"' Having for Father, Spirit, which is Life (the endless Circle or Parabrahm) and for Mother the Great Deep, which is Substance (Prakriti in its undifferentiated condition) - Adonai possesses the potency of both and wields the dual powers of all things.' We would say triple, but in the sense as given this will do. Pythagoras had a reason for never using the finite useless figure - 2, and for altogether discarding it. The ONE can, when manifesting, become only 3. The umanifested when a simple duality remains passive and concealed. The dual monad (the 7th and 6th principles) has, in order to manifest itself as a Logos, the 'Kwan-shai-yin' to first become a triad (7th, 6th and half of the 5th)..." (Mahatma Letters, pp. 346-7)

"In short, as the spiritual Monad is one, Universal, Boundless and Impartite, whose rays, nevertheless, form what we, in our ignorance, call the 'Individual Monads' of men, so the Mineral Monad being at the opposite point of the circle is also one - and from it proceed the countless physical atoms, which Science is beginning to regard as individualized. ... As the Monads are uncompounded things, as correctly defined by Leibnitz, it is the spiritual essence which vivifies them in their degrees of differentiation, which properly constitutes the Monad - not the atomic aggregation, which is only the vehicle and the substance through which thrill the lower and the higher degrees of intelligence." (Secret Doctrine I, pp.177-9)

"It would be very misleading to imagine a Monad as a separate Entity trailing its slow way in a distinct path through the lower Kingdoms, and after an incalculable series of transformations flowering into a human being; in short, that the Monad of a Humboldt dates back to the Monad of an atom of horneblende." (Secret Doctrine I, p. 178)

Neo-Theosophy:

"Now this specialisation of Jack out of the dog-Group Soul is due, not only to the higher vibrations sent towards him from Jack's master, mistress, and friends, but also to the fact that a Monad, 'a fragment of Divinity,' is seeking to form an Ego or Soul in order to begin his human experiences. This Monad long ago attached to itself an atom of each of the planes as a centre on each plane, as an 'earnest' sent in advance with a view to his future work . . . When the 'permanent atoms' find themselves in touch with a highly specialized part of the animal Group Soul, like the 'soul of Jack,' then the Monad sends down from his high plane certain influences ... the 'soul of Jack' as the result of the stronger and more divine radiations from the Monad, breaks off from the Group Soul ..." (C. Jinarajadasa, First Principles of Theosophy, p. 122)

"Meanwhile, it may be said in passing, the everflowing stream of life from the Logos supplies new Monads of form on the higher levels, so that the evolution proceeds continuously, and as the more-evolved Monads incarnate in the lower worlds their place is taken by the newly emerged Monads in the higher." (Annie Besant, Ancient Wisdom, p. 205)

"The evolution of matter is a re-arrangement; the evolution of life is an unlocking and an unfoldment. In the first cell of living matter, in some imcomprehensible fashion, are Shakespeare and Beethoven. Nature may need millions of years to re-arrange the substance, 'selecting' age after age, till the proper aggregation is found, and Shakespeare and Beethoven can come from her bosom to be the protagonists in one scene of her drama. Yet all the while, throughout the millions of years, the life held them both mysteriously within itself . ...Within each cell HE resides in HIS fullness, under HIS guidance, at the proper time, Shakespeare and Beethoven step forth, and we call it Evolution."  (C Jinarajadasa, First Principles of Theosophy, p. 17) [19]