The Monkey Puzzle Tree

An anthropoidal allegory for those in search of Truth

Guest article by Erika Hahn

Author's foreword

This tale of gods, monkeys, men and trees was inspired by my reading of certain chapters in the Popol Vuh. For those who have never heard of this remarkable book, it is a sacred text recounting the cosmology, anthropology, mythology and religious beliefs of the Quiché branch of the Mayan peoples of Central America. The meaning of the word Quiché is 'many trees', and trees, or rather one special Tree, play a most important part in this puzzling anthropoidal allegory.

Ever since Charles Darwin first suggested a link between humans and apes in his famous book On the Origin of Species material science has believed and taught that we are descended from monkeys. But despite the best (or worst) efforts of anthropologists the so-called 'missing link' he sought remains stubbornly missing. On the other hand, Madame Blavatsky, whose work forms the subject of my afterword, marshalled a vast amount of evidence to show that while some apes are descended from early men no ape ever gave birth to man. Who was right? Darwin or Madame Blavatsky? Or were both right? Only you can decide when you have read my story which, I would remind you, is an allegory, and an anthropoidal one at that!

I have used the English version of the Popol Vuh shown at left by Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley published in 1950 for my story (see Further reading list at the end of the sidebar). I have tried to mimic the unique 'style' of the book which has a charm, simplicity and magic all its own. How well I have succeeded I leave my readers to judge. And now a word about pronunciation. The letter 'x' which prefixes many Mayan words should be pronounced like the 'tse' in tsetse fly. The names of the two heroes of the tale, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, are pronounced hoonahpoo and tsebalankay. The name of their mother, Xquic, is pronounced tsekeek. The Mayan hell mentioned in the story — Xibalba — is pronounced tsebalba. The two gods who are transformed into monkeys are Hunbatz (hoonbatz) and Hunchouen (hoonchowen). In closing, I would add that Madame Blavatsky thought very highly of the Popol Vuh and refers to it in many of her writings.

HUNBATZ AND HUNCHOUEN WERE TWO GODS who ruled over a large territory in the Other World. Before they reached their present status they had undergone many severe tests and trials and known much trouble. But these vicissitudes were nothing compared to the trials they were about to face. Fortunately they were unable to foresee their own future any more than you or I can. Meanwhile they dwelt in the Other World with their grandmother, in a region quite like the better parts of our world, set within the vast domains of Tepeu and Gucumatz — the Forefather and Foremother, Grandfather and Grandmother as they are called in Quiché. One day a maiden called Xquic arrived among them claiming to be their grandmother's daughter-in-law. She said she carried the children of the old lady's sons Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu in her womb whom the old lady believed were dead. "Where are my sons?" she demanded. "Did they, perchance, not die in Xibalba? Do you not see these two who remain? They are their true descendants who are called Hunbatz and Hunchouen. Whatever you carry in your womb can be no relation of mine or theirs! Go! Get out of here!"

"Nevertheless, it is true that I am your daughter-in-law," insisted Xquic. "Hun-Hunahpu and Vucub-Hunahpu did not die in Xibalba at the hands of the evil Lords who rule that dread domain. They live and you shall certainly see them again. The children I carry in my belly are truly theirs. The old lady grudgingly admitted the truth of this and allowed the girl to stay. Hunbatz and Hunchouen didn't like this one bit. When the children were born they cried lustily and would not sleep, so their grandmother became annoyed and said: "Go and throw them out, because they cry too much and I am sick of their bawling." So the children, who were called Hunahpu and Xbalanque, were taken outside and placed upon an ant hill. There they slept peacefully. After this they were taken away from the ant hill, and laid upon a bed of thistles. All this came to pass by the intervention of Hunbatz and Hunchouen, who wanted the two babes to die because of the hatred and envy they felt for them, whom they considered to be interlopers in their special domain. But the babes did not die, though at first they were refused entrance in the house. Now Hunbatz and Hunchouen were great magicians and sages, accomplished musicians, singers, painters and carvers; in all these arts they excelled. In their hearts and minds they knew everything concerning the remarkable birth and pre-history of the two children. Yet they nevertheless envied and hated them, even though they were their own younger brothers.

As Hunahpu and Xbalanque grew up they went out hunting all day long, shooting off their blowguns and their arrows to catch birds and other game. The grandmother felt no love for them at all. They were given nothing to eat until Hunbatz and Hunchouen had finished their meal. Only then were they given the few scraps left over by their brothers. But they did not become vexed, nor angry, but suffered in silence, because inwardly they were well aware of their true rank. In spite of their youth they understood clearly the reasons for all these things, being great gods in disguise. Their own inner light illuminated everything, even the hidden causes of events which the mind of ordinary people cannot perceive, or understand if they did. After they had been out hunting all day long they brought home the fruits of the chase, which their brothers took and ate without sharing them with the hunters. Thus Hunahpu and Xbalanque often went hungry, but remained silent and never complained. One day, when the two brothers returned from hunting without bringing home any birds, their grandmother became furious and asked: "You idle, good-for-nothing ingrates! Why did you bring no birds home today?" And Hunahpu and Xbalanque replied: "What happened, grandmother, is that our birds were caught in a tree, and we could not climb up to get them, dear grandmother. But if our elder brothers wish it, let them come with us to bring the birds down, for the tree is too difficult for us to climb, we not having the strength to do so."

"Very well," the elder brothers answered, "we shall go with you at dawn." The Twins then discussed how to overcome Hunbatz and Hunchouen, for they could bear their taunts and cruelty no longer, and they said: "We must overthrow these two. But we shall not kill them, only change their nature, that our word and command be fulfilled in future. In this way they shall pay for all the suffering they have caused us, who are innocent of any harm ourselves. They wanted us to die, that we might be lost, we, their younger brothers. In their hearts they believe that we have come here to be their servants only and nothing more. For these reasons we shall now overcome them and teach them a lesson they will not soon forget." Thus they spoke together, and so it was decided. The next morning all four went toward the foot of the tree the Twins could not climb. It was full of birds which were singing in its branches. There were so very many that it was impossible to count them all. The younger brothers marvelled to see so many birds, but no matter how often they shot at them, none fell down. This was very puzzling, though no doubt there was a reason behind it all which was known to the Heart of Heaven. At last they stopped shooting and said to their two elder brothers: "Our birds do not fall to the ground, as you can see. Go up therefore, and climb the tree, and fetch them down, so that our dear grandmother will be satisfied when we return home again."

"Very well," Hunbatz and Hunchouen answered, "we will fetch them down." As they climbed the tree it became larger and larger. The trunk swelled until it became so thick that when they wanted to climb down again, they could not do so. They had to stay at the top, for the thickness of the tree prevented them from getting a hand or foothold anywhere. And they called down from the top of the tree to the two young brothers down below, "What has happened to us, our dear brothers? Unfortunate are we. This tree frightens us only to look at it. Oh, our good brothers, what shall we do in order to come down safely again? Help us!" Thus Hunbatz and Hunchouen showed their fear, the mother of foresight, and the father of ignorant lack of Faith. The despised younger brothers now suddenly became dear to their hearts whereas just a short while before they had been their direst enemies! It certainly showed the weakness of the two elder brothers, for the concessions of the weak are the concessions of fear. Fear loves the mere idea of danger in others but never in itself. But when danger comes too close to home it brings dread and terror to the thoughtless mind. The lesson Hunahpu and Xbalanque wanted to teach their two elder brothers was already beginning. But it had still a very long way to go before it reached its ordained conclusion.

All the while the tree kept growing and expanding in every way until it resembled a veritable forest of huge dimensions. It became a primeval wood, full of delights but also filled with terrors, hidden in the trees and undergrowth. Exotic flowers and fruits bloomed everywhere. Some of them were unbelievably ugly and degenerate, exuding loathsome smells; deadly in the extreme. Others were like Heavenly messengers of fragrance, beauty, health and joy. Wild bees flew about, humming with happiness, and there were roses to feast upon for them, and daisies and lilies with golden stems, full of pollen. But Hunbatz and Hunchouen were oblivious to all this luxuriant exuberance. Only fear filled their hearts and minds. All their thoughts were bent on how to escape from this riot of competing scents and colours, of light and shade. Their sight was assaulted by trees laden with unfamiliar nuts and fruit, on which the birds fed joyfully, singing, squawking or squeaking, or uttering hoarse cries, according to their natures and abilities. The two captives were utterly bewildered and bewitched, and kept on calling out to their two younger brothers at the foot of the tree though they could hardly see them now, so great was the distance that separated them. "Oh, our brothers, help us," they wailed. "Tell us what to do, and we shall obey!"

Hunahpu and Xbalanque answered at last: "loosen your breech cloths, tie them below your stomachs, leaving the long ends hanging down, and pull these from behind, and in this way you will be able to walk quite easily." Thus spoke the younger brothers, and the two elder ones heard them, and obeyed. No sooner had they done this than the ends of their breech cloths became tails, and they took on the likeness of monkeys. Soon they were hopping about over the branches of the trees, among the great woods and the little woods into which the tree had expanded. They buried themselves in that forest, making faces and grinning, swinging in the trees as if they had done nothing else all their lives. In this way Hunbatz and Hunchouen were overcome by Hunahpu and Xbalanque. For you must remember that the two younger brothers were also gods, possessed of great magical powers. For the time had now come, decreed long ago by the Creator and the Maker, by Tepeu and Gucumatz, and by the Heart of Heaven, to make mortal man. Thus were Hunbatz and Hunchouen punished and taught a lesson because of their cruelty and hatred of their brothers in the realm in the Other World they shared together. A 'Garden of Eden' without a serpent, the better to disguise the occult truth of the descent — not ascent — of man. Madame Blavatsky was the first to reveal this truth to the West in her two masterworks, Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine. Not that she got any thanks for it. On the contrary, she was repaid with calumny, derision and accusations of fraud. I doubt whether more than a handful of occultists have ever, or will ever truly understood just what is concealed in these two books. You can read more about this in my afterword. Meanwhile, let us see what happened next to Hunbatz and Hunchouen, sadly fallen from their previous high estate, or so it seems...

After the two elder brothers had been turned into monkeys, Hunahpu and Xbalanque returned home again, and said to their grandmother: "What can have happened to our brothers? Their faces have suddenly changed, and they look like animals." And the grandmother replied: "If you have hurt your elder brothers, you have harmed me too and made me sad. Do not do any harm to your good brothers, oh! My children, I entreat you. Are they not your brothers, and of your nearest kin?" And the two young Lords replied, and said: "Do not grieve dear grandmother. You shall behold our brothers’ faces again; they shall return, and visit you many times, but, at first, it will be a great trial for you. When you see them again, please do not laugh or treat them with contempt; they have to learn a very great lesson which will benefit them in the end, though that end be far away in time and space. And now, let us get on with our work, and do that which we must do in order to fulfil the will of the Heart of Heaven."

Then they played their flutes, and the melody they played was called 'The Monkeys of Hunahpu'. They took their drums also, and beat them in a certain, peculiar rhythm which had a profound meaning. It regulated the rhythm of the Days and Nights of their brothers, and as phrase follows phrase, so one Day begins or ends, with all its trials and its tests portrayed in every beat, varying in intensity and subject to joy and sorrow. Meanwhile, their elder brothers, who were still playing in the great wood that had grown out of the tree they had first climbed in search of birds, fell fast asleep. And they dreamed a strange dream, even for monkeys, who dream just like we do. And in their dream they found themselves in another wood, but now they were two tiny monkeys, sucking at the breast of a great ape, who was their mother. And the wood was darker than the one they had lived in before the dream commenced, and it was filled with strange and ominous noises, and there was a dank smell, as of oozing, black mud which came from a nearby pool or mere of vast extent.

From it sounded terrible screams, as if huge giants were fighting and howling in their agony. And the mother ape grunted and gnashed her teeth with rage, for she disliked the noise, being afraid for her babes, who clung to her fur with terrified little groans when the din became louder than usual. It was all so very different from the wood with the singing birds in which they had been playing before. Now their father, a monstrous ape of enormous size came swinging along amidst this new forest, swaying from branch to branch with enormous speed. And the mother ape growled at her mate, and held her babies close to her breast, in case he should take them and tear them limb from limb in one of his sudden rages. And from nearby there sounded still the wild screams, and sudden squelchings were heard, and horrible splashing and sucking noises, as if vast feet had sunk within the pool, and were pulled out again.

The parent apes had built a nest, high up amidst the branches of the trees, where wild beasts could not follow them and kill them. Here the two young monkeys grew up apace, and in a year or two they were able to go about by themselves, exploring the neighbourhood and beholding all the other inhabitants of their tribe. Sometimes they saw strange animals which roamed the forest beneath the leaves and branches of their home. There were other babies of the tribe as well, and at first they played with them, chasing them around and quarrelling and fighting in their small ways as young monkeys do. But as they grew older they began to dislike them and look upon them with contempt, for they sensed a certain difference between themselves and them; a dim memory of other times and beings, which they could not explain, but only feel. And their playfellows felt it too, and hated, and sometimes feared them for that certain ‘something’ which none could explain.

One day the two descended from the tree for the first time, and stood upon the ground. They held their breath when they heard heavy breathing in the nearby bushes and clutched at one another in sudden fright. This was followed by ominous rustling and crackling, as if heavy feet stepped upon dry twigs. Presently, the footsteps receded, but now the two froze in utter terror when they saw two glaring eyes emerge from the bushes. The fiery eyes belonged to the head of a vast serpent, which glided towards them with sinister, silent movements. Their mother saw their peril and screamed at the serpent, which took no heed. But beyond and above the screams of their enraged and terrified mother, the young ones heard the sound of flute and of drums. They listened entranced, for it seemed to them that it was the sound of salvation, though they knew not what it meant. There they stood, mesmerised by the eyes of the serpent; hearing the screams of their mother. And still the soft sounds of flute and drums continued. Suddenly, the serpent lunged forward and wrapped them in his coils. Slowly it crushed the life out of them amidst the uproar of the rest of the tribe which had now arrived, drawn by the drama unfolding on the forest floor.

The noise grew dim to the hearing of the youngsters as they died, though the beat of the drums and the melody of the flute increased, until they awoke from their dream, and found themselves once more within the familiar sights and sounds of the first forest. Here were no apes or serpents or other animals in pools and lakes and meres of oozing slime beneath them. But the flute and the drums continued, and the two monkeys slid from branch to lower branch, which now grew out of that vast tree, so that at last they reached the ground. All memory of the serpent with the fiery eyes, the screaming apes, the sobbing of the mother ape, the heavy splashes of ponderous feet within the mud, and all the rest had faded out of their memory as if it had never been. They ran towards the music of the flute and drums, and towards the intermittent voices of two singers, who drew them with their magic, calling, calling them by name, though even their erstwhile names were now forgotten. Instead they heard the name of Hunahpu-Qoy, the monkey of Hunahpu, and they answered the call, and came towards the callers who were Hunahpu and Xbalanque. But they did not know them as their brothers and their equals any more. For the two beings who played the flute and drums, and sang to them, seemed to be like two dazzling Angels of Light to whom much homage must be paid.

So they danced obsequiously before the two Lords and the old lady who was with them. They leaped and hopped and jumped and capered like the silly animals they had become. Their ugly faces were twisted in such hideous grins that the grandmother could contain herself no longer. She began to laugh and soon doubled up with unseemly mirth at the predicament of her eldest grandsons. The two took offence, for no animal can bear the laughter of human beings when it is directed in scorn or malice towards them. And they fled from the old lady and the two gods, and their faces were not seen again for a very long time. Hunahpu and Xbalanque reproved the grandmother when the two monkeys had disappeared, saying: "Now you can see for yourself, grandmother; they have gone back to the forest, feeling offended and hurt by your unseemly mirth. Do you realise what you have done? We make this trial only four times, though each is split up in many Days and Nights of experience for them. Now we have only three trials left, before the first has been fully completed. Such is the Will of the Creator and Maker, and the Heart of Heaven, and who are we to strive against it? "We pray you, dearest grandmother, that when the next trial begins you shall restrain yourself, so that our work be properly completed. When the time is ripe we shall recall them with flute and drums and song. Let the next trial begin," they said, adding "and let it be successful."

Meanwhile, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, still in their monkey form, had returned to the tree, and climbed it, hiding within the foliage of the forest in grief and dismay. There they fell asleep again and had their next dream. Instead of being playful monkeys, frolicking in the woods, they were now two gigantic apes, fierce and ferocious, full of anger with everything they met; for they had led a hard life of constant fights with other members of the tribe to which they belonged, on account of that strange difference they felt deep within themselves but could not explain or account for. The rest of the tribe sensed that difference too and resented it fiercely, so that in the end Hunbatz and Hunchouen had to flee from them. They wandered far and wide amidst the turbulent scenes of nature which was their natural dwelling place, vast in extent, and only bounded by the ever shifting and receding horizons. They battled with every living creature that came their way, small or great. Thus, Hunbatz and Hunchouen fought and slew, and sometimes, feasted on the bodies of the slain, for they were no longer satisfied with a simple diet of fruit and roots and nuts, but needed stronger fare to keep alive their mighty frames of power. But in spite of all this there was an empty space within their minds, and they sought for they knew not what to satisfy that longing. But they sought in vain in the vast regions which seemed to have no end, except when they reached the oceans, which baffled their progress in some directions.

It seemed to them that they spent countless lifetimes wandering this perplexing world until one day they heard the faraway sound of music that was strangely familiar and compelling. For Hunahpu and Xbalanque had decided the moment had now arrived to recall them for the second time. They spoke sternly to the grandmother, and said: "Now, dear grandmother, we shall recall our two brothers once more from the world where they have learned many hard lessons. And immediately they began to play upon the flute and drum, beating out the rhythmical recall, and singing their magic songs again. Hunbatz and Hunchouen awoke from their agelong dream of earthly adventures and experiences as apes, but now they found themselves of much larger stature than before. Their old monkey form had expanded and now resembled the powerful and cunning apes which roamed the globe, giving battle to all and sundry, and overcoming them by means of superior brain power. It was in this fierce form that they appeared before their brothers and the old grandmother once again. Immediately they grinned, made wicked grimaces and stumbled about clumsily in a vain effort to dance. Their antics were even more comical than their performance as small monkeys. Once again the grandmother could not contain herself and burst out into loud gales of mocking laughter. Hunahpu and Xbalanque were greatly vexed and immediately they sang and played the song of dismissal. The two apes obeyed, for it could not be resisted by any means, and they retired once more to the woods of the great tree they had first climbed so long ago. There they fell asleep again, dreaming more dreams of life on Earth. The two younger brothers spoke firmly to the grandmother, saying: "You spoil everything with your unseemly mirth, so we must send them back again, they, who have endured so much, and therefore might have been released from their existence as apes, but now we must try again, so that they may regain the freedom they once enjoyed."

During their third trial which seemed to last many millions of years, a great change came over Hunbatz and Hunchouen. They received the idea of making tools and weapons from flint and how to make fire. They began to listen to the wind in the trees, the waves of the oceans, and the terrible roars of the volcanoes as they sent forth glowing lava high into the air. And they saw the stars and meteors which shone in the heavens, things they had never noticed before. Strangest of all, they began to lose their tails, though their legs remained short and stumpy, and they still walked about with their long arms touching the ground for support; ungainly beings with huge heads and prognacious jaws and teeth. Whereas in previous dreams they paid little heed to the elemental disasters of their wild times, now they began to attribute the storms and earthquakes, the sudden spates of great floods, and blinding rains and burning suns to invisible presences that tried to destroy them unless they paid proper homage and sacrifices to the angry ones. Later still they began to build log fires within the huge caves where they now dwelt. In idle moments when some great storm had driven them within, they began to scribble with bits of coloured clay upon the walls, copying the forms of animals they knew. Eventually these drawings became veritable masterpieces, some of which can still be seen today in the lands where Hunbatz and Hunchouen roamed. As time went on the two elder brothers began to see beauty in outward things, revealed to them in dreams sent by the unknown players of the flute and drums; from the sculptors and the singers, and those who fashioned jewellery far away in the great Beyond.

All this constituted the third trial which Hunahpu and Xbalanque had devised in their wisdom. Now the time had come for the third recall, and they played the flute and the drums again. Once more the elder brothers appeared before them and the grandmother. The appearance of the erstwhile monkeys had changed so much that she hardly knew them. They had become men, but were still uncouth and rough in every way. Some of their early monkey habits had not quite been shaken off, just as today we see the same simian traits in young children and teenagers. So Hunbatz and Hunchouen danced into the presence of the three who awaited them. Their eyes darted inquisitively and with suspicion in every corner. They scratched themselves and rubbed their noses in their excitement, as monkeys do, and they glared and made faces at each other and at their three hosts. At last, the grandmother who had tried so very hard to remain serious, could bear it no longer, and burst out into loud laughter. How different they looked from what they had been in their early days as great magicians and sages, accomplished musicians, singers, painters and carvers! How sadly had these Sons of Virtue fallen from their high estate, and how ridiculous they looked in their new forms as primitive men, growling in fright and bewilderment at that which once was their home, but now an unknown abode of terror to their minds. How they longed to be back on Earth again, and resume their customary habits. There was far too much light and splendour in this new place, and they liked it not at all...

It seemed to Hunbatz and Hunchouen that for uncountable Days and Nights, long or short, they had been used to their life in the tree. A mighty tree that had puzzled and frightened them at first but was now their home. The light which now surrounded them and even seemed to go right through them was so dazzling that they could hardly see at all. They wanted to be back in their caves, beneath their trees, hunting, and fighting the enemy, finding their mates, tasting the flesh of deer and buffalo. Here there was nothing, nothing, nothing, so far they could see, except a terrifying old woman who laughed at them, and two strange, shining beings in the shape of men such as they had never seen before, and must therefore be enemies. Their discomfort and fright were very real, and the two brothers saw and felt pity, and taking up their flute and drum, played once more the song of dismissal.

The two wild men fled towards their familiar tree which suddenly appeared before them. Swiftly they climbed into its branches, which became a great wood as they climbed. In it they saw the comforting firelight flickering from the mouth of a cave. Eagerly they entered and fell asleep once more, to awaken in due course to another Day. Thus it was that for many ages the grandmother did not see the faces of her grandsons again. All this came about because of her uncontrollable laughter, which forced her two young grandsons to send the elder back down to Earth, so delaying their return to the Light and Freedom of their true estate on high. For Hunahpu and Xbalanque had meant to set them free, and put an end to the punishment they had previously deserved by their hatred and persecution of the two young brothers. And they turned to the grandmother and spoke, saying: "Once again you have spoiled everything with your mirth; only once more shall we call them back, and the fourth time will be the last."

But when the Twins sounded the flute and drum for the fourth and last recall, there was no response to their challenge. The grandmother had done her work of delay only too well. She had raised a wall between the Earth and the Region of the Other World where she dwelt. But there was a reason behind it all which only the Creator and Maker, and the Heart of Heaven knew. So Hunahpu and Xbalanque turned to the grandmother, and said: "We have done everything possible, dear grandmother. When we called them before they came, but now they do not answer us. But do not grieve; we are here, your grandchildren; you must look to us for comfort. And we are here to remind you of our elder brothers who were called Hunbatz and Hunchouen. They who became monkeys because of the very great Wisdom of the Heart of Heaven. And they shall return to us when the Creator and Maker deem the time has come for that reunion.

Conclusion

Why was there no reply when Hunahpu and Xbalanque recalled their brothers for the final time? Perhaps they had outgrown their rather silly grandmother and their erstwhile home in the Other World? Whatever the reason might be you may be sure it is a good one and that the Heart of Heaven knows all about it. So here my story ends. But not the story of Hunbatz and Hunchouen, for that will continue until they re-become the gods they once were, or perhaps even greater gods. I will leave the last word to Madame Blavatsky whose work forms the subject of my afterword. In Isis Unveiled she wrote: "We have read the Popol Vuh in its original translation, and the review of the same by Max Muller, and out of the former find shining a light of such brightness, that it is no wonder that the matter-of-fact, sceptical scientists should be blinded by it." I agree, which is why I was inspired to write this story which, I need not remind you again, is an allegory, and an anthropoidal one at that! I hope you have derived both joy and instruction from it.

Addendum by Occult Mysteries

After this article was written, we found a number of online PDFs of the Popol Vuh. However, as none of them are faithful facsimiles of the edition the author has used, and/or omit or re-arrange the matter in it, we cannot recommend them. Instead, we refer interested readers to the original printed edition which can still be obtained second-hand.

NOTE: If you have enjoyed this story you can find a complete list of all the author's contributions in the Further reading list at the end of the sidebar.

Article © Copyright Erika Hahn. All worldwide rights reserved. Published 11 February 2024.

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Anthropological riddles

My afterword is adapted from Madame Blavatsky's discussion of the origin of man found in Book II, part III of The Secret Doctrine (see Further reading list at the end of the sidebar)

The origin of man remains a puzzling enigma for which material science has produced many, often contradictory theories, but no solutions. The prevailing scientific consensus is that humans evolved from apes who, as a result of random genetic mutations and environmental pressures, just 'happened' to acquire the unique power of self-consciousness. Over 130 years ago Madame Blavatsky called this hypothesis "the most extravagant theory of the ages."

It's odd that science doesn't apply the same logic, if logic it can be called, to a pile of sticks and stones? Surely, given long enough, they too should be able to arrange themselves into a house by their own volition. The wise Quiché-Maya knew better as my allegory shows. They knew that consciousness is a Divine principle which once infused into matter, animates it and gives it the impetus to evolve. Hence, Hunbatz and Hunchouen did not become monkeys. Nor did monkeys 'evolve' into Hunbatz and Hunchouen. The two brothers existed long before there were any such creatures as monkeys.

Rather, animals resembling apes were selected as the material vehicles of the Higher Minds of pre-existent spiritual beings which, for the want of a better word, The Secret Doctrine calls 'monads' and the Popol Vuh 'gods'. Madame Blavatsky tells us that these ape-like creatures were left over from a previous Manvantara, or age of the earth.

This is the fundamental difference between material science and Occult Science. The former endows matter with innate consciousness and volition whereas the latter denies any such thing until and unless Spirit animates it. Hence, our present-day apes and monkeys, however clever they may be in certain directions, will always remain devoid of the principle of self-consciousness until such time as Higher Minds — symbolized by Hunbatz and Hunchouen in the allegory of the Popol Vuh — incarnate in them.

"As to the origin of that man, not ex-nihilo, cemented by a little red clay, but from a living divine Entity consolidating the astral body with surrounding materials — this conception is too absurd even to be mentioned in the opinion of the materialists." So wrote Madame Blavatsky, and in doing so confirmed the teaching of the Popol Vuh, her 'living divine Entity' being a synonym for Hunbatz and Hunchouen in my story.

She goes on to compare the modern smug anthropologist with Shakespeare's 'proud man' in Measure for Measure, who:

"Dress'd in a little brief authority;
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence — like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the Angels weep!"

The grandmother in my story laughed when she beheld her grandsons after their incarnation in the bodies of two silly monkeys. Had she been wiser she might well have wept! Blavatsky adds that scientists have "nought to do with the 'angels.' Their only concern is the human ancestor, the pithecoid Noah who gave birth to three sons — the tailed Cynocephalus, the tailless Ape, and the 'arboreal' Palaeolithic man. On this point, they will not be contradicted. Every doubt expressed is immediately set down as an attempt to cripple scientific inquiry. The insuperable difficulty at the very foundation of the evolution theory, namely, that no Darwinian is able to give even an approximate definition of the period at which, and the form in which, the first man appeared, is smoothed down to a trifling impediment, which is 'really of no account'." These words might have been written today.

This begs the question I have often asked mystics and so-called 'truthseekers', "why don't you read The Secret Doctrine? It has all the answers you seek and more." Either they've never heard of it, been told Madame Blavatsky is a fraud and a charlatan, or complain it's too long and 'difficult' to read. I can only hope this afterword encourages at least a few of these otherwise earnest and sincere souls to pick up the book.

They would then learn, as I did, that some scientists, even 130 years ago, were prepared to entertain the heretical idea that early man may have evolved simultaneously with the anthropoids he resembled, just as my story relates. Let us listen to one such brave soul quoted by Madame Blavatsky.

"Now wherever anthropoid apes lived, it is clear that, whether as a question of anatomical structure, or of climate and surroundings, man, or some creature which was the ancestor of man, might have lived also. Anatomically speaking, apes and monkeys are as much special variations of the mammalian type as man, whom they resemble, bone for bone, and muscle for muscle, and the physical animal man is simply an instance of the quadrumanous type specialised for erect posture and a larger brain."

Our anonymous scientist continues: "The difficulty is this: the difference in structure between the lowest existing race of man and the highest existing ape is too great to admit of the possibility of one being the direct descendant of the other. If, therefore, the Darwinian theory holds good in the case of man and ape, we must go back to some common ancestor from whom both may have originated. But to establish this as a fact and not a theory we require to find that ancestral form, in other words, the missing link! Now it must be admitted that, hitherto, not only have no such missing links been discovered, but the oldest known human skulls and skeletons which date from the Glacial period, and are probably at least 100,000 years old, show no very decided approximation towards any such pre-human type.

"On the contrary, one of the oldest types, that of the men of the sepulchral cave of Cro-Magnon, is that of a fine race, tall in stature, large in brain, and on the whole superior to many of the existing races of mankind. The reply of course is that the time is insufficient, and if man and the ape had a common ancestor, that as a highly developed anthropoid ape, certainly, and man, probably, already existed in the Miocene period, such ancestor must be sought still further back..."

The Miocene period or epoch as it is now called, refers to the period of time between about 23 and 5 million years ago. The anonymous scientist's conjecture that 'man, probably, already existed in the Miocene period' has since been confirmed. In 1994, a new hominid, 'Ardi' (Ardipithecus ramidus), was found, thought to be 4.4 million years old, whilst in 2002, fossils of Sahelanthropus tchadensis were discovered in northern Chad, in Africa, dated to 7 million years old. So science has now gone very much 'further back' and yet the 'missing link' still eludes discovery!

This inconvenient fact prompts Blavatsky to ask: "If man and ape do not descend from a common ancestor, then we are called upon to explain the reason of:

The similarity of structure between the two; the fact that the higher animal world — man and beast — is physically of one type or pattern.
The presence of rudimentary organs in man, i.e., traces of former organs now atrophied by disuse. Some of these organs, it is asserted, could not have had any scope for employment, except for a semi-animal, semi-arboreal monster. Why, again, do we find in Man those 'rudimentary' organs such as the vermiform appendix of the cecum, the ear muscles, and the 'rudimentary tail', etc., etc?"

Why indeed? Blavatsky neatly demolishes the theory of man's descent from apes by citing the discoveries of material science itself. "The absurdity of such an unnatural descent of man is so palpable in the face of all the proofs and evidence of the skull of the pithecoid as compared to that of man, that it is rather the apes that can claim descent from man than vice versa. Thus, as wittily remarked by a French biologist, a gorilla would have a perfect right to address an Evolutionist, claiming its right of descent from himself. It would say to him, we, anthropoid apes, form a retrogressive departure from the human type, and therefore our development and evolution are expressed by a transition from a human-like to an animal-like structure of organism; but in what way could you, men, descend from us — how can you form a continuation of our genus?" How indeed — let the clever modern anthropologists answer!

This is where Occult Science agrees entirely with the 19th century scientists Blavatsky quoted. She writes: "Owing to the very type of his development man cannot descend from either an ape or an ancestor common to both, but shows his origin from a type far superior to himself. And this type is the 'Heavenly man' — the Dhyan Chohans, or the Pitris so-called." These Eastern esoteric terms find their correspondence in the gods Hunbatz and Hunchouen of the Popol Vuh. "On the other hand," Madame Blavatsky continues, "the pithecoids, the orang-utan, the gorilla, and the chimpanzee can, and, as the Occult Sciences teach, do, descend from the animalised Fourth human Root-Race, being the product of man and an extinct species of mammal.

"This unnatural union was invariably fertile, because the then mammalian types were not remote enough from their Root-type — Primeval Astral Man — to develop the necessary barrier. Medical science records such cases of monsters, bred from human and animal parents, even in our own day. The possibility is, therefore, only one of degree, not of fact. Thus it is that Occultism solves one of the strangest problems presented to the consideration of the anthropologist." Here, Blavatsky refers directly to the occult doctrine touched upon in my foreword, viz. that some apes are descended from early men. This explains why the specific apes Blavatsky mentions exhibit a degree of intelligence which borders on the human and, in some cases, exceeds it, as anthropologists have noted in the interactions between orang-utans and primitive human tribes.

Blavatsky continues: "The anatomical resemblance between Man and the higher Ape, so frequently cited by Darwinists as pointing to some former ancestor common to both, presents an interesting problem, the proper solution of which is to be sought for in the esoteric explanation of the genesis of the pithecoid stocks. We have given it as far as was useful, by stating that the bestiality of the primeval mindless races resulted in the production of huge man-like monsters — the offspring of human and animal parents. As time rolled on, and the still semi-astral forms consolidated into the physical, the descendants of these creatures were modified by external conditions, until the breed, dwindling in size, culminated in the lower apes of the Miocene period. With these the later Atlanteans renewed the sin of the 'Mindless' — this time with full responsibility. The resultants of their crime were the species of apes now known as Anthropoid."

Needless to add, this shameful and uncomfortable explanation is neither acknowledged nor discussed in any of the evolutionary theories of mainstream science. Guilty conscience? I would not like to say. It is up to the reader to accept or reject the material facts which Blavatsky marshalled in support of the occult doctrine of the descent of man, or rather of gods, into ape-like bodies at the very beginning of human history. I say 'ape-like' for, as I touched upon in my foreword, while Occult Science teaches that some apes are descended from early men it firmly refutes, as Blavatsky did, that ape ever gave birth to man, except in the implausible speculations of science.

The esoteric explanation of the genesis of certain anthropoids which Blavatsky first made known to the West in The Secret Doctrine is the only one which, in my view, satisfactorily explains why chimpanzees, for example, exhibit a degree of intelligence which borders on the human. In orang-utans, as I mentioned earlier, it often exceeds it. Alfred Russel Wallace, the early 20th century naturalist and contemporary of Charles Darwin, found that the orang-utan of Borneo was little, if any, inferior in intelligence to the savage tribes he encountered in his travels. He recorded that in the pitched battles which sometimes take place between the apes and human villagers who have offended the anthropoids in some way, the orang-utans usually win through superior strategy and utterly rout and destroy the natives.

If this does not confirm the descent of some apes from primitive man and demolish the need for a 'missing link' in the evolution of physical humanity, I do not know what would. Interested readers are invited to read and study the earlier chapters of the Popol Vuh for themselves. Second-hand copies of the edition I have used for my story are still readily available (see Further reading list below). Having done so, they will find, as I did, that the various attempts to create man recounted in the book fully confirm the occult doctrine of Rounds and Root Races, and the origin of both men and monkeys set forth in The Secret Doctrine.

occult mysteries