seven categories

“The division of man into SEVEN CATEGORIES, or seven numbers, explains thousands of things which otherwise cannot be understood. This division gives the first conception of relativity as applied to man. Things may be one thing or another thing according to the kind of man from whose point of view, or in relation to whom, they are taken. Fragments: Four

“In accordance with this, all the inner and all the outer manifestations of man, all that belongs to man, and all that is created by him, is also divided into SEVEN CATEGORIES. Fragments: Four

“The same order of division into SEVEN CATEGORIES must be applied to everything relating to man. There is art number one, that is the art of man number one, imitative, copying art, or crudely primitive and sensuous art such as the dances and music of savage peoples. There is art number two, sentimental art; art number three, intellectual, invented art; and there must be art number four, number five, and so on. Fragments: Four

Science, philosophy, and all manifestations of man’s life and activity can be divided in exactly the same way into SEVEN CATEGORIES. But the ordinary language in which people speak is very far from any such divisions, and this is why it is so difficult for people to understand one another. Fragments: Four

“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