Dr Victor Gostin and Dr Hugh Murdoch
(Theosophy
in Australia September 2005)
Part 1 – Overview
Hugh Murdoch:
The modern understanding of
the origin of the Solar System is very similar to the theory of Laplace which was well described in some detail and strongly supported by Blavatsky against
a quite different theory current in her day (SD II, 592). Broadly speaking, a
cloud of gas and dust, under the combined influence of gravity, rotation,
collision and aggregation of particles eventually becomes the Solar System as
we know it comprising the Sun the planets and their satellites. Blavatsky
emphasises that the Sun and the planets are born as part of a single process by
graphically referring to them as co-uterine brothers.
However, when we come to the
details of evolution, HPB’s account presents several problems (Barborka, G; The
Peopling of the Earth, TPH Wheaton, 1975). The Earth is represented as a
CHAIN of seven globes, Only the fourth, Globe D, is physical. Life begins on
Globe A, with human monads entering the evolutionary cycle in very ethereal
form. They are said to come from the Moon chain, an earlier planetary chain
with our Moon as its physical Globe. We have here a striking discrepancy not
only with science but internally within the Secret Doctrine. The Moon is not a
relic of an older planetary system but is part of our Solar System, the origin
of which is so well described by Blavatsky herself. Perhaps the Moon story
should merely be regarded as symbolic of a planet on an earlier star system.
In the theosophical story
(Barborka, op.cit.), life proceeds seven times around the chain of planets from
A to G, each such Round being followed by a pralaya of equal time to that spent
on the Round. Precise figures are given for the time spent on each Round, on
each globe, on each race etc, with progressively increasing times spent on
successive Rounds, Globes etc. We are currently on Globe D in the 4th
Round and Blavatsky gives the precise time spent to date on this globe in this
Round, based on a Tamil calendar, (SD II, 69). This whole numerology seems to
me extraordinarily mechanistic and I cannot envisage life being so precisely
and mechanically ordered. Nevertheless, we can use this data (3 Rounds + 3
Globes on this Round + Blavatsky’s time to date on our Globe D) to work out the
current age of the Solar System according to the Secret Doctrine as
1,026,201,027 years to 2004, i.e. a little over one billion years. This
compares with the age of approximately 5 billion years for the Solar System as
a whole and 4.6 billion years for our solid Earth, based on several independent
scientific techniques. We need to recognise that in Blavatsky’s time there was
no reliable scientific estimate. Her figure was at least, much more realistic
that the then popular figure of about 6,000 years for the age of the world
based on the Bible, and indeed widely believed by many Christians today.
Victor
Gostin:
Helena Blavatsky said in 1888
that the “Secret Doctrine” was based on a small part of the Stanzas of Dzyan: -
ancient symbolic texts, with later commentaries, further clarified by her
teachers or Masters. While the Masters were clearly much advanced in spiritual
and metaphysical matters, they did not claim infallibility in all knowledge. In
essence, three separate evolutionary lines are presented: evolution of the
physical body, of the intellect (or mind), and of the spirit. Science deals
only the physical, but we can compare Blavatsky’s many references to the
physical world with scientific knowledge including the major discoveries of the
ensuing 120 years. Blavatsky is said to have access via her teachers to
knowledge of the past from the Akasic Records. Modern Science has its own
“Akasic Records” (Nature’s archives) of the past in the form of the information
stored within geological strata, deep ice cores, ocean and lake cores, tree
rings, etc. Geological history is based on a variety of highly refined and
thoroughly tested and cross-referenced dating techniques on, for example, both
single minerals and vast rock sequences. This information is not secret but is
publicly available.
The earliest (and most
primitive) life forms occurred at least 3.5 million years ago. All life on
Earth has the same genetic basis, with heat-loving bacteria at their core.
Favoured theories for the origins of Earthly life (very early in the evolution
of Earth) involve the chemically and thermally active deep-sea smokers heated
by deep crustal heat. Most life on Earth is microscopic and very diverse. The major
kingdoms are bacteria, protoctista (eg brown algae), fungi, plants, and animals
(including humans). Classical Theosophy recognises only plants and animals plus
humans as a separate kingdom.
Planetary activity and
biological evolution have been continuous with no major periods of rest or
inactivity. However there have been several times when a significant fraction
of existing life was extinguished by a major catastrophe, eventually followed
by new developments in evolution. An example is the major diversification of
our own line, the mammals, following the asteroid that led to the extinction of
a great many life forms including the dinosaurs. These occurrences are random
and not pre-programmed as suggested by the theory of Rounds.
Science, like Blavatsky,
recognises certain cyclic behaviour of the Earth’s motion about the Sun,
although there are major differences both in the description of these cycles
and their physical effect (either actual or supposed) on the Earth and of its
life. Astronomers recognise three such cycles which earth scientists refer to
as the Milankovitch cycles after the man who correctly interpreted their cyclic
effect on Earth’s climate and sea levels. The major cycle discussed by
Blavatsky is the precession cycle of 25,868 years which she refers to as the
Sidereal year and which she seriously misinterprets. The cycle results in
different areas of Earth receiving more or less solar heating, but it does not
mean major sudden tilts of the Earth’s axis, as Blavatsky supposes, that lead
to major catastrophes. The interaction of the Milankovitch cycles is, however,
relevant in explaining the almost regular periodic occurrence of ice ages and
interglacials, as evidenced in the geological record. We are currently in a
warm interglacial period.
Thus, in terms of human (or
planetary) history we should base our chronology on the major recorded climatic
changes – the glacial/interglacial cycles - together with the rises and falls
of sea-levels, instead of the SD explanation of axial shifts creating the rise
and drowning of continents (see Part 2). Blavatsky’s 2nd Fundamental
Postulate of the importance of cyclicity is vindicated in broad terms, if not
in the manner she envisaged.
A table of major evolutionary
events plotted against geological time was presented showing that prokaryotes
(cells without nuclei) were the first cell organisms, followed by the
eukaryotes (cells with nuclei) (1,500my). First multi-cellular organisms and
most modern Phyla originated (or differentiated) during the Ediacaran Period
(~600my). This included the first plants. First shelled organisms e.g. corals,
snails ~540my. First trees, about 300my. Mammals and birds evolved ~200my.
Primates ~15my. First Hominids ~6my. The far travelling Homo erectus evolved
about 2 million years ago, and our oldest modern human ancestors are 195,000
years old.
To be continued. Part II
will present some specific comparisons of Scientific and Theosophical views on
particular topics concerning the Evolution of life on Earth.
The Theosophical Society in Australia