneous primordial Element is simple and single only on the terrestrial plane of consciousness and sensation, since matter, after all, is nothing else than the sequence of our own states of consciousness, and Spirit an idea of psychic intuition. Even on the next higher plane, that single element which is defined on our earth by current science, as the ultimate undecomposable constituent of some kind of matter, would be pronounced in the world of a higher spiritual perception as something very complex indeed.

Differentiation of matter

The highest state of matter (many times referred to as "substance") is Mulaprakriti, variously called "primordial cosmic substance", "undiferentiated cosmic substance", Pre-cosmic substance, the root of matter, etc. During the manvantaric impulse it becomes svabhavat, and later akasha or the "cosmic substance". Further on this differentiates into cosmic matter, which is further developed into the seven manifested planes.