Evolution of Life

According to Theosophy, life began when the Logos, in the second aspect, sent forth the second life wave. This life wave descended from above through the various worlds, causing an increasing heterogeneity, and thereafter ascended, causing a return to its original homogeneity.

Our present state of knowledge of life in these worlds extends no further than the mental world. In the higher division of that world is ensouled the relatively fine matter appropriate thereto. If that matter is atomic it is known as "monadic essence"; if nonatomic, as "elemental essence," and this is the first elemental kingdom. What we may call the inhabitants of this kingdom are the higher order of angels.

Having functioned sufficiently long in the higher mental world, the life wave now presses down to the lower level of that world, where it appears as the second elemental kingdom, the inhabitants of which are some of the lower orders of angels, the form devas.

Again pressing down, the life wave manifests itself in the astral world, forming the third elemental kingdom, the inhabitants of which are the lowest orders of angels, the passion devas. It then enters the physical world and, in the fourth elemental kingdom, ensouls the etheric part of minerals with the elementary type of life that these possess. The middle of this kingdom represents the farthest descent of the life wave, and thereafter its course is reversed and it begins to ascend.

The next kingdom into which it passes is the fifth elemental kingdom, the vegetable world, whence it passes to the sixth elemental kingdom, the animal world, and lastly to the seventh elemental kingdom, humanity.

During its stay in each kingdom, the life wave progresses gradually from elementary to highly specialized types, and when it has attained these, it passes to the next kingdom. This means that successive currents of this great second life wave have come forth from the Logos, since otherwise there would be only one kingdom in existence at a time.

Also, in each kingdom the souls of the bodies that inhabit it differ from those of the other kingdoms. In the seventh kingdom, that of man, each individual has a soul. In the animal kingdom, on the contrary, one soul is distributed among different bodies, the number of which varies with the state of evolution. To one soul may be allotted countless bodies of a low type of development, but as the development increases the soul comes to have fewer bodies allotted to it until in the kingdom of man there is only one.

Sources:

Clodd, Clara M. The Ageless Wisdom of Life. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1956.

Introductory Study Course in Theosophy. Wheaton, Ill.: Theosophical Society of America, 1967.

Pearson, E. Norman. Space, Time and Self. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1957.