All Forms of Life Follow
The Same Universal Laws
Steven H. Levy
An article published in “The Aquarian Theosophist”, August 2013, begins with the ancient teaching that the earth and other planets of our solar system are conscious entities.  As such, they have inner principles that are undetectable by physical senses. The visible planet and its inner principles, or six companion globes, are called a Planetary Chain.
As mentioned in “The Secret Doctrine”, the planets of our solar system are visible to us because they are on the same plane of materiality as our objective earth. Like our physical earth, they are representatives of their respective planetary chains on this most material and dense plane of substance.
Planets such as Mars, Mercury, etc., are the Globe D’s (the fourth) of their sevenfold planetary chains and do not belong to the earth’s planetary chain. As the upper globes of the earth chain are invisible to us while we are conscious on this plane, the upper globes of the Mars and Mercury planetary chains are also invisible to us.
Besides the planets recognized through physical means by astronomy, there are four other planets that belong to our solar system that have a mysterious relation to Earth; however, they and their planetary chains are invisible to us on this plane.
There are other and innumerable planetary chains both in and outside our solar system, visible and invisible to us, which bear intelligent Beings.
How can we possibly check, test, and verify these planetary mysteries taught in “The Secret Doctrine” if we have not yet developed the senses and mental faculties to confirm them through direct knowledge and personal experience?
First, we may apply the Three Fundamental Propositions outlined in “The Proem”. They are beautifully condensed within one sentence by W.Q. Judge on page 2 of “The Ocean of Theosophy”; “…all is soul and spirit ever evolving under the rule of law inherent in the whole.” The manifested universe is embodied intelligence, or soul, of innumerable degrees working through different degrees of substance. A planet, or intelligent life-bearing globe, is a focal point in space where evolution of spirit, intelligence, and substance proceeds under universal law. As there are states of matter and forms of life undetectable to our physical senses on Earth, it is not difficult to understand that in the infinite universe there would be forms of life and degrees of substance unknown and undetected by us. Yet, all the forms of life and degrees of intelligence known to us follow the universal laws of periodicity, re-embodiment, cause and effect.
Second, the principle of unity in diversity is observed in every department of nature detectable by us, and recognized to be a fundamental law of life. Every science of physical nature relies on the formulation of general principles that govern relationships between phenomena, so that one precise mathematical formula describes and predicts a multitude of phenomena. The basic formula of the occult sciences is that everything in the universe has evolved from the Unknowable Absolute Unity in a sevenfold manner giving everything from an atom to a solar universe a sevenfold nature.
Third, the principle of correspondence and analogy based on unity in diversity gives rise to the Hermetic formulation “as above, so below”. Metaphysics is the science of first principles. That which exists as a reality on the metaphysical planes is reflected in the processes of nature on the physical planes. The creative powers and forces in the cosmos are mirrored in the human being. As a community’s affairs and conditions are affected by different neighboring communities with their present and previous inhabitants, the earth is affected by visible and invisible planets in the solar system. We may only sense the physical body of another human being, but we know we are impressed and affected by their lower and higher principles which are invisible to us.
The student of “The Secret Doctrine” needs to rely on personal experience and the applications of universal principles to check, test and verify the reasonableness of these planetary mysteries since they are not reconcilable with the modern theories of science whose best telescopes and instruments are useless outside the world of gross physical matter.
H. P. Blavatsky presents the problem faced by all those who try to solve these planetary mysteries only relying on their physical senses.
“Let it now be distinctly stated, then, that the theory broached is impossible, with or without the additional evidence furnished by modern Astronomy. Physical Science can supply corroborative, though still very uncertain, evidence, but only as regards heavenly bodies on the same plane of materiality as our objective Universe. Mars and Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, like every hitherto discovered planet (or those still to be discovered), are all, per se, the representatives on our plane of such chains. As distinctly stated in one of the numerous letters of Mr. Sinnett’s ‘Teacher’, ‘there are other and innumerable Manvantaric chains of globes which bear intelligent Beings both in and outside our solar system’. But neither Mars nor Mercury belong to our chain. They are, along with the other planets, septenary Units in the great host of ‘chains’ of our system, and all are as visible as their upper globes are invisible.” (SD 1, p.164)
Nevertheless, it makes a difference in our lives to consider that there are other planets in our solar system capable of bearing intelligent life. Where there is life and intelligence, there is consciousness. These are the representations to our mind of the all-pervasive universal One Life. We live and have our being in that ocean of life as do all the intelligent beings in the universe. The concerns of our personal lives are momentarily forgotten as we gaze into the vastness of the night sky full of stars. The awareness of separateness fades as our consciousness is united with awareness of the Divine in all.
 “Companions in the Struggle of Life”, by Steven H. Levy.
The above article was first published at the October 2013 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”.
On the role of the esoteric movement in the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.