The Great Problem

Since time immemorial, among the numerous expressions of the human soul, a persistent yearning has urged Men towards the search of things not materially exposed to their perception.

Since time immemorial, Men have sought to grasp the great problems concerning the Divine. Their imagination, let loose in this unknown field and free from all objective hindrance, led them to create a number of theogonical and cosmogonical theories, with no other check than their own conception.

Yet, despite this monumental labour, Man has still to solve this Great Problem, this algebraic unknown to human reason, The great philosophers, great initiates, mystics, sectarians, each and every one created a theory, a dogma, a theosophy according to the scope of their reason. Each claimed to have found the solution to the Great Problem and as a result, each promised eternal happiness to those of their adepts or disciples who would follow the path of this alleged truth.

In spite of all this labour of the human intellect, the Great Problem still remains silent, undecipherable and unknown. In vain do we try to find this truth by contemplating symbols of the past, symbols engraved on monuments, vestiges of ancient times. In vain do we seek to find this truth in the occult teachings of the great Initiates or in philosophic records, and in vain does our spirit strive and spend itself in numerous and ingenious imaginings so as to reach a solution to the Great Problem.

It is true that the first step towards Truth is our fundamental Reason, which results from our Experience of the visible manifestations of Creation. It is on Reason - derived from natural experience - that all the philosophers, initiates and mystics based their dogmas and theories and aspired to find the solution to the Great Problem. And it is from the ancient source that the initiates and philosophers of our times draw the principles that form today’s philosophy and theosophy, which still aspires to solve the Great Problem. Yet these inviolable secrets that spring before our contemplating soul and meditating spirit, should be dealt with neither on the basis of principles formed by the initiates of antiquity, nor on the strength of the individual conceptions of modem philosophers. Indeed, whoever has attained that degree of evolution which allows them this kind of research and study, should seek the solution to the Great Problem on the strength of their own reason, which results from their personal experience.

This intellectual and philosophic method of work is the only true one that can lead the seeker, the explorer of unknown valleys, of transcendental rivers, to the very source of the Truth and to the solution of the Great Problem.

This is why we approach these subjects - within reach of only a few - from the lowest point so as to rise gradually and solve the still undecipherable enigma of the Great Problem as far as the human intellect can. It will be easy therefore for the novice in philosophic studies to follow us, and with a persevering effort confront the questions that have stirred the interest of seeking humankind for so long.

Experience, reason, objective nature and its manifestations, causes and their effects, these are the levers, these form the basis of the study that each one can adapt to and profit from.

What is Experience?

Experience is the first element of the conscience of the being. After birth, every human being uses their organic senses, when fully developed, to acquire experience, which will give them reason so that finally they may acquire knowledge, which will give them conscience. Every object before them is an object to be examined. By using our five senses, we acquire knowledge of an object. An example will suffice to give a more ample explanation of this theory: When a person sees a block of marble for the first time, its whiteness attracts their sight. They approach it, touch it, lift it, weigh it, and in their great ingenuousness may even smell and taste it. This detailed examination is a first step towards acquiring experience of the object in question.

What is reason?

Reason is the mental effect, the first impression derived from a person’s experience. It is a stage leading to conscience. For a more ample understanding of this axiom, let us return to our first example. The aspect of the marble, its contact, taste and smell are reflected on the human intellect in abstract forms which accumulate and make up a corresponding classification of these various impressions. This corresponding meaning and its partial or total accumulation form human reason.

Thus, some time later, upon seeing a block of alabaster, the person mentioned above, under the first impression derived from the sight of marble, will understand that the object that strikes their imagination at present corresponds to the first and must therefore be hard, white and of a weight and resistance corresponding to that of the first. Reason will give them this definition, but before long, their senses wish to check once more the conclusion reached by reason. The person then takes the block of alabaster, lifts it, touches it, looks at if more closely and then notes that their reason, though quite close to reality, dad not give them the exact meaning of the object examined. They now observe that the alabaster is not as resistant as the marble, not as heavy and is more granular than it; the atoms that form it are larger, more brilliant and more transparent.

This fresh experience broadens reason and raises it to a more perfect state, If Men express an obvious imperfection in their reason, it is because of their lack of experience which denies them (deprives them of) a great deal of perfection in reason.

Experience is materialized reason and reason is spiritualised experience. The former expresses the sum total of principles established by someone unknown, and manifested through objective Creation. Reason is the sum total of intellectual principles, particular to each person and drawn from Creation.

What is knowledge?

Knowledge is the continuous representation within us of the material Creation all round us. It is the outcome of experience and reason.

To return to our example: the alabaster and marble, whose reality was scrutinized and fully studied, can be represented in the spiritual field without the need to have these two objects within sight of the person who saw, touched, felt and even tasted them for the first time. That person is henceforth able to see, feel, touch and taste them by a series of internal and incomprehensible functions. From now on, they can have the complete image of the marble and the alabaster in them without the need to have them within sight or touch. The outcome of all this energy of Man is knowledge, derived directly from reason.

What is conscience?

Conscience is an intimate operation of the human intellect, brought about by the process of the analogy of different natures formed by comparing various objects that fall under the senses, and the analogy of all that surrounds Man in comparison with himself.

Thus, the aspect of the marble and the alabaster, their mutual differences and the difference existing between them and himself, create in Man the conscience (awareness) that marble is not alabaster, that alabaster is not marble and that he himself is neither marble nor alabaster, that marble and alabaster are not himself, that marble is marble, alabaster is alabaster and he is himself. Moreover, experience has provided him with the reasoning that each one of these three states is founded on different principles and knowledge has provided him with the conscience of this differentiation.

It is obvious that these three examples are not enough to create experience, reason, knowledge and conscience in a person. What is needed is the sum total of everything that surrounds the human being, which eventually falls under the scrutiny of Man’s research.

The whole of the above chapter can be summed up as follows:

Experience creates reason (1^st state of human evolution)

Reason creates knowledge (2^nd state of human evolution)

Knowledge creates conscience in Man (last state of human evolution).

Man has thus passed from the state of an animal to one of a being with faculties that distinguish him from other animals. These faculties are: reason through experience, knowledge through reason, and conscience through the accumulation of the former three.