The Arcane Teaching · 9 of 21

Lesson IX. Survival of the Fittest

Of all the various points of the Arcane Teaching, that of the law of Spiritual Survival of the Fittest is one of the most startling, when contrasted with the ordinary teachings on the subject. Many thinkers who freely admit the existence in Nature of the law of Physical Survival of the Fittest, seem to find an idea of injustice in the correlated doctrine of the Spiritual Survival of the Fittest, although the two are but correspondences on two several planes, following the Law of Analogy. When the Teaching is examined in detail, it will be seen that not only does it conform to other manifestations of Nature, but also is in strict accordance with the fullest equity and justice. Particularly is the absolute equity and justice of the law seen, when it is perceived that the failure to survive of the Personality of those lacking Egohood is not the result of arbitrary fiat or dicta, but is the result solely of the desire and will of the entity or “personality” itself. The entity perishes and dissolves, not in spite of its desires and will, but because of them.

The lowest forms of life perish almost immediately after the moment of physical death. It is true that even the very lowest creatures have an Astral Body which survives the death of the Physical Body, but as all the desires of such creatures are bound up in their physical lives they have nothing to live for after the physical body is destroyed. Such “life” persists for a very short time in its Astral covering, for Desire fading away, the Astral Body dissolves into its original elements, and the entity perishes. As the scale of Life is ascended, there is a longer survival of the Astral Body of the creature, for its desires die more slowly, being more complex and tenacious. The Astral forms of the higher animals often persist for quite a time after their physical bodies have perished, but after a time their desires burn out and the Astral form dissolves and the entity perishes. In the case of domestic animals who have become strongly attached to their human friends, and who have absorbed “something” from the latters’ love for and interest in them, the Astral form often persists for years finding great pleasure in being in the proximity of the human friends, although unseen. In this case the desire for survival is strong, and almost reaches the phase of Will.

When the scale of Man was reached by Evolution, there was but little change in the manifestation of Spiritual Survival of the Fittest, for primitive Man was but a little more than an intelligent beast. When his Astral form passed out of the physical body, it was like that of the beast—it found but little pleasure or satisfaction in life apart from the physical, for its desires were altogether along physical lines. It soon found that it “had nothing to live for,” and became filled with weariness, ennui, and dissatisfaction, and soon found comfort in the Astral sleep which precedes Astral death. After a few years, the entity perished—because it had no desire to live without a physical body. And, as surprising as the fact may be to many, it is true that the majority of persons to‑day have advanced but comparatively little beyond the spiritual plane of the savage. Such people are so tied to physical manifestation and sensual gratification, that life outside of the physical body soon wearies them and fills them with dissatisfaction. They set into motion the “reversal of desire”—the negative pole of the “Will‑to‑Live,” and accordingly there begins a slow process of Astral weakening and loss of vitality, which results in dissolution and the final death of the entity. A writer reports such an entity as saying (in a communication from the Astral Plane): “The disembodied learn that the Hades of immortality is the lack of physical body.” Lacking desire to continue disembodied life, and lacking the Will of Egohood to demand Rebirth—the entity passes away gradually. Just as people in the physical body die for lack of interest, and because they have nothing left to live for—so do disembodied entities on the Astral plane likewise die because they have nothing to live for. Having failed to develop Egohood during physical life, they have nothing left to survive after the dying away of the Body of Desire. It is true that in rare cases, extreme love for, and by, some person possessing Egohood may develop the seeds of Egohood in a disembodied entity, on the Astral Plane and cause it to seek Rebirth. And likewise some entities develop Egohood in the Astral World, through instruction from others more advanced than themselves.

There is a great difference between the Will‑to‑Live of the strong‑willed Ego, and the Desire to live again in the same Personality which is the only desire possible to these people who have not developed Egohood or Individuality. When one realizes the “I Am,” over and above Personality, then the things of Personality are left behind, and the desire and will is simply to be. The entity in the bonds of Personality, however, simply desires to be and remain what he was—his Personality of “John Doe, grocer, aged 48,” being his idea of his Self. This Personality having perished, such an entity cannot find anything in itself to arouse the desire or will to persist as an “I” independent of the old Personality. There is no “I” in such a person—it is all “Me,” and the “Me” is the old Personality. Try to grasp this distinction, before proceeding further—it gives the key to the situation.

It must not be understood that there is no “future life” awaiting these Egoless people, after they have passed out of the physical body. On the contrary they have a more or less extended term of life on the Astral Plane, which yields them more or less satisfaction, but which must die out in time because all the old desires have been lived‑out and outlived on the psychical plane (see future lessons on the Astral Plane) and there is nothing left to live for. Rebirth is not known to them—they cannot conceive of it for they would think that they would in that case “be some other person,” and their love of their own Personality shivers and shrinks at the thought of losing their beloved “self” (?), and so they repel all idea or desires in that direction. As we have said, they are all “Me,” with no “I.” The “Me” always perishes, sooner or later, the “I” alone being the Real Self. Where the “I” has not been evolved or “born,” it cannot exist to persist after the dissolution of the “Me,” of course.

There is seen to be no injustice or inequity in this failure to grant Rebirth to these Egoless entities. It is all a matter of their own nature and desires resulting from the same. They have no “I” which desires and wills to be reborn—consequently that which is not cannot suffer or be injured or deprived of anything. It is like accusing one of depriving an unconceived child of life—a meaningless statement. The “Me” of the Egoless entities passes many years—often many hundred years—on the Astral Plane, and exhausts every possibility of its nature, good and bad (see future lessons on the Astral Plane). It lives out to the utmost its possibilities—and then having out‑lived them, it has no desire for life, or reason for continued life— there is nothing to live. Therefore the Spiritual Survival of the Fittest is in perfect accord with exact equity and justice. Each gets that which his nature demands and desires. One cannot be robbed of that which is not his, and which he has not and never will have.

All through Nature you may see correspondences on the physical plane of the truth that “many are called, but few are chosen.” Countless life‑forms are created, but few survive. The fish lays millions of eggs, but only a few fish reach maturity. Countless seeds are cast forth by the plant, but only one or two take root. This is a law of Nature, and in its operation the inequity is only apparent. The Law of Balance is preserved. One cannot be robbed of what he has not. If one has not desires, he cannot be hurt by not having the result of desires. Place the savage in a palace, and he dies broken‑hearted— restore him to his jungle and he is happy. Place the hungry wild‑beast in a cage and feed him well, and you break his heart. Each craves his own. There is Compensation and Balance manifested on all planes of life.

And now for a consideration of those who have attained Egohood. Is their Destiny and Progress assured? you ask. Not at all! They have simply begun to climb the ladder of Spiritual Evolution. They will mount as far as their desire and will—not a step further. They may tire of the climbing and begin a retreat. The law of Spiritual Survival of the Fittest has many phases; many planes; many stages—it is operative from first to last during the life of the Ego.

Let us suppose the case of an Ego which has not as yet reached the plane of conscious Rebirth. The Ego dwells for many years on the Astral Plane (see future lessons) and lives out its personal desires, and profits by its experience in so doing, for the “I” is there to learn and remember—for it has the faculty of Egohood, that of “standing aside and looking on at one’s self.” Gradually the personal desires and ideas are outlived, and the essence of the experience is retained by the Ego, the latter then feeling a sense of “age” and a need for rest. This is followed by the Astral Sleep, which sooner or later comes to all entities on the Astral Plane, but from which the Egoless fail to emerge, and from which they are resolved into Nothingness. But the Ego, having an “I” above Personality, has something to survive, and accordingly it is drawn into the channels of Rebirth, according to the currents of attraction, and again finds a physical body, this time suited as nearly as possible to the requirements of its “character.” Then begins its new life on the physical, which may be long or short. Sometimes the new body is not found fully adapted to the growing requirements of the Ego—sometimes sickness or accidents cut short the new life—and sometimes the needed experience is gained quickly—and the Ego again passes to the Astral Plane, there to enjoy a period of rest and spiritual growth and assimilation, which will be manifested in a new birth later on.

But if the new life persists beyond childhood, the Ego must progress in order to attain further stages of Spiritual Evolution. If it simply lives its old life over again, without reaching forward to greater attainment and knowledge, then it is dangerously near falling into the attraction of the “descending path” which will take it down the ladder, step by step; life after life; and which, unless the Ego learns the lesson and again steps forward, will eventually cause it to lose its Egohood and become Egoless, which means eventually dissolution. But these downward steps are not in the nature of punishment—they are simply stages of the law of Sequence or Cause and Effect, proceeding along the lines of Desire and Will. These descending Egos follow their desires, just as much as do the ascending ones. It is not Reward or Punishment, in either case—it is simply Cause and Effect, and the Path of Desire. Desire is the great motive force. There are cases known of Egos descending the scale to such an extent, drawn by their material, physical and animal desires, that they have even descended to the scale of animals and eventually perished as entities, unless rescued by the love and affection of human friends who aroused in them the last flickering spark of Spirit, and thus set them again upon the upward path. These cases, however, are very rare.

It must not be supposed, however, that all persisting Egos are “good.” On the contrary, there are many persisting Egos who are giants of “evil,” possessed of the sense of the “I,” but filled with personal desires of material aggrandizement and selfish attainment which makes them stand out above the crowd. But such, sooner or later, are taught their lesson and either change their natures or else sink to annihilation, for all real progress must lead toward the life of the One, not in the direction of selfish personal attainment and Separateness. The error of Separateness is often brought to the minds and understanding of these Egos, by their desires finally leading them to a place where they are actually separated from their kind, and thus they experience that hunger for human companionship, sympathy and love which results in a change in their entire nature. One has but to look at the inner lives of some of the selfish “great men” of our own and past ages, in order to see examples of this stage of experience.

And, so the evolving Ego rises in the scale—if he be Fit—and reaches higher and higher planes of life. He passes on to other worlds and universes, when he is fitted for them. He may fall back, again and again, but there is always a chance for him to regain his lost steps. Many in this Earth‑world of ours have fallen back from higher planes, and suffer soul‑hunger for their lost states—these will regain their lost estates, if they will but look upward and onward and live the Life. There are glories ahead of the persistent Egos which cannot be described in human words. We do not become “God” as the Pantheists hold—but we become as gods. There are infinite possibilities ahead for us—there is no limit to our greatness and attainment, if we are true to the Inner Light and our Real Self. Finally we reach the stages of the highest Cosmic Consciousness, in which the Cosmic Will experiences the consciousness of Itself as Itself—then do we know that We are It, and It is Us. The Cosmos becomes conscious only through the consciousness of its Centres of Consciousness—and we are those Centres. This is what Spiritual Evolution means—this is what it is for. This is why the law of the Spiritual Survival of the Fittest is operative—the Cosmos is endeavoring to develop itself to its utmost degree and stage of Consciousness. Just as do we endeavor to retain in our consciousness our best and highest thoughts, ideas, and knowledge, so does the Cosmos endeavor to remember and preserve its noblest, highest, and fullest creations. The Success of the Cosmos depends upon this—its Progress is dependent upon it—its Conscious Life renders it necessary. This is the End, Aim, and Goal of the Cosmic Evolution. And it is a worthy end and reason for all that is. The more that one enters into the spirit of the understanding of the Universal Life, the more does he identify himself with that One Life, and the dimmer and smaller does mere Personality seem. And in the end, he finds himself willing and desirous of living his life, in, through and by that One Life of the Real Self—the Cosmic Self—the “I” of the All.

To those who think sadly of the personalities which disappear during the course of Spiritual Evolution, we would say that careful thought will show that even they have lost nothing. Not only is their dissolution caused by their own desires and lack of will; but moreover, nothing is really lost. Personality is nothing but the “creative fiction” at the best—all that was real in those entities who dropped by the wayside is preserved. The One Life is all that was real in them—and that One Life persisted and survived. It was but a changing of form in the One Life. It was not the destruction of a real thing. It was but the discarding of a poorly fitting suit of clothes, worn by the One Life and Real Self. No one is injured—nothing is lost. The All remains the All. Personality is but the mask worn by the One. The One discards its mask, but remains Itself. Justice and Equity are not violated even in the faintest degree. The Wise see this and smile—the Unwise see it not and weep. The reflection of the sun in the falling raindrop disappears when the drop falls into the stream—but the stream remains, and the Sun still shines and is reflected in its running waters. All that Is, remains—though the shapes, and forms, and illusory appearances vanish.

The wise and thoughtful of all ages, and races, have recognized the Illusion of Personality and Separateness. Men have endeavored to escape it in many ways. The Buddhists and the German Pessimists have deemed Personal Life evil, and have devised plans to escape from the same. The Buddhists would escape by beating a Retreat and endeavoring to escape Rebirth by attaining Nothingness or Para‑Nirvana—a Return to the Nothingness from which all came. The German Pessimists advocate a killing out of the Will‑to‑Live—a Cosmic suicide, so to speak. But the Arcane Teachers scorn the Retreat— they bid their students to look ahead—they sound the bugle call of “Forward‑Advance‑Charge!” They press forward to the Cosmic Adventure. They urge all to go on, and on, and on—until the mists of Personality disappear before the sun of the One, and the individuals find themselves at One with the All. Surely this is a more glorious way to reach the goal! It is true that in the end, the One falls again into the Sleep of Nothingness, only to reawaken after the æons have passed—but what of that? Is it not better to advance, than to Retreat? Is it not better to be Brave than a Coward? Not to speak of the infinite glories ahead of the advancing soul, is it not “worth while” to attain Conscious Oneship with the All, rather than to deliberately choose the path of Retreat into Unconsciousness? But to him who falls by the wayside—as well as to him who persists and survives—there is meted out an equitable reward. There is “no bribe of heaven or threat of hell” to those who Know. It is all Cause and Effect—each gets that for which he pays—each pays his price. And, finally to all comes that Peace which passeth all Understanding. There are no Lost Souls. There are None outside of the All. There is no Outside. All are included Within the One. Yea, even the last, least, and most unworthy. For there is but One! Part IV. Fate or Freedom? Lesson X. Fate and Destiny. Lesson XI. Law, Order, and Sequence. Lesson XII. Dominant Desire and Sovereign Will.