VRIL/PART 1
VRIL, OR VITAL MAGNETISM
LESSON I
THE NATURE OF VRIL
IN the Arcane Teaching, the term "Vril"
indicates the universal principle of vital energy, life-force, or vital
magnetism, as it is sometimes called. The term itself is believed to have had
its origin in the language of ancient Atlantis, tradition holding that the Atlantean
root vri, meaning life, is the source of the word Vril, the latter
expressing the idea of the vital principle or life-energy. This original root
term is believed to have influenced similar elementary terms in the Sanscrit,
and through this that great source of tongues, the Latin, from which our own
language is largely derived. In many languages we find words indicating manly
vigor, energy, virility, which undoubtedly owe their origin to the original
Atlantean root term vri from which our term is derived.
In the ancient Greek we find the term veros,
meaning "a hero." In the Sanscrit we discover vira, meaning
" a hero," and the ancient Irish vear, meaning "a
man." The Gothic wair, and the Anglo-Saxon wer, each meaning
" a man," as well as the Latin word vir, meaning "a
man," (from which our terms "virile, virility," originated,)
also appear to have been derived from the Atlantean term vri, or
"life." It was very natural to identify the concept of
"man" with "life." In our own language the terms “virile"
and "virility" indicate life-force or vital-energy, particularly in
the sense of procreative power, the usage of these terms bearing out the above
stated theory of their origin. Bulwer, who was well-versed in occult tradition
and terms, used the term “vril " in one of his novels, to indicate a
mysterious form of energy employed by a newly discovered and highly advanced
race of people, upon whose doings his story was based. It is almost certain
that Bulwer borrowed this term from some of the ancient occult writings, with
which he was so familiar, and that the ancient Arcane term " vril "
was known to him.
In many of these ancient occult treatises we find
frequent reference to “Vril," not only in its sense of the principle vital
energy, but also that sense of inherent usable energy which we seek to express
the term “human magnetism." In such writings we find the term employed to
explain many of the phenomena of occultism. Nearly, if not all, of the schools
of occultism, in all lands and in all times, have taught the existence of this
wonderful principle of energy. In Persian mysticism the term glama is
used in the same sense; in Hindu occultism we find the word prana
serving a similar purpose. Mesmer seems to have stumbled upon this truth when
he taught the existence of “the universal fluid," although he was far from
the truth in his deductions therefrom. In the revival of interest in occult
science in western lands, so noticeable in the past generation, and which
continues to the present time, we find frequent references to ”human
magnetism," “animal
magnetism," “vital magnetism." And in the schools of "magnetic
healing" which attracted so much attention about ten years ago, we heard
much of "the magnetic fluid." The existence of the principle of
Nature which we call "Vril" in the Arcane Teaching, has been
recognized by many schools of thought throughout human history. Many names have
been given to it, and many theories have been advanced to account for its
existence, and to explain its purposes and effects. We shall not attempt to go
into the history of this idea, nor to consider the many attempted explanations
above referred to. We prefer to go to the fountain head, and present the
original Arcane Teaching regarding the principle of Vril.
In the Arcane Teaching, then, the term “Vril"
is used in several senses, general and particular, as we shall see as we
proceed. In the first place, Vril is held to be a great cosmic principle of
very fine energy permeating all forms of matter, and immanent in thought
processes as well, being employed by the principle of mind in its work of
thinking. But Vril is not identical with mind. Mind is held to be a prior
manifestation of the Infinite. From the mental principle arose Vril and the
grosser forms of energy, and then the forms of matter fine and gross. In this
original sense Vril is perceived to be a great universal principle from which
proceeds a multitudinous manifestation of activities. Vril, in this phase of
existence, cannot be defined any more than any universal principle can be
defined. We have no words with which to define or explain it. It is only when
we descend to the consideration of its manifestations that we are able to
explain or define it in our finite terms.
In the second sense of the term, Vril is the
principle of inner vital power or energy found to be immanent in all forms of
specialized matter, inorganic or organic. It is this recognition of universal
immanence that has led science to advance the new theories that Life is present
in forms of matter, even in the crudest and grossest states, phases and forms
of matter. Haeckel boldly asserts that the atoms of matter possess something akin
to life, and manifest the capability of perceiving something like sensations,
and the ability to respond thereto. Haeckel says: The two fundamental forms of
substance, ponderable matter and ether, are not dead and only moved about by
extrinsic force, but they are endowed with sensation and will (though naturally
of the lowest grade); they experience an inclination for condensation, a
dislike for strain; they strive after the one and struggle against the
other."
Haeckel also says: "The different relations
of the various elements toward each other, which chemistry calls “affinity” is
one of the most important properties of ponderable matter; it is manifested in
the different relative quantities or proportions of ponderable matter; it is
manifested in the different relative quantities or proportions of their
combination in the intensity of its consummation. Every shade of inclination,
from complete indifference to the fiercest passion, is exemplified in the
chemical action of the various elements toward each other, just as we find in
the psychology of man, and especially in the life of the sexes. Goethe, in his
classical romance, ‘Affinities,' compared the relation of a pair of lovers with
the phenomenon of the same name in the formation of chemical combinations. The
irresistible passion that draws Edward to the sympathetic Ottilia, or Paris to
Helen, and leaps over all bounds of reason and morality, is the same
'unconscious' attractive force which impels the living spermatozoon to force an
entrance into the ovum in the fertilization of the egg of the animal or plant -the
same impetuous movement which unites two atoms of hydrogen to one atom of
oxygen for the formation of a molecule of water. This fundamental unity of affinity
in the whole of nature, from the simplest chemical process to the most
complicated love story was recognized by the Greek scientist, Empedocles, in
the fifth century B. c., in his theory of 'the love and hate of the elements.'
It receives empirical affirmation from the interesting progress of cellular
psychology, the great significance of which we have learned to appreciate in
the last thirty years. On those phenomena we base our conviction that even the
atom is not without a rudimentary form of sensation and will, or, as it is
better expressed, of feeling (aesthesis) and inclination (tropesis)-that
is, a universal 'soul' of the simplest character. The same must be said of the
molecules which are composed of two or more atoms. Further combinations of
different kinds of these molecules give rise to simple and subsequently complex
chemical compounds, in the activity of which the same phenomena are repeated in
a more complicated form."
Science now admits, nay, positively affirms that
the principle of Life is immanent in, and manifest through, all forms of
material things, inorganic as well as organic. We are not now concerned with
the idea of the presence of mind in all of these forms, except inasmuch as mind
is always an accompaniment of life. Life is generally defined as the quality of
sensation and Will manifested in forms of matter. But a closer definition is
now being advanced by science. The latest conception is that Life consists in
the power of independent action and movement -that is, in the ability to act
and move from inner and inherent power, and not from power or force applied
from without. It is this very power to act and move which the Arcane Teaching
holds to be the second phase of the existence of Vril. A body may possess
sensation and Will -ability to feel, and ability to exercise volition - and yet
not be able to act and move. Feeling and Will are mental states or qualities
-but the power which acts and moves is something different from mind, for it is
what is called vital-force, life-energy, or Vril. A man may feel the
sting of an insect, and may then Will to brush aside the insect. But unless (by
the exercise of his Will, usually, but sometimes by reflex activity) he sends a
current of vital-force, life-energy, nervous energy -Vril, in short- his
muscles will not contract nor will his hand move. Moreover, without Vril he
cannot even perform the processes of thought, and come to a decision regarding
the brushing away of the insect. Vril is the force which operates the
machinery of life from the crudest movement up to the highest exercise
of the brain cells of the Philosopher or mathematician.
Vril, then, in its second phase of manifestation
or existence, is the inner power of action and movement of all material forms
of the universe. It is by the action of Vril that the ions, electrons,
corpuscles, or particles of elementary matter are attracted and repelled, and
by which they engage in the wild whirl around each other which resembles the
movement of the planets around our sun, which attraction and repulsion and consequent
“whirl” combine to form what we know as the atom of matter. Likewise, it is
Vril which causes these atoms to be attracted and repelled, and to manifest
constant vibration, thereby forming the combinations which give to us our
eighty elements of matter. And it is by Vril that the molecules (formed of two
or more atoms) manifest their varying degrees of cohesion and other molecular
qualities, properties, and attributes, and thus give us the distinctive
qualities of matter in all of its various forms. Vril, then, is the fine energy
of force which enables material things to move of their own power -the power Within
them. Vril is, in itself, this power within, which enables
the particle or atom of matter to move to and fro; which enables the atoms to
form their combinations; which causes the molecules to manifest their
qualities; which enables man to bend his arm and direct his pen at the behest
and command of his will, urged thereto by his feelings or desires, and
supervised by his intellectual reasoning.
Moreover, Vril is at the heart of the great
mystery of science -Gravitation; that force which operates over infinities of
space without the measure of time, and in spite of obstacles and interferences.
Gravitation, which contradicts all the minor laws of physics, is seen really to
be Vril, life-energy, and vital-force, in its second phase of manifestation.
Vril, in the second phase of manifestation, pervades all space -it is immanent
in the universal ether. Wherever anything is, Vril is, in its second
phase of manifestation. The above is quite inadequate to give a complete idea
of the existence and nature of Vril, but it is sufficient for our purposes at
this time.
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