“All the Christian Kabalists understood well the Eastern root idea: The active Power, the ‘Perpetual motion of the great Breath’ only awakens Cosmos at the dawn of every new period, setting it into motion by means of the two contrary forces, and thus causing it to become objective on the plane of illusion. In other words, that dual motion transfers Cosmos from the Eternal Idea into that of finite Manifestation, or from the Noumenal to the Phenomenal plane. Everything that is, was and will be, eternally IS, even the countless forms, which are finite and perishable only in their objective, not in their Ideal form. They existed as Ideas, in the Eternity, and when they pass away, will exist as reflections. Neither the form of Man, nor that of any animal, plant, or stone has ever been created only on this plane of ours. It expanded from the sublimated and supersensual essence into its grossest appearance. Therefore, our human form has existed in the Eternity as astral or ethereal prototypes; according to which models, the Spiritual Beings (or gods) whose duty it was to bring them into objective being and terrestrial life, evolved the protoplasmic forms of the finite Egos from their own essence.” ~H. P. Blavatsky
Perpetual Motion
The only motion that can truly be considered perpetual is the motion that happens on the spiritual level since only the spiritual is eternal. No matter how hard you try to make a physical object have perpetual movement, you can never be totally successful because the object itself will eventually decay or somehow be destroyed. So what Blavatsky is calling the “perpetual motion of the Great Breath” refers to the breath of God, which isn’t breath in the physical sense, but a spiritual kind of breath, namely the constant flow of Divine Light from God that gives life to everything spiritual.
Dawn of a New Period
Blavatsky says, quoting, I think from some ancient source, that this Perpetual breath only awakens the Cosmos at the dawn of a new Period. That is a vague way to put it since a period can be anything from a second to a billion years. Most spiritual writers would say “Ages” rather than “Periods” so people understand that we are dealing with a long period of time. In Cosolargy, we call these Ages “Suns”.
So what Blavatsky is saying is that the spiritual energy from the Breath of God changes the Cosmos at the beginning of each age. The breath of God, or Divine Light, is there always, but how much of it reaches us through the sun varies with each age. We are now fortunate enough to have the promised Sun of Righteousness shining down upon us as we are at the beginning of a new age.
Contrary Forces on the Plane of Illusion
The Plane of Illusion is the physical world where things are never quite what they appear to be. It is the level of duality, and therefore contrary (or opposite) forces such as hot and cold, male and female, light and dark, etc.
Everything Eternally Is
This is true only on a spiritual level. We all know that physical things change, decay, and die or rot away. I don’t know what point Blavatsky is trying to make by saying that everything “eternally is,” but to those who care only about the physical (or the phenomenal as Blavatsky calls it), nothing is eternal. The important thing to understand is that we humans have the unique ability to awaken our spiritual faculties while still living in physical form and uniting the physical, mental, and spiritual Self into one whole. Then, and only then, do we become truly immortal.
Existed as Ideas
It is also true that everything that God created existed first as ideas in God’s thought. Some say that God’s thought is all that really does exist. In any case, it is no different for other beings given the creative ability of God. The Demiurge could not have created the realm of matter without first forming the ideas mentally. Likewise, humans don’t create without first forming ideas in the mind. Most of us understand that, but what we don’t realize is that we create far more of the world around us than we usually think (though probably less than those who are fans of manifesting). Our thoughts, combined with the thoughts of all the other people on earth, are largely responsible for the environment we live in here. If we are sending out mostly thoughts of anger, greed, jealousy, etc. we will have a world that reflects that. If we learn to send out thoughts of peace, joy, harmony, etc., then we will get a world that reflects that. Let’s hope that happens soon.
