December 15, 1962
(Mother shows Satprem some pamphlets printed during Théon’s time, “Fundamental Axioms of Cosmic Philosophy,” which have just been found among some old papers.)
This is pretty funny! (Laughing, Mother reads.)
“In his physical state, man is the supreme evolutor.
“There is but one law, the law of Charity, and it is one with Justice.
“There is but one disequilibrium: the violation of this law.
“The cause of disequilibrium is excess.
“Perpetual evolution towards perfection….
“Mortality is the result….
“Mortality”! What a word!
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Infant mortality!
“Mortality is the effect whose cause is disequilibrium. It is accidental and temporary….”
According to Théon, you know, the world has been created and destroyed – creation and pralaya – six times. And each time, a particular attribute was manifested, but since that attribute couldn’t reach fulfillment, the world was “swallowed up again.” Now it’s the seventh time, and the attribute is Equilibrium. And when Equilibrium is established, there will be uninterrupted progress – with no disequilibrium, naturally: that is, a deathless state, with no disintegration.
(Satprem continues the reading:)
“There is but one royalty, one aristocracy: the royalty and aristocracy of intelligence.
“There are four classifications of terrestrial formations: mineral, vegetal, animal, and psycho-intellectual or human-divine. Among the four, in order, there are no divisions.
“Divine unity, embodied and manifested by collective humanity….”
It was in both French and English. He called it “Fundamental Axioms of Cosmic Philosophy.” It was the work of a certain French metaphysician who was well known around the turn of the century – his name began with a B. He met Théon in Egypt when Théon was with Blavatski; they started a magazine with an ancient Egyptian name (I can’t recall what it was), and then he told Théon (Théon must have already known French) to publish a Cosmic Review and the “Cosmic Books.” And this B. is the one who formulated all this gobbledygook.
There used to be the name of the printer and the year it was printed, but it’s not there any more….
Yes, it is: “The Little Tlemcenian’s Press.”
It comes from Tlemcen?
Yes.
This B. seems to have had the idea that the perfect man, the
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immortal man, would be spherical! And then Théon always used to say (he told me the whole story himself): “I told him it wasn’t possible, it would be too impractical – people couldn’t kiss! ” His idea of a joke. Théon also told me that when B. came to Tlemcen (they first met in Egypt, then again in Tlemcen), he saw the house Théon was building and asked, “Why is your house painted red? Does it have some mystical significance?” And Théon replied, “No, it’s because red goes well with green!” So you get the picture. But I don’t remember his name any more; in his time he was very well known, he was a contemporary of the fellow who wrote The Great Initiates.
Schuré?
Yes, Edouard Schuré. He was a contemporary of Edouard Schuré, a bit older (I met Schuré, by the way – a rather hollow individual). His name began with a B and he’s the one who formulated these “Axioms.”
You once mentioned someone called Barley….
Ah, that’s it! Barley. Yes, it must be Barley.
Madame Théon, who was English, was the one who wrote, but she used to write stories, while this … this looks like Barley’s work to me, because I read something at the end, on the last page, which is rather…. It’s pathetic, actually, it’s all really pathetic.
(Mother leafs through the pages, laughing as she reads:)
“The only legitimate cult is the cult of man….”
Yes, that’s the superman, whom he calls “psycho-intellectual.” The superman – the only legitimate cult….
It all seems a bit flimsy….
Very. I don’t think it’s worth wasting your time on. But it was interesting to find these first pages because … look at the symbol (Mother shows Satprem the first page).
Yes, I saw it!
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The symbol is interesting.
It looks like Sri Aurobindo’s.
I am the one who designed Sri Aurobindo’s, and I adapted it from this one.
Look, they made the central square very elongated. The one done here is more correct: Pavitra made all the sides equal. But the one for the Cosmic Review was elongated, with the lotus in the center.
It’s the same [as the one for the Cosmic Review], only elongated so that the two triangles meet and form a square.
I am keeping this to show Pavitra, because that’s what I had first tried to make. But obviously the one we have now is correct.
It was Théon who told me it was Solomon’s seal.
Now then, did you bring your book?
(Unenthusiastically.) Yes….
(Mother starts leafing through the “Axioms” again)
They make all kinds of recommendations here: for instance, when you go out of your body you should wear a loose-fitting robe, a robe kept specially for that.
Why is that? What’s the idea?
A question of aura. The idea is that the forces accumulate. And she even used to say it was preferable not to wash the robe!
“Ideas.”
There’s something true behind.
She also used to say that to stay in your body you should cover your feet with a piece of blue cloth (when you sleep, of course, your feet are bare); put a piece of blue cloth over your feet and it keeps you in your body.
???
It’s the result of Madame Théon’s occult experiences, from which they made a general rule.
But the reason for a loose-fitting robe is obvious: it’s important not to get cold during such experiences, and there shouldn’t be
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anything hampering you. And also, it’s important that nothing interfere with your circulation, which diminishes greatly and must be protected.
These things are practical, but….
On the whole it’s pathetic.
All those things put so neatly into paragraphs always look a bit flimsy and dogmatic.
Yes, they’re stupid. They are affirmations of contradictions – I mean affirmations aimed at contradicting certain things. It’s not meant at all to affirm something that has been SEEN, seen and transmitted, but to contradict all the stories of original sin and all the religions, which, according to Théon, always address themselves to more or less hostile beings.
Théon also used to say that man was born perfect, but had taken a tumble.
The story of the earthly paradise?
No, Théon always said that the “Serpent” had nothing to do with Satan, it was the symbol of evolution (Théon was entirely pro-evolution), the spiral path of evolution, and that the earthly paradise, on the contrary, was under the domination of Jehovah, the great Asura who claimed to be unique, who wanted to be the only God. For Théon, there is no such thing as a one and only God: there is the Unthinkable. It’s not a “God.”
But to me this seems to come from his Jewish background. Because Théon was Jewish, even though he never mentioned the fact (the Tlemcen officials made it known: when he arrived he had to tell them who he was). He never spoke of it and he had changed his name. They said he was of Jewish origin, but they could never say whether he was Polish or Russian. At least the person who told me never knew. But for the Jews it’s the “Unthinkable,” whose name must not be uttered (it is uttered only once a year, on the “Day of Atonement”; I think that’s what it’s called). It’s the word Yahveh, and it must not be uttered. But the prayers speak of the “Elohim,” and the Hebrew word “Elohim” is plural, meaning “the invisible lords.” So there was no one and only God for Théon, only the unthinkable Formless; and all the invisible beings who claimed to be one and only gods were Asuras.
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He used to call Christ “That young man”! (Laughter) It was very funny.
Anyway, that’s the story. I found this again, and it amused me.
I’m going to read it.
But it’s pretty poor stuff.
It’s succinct.
(Laughter) It’s very meager.
It was obviously a tool for demolishing old notions. It’s the idea that man is divine, that he can become divine again through evolution: he was originally immortal and is to be immortal again.
One wonders how people in Europe can break through that Christian carapace; it seems extremely solid – it’s terrible, really!
Oh, indeed it is.
Even in America, mon petit, they’re in its grip. They’re always falling back into their Christianity.
It’s going to be very hard.
I don’t know why, but every time I come into contact with a Christian thought, it fills me with anger.
Oh, I understand! Because it’s true, you know, that an Asura is behind it all – not Christ! Sri Aurobindo considered Christ an Avatar (a minor form of Avatar). One emanation of the Divine’s aspect of Love, he always said. But what people have made of him! … Besides, the religion was founded two hundred years after his death. And it’s nothing but a political construction, a tool for domination, built with the Lord of Falsehood in the background, who, in his usual fashion, took something true and twisted it.
It’s a real hodgepodge, that religion – the number of sects! The only common ground is the divinity of Christ, and it became asuric when he was made out to be unique: there has been but ONE incarnation, Christ. That’s just where it all went wrong.
We’ll see.
It is resisting, resisting everywhere. It’s even more resistant than materialism.
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Of course! Nothing is more terrible than idealists, they’re the worst. They’re worse than the bad people.
Oh, if you mean the puritans, the Protestants … dreadful! They’re the worst. Catholicism still retains something of the occult sense, and after all, they have a certain adoration for the Virgin, which keeps them in contact with something that’s not asuric.
The last Pope, who’s dead now [Pius XII], had broadened both his own mind and Church doctrine a lot: he was a devotee of the Virgin.
But the Protestants turned back to the Father, and so their worship became exactly the worship of a one and only, personal God, an asuric God. And they have fabricated and distorted everything: like asceticism, for instance, and all that sort of thing – everything they touched was twisted and spoiled.
Oh, read me your book!
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