Kosmos and Cosmos

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky · Confusing Words Series · 12 pages

A distinction of one letter with a large difference behind it. Kosmos, spelt with a K, refers to all universes and solar systems; Cosmos with a c applies only to our own solar system. Boris de Zirkoff's introductory note explains Blavatsky's practice: she used Kosmos for the manvantaric manifestation as a whole, while applying the adjective "cosmic" to phenomena of the solar system and speaking of that system as the Cosmos and the Universe. The file includes a section of examples of ambiguous spelling, and a direct comparison of the two terms side by side.

The cosmology follows the distinction. The One Life or Intra-Cosmic Breath is the real creator of Kosmos, guided and controlled by the Army of celestial sentient beings; Kosmos is divided into three principles and four vehicles; and all planets began as comets wandering over infinite Kosmos, the mystic Nought or No-thing — with the question raised directly whether every planet in our solar system was first a comet and then a sun. The passage on the human side of it is put in the same terms: our souls are rays loaned by universal souls, and therefore aspects and reminders of the One Soul. A closing note gives atomon or atmeton as the Greek words for indivisible.

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