NINTH TALK l6l
way, but it is not their principal work. Any man
who is rich and kindly disposed can do that, but
there is much wprk which only those who know can
do. Now it may seem to some that to arrogate to
ourselves the title of tf Those who know" is in
itself rather a conceited attitude to take. We
ought not to do that, but the fact remains. We
may or may not be intellectually superior to
others; we can quite certainly see that there are
very many people who have nothing whatever to do
with Theosophy, who are intellectually very far in
advance of many of us. (I always except our
President of course, because she is a phenomenon.)
The great scientific men are many times more
intellectually powerful than any of our ordinary
members are. No one could doubt that for a
moment, while in spirituality and in devotion there
are many Catholics and many members of other
Christian sects/ and of non-Christian religions, who
are in every way quite as advanced as we along these
lines. But still the fact remains. It has been our
Karma to study these subjects and consequently,
because of that study, we do know more about them
than all these excellent people who have not studied
them. They have gone along their lines, we along
ours. They use such qualities as they have devel-
oped in order to help other people, and it has come
to us to know and to understand Theosophy. That,
therefore, is the great talent which is put into our
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