1 WE despair of ever knowing the origin of the universe, its aim, its laws, or its intentions; and we end by doubting whether there be any. It were wiser very humbly¹ to confess that we are not able to conceive them. It is probable that, if the universe to-morrow were to yield us the key of its riddle², we should be as incapable³ of understanding how to use it as is a dog to whom we show the key of a clock. In revealing its great secret to us, it would teach us hardly anything; or at least the revelation would have but an insignificant⁴ influence upon our life, our happiness, our ethics⁵, our efforts, and our hopes. It would soar at such heights that no one would perceive it; at most it would disencumber the sky of our[230] religious illusions, leaving only the infinite void of the ether in their place.
 
2
For that matter, there is no saying but that we once possessed⁶ this revelation. It is highly possible that the religions of nations which have disappeared, such as the Lemurians, the Atlanteans and many others, were aware of it and that we have discovered its remains⁷ in the esoteric traditions that have come down to us. It must not indeed be forgotten that there exists, side by side with the outward, scientific history, a secret history of mankind which derives⁸ its substance of legends, myths, hieroglyphics⁹, strange monuments and mysterious writings from the hidden meaning of the primitive¹⁰ books. One thing is certain, that, though the imagination of those who interpret this occult history is often venturesome, all that they declare is not to be despised and deserves to be examined more seriously one day than has hitherto been done.
 
[231]The essence of this esoteric revelation is very well summed up by M. Marc Saunier, a disciple¹¹ of Fabre d’Olivet and Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, in his book, La Légende des symboles.
 
“The Initiates¹²,” he says, “have always regarded each continent as a being subject to the same laws as man. For them, the minerals constitute its skeleton, the flora¹⁴ its flesh, the fauna¹⁵ its nerve-cells and the human races the grey matter of its brain. This continent itself is but an organ of the earth, wherein each man is treated as a thinking cell and whereof the thought is represented by the sum of human thoughts. The earth itself is but an organ of the solar system, which in turn is considered as an individual; and our solar system thus becomes merely an organ of another being of the infinite, whose heart would appear in the star Alpha in Aries. And lastly, by a final synthesis, we come to the Cosmos¹⁷, which expresses the general sum of all things, in a being whose body is the[232] world and whose thought is the universal intelligence, exalted¹⁸ by the religions to the rank of a deity¹⁹.”
 
The basis of their doctrine²⁰ is plainly evolutionistic. Each continent has merely transformed, in its own time and according to its own ideal, the seeds which came from the Hyperborean tracts²¹; and man is but the result of an animal evolution. For the rest, they borrow it in part from the Hindus, thus anticipating by many thousands of years the latest hypotheses of our modern science.
 
3
But, without loitering in these shifting sands, let us go direct to clear and reliable sources. We possess, in the sacred and secret books of India, of which we know only an infinitesimal part, a cosmogony which no European conception has ever surpassed. It would not be correct to say that it attained²², at the first endeavour, the ultimate limits beyond which the mind of[233] man could not venture without dissolving in the infinite, for it was the work of centuries of which we do not know the tale; but it indisputably preceded all the others, its birth was earlier than anything that we know and, at the beginning of all things, it exceeded in grandeur²⁴ all that we have learnt and all that we can imagine.
 
It was the first, for instance, long before our historic periods, to give us a dizzy yet concrete idea of the infinity²⁵ of time. The Book of Manu teaches us that twelve thousand years of mortals are but a day and a night to the gods; their year, therefore, consisting of three hundred and sixty days, numbers 4,320,000 years. A thousand years of the gods make but one of Brahma’s days, that is to say, 4,320,000,000 human years, representing the total life of our globe; and Brahma’s night is of equal duration. Three hundred and sixty of these days and nights make one of this god’s years; and a hundred of these years constitute one of his lives, that is to say, the duration of the universe, which is represented[234] by the formidable figure of 311,090,000,000,000 years. After this he begins a new life. At present we have not yet attained the noon of Brahma’s actual day nor half the life-time of our terrestrial globe.
 
To complete this outline of the stupendous chronology of the Vedas, I continue to profit by some notes received from my war-time godson, who has a thorough knowledge of this unduly²⁶ neglected science. For the rest, it will be seen that chronology and cosmogony are here in intimate connection:
 
“The day of Brahma (4,320,000,000 years) is divided into fourteen lives of Manu, consisting alternately of seven Manvantaras and seven Pralayas. The word Manvantara signifies the interval²⁷ between two Manus: one of these appears in the dawn and the other in the twilight²⁸ of this period of terrestrial activity. The morning Manu gives the Manvantara its name and the evening Manu presides over[235] the Pralaya, that is to say, the period of dissolution, or negative status quo, death, sleep, or inertia²⁹, as the case may be, which divides two waves of life.
 
“Universal evolution is a chain without beginning or end, each link of which in turn appears and disappears in our field of consciousness. Brahma himself dies only to be reborn. But for the sovereign of the worlds, as for a random³⁰ star or the least of organized creatures, there is death and dissolution only from the individual point of view. Darkness is the ransom³¹ to be paid for light, the evening balances the morning, age is the price of youth and death the reverse of life. In reality, however, all evolution is at the same time continuous and discontinuous; the Manvantaras and Pralayas are at once simultaneous and successive; each individual life is engendered³² by its elemental double and engenders³³ its residual³⁴ double. Every decline of life in a given place coincides with an increase of being in a corresponding place and proceeds by means of a rebirth[236] in a fresh place. Fundamentally, there is no individual life. We are at once ourselves and another, ourselves and several others, ourselves and all others, ourselves and the Universe, ourselves and infinity.
 
“The evolution of our terrestrial globe is an infinitesimal cycle of this universal evolution, corresponding merely with a day and a night of Brahma, and is divided into fourteen cycles, each consisting of a Manvantara and a Pralaya. The cycle of organic evolution upon our solidified³⁵ globe represents only one of these subdivisions, that is to say, the radius³⁶ of the organic sphere is only a fourteenth part of the radius of the mineral sphere. Mineral evolution is manifestly continuous from the formation of the globe to its dissolution. If, between the periods of geological activity, there exists a Pralaya of any kind, this latter, despite the etymology³⁷ of the word, must be not a dissolution, which would be perfectly³⁸ inconceivable from the logical and scientific point of view, but a period of inertia or abatement,[237] of which the hypothesis is readily admissible and of which the glacial periods, occurring in the very course of the present Manvantara, afford us an example. In the earlier cycles of Manu, the earth passed in succession through the various stages of condensation³⁹ which science regards as igneous⁴⁰ and which correspond with the ethereal, gaseous⁴¹ and liquid evolution of the elements. During these long periods, the life of the present existed potentially in the soul of the earth and actually on other globes than ours.”
 
4
But we will proceed no further with this outline, which would become so complicated as to be inextricable. Let us remember simply the magnificent doctrine of the reincarnation, which is the most ancient reply, the only decisive and, no doubt, the most plausible⁴³ reply, to all the problems of justice and injustice⁴⁴, the immortal⁴⁵ torture of mortals, and its corollary, the law of Karma, which, as my godson so truly[238] says, “is the most wonderful of ethical⁴⁶ discoveries: it represents abstract liberty and is enough to enfranchise⁴⁷ the human will from any superior or even infinite being. We are our own creators and the sole captains of our fate; no other than ourselves rewards or punishes us; there is no sin, but only consequences; there is no morality, but only responsibilities. Now Buddha⁴⁸ taught that, merely by virtue⁴⁹ of this sovran law, the individual must be reborn to reap what he has sowed; and this certainty of rebirth was enough to neutralize⁵⁰ the horror of death.”
 
Is all this nothing more than imagination, than the dreams of brains more ardent⁵¹ than our own, the hallucinations of ascetics⁵² which amaze the young and the immobility or the echo of immemorial traditions bequeathed by other races, or by races anterior⁵³ to man and more spiritual? It is impossible to decide; but, whatever its origin, it is certain that the monument whereof we have seen but a corner of the[239] pedestal is prodigious⁵⁴ and that it has not a human aspect. All that we can say is that our modern sciences, notably⁵⁵ archæology, geology and biology, confirm rather than invalidate either of these revelations.
 
5
But this is not the question for the moment. Let us suppose that one of these revelations, for instance, that of the sacred books of India, were true, incontestable and scientifically proved by our researches; or that an interplanetary communication or a declaration of some superhuman being no longer permitted us to doubt its authenticity⁵⁶: what influence would such a revelation have upon our life? What would it transform in our life, what novel element would it add to our morality or our happiness? No doubt it would work but a very slight change. It would pass too high above us; it would not descend⁵⁸ to our level; it would not touch us; we should lose ourselves in its immensity; and upon the whole, knowing everything, we[240] should be neither happier nor wiser than when we knew nothing.
 
Not to know what he has come upon this earth to do: that is man’s great and everlasting⁵⁹ torment⁶⁰. Now we must perforce admit that the actual truth of the universe, if some day we learn it, will probably be very similar to one or other of those revelations which, while appearing to teach us everything, teach us nothing at all. It will at least possess the same inhuman⁶¹ character. It will necessarily be as unlimited⁶² in both space and time, as abysmal⁶³, as foreign to our senses and our brain. The more tremendous, the more majestic⁶⁴ the revelation, the greater chance will it have of being true; but also, the more remote from us it is, the less will it interest us. We can hardly hope to escape from this discouraging dilemma⁶⁵: those revelations, explanations or interpretations⁶⁶ which are too petty will not satisfy us, because we shall instinctively⁶⁸ feel them to be insufficient⁶⁹; while those which are too great will pass us by too far to affect us.
 
[241]
 
6
It nevertheless seems desirable that this revelation of the sacred books of India should be authentic⁵⁷ and that our knowledge, still so slight, so unimportant, so timid and so incoherent, should gradually confirm, as indeed it unwittingly does daily, certain points scattered⁷⁰ through the boundless⁷¹ immensity of this immemorial truth.
 
It would in any case, even if it did not succeed in affecting us directly, possess the advantage of enlarging our horizon, which is narrower than we suppose, until it embraces infinity; of studding this infinity with magnificent landmarks⁷²; of animating⁷³ it, peopling it, filling it with wonderful faces, making it a living, perceptible, almost comprehensible thing.
 
We all know that we dwell in infinity; but this infinity is, for us, only a bare and barren word, a black and uninhabitable void, a formless abstraction, a lifeless expression, to which our imagination can give only a momentary⁷⁴ vitality⁷⁵, at the cost of a[242] tiring, solitary⁷⁶, unskilful, unassisted, ungrateful and unfruitful effort. We hold ourselves, in fact, pent in this terrestrial world of ours and in our brief historic ages; and at the most we raise our eyes, from time to time, towards the other planets of our solar system and project our thoughts, which are discouraged from the beginning, as far as the nebulous periods that preceded man’s advent⁷⁷ on our globe. More and more deliberately⁷⁸ we are directing the whole activity of our intelligence upon ourselves; and, by a regrettable optical illusion, the more it restricts its field of action, the deeper we believe it to be probing. Our thinkers and philosophers, fearing lest they should stray as their predecessors⁷⁹ did before them, no longer concern themselves with any but the least disputable aspects, problems and secrets; but, if these are the least disputable, they are also the least sublime⁸⁰; and man, in his quality as a terrestrial animal, becomes the sole object of their investigations⁸¹. The scientists, on the other[243] hand, are accumulating minor⁸³ data and observations whose weight is stifling⁸⁴ them; yet they no longer dare to thrust them aside or open them out, so as to ventilate them by some general law, some salutary hypothesis, for those which they have hitherto ventured to advance have been pitiably contradicted, one after the other, and scouted⁸⁵ by experience.
 
Nevertheless, they are right to act as they do and to continue their investigations according to their narrow and restricted methods; but we are entitled to observe that, the closer they believe that they have drawn⁸⁶ to a fugitive⁸⁷ truth, the greater are their uncertainty⁸⁸ and confusion, the more precarious⁸⁹, imaginary and insufficient seem the foundations upon which they based their confidence and the more fully⁹⁰ do they perceive the immense distance that still divides them from the least of life’s secrets. As one of the most illustrious of them, Sir William Grove⁹¹, prophetically remarked:
 
[244]
 
“The day is fast approaching when it will be confessed that the Forces we know are but the phenomenal manifestations⁹² of Realities we know nothing about, but which were known to the Ancients and by them worshipped.”
 
7
This, indeed, is what we are bound to think if we study slightly this primitive revelation, this ancient wisdom and what has grown out of it. Man once knew more than he now knows. He was ignorant perhaps of the enormous mass of petty details which we have observed and classified and which have enabled us to subdue⁹³ certain forces which he never thought of turning to account: but it is probable that he understood better than we do their nature, their essence and their origin.
 
The higher civilization of humanity, which history traces back tentatively to five or six thousand years before Christ, is perhaps far more ancient; and, without admitting, as has been asserted, that the Egyptians kept astronomical⁹⁴ records through a period of six hundred and thirty[245] thousand years, we may consider it as established that their observations embraced two precessional cycles, two sidereal⁹⁵ years, or fifty-one thousand, seven hundred and thirty-six solar years. Now they themselves were not initiators but initiates, who derived⁹⁶ all that they knew from a more ancient source. It was the same with the Semites, in the matter of their primitive books and their Kabbalah; and the Greeks, among whom all those who really taught us something about the origin and constitution of the world and its elements, about nature and divinity, mind and matter, men such as Hesiod, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Plato and the Neo-Platonists, were likewise initiates, that is to say, they were men who, having travelled in Egypt or India, had drunk of the same one and immemorial spring. Our prehistoric⁹⁷ religions, Scandinavian or Germanic and the Druidism of the Celts, those of China and Japan, of Mexico and Peru, despite numerous deformations⁹⁸, were also derived from the same source, even as our great western[246] metaphysics, which preceded our modern materialism⁹⁹, with its somewhat sordid¹⁰⁰ outlook, and notably the metaphysics of Leibnitz, Kant, Schelling, Fichte and Hegel have approached it and, more or less unconsciously, slaked¹⁰¹ their thirst at it.
 
It is therefore certain that through the Greeks, through the Bible, through Christianity, which is its last echo, for the author of the Apocalypse and St. Paul were initiates, we are all steeped in this revelation; that there is not and never has been any other; that it is the great human or superhuman revelation; and that consequently it would be right and salutary to study it more attentively¹⁰² and more profoundly than we have hitherto done.
 
8
Where does the source of this revelation lie? We place it in the east because nearly everything that we know about it is found in the sacred books of India. But it is almost certainly of western or rather Hyperborean origin and dates back to[247] those wonderful vanished Atlanteans, whose last Protoscythian colonies flourished over eleven thousand years ago and whose existence can no longer be denied.
 
Remember that famous passage in Plato:
 
“One day, when Solon was conversing¹⁰³ with the priests of Saïs on the history of the remote ages, one of them said:
 
“‘O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children!... There is not an opinion, not a tradition of knowledge among you that is old.... You know nothing of that noble race of heroes of whom you are a remnant.... Nine thousand years, as our annals record, have elapsed since what I am about to tell you.... The most famous of your actions was the overthrow¹⁰⁴ of the island of Atlantis, which lay over against the Pillars of Hercules, was greater than Libya and Asia put together and was the passage to other islands and to a great ocean whereof the Mediterranean¹⁰⁵ Sea was but a harbour; and within[248] the Pillars the empire of Atlantis reached in Europe to Tyrrhenia and in Libya to Egypt. This mighty¹⁰⁶ power was arrayed against Egypt and Greece and all the Mediterranean countries. Then your city did bravely and won renown¹⁰⁷ throughout the earth. For, risking her own existence, she repelled¹⁰⁸ the invader¹⁰⁹ and gave liberty to all the nations within the Pillars. Soon after, earthquakes arose and floods; and your warlike race was swallowed up by the earth; and the island of Atlantis also disappeared in the sea.’”
 
This page in the Timæus is the first glimpse that history properly so-called affords of the immense chaos¹¹⁰ of the antediluvian¹¹¹ period. Modern researches and discoveries have confirmed it step by step. To quote Roisel, who devoted¹¹² a remarkab............