“But first of all another thing must be understood, namely, that knowledge cannot belong to all, cannot even belong to many. Such is the law. You do not understand this because you do not understand that knowledge, like everything else in the world, is material. It is material, and this means that it possesses all the characteristics of MATERIALITY. One of the first characteristics of MATERIALITY is that matter is always limited, that is to say, the quantity of matter in a given place and under given conditions is limited. Even the sand of the desert and the water of the sea is a definite and unchangeable quantity. So that, if knowledge is material, then it means that there is a definite quantity of it in a given place at a given time. It may be said that, in the course of a certain period of time, say a century, humanity has a definite amount of knowledge at its disposal. But we know, even from an ordinary observation of life, that the matter of knowledge possesses entirely different qualities according to whether it is taken in small or large quantities. Taken in a large quantity in a given place, that is by one man, let us say, or by a small group of men, it produces very good results; taken in a small quantity (that is, by every one of a large number of people), it gives no results at all; or it may give even negative results, contrary to those expected. Thus if a certain definite quantity of knowledge is distributed among millions of people, each individual will receive very little, and this small amount of knowledge will change nothing either in his life or in his understanding of things. And however large the number of people who receive this small amount of knowledge, it will change nothing in their lives, except, perhaps, to make them still more difficult. Fragments: Two
“The next idea which it is necessary to master is the MATERIALITY of the universe which is taken in the form of the ray of creation. Everything in this universe can be weighed and measured. The Absolute is as material, as weighable and measurable, as the moon, or as man. If the Absolute is Cod it means that God can be weighed and measured, resolved into component elements, ‘calculated,’ and expressed in the form of a definite formula. Fragments: Five
“But the concept ‘MATERIALITY’ is as relative as everything else. It we recall how the concept ‘man’ and all that refers to him — good, evil, truth, falsehood, and so on — is divided into different categories (‘man number one,’ ‘man number two,’ and so on, it will be easy for us to understand that the concept ‘world,’ and everything that refers to the world, is also divided into different categories. The ray of creation establishes seven planes in the world, seven worlds one within another. Everything that refers to the world is also divided into seven categories, one category within another. The MATERIALITY of the Absolute is a MATERIALITY of an order different from that of ‘all worlds.’ The MATERIALITY of ‘all worlds’ is of an order different from the MATERIALITY of ‘all suns.’ The MATERIALITY of ‘all suns’ is of an order different from the MATERIALITY of our sun. The MATERIALITY of our sun is of an order different from the MATERIALITY of ‘all planets.’ The MATERIALITY of ‘all planets’ is of an order different from the MATERIALITY of the earth, and the MATERIALITY of the earth is of an order different from the MATERIALITY of the moon. This idea is at first difficult to grasp. People are accustomed to think that matter is everywhere the same. The whole of physics, of astrophysics, of chemistry, such methods as spectroanalysis, and so on, are based upon this assumption. And it is true that matter is the same, but MATERIALITY is different. And different degrees of MATERIALITY depend directly upon the qualities and properties of the energy manifested at a given point. Fragments: Five
“The seven worlds of the ray of creation represent seven orders of MATERIALITY. The MATERIALITY of the moon is different from the MATERIALITY of the earth; the MATERIALITY of the earth is different from the MATERIALITY of the planetary world; the MATERIALITY of the planetary world is different from the MATERIALITY of the sun, and so on. Fragments: Five
“Thus instead of one concept of matter we have seven kinds of matter, but our ordinary conception of MATERIALITY only with difficulty embraces the MATERIALITY of worlds 96 and 48. The matter of world 24 is much too rarefied to be regarded as matter from the scientific point of view of our physics and chemistry; such matter is practically hypothetical. The still finer matter of world 12 has, for ordinary investigation, no characteristics of MATERIALITY at all. All these matters belonging to the various orders of the universe are not separated into layers but are intermixed, or, rather, they interpenetrate one another. We can get an idea of similar interpenetration of matters of different densities from the penetration of one matter by another matter of different densities known to us. A piece of wood may be saturated with water, water may in its turn be filled with gas. Exactly the same relation between different kinds of matter may be observed in the whole of the universe: the finer matters permeate the coarser ones. Fragments: Five
“Matter that possesses characteristics of MATERIALITY comprehensible to us is divided for us into several states according to its density: solid, liquid, gaseous; further gradations of matter are: radiant energy, that is, electricity, light, magnetism; and so on. But on every plane, that is to say, in every order of MATERIALITY, similar relations and divisions of the various states of a given matter may be found; but, as has been already said, matter of a higher plane is not material at all for the lower planes. Fragments: Five
“What is necessary to understand and what the ‘table of hydrogens’ helps us to grasp, is the idea of the complete MATERIALITY of all the psychic, intellectual, emotional, volitional, and other inner processes, including the most exalted poetic inspirations, religious ecstasies, and mystical revelations. Fragments: Nine
“The MATERIALITY of processes means their dependence upon the quality of the material or substance used on them. One process demands the expenditure, that is, as it were, the burning, of hydrogen 48; another process cannot be obtained with the help of hydrogen 48; it requires a finer, a more combustible substance — hydrogen 24. For a third process hydrogen 24 is too weak; it requires hydrogen 12. Fragments: Nine