Being is an endless cycle within the one absolute eternity, wherein move numberless inner cycles finite and conditioned — The Secret Doctrine, I, 221
To associate our daily round with the greater cycles of the earth, the other planets, and the sun makes us realize our oneness with the universe and forget our illusions of separateness.
What do we mean by the daily round, by cycles? If we think of them as repetitions, we err. Everything changes momently, however minutely. The you and I who will awaken tomorrow will not be the you and I who awakened this morning, all our seven principles will have undergone some change during the twenty-four hours. Every object we had occasion to touch today will be slightly different when we handle it tomorrow, although our physical eyes may see no change. The teacher who struggles to awaken intelligence in her class of young children can often see no progress day by day, but at the end of the year she can see the development clearly.
Science states that although the sun and planets appear to be forever cycling in the same place, their circlings actually take them forward; in other words, when the sun finishes a cycle it is not in exactly the same point in space as it was when it began that cycle, but is in space where it has not lived before. We are in that picture. Our earth as part of the solar system is also moving forward into the unknown, and we are going with it. Next time you hear someone grousing about the monotony of everyday affairs, give him a shock by telling him he is actually journeying out into unknown space. When Cardinal Newman envisaged "the distant scene" this may have been in his thoughts. In The Theosophical Forum of September, 1946 is an article on "How do you grow?" which gives a vivid picture of this cyclic movement of consciousness and is a fine example of "Man, know Thyself."
Daily we try to blend the mind and soul, to reach nearer to the Master, our Higher Self. Often we seem no nearer, even as the earth and sun seem to be in just the same places as they were last year and all the previous years we have known. Let us take courage. The knowledge that all is moving forward will give us strength to push aside the materialistic world atmosphere which envelopes us and brings us doubt of the spirit. Let us recall that the Masters who have turned back to the earth to aid us only appear to have turned backwards. In reality they go forward with the universe, also their very turning back to us means the downward sweep of a cycle that will lift them up into higher realms of light and joy than they have known before. In the words of H. P. Blavatsky: "Everything in the Universe progresses steadily in the Great Cycle, while incessantly going up and down in the smaller cycles."