Charles Leadbeater in his book "Occult Chemistry" (1908) wrote:
« Footnote:
These sub-planes are familiar to the Theosophist as gaseous, etheric,
superetheric, subatomic, atomic; or as Gas, Ether 4, Ether 3, Ether 2,
Ether 1. »
(p.8)
And in the 1919 edition of this book, he gave more details:
« The atoms of the Astral plane in combination give rise to the finest variety of physical matter, the ether of space, which is not homogeneous but really atomic in its character, and the minute atoms of which physical molecules are composed are atoms of ether, "etheric atoms," as we have now learned to call them.
The article detailing the results of the research carried on in the year 1895 (see the November issue for that year of the magazine then called Lucifer), began with some general remarks about the clairvoyant faculty, already discussed in the preceding chapter. The original record then goes on as follows:
"The physical world is regarded as being composed of between sixty and seventy chemical elements, aggregated into an infinite variety of combinations. These combinations fall under the three main heads of solids, liquids and gases, the recognised substates of physical matter, with the theoretical ether scarcely admitted as material."
Ether, to the scientist, is not a substate or even a state of matter, but is a something apart by itself. It would not be allowed that gold could be raised to the etheric condition as it might be to the liquid and gaseous; whereas the occultist knows that the gaseous is succeeded by the etheric, as the solid is succeeded by the liquid, and he knows also that the word "ether" covers four substates as distinct from each other as are the solids, liquids and gases, and that all chemical elements have their four etheric substates, the highest being common to all, and consisting of the ultimate physical atoms to which all elements are finally reducible. »
(Chapter 2, extracts)
OBSERVATIONS
In
summary, Leadbeater states that on the physical plane there are four
different types of ethers, which he called: ether 1, ether 2, ether 3,
and ether 4. And these four different etheric states constitute the
etheric plane.
But this statement is completely false!
1)
To begin with, the four different types of ethers that Leadbeater
claimed to have perceived through his clairvoyance do not exist.
First, because Leadbeater asserted that these ethers are in a formative phase of what he called "the primordial physical atom" or "anu," and even revealed that there are female anus and male anus:
The anu was imagined by physicist Edwin D. Babbitt who put this figure in his book "The Principles of Light and Colour" which was published in New York in 1878.
And he titled this image “The Ethereal Atomic Philosophy of Force” because Mr. Babbitt theorized that atoms were formed from the ether theorized by the scientists of his time, which
they considered to be an invisible fluid that filled all space and
constituted the medium for transmitting the various manifestations of
energy (heat, light, magnetism, etc.).
And the reason Mr. Babbitt imagined the atom as a vortex is precisely because several scientists of his time (such as Lord Kelvin in the 1860s) had suggested that the atom could be a vortex generated within the ether.
But
the negative result of the Michelson-Morley experiment in 1887 led
scientists to believe that the ether did not exist, and the theory of
relativity published in 1905 by Albert Einstein finally convinced the
scientific community to completely discard this theory of the ether.
And
this shows how little informed Charles Leadbeater was because by the
time he published his book in 1919, fourteen years had already passed
since scientists had completely rejected the existence of the ether and
the anus.
2) But Leadbeater
also asserted that when matter passes from one etheric state to
another, a change in atomic structure also occurs, and in the following
diagram Leadbeater showed the differences that, according to him, take
place in hydrogen (left column), in oxygen (middle column) and in nitrogen (right column):
E1 is the first etheric state
E2 is the second etheric state
E3 is the third etheric state
E4 is the fourth etheric state
Gas is the gaseous state
Liquid is the liquid state
Solid is the solid state
But
science soon discovered that this does not happen when changing from
one state of matter to another (for example from solid to liquid, or
from liquid to gas, etc.).
The atomic structure remains the same regardless of the state of matter, and therefore what Leadbeater proposed is contrary to the laws of physics.
But moreover the atomic structure that science has discovered is completely different from the atomic structure presented by Leadbeater.
3)
And to make matters worse, what Leadbeater taught is different from
what Blavatsky taught, since she, based on ancient Hindu tradition,
explained that there are seven main states of matter on the physical
plane, which are the following:
STATES OF THE MATTER | ELEMENT WITH WHICH IT IS ASSOCIATED | TATTVAS (IN SANSKRIT) |
still unknown in the west | primordial or supreme matter (aether) | adi |
still unknown in the west | "parentless" or self-existing matter | anupadaka or aupapaduka |
ethereal | ether | akasha or alaya |
incandescent | fire | taijasa or tejas |
gaseous | air | vayu |
liquid | water | apas |
solid | earth | prithivi |
And as you can see, there are notable differences with what Leadbeater taught because in the original theosophy and in the Hindu tradition, of the four higher states of physical matter, only one is ethereal .
But
it is not the ether theorized by scientists of the past, nor is it part
of the ethers imagined by Leadbeater, but rather it corresponds to what
Indian sages call the tattva [fundamental state] called akasha or alaya.
And
Blavatsky revealed that these three higher states of matter are
currently incipient, but that as the Earth continues to advance in its
cycle of existence, these three higher states will become increasingly
manifest.
« Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements — four entirely physical [earth, water, air, fire], and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air towards the end of our Fourth Round, to reign supreme over the others during the whole of the Fifth [Round]. The remaining two [self-existent matter and primordial matter] are as yet absolutely beyond the range of human perception. These latter will, however, appear as presentments during the 6th and 7th Races of this Round [Four], and will become known in the 6th and 7th Rounds respectively. "
(The Secret Doctrine I, p.12)
In
other words, those three higher states have nothing to do with the
creation of atoms, as Leadbeater claimed, but are more sublimated states
of physical matter.
Just
as incandescence is a more sublime state than the liquid state, and the
liquid state is a more sublime state than the solid state.
But
the atoms in the liquid state will not create the atoms in the solid
state, since they are the same atoms and only their concentration
changes due to the temperature change.
Low Temperature High Temperature
4) But the height of absurdity is that in order to incorporate his four fictitious etheric states, Leadbeater eliminated
the fourth state of matter, which is incandescence. This is nonsense
because the element fire is found in all esoteric traditions and also
in science. Yet Leadbeater eliminated fire on a mere whim.
CONCLUSION
From
everything I have just demonstrated, it can be concluded that the
ethers that Leadbeater claimed to have discovered through his
clairvoyance in reality do not exist, and consequently neither does the
etheric plane, and this is further proof of Leadbeater's enormous
charlatanism.
NOTES
1. In the book "Occult Chemistry" it is stated that Annie Besant also participated in the clairvoyant
investigations on ethers, but in reality the clairvoyance of Leadbeater
and Besant was null, but still Leadbeater managed to convince Besant
that he had awakened her clairvoyance, and what Mrs. Besant perceived
were only images produced by her imagination and influenced by
Leadbeater.
Gregory Tillett commented:
« In the summer of 1896, Mrs. Besant, Leadbeater, and Jinarajadasa spent
a holiday at Mr. and Mrs. Bright's summer home in Shepperton on the
Thames, where they continued their clairvoyant investigations. Jinarajadasa took copious notes but observed that Leadbeater did most of the clairvoyance, while Mrs. Besant merely added some extra detail. »
(The Elder Brother, p.65-66, extracts)
2. The book "Occult Chemistry" contains so many falsehoods that the Theosophical
Society of Adyar stopped publishing it in the middle of the last century
in order to try to hide the enormous charlatanism of its authors.
But
the Department of Chemistry at Yale University published an article
that demolishes them, asserting that absolutely everything Leadbeater
and Besant clairvoyantly saw about atoms is false, and that they also
intentionally lied even knowing they were telling falsehoods (see link).
3.
And despite the fact that the etheric plane does not exist, several
pseudo-instructors of esotericism have taken it up, teach it to their
followers, and have even added more lies to it.
And
some of them have been: Max Heindel, Rudolf Steiner, Alice Bailey,
Samael Aun Weor, Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, Vicente Beltrán Anglada and
Jorge Angel Livraga.
4.
The true Theosophical instructors (Kuthumi, Blavatsky, William Judge)
explained that there are seven planes of existence at the planetary
level, and one of those planes is the bearer of the vital energy known
in the East as prana.
But
as you can see for yourselves, the pranic plane is located "above" the
physical plane, not within it as Leadbeater claimed. This individual, in
his arrogance, decided to modify the original teaching by eliminating
the pranic plane and incorporating its characteristics into his false
etheric plane.
5.
But Leadbeater also made tremendous mistakes in this, such as stating
that the etheric plane is only composed of four different types of
ethers, but it turns out that the universe has a septenary structure,
and that is why there are seven planes of existence, and each plane is
composed of seven states of the substance that makes it up.
That
is, just as physical matter has seven main states (and under the Law of
Correspondence which says that "as above, so below"), in the same way
the substance that makes up the pranic plane also has seven main states
and not four as Leadbeater stated.
