See other formats

Full text of "The Theosophical quarterly"

The Theosophical Society in America, as such, is not responsible for 
any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, 
unless contained in an official document. 

THE NEW THEOLOGY. 

SIGNS multiply of the coming of the Great White Dawn. During 
the long spaces of the night, minute follows minute, hour drags 
on after hour, with little change. Darkness and silence blend all 
things in one. But when the time of darkness is past, and the 
coming of the day-star is at hand, the first faint gray of the East grows 
white with ever added swiftness. Then the white reddens. Red passes 
into gold, heralding the lord of day. Meantime all nature is awakening 
into light and song, and every moment brings new change, new awaken- 
ing. While night lasted, it was easy to enumerate the changes : darkness 
succeeding darkness, with only the majestical stars wheeling silently 
westward through the clear ether. But when dawn comes, light and 
color and song are poured forth with such swift richness that one can 
no longer record their quick succession. 

Some such dawn has come upon us, after long years of quiet prepar- 
ation. We see on all hands the ideals triumphing, for which we fought 
what seemed for years a hopeless fight. The spirit of peace is enfolding 
mankind with gentle wings, and universal brotherhood is the spoken 
ideal on many lips in all lands. And not on lips only, but in gentle and 
aspiring hearts. The recognition of spiritual reality behind this painted 
veil of appearances spreads swiftly too, and we are confronted with our 
own ideals, which greet us with the smile of victory. What we have 
long taught and held, that this personal self is but the apparition and 
minister of the Higher Self, is now meeting with ever fuller recogni- 
tion. It has come as an ideal, knocking at the hearts of men, and they 
have opened the door and made welcome the guest. The old hard 
forms of thought, the materialism and dogmatism which made men's 
minds rigid and dark, have not been piece by piece destroyed. They 
have been laid aside; they have melted away of themselves. They find 




2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

themselves without defenders. Their case goes by default. A generation 
ago, the most powerful minds, the most persuasive voices were on the 
side of materialism. Those voices are now stilled, and no others are 
there to take up their message. The voices of the new day speak no 
longer for things material but for things spiritual. 

Very noteworthy among these signs of the coming Dawn is the 
change which is passing over Theology, not in one land, but in all lands, 
not in one Church, but in all Churches. It is not that the old, hard views 
have been hammered to pieces, but that they are quietly laid aside. 
New ideals, first conceived in the silence of the heart, have come forth 
as eloquent thought and speech, and the miracle is accomplished. Very 
noteworthy among the records of this new awakening within the 
Churches is a book which has just appeared, entitled, The New Theology. 
Its author is one of the most popular preachers in England, the Reverend 
R. J. Campbell, Minister of the City Temple in London. The book 

- ^-*t has had instant success, drawing the minds of all, as did the sermons 
from which the book gradually grew. It has been praised or blamed in a 

/ ^J^2 hundred sermons, in a hundred churches. Articles have been written for 
and against the views put forth. New editions have been called for, 
and the New Theology, albeit the book is only a few months old, is 
already an accomplished fact. We shall try to give the essence of its 
teaching, at first without comment, leaving the book to testify for itself. 

Here is the view of the New Theology concerning God. It begins 
with the thought that all religion is the recognition of an essential 
relationship between the human soul and the great whole of things 
of which the soul is the outcome and expression. The mysterious 
universe is always calling, and, in some form or other, we are always 
answering. There is in the background of experience a conviction that 
the unit is the instrument of the All. Religion is implied in all activities 
in which man aims at a higher-than-self. But religion, properly so-called, 
begins when the soul consciously enters upon communion with this 
higher-than-self as with an all-comprehending intelligence. Religion is 
the soul instinctively turning toward its source and goal. What name 
are we to give to this higher-than-self whose presence is so unescapable? 
The name matters comparatively little, but it includes all that the 
ordinary Christian means by God. 

The word "God" stands for many things, but to present-day thought 
it must stand for the un-caused Cause of all existence, the unitary 
principle implied in all multiplicity. "When I say God," says the author 
of The New Theology, "I mean the mysterious Power which is finding 
expression in the universe, and which is present in every tiniest atom of 
the wondrous whole. I find that this Power is the one reality I cannot get 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 3 

away from, for, whatever else it may be, it is myself. Whatever distinctions 
there may be within the universe, it is clear that they must all be 
transcended and comprehended within infinity. There cannot be two 
infinities, nor can there be an infinite and also a finite beyond it. 
What infinity may be, we can have no means of knowing. We can 
predicate nothing with confidence concerning the all-comprehending 
unity wherein we live and move and have our being, save and except as 
we see it manifested in that part of our universe which lies open to us." 
The wide sweep of rock and sea and sky tells us of "a beneficent stillness, 
an eternal strength, far above and beyond these finite tossings. It whispers 
the word impossible to utter, the word that explains everything, the 
deep that calleth unto deep. So my God calls always to my deeper 
soul, and tells me I must read Him by mine own highest and best, and 
by the highest and best that the universe has yet produced." 

But why is there a universe at all? Why has the unlimited become 
limited? The reason may be, that this infinite universe of ours is one 
means to the self-realization of the infinite. "Supposing God to be 
infinite consciousness, there are still possibilities to that consciousness 
which it can only know as it becomes limited. Those to whom this 
thought is unfamiliar have only to look at their own experience in order 
to see how reasonable it is. You may know yourself to be a brave man, 
but you will know it in a higher way if you are a soldier facing the 
cannon's mouth; you will know it in a still different way if you have 
to face the hostility and prejudice of a whole community for standing 
by something which you believe to be right. It is one thing to know 
that you are a lover of truth; it is another thing to realize it when your 
immediate interest and your immediate safety would bid you hedge and 
lie. Do not these facts of human nature and experience tell us something 
about God? To all eternity God is what He is and never can be other, 
but it will take Him to all eternity to live out all that He is. In order to 
manifest even to Himself the possibilities of His being God must limit 
that being. There is no other way in which the fullest self-realization 
can be attained." 

Thus we get two modes of God, the infinite, perfect, unconditioned, 
primordial being ; and the finite, imperfect, conditioned and limited being 
of which we are ourselves expressions. And yet these two are one, and 
the former is the guarantee that the latter shall not fail in the purpose 
for which it became limited. "Thus to the question, Why a finite uni- 
verse ? I should answer, Because God wants to express what He is. His 
achievement here is only one of an infinite number of possibilities. 

God is the perfect poet 

Who in creation acts His own conceptions. 



4 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

This is an end worthy alike of God and man. The act of creation 
is eternal, although the cosmos is changing every moment, for God is 
ceaselessly uttering Himself through higher and ever higher forms of 
existence. We are helping Him to do it when we are true to ourselves 
... To put it in homely, everyday phraseology, God is getting at some- 
thing and we must help Him. We must be His eyes and hands and feet ; 
we must be laborers together with Him. This fits in with what science 
has to say about the very constitution of the universe; it is all of a 
piece; there are no gaps anywhere. It is a divine experiment without 
risk of failure, and we must interpret it in terms of our own highest." 

The real universe must be infinitely greater and more complex than 
the one which is apparent to our physical senses. "Suppose we were 
endowed to hear and see sounds and colors a million times greater in 
number than those of which we have at present any cognizance ! What 
kind of a universe would it be then? But that universe exists now; 
it is around us and within us ; it is God's thought about Himself, infinite 
and eternal. It is only finite to a finite mind, and it is more than probable 
that spiritual beings exist with a range of consciousness far greater than 
our own, to whom the universe of which we form a part must seem 
far more beautiful and fuller of meaning than it seems to us. Imagine 
a man who could only see gray hues and could only hear the note A on 
the keyboard. His experience would be quite as real as ours, and indeed 
would be the same up to a point, but how little he would know of the 
world as we know it. The glory of the sunset sky would be hidden from 
him; for him the melting power of the human voice, or of a grand 
cathedral organ, would not exist. So, no doubt, it is in a different degree 
with us all. The so-called material world is our consciousness of reality 
exercising itself along a strictly limited plane. We can know just as 
much as we are constituted to know, and no more. But it is all a question 
of consciousness. The larger and fuller a consciousness becomes, the 
more it can grasp and hold of the consciousness of God, the funda- 
mental reality of our being as of everything else." 

Nowadays we hear a great deal about the subconscious mind, as it 
is most clumsily called; the sub-liminal or supra-liminal consciousness; 
the consciousness above the threshold of our habitual personal selves. 
This supra-liminal consciousness, this "consciousness above the thresh- 
hold," seems to be the seat of inspiration and intuition, according 
to the author of The New Theology. The thoughts which are most 
valuable are those which come unbidden, rising to the surface of 
consciousness from unknown depths. The best scientific discoveries are 
made in much the same way ; the investigator has an intuition and forth- 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 5 

with sets to work to justify it. "Now what is this subconscious mind 
whose importance is so great and of whose nature we know so little? 
That is a question upon which psychology has not yet pronounced, but 
there are not a few who regard it as the real personality. Evidently it is 
not only deeper but larger than the surface mind. Our discovery of its 
existence has taught us that our ordinary consciousness is but a tiny 
corner of our personality. It has been well described as an illuminated 
disk on a vast ocean of being; it is like an island in the Pacific which 
is really the summit of a mountain whose base is miles below the surface. 
Summit and base are one, and yet no one realizes when standing on 
the little island that he is perched at the very top of a mountain peak. 
So it is with our everyday consciousness of ourselves; we find it rather 
difficult to realize that this consciousness is not all there is of us. And 
yet, when we come to examine into the facts, the conclusion seems 
irresistible, that of our truer, deeper being we are quite unconscious." 

"Several important inferences follow from this position. The first 
is that our surface consciousness is somewhat illusory and does not possess 
the sharpness and definiteness of outline which we are accustomed to 
take for granted when thinking of ourselves. To ordinary common sense 
nothing seems more obvious than that we know most that is to be known 
about our friend John Smith . . . But according to the newer psychology, 
this matter-of-fact Englishman is not what he seems even to himself. 
His true being is vastly greater than he knows, and vastly greater than 
the world will ever know. It belongs not to the material plane of exist- 
ence but to the plane of eternal reality. This larger self is in all proba- 
bility a perfect and eternal spiritual being integral to the being of 
God. His surface self, his Philistine self, is the incarnation of some 
portion of that true eternal self, which is one with God. The divid- 
ing line between the surface self and the other self is not the definite 
demarcation it appears to be. To the higher self it does not exist 
...If my readers want to know whether I think that the higher self 
is conscious of the lower, I can only answer, yes, I do, but I cannot prove 
it; probabilities point that way. What I want to insist on here is that 
we are greater than we seem, that we have a higher self, and that our 
limited consciousness does not involve a separate individuality. 

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; 

The Soul that rises with us, our life's star, 

Hath had elsewhere its setting, 

And cometh from afar. 

Not in entire forgetfulness, 

And not in utter nakedness, 

But trailing clouds of glory do we come 

From God who is our home. 



6 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The greatest poets are the best theologians after all, for they see 
the farthest. The true being is consciousness ; the universe, visible and 
invisible, is consciousness. The higher self of the individual infolds 
more of the consciousness of God than the lower, but lower and higher 
are the same thing. 

"Another inference from the theory of the subconscious mind is that 
of the fundamental unity of the whole human race. Indeed all life is 
fundamentally one, but there is a kinship of man with man which pre- 
cedes that of man with any other order of being. Here again the spir- 
itual truth cuts across what seem to be the dictates of common sense. 
Common sense assumes that I and Thou are eternally distinct, and that 
by no possibility can the territories of our respective beings ever become 
one. But even now, and on mere everyday grounds, we are finding 
reason to think otherwise . . . All being, remember, is conscious 
of being. The infinite consciousness sees itself as a whole; the finite 
consciousness sees the same whole as a part. Ultimately your being 
and mine are one and we shall come to know it. Individuality only has 
meaning in relation to the whole, and individual consciousness can only 
be fulfilled by expanding until it embraces the whole. Nothing that 
exists in your consciousness now and constitutes your self-knowledge 
will ever be obliterated or ever can be, but in a higher state of existence 
you will realize it to be a part of the universal stock. I shall not cease 
to be I, nor you to be you; but there must be a region of experience 
where we shall find that you and I are one. 

4 

"A third inference, already hinted at and presumed in all that has 
gone before, is that the highest of all selves, the ultimate Self of the 
universe, is God. The New Testament speaks of man as body, soul, 
and spirit. The body is the thought-form through which the individuality 
finds expression on our present limited plane; the soul is a man's con- 
sciousness of himself as apart from all the rest of existence and even 
from God it is the bay seeing itself as the bay and not as the ocean; 
the spirit is the true being thus limited and expressed it is the deathless 
divine within us. The soul therefore is what we make it; the spirit we 
can neither make nor mar, for it is at once our being and God's. . . . 
Where, then, someone will say, is the dividing line between our being 
and God's? There is no dividing line except on our side. The ocean 
of consciousness knows that the bay has never been separate from itself, 
although the bay is only conscious of the ocean on the outer side of its 
being." 

So far the teaching of The New Theology in its universal aspect. 
Let us now turn to its view of the character and position of Jesus. In 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 7 

a sense, says our author, everything that exists is divine, because the 
whole universe is an expression of the being of God. But it is well to 
restrict the word "divine" -to the kind of consciousness which knows 
itself to be, and rejoices to be, the expression of a love which is a 
consistent self-giving to the universal life. "God is love; and he that 
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him." Jesus was divine 
simply and solely because his life was never governed by any other 
principle. In him humanity was divinity, and divinity, humanity. The 
world by a right instinct recognizes Jesus as the standard of human 
excellence. But this is not to say that we shall never reach that stand- 
ard too; quite the contrary. We must reach it in order to fulfil our 
destiny and to crown and complete the work of Jesus. "This brings us 
to the further question of the Deity of Jesus. As a matter of fact, as 
I have already indicated, this question, too, has long been settled in 
practice. If by the Deity of Jesus is meant that He possessed the all- 
controlling consciousness of the universe, then assuredly He was not 
the Deity for He did not possess that consciousness. He prayed to 
His Father, sometimes with agony and dread; He wondered, suffered, 
wept, and grew weary. He confessed His ignorance of some things and 
declared Himself to have no concern with others; it is even doubtful 
how far He was prepared to receive the homage of those about Him. 
If there be one thing which becomes indisputable from the reading of 
the gospel narratives it is that Jesus possessed a true human conscious- 
ness, limited like our own." 

The next question is, to determine the meaning of the title "Christ," 
applied to Jesus. The author of The New Theology sets about it thus: 
"The idea of a divine Man, the emanation of the infinite, the soul of the 
universe, the source and goal of all humanity, is ages older than Christian 
theology. It can be traced in Babylonian religious literature, for instance, 
at a period older even than the Old Testament. It played a not unimport- 
ant part in Greek thought, and Philo of Alexandria, a contemporary of 
Jesus, works it out in some detail in his religio-philosophic system, 
which aimed to combine the wide outlook of Greek culture with the high 
seriousness of Hebrew religion. It is a true, indeed an inevitable, con- 
ception, if we hold anything like a consistent view of the immanence 
of God in His universe. With what God have we to do except the God 
who is eternally man? This aspect of the nature of God has been var- 
iously described in the course of its history. It has been called the 
Word (Logos), the Son, and, as we have seen, the second person of 
the Trinity. For various reasons I prefer to call it or rather Him 
the eternal Christ. . ... According to the New Testament writers, 
Jesus was and is the Christ, but in His earthly life His consciousness 
of the fact was limited. But, as we have come forth from this fontal 



8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

manhood, we too must be to some extent expressions of this eternal 
Christ ; and it is in virtue of that fact that we stand related to Jesus, and 
that the personality of Jesus has anything to do with us. Here is where 
the value of our belief in the interaction of the higher and the lower 
self comes in. Fundamentally our being is already one with that of 
the eternal Christ." 

Very interesting are the chapters on the Atonement, which make up 
about one-third of the entire book. They form an invaluable bridge 
from the old orthodoxy to the newer vistas of to-day. We must, how- 
ever, pass on to the closing section of the book, and touch on the views 
put forward concerning Salvation and Resurrection. Our author holds 
the doctrine that sin and selfishness are two expressions for the same 
thing. "If sin is selfishness," he says, "salvation must consist in ceasing 
to be selfish, that is, it represents the victory of love in the human heart. 
This may be represented as the uprising of the deeper self, the true man, 
the Christ man in the experience of the penitent. . . . Wherever 
you see a man trying to do something for the common good, you see the 
uprising of the spirit of Christ ; what he is doing is a part of the Atone- 
ment. In church or out of church, with or without a formal creed, this 
is the true way in which the redemption of the world is proceeding. 
Every man who is trying to live so as to make his life a blessing to the 
world is being saved himself in the process, saved by becoming a saviour. 
Ordinary observation ought to tell us that untold thousands of our 
fellow-beings, even among those who never dream of going to church, 
are being saved in this way. This is the true way to look at the matter. 
The Christ, the true Christ who was and is Jesus, but who is also 
the deeper self of every human being, is saving individuals by filling 
them with the unselfish desire to save the race. It is this unselfish desire 
to minister to the common good which is the true salvation." 

"And who, pray, is the judge? Who but yourself? The deeper 
self is the judge, the self who is eternally one with God. The pain 
caused by sin arises from the soul, which is potentially infinite and 
cannot have its true nature denied. If you go and live over a sewer, you 
will be ill. Why? Because you were never meant to live over a sewer. 
The evil therein attacks you, and the life within you fights to overcome 
it, and in the process you have to suffer. It is just the same with your 
spiritual nature. You cannot continue to live apart from the whole, for 
the real you is the whole, and, do what you will, it will overcome every- 
thing within you that makes for separateness, and in the process you 
will have to suffer. This is what the punishment of sin means. It is 
life battling with death, love striving against selfishness, the deeper 
soul with the surface soul. It is our own spiritual nature that compels 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 9 

us to suffer when we sin, and there is no escaping the sentence; if we 
sin we must suffer, for we are so constituted that what sin does, love 
with toil and pain must undo. No eleventh hour repentence can evade 
this issue ; in fact, it may be the beginning of it. If we have been tread- 
ing a wrong road, repentance is turning round and taking the way back. 
If we have been living a false life, repentance is the beginning of the 
true, and just in proportion as the false has been accepted, so will the 
true find it difficult to destroy the lie. You are the judge; you in God." 

Lastly, we come to the resurrection of Jesus, and this is likely to be 
for many people the most startling part of the book. To begin with, 
our author accepts the resurrection and the subsequent recognition of 
Jesus by the disciples, as facts: "It is almost indisputable that in some 
way or other the disciples must have become convinced that they had 
seen Jesus face to face after the world believed Him to be dead and 
buried. . . . It is clear that the earliest Christians were absolutely 
certain that the body of Jesus after the resurrection was the body of 
Jesus as they had known it before, although apparently it possessed some 
new and mysterious attributes. In my judgment, also, insistence upon 
the impossibility of a physical resurrection presumes an essential dis- 
tinction between matter and spirit which I cannot admit. The philosophy 
underlying the New Theology as I understand it is monistic idealism, 
and monistic idealism recognizes no fundamental distinction between 
matter and spirit. The fundamental reality is consciousness. The so- 
called material world is the product of consciousness exercising itself 
along a certain limited plane ; the next stage of consciousness above this 
is not an absolute break with it, although it is an expansion of experience 
or readjustment of focus. Admitting that individual self-consciousness 
persists beyond the change called death, it only means that such con- 
sciousness is being exercised along another plane; from a three-dimen- 
sional it has entered a four-dimensional world. This new world is no 
less and no more material than the present; it is all a question of the 
range of consciousness. It is this view, the view that matter exists only 
in and for mind, that leads me to believe that less than justice has been 
done by liberal thinkers to the theory of the physical resurrection of 
Jesus." 

It is doubtful if such a startling proposition has ever before been 
put forward in such a simple and matter-of-fact way. The change 
called death, it is suggested, is the passage from three-dimensional to 
four-dimensional being ; neither less nor more than that. But our author 
goes on the make the direct application to Jesus: "Imagine a being 
free of a three-dimensional world trying to converse with a being still 
limited to a two-dimensional world, and we have a clew to what I think 



io THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

may have happened after the crucifixion of Jesus. The three-dimen- 
sional body would behave in a manner altogether unaccountable to the 
two-dimensional watcher. The latter, knowing only length and breadth, 
and nothing of up or down, would see his three-dimensional friend as 
a line only. The moment the three-dimensional solid rose above or 
sank below his line of vision, it would seem to have disappeared like 
an apparition, although as really present as before. To the two-dimen- 
sional mind it would seem as though the solid were a ghost. Does this 
throw any light upon the mysterious appearances and disappearances of 
the body of Jesus? . . . Here, then, we have a being whose con- 
sciousness belongs to the fourth-dimensional plane adjusting Himself to 
the capacity of those on a three-dimensional plane for the sake of prov- 
ing to them v beyond dispute that 

Life is ever lord of death, 

And love can never lose its own. 

This seems to me the most reasonable explanation of the post-resurrec- 
tion appearances of Jesus, and the impression produced by them on 
the minds of His disciples. ... In consonance with this idealistic 
view of the subject the ascension becomes understandable; it simply 
means that when Jesus had done what He wanted, the body was dissi- 
pated." 

Here is the essence of the New Theology. Now that we have come 
to the end of our analysis, it becomes evident that any detailed comment 
would be entirely superfluous. Every principle here put forward is 
familiar to all of us, and has been familiar for years. They are the 
self-same views that our own teachers gave forth a generation ago, and 
for which we have stood, through evil report and good report, through 
long years. It is not on the doctrines that we need to lay the emphasis. 
What we need to hold in mind is that these same age-old teachings are 
now breaking through, in the heart of the Christian Churches. We 
must be quick to recognize them there, and to welcome them. And we 
may further recognize, as very familiar to us, the inspiring spirit which 
is now speaking so clearly through this rather novel and unexpected 
channel. We may learn that there are many ways in which that spirit 
works, though working always toward the Great White Dawn. 



Some Letters of "H. P. B." 



[NOTE. The Editor of THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY has had the 
good fortune to receive from Mrs. Charles Johnston (nee Vera Jelihov- 
sky, and a niece of Madame Blavatsky), extracts from a number of 
letters which H. P. B. wrote to various members of her family in the 
years following the formation of the Theosophical Society in 1875. The 
letters, which are printed with the consent of the recipients, have been 
translated from Russian by Mrs. Johnston, to whom all our thanks are 
due for thus making available these unpublished writings of the 
foundress of the T. S.] 

June 8, 1877. 

... I have finished my article on Nirvana and the conceptions of 
the ancient Buddhists concerning God, the immortality of the soul, and 
cosmogony, as compared to the modern decadence of religious ideas. The 
Editor seems to be very pleased . . . To be sure, my Master helped 
me to write it, yet it took me only two evenings. I shall send it to you 
to look at ; possibly someone will translate it for you. I wish Vera would 
translate it for the Russian press. The article is a good one. Its learn- 
ing is so great that all the Orientalists will have tremblings in their legs. 
I also send you Turgenyeff's poem on "the game of croquet at Windsor." 
I have translated it and received compliments for it. Note please that 
your relative is called "an accomplished lady" in the editorial note. . . . 
Life in this country is pleasant, just because you can abuse anybody with 
perfect immunity, not merely the Pope, but even the Editor of the 
Presidential organ, the New York Herald. Yet he is an untold power 
here. However, print will stand anything! . . . 

Do not ask me, friend, what I experience, and how these things 
come about, for I cannot explain anything clearly to you. I do not 
understand it all myself. One thing I do know: that toward my old 
age, I have become a bric-a-brac store for the accumulation of various 
disused objects of antiquity. Somebody comes, winding around me 
like a misty cloud, and then, in one turn sends me out of my body, and 
I am no more Helena Petrovna, General Blavatsky's faithful spouse, 
but somebody else, born in a different part of the world, strong and 
mighty; as to me, it seems as if I were sleeping meanwhile, or at least 
dozed; not in my body, but beside it, as if there was some kind of a 
thread only binding me to my body, and not letting me go more than 
two paces from it. At other times I see clearly everything done by my 



12 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

body and I understand and remember what it says : I see awe, devotion, 
and fear in the faces of Olcott and others, and observe how the Master 
looks condescendingly at them out of my eyes, and speaks to them with 
my physical tongue, yet not with my brain but his own, which enwraps 
my brain like a cloud. I cannot tell you all, Nadya, and just because, 
though you are the best, most honest, and noblest of human beings, 
you are very religious, and you hold to the holy faith of your fore- 
fathers; as to me, though God sees that in reality I believe in the same 
things that you do, yet I believe in my own way. You are accustomed 
to believe in the interpretations accepted by the Church, and the dogmas 
of orthodoxy, and though I feel that I know them correctly, and firmly, 
I do not understand them from the human point of view, but from the 
spiritual point of view, metaphysically, so to speak. For me, all the 
symbols, great and holy as they are in the eyes of the Christians, are 
still merely symbols invented by erring humanity for the sake of a 
surer and more universal comprehensibility. But I look through them 
not at them at their very spiritual significance, and in order to come 
nearer to this meaning, I do not even notice that often do I over- 
turn the objective in order to reach the subjective the sooner. In 
my ideal, Christ has incarnated, not in Jesus only, but in humanity 
in its totality; and as His flesh was crucified, so must all human flesh 
be crucified, before man the inner man, the Ego, gets a chance to 
become the real man, the Adam Kadmon, the Heavenly man, of the 
Chaldean Kabbala. Christ is the symbol of the highest spirit of man, 
not of the soul. The soul is one thing, the spirit is another. There 
is a soul (anima) in every animal, in every infusoria; but the human 
spirit is a direct emanation of the Universal, Boundless, Endless 
Spirit of God, about which we sinful creatures ought not even to 
think, unless it be in the depth of our hearts, locking ourselves in 
solitude in the inner chamber, pronouncing His Name mentally, and by 
no means aloud. (Matthew, VI, 5-23). The flesh is the devil, the only 
devil in the world. There can be no other objective devils of any kind; 
and the whole world not our planet alone, but the universe, is divided 
into three parts: first, pure spirit; second, half-spirit, half-matter; third, 
gross matter, our flesh. Every atom of matter (flesh) whether it is 
earthly, or belongs to the human body, every grain of dust, before it 
reached its present aspect, was pure spirit, its own essence, so to speak. 
It is not in the crude material evolution of the physical world, as Darwin 
teaches it, that I believe, but in the double evolution, the spiritual walking 
hand in hand, and having always so walked, with the physical. In this I 
believe completely, just because I believe in the one Universal God, and 
the immutable logic and necessarianism of His laws, established once for 
all. This is why I do not believe in the creation of the world ex nihilo y 
nor in miracles, as the foundation of which we have to accept a temporary 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 13 

stoppage of these immutable laws. Do not be angry, but understand me. 
I believe in the miracles, the so-called miracles of both Christ and the 
Apostles, but I do not believe that the Supreme Power in Its own 
person, brought natural laws to a stoppage for their sake. These laws 
I do not understand in the sense of our foolish learned folk; for they 
have not yet dreamed of a tenth part of them, and it is not of natural, 
physical law I am speaking, but of spiritual laws which become manifest 
in all their power only when man, having become like unto bodiless 
spirits, has reached, like some miracle-workers, the divine point of his 
individuality. It is because of this that their own spirit, rid of every 
trace of the flesh and the devil, acquires the faculty apparently to work 
miracles. Can't you see that the basis for the springing up of all kinds 
of heresies consisted exactly in the fact of the Fathers of the Church 
having anathematised the ancient philosophical conception of the triple 
individuality of man, and the emanation of the Spirit of man from the 
essence of Divinity itself. This triple individuality was upheld and 
believed in by Origen, for which he was exiled, and even Irenaeus, in 
178 A. D. Perchance it may be said that Origen was once upon a time 
a Neo-platonist, but Irenaeus hated this school, and for him the philos- 
ophers and Eclectics of Alexandria were even worse than the Gnostics 
themselves, whom he so persistently fought. Yet what does he say? 
"Carne, anima, spiritu, alteri quidam figurant, spiritu altero quod 
formatur, carne. Id vero quod inter haec est duo est anima, quae 
aliquando subsequens spiritum elevatur ab eo, aliquando autem con- 
sentiens carni in terrenes concupiscentias" (Irenaus V. I.). In other 
words, the altogether perfect man consists of body, soul and immor- 
tal spirit; the Soul stands as intermediary between them; 'Soul' in 
the Old Testament is Nephesh, which word, without either choice 
or sense is translated indifferently, 'Soul, life, blood' and various other 
terms ; and when this soul, by the power of its own highest aspirations, 
holds more to its Supreme Spirit, well and good; but when it is more 
in sympathy with the flesh, the latter absorbs it in itself, and will 
ultimately bring it to perdition. Per se, the soul is not immortal. The 
soul outlives the man's body only for as long as is necessary for it to 
get rid of everything earthly and fleshly; then, as it is gradually purified, 
its essence comes into progressively closer union with the Spirit, which 
alone is immortal. The tie between them becomes more and more 
indissoluble. When the last atom of the earthly is evaporated, then this 
duality becomes a unity, and the Ego of the former man becomes for- 
ever immortal. But if whilst still in the flesh, the man has failed to 
prepare himself to part with joy from his perishable body, if the man 
has lived only his earthly life, and the fleshly thoughts have strangled 
all trace of spiritual life in him, he will not be born again; he will not 
see God (John iii, 3). Like a still-born child, he will leave the womb 



14 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of earthly life, his mother, and after the death of his flesh he will be 
born not into a better world, but into the region of eternal death, because 
his Soul has ruined itself for ever, having destroyed its connection with 
the Spirit. The flesh has triumphed, and the soul is carried downward, 
not upward. 

And so not all of us human beings are immortal. As Jesus expresses 
it, we must take the Kingdom of Heaven by violence. Alas, my dear 
Madam, there are not many of the great parables of Christ which have 
been understood. Read in Matt, xiii, the parable of the seed, some of 
which fell by the wayside and the birds devoured them, and some brought 
forth a hundredfold, because their roots struck deep into their own 
spirit. As to the grains that were lost forever, they are human souls. 
Have you never met people who have long ago parted with their souls 
people who have nothing left but their animal souls, and of whose spirit 
there is no more trace? I have met such. When their bodies die, these 
people will die forever. No resurrection for them, no future life, and 
not the strongest mediums could call them back any more, because 
they are nowhere to be found any more. Origen says the same thing. 
Consequently we are all trinities. Plato, Pythagoras and Plutarch all 
taught this ; but so far these philosophers have been so little understood, 
that all their terminology is dreadfully mixed up. Both nous (immortal 
spirit), and psyche (soul), have been rendered by the same word, "soul;" 
in the Acts of the Apostles you will find the same thing. St. Paul clearly 
speaks of two principles; the soul and the spirit, but the translators 
have distorted everything. Look up the epistle of James, Our Lord's 
brother (Ch. iii. 15). 

I do not know how it is translated in Russian, but in the Greek text 
you will find that James points out directly the kind of thing our soul 
is, by the following words : this wisdom descendeth not from above, but 
is earthly, psychical, devilish. The human spirit (man's spiritual individu- 
ality) lights up the earthly man, the Adam of the second chapter of 
Genesis, from above, touching more or less his head only, and the soul 
(Nephesh) has its seat in the blood and bones, throughout the body 
The soul is the spiritual man, merely in the physiological sense. When 
the soul is imprisoned in a sinning body, it is as if in jail, and in order 
to get rid of its chains, it has progressively to aspire upward toward its 
spirit. The soul is a chameleon. It becomes a copy either of the spirit 
or of the body. In the first case, it acquires the faculty of separating 
itself from the body with ease, and of setting forth, traveling all over 
the wide world, having left in the body a provision of vital forces, or 
animal, instinctive mental movements. 

For it, there are no obstacles of either distance or matter. In the 
measure of its union with the spirit it becomes more or less clairvoyant. 
It may even become all-seeing and omniscient for a few earthly moments, 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." i$ 

or even hours. This is the secret of somnambulism and certain kinds 
of mediumism. But in the second case it is merely an animal soul. In 
it there is no clairvoyance, not even any glimpse of prescience; yet 
mediumism is by no means an indication of a man's holiness. It is 
merely a physiological phenomenon. Usually, the better the medium, the 
more delicate he is; yet it is not disease that comes as a result of medi- 
umism, but the latter as the result of bodily weakness, of shattered nerves. 
The walls of the prison being down, the soul will find it easier to tear 
itself away and go forth into free space. A man may be a blackguard, 

like H , and be the greatest of mediums; but in this case his soul 

will be obsessed by other souls, more or less sinful, in accord with the 
quality of his own; as is the pastor, so is the parish. But there are 
thousands of shades of mediumism, and they cannot all be enumerated 
in a letter. All the ancient philosophers knew this, and shunned medi- 
umism to such an extent that it was strictly forbidden to admit mediums 
to the Eleusinian and other Mysteries: those who had a "familiar 
spirit." Socrates was higher and purer than Plato; yet the latter was 
initiated into the Mysteries, while Socrates was rejected, and in the 
course of time he was even doomed to die, because, though not initiated 
into the Mysteries, he revealed a part of them to the world through the 
agency of his daimonion, of which he himself was not consciously aware. 

The Egyptians also divided man in the same way, and gave the name 
of Nut to the one Spirit of God. It would seem that Anaxagoras was 
the first to borrow this name from them, and gave to the omnipotent spirit 
(Arche tes Keneseos) the name of Nous, or as he puts it, Nous Auto- 
krates : "At the beginning of Creation," he says, "everything was in 
chaos ; then appeared Nous and introduced order into this chaos." In 
his idea, Nous was the Spirit of God. The Logos was man, an emanation 
of Nous. The exterior senses could cognize phenomena, but Nous alone 
was capable of a mental contemplation of noumena, or subjective objects. 

But you are probably tired of all this. I do not know how to write 
Russian, and cannot express everything I should like to, but, dear soul, 
please do not imagine that I have become even worse than I used to be 
in regard to religious matters. Now there is more religion in me than 
ever before. Master is teaching me, .and I am irresistibly drawn to study, 
to know, to learn. 



The Theosophical Movement. 



IT will be best to treat my theme historically ; and I may be pardoned, 
perhaps, if I speak of my own observation of the Theosophical 
Movement, as it has been the most important thing in my life for 
the last two and twenty years. 

When I first came to know of the movement, much had already been 
accomplished since the foundation of the Theosophical Society at New 
York in 1875. While Mme. Blavatsky was still in America, her first 
great work, I sis Unveiled, appeared, and even as early as 1878, the 
Theosophical Society, of which she was the tireless Corresponding Secre- 
tary, had carried its organization and work to England, India, Australia 
and other lands. Colonel Olcott's lectures on Theosophy, Religion and 
Occult Science had also been published, with their very interesting views 
of psychic force, and the comparative study of religions. Certain other 
books had also been written, of which more in a moment. 

For some little time before we came in touch with the Theosophical 
Movement, some of us had been unconsciously preparing the way for it by 
other studies. We had gone pretty deeply into astronomy, geology, physics 
and natural history, paying special heed to the doctrine of Darwin and 
the large laws of Evolution, which play so great a part in the life and 
growth of the world. We had also applied ourselves to the study of 
Christianity, trying to get a firm grasp of the teachings of Jesus, in theory 
and practice alike, and also gaining some knowledge of the modern criti- 
cism of religious documents. Our natural and spiritual studies were in 
complete harmony. In Henry Drummond's phrase, we were able to recog- 
nize "natural law in the spiritual world." 

Thus prepared, we came across Mr. Sinnett's book, The Occult 
World. This was toward the close of 1884. For my own part, when I 
first read this admirable little book, the occult phenomena there described 
seemed to me wholly credible, and I found no difficulty at all in believing 
that powers commonly called miraculous should be possessed by men who 
had come to their full spiritual heritage. But far greater than the occult 
phenomena were the personalities that shone through the narrative: 
the clear outlines of those great men whom we call Masters, revealed in 
their letters and acts throughout the book. The full significance of the 
subject came home to me just before Easter, 1885, when I read Mr. 
Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism. After that reading, Theosophy was no 
longer an open question. The entire reasonableness of the account 
there given of the life and growth of the soul, interwoven with the 

*An address delivered at the Convention of the T. S. A., April, 1907. 
16 



THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT 17 

long history of the world, came home with convincing force, and has 
remained with me ever since. 

Meanwhile clouds had been gathering. During 1884, the recently 
founded "Society for Psychical Research" had become deeply interested 
in the phenomena described in The Occult World and in Mme. Blavat- 
sky's magazine, The Theosophist, and had appointed a Committee to 
investigate these phenomena. A very favorable preliminary report had 
been issued, which shows that the members of the Committee 
saturated themselves with the ideas of the Theosophical Movement. 
It was decided to supplement this preliminary work by further investiga- 
tion in India, and a young student of psychic phenomena, Mr. Richard 
Hodgson, was asked to go to India, to carry this out. 

During this period, events had been happening at Adyar, near Madras, 
the headquarters of the Theosophical Society. While Mme. Blavatsky and 
Colonel Olcott were absent in Europe, two members of the Society, 
M. and Mme. Coulomb, who had for years been sheltered at the head- 
quarters at Bombay and Madras, were asked to withdraw. There were 
charges of misappropriation of funds, evil speaking and trickery, which 
made it inexpedient for them to remain at the central office of the Society 
in a position of trust. These two persons presently retaliated by making 
an attack on Mme. Blavatsky, to which publicity was given by a Madras 
missionary organ, and in which it was asserted that the phenomena 
described in The Occult World and elsewhere were tricks, and that 
many of them had been produced by these two members, who now 
repented of their misdeeds. Letters were published by them, which they 
said had been written by Mme. Blavatsky, and which gave color to the 
charge of fraud; but the originals of these letters were never available 
for impartial examination, and the alleged copies were full of mistakes, 
vulgarity and puerility, and bore little resemblance to the genuine letters 
of the great Theosophical writer. Mr. Richard Hodgson arrived in 
India shortly after this attack was made. He found something con- 
genial in the thought and methods of these two retired members who 
accused themselves of fraud, and he practically adopted their views 
and pretensions as to the whole of -the phenomena he had been sent to 
investigate. He spent a short time in India, and returned to England 
early in 1885. Toward the end of June, 1885, he read a part of his 
Report on the phenomena before a meeting of the "Society for Psychical 
Research." 

That meeting made an epoch in the attitude of public opinion toward 
the Theosophical Movement. Never sympathetic, public opinion there- 
after became frankly hostile and incredulous. Mme. Blavatsky was 
treated as an imposter, and her friends as fools. The public accepted 
Mr. Hodgson's view without question or examination. And public opinion 



18 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

has never gone behind that verdict, but has rested on it for more than 
twenty years. 

With others, I was present at that fateful meeting. After Mr. 
Hodgson had read his Report, members of the Committee went among the 
audience to discuss it. Mr. F. W. H. Myers was one of these. When 
he asked what impression the meeting had made on me, I remember 
replying that the whole thing was so scandalously unfair that, had I not 
been a member of the Theosophical Society, I should have joined it 
forthwith, on the strength of Mr. Hodgson's performance. 

My reason for this extreme expression was that, while it was 
popularly supposed that the "Society for Psychical Research" had investi- 
gated the phenomena in question, that Society had never, in fact, investi- 
gated the phenomena. It delegated its work to a Committee of five. 
But the Committee never investigated the phenomena. The Committee in 
turn entrusted its task to Mr. Richard Hodgson. But Mr. Hodgson 
never investigated the phenomena. And for an excellent reason. Mr. 
Hodgson came to India at the close of 1884 and left it early in 1885. 
But the phenomena had, for the most part, taken place years earlier, 
the most important of them at Simla, in 1880. So what Mr. Hodgson 
really did, was to make a pretence of investigating phenomena which 
had taken place four or five years before, while he was thousands of 
miles away. He was somewhat in the position of a small boy poking 
about a laboratory, after some lecture on spectrum analysis, and coming 
sagely to the conclusion that the experiments had been carried out with 
the aid of a tallow candle and a piece of painted ribbon. 

Certain things may be cited, to illustrate the candor and judgment 
of Mr. Hodgson. He submitted to an expert in handwriting parts of 
letters attributed to a Master, and some writing said to be by Mme. 
Blavatsky. The expert, in a somewhat detailed reply, after commenting on 
the documents, gave it as his positive conclusion that Mme. Blavatsky 
was not the writer of the letters attributed to the Master. It will hardly 
be believed that Mr. Hodgson deliberately cut out this part of the expert's 
letter. It is only from a stray sentence a hundred pages away that we 
get the purport of the missing passage. 

Again, consider Mr. Hodgson's credulity. For example, there is 
the question of a meeting not far from Darjiling, between a disciple, 
Ramaswamier by name, and a Master, said by those who have met him to 
be a Rajput by race, certainly not less than six feet four, and of majestic 
bearing. But Mr. Hodgson seems able to believe that this great Rajput 
was "personated" by a little Madrasi, not much over four feet six. And he 
believes that an intelligent man, such as Ramaswamier was, could talk 
to the little Madrasi for a considerable period, in broad daylight, in the 
open air, and believe him to be the majestic Rajput with whose portrait 
he was familiar. And this is the more singular, as Mr. Hodgson else- 



THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT 19 

where dilates at length on the peculiar type and voice of this very 
Madrasi, as evidence that he would be recognized even if carefully dis- 
guised. 

Or take Mr. Hodgson's treatment of handwriting. We have already 
seen how he disposes of adverse expert opinion. He prefers to be his 
own expert. And he makes a great show of counting g's and d's and e's. 
He finds that in some pieces of writing there are two forms of the 
letters e and d ; what might be called a German d and a Greek e, alternat- 
ing with the ordinary copybook forms. On this discovery he builds 
great conclusions. When he comes to count up hundreds of these letters, 
one is insensibly persuaded that something is being proved. I was some- 
what impressed, until it occurred to me that my own writing shows 
exactly the same variations of the same letters, and in about the same 
proportions. So the evidence pointed strongly to me, as the real delin- 
quent. Emerson's handwriting also has the same peculiarity. One sees 
how flimsy is Mr. Hodgson's reasoning. In exactly the same way it 
can be proved that the English, or the Red Indians, are the lost tribes of 
Israel, or that Shakespeare wrote Bacon's Essays. 

Again, one notices that, where the conditions under which certain 
phenomena took place were vague, Mr. Hodgson is fertile in conjecture. 
But where everything is clear-cut and convincing, the Report airily 
declares that it "does not profess to give completely satisfactory explana- 
tions." Soon after he reached India, Mr. Hodgson fell under the 
spell of the Coulombs, became the victim of their suggestions, and saw 
exactly what they wished him to see. Othello-like, he found confirma- 
tions strong as holy writ in every suspicion that they suggested to him; 
and this, although he knew that the Coulombs were hundreds of miles 
away when the more important phenomena occurred ; that they had a per- 
sonal spite to wreak, and, perhaps, a personal profit to secure. The really 
grave charge against the "Report of the Society for Psychical Research" 
is, that not one of all those who are reporting was actually a witness of 
the phenomena as they occurred. The whole thing is hearsay and con- 
jecture; very credulous hearsay, and not very intelligent conjecture. 

Procedure of this kind, in any established field of research, would 
have imperilled the reputation of the Committee and its members. But 
they were perfectly safe in this instance, because they had behind them 
an immense force of hostile public opinion, suspicious of all suggestion 
of Occult force, suspicious of Mme. Blavatsky because she proclaimed 
the reality of Occult force. Not one in ten thousand of those who to this 
day believe that the Society for Psychical Research "exposed" Mme. 
Blavatsky, ever read the Report. As the verdict fell in with their preju- 
dices, they accepted the view of the Society, which accepted the 
view of its committee, who accepted the view of its agent, who never 
saw the phenomena he professed to investigate. 



20 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The wiser course is, to set aside this hearsay and conjecture, and 
with clear and candid mind to consider the testimony of those who were 
actually present when the phenomena occurred. This is the easier, at 
the present day, as the general understanding of these things has made 
great strides forward in the last twenty years. The phenomena pro- 
duced by Mme. Blavatsky and the Masters who worked with her, were 
not mere exhibitions of magic. They were experiments intended to show 
that certain kinds of force existed, that definite powers could be applied 
to produce results of a definite kind, in the physical and psychical worlds. 
Now it is the fact that almost every type of force illustrated by the 
phenomena of Mme. Blavatsky and her friends has since been very gen- 
erally recognized, even by popular opinion. For instance, there were the 
appearances of "astral bodies." But under the name of "phantasms of 
the living," astral bodies have passed into the realm of accepted fact. 
Again, certain phenomena implied "action at a distance," Occult force 
operating through void space. But we have now, on the one hand, 
the "telekinesis" of the psychical researchers, and, on the other, wireless 
telegraphy, the wireless direction of torpedoes, and so on. So that both 
the mental generation of force, and the movement of matter at a distance 
are fully admitted. Other phenomena which took place in Mme. Blavat- 
sky's presence were attacked because they seemed to involve the disinte- 
gration of matter. But nowadays all matter has disintegrated. The very 
atoms have gone to pieces. Once again, Mme. Blavatsky made the 
very fertile suggestion that certain phenomena might be understood, by 
taking the fourth dimension of space into account. But to-day the 
fourth dimension is becoming familiar. On the one hand, physicists 
invoke it to express the action of radiant matter, while chemists use it 
to explain the vagaries of some of the coal-tar compounds; and, on the 
other, we find an advanced theologian putting forward the view that the 
appearances of Jesus after the resurrection were made possible by his 
mastery of space of four dimensions. 

The principles which underlay the phenomena of Mme. Blavatsky 
and the Masters who worked with her, are becoming widely recognized. 
The time is coming when it will be possible for people in general to 
understand that these phenomena were simply experiments, produced 
to illustrate still unfamiliar natural forces, and entirely within the realm 
of law. This simple truth, though repeatedly stated by Mme. Blavatsky 
and her friends, was obscured and distorted by Mr. Hodgson's make- 
believe investigation, and by the verdict of the Society for Psychical 
Research. That verdict was accepted by r prejudiced public, hostile 
to Mme. Blavatsky, and inflamed against her because thirty years ago 
she expressed concerning the established churches and sciences views 
which one may now hear any day, from the pulpits of the New Theology. 

Not so many years earlier, Charles Darwin was the target of a 



THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT 21 

not less hostile fire. He was branded as a fraud and a blasphemer by 
good people who thought they were doing God service. Darwin has had 
his revenge. His thought has transformed the very theologians who 
denounced his doctrine of transformation. I believe the day is rapidly 
approaching when we shall see a like reversal of the verdict against Mme. 
Blavatsky; when it will be recognized that she was a pioneer not less 
valiant than Darwin. While Darwin taught the evolution of the body, 
Mme. Blavatsky taught the evolution of the soul. 

Mme. Blavatsky did a great deal more than illustrate, by her 
experiments, unfamiliar phases of force. She brought forward, with 
great force, certain spiritual and moral principles. First among these 
was the principle of universal brotherhood, without distinction of race, 
creed, caste, color or sex. This, for immediate application in life. Then 
there were more abstract doctrines, such as that of the One Spirit mani- 
fested in the universe, and of which all lives, including our own, are 
the expression. Then there was the teaching of the larger self, of which 
the personality of each one of us is but a part; the deeper self which, 
touching our daily life on one side, on the other dwells with the infinities. 
Again, she taught the periodical manifestation of life, including the life 
expressed in our personalities. And she pointed to the elder religions 
of the East, as fertile sources of spiritual suggestion. 

But these very ideas are finding universal acceptance to-day. We 
are familiar with the Peace Conferences, which rest their work boldly 
on the brotherhood of man. And all science, even the most materialistic, 
now sees in the universe the manifestation of a single ever-mysterious 
Power. The doctrine of the larger self, the deeper self, the "sub- 
liminal" self, is abroad everywhere, notably in the newest books. And 
as for the old wisdom of the East, we find the author of the New 
Theology avowedly drawing thence his theory of manifested life, and 
Sir Oliver Lodge taking from the same source his very suggestive 
teaching of Life and its periodic expression. It is true that these two 
writers, speaking, the one, of "the higher self," and the other of "the 
larger self," believe they are indebted for their thought to Mr. F. W. 
H. Myers. But it is more than likely that Mr. Myers got this thought 
from the Theosophical writings which he studied so attentively during 
1884, and in which it fills so large a place. 

We find, therefore, that the experiments made by Mme. Blavatsky, 
and those who worked with her thirty years ago, illustrate forces and 
powers now beginning to be generally recognized. Can we be expected 
to believe that, by a happy inspiration, she "invented" just the right 
phenomena to illustrate subsequent discoveries? And can we be ex- 
pected to believe that is likely to have been done by one who anticipated 
by thirty years the last conclusions of the "new science" and the "new 
theology" ? 



22 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

At the time, we saw how futile was Mr. Hodgson's supposed inves- 
tigation, and we were, therefore, confirmed in our belief in the good 
faith of Mme. Blavatsky, our belief that the phenomena described in 
The Occult World were entirely genuine, and had taken place as 
described, and our belief in the Masters who had given an account of 
spiritual and bodily life as satisfactory to the reason as it was inspiring 
to the soul. So we set ourselves to search the Scriptures of many lands, 
to study the teachings of the Sages of all times, to try to realize, in 
study and life, the spiritual principles which, in their large simplicity, 
underlie the teachings of Scriptures and Sages alike. The Report of 
Mr. Hodgson in no way disturbed the even tenor of our work, which 
was positive and constructive, along spiritual and moral lines. 

A good many members of the Theosophical Society were shaken 
or driven away by the storm of adverse public feeling aroused by the 
Report. But many remained and continued to work, and the Society 
steadily grew in numbers. It must be confessed that it did not grow 
equally in real unity and brotherly love. This was presently to be shown 
by events. 

In 1891 Mme. Blavatsky died. The bitter attack on her, which we 
have discussed, so far from checking her energies, in reality ushered 
in her greatest and most creative period. To it belong The Secret 
Doctrine, such books as The Voice of the Silence, The Key to 
Theosophy, and her new magazine, Lucifer, besides other work of 
enduring power. In all ways, her achievement vindicated her, and she 
stands as one of the most courageous and self-sacrificing workers for 
humanity, one of the great names of all time. 

After the departure of Mr. Hodgson, the atmosphere of suspiction 
lingered at Adyar. Colonel Olcott remained there, while Mme. Blavatsky 
passed the closing years of her life in Europe. It is unhappily true that 
from that time onward Adyar became a storm-center in the Theosophical 
Movement. Whoever went there found an atmosphere filled with sus- 
picion, and many came away strongly tinged with that atmosphere and 
spreading suspicion through the Theosophical Society. It would be 
pleasanter to pass over these things in silence; but justice demands that 
stress be laid on certain facts. 

Among those who made the pilgrimage to Adyar, and came within 
its atmosphere of suspicion and accusation, was Mrs. Besant. The final 
result of the suggestions among which she found herself was, that she 
formulated charges against Mr. Judge, Vice-President of the Society, 
and General Secretary of the American Section, which he had built up 
by untiring and devoted effort during the years following the attack on 
Mme. Blavatsky. Mrs. Besant declared that Mr. Judge had been guilty 
of dishonesty, in giving out, as from Masters, letters and messages which, 
she said, were not from Masters; and she demanded a Committee of 



THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT 23 

Inquiry. Colonel Olcott, whose hostility to Mr. Judge colors all his 
later writings, was entirely willing to appoint the Committee. It was 
appointed, and met, with Colonel Olcott as Chairman, in London, in the 
summer of 1894. 

Colonel Olcott should have seen that his procedure was entirely 
unconstitutional, and against the whole spirit of the Theosophical Move- 
ment. He should have seen that all views as to the existence of Masters, 
their power, and their part in any phenomena or messages, were, in fact, 
matters of religious belief, and as such, privileged under the Constitution 
of the Society, which secures to every member the right to believe or dis- 
believe any teaching whatever, and to assert his belief or disbelief, with- 
out in any way impairing his standing in the Society. Colonel Olcott 
should further have seen that he had no more right, morally and theo- 
sophically, to question Mr. Judge's good faith, than he had to question 
the good faith of some other member, who may have professed his belief 
in the miracles of the New Testament, the wonders of Buddha's para- 
dise, or the views of Zollner concerning the fourth dimension of space. 
But Colonel Olcott saw none of these things. He carried the Committee 
of Inquiry forward, and Mr. Judge appeared before it. What hap- 
pened may be recorded in Colonel Olcott's own words. 

"Mr. Judge's defense is that he is not guilty of the acts charged; 
that Mahatmas exist, are related to our Society, and in personal connec- 
tion with himself; and he avers his readiness to bring many witnesses 
and documentary proofs to support his statements. You will at once 
see whither this would lead us. The moment we entered into these 
questions we should violate the most vital spirit of our federal compact, 
its neutrality in matters of belief. . . For the above reason, then, I declare 
as my opinion, that this enquiry must go no further ; we may not break 
our own laws for any consideration whatsoever." 

Admirable words. One wonders, though, how Colonel Olcott failed 
to see, months before, that "the moment we entered into these questions 
we should violate the most vital spirit of our federal compact, its neu- 
trality in matters of belief." Had he seen that, he would have seen that 
he was wrong in appointing the Committee; wrong in allowing the 
matter to be brought before him in his official capacity, and kept before 
him; wrong in not pointing out, at the outset, that the bringing of 
such charges was "a violation of the most vital spirit of the Theosophical 
Society, its neutrality in matters of belief." 

The Committee of Inquiry was dissolved. But, unfortunately, neither 
the letter nor the spirit of Colonel Olcott's wise words was adhered to 
in the months that followed. Public and private attacks were directed 
against Mr. Judge, in the newspapers, in letters, and in other ways even 
more prejudicial. In spite of the warning of Colonel Olcott that such 
attack was a violation of the most vital spirit of the Theosophical Society, 



24 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Mr. Judge was denounced, with growing bitterness, by those who should 
have been the first to uphold the Theosophical ideal of "neutrality in 
matters of belief," of tolerance, of charity. These attacks went so far 
that those who adhered to the ideals expressed, but not acted on, by 
Colonel Olcott, joined with Mr. Judge in 1895 in forming a separate 
society, the Theosophical Society in America, to carry on the work on 
these true and enduring lines. From this time forward, Colonel Olcott 
wholly forgot what he had so truly said of neutrality, and began a series 
of bitter attacks on Mr. Judge which he continued long after Mr. Judge's 
death, early in 1896. Nor was he alone in thus violating the most vital 
spirit of the Theosophical Society. Attacks multiplied, and grew in 
bitterness; and, as is almost invariably the case with the spirit of per- 
secution, these attacks were nominally made in the interest of pure 
morals, and to defend the Theosophical cause. One fails to see how the 
Theosophical cause could be defended by violating its most vital spirit. 
Nor can one say much more for the claim that these attacks were in 
the interest of good morals, and to defend members of the Society from 
delusion and "psychic tyranny." 

In a society of students, banded together in the search for truth, 
in the spirit of tolerance and good will, what place is there for this 
patronizing attitude on the part of a few, who undertake to guard the 
rest against delusions? Is not that attitude an entire mistake, perhaps 
a somewhat questionable assumption of superior virtue and wisdom? 
Or let us look at the matter in another way: Was the persecution of 
Mr. Judge justified by its results? Those who took part in public or 
private attacks on Mr. Judge have since been prominent in the Adyar 
Society. Will they venture to say that the persecution of Mr. Judge, 
the bitter attacks on him after Colonel Olcott's declaration of neutrality, 
did, in fact, secure their society against delusion, against astral dangers, 
against "psychic despotism?" Once more, these attacks were made, we 
were told, to protect "the victims of Mr. Judge," those who believed in 
Mr. Judge, his ideals, his good faith, his work. As one who thus be- 
lieved and believes, I should like to ask whether those who hold the 
same view have showed any marked' symptoms of moral or mental 
deliquesence ? Are these painfully manifest in their works? Take a 
concrete case: THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY for April is in the 
hands of the public. It is, to a large degree, the work of those who 
believe in Mr. Judge. Does it show, in a marked degree, a weakness 
of morals and intellect, as compared, let us say, with the April numbers 
of the magazines which represent the party hostile to Mr. Judge, the 
party of inquisition and prosecution? These magazines are also in the 
hands of the public. I am perfectly content to leave the decision to 
those who read them. 

These considerations should make it clear to all that the attacks 



THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT 25 

on Mr. Judge were exactly what Colonel Olcott called them, a violation 
of the most vital spirit of the Theosophical Society. They were so, in 
two ways. They were a violation of the spirit of charity, of tolerance, 
of brotherly love, of that kindly affection which seeks virtues and not 
deficiencies, which looks for faults at home, and not in others, which 
seeks not its own, and thinks no evil. They were also a violation of the 
vital spirit of the Theosophical Society, since that Society is a body of 
students, of seekers after truth, on perfectly equal terms; a body of 
students, each of whom has an entire right to hold any belief or unbelief 
that commends itself to him, and to express that belief or unbelief; as 
indeed must be the case in all free search after truth. 

And this brings me to the closing portion of my subject: the 
Theosophical Society and its work in the world. For I have hitherto 
spoken of something larger and more inclusive : the Theosophical Move- 
ment. Mme. Blavatsky always spoke of the Theosophical Movement 
as being, as it were, a wave of force, set in motion by Masters, the Elder 
Brothers of humanity, and destined to bring spiritual life to the hearts of 
men. The Theosophical Movement has many expressions. Of these, 
the Theosophical Society is one. If I were asked what the Theosophical 
Society is, I should be inclined to say that, for me, it stands for a 
state of mind, or rather an attitude of the heart. That attitude is 
essentially this : To put my own interest as secondary and the interest 
of my friend as primary; to be more willing to hear than to speak; to 
endeavor always to see the truth in my neighbor's heart, rather than to 
seek to impose my own view of truth. Instead of antagonism, the Theo- 
sophical Society should bring unity of heart. When in action we make 
the interests of others primary, and keep our own interests in the sec- 
ond place, we bring unity. We must by no means fall into the error 
of thinking that this will mean giving way to our neighbor, letting him 
get the better of us, yielding to him in a servile way. That could 
never be for his interest, and, in doing this we should by no means be 
putting his interest first. Cowardice is one thing. Devotion to the 
interests of another is a quite different thing, and one calling for high 
courage as well as self-sacrifice. Gently to hear, kindly to judge: this 
is the principle for which the Theosophical Society stands ; genuine tolera- 
tion, an entire willingness to hear the other side; a readiness to accept 
new truth. This attitude in action is well described in the primary 
object of the Theosophical Society: 

"To form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, 
without distinction of race, creed, caste, color or sex." 

One may ask, is not this exactly what the Churches are doing? 
Happily, yes ; and to an ever increasing degree. Among many branches 
of the more liberal Churches, the spirit of toleration and reconciliation 
has already gone far, and will, let us hope, go much farther. Yet there 



26 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

are still many directions in which mediation is needed. For example, 
do the older branches of the Church, the Eastern and Western, freely 
admit each other's equality, each other's possession of spiritual truth? 
Or do the Christian Churches, as a whole, approach the non-Christian 
religions in a brotherly and kindly spirit, not claiming any superiority, 
not demanding any paramount position, not insisting on deep differences, 
but seeking rather the truths which are common to all ? Again, we have 
much liberty and light, on the one hand, among the followers of science ; 
and on the other, within the Churches. But do the Churches render full 
justice to the votaries of science? Do these see what are the ideals, the 
hopes, the aspirations of the Churches? Here is still great need for 
mediation, for reconciliation. 

And whence can come mediation and reconciliation, but through 
mutual understanding? And how can mutual understanding come about, 
except through gentle listening, a willingness to hear the other side, a 
wish to learn and enter into the other's truth, rather than to impose 
our own. This, if I am right, is the Theosophical method, the method 
for which the Theosophical Society exists. 

Tolerance, brotherly love, conciliation, spiritual unity: such are 
the ideals of the Theosophical Society. For those who hold these ideals, 
great horizons open, wide vistas of work and hope spread before them. 
These vistas, this work, this hope, are not the mere private concern of 
our members. They are common and universal. And in closing, I 
cannot do better than advise all whose concern these things are, to 
attend to them. 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 



TALKS ON RELIGION. 



III. 

The Mathematician: In the discussion following Mr. F 's talk 
at our last meeting, the question arose as to the propriety of attributing 
any moral element to nature. Man finds within his own heart certain 
ethical standards and moral ideals. Are these only the expression in 
him of a moral law acting throughout all the universe? Or does their 
presence in man serve to differentiate him from the rest of nature, and 
set him, as a moral being, in opposition to natural law and natural forces, 
to play a lone hand for his own ideals ? 

Each of these views found its advocates ; as did many intermediate 
shades of opinion. Of these latter, one of the most interesting and 
suggestive was put forward by Professor D . He stated that, as a 
biologist, he was forced to view nature as cruel and wasteful and that 
he could see no conformity to moral ideals in its processes. Yet while 
thus advocating the essential immorality of natural conditions he asserted 
that our moral ideals were themselves but the evolutionary derivatives 
of biological principles. As the tenor of the discussion did not then 
admit of the elaboration of this latter theory or the attempt to reconcile 
the two statements (which I confess seem to me inconsistent), I have 
asked him to start our discussion this evening by giving us the logical 
development of his doctrine, and to trace for us the origin and evolution 
of our ethical concepts from the biological standpoint. 

The Zoologist: I think Professor A is putting a rather doubtful 
construction upon one part of what I said and that the antithesis he 
mentions does not really exist in my view. It will, however, probably 
be more fruitful not to attempt a retrospective explanation of what I 
did or did not say, but to speak afresh directly to the subject given me. 
This subject may be stated as the "Natural History of Ethics ;" i. e. y the 
nature of human ideas of right arid wrong as clarified by the evolutionary 
development of these ideas. 

Really there are two subjects or subdivisions of the whole problem. 
The first is the historical justification of human standards. The second 
is the relation of "natural" or "biological" ethics to the other elements 
that enter into the modern complex religion. Here I would have to 

trespass upon the territory of the anthropologists, of Professor L 

and others. 

The Mathematician: I do not think that any of us need fear tres- 
passing upon the ground of others. Indeed our points of view are so 



28 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

different that trespass is almost impossible, however much we may talk 
upon the same theme. So I trust you will not let this restrict your 
presentation. 

The Zoologist: Thank you, but I may find I have quite enough 
to do to develop my first heading. 

A living thing, as long as it remains, or exists as a living thing, 
must maintain certain definite relations to the environment. It is "con- 
ditioned" very definitely by external nature. For example let us con- 
sider the Amoeba: a tiny little mass of living matter, consisting of but 
a single cell and nearly as primitive as any living thing can be. Yet it 
must, to exist, provide for the introduction into itself of (a) matter, for 
the repair of its substance; and (b) energy, with the matter, to be con- 
verted into its "vital" energy. That is to say, it must, if it is to exist, look 
after its immediate individual welfare, be egoistic. This is the first and 
great commandment of Nature, by which the most primitive as well as 
the highest forms of life are conditioned : "preserve thyself." 

A second commandment of Nature is : "perpetuate thyself." What- 
ever may be the cause of reproduction (and Biology offers some very 
definite statements on this subject), the conditions are such that an 
individual of a species must make more like itself. 

Nature does not tolerate any forms that ignore their "duty" to the 
species individualism is not permitted to reach its logical extreme. And 
often the obedience to Nature's second mandate runs directly counter to 
individual interests. Nevertheless there are now no species that place indi- 
vidual before racial welfare. For if such there were at any time, these 
have died as species. Nature does not approve of "race-suicide." 

Thus at the very beginnings of life, as in its most complex forms, 
we see these two laws ruthlessly enforced "preserve thyself" and "pre- 
serve thy kind." The violation of either entails the blotting out of the 
form that disobeys. But already we see evidence of the wider end 
dominating the narrower, the preservation of the race taking precedence 
over the preservation of the individual. 

When, now, we pass to such an organism as the Hydra, the small 
fresh-water polyp, a relative of the jelly-fish and coral, we find, not one 
cell, but a large number of these little organic units, arranged in two 
layers; an outer layer, lined by an inner one. Here we have a new 
cell environment and in consequence a new type of "conditioned" exis- 
tence. Each cell must maintain itself. But there is something more that 
the cells must do. They must work not only for themselves but for 
their fellows, and their fellows in turn must work for them. 

The outer cells provide for the relating of the whole mass of cells 
to the environment. In return for this they are relieved of the feeding 
functions, as they receive supplies from the inner layer, that feeds not 
only for itself but also for the outer protective layer. Thus we have a 



TALKS ON RELIGION 29 

primitive community, composed, so to speak, of two groups or castes, 
a soldier class and an agricultural class, while of course there are those 
cell units that have as their special task the reproduction or perpetuation 
of the whole colony. 

Thus no cell is entirely sufficient unto itself. It must, it is true, 
carry on the same essential vital activities as a solitary amoeba. But now, 
it also owes a duty to the other members of its colony, who, in turn, are 
specialized for other tasks and owe duties to it. Interdependence of 
differentiated units replaces the independent egoism of solitary forms. 
Altruism is a direct result of association and differentiation. 

From this brief sketch two things should be clear: First, how an 
individuality of an higher order is established by the union and special- 
ization of first order individuals. And, second, what "duties" of mutual 
support and co-operation are imposed upon the primary units by such 
social relations. Let us now extend our view to higher groups, and 
consider such communities as are formed by wolves, or ants, bees, wasps, 
and the like. 

Here, as in the case of the cells in the Polyp, we see the same mutual 
dependence or interdependence of units, the same subordination of the 
individual to the common good in which all must share. A pack of 
wolves will hunt as a unit, and pull down together what one would be 
powerless to overcome. The welfare of each depends upon the welfare 
of the whole. No matter how well fed and strong a single wolf may be, 
if his pack is feeble and diminished he is himself in danger. It pays to 
share the kill; and that pack whose members put aside their personal 
quarrels on the chase will survive in competition with those who do not. 
To care for one's fellow, to love one's neighbor as oneself, is a command- 
ment founded upon biological efficiency. It does not contradict, but both 
supplements and is necessary to, the other commandment of self preser- 
vation. 

Yet there are times when these two commandments conflict, when 
the preservation of the community demands the sacrifice of the individual. 
Here the lower orders of Nature present us with most striking instances 
of altruism and self-sacrifice. Consider, for example, the life of the royal 
bee. You all know how the life of the hive centers around its queen, 
who lays all the eggs, and upon whom thus rests the perpetuation of the 
entire colony. There cannot be two queens in a single hive if there 
are, civil war results and one or the other is killed. Yet "princess" bees 
must be raised, both to guard against the hive being left through accident 
without a queen, and also to lead the swarms and to furnish queens 
to the new hives. Here then would be a danger of internal dissention 
and strife were it not that the princess bees provide for their own death. 
The royal larvae construct only imperfect cocoons leaving open a space 
where they may be stung to death if unneeded. In a way it is suicide. 



30 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

But it is the same kind of suicide that the soldier commits in storming 
a battery, going himself to certain death that others may survive, or 
that a union may endure. 

Human society is no less an organism than is a pack of wolves or a 
hive of bees. There is among men to-day the same specialization and 
differentiation of task and power and function as we saw among the 
cells of the simple hydra. Men are not independent, but interdependent ; 
and the laws of the biological efficiency of organisms apply to our civil- 
izations, as to our bodies. We have seen that these laws require of the 
individual two things the discharge of two kinds of duties, the one 
egoistic, the other altruistic; he must provide for his own welfare and 
for the welfare of his fellows. And if these two clash, his duty to him- 
self and his duty to the whole of which he is a part, then the wider end 
takes precedence over the narrower. 

This is, in briefest outline, what I believe to be the "historical justi- 
fication of our human standards." It does not matter at all whether the 
wolf and the bee act as they do consciously or unconsciously; whether 
generosity and self sacrifice with them be blind and compelled, or deliber- 
ate and willed ; the point that is of importance is this : those forms of 
life which obey these laws survive; those that disobey, die. And this 
has been as true of men as of animals. The savage may not have seen 
why he should do this and avoid that, but the fact remains that only 
those tribes survived who consciously or unconsciously obeyed these 
mandates of Nature. Our ethical standards are what they are because of 
this fact. They are in every way similar to all other evolutionary char- 
acteristics. 

From this view it will be seen that many of our human terms receive 
very precise definition. Right is what furthers both individual interests 
and the interests of the whole group. Wrong is the reverse. Good is 
what is useful. Evil is that which interferes with the discharge of 
personal or social functions. 

Let me now turn for a moment to my second heading and consider 
the relation of this natural system of ethics to the other elements that 
enter into the religious complex. As a result of the causes I have 
attempted to outline, primitive man finds himself with certain feelings 
of compulsion towards this or that course, often towards a self sacrifice 
he cannot explain on rational and immediate grounds. He is living under 
tribal order and law, and the compulsion he is familiar with is the power 
and authority of his chief enforced with club and spear. Therefore it 
is natural for him to ascribe this inner instinct to some external autho- 
rity, the will of some god or spirit chief. 

I think we can even see how he comes by this latter idea. For in 
dreams he sees his friends and enemies, and talks and acts with them. 
Thus he is led to a belief in another world than the outer one around 



TALKS ON RELIGION 31 

him. Moreover he still sees in dreams those who have died, and thus 
he is led to think of their continued existence. From this the idea of 
disembodied spirits and of immortality is formed. Thence the path is 
plain, and all natural forces, as well as all that happens to the man him- 
self are viewed as the activity of some one or other of these spirit chiefs 
and heroes. Gradually greater and greater power is ascribed to them. 
As man moulds ships, so the gods mould mountains, send rain and 
drought at will, and play with lightning and with storm, until finally 
the notion of an omnipotent god, as well as an omniscient one, completes 
the series. 

The Editor: Is not this a pretty cold view of life? 

The Zoologist: It does not matter whether it is cold or not pro- 
vided it is true. 

The Editor: Many things are true, yet none contains all the truth. 
What I mean to ask is this: Suppose we grant you all that you have 
said, what follows? In what way does this bear upon religion? Have 
you in it a view of life which satisfies you, or which helps you to live? 

The Zoologist: Yes, I have. I suppose to some it would seem cold, 
but to me it is sufficient. If I find the basis for my conduct and ethical 
ideals in the very laws of life, what is surer or more fundamental? If 
it is not a religious view in the usual sense it certainly arouses in me 
that cosmic emotion which I put forward as the basis of religion. Indeed 
that is just what I tried to make clear: that these were the facts which 
it seemed to me did underlie first ethics and then religion. 

The Mathematician: Let us then look again at certain of their 
implications. As I understood you, you began by considering the life 
of the single cell, which acted as though subject to but two desires: 
self preservation and the preservation of its kind, which last you spoke 
of as being in one form or another really an act of self sacrifice. From 
this you passed to a consideration of more complex organisms, such as 
the jelly-fish. Here you showed that while each component cell carried 
on its own life it still so co-ordinated itself to its fellows and to the whole 
of which it is a part that the higher single life of this whole became pos- 
sible. This co-ordination you showed to be at once egoistic and altruistic 
in character and you put it forward as the basis of our present ethical 
ideals, tracing its action through the communities of insects and animals 
to primitive and civilized man. 

Now I would like to ask a question. Is it a legitimate inference that, 
as the co-ordination of the cells of the jelly-fish enabled each to live with 
the richer, fuller life of the whole, so obedience to ethical standards 
would lead man to a higher, wider type of consciousness and existence 
than that of his present separate personality? Does not your argument 
suggest that man is part of a far greater whole ; that ethics and religion 
co-ordinate him with that whole and should enable him to broaden and 



32 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

deepen his life and consciousness until it is one with that higher con- 
sciousness of which his is but an element? 

The Zoologist: We must remember, however, that there can be 
nothing to this higher complex that is not in the elements themselves. 

The Author: Surely you do not mean that. The combinations of 
elements may be totally different from any one of the constituent parts. 

The Zoologist: Certainly. All I said was that this whole was com- 
pounded from the elements. Whatever the whole is must be made up 
from something in the elements. 

The Social Philosopher: But is even that certain? May not the 
properties of a whole be quite distinct from the properties of its parts, 
even when taken together? 

The Mathematician: Bolzano's example of a drinking glass would 
illustrate. Viewed as a whole we perceive it holds water. Conceive it 
as a collection of broken parts and no such inference is plain. 

The Zoologist: I am quite willing to take your illustration as my 
own. A drinking glass can only be formed from elements capable of 
being so placed together that there are no gaps. This is a property which 
must be present in the element viz.: that they fit one into the other; 
though you will notice that this is a meaningless characteristic when a 
single element is alone considered. Anything that is not in some way 
in the elements themselves can be no more than a mere abstraction. 

The Social Philosopher: How about the water itself? Its char- 
acteristic property of wetness is absent from both the hydrogen and 
oxygen which form it. Or, better still, consider a clock and the ability to 
tell time. Surely time is not a mere abstraction. Yet you will not find 
it compounded from the brass and steel. Again, to take the mathema- 
tician's point, are we not all familiar with the difference between mass 
psychology and that of the individual. Consider the way in which a 
mob is moved to frenzy to panic or to rage, or any emotional excite- 
ment. Think of the mob ferocity; the lynchings, the burnings, the 
torturings, which are nothing but the manifestations of this mob frenzy, 
while the individuals comprising it may be of themselves quite mild 
mannered quiet people. These are not mere abstractions. 

The Editor: Is it not probable that to each individual amoeba the 
jelly-fish is a mere abstraction? 

The Zoologist: I would contend that aqueosity is in fact, a property 
already present in the hydrogen and oxygen, and certainly everything 
that is done in a lynching is done by individuals. In that sense the mob 
is a mere abstraction. The coming together of many men and their 
reaction one upon the other, brings out what would otherwise not have 
been revealed. But it was there, nevertheless. Indeed I think this is a 
matter of considerable importance, too often overlooked. Whatever is 
present in the highest organism must also have been present, and always 



TALKS ON RELIGION 33 

present in element in the cells which compose it. The continuity of the 
germ plasm makes this certain. 

The Mathematician: You mean? 

The Zoologist: I mean "ex nihilo nihil fit." Moreover, acquired 
characteristics are not transmitted. You do not inherit from your 
father, but from that common line of life which made him what he is first, 
and then you what you are. "Natural selection" and other such evolu- 
tionary factors do not create, they eliminate. They are the judges of 
what forms shall endure. They do not produce those forms. Therefore 
we are forced to view all forms as present in some way in the cells from 
which they spring. 

The Mathematician: Present they doubtless are, but still unrealized 
and unmanifest, present as potentialities, and evolution would appear 
to be the layer by layer unfoldment of their content. But does not this 
still further point my question? If all forms of life are pre-existent as 
potentialities in the single cell, then man must also be the image of the 
universe, contain within himself all the powers of the whole, present and 
realizable though unrealized. And you have shown us that at least cer- 
tain of these possibilities can be manifested, new and higher forms of 
life realized, by such a co-ordination as you have said ethics and religion 
in fact are. In this view, then, ethics would appear as something more 
'than preservative. It would be itself a dynamic principle, the actual 

machinery of growth. Do we not, in this, return very close to Mr. F 's 

definition of religion as "the climbing instinct/' whereby the consciousness 
and life of man is constantly being widened and raised? 

The Zoologist: In a way I think we do. But I would prefer to say 
that we become more efficient, than that our consciousness is raised. I 
do not know that the wolf in the pack has a different or higher type of 
consciousness than the one who hunts alone. 

The Clergyman: But why talk about wolves and bees? Surely we 
know more of ourselves than we do of amcebas and wolves. And is it 
not, well, let us say a humorous conceit, to argue seriously that religion 
is or is not creative because a lone wolf acts about as his brothers in a 
pack do? Have we not difficulties enough when we begin with and con- 
fine ourselves to man? 

The Zoologist: It is precisely because we have so many difficulties 
when we do confine ourselves to man, that it becomes necessary for us to 
take a broader view. And I do not at all agree with you that we know 
more of ourselves than of lower orders of life. There is nothing more 
misleading than introspection, as current religious psychology amply 
demonstrates. 

The Philosopher: I agree with Mr. F . Personally I can see 

better in a lighted room than in the dark. My own mind is lit for me, the 
mind of a wolf is not. 



34 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The Mathematician: Is it not wise to look in both directions both 
inward at our own hearts and minds, and outward upon the workings of 
nature? These two views seem to me to supplement and correct each 
other. Thus though I am inclined to think our Zoologists too material- 
istic in their conception of life and of heredity, taking too little account 
of the enormous influence of mental and moral environment, which is 
,in fact a moral heredity, it seems to me there is a grandeur and a univer- 
sality in the view Prof. D has just presented which I would be 

sorry to lose. Does it not both enrich and clarify our ordinary thought 
of ethical standards to see them as at once evolutionary products and 
evolutionary forces? To view them as the deposit in the consciousness 
of long ages of experience? Think thus of nature sifting the hearts of 
her children, breeding brotherhood in us as we breed horses for speed or 
wind. We may not see why we should act thus or so, why we should 
feel this right and that wrong. Hereditary tendencies are rarely reasoned, 
and the deeper any principle is ingrained in our character the less 
obvious is its cause. The explanation of our ethical standards cannot 
be found in any immediate benefit, in any cheap clap-trap of honesty 
being the best policy. They would never have been produced by the 
conditions of a given moment, nor can they find their sanction in the 
present. Their causes extend back into the past to the origin of life 
itself. Their production required the age long integration of successive 
lives, their justification and their end must ever be beyond us. They are 
the past acting in us, the present also moulding the time and forms that 
are to be. They are the will of nature, the evolutionary stream itself, 

the breath of life. This is what I conceive Prof. D 's presentation 

to mean, and it seems to me to contain elements we cannot well do with- 
out But after all it is only half the story, and I would wish with Mr. 

F to look at these things directly as we find them in our own hearts. 

Unreasoned they may there be, but they are not fruitless there. And we 
do not need to speculate upon their fruit. We can one and all know of 
our own experience the enrichment that results from altruism and un- 
selfish effort. Indeed I believe we can know it in no other manner. So 
there surely I think it more profitable to study ourselves than "our 
brothers the wolves." 

The Social Philosopher: It seems to me the study of external 
nature simply emphasizes the fact that we can only find ethics and reli- 
gious ideals in our own hearts. I fail entirely to see this moral element 
in nature of which you talk so much. You seem to me almost deliberately 
to distort the facts. Because two thugs can kill and rob more safely and 
lucratively working together than alone, the law does not on that account 
sanctify their partnership. Yet you are presenting such a conspiracy 
of murder as a marvelous example of natural religion among the wolves. 
As for the heroic suicide of the princess bees, as well look upon little 



TALKS ON RELIGION 3$ 

Prince Arthur's murder by John Lackland as suicide, because of Arthur's 
supreme self sacrifice in being young and helpless. Your beehive is 
about as healthful a place for supernumerary royal heirs as is the harem 
of the Sultan of Turkey ; and for a like reason. But I do not remember 
to have heard this infant mortality lauded as a peculiarly moral and 
uplifting circumstance designed to inculcate religious truths and divine 
ideals of mercy and justice. It is really time you biologists began to do 
some clear thinking. Why can you not be content to look at life directly, 
and courageously accept man's splendid isolation as a moral being? 
Why must you creep and crawl and seek a false support in nature where 
it can't be found? Is it not far more splendid to follow our ideals 
because they are ours, than thus to endeavor to bolster them up by 
external props? 

The Biologist: I do not think it is Prof. D who should be 

accused of hazy thinking because you have drawn these inferences from 
what he has said. His thesis shows that we are what we are as the 
result of natural processes and his argument accounts for the cruelty 
and selfishness in us as well as for the altruism. It is exactly as easy 
to deduce the one as the other from the first biological principle of self 
preservation. When this is directed to the preservation of the individual 
we have selfishness, when to the preservation of the common-life stream, 
of which the individual is an expression, we have altruism. Neither seems 
to me the basis of religion. But as for "man's splendid isolation as a 
moral being" I haven't an idea what those words mean. Have you? 

The Mathematician: It seems to me that Professor D 's point 

is a rather subtile one, and what he has said to-night should in justice 
be taken in connection with the views expressed at our last meeting. He 
is not arguing for nature's morality, but is tracing the evolution and 
growth of man's ethical sentiment and standards from biological prin- 
ciples. We are in danger of forgetting again that man is not outside 
but in the universe and his ideals are thus of necessity factors and powers 
in the universe, which, however small or large, must be taken into 
account, and must have a cause, and origin, and connection with other 
factors. This seems to me the great value of the scientific and bio- 
logical view of man that it emphasizes his oneness with other forms 
of life. Yet I have confessed to thinking it only half the picture, and to 
viewing the action of external nature more as corrective than creative. 
However it is not my ideas that are now in question and perhaps Dr. 

I will tell us where he gets his ideals if they are not bred in him by 

life itself. 

The Social Philosopher: From my own soul. 

The Clergyman: But where did your soul get them? 

The Social Philosopher: From God if you like. But I want to 
go back once more to the very basis of this biological view. What right 



36 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

have you to speak of the tendency to self-preservation as the fundamental 
or first law of biology? Is that not an exploded theory? It has long 
since been abandoned in psychology and the tendency to, or law of self- 
satisfaction, has been substituted for it. Is it not time that biology 
should abandon such an outworn postulate, that so obviously says either 
too much or too little according to the place in the scale of evolution to 
which you are applying it? Animals for example are not thinking of 
preserving life, but of satisfying their hunger, thirst, or other wants. 
The moth when it flies to the flame is not seeking to preserve its life or 
to lose it, but solely to satisfy its desires. Again, with man, we find 
many things placed before the desire for self preservation his love of 
the ideal, of truth, of beauty, and the lust for it, or of duty and the 
austerities of religion all these have been chosen by man deliberately 
before the continuance of his personal existence. And to one such 
deliberate choice we have a hundred unreasoned ones. Really it seems to 
me that self preservation is more commonly lost sight of than remem- 
bered, and even when remembered it is treated as of little moment com- 
pared with the satisfaction of ourselves whatever this may mean to 
the self and the time in question. 

The Zoologist: Yes, you can state it as self-satisfaction if you so 
desire though it is evident one cannot satisfy oneself when one has 
ceased to exist. Or we can give it an even more general and precise 
description as the necessity of reacting in the proper manner to the 
environment; i. e., the tendency toward equilibrium, or the rectification 
of difference of potential, involving organism and environment. 

The Social Philosopher: That, of course, is more subtile, but I do 
not know that it is more accurate. I doubt if the proper reaction towards 
the environment does always tend to rectify difference of potential. It 
may tend to increase, not diminish it, and I believe this is particularly 
the case where one is striving to follow ones own ideals without all this 
kow-towing to Nature. Why should we worship Nature? Great, big, 
clumsy, blundering thing! Caught red-handed in its idiotic incompe- 
tency! Cruel! Wasteful! Remorseless! We should curse nature, not 
worship it. Or better still we should be snobbish to nature. Use it and 
despise it. 

The Philosopher: It seems to me that not enough account is taken 
of reflection and the part it plays in this subject. It is as reflective beings 
that we are religious or irreligious, or that religion touches us at all. 
I follow the Zoologists entirely so long as they are dealing with the lower 
orders of life from which we must assume the power of reflection 
to be absent. Here Nature rules. The organism itself acts and reacts 
according to completely understandable laws; as we can conceive an 
automaton would. It is a mechanical scheme of life, and the problems 
it presents are of the same order as those of physics, or chemistry, or 



TALKS ON RELIGION 37 

mathematics; and the tentative solutions arrived at are about* as satis- 
factory in the one science as in the others. All this I follow. 

I follow also the mechanical explanation of how these simple forms 
combine into forms more complex. I see how the dynamic principles, 
underlying this co-ordination, correspond in some fashion to certain 
sociological and ethical principles that unite us to our fellow men. But 
none -of this seems to me the basis of religion. Nor do I at all agree with 
the second part of Professor D 's talk. 

The Mathematician: You mean that somewhere in the evolutionary 
scale perhaps with man himself a new faculty or power comes into 
play, the power of reflection? And that religion is concerned with this, 
not with that mechanical, automatic action and reaction between the pure 
animal and his environment? 

The Philosopher: That is exactly my meaning. With the power of 
reflection comes the possibility of error, which till then did not exist (an 
automaton cannot be mistaken) but there comes also the possibility of 
a deeper and truer discernment. As reflective beings we look within our 
own hearts and see ideals and desires. We look out upon life around 
us and we see both richness of content and inexorableness of law. Seek- 
ing satisfaction we realize the universe has set down certain prescrip- 
tions, not of our making. Joyously, enthusiastically we accept them. 
This is to me the basis of the religious attitude. 

The Social Philosopher: And if we do not accept them? 

The Philosopher: Then your attitude toward life is not religious. 
The essence of religion is to play the game, not to dispute the rules. 

THE SCRIBE. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE 
MIDDLE AGES. 



III. 
THE QUIETISTS. 

Of all the mystical movements of the middle ages, that which goes 
by the name of "The Quietists" is undoubtedly the most famous and is 
that of which we have the most knowledge. The period of its greatest 
activity was from 1675 to 1700 and the countries most affected were 
France, Italy and Spain; although offshoots of the same movement may 
be observed in the religious history of both Germany and England : the 
rise of the Quakers in England occurring at about this same time. 

Any reference to the Quietists brings to mind the two most famous 
exponents of Quietism, Madame Guyon and Archbishop Fenelon, but 
a study of the times indicates without doubt that the much less known 
Molinos must be given the credit of being the main originator and heart 
and soul of the movement. A sketch of Madame Guyon and her phil- 
osophy appears under its own heading in this issue of the magazine, so 
that I shall devote myself solely to a consideration of Molinos and his 
doctrines. 

Michael de Molinos was of the noble Spanish family of Minozzi, 
in the diocese of Saragossa, in Aragon, where he was born the 26th of 
December, 1627. Very little is known about his early life. He took his 
theological degree at Coimbra, but he never had any ecclesiastical bene- 
fice, his desire seeming to be to dedicate himself to the service of the 
church without striving for any advantages for himself. Indeed, in 
after life, when he had become famous and was the friend of Cardinals 
and Popes, he steadily refused ecclesiastical preferment. 

Looking upon Rome as the centre from which he could best dis- 
seminate his doctrines, he journeyed thither and in 1675 published his 
first book, called // Guida Spiritude, taking care to have the formal 
approbation of his superiors, which was then, in the days of the Inquisi- 
tion, a most necessary formality, but which was not effectual in pre- 
serving him from the charge of heresy, as will later appear. 

The Spiritual Guide was approved by five famous doctors of divinity, 
four of them being members of the Inquisition. The book met with 
immediate and enormous success all over Europe. In six years it passed 
through more than twenty editions and was translated into many Euro- 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 39 

pean languages. It even reached America and was circulated here in 
the latter part of the i^th century. 

Persons of every quality of life besought his acquaintance and friend- 
ship and he became the most popular spiritual director in Rome. Several 
Cardinals became his intimate friends and companions, one being Cardinal 
D'Estrees, the French Ambassador at Rome, and another Cardinal 
Odescalchi, who afterwards became Pope Innocent XI, and who, upon 
his elevation to the Papacy provided Molinos with lodgings at the Vati- 
can, offered to make him a Cardinal and is said to have selected him as 
his spiritual director. Another intimate friend and disciple was Father 
Petrucci, afterwards a Cardinal, who for a time, shared with Molinos 
the onslaughts of the Inquisition. 

For the next six or seven years Molinos lived a quiet and extremely 
busy life in Rome disseminating his beliefs and coming in contact with 
most of the prominent people in Europe, either personally or by corre- 
spondence. Among others, ex-Queen Christine, of Sweden, who 
renounced her throne to enter the Roman Church, made him her religious 
perceptor. He was one of the greatest letter writers of that or any 
other time, and when his papers were finally seized by the Inquisition, 
the 20,000 letters which were found were evidence of his prodigious 
industry during the period of his mission. We will discuss his views 
at greater length later on, but it is necessary at this moment to explain 
briefly the reasons why he finally incurred the hostility of a large section 
of the church. He taught that the true end of human life ought to be 
"the attainment of perfection" and that there are two principal steps 
in the progress towards this result, the first being meditation, and the 
second and higher, contemplation. He discarded as unnecessary all what 
might be described as the paraphernalia of religion, confession, penance, 
absolution, and any kind of rigorous asceticism, with the consequence 
that his disciples began to abandon the ceremonies of the church. The 
defection reached such a height in 1680, when whole convents and 
monasteries full of his devoted followers gave up going to confession 
and performing the other observances of a regular Catholic religious 
life, that the clergy took alarm. They saw that if the confessional, with 
its perquisites, was to be closed ; -if the external acts of devotion were 
to be slighted; if transgressors were to go directly to their Maker for 
forgiveness ; if indulgence became valueless ; and if there was no 
reason to pay for the intercession of priests for deliverance of souls 
from Purgatory, the revenues of the church would be very seriously 
curtailed. 

The Jesuits awoke to this situation first and saw that either Quietism 
or Romanism would have to go to the wall. They determined upon the 
destruction of Molinos and set about their work with great skill. In 
1680 a book by a Jesuit Father Segneri appeared, which, while it did not 



40 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

attack Molinos and his doctrines by name, did so in effect, and it created 
such a stir and was resented so vehemently by the friends of Quietism, 
that Segneri found himself, instead of Molinos, on the defensive. In 
fact, such was the danger of his being burned for heresy, that he and the 
order to which he belonged had to put forth all of their strength to 
endeavor to make good their charges against the doctrines of the Quiet- 
ists. Several more books and pamphlets were published until the matter 
caused such a tumult that it was referred to the Inquisition, which, after a 
protracted and tedious investigation, justified the works of Molinos and 
Petrucci and censured those of Segneri as scandalously heretical. It 
was soon after this that Petrucci was made a Bishop. 

The Jesuits, however, were not despairing of bringing the Pope 
around to their view. They sought another ally and found him in that 
redoubtable protector of the church, Louis the XIV, then at the height 
of his power. Through his confessor, Pere la Chaise, a member of their 
order, they made the King believe there was nothing that he could do 
that would be so worthy of his reputation as Defender of the Faith as 
to bring about the condemnation of Molinos, his disciples and doctrines. 
The King sent preemptory instructions to his Ambassador at Rome, 
Cardinal D'Estrees, to enter the lists against Molinos and to do every- 
thing in his power to ruin him. The treason of D'Estrees is one of the 
most disgraceful instances in the history of human perfidy. For years 
the intimate friend and devoted follower of Molinos, on receipt of these 
instructions he turned against him, and from that moment until he had 
effected Molinos's complete ruin, he was his most inveterate and implacable 
foe. Backed by the power and prestige of being the personal representa- 
tive of the most powerful monarch in Europe, he caused charges of 
heresy to be laid against Molinos at the office of the Inquisition, and 
himself appeared and testified against him. On being asked to explain 
his once notorious intimacy with the person he was now accusing, he 
replied that he had long known of the danger and subtlity of Molinos's 
heretical opinions and that his alleged friendship was but a device he 
had used to get close enough to the source of heresy to discover its 
full inwardness so that he might thus be better able to crush it. So power- 
ful was his position in Rome that even the friendly Pope could not save 
Molinos. He was arrested in 1685, his papers were seized and he was 
kept in prison for two years during which there was a pretence at a 
trial. The charges were secret, the trial was secret and no defence was 
permitted except such verbal explanations as Molinos himself was per- 
mitted to make, from time to time, during the examination. Some 68 
heretical doctrines were selected from the writings of Molinos, but many 
of these he denied ever having made or written, while others were 
identical with the statements made in the past by Saint Theresa, Saint 
Bonaventura, John of the Cross, Saint Francis de Sales and others, many 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 41 

of whom have been canonized as Saints. They also manufactured some 
impudent calumnies against his private character, which, however, even 
at that time, received no credence and have since been completely dis- 
proved. From a contemporary document I take samples of the so-called 
"Errors" of Molinos, with the official censure and refutation and some 
quaint marginal comments by a sympathizer. Nothing could better 
illustrate the lengths to which the Inquisition had to go in order to prefer 
charges against him. 

I. ERROR. 

"Contemplation, or the Prayer of Inward quietness, consists in this, 
that a man puts himself in the presence of God, by forming an obscure 
Act of Faith, full of Love, tho simple t and stops there, without going 
further: and without suffering any Reasoning, the Images of any things, 
or any Object whatsoever to enter into his mind: and so remains fixed and 
unmovable, in his Act of Faith: it being a want in that Reverence that is 
due to God, to redouble this simple Act of his: which is a thing of so 
much merit, and of so great force, that it comprehends within itself, and 
far exceeds the merits of all other vertues, joyned together: and it lasts 
the whole course of a mans life, if it is not discontinued by some other 
Act, that is contrary to it; therefore it is not necessary to repeat or 
redouble it. 

THE CENSURE AND REFUTATION. 

"It is not an Act of Faith that puts us in the Presence of God : for 
he is within us by a necessary effect of the Immensity of his nature: 
therefore Elias, Micaiah and the other Prophets said, Vivit deus in cujus 
conspecto sto. The Lord lives in whose presence I stand: and it is upon 
the same reason that the Divines have said after St. Austin, In Deo vivi- 

mus movemur & sumus; in God we live, we 
move, and have our being; so that an Act of 

Another would have Faith, that presupposes that the Agent is in 
thought that S Paul should being su pp oses likewise that it is in the 
have been cited for this, */ . 

rather than St. Aust, since presence of God; and it is indeed nothing else 

if ^^but^Rome^no* but a Resi g nation that the Creature makes of 
the V 'place "of the* World it self to God. Therefore Contemplation, even 

where the New Testament during that first obscure Act of Faith, that is 

is most read, and this put- . . 

ting of one's self in the simple and full of love, is carried on by the 

Presence of God, can only Soul while she looks at God and not at ajl 

mean the considering one s 

self as before him. while she continues in an unmoveable state. 

It is then an evident Falsehood to say, that 
other good actions are not at all necessary : any 

good act being of its nature finite, may become always better, by being 
often reiterated, and the multiplying the Acts of vertue cannot be con- 
trary to the Reverence that is due to God, who being exempt from all 



42 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

passion, can never be troubled or wearied with Importunities, as great 
men are apt to be, who as Experience teaches, are often changed, dis- 
turbed, and become uneasy, when the same things are too often repeated 
to them. But with relation to God, when an act is in it self good, the 
repeating it is a progress in good; which is approved of God, and 
becomes more meritorious in his Sight. Therefore the Soul in Contem- 
plating, continues her Acts, and does not stick obstinately to one single 
Act, Contemplation being still an Operation of the Mind, tho other 
things are likewise necessary. 

II. ERROR. 

"One cannot make one step towards Perfection by meditation, that 
being to be obtained entirely by Contemplation. 

REFUTATION. 

"A Christian by meditating seriously on the Passion of Christ, and 
reflecting on that Love that made a God suffer so much for Mankind, 
may upon that resolve to love him again, and to obey all his Commands : 
and he may by the grace of God which is ever present to us put those 
good purposes in Execution ; so that the Soul may well advance towards 
Perfection by Meditation: It may be also done without Meditation; for 
every one that lives according to the Laws of God, may work out his own 
Salvation by the help of God. Now since no man can be saved but he 
that is Perfect, and a Friend of God's, then this Article is most certainly 
false. 

V. ERROR. 

"Corporal Penitences and Austerities do not belong to Contemplative 
Persons: On the Contrary, it is better to begin ones Conversation by a 
state of Contemplation, than by a State of Purgation or of Pennance; and 
Contemplative Persons ought to avoid and despise all the effects of 
sensible Devotion, such as Tenderness of Heart, Tears, and Spiritual 
Consolations, all which are contrary to Contemplation. 

REFUTATION. 

"Mortifications dispose the Spirit to rise above the Motions of sense ; 
and therefore it is that all the Saints have begun their course towards 
Perfection with Fasting and Discipline. And therefore if these Con- 
templatives design Perfection, they must practise Pennance; since noth- 
ing renders a man so fit for Contemplation, as to rise above all the 
Disorders of Sense. God in the Scriptures promises to forgive the mourn- 
ing Sinner; but this is not promised to the Contemplative in any place 
either of the Old or New Testament. Therefore it is better to begin 
ones Conversion with purgative Exercises and Pennances, than with 
Contemplation. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 43 

VII. ERROR. 

"The Soul becomes immediately united to God in Contemplation: 
so that there is no need of Phantasms, Images, or any sort of representa- 
tion. 

REFUTATION. 

"Tho' it is true that the Soul in some sort unites herself immediately 
to God in Contemplation, that is, by a union of affections; for the 

Understanding beholds God simply, yet some 

This is not meant of pure Ideas are necessary for exciting the natural 
Ideas, but of gross Phan- force of the Understanding, and to carry it 

to look at God : which Idea is a sort of Object 
that moves the Understanding. 

XIII. ERROR. 

"Not only inward and mental Images, but those outward ones which 
are worshipped by the Faithful, such as the Images of Christ and of his 
Saints, are hurtful to Contemplative Persons, and they ought to be 
avoided and removed, that so they may not hinder Contemplation. 

REFUTATION. 

"All things are used to the Service of Christ, that either is decreed, 
or that may be decreed by the Holy Mother Church: in all whose Con- 
sultations the Holy Ghost presides and directs 

Here, notwithstanding all them - Therefore if the Church appoints the 
our Representers in Eng- Adoration of Images, none of the Faithful 
#fe'" %S3* '"g 1 * to avoid them, or remove them as hurt- 
Rome, that it is a Crime to ful to Contemplation, and some secret looks 

faybc ka above &"* *** towards these Ima g eS - is " V likel y tO make 

a Man fall from the height of Contemplation ; 

or the Prayer of Quietness; from which if he falls at any time, it flows 
from his own great Instability, since the reasonable Soul is a Nobler 
being, and the Grace that it receives, is of a higher nature, than is sup- 
posed in this Article. Therefore a moderate regard to Images will serve 
to confirm the Soul in her inward Recollection, if a Contemplative man 
regulates this by the help of the Grace of God. 

XV. ERROR. 

"// foul and impure Thoughts come into the mind while one is in 
Contemplation, he ought to take no care to drive them away; nor to turn 
himself to any good thoughts, but to have a complacence in the trouble 
that he suffers from them. 



44 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

REFUTATION. 

"It is a piece of Prudence in a man who being in Contemplation, 
would not lose that union by which he is united to God, to avoid every 
thing that may occasion it; as on the contrary, it is a strong piece of 

neglect to entertain that with complacence 
which must make one lose it, as St. Thomas 

This is only so to be un- of Aquin says, He that loves the cause from 
IhTrule, "g"b y rd all g the *** any effect follows, either naturally, or 
Mysticks, when ill thoughts at least commonly, does vertually love the 
come into Man's mind, the jr . . u. \ j i TT 1 /-i rr 

best way to overcome them, effect ** l f : And the Holy Ghost says, He 
is rather to neglect them, that loves danger, shall perish in it. Therefore 
than to struggle much t t /* i ^ f 1 ^ 

against them. a man wn being in Contemplation, feels the 

Rebellion of the sensible part, he ought to 
use all diligence to overcome in whatsoever a 

state he may be in. He ought therefore to recommend it to God, and to 
implore his grace to quiet all those evil thoughts: that so his joy being 
spread abroad in the Soul; all the disorderly motions of sense may be 
calmed, & ut sint aspera in vias planas, That what is rough may be made 
smooth." 

Authorities differ as to whether Molinos was tortured or not during 
his terrible imprisonment, but following the well-known habit of the 
Inquisition, the inference is strong that forcible means were used to 
compel him to make inculpating confessions. After 22 months of con- 
finement, he was brought forth from his dungeon to receive sentence, 
and on the 3d of September, 1687, at the Church of Santa Maria 
Minerva, at Rome, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. He 
was confined in the prison of the Holy Office, and nothing authentic was 
afterwards heard of him, although tradition has it that he lived in prison 
for nearly ten years, dying finally on the 28th of December, 1696, in 
the seventieth year of his age. 

It is impossible to describe the consternation which followed this 
condemnation, not only in the church, but among the adherents of 
Quietism, who were said to number a million persons. The Inquisition 
acted immediately and caused the arrest of several hundred of the most 
prominent among them, including the Count and Countess Vespiniani, 
who, however, were liberated at once, as the Countess boldly stated to 
her persecutors that she had never told anyone on earth of her manner 
of devotion except her Confessor and that she could not be prosecuted 
without violating the sacredness of the confessional. Alarmed at her 
threats to make a public scandal, they let her go, which shows that the 
power of the Inquisition was. already on the wane. A couple of cen- 
turies earlier such a situation would have been met by the arrest and 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 45 

perpetual imprisonment of the Countess and anyone who dared to make 
her cause their own. 

Others of Molinos's followers did not fare so well and in the next 
few years hundreds were imprisoned, and otherwise disciplined. His 
books were ordered burned and forbidden to the faithful. Such rigorous 
measures had the expected effect and in a short time the movement which 
Molinos started disappeared from the surface of human history, and once 
again organization rolled over and crushed the life out of a sincere and 
noble effort to enlighten the spiritual state of man. But the influence 
lived and is alive in the world to-day. Indeed, I believe it is still growing 
in the world, for with the religious revival which one notes everywhere, 
with the greatly increased interest in and understanding of mysticism 
in general, the works of the Quietists are being more and more read and 
studied and I have no doubt that those who get spiritual light and susten- 
ance from // Guida Spirituale are greater in number to-day than at any 
time since Molinos was condemned for heresy. 

Apart from his own work, the best and most authentic account of 
his doctrines is from a quaint little volume published in 1688 and entitled 
Three Letters Concerning the Present State of Italy, written in the year 
1687. The work is by an Englishman who lived in Rome during the 
two or three years previous and who was an eye witness of many of the 
later public events in Molinos's life. 

Molinos was not the inventor of the system known as Quietism or 
Passivity. It was but his expression of the mystical ideal which is as 
old as man himself, and his does not differ very much from the previous 
statements given us by the German mystics of the I4th Century or the 
great mystics of the church to which reference has already been made. 
Perhaps Molinos and Madame Guyon carried the idea further towards 
its logical conclusions, and indeed this probably explains the hostility of 
the church. So long as the exponents of mysticism contended them- 
selves with the enunciation of the possibility of conscious interior com- 
munion with God and used the ritual and religious paraphernalia of the 
church as aids to devotion, ecclesiasticism looked on and admired, and 
not infrequently extravagantly praised. But when this idea was pushed 
to its extreme, as it was by Molinos, and it was taught that salvation 
was an individual act, depending upon meditation and prayer, and not 
upon benefit of clergy, the hostility of the institution was at once aroused, 
for it thought (wrongly) that it was no longer needed. This is why St. 
Theresa and St. Catherine and John of the Cross, were beatified while 
Molinos and Madame Guyon were condemned. 

Fenelon, in his defense of Madame Guyon, showed in his little book 
The Maxims of the Saints, that everything essential to her repudiated 
doctrines could be found almost verbatim in the writings of the Saints, 
but instead of helping her, this only brought down upon his head the 



46 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

censure of his superiors. All this is said simply to emphasize the fact 
that Molinos's teachings were not new but were a restatement of age- 
old truths with which we are already familiar under many forms and 
guises, but which the world needs to have re-stated at regular periods 
and which we believe are re-stated at the close of every century. 

This is how a contemporaneous English Protestant speaks of Molinos. 

"His course of life has been exact, but he has never practised those 
Austerities that are so much magnified in the Church of Rome, and 
among Religious Orders: and as he did not affect to practise them, so 
he did not recommend them others; nor was he fond of those poor 
Superstitions that are so much magnified by the trafficking men of that 
Church. But he gave in to the Method of the Mystical Divines, of which, 
since your studies have not perhaps lien much that way, I shall give 
you this short account. 

"That sublime, but mysterious way of Devotion, was not set out 
by any of the first Writers of the Church; which is indeed a great 
Prejudice against it: for how many soever they may be, who have fol- 
lowed it in the latter Ages, yet Cassians Collations, which is a work of 
the middle of the -fifth Century, is the antientest Book that is writ in 
that strain : For the pretended Denis the Areopagite is now by the con- 
sent of all learned men thought no Elder than the end of the fifth or 
the beginning of the sixth Century. Yet after these Books appeared, 
very few followed the elevated strains that were in them: The latter 
was indeed too dark to be either well understood or much followed. So 
that this way of Devotion, if it was practised in Religious Houses, yet 
was not much set out to the World before 5. Bernard's time, whose melt- 
ing strains, tho a little too much laboured and affected, yet have something 
in them that both touches and pleases: after him many began to write 
in that sublime strain ; such as Thauler, Rusbrachius, Harphius, Suso, but 
above all Thomas a Kempis, And when for some considerable time that 
way of writing was discontinued, it was again raised up in the last Age, 
with much lustre by S. Teresa: and after her by Beltasar Alvares a 
Jesuit: and as England produced a Carthusian in King Henry the sixths 
time, one Walter Hilton, who writ the scale of Perfection, a book inferior 
to none of these I have cited, and more simple and natural than most of 
them; so of late F. Cressy has publish'd out of F. Baker's papers, who 
was a Benedictine, a whole body of that method of Divinity and Devotion. 
The right notion of this way of Devotion is somewhat hard to be well 
understood, by those who have not studied their Metaphysicks, and is 
entangled with too many of the terms of the School; yet I shall give 
it to you as free of these as is possible. 

"With relation to Devotion they consider a man in three different 
degrees of Progress and Improvement: the first is the Animal, or the 
Imaginative state: in which the Impressions of Religion work strongly 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 47 

upon a mans Fancy, and his sensitive Powers : this state is but low and 
mean, and suteable to the Age of a Child ; and all the Devotion that works 
this way, that raises a heat in the Brain, tenderness in the Thoughts, 
that draws Sighs and Tears, and that awakens many melting Imaginations, 
is of a low form, variable, and of no great force. The second state is 
the Rational, in which those Reflections that are made on Truths, which 
convince ones reason, carry one to all suteable Acts, this they say is dry, 
and without motion : It is a Force which the Reason puts upon the Will, 
and tho upon a great Variety of Motives, and many Meditations upon 
them, the mind goes through a great many Performances of Devotion, 
yet this is still a Force put upon the will. So they reckon that the third 
and highest state is the Contemplative, in which the Will is so united to 
God, and overcome by that Union that in one single Act of Contempla- 
tion, it adores God, it loves him, and resigns itself up to him : and with- 
out wearying it self with a dry multiplicity of Acts, it feels in one Act of 
Faith more force than a whole day of Meditation can produce. In this 
they saw that a true Contemplative Man, feels a secret Joy in God, and 
an acquiescing in his Will; in which the true Elevation of Devotion lies; 
and which is far above either the heats of Fancy, which accompany the 
first state, or the Subtility of Meditation, that belongs to the second state : 
and they say, that the perfection of a Contemplative state above the 
others, appears in this, that whereas all men are not capable of forming 
lively Imaginations, or of a fruitful invention, yet every man is capable of 
the simplicity of contemplation; which is nothing but the silent and 
humble adoration of God, that arises out of a pure and quiet mind. 
But because all this may appear a little intricate, I shall illustrate it by 
a similitude, which will make the difference of those three states more 
sensible. I. A man that sees the exterior of another, with whom he 
has no acquaintance, and is much taken with his face, shape, quality, and 
mien, and thus has a blind prevention in his favour, and a sort of a feeble 
kindness for him, may be compared to him whose Devotion consists in 
lively Imaginations, and tender Impressions on his lower and sensible 
Powers. 2. A man that upon an acquaintance with another, sees a great 
many reasons to value and esteem, both his parts and his Vertues, yet in 
all this he feels no inward Charm that overcomes him, and knits his 
soul to the other; so that how high soever the esteem may be, yet it is 
cold and dry, and does not affect his heart much, may be compared to 
one whose Devotion consists in many Acts, and much Meditation. But 
3dly, when a man enters into an entire friendship with another, then one 
single Thought of his Friend, affects him more tenderly, than all the 
variety of reflections, which may arise in his mind, where this Union is 
not felt. And thus they explain the sublime state of Contemplation. And 
they reckon that all the common methods of Devotion, ought to be con- 
sidered, only as steps to raise men up to this state; when men rest and 



48 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

continue in them, they are but dead and lifeless Forms : and if they rise 
above them, they become Cloggs and Hinderances, which amuse them 
with many dry Performances, in which those who are of a higher Dis- 
pensation will feel no pleasure nor advantage. Therefore the use of the 
Rosary, the daily repeating the Breviary, together with the common 
Devotions to the Saints, are generally laid aside by those who rise up to 
the Contemplative State, and the chief business to which they apply them- 
selves, is to keep their Minds in an inward Calm and Quiet, that so they 
may in silence form simple Acts of Faith, and feel those inward Motions 
and Directions which they believe follow all those who rise up to this 
Elevation. But because a man may be much deceived in those Inspira- 
tions, therefore they recommend to all who enter into this method, above 
all other things, the choise of a Spiritual Guide, who has a right sense 
and a true taste of those matters, and is by Consequence a Competent 
Judge in them. 

"This is all that I will lay before you in general, for giving you 
some taste of Molinos' s Methods ; and by this you will both see why his 
followers are called QUIETISTS, and why his Book is Entitled tt Guida 
Spirituale. But if you intend to Inform your self more particularly of 
this matter, you must seek for it, either in the Authors that I have already 
mentioned, or in those of which I am to give you some account in the 
sequel of this Letter. Molinos having it seems drunk in the principles 
of the Contemplative Devotion in Spain, where the great Veneration that 
is paid to Saint Teresa gives it much reputation, he brought over with 
him to Italy a great Zeal for propagating it. He came and setled at 
Rome, where he writ his Book, and entered into a great commerce with 
the men of the best Apprehensions, and the most Elevated thoughts that 
he found there. All that seemed to concur with him in his design for 
setting on foot this sublimer way, were not perhaps animated with the 
same principles. Some designed sincerely to elevate the World above 
those poor and trifling Superstitions, that are so much in vogue, among 
all the Bigots of the Church of Rome, but more particularly in Spain 
and Italy, and which are so much set on by almost all the Regulars, who 
seem to place Religion chiefly in the exact performing of them."* 

Mr. John Bigelow published a little monograph upon Molinos in 
1882, from which we quote the following extracts: 

"The substance of his teachings was that the soul of man is the 
temple and abode of God, which we ought, therefore, to keep as clean 
and pure from worldliness, and the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of 
life as possible. 

"The true end of human life ought to be, as far as possible, the 
attainment of perfection. In the progress to this result, Molinos dis- 
tinguishes two principal stages or degrees, the first attainable by medita- 

*Three Letters Concerning the Present State of Italy, written in the year 1687, pp. 13-19. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 49 

tion, the second, and highest, by contemplation. In the first stage the 
attention is fixed upon the capital truths of religion, upon all the cir- 
cumstances under which religion has been commended to us, objections 
are wrestled with, and doubts which might trouble the soul one by 
one are resolved and banished. In this stage it is the reason, mainly, 
that acts, and often, if not altogether, in opposition to the will or the 
natural man. One, however, does not reach the higher stage of devotion 
till the soul ceases to struggle, till it has no farther need of proofs or 
reflection; till it contemplates the truth in silence and repose. This is 
what is termed retirement of the soul and perfect contemplation, in 
which the soul does not reason nor reflect, neither about God nor itself, 
but passively receives the impressions of celestial light, undisturbed by 
the world or its works. Whenever the soul can be lifted up to this state, 
it desires nothing, not even its own salvation, and fears nothing, not even 
hell. It becomes indifferent to the use of the sacraments and to all the 
practices of sensible devotion, having transcended the sphere of their 
efficacy. 

"The Divine Majesty knows very well that it is not by the means 
of one's own ratiocination or industry that a soul draws near to Him 
and understands the divine truths, but rather by silent and humble 
resignation. God does the same with the soul when He deprives it of 
consideration and ratiocination. Whilst it thinks it does nothing and 
is, in a manner, undone, in times it comes to itself again, improved, 
disengaged, and perfect, having never hoped for so much favor. 1 Prayer 
he calls the sword of the Spirit, prayer frequent and prolonged, 'It 
concerns thee only," he adds, "to prepare thy heart like clean paper 
wherein the Divine Wisdom may imprint characters to his own liking/ 

"Those who endeavor to acquire virtues by such abstinence, macera- 
tion of the body, mortification of the senses, rigorous penances, wearing 
sack-cloth, chastising the flesh by discipline, going in quest of sensible 
affections and fervent sentiments, thinking to find God in them, such 
Molinos considered were in what he termed the external way, the way 
of beginners, which, though to such it might be useful, never would 
conduct them to perfection, 'nor so much as one step towards it, as 
experience shows in many, who, after fifty years of this external exer- 
cise, are void of God, and full of themselves (of spiritual pride), having 
nothing of a spiritual man but the name.' " 2 

"The truly spiritual men, on the other hand, are those whom the 
Lord, in his infinite mercy, has called from the outward way in which 
they have been wont to exercise themselves; who had retired into the 
interior part of their souls; who had resigned themselves into the hand 
of God, totally putting off and forgetting themselves, and always going 



*The Spiritual Guide, p. 12. Our citations are made from the English version of 1699. 
*Ibid., p. 77. 



50 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

with an elevated spirit to the presence of the Lord, by means of pure 
faith, without image, form, or figure, but with great assurance founded 
in tranquillity and rest internal. These blessed and sublimated souls 
take no pleasure in anything of the world, but in contempt of it, in 
being alone, forsaken and forgotten by everybody, keeping always in 
their hearts a great lowliness and conterrtpt of themselves ; always 
humbled in the depths of their own unworthiness and vileness. In the 
same manner they are always quiet, serene, and even-minded, whether 
under extraordinary graces and favor, or under the most rigorous and 
bitter torments. No news makes them afraid. No success makes them 
glad. Tribulations never disturb them, nor the interior, continual Divine 
communications make them vain and conceited; they always remain full 
of holy and filial fear, in a wonderful peace, constancy, and serenity." 1 

"The Lord," he says, "has repose nowhere but in quiet souls, and 
in those in which the fire of tribulation and temptation hath burned 
up the dregs of passions, and with the bitter water of afflictions hath 
washed off the filthy spots of inordinate appetites; in a word, this Lord 
reposes only where quiet reigns and self-love is banished." 2 

"Afflict not thyself too much, and with inquietude, because these 
sharp martyrdoms may continue; persevere in humility, and go not out 
of thyself to seek aid ; for all thy good consists in being silent, suffering 
and holding patience with rest and resignation; then wilt thou find the 
Divine Strength to overcome so hard a warfare. He is within thee that 
fighteth for thee; and He is Strength itself." 3 

"By the way of nothing thou must come to lose thyself in God 
(which is the last degree of perfection), and happy wilt thou be if thou 
canst so lose thyself. In this same shop of nothing, simplicity is made, 
interior and infused recollection is possessed, quiet is obtained, and the 
heart is cleansed from all imperfection." 4 

JOHN BLAKE. 



*The Spiritual Guide, pp. 76-80. 

2 Ibid., p. 91. 

*Ibid., pp. 112-113. 

*The Spiritual Guide, p. 157. "La Bruyere left behind him a little treatise, entitled Dialogues 
sur le Quietisme, now deservedly forgotten. The only thing in it worthy of its author's wit is a 
caricature of this "doctrine of quiet and passivity, in a suposed quietistic version of the Lord s 
Prayer. It is supposed to be brought by a penitent to the director under whose instruction she 
has been trained, and whose approval of it is requested. 

Director Speak, my child; your motive is praiseworthy. 

Penitent Listen, now, to my composition. 

Director I am attentive. 

Penitent O God, who art no more in Heaven than on Earth or in Hell, who art everywhere, 
I neither wish nor desire your name to be sanctified. You know what is suitable for us, and if 
You wish it to be it will be without my wishing or desiring it; whether Your Kingdom comes 
or not is to me indifferent. Neither do I ask that Your will be done on Earth as it is done in 
Heaven. It will be done in spite of my wishes, and it is for me to be resigned. Give us all 
our daily bread which is Your grace, or do not give it; I neither desire to have it or to be 
deprived of it. So if you pardon my crimes as I have pardoned those who have wronged me, 
so much the better. If, on the other hand, You punish me by damnation, still so much the 
better, since such is Your will." 



MADAM QUYON. 



A COPY of the autobiography of Jeanne Marie Bouvieres de 
la Mothe, afterwards Mme. Guyon, lies before me, printed in 
Dublin in 1775, and the anonymous translator takes great credit 
for his liberality in being willing to publish the merits of a 
French saint, and a Roman Catholic at that. "Shall we utterly despise 
and cast away all the experience and leadings of a chosen Vessel," 
he asks, "because the product of a French soil and foreign clime? 
Because she was born in a Romish Country and bred a Papist, shall we 
exclude her * * * from a place among the great multitude which 
stand before the Lamb?" 

Probably the psychologist would not accept all the phenomena of 
Jeanne's childhood as pure saintliness in the bud, but would lay many of 
the occurrences that set her apart from other children, to the account 
of physical weakness, and the sensitiveness of an overwrought nervous 
system. For some time after her birth the child's life trembled in 
the balance, and she was always delicate. At the tender age of two- 
and-a-half she was put under the care of the Ursuline nuns, and a 
year or two later she was transferred to the Benedictines. After a time 
she was taken home, where she was left almost entirely in the charge of 
servants. Before she was seven she had become "a show pupil," and 
delighted in wearing a miniature nun's habit, and practising all sorts 
of childish austerities. While at home she was sent for one day to 
amuse the exiled Queen of England, who was charmed with the beauty 
and precocity of the child, and wanted to take her and bring her up as 
a maid of honor. Fortunately her father refused to let her go, and 
sent her back to the Ursulines, where her half-sister tenderly watched 
over and taught her. Her other step-sisters and brothers were not so 
congenial, and the brief intervals of her visits to her father's house were 
made miserable by their jealousies. At ten she was transferred to the 
Dominicans, where for the first time she happened to come across a 
Bible, which she pored over for many days. 

Her mother took more interest in her as she grew towards woman- 
hood, and her grace, her beauty, and her wit began to be admired by all. 
Her father refused several offers of marriage for her before she was 
twelve years old, at which age she first partook of the communion, 
although her religious nature was not yet really developed. Her desires 
were fixed upon her own salvation, rather than the helping of others 
to reach perfection, although she performed the outward duties of the 
religious life, visiting the poor, and spending much time in the study 



52 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of religious books. Her faults were in the strictly French sense, the 
defects of her qualities. Perpetual admiration of her intellect, her 
beauty, and her grace, naturally made her vain, a fault increased by 
the attention fixed upon herself, and fostered by the outward routine 
of the convent, and the worldly incense of her mother's salon. The 
austerities she prescribed for herself made her very irritable, and when 
she missed seeing her cousin, De Toissi, who was considered a great 
saint, and who called at her father's house on his way to take up 
missionary work in Cochin China, she was so grieved that she cried all 
the rest of the day and the whole of the following night. May we 
be pardoned for thinking that De Toissi's sanctity could not have been 
the only cause for so much emotion, especially as about a year after- 
wards, she became very much attached to a relation of her father's, an 
accomplished young gentleman who wished to marry her, but her father 
thought him too near of kin. This disappointment had a very bad 
effect upon the seeds of devotion just springing up in her heart, and 
as she herself says in her autobiography, "I left off prayer, whereby I 
became cold toward God, and all my old faults revived, to which I added 
an excessive vanity, and I began to pass a great part of my time before 
a looking-glass * * * This made me so inwardly vain, that I doubt 
whether any other ever exceeded me therein, but there was an affected 
modesty in my outward deportment that would have deceived the world." 
And she spent whole days and nights in reading romances, in which she 
was encouraged "by the fallacious pretext that they taught one to 
speak well!" 

Just before Jeanne was fifteen her father took his family to Paris. 
Here M. Guyon, a man 38 years of age, and very wealthy, sought her 
in marriage. Her father, without consulting her in any way, gave his 
consent, and this child of fifteen became the wife of a man she had seen 
but three times before the ceremony, and who was in every way unsuited 
to her, besides being decidedly her inferior intellectually. But the crowning 
misfortune of the marriage was the character of M. Guyon's mother, 
who seems to have combined the worst traits of all the objectionable 
mothers-in-law ever known. She was coarse, avaracious, and hard- 
hearted, and considered the elegance and refinement of her young 
daughter-in-law to be an intentional reflection upon her own manners, 
if she could be said to have any. If Mme. Guyon spoke, she was 
reproved for forwardness, and roughly silenced, if she kept still, she was 
accused of haughtiness and pride, and was scolded from morning till 
night. As she was not allowed to visit, her own mother complained that 
she did not come to see her often enough, so that poor Jeanne was 
abused, not only by her husband's relations, but by her own family 
as well. Before she was sixteen her spirit was completely broken, and 
she sat in company in a stolid silence. Her husband was a martyr to 



MADAM GUYON 53 

gout, and before they had been married four months, he had a severe 
attack, through which she nursed him faithfully. He generally had two 
attacks a year, each lasting about six weeks, during which periods he was 
confined to his bed. When one thinks of the irritability that is so con- 
stantly associated with gout, one cannot help feeling that the poor girl 
was sorely tried. As she says herself, "great crosses overwhelm and 
stifle all anger at once, but a continual contrariety irritates and stirs 
up a sourness at the heart." Mme. Guyon herself became very ill, and 
was more than once at the point of death. About this time her husband 
met with great pecuniary losses, but she had passed through so many 
trials, that all love of riches had long since died out in her. She visited 
the poor, took care of the sick, and sought for spiritual help from every 
source that she could find. A lady who was an exile came to stay at 
her father's house, and told her that she had all the virtues of the active 
life, but had not yet attained the simplicity of prayer which she herself 
experienced. But Mme. Guyon could not understand her. She was 
still trying to get by her own efforts what she could only acquire by 
ceasing from all effort. 

About this time her missionary cousin, de Toissi, returned from 
Cochin China, and this lady and he understood one another immediately, 
and conversed together in a spiritual language, which she could not com- 
prehend, although she admired it. He would fain have taught her 
his own method of prayer, but she was not yet prepared for it. No sooner 
had he left her father's house, however, than she met a very religious 
man of the order of St. Francis. He had intended going in another 
direction, but a secret power changed his design, and Mme. Guyon's 
father insisted on her going to see him. He had just come out of a 
five years' solitude, and was much confused at being addressed by two 
women, for ever mindful of les convenances she had taken a relative 
with her. For some time he did not speak, but Mme. Guyon told him 
in a few words all her difficulties about prayer. He presently replied: 
"It is, Madam, because you seek without what you have within. Accus- 
tom yourself to seek God in your heart, and you will find him." Having 
said these words, he left her. The advice brought into her heart what 
she had been seeking so many years, or rather discovered to her what was 
already there, though she had not known it. Nothing now was more 
easy to her than prayer, and once engaged in it, hours passed away like 
minutes. From the hour of her interview with the Franciscan monk 
she was a mystic, she had exchanged the active life for the meditative. 
This change took place on the Magdalen's day, July 22d, 1668, when she 
was a little over twenty. She now bade farewell to all her old pleasures 
and amusements, such as they were, and settled down to a quiet life, 
and the care of the temporal as well as the spiritual good of those 
around her. She was especially absorbed in the desire to be wholly 



54 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

God's and by the destruction of her own will to achieve union with the 
Divine. It was much the same thing as the doing away with the 
sense of separateness, and leaning to identify the soul with God. 

During the year 1670, a curious incident happened. One day, when 
on her way to church, a mysterious stranger appeared at her side, and 
began to talk to her. He seemed very grave and learned, but was so 
poorly dressed that she took him for a beggar. He spoke to her in a 
wonderful manner about God and sacred things, knew all her faults and 
failings, and gave her to understand that God required of her the 
entire subjection of her nature to him, which should lead to the utmost 
purity and height of perfection. She never saw him again, but his words 
remained in her memory always. 

Not long after this, she returned from a short journey to find her 
husband ill with gout and other ailments, her little daughter danger- 
ously ill of small-pox, and her eldest son attacked by so malignant a 
type of the same dreadful disease, that although he recovered, he was 
disfigured for life. Her father wanted to take Mme. Guy on and her 
youngest son to his own house, before they should catch the infection, 
but the terrible mother-in-law would not allow them to go. The little 
boy and his mother were taken ill the same day ,and the child died 
literally for want of care. The mother-in-law would not send for a 
physician, and Mme. Guyon, who was frightfully ill, was only saved by 
the accidental visit of a clever surgeon. But her beauty was gone for- 
ever. Shortly after her recovery, she met Father La Combe, who then 
learned that Mme. Guyon was in possession of something he lacked. The 
knowledge of the "interior way," came from her to him as she had 
received it from the Franciscan Monk. It seemed that now she must 
have passed through every trial that could afflict so religious a spirit, but 
the worst was yet to come. She must be taught to relinquish cheerfully 
even spiritual pleasures. About the year 1674, she entered upon what 
she termed a state of desolation, which lasted with little intermission 
for nearly seven years. This condition of darkness and emptiness went 
far beyond any trials she had yet met with. "But I have experienced 
since," she says, "that the prayer of the heart, when it appears most 
dry and barren, nevertheless is not ineffectual nor offered in vain. * * * 
If the soul were faithful, to leave itself in the hand of God, it would 
soon arrive at the experience of the eternal truth. * * * But the misfortune 
is, that people want to direct God, instead of resigning themselves 
to be directed by him." This state of desolation into which she fell, 
was undoubtedly in a great part a reaction from the spiritual ecstasy 
and emotional happiness which had preceded it. During this period of 
darkness and emptiness, as she expresses it, her husband died, and to 
her fell the task of settling up his disordered affairs, a task of which 
she acquitted herself to the admiration of everyone, although she says 



MADAM GUYON 55 

she knew as little of business as of Arabic, and therefore believed that 
she had Divine assistance in the discharge of her duty. She did not 
realize that a naturally quick perception and unusually good powers of 
reasoning fitted her for any such task, and that she had great executive 
ability was shown in more than one crisis of her life. It seems hardly 
necessary therefore to call in the aid of the Almighty to settle up 
M. Guyon's estate. She was left a widow at the age of 28, with 
two sons and an infant daughter, born just before her husband died. 
Her long twelve years of domestic martyrdom were at last over, as 
her cruel mother-in-law informed her that they could live together no 
longer, and Mme. Guyon was free to depart with her children. But the 
depression was too severe to be removed at once, and failing to get 
help from others, she wrote to La Combe, begging him if the letter 
reached him before the Magdalen's day, to pray for her. It reached him 
the day before, and the prayer was answered. After nearly seven years 
of spiritual desolation, on July 22, 1680, the glory of God settled on 
her soul never more to depart. She had passed through the last of 
the trials which were part of her initiation into the inner mysteries 
of Quietism. She now enjoyed not merely a peace from God, but the 
God of Peace. She had attained to Unity instead of union. She 
wrote a beautiful little poem about this time, in which she speaks of 
sailing with Divine Love over a watery waste, in which the boat sinks, 
and every support is withdrawn from her. Finally Love himself dis- 
appears, and she is left alone in the dark. She cries out 

"Be not angry I resign 
Henceforth all my will to Thine; 
I consent that Thou depart, 
Though Thine absence break my heart! 
Go then, and forever, too, 
All is right that Thou wilt do. 

'This was just what Love intended, 

He was now no more offended ; 

Soon as I became a child . 

Love returned to me and smiled. 

Nevermore shall strife betide 

Twixt the Bridegroom and his Bride." 

And now begins a second period in the life of Mme. Guyon. From 
childhood up, her spiritual nature had been in a state of preparation. 
One trial after another she had triumphantly passed through, and now 
she was to give of her spiritual wisdom to others. She settled at Gex, 
in the first place, in the summer of 1681, taking up her abode with 



56 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the Sisters of Charity there, and began to teach the doctrine of "sancti- 
fication" or "holiness." La Combe, theoretically her director but, in 
reality her pupil, preached a sermon on the subject which led at once 
to his being warned against heresy. But the Bishop of Geneva was 
keen-sighted enough to see that the objectionable teaching really came 
from Mme. Guyon, and she was compelled to leave Gex, and take 
refuge with her infant daughter and her two maids in Thonon. Although 
Mme. Guyon remained a member of the Roman Catholic Church and 
conformed to its rights and ceremonies, she had really outgrown all 
divisions of creed or nationality. Her principal teaching was that the 
will itself must be entirely subject to God. There are but two principles 
of life, self and God. One or the other must be the central pivot. She 
was able to discern the interior state of those who came to her for 
instruction, and if they were insincere in their questions about divine 
things, she held her peace, and answered not a word. 

After two years or more at Thonon, she and La Combe were ordered 
by the Bishop of Geneva to leave his diocese, and they worked their 
way over the Alps to Turin, but after a few months Mme. Guyon 
returned to France and took up her abode at Grenoble, where she 
wrote that beautiful little book called A Short Method of Prayer. But 
she was soon accused again of heresy, and had to steal away to Mar- 
seilles, where she found that the whole city was in an uproar against 
her on account of the little book on Prayer. She managed with great 
trouble to make her way to Genoa, and so on to Chambery and Grenoble, 
where she met her daughter, whom she took with her to Paris, arriving 
there, after an absence of five years on that memorable anniversary to 
her, the Magdalen's day, July 22d. 

This was in 1686, and Mme. Guyon was now thirty-eight years 
of age. She took a house in a quiet part of Paris and her two 
sons and her daughter lived with her. In less than a year La Combe 
was arrested for heresy and imprisoned for the rest of his life, some 
28 years. Mme. Guyon, though at great risk, continued to write to 
him whenever possible. The authorities tried to drive her out of Paris, 
but only succeeded in getting Louis XIV to issue a lettre de cachet to 
confine her in the convent of Saint Marie, at a time when she was only 
partially recovered from a severe illness. After eight months, through 
the intercession of Mme. de Maintenon, she was released, and went 
to live with the friend who had persuaded Mme. de Maintenon to plead 
for her. Shortly after this, her daughter married. 

Now began the most active and the most important part of Mme. 
Guyon's life, and the beginning of her relations with Fenelon, Arch- 
bishop of Cambray, and Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux. Fenelon, like her- 
self, was a mystic, and was guided by the inner light, though to her 
he owed the final teaching as to the "interior way." Mme. de Maintenon 



MADAM GUYON 57 

had become a great admirer of Mme. Guyon, invited her constantly 
to her table, and met with her and Fenelon at the Hotels de Chevreuse 
and Beauvilliers where a religious coterie assembled three times a week 
to discuss their inward experiences. During the three or four years 
that the light of Mme. de Maintenon's countenance shone upon Mme. 
Guyon she was virtually the spiritual instructress of St. Cyr, and found 
herself surrounded by disciples in Paris. At St. Cyr the young ladies' 
hung upon her words, and strained every faculty to imitate her per- 
fections. Mysticism became the fashion, and finally the pupils of St 
Cyr obeyed the mistress of the novices no longer. They neglected their 
duties, and indulged in prayer both seasonable and unseasonable. They 
had illuminations, and ecstasies, and heard voices. They stopped in 
the midst of their sweeping, to lean upon the broom and lose them- 
selves in contemplation. A good housekeeper once said that she knew 
that her maid had experienced religion because she swept under the mats. 
Tried by this test, the religion of the inmates of St, Cyr was not a 
lasting one. Mme. de Maintenon was alarmed. "I had wished to 
promote intelligence," she said, "but we have made orators; devotion 
and we have made Quietists." She commissioned Godet, Bishop of 
Chartres (one of the two confessors at St. Cyr, Fenelon being the other), 
to demand the surrender of all Mme. Guyon's books, setting herself 
the example by publicly handing over to him her own copy of the Short 
Method. Mme. de Maintenon was nothing if not politic, and after ques- 
tioning Bossuet, Bourdalone and others as to the heresy of Mme. Guyon, 
she concluded that it would be necessary to disown her. Mme. Guyon 
requested to have a commission appointed to examine and pronounce 
upon her life and doctrines. The point that shocked Bossuet most was 
Mme. Guyon's declaration that she felt herself unable to pray for any 
particular thing, because to do so was to fail in absolute abandonment 
and disinterestedness. The commission met from time to time during 
some six months at the little village of Issy, where one of the commis- 
sioners resided. From there Mme. Guyon was sent to Meaux, that 
she might be under the immediate supervision of Bossuet, a journey 
that had to be performed by coach, in the most severe winter of many 
years. The coach was buried in snow, and she narrowly escaped with 
her life. Bossuet did not disdain to visit her sick bed, and to take 
advantage of her exhaustion. He demanded a submission, and promised 
a favorable certificate. He received the act of submission, but withheld 
the certificate for six months, after which he sent her the document, 
certifying that he was satisfied with her submission to the Church, of 
whose sacraments he authorized her to partake, and acquitting her 
of all implication in the heresies of Molinos. 

In the meantime Fenelon had been added to the commission of 
three, a sweet and lovely nature, and no match in any way for the 



58 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

overbearing and treacherous Bossuet. Mme. Guyon was too sincere 
and pure-minded to suspect any want of honor in her examiner, and 
not only placed in his hands all her most private papers, including her 
autobiography, which even Fenelon had not seen, but persuaded 
Fenelon to be equally confiding. The trust of both was shamefully 
abused and their most sacred disclosures used as weapons against them. 
After all, the Quietism of Fenelon was of a more moderate type than 
that of Mme. Guyon, who was altogether a broader and a loftier soul. 
Their chief technical difference seems to have lain in the possibility of 
attaining perfect disinterestedness, that is, were they willing to be damned 
for the glory of God? Mme. Guyon professed to conduct devout minds 
by a certain method to this point, Fenelon only maintained the possi- 
bility of realising such a love, but as Vaughan (Hours with the Mystics, 
II. 259), very shrewdly remarks, in any case it is a supposition which 
involves a very gross and external conception of Hell, and one might add, 
a very inadequate and low conception of God. 

Mme. Guyon now began to hope for a retired life among her friends 
in Paris, but Bossuet, finding that she trusted him no longer, chose 
to call this removal a flight, and had her arrested with her maid, and 
confined in the castle of Vincennes. This was in December, 1695, and 
finally, in 1698, she was transferred to the Bastille, and placed in soli- 
tary confinement. Here her faithful maid died. After four years 
spent in this terrible prison, she was released in 1702, and was allowed 
to visit her daughter for a time, after which she was banished to Blois 
for the remainder of her life, happily an uneventful remainder. She 
taught by correspondence and conversation as far as she was able, and 
revealed true religion to many of those who sought her out. At last, on 
July 9, 1717, she passed away, at the age of sixty-nine, both Bossuet 
and Fenelon having preceded her. 

We cannot but recognize in her one of the "great souls" of the 
epoch, the greatest probably of her time and nation. Many legends 
grew up about her miraculous powers, such as grow up about all 
saints, whose followers think they honor them by ascribing to them 
supernatural gifts, when the greatest of all gifts was the love of God 
in which she most truly lived and moved and had her being. At least 
in 1668 and 1680 she experienced that union with God of which all 
mystics speak. She was a woman so beautiful, so graceful, so clever, 
and so keen of perception, that it was no wonder that vanity was her 
besetting sin, and the last to be cast out of her soul as it struggled 
upwards to perfection. In her Short Method of Prayer she begins by 
declaring that all are capable of prayer, which is nothing but the appli- 
cation to God, and the internal exercise of love. There is nothing said 
about petitions, prayer is a condition, not an asking for something. 
The first degree of prayer is meditation, and the first thing to learn is 



MADAM GUYON 59 

that the Kingdom of God is within us. We should withdraw from the 
outward and concentrate upon the inward ; then repeat the Lord's prayer, 
pondering in silence over each sentence. If we feel inclined to keep up 
the silence, let us not continue the prayer until that desire subsides. 

The second degree of prayer is simplicity. After a time the soul 
finds that it is enabled to approach God with ease, and prayer becomes 
sweet and delightful, and the soul needs not to think of any subject. We 
must begin to give up our whole existence to God, losing our * own 
will in his. 

A more exalted degree of prayer is that of active contemplation. 
In this condition the soul enjoys a continual sense of God's presence. 
Silence now constitutes its whole prayer, and selfish activity becomes 
merged in divine activity, as the stars disappear when the sun rises. 
Souls in this State pray without effort, as a healthy person breathes. 

The soul next passes into what may be termed infused prayer. 
Gently and without effort it glides into this condition (which is difficult 
to distinguish from the preceding one), and a state of inward silence 
ensues. The soul suffers itself to be, as it were, annihilated, and thereby 
ascends to the Highest. "We can pay due honor to God only in our 
own annihilation, which is no sooner accomplished than He, who never 
suffers a void in nature, instantly fills us with Himself." 

In her book called Spiritual Torrents she uses the figure of the 
mountain torrents that seek to reach the sea in divers ways. "Some 
advance gently towards perfection, never arriving at the sea, or reaching 
it very late, being satisfied to lose themselves in some stronger and more 
rapid river, which hurries them along with itself to the sea." 

And speaking afterwards of the capacity of the soul, in a passage 
very like one in Dante, she says that all holy souls are in a state of 
fullness, but not in an equal amount of fullness. "A small vessel when 
full, is as much filled as a large one, but it does not hold as much. 
These souls all have the fullness of God, but according to their capacity 
for receiving, and there are those whose capacity God enlarges daily. 
* * * It is a capacity of ever growing and extending more and more 
in God, being able to be transformed into Him, in an ever-increasing 
degree, just as water joined to its' source, blends with it ever more and 
more." 

It will be readily seen in how many ways the Quietism of Mme. 
Guyon resembles the doctrines of theosophy, more particularly in the 
teaching of continuous meditation, and what Patanjali calls "medita- 
tion without a seed." 

KATHARINE HILLARD. 



SELF-CONTROL. 



WHAT was H. P. Blavatsky's most remarkable achievement? 
I believe that the historian of several hundred years from 
now will reply that it was her revival of the science of right 
thinking. 

It is true that if one were to judge the result of her work by the 
number of people who now call themselves Theosophists, one would be 
inclined to doubt whether the historians of the future will take her into 
account at all. But I am supposing that these Actons of the twenty- 
fifth century will be enlightened; that they will realize how widespread 
was the effect of the movement which she inaugurated, and how deeply 
it affected the literature of the age in which she lived. In that case 
they will search our records our magazines and transactions for the 
concentrated expression of that which the world received in a diluted 
form. Poor historians ! They will find us terribly representative. May 
they know better days! 

But one thing will rejoice them, I am sure: the fact that we have 
learned at last to ask for knowledge which can be used in daily life, 
rather than for instruction in those magic arts which fascinated our 
predecessors at the end of the eighteenth century. Cagliostro, questioned 
by Lavater, said that his understanding of magic was contained in verbis, 
in herbis, in lapidibus. H. P. Blavatsky, similarly questioned, would 
perhaps have replied that magic is founded upon a thorough compre- 
hension of the nature of man. But she regarded man as the microcosm 
of the macrocosm, and she undoubtedly would have said that he who 
understands the nature of man of man physical, astral, psychic, and 
spiritual cannot fail to know also the virtues hidden in words and in 
herbs and in stones. 

What St. Germain's answer to that question would have been, it 
is impossible to say. Perhaps a few chords on his wonderful violin, 
chords which would have revealed all or nothing, as the questioner had 
ears to hear. But if the doctrine of Cagliostro represented that of his 
superior, or represented that part of his superior's doctrine which the 
latter saw fit to reveal we, in this century, may congratulate ourselves 
upon having had it made plain to us that a Master of Magic is really a 
Master of Service, and that he who would serve must learn to control 
his serviceable faculties. 

"Every magical operation," said Madame Blavatsky, "is dependent 
upon the right use of the imagination and the will." In other words, 
before we can really serve, we must master these two among the many 



SELF-CONTROL 61 

other faculties or forces which we now either misuse, or which mis- 
use us. 

Doubtless there are many ways of attaining this end. The following 
is but one view, quite incomplete, of one of these ways: 

The first step is to realize that we have to deal, not with many 
forces, but with one, of which the many are but different manifestations. 

The second step is to realize that to control this one force we must 
ignore it and concentrate our whole attention upon thought. 

The third step is to realize that instead of having to banish many 
different kinds of thought, such as thoughts of vanity, of envy, of sen- 
suality, and so forth, we have to master one thought only, which is the 
thought of desire. 

The fourth step is to realize that the banishment of desire is not 
merely a negative process, but involves creation also. 

It does not require any profound analysis to see that the various 
passions and emotions which we desire to control are the manifestations 
of a single force. Consider the nature of anger, of hatred, and of love : 
evidently they are forces, or in any case are associated with force. 
We can feel the effect of anger in the body. Hatred may be looked 
upon as a sublimated form of anger, and although its effects in the 
body are not so perceptible as those of anger hatred being a "cold," 
anger a "hot" force it is not any the less powerful on that account: 
quite the reverse. For hatred, being "cold," carries the will, which 
is also "cold," with it ; while, so long as anger is uppermost, the will 
is entirely inoperative. 

Now the effect of anger is explosive, disruptive, revolutionary, 
while the effect of hatred is contractive, withering, paralyzing. Never- 
theless, they are activities of the same force, and this same force, 
manifesting on other planes, is also known to us as one or another 
form of Love either as love creative and evolutionary, or, on the 
other hand, as love involutionary (centripetal) in the direction of 
reunion with the divine. So the "force of anger," the "force of hatred" 
and the "force of love" are not separate forces existing in Nature. 
They are one. 

If, however, we were to suppose that this one force, of which 
all the different passions and emotions are the phenomena, actually 
changes its character according to the plane on which it manifests, 
we should be making a serious mistake. For this one force in itself 
is pure and uncolored. Its "good" or "bad" character is the result 
of the thought with which it is associated. It is clear, for instance, 
that in so far as will and imagination are concerned, neither of them 
can be called good or bad. They can be used for the highest, as well 
as for selfish and immoral, ends. And, however used, they remain 
pure in themselves as force. So with hatred and anger: they are 



62 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

merely wrong directions given by thought to the one colorless force 
which blindly and implicitly pours itself into the moulds which the 
mind creates. 

It follows, then, that we can omit force from our problem, and 
concentrate our attention on thought. 

Now arises the question, how can we best control wrong thinking 
those thoughts which stand in the way of the untrammelled and 
wise use of will and imagination, and which prevent our becoming 
Masters of Service? 

The four great evils against which we are constantly warned in 
the Bhagavad Gita, are anxiety, fear, anger, and desire. In the writings 
of Shankaracharya, if I am not mistaken, but in any case in the Buddhist 
scriptures, these and all other evil tendencies are reduced to one: the 
cause of all sorrow, says Buddha, is desire. And to look at the matter 
in this way simplifies the difficulty because, instead of having to keep 
on the watch against thought of pride and hypocrisy and sensuality 
and anger and envy and contempt and ambition and vanity and the 
thousand other madnesses which possess us, we can turn from these 
to their root, which is desire, and try to extirpate that. The desire to 
shine, to convince ourselves as well as others that we are superior; the 
desire to dominate; the desire for ease; the desire to remain separate; 
the desire for sensation, intellectual as well as nervous; the desire to 
preserve what we possess and to acquire what we do not possess all 
these desires, even the desire of growth, must be rooted up. But they 
need not be considered separately, for they are one : they are Desire. 

The free Spirit which possesses all things and is all things, desires 
nothing ; and we, in order to realize that we are that Spirit and nothing 
else, must "forsake every desire which entereth into the heart" the 
moment it enters, and, if possible, before it has become definite. We 
shall then attain to the supreme simplicity, and without desiring to do so. 

This does not mean, of course, that we should "play the part in life 
of a desiccated pansy." It is not that we should kill out sensation, but 
that we should kill out the desire for sensation. It is not that we should 
no longer feel pleasure or pain, but that we should no longer hunger 
for pleasure or dread (that is, desire to avoid) pain. 

But let me repeat it : every desire must go in time. It is a mis- 
take to give desire a free rein in what we choose to call a harmless 
direction. If, as Thoreau said, we remain sensual in our eating or in 
our sleeping; if we indulge our desire for intellectual sensations (as 
for new books), for aesthetic or other cravings, desire, being one, is 
always liable to revert to its former and admittedly harmful channels. 
We must cut it off at its source ; not block up one or another of its 
outlets. 

Nor is it selfish desire only that must go, but also that which we 



SELF-CONTROL 63 

flatter ourselves is unselfish, such as the desire to preserve or to benefit 
others. To some it will seem dreadful to say cease from the desire to 
benefit others. But I would ask them to sink within themselves to 
that centre which is beyond desire, leaving behind them as they go 
every longing they have ever known ; and as longing after longing is 
abandoned, they will find that the heart grows lighter and lighter, 
more and more luminous. What will they discover at last? That the 
centre which is beyond desire, is beyond separateness and beyond 
time; that in it all things are identical. To realize that, even for a 
moment and imperfectly, benefits the whole of creation; and if we 
carry the memory of it in our hearts, benefit others we must, at every 
point, without desiring to do so, and without the thought that we are 
benefiting them. Does a flower desire to arouse in us a sense of the 
beautiful? I think not. It is beautiful, because it is the perfect 
expression of the spirit which informs it. So with us : think away our 
desires, and we touch the Spirit which informs us. That Spirit, being 
one in all men, exists for all men. 

But now it may be said : What scope can there be for will and for 
imagination if desire has been laid so utterly aside? There can be no 
scope for the personal will ; but with the personal will no one yet has 
ever performed a feat of white magic. The white magician, the Master 
of Service, knows no will but that of the Spirit the Spirit whose will 
is a flame. Set free when desire dies, it is that will which the Master 
is, and it is with that will that we have to identify ourselves. Acting 
in conjunction with the image-making power of a pure, untroubled 
mind, it is the supreme Magician. But this brings us to what I have 
described as the positive aspect of self-control. 

The pertinacity of our covetous thoughts will horrify and even 
terrify us unless we realize that they are not, as it were, freshly 
evolved ; that we are not responsible in this moment for their approach ; 
but that in the past we have created centres of wrong thought which 
exist in the sphere of the mind, and that it is with these old accumula- 
tions that we now have to deal. 

We have abolished force from our problem ; otherwise we might 
explain the existence of these mental deposits, of these entities in the 
subliminal consciousness (for entities they are), in this way: a force 
which is used continually for selfish and material ends wears a path 
for itself, and thereafter tends to move in that direction almost auto- 
matically. It needs but the slightest external stimulus, and then, in 
spite of ourselves, as it appears, there follows the flow of force and 
faculty along the beaten path of selfishness or vice. 

But it is better to consider the matter from the standpoint of 
thought, as heretofore. Our task, then, may be expressed thus: we 
must reduce these old centers of thought, these devils of the mind, to 



64 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

impotence. Otherwise we shall eternally be doing and saying and 
thinking things "against our wills," and thus remain slaves instead of 
becoming masters. How can it be done? We may be sure of one 
thing: that the thieves and money-changers, although driven out of 
the Temple, will return, unless we fill their places with genuine wor- 
shippers. And this we can do, in the case of our own minds, only by 
generating the right kind of thought and feeling. That is to say, we 
must fill the mind and heart with the highest thoughts of which we 
can conceive: we must "meditate." 

Meditation may take the form of dwelling mentally upon one of the 
great truths, such as that all men, including ourselves, are essentially 
divine ; it may be made more a matter of feeling, in which case we try to 
feel or to hear the harmony which lies at the root of things ; or it may be 
self-identification, through the imagination, with our true nature 
with That which is changeless, the source of wisdom, of power, of 
bliss. In any and every case, meditation or contemplation, among its 
other effects, opens the heart to the inflow of the Spirit and produces 
a radiation of divine energy from the centre throughout the sphere of the 
consciousness It dislodges bad accumulations in that sphere, and at the 
same time creates a veritable Jacob's ladder on which "the angels" of the 
God within us may pass to and fro between earth and heaven. As 
the positive aspect of the banishment of desire, it forms the first step 
in the science of right thinking, and the perfection of right thinking, 
as I have said, is Magic, or the Magical Service of man. 

T. 



Some day, in years to come, you will be wrestling with the great 
temptation, or trembling like a reed, under the great sorrow of your life. 
But the real struggle is now, here, in these quiet weeks. 

Now it is being decided whether in the day of your supreme sorrow 
or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character 
cannot be made except by steafty, long-continued process. 

PHILLIPS BROOKS. 



BHAQAVAD GITA. 



INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XIII. 

IT has been suggested that the eighteen books of the Bhagavad Gita 
fall naturally into three groups of six books each ; and that the first 
group of six books corresponds in general to the stage of Aspiration, 

the second group of six to the stage of Illumination, the third six to 
the stage of Realization. Without pushing this thought too far, we may 
recognize, in a general way, that the earlier books of this divine poem 
are concerned with the first halting steps on the path of life ; the middle 
culminates in the Transfiguration of the eleventh book, and the closing 
part of the poem is made up of teachings worked out in detail, for use 
in daily life. In general, these passages of practical teaching rest on 
the Upanishads and the Sankhya teaching of Kapila, as developed and 
embodied in the later Vedanta. We cannot speak definitely of the dates 
either of the Upanishads or of Kapila. We can only say that both 
certainly belong to a period long before Buddha, and that the Upanishads 
are much older than Kapila. We can further say, with some confidence, 
that Kapila's great contribution to Indian wisdom was the division of 
life into the two opposing camps of Spirit and Nature: Purusha and 
Prakriti; and the further division of Nature under the Three Powers 
of Substance, Force and Darkness: Sattva, Rajas, Tamas. 

This division is not found in the great Upanishads, but it corre- 
sponds closely to something that is found there. The antithesis between 
Spirit and Nature answers to the Upanishad distinction between Self 
and not-Self. And the Three Powers are closely related to the Three 
Worlds of the Upanishads. In the development of the Vedanta in the 
period after the great Upanishads, much of the teaching of Kapila was 
adopted, and we find the two strands interwoven throughout the Bha- 
gavad Gita, with a strong coloring of the devotional Yoga school added. 
Shankaracharya fully approves of this adoption, and uses Sankhya class- 
ifications throughout his works, both commentaries and original teach- 
ings. The reason would seem to be that Kapila, while not giving forth 
the great traditional teaching of the Mysteries embodied in the Upani- 
shads, nevertheless developed his philosophy in close harmony with the 
Mystery teaching, and developed it with marvelous intellectual cogency 
and lucidity. Kapila was in many ways the prototype of Kant, and his 
purely intellectual work served as a basis for spiritual teaching, just as 
Kant's work serves as the foundation for later idealism. 

We therefore find the closing books of the Bhagavad Gita strongly 



Copyrighted, 1906, by Charles Johnston. 
5 



66 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

colored by the thought of Kapila; and his division of life into Spirit 
and Nature, with Nature divided under the Three Powers, is used as 
the basis of instruction. 

The first three verses of Book XIII divide life into objective and 
subjective, the "field," and the "knower of the field." This is in effect 
Kapila's division between Nature and Spirit; but, while Kapila seems 
to contemplate a countless number of isolated Spirits, the Vedanta, in 
adopting his teaching, greatly improved it, by seeing, under all these 
individuals, a larger unity, the Spirit Supreme, the one Self of all beings. 
This presence of the Oversoul is finely expressed here: "Know Me to 
be the knower of the field, in all fields, O son of Bharata." 

The fourth verse, which refers to the Brahma-Sutras, the great 
analytical work commented on by Shankaracharya, is of later date, and 
has been inserted by some lover of philosophical orthodoxy, a little 
jealous, perhaps, of the prominence given to the rival Sankhya system. 

The fifth and sixth verses cover what the Upanishads would call 
the two lowest planes of consciousness, the physical and the psychic; 
the mental and emotional energies being included, as they ought to 
be, under the psychic. 

A group of five verses follow, which set forth "the fruits of the 
spirit," corresponding to the third plane of consciousness of the Upani- 
shads, the plane of "dreamlessness," of moral and spiritual nature, above 
the dreamland of the psychic plane. These five verses form, in fact, a 
fine moral code for the disciple, who must grow in just these qualities 
of "humility, sincerity, patience, reverence, selflessness." Every word 
of these five verses should be dwelt on, till the spiritual principle involved 
is discerned and assimilated. 

Then come six verses, from the twelfth to the seventeenth inclus- 
ive, which finely and wonderfully set forth the fourth plane of con- 
sciousness of the Upanishads, the direct perception of the Logos, the 
Oversoul. The Logos is the "Light of lights," undivided among beings, 
though seeming to be divided; the power and consciousness of the 
Logos are everywhere: "with hands and feet everywhere, with eyes 
everywhere," in the fine symbolism of the poem. And the union of 
individual consciousness with this divine consciousness of the Logos 
is well declared to be the goal of wisdom, the aim of life. 

Then Detachment is taught, first along the line of Sankhya thought, 
which regards the Spirit as the disinterested spectator, whose liberation 
is to be gained by perception that personal acts and desires are not of 
the Spirit. By thus raising our consciousness to the one Life, we stand 
apart from the personal in us, and work only the works of the Life, 
the works of the Father. The teaching of Detachment is stated also 
in terms of the Yoga and Vedanta schools, the reconciliation of the three 
bringing us to the close of the book. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 67 

BOOK XIII. 

THE MASTER SAID I 

This bodily being, O son of Kunti, is named the field; and who 
beholds it, him the wise call the knower of the field. 

And know Me to be the knower of the field, in all fields, O son 
of Bharata; the knowledge of the field and of the knower of the field, 
I esteem to be knowledge indeed. 

What the field is, of what nature, what are its changes, and whence 
it is ; and what the knower is, and what his power is, that briefly learn 
from Me. 

[By the Seers this has been celebrated in many varied hymns; and 
by the verses of the Brahma-Sutras, full of firm wisdom, it has been 
set forth.] 

The elements, self-reference, understanding, the Unmanifest; the 
ten powers that perceive and act, mind, and the five fields of perception. 

Desire, hate, pleasure, pain, bodily unity, intellect, will; this is 
the field, briefly set forth, with its changes. (6) 

Humility, sincerity, harmlessness, patience, uprightness, reverence 
for the Teacher, purity, steadfastness, self-control, 

Freedom from sensuous longings, selflessness, perception of the 
defects of birth and death and age and sickness and pain, 

Detachment, freedom from absorption in sons and wife and house- 
hold, perpetual balance of mind, whether the wished or the unwished 
befall, 

Undivided and faithful love of Me, a dwelling in the solitary place, 
shunning the multitude, (10) 

Steadfast perception of the Oversoul, an understanding of the goal 
of true wisdom, this is declared to be wisdom, and whatever is other 
than this is unwisdom. 

What is to be known I shall declare to thee, knowing which thou 
shalt gain immortality: the beginningless Supreme Eternal, which is 
neither being nor non-being, 

With hands and feet everywhere, with eyes and head and face 
everywhere, possessed of hearing everywhere in the world, That stands, 
enveloping all things, 

Illuminated by the power that dwells in all the senses, yet free 
from all sense-powers, detached, all-supporting, not divided into powers, 
yet enjoying all powers, 

Without and within all beings, motionless, yet moving, not to be 
perceived is That, because of its subtlety, That stands afar, yet close 
at hand, (15) 

Undivided among beings, though standing as if divided, and as the 



68 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

supporter of beings is That to be known, whither they go, and whence 
they come, 

Light of lights also is That called, beyond the darkness, It is wis- 
dom, It is the aim of wisdom, to be gained by wisdom, in the heart of 
each It is set firm. 

Thus the field and wisdom and what is to be known are briefly 
set forth; My beloved, understanding this, enters into My being. 

Know that both Nature and Spirit are beginningless ; and know 
that changes and powers are Nature-born. 

Nature is declared to be the source of cause, causing and effect ; Spirit 
is declared to be the cause, in the tasting of pleasures and pains. (20) 

For Spirit, resting in Nature, tastes of the Nature-born powers; 
attachment to these powers is the cause of the Spirit's births, from 
good or evil wombs. 

The Supreme Spirit, here in the body, is called the Beholder, the 
Thinker, the Upholder, the Taster, the Lord, the Highest Self. 

Who thus knows Spirit, and Nature with her powers, whatever 
may be his walk here, such a one enters not into rebirth. 

Through meditation, some perceive the Self within, through the 
self; others through Sankhya and Yoga, and others through the Yoga 
of works. 

Others not thus knowing, worship, hearing from others; and they 
also cross over death, intent on the truth they have heard. (25) 

Whatever being is born, whether stationary or moving, know, O 
bull of the Bharatas, that it comes from the union between the field and 
the knower of the field. 

He who beholds the Supreme Lord dwelling ever the same in all 
beings, not perishing when they perish, he indeed beholds. 

For beholding everywhere the Lord who dwells in all things, he of 
himself injures not Himself, and thus goes the higher way. 

But he who perceives that works are altogether worked by nature, 
and that the Self engages not in works, he indeed perceives. 

When he perceives the manifold nature of beings resting in One, 
and their diversity also springing from That, then he enters the Eternal. 

As beginningless, and not divided according to the powers, this 
Supreme Self, unchanging, even though dwelling in the body, O son of 
Kunti, neither works nor is stained. (31) 

As from its fineness the all-prevailing ether is not stained, so the 
Self, though everywhere embodied, is not stained. 

As the one sun illumines all this world, so, O descendant of Bharata, 
the knower of the field lights up the whole field. 

They who, with the eye of wisdom, perceive the distinction be- 
tween the field and the knower of the field, and the liberation of being 
from Nature, go to the Supreme. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 69 

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XIV. 

Book XIV carries the Sankhya teaching a step farther. The develop- 
ment of the manifested universe is first traced to the united action of 
two powers : the Logos, as Father, and the Great One, Mahat, as Mother. 
In the words of Krishna, speaking as the Logos: "Mahat is the womb, 
and I am the Father who gives the seed." 

From Mahat, thus enkindled by the Logos, arise Three Powers, 
Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. In their cosmic aspect they are the Substance 
of manifested life, the Force which expands that Substance into myriad 
forms, and the Darkness in which Substance is expanded into manifes- 
tation. From the point of view of individual life, the Three Powers 
seem practically identical with the three bodies of such Vedanta works 
as the Tattva Bodha. Sattva corresponds to the Causal body, "the cause 
and substance of the other two bodies," as Shankara calls it; Rajas cor- 
responds to the Psychic body, the body of mental and emotional life; 
and Tamas corresponds to the Physical body, the dark field, which is to 
be illumined by the five-fold powers of sense and action, projected into 
it from the psychic realm. For without the psychic, the physical body is 
unconscious and inert. 

Beginning with the fifth verse, this parallelism between the Three 
Powers and the three bodies is developed in several practical directions. 
First there is the question of bondage. Beginning with the lowest, the 
power of Darkness, or the physical body, we are told that it binds 
"through heedlessness, indolence and sleep," the mere grossness and 
inertness of the natural life, before it has been stirred and awakened 
into keen personal consciousness by the psychic energies of mental and 
emotional existence. When this stage is reached, when personal psychic 
life is developed, the cause of bondage changes. The binding force is 
now "desire, thirst, attachment ;" and liberation is to be gained by over- 
coming these. Bondage through desire, thirst and attachment is what 
is called Karma in the more restricted sense; and when we pass beyond 
the psychic personal stage, we are free from Karma in that sense. The 
third stage is that of the Causal self, which is immortal, in that it is 
above the birth and death of the body; but which binds, in that it is 
the dwelling-place of individualism, of the separate consciousness of 
the Higher Ego. This "binds through the bond of pleasure and the 
bond of knowledge," that is, through the attraction of happiness for 
oneself and knowledge for oneself; therefore this stage also must be 
transcended, in order that the life may become purely spiritual and free, 
the consciousness blending with the Oversoul, and thus coming into its 
true and everlasting individuality. Along this path "all silent seers have 
passed to supreme adeptship ; at the creation of the worlds they go not 
forth, nor do they fail when the worlds are dissolved." 

Again, "obscurity, inactivity, sloth, delusion," are the forces of 



70 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Darkness, of the unawakened physical life. Their underlying principle 
is inertia, the wish to avoid effort, the longing for "yet a little sleep, a 
little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep." It is the state of 
the yet unborn child, or the state of the body in sleep. And the whole 
of animal life, with its goad of hunger, seems to be designed to overcome 
this sluggishness, this unwillingness for effort. Until this obscuring 
and deadening force is overcome, there can be no truly human life; 
hence its prevalence is said to entail birth "in wombs of delusion." 

The psychic tendencies are thus enumerated : "desire of possessions, 
activity, the undertaking of works, restlessness, longing," all characteris- 
tics of the mental and emotional nature. They are the causes of per- 
sonal Karma, and cause rebirth "among those who are bound by works." 

Finally, the powers belonging to the third stage, which corresponds 
to the Causal body of Shankara, are "light and wisdom;" those who 
possess them go upward; they enter the stainless worlds of those who 
know the best. They possess the stainless fruit of works well done. 
Yet this third stage is only the anteroom to real spiritual life, life in 
the divine consciousness of the Logos : "when he beholds That which 
is beyond the Three Powers, he enters into My being; let go by birth 
and death and age and pain, he reaches immortality." 



BOOK XIV. 

THE MASTER SAID! 

I shall further declare to thee this wisdom, which is the best of all 
wisdoms, knowing which all silent seers have passed hence to supreme 
success. 

Taking refuge in this wisdom, attaining to oneness of being with 
Me, at the creation of worlds they go not forth, nor do they fail, when the 
worlds are dissolved. 

The Eternal, the Great One, is the womb for Me, wherein I lay the 
germ; thence, O descendant of Bharata, comes the birth of all beings. 

Whatever forms, O son of Kunti, are born in all wombs, the Eternal, 
the Great One, is the womb, and I am the Father who gives the seed. 

Substance, Force, Darkness: these are the Powers born of Nature; 
they bind, O mighty armed one, the eternal lord of the body within the 
body. (5) 

There Substance, luminous through its stainlessness, and free from 
sorrow, binds by the bond of pleasure, and the bond of knowledge, O 
blameless one. 

Force, of the essence of desire, engendering thirst and attachment, 
binds the lord of the body by the bond of works, O son of Kunti. 

But Darkness, born of unwisdom, is known to be the deluder of all 



BHAGAVAD GITA 71 

who are embodied ; it binds through heedlessness, indolence and sleep, O 
descendant of Bharata. 

Substance causes attachment through pleasure; Force, through 
works, O descendant of Bharata; but Darkness, enwrapping wisdom, 
causes attachment through sloth. 

Overcoming Force and Darkness, Substance prevails, O descendant 
of Bharata; Force prevails over Substance and Darkness, or Darkness 
over Substance and Force. (10) 

When light shines at all the doors in this dwelling, when wisdom 
shines, then let him know that Substance has prevailed. 

Desire of possessions, activity, the undertaking of works, restless- 
ness, longing, these are born when Force prevails, O bull of the Bharatas. 

Obscurity, inactivity, sloth, delusion, these are born when Darkness 
prevails, O descendant of Kuru. 

But when the wearer of the body comes to dissolution while Sub- 
stance prevails, then he enters into the stainless worlds of those who 
know the best. 

Coming to dissolution with Force prevailing, he is reborn among 
those who are bound by works ; and so reaching dissolution with Dark- 
ness prevailing, he is born in wombs of delusion. (15) 

They declare that the fruit of works well done is stainless, belong- 
ing to Substance; the fruit of Force is pain; the fruit of Darkness is 
unwisdom. 

From Substance is born wisdom; from Force comes the desire of 
possessions; from Darkness come sloth, delusion and unwisdom also. 

Those who dwell in Substance go upward; in the midst stand those 
who dwell in Force; those who dwell in Darkness go downward, under 
the sway of the lowest powers. 

When the seer perceives that the source of works is no other than 
the powers, and when he beholds That which is beyond the powers, he 
enters into My being. 

Passing beyond these three powers, from which the body comes 
into being, the lord of the body, let go by birth and death and age and 
pain, reaches immortality. (20) 

ARJUNA SAID: 

What are the marks of him who has passed beyond the three powers, 
Lord? What is his walk? And how does he transcend the three powers? 

He who, O son of Pandu, hates not Light, nor Activity nor Delu- 
sion, when they are manifested, nor desires them when they have passed 
away, 

Remaining an onlooker only, unperturbed by the three powers, 
seeing that the powers alone work, he stands unwavering, 



72 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

THE MASTER SAID: 

Equal in pain and pleasure, dwelling in the Self, regarding a clod, 
a stone and gold as equal; balanced in gladness and woe, wise, holding 
equal balance in blame or praise, 

Balanced in honor or dishonor, balanced toward friend and enemy, 
ceasing from all personal initiatives, such a one has passed beyond the 
three powers. (25) 

And he who serves Me with faithful love, he, passing beyond the 
three powers, builds for oneness with the Eternal. 

For I am the resting place of the Eternal, of unfading immortality, 
of immemorial law and perfect joy. 



INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XV. 

Book XV is full of echoes from the great Upanishads. To begin 
with, the simile of the Tree of Life is taken from the second part of 
the Katha Upanishad, the teaching of Death to Nachiketas. There it 
is written that: 'Rooted above, with branches below, is this immemorial 
Tree. It is that bright one, that Eternal; it is called the immortal. 
In it all the worlds rest ; nor does any go beyond it." This is the original 
of our opening passage. It is taken from one of the older Upanishads, 
but it is taken with a difference. As used in Book XV, the image has 
passed through the mind of Kapila, and has taken on a Sankhya 
coloring. 

For the Tree of the Upanishads is veritably the Tree of Life, whose 
taste gives immortality; the Logos, rooted above and branching down- 
ward. It is the Supreme Self, the immortal spirit. But in the Bhaga- 
vad Gita the Tree is transformed. It is now no longer the Tree of 
Life eternal, but only the Tree of manifested life, rooted not in the 
Eternal but in Mahat, and branching downward through the three worlds. 
The tree of our simile is the Ashvattha tree, one of those banyans, from 
whose huge branches tufts of roots spring forth, descending through the 
air, and striking the ground, where they immediately become the source 
of a new tree, with a life of its own, yet one with the parent tree. This 
is the meaning of the image: "Downward and upward stretch the 
branches, grown strong through the Three Powers, and with things of 
sense for twigs; downward stretch the roots, which bind to works in 
the world of men." 

There is, however, no fundamental difference between this teach- 
ing and that of the Upanishad. It is only that the great intellect of 
Kapila, viewing the manifested universe, discerned between the forms 
of manifestation and the silent Spirit within them, and set Spirit on 
the one side, and manifested Nature on the other. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 73 

The sixth verse is another echo from the Upanishads. In the 
teaching of Death to Nachiketas, once more it is written : "This is That, 
they think, the ineffable supreme joy. How then may I know whether 
This shines or borrows light? No sun shines there, nor the moon and 
stars; nor lightnings, nor fire like this. All verily shines after that 
shining. From the shining of That, all this borrows light." It is 
noteworthy that we find exactly the same image in another scripture, 
the Apocalypse: "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the 
moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb 
is the light thereof." 

The eighth verse again echoes the older teaching, this time in the 
Upanishad of the Questions : "Life proudly made as if to go out above. 
And as life goes out, all the others go out, and as life returns, all the 
others return." And a few verses further down, in the eleventh verse 
of our book, we have an echo of this passage from the same older scrip- 
ture : "He warms as fire ; as sun, and the rain god ; the thunderer, wind, 
and the earth, substance, the bright one, what is, what is not, and what is 
immortal." 

This triple division into "what is, what is not, and what is immortal," 
has again suggested the closing verses of our book, from the sixteenth 
to the end: "there are two Spirits in the world, the changing and the 
unchanging . . . But the Highest Spirit is other than these, 
it is the Supreme Self, the everlasting Lord." It is evident that we are 
dealing with what has been called the threefold form of the Logos, 
the division of the One into the three stages : the First Logos, the Second 
Logos, and the Third Logos. The First Logos is the Supreme Spirit; 
the Second Logos is the Unchanging Spirit; the Third Logos is the 
Changing Spirit of our poem. The highest form of the Logos is the 
Oversoul, in which our consciousness is to be blended with the All-con- 
sciousness : "Who knows Me thus, free from delusion, loves Me with 

his whole heart." 

BOOK XV. 

THE MASTER SAID: 

Rooted above, downward-branching, they say, is that immemorial 
tree, whose leaves are the hymns ;' who knows it, rightly knows. 

Down and upward stretch its branches, grown strong through the 
powers, and with things of sense for twigs; downward stretch its roots 
which bind to works in the world of men. 

The form of it cannot be so perceived in this world, nor its end, 
nor beginning, nor its foundation; with the firm sword of detachment 
cutting this tree, whose roots hang downward, 

Let him then follow the path to that resting-place, whither going, 
they come forth no more, saying: "I enter into the primal Spirit, whence 
hath flowed forth the ancient stream of things." 



74 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

They who are free from pride and delusion, who have conquered 
the fault of attachment, who dwell ever in the Oversoul, who have 
turned back from desire, who are freed from the opposites called pleasure 
and pain, go undeluded to that everlasting rest. (5) 

The sun shines not there, nor the moon, nor fire ; whither going, they 
return not again, that is My supreme home. 

The immemorial part of Me, which becomes life in the living world, 
draws the mind and the powers of sense and action which dwell in 
Nature. 

When the lord of the body takes a body, and when he departs from 
it, he goes forth, taking the powers with him, as the wind carries per- 
fumes with it. 

Through hearing, seeing, touch, taste and smell, and likewise mind, 
he partakes of objects of sense. 

Fools perceive not him as that which leaves the body or lingers in 
it, tasting through union with the powers, but those perceive who possess 
the eye of wisdom. (10) 

Seekers of union, who press on, perceive him within themselves ; but 
even pressing on, the uncontrolled, devoid of wisdom, perceive him not. 

The light that, dwelling in the sun, illumines the whole world, the 
light that is in the moon, in fire, know that light to be of Me. 

Entering the world and all beings, I support them by my force ; and I 
feed all plants, becoming Soma, the essence of the sap. 

I, becoming vital fire, and entering the bodies of all living things, 
joined with the forward breath and the downward breath, prepare the 
four-fold food. 

And I have entered into the heart of each, from Me come memory, 
knowledge, judgment; through all Vedas am I to be known, I am the 
maker of the Vedanta, the knower of the Vedas. (15) 

There are two Spirits in the world, the changing and the unchang- 
ing ; the changing is all beings, the unchanging is that which stands firm. 

But the Highest Spirit is other than these, it is called the Supreme 
Self; it is the everlasting Lord, who, entering the three worlds, upholds 
them. 

As I transcend the changing, and am also more excellent than the 
unchanging, therefore in the world and in the Vedas I am praised as 
the Supreme Spirit. 

Who knows Me thus, free from delusion, as the Supreme Spirit, he, 
all-knowing, loves Me with his whole heart, O son of Bharata. 

Thus this most secret scripture is declared by Me, O blameless one ; 
who understands this, possesses wisdom, and has attained his goal, O 
son of Bharata. (20) 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE. 



Among the many forms of human experience this is surely one of 
the strangest. Were one to attempt to enter on the history of this effort 
the reader would, I think, stand aghast. The amount of ridicule poured 
on the sect and its members has been enormous : the criticisms, fair and 
unfair, have been scathing, and still it holds the field and the numbers 
continue to increase. Surely one would then say that a system which 
has hold of so many human minds must be worthy a candid examination. 

Let us take, then, those who have adopted this system and who may 
then be said to show its effect in their lives. I have met and talked 
seriously with many, both in England and in America, where I first met 
it, and them. They are serious men and women. They are cheerful, 
even-tempered and in a measure thoughtful for others. They believe 
devoutly in what they are doing; they study their teachings, and are 
ven more regular in their devotional exercises than many of those who 
belong to the Roman Catholic Church. But while they are thus, they are 
also fanatics. They have very little thought beyond their particular 
beliefs. These form their one standard of perfection and their thought 
is closed to anything outside of these. Their horizon is begun, con- 
tinued and ended in Mrs. Eddy and her book "Science and Health." All 
outside of this is what they call "Mortal Mind" and in their expressed 
opinion has no existence. They use a terminology which is most con- 
fusing; as well it may be, seeing that beyond what they call "Mind" 
there is nothing, and everything is referred to a standard of unreality 
and non-existence. Words have none of their usual meaning, so that 
the medium of communication between "Mortal Minds" is done away 
with and when one attempts to understand the tendency of this line of 
thought one is brought up against a blank wall. The worst point is 
that such methods of thought, and the insistence that all which does not 
agree with their especial views is "Mortal Mind," induces in the fol- 
lowers of this line of thought an attitude of pharisaical superiority which 
lowers one's estimate of their practical professions. 

But because certain members, even if very numerous, do not come 
up to the perfect standard they profess, it is not necessary to condemn 
a system of thought which they fail to carry out. The one really 
important concern is is it true? 

A book recently published by Mark Twain has examined very care- 
fully many of the outer details of the organization and has ruthlessly 
exposed some of the fallacies and inconsistencies. The Founder of 
the Christian religion taught his disciples, lived his life; and set up for 
all time the divine example. Mrs. Eddy has avoided all these "errors." 



76 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

In the land of the almighty dollar, she has made millions on the plea 
that the labourer is worthy of his hire, even while declaring that what 
she was communicating was "without price." As exposed by Mark 
Twain, the rules of the organization, the power which the rules give 
to Mrs. Eddy unparalleled in the world's history and the manner in 
which it is exercised, all demonstrate a "Mortal Mind" greedy of power 
and possessions and determined to exercise such mortal functions while 
claiming a divine infallibility. The analysis of character demonstrated 
in the actions of Mrs. Eddy and in the writings of which she claims to 
be the author, is such that, while we may wonder at her power of 
organization and executive ability, it is impossible to accept her as a 
divinely inspired interpreter of the Galilean Master. That many do 
so accept her, I know to be a fact but in accepting the message, they 
have either closed their minds to the human frailty of the mouthpiece, 
or they have not given time and trouble to the examination of the 
phenomena. But the claims of Mrs. Eddy in her writings and for her 
writings do not admit fallibility. She apparently does not think she wrote 
her book or that she wrote her rules. Her's would appear to have been 
the hand ; her's the glory ; her's the money derived from the sale ; her's 
the position; but the author is God, the Holy Spirit. Be it said in all 
reverence, Mrs. Eddy has paraphrased the commandment in her own 
favour "Ye shall have none other gods but me," and appears to claim 
to represent or rather, to be, the Logos. From this point one may 
understand the nature of the arrogation of power, of the character of 
the rules, and of all the other seeming inconsistencies. But are such 
things to be accepted as a divine revelation by the mouth of the prophet 
Eddy? Or are they one more effort to lead earnest men and women 
astray by a "devil" masquerading as an "angel of light?" I make no 
accusation against Mrs. Eddy as being a devil ; but is she one more 
psychic putting forward thoughts which may "lead astray even the elect?" 
This would appear to be the true interpretation of her history and 
phenomena. It is the path common to all psychics, upon which her 
feet have strayed. Poor, humble, eager, possessed of certain gifts of 
healing and persuasive power (such as we have seen in uncounted cases 
both in life and history where the purely psychic unfolding had pro- 
gressed to a certain stage but not beyond it), we next find Mrs. Eddy 
led astray by the hosts of obstructive forces which always assail the 
psychic from without and (mainly) from within. Pride, ambition 
above all, lust of power and rule these are the factors common to all 
such cases. The perception of the powers of health which lie in self 
forgetfulness, cheerfulness and a determined will, which Mrs. Eddy 
grasped and then gave out to her adherents, is not commensurate with 
the harm done in thus using power for self and the gain of self, in mate- 
rializing the powers of the higher mind. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 77 

For what is the philosophy upon which the claims of Christian 
Science is based? I do not mean the evidence of results; for results 
can be produced by different means, and the so-called "fruitage" is not 
evidence to the truth of this system. Even the fact which I have stated, 
that those who follow the lines laid down, may become more equable 
in temper, courteous in manner, less disturbed in health and order their 
lives in better fashion does not demonstrate the truth of Mrs. Eddy's 
book. Other systems have effected as much: the various philosophical 
systems of the world Confucianism, Brahminism, Buddhism and true 
Christianity have all accomplished it when their devotees have with 
purpose and effort made their systems a living power in their 1 lives. But 
the devotees have been obliged to work and study and entirely to devote 
themselves to actually doing what they professed to do. Christian Science 
has also done it, because enthusiasm and faith have engendered in its 
devotees the power to concentrate whole-heartedly upon the task of 
carrying out the work necessary to enable them to demonstrate in their 
lives the faith which they profess. This is the basis of the power which, 
in my opinion, many of them undoubtedly exercise. 

The examination now resolves itself into two points of enquiry: 

1. Is the basis of the philosophy true? 

2. Dependent on its truth, is the motive for the power being set 
in action, worthy of the highest human ideal? 

It is extremely difficult to analyze the writings on which the so- 
called philosophy is based. The book "Science and Health" has been 
through many editions, and innumerable alterations and transpositions 
have been made under the authority of Mrs. Eddy. However, the 
latest edition under this authority (which is the sole one) may be 
presumed to be the best and fullest, and therefore I shall take the 
edition of 1906. Even here the body of the book is of a different 
style and character to that of the Recapitulation; but as it is issued 
under and with the authority of Mrs. Eddy it may be presumed to 
be accepted by her (and therefore under the rules) by her followers. 
But it must be admitted that it is difficult to comprehend the subject, 
for so soon as one endeavors with sympathy and patience to understand 
and draw a conclusion, one is informed that the words do not mean any- 
thing of the kind. Language is said to have been given to us in order 
to conceal our thoughts, but Mrs. Eddy's language would seem to have 
been revealed with a view to concealing the Divine Mind. Truly, as she 
writes (p. 62), "the divine mind will take care of itself: but let no 
mortal interfere with God's government by thrusting in the laws of 
erring human concepts." 

When one reads and studies this book there are certain points made 
clear. It is necessary to lay aside the very apparent contradictions from 
one point or another. "Proof" is insisted on in all parts ; but there is no 



78 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

proof demonstrated logically, or in any other way. There are a number 
of assertions and a number of denials, and many of these are claimed 
to be and are taken as proofs. There are also a number of "self-evident 
propositions" which are by no means self-evident. There is a great deal 
about "matter" and what is not in matter: there is also much about 
"reflection," though how there can be a reflection without something 
material in which the image can be reflected, is not clear. 

"God is All" is emphatically insisted on. God is good and good is 
God; but the mere similarity of the words in the English language is 
taken as a proof that because God is all and God is good, therefore 
everything outside (if possible) God is evil and therefore evil or d'evil." 
Then God is Mind ; and everything which is not mind is transitory and 
devilish and is summed up in the self -contradictory phrase "Mortal Mind," 
accepted for the convenience of terminology. Indeed, in much of that 
which is asserted the confusion amounts to "terminological inexacti- 
tudes." For if we were to devote volumes to verbal criticism one 
would find in this volume that "what is new is not true and what is true 
is not new." God, Spirit, Truth, Soul Mind are one and the same. 
Man is the "reflection of Soul, but God is not "in" man. Everything that 
is not God is "Mortal Mind :" but as man is the "reflection" it is not clear 
what man is in relation to God or Soul. A reflection is not identical with 
what is reflected. Is man separate from God, since God is not "in him?" 
or must man be identical with "Mortal Mind," since man admittedly is 
not God ? The relation of man to God or Soul is, I think, very important, 
for the whole question turns on this. 

As all else except God is "Mortal Mind" and its errors and mis- 
takes, we are confronted with the gigantic illusion (Mahamaya) of 
Hindu philosophy stated in other terms. But Mrs. Eddy is not a dualist 
or non-dualist; she is Mrs. Eddy, and her revelation is the only one. 
She states clearly that all sciences, systems of philosophy, all other 
modes of thought are incorrect, if they disagree with what she states. 
It is not a question of the Logos, manifested or unmanifested, or of the 
veils of the unmanifested Parabrahm. The whole of the evolution of 
the Universe is denied in one breath. "Mortal Mind" covers it all in 
one gigantic illusion. This "Mortal Mind" is the body of man, "Mortal 
mind and body are one" (p. 177), it is the basis of sickness or disease 
while being composed of sensationless matter. Disease is mental (p. 
151, et seq) and through the action of "Mortal Mind" (p. 187) by 
way of selfishness (p. 205) and latent fear (p. 199) human beliefs 
(p. 124) spring up which are diseases. Consequently through cleansing 
the mind (p. 234) of error (p. 287) mortal mind disappears (p. 251 et 
seq) and healing (p. 146) takes place. 

Such is the first "bribe" held out to those who come to the study 
of Christian Science. The student is told what Mind imparts to those 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 79 

who follow it faithfully and (on p. 373) it is stated that "disease is 
more docile than iniquity" and sin is therefore more difficult to heal. 
Sin would seem, then, to be an inner "demonstration" of disease and to 
differ only in degree a statement with which I am disposed to be in 
some measure in accord. The cure of disease and the possession of 
health are declared to depend on getting rid of "Mortal Mind," on the 
elevation of thought towards Mind, the assertion of the "Scientific 
Statement of Being" and the concentration on and devotion of every 
energy to study on the lines laid down for healing. This again is like the 
recitation of mantrams or the self hypnotization produced by phrases, 
just as much as by concentration on a bright mirror, or the behavior of 
the crowd who shouted "Great is Diana of the Ephesians" for the space 
of several hours. 

But does Christian Science do what it pretends to do? Does it 
restore health? (Bribe No. i) Does it promote happiness? (Bribe No. 
2) Does it bring wealth to its followers? (Bribe No. 3). 

By what means soever it is accomplished a large number of its 
disciples have their health increased and some are made well of apparently 
incurable conditions: drunkards are enabled to resist their cravings: 
immoral members of human society are caused to lead a straight life. 
In individuals there is evidence of greater happiness and in families to 
which they belong there is evidence of lessened friction, except where 
they attempt to enforce their views of the meaning and conduct of life, 
for the missionary microbe is active and poisonous and its activity is 
enjoined by authority of Mrs. Eddy upon the faithful. 

But is it right in spite of these results? Is it according to the 
laws of the Universe? Little mischief would be done in repeating 
formulae and in such processes, however comforting, even if they exceeded 
"Mesopotamia" as a word of power. The "Statement of Being" and 
other formulae might be repeated backward and forwards and might 
"box the compass" every-which-way ; but this would not prove anything. 
Abracadabra is a fabled word of power in Black Magic and it might 
be equally efficacious the "Reversal of Testimony" (p. 120) is curiously 
suggestive but it would not make Christian Science good or d'evil. 
The test of it all is in the motive, and with the final effect, not merely the 
immediate effect, on the true health, wealth or happiness of a human 
being. Does this Universe exist for the material benefit of man and 
mortal mind or for the purposes of Soul? Are we so to pass through 
things temporal that we finally lose not things eternal? Or are we not? 

In the first place the Christian Scientists affirm the "Statement of 
Being," and deny everything else. They concentrate every energy on 
this and evoke the powers of the Soul in doing this concentrate also 
on the negative aspect, which they deny, thereby devoting all their ener- 
gies to the very thing which they deny. They call on Soul Mind 



8o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY. 

Truth &c. and why? Not that God may be manifest and His purposes 
fulfilled but that they in their persons may be healthier, happier or 
more wealthy. They desire these possessions for themselves and desire 
the removal of inflictions. Is this a worthy motive with which to 
approach the divine treasure-house? Some among them will deny this. 
But let them recall their first contact with Christian Science, in the 
state in which they then were and ask themselves honestly "why did 
I adopt this line of study and follow it?" Then what answer will be 
given? For, truly, a bigger bribe was never laid before a suffering 
humanity. Not only is there the satisfaction of the religious element, 
but there is a further triple element of health, wealth and happiness 
and all of it proffered in the name of Jesus. They storm the divine 
treasure-house determined to wrest from it by violence all that they 
require or desire, regardless of the laws of the universe, insisting upon 
the reversal of these in order to fulfill their hopes for themselves and 
others. Is this right motive? 

Christian Science asserts that all is perfect, ("Mortal Mind" covers 
the rest, so it now appears there is a remainder which is imperfect!) 
and denies any evolutionary law to God. By the mouth of Mrs. Eddy 
it would claim to know God's purpose and will, and to put a stop to 
all the unfoldment of Being. Let us take an example in the domain 
of force. The electric current exists and is manifested by the flow of 
the current between points of greater and lesser potential called posi- 
tive and negative. It is as if Christian Science, for no apparent reason, 
identified God with the positive aspect and denied the negative any 
existence, calling it evil. Whereas both are necessary to the manifesta- 
tion of the electric force. One could understand the comparison of 
force-electric to God, as the noumenon behind them is related to the 
manifestation of the negative and positive phenomena. One can, in the 
light of metaphysics ancient and modern, understand that all material 
objects are illusions that the personal man as he has developed him- 
self, is an illusion, a temporary manifestation of his real Being, just 
as a suit of clothes is not the man who wears them. Indeed, it is the 
Soul behind, manifesting its character in the man, which we may regard 
as important in so far as its evolution and involution are a manifestation 
of the Divine. But why then are we to accept the Christian Science 
teaching of the unreality of all phenomena, of linking ourselves to Mind, 
Truth, Soul, Spirit and so on and concentrating all attention on it, 
giving our whole life to it, in order that we may have better health for 
a body which is "Mortal Mind" and therefore has no existence; in 
order to possess material wealth and obtain a happiness in conditions 
which are composed of illusory dreams? The evolution of the Uni- 
verse must stand still on this line or become entirely selfish. Is this 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 81 

right action? or right motive for action on the part of those who 
profess Christian Science? 

But so far as I have been able to understand them, the professions 
are otherwise. After having been attracted by the triple bribe in one form 
or another for themselves, the missionary microbe comes in and infects 
them with the desire of sharing their joys with others on their own 
basis, mark, and on no other of proving themselves right and of making 
others follow the "truth" which they themselves have accepted: also 
the glorification of their religion and its prophetess. Accordingly they 
set to work with fixed mind, and with the development of their power 
of concentration (a comparatively easy task with such a rigidly defined 
and concrete object), they hold their neighbors and families in as force- 
ful a hypnotic grip of "Mortal Mind" as ever a Torquemada enforced 
on his word ad majorem Dei gloriam. But it is not truth for its own 
sake which guides the majority. 

I do not say all, for there are in all communities some who seek 
truth for its own sake and ensue it. And such come at last into the 
light. But broadly speaking, the question of sin and its eradication 
by Christian Science is the method of suppression of its external mani- 
festation, like suppressing the rash of scarlet fever. 

Further, there is another source of difference. Christian Science 
finds things wrong as the result of the action of "Mortal Mind." It 
saves itself trouble an^d effort by calling them illusions and denying 
their existence. Professing a high ideal of duty in this mortal existence, 
is not such denial a neglect of duty in order to save themselves trouble, 
in the first place, and to obtain speedy results in the second place? We 
may be unable as yet to know the Reality behind phenomena. But be- 
cause we dimly perceive that we do not manifest the Reality, need we 
therefore abandon the effort and deny the very existence of phenomena? 
Not their eternal existence, but their temporary existence in Time and 
Space as necessary factors of Evolution. The conditions of life in which 
we are acting are not especially good. Are we to run away from them 
to make them better? Because there is a fire in a college building, are 
the authorities to run away and save themselves to the neglect of the 
pupils committed to their charge ? In a few words ; we have duties 
peculiar to all states and stages of Consciousness and Being, and may 
not rightfully deny the temporary existence of a single one, but must 
work through and beyond all, evolving and being evolved. We may 
not slur over or drop a single link of the great chain of Being. 

From the statement that it is more easy to eradicate disease than 
iniquity, and from other portions of "Science and Health," one may 
justly conclude that there are degrees of error in "Mortal Mind." 
Diseases would seem to be taken as being the phenomena of iniquity 
or sin. Both have their root in "Mortal Mind." Obviously then 



82 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

on these lines get rid of "Mortal Mind." (Note that you do not purify 
it you simply deny its existence and so cover over all its fermentations 
within your mental sphere of action : again, this is the theory of suppres- 
sion.) But beyond "Mortal Mind," God is All. How then did iniquity, 
"Mortal Mind" and the rest arise? 

Let us assume that there is no hiatus in the scheme. Have we as 
individuals the right selfishly, and for our own purposes, to demand 
and use the powers which are divine for the improvement of our personal 
possessions in health, wealth and happiness? May Caesar justly demand 
of God "the things which are God's" for Caesar's pleasure or relief ? May 
he, even when he extends "self" to include "his" friends and all that is 
in a larger sense "his?" 

There is another serious danger. Let us grant the "fruitage" 
obtained by these means. Let us say that disease is cured in its external 
manifestation, that wealth and happiness are obtained in place of poverty 
and misery: that all this is done by drawing on the powers of the Soul. 
What if this be only the suppression of the disease, or the causes of 
poverty and misery? Believing as I do, in the Immortality of Soul, I 
earnestly say that the last state of such human beings is worse than 
the first. They are more securely bound down by the chain of mortal 
error. 

Let us grant that God is All; let us grant that personal man and 
"Mortal Mind" are one and that these are temporary conditions. Then 
our effort should be to attune ourselves, our Consciousness to the divine 
or Soul Consciousness or real man as we pass through things tem- 
poral, that they also may be attuned and obtain real existence and life. 
But because we have an ideal of life and thought, have we the right to 
run away from the duty we owe, to repair conditions we have created 
or allowed to spring up around us? If we do so we are cowardly 
sentinels at the gate of life, and for the sake of improving our own 
conditions we desert the soldiers we have brought to enlist in the 
battle of life. The units of thought or life of which mortal man or 
the body are compounded, also have their own forms of life and Con- 
sciousness: we train them (it may be mistakenly), but have we the 
right to desert them, as Christian Science would have us do, by denying 
their existence? Or are we to devote our energies (on the line enjoined 
by Christian Science) to getting rid of "Mortal Mind," because we 
desire to attain a heaven for ourselves, whether or not we attain health, 
wealth and happiness in this condition of existence? Is not either course 
selfish selfish to so great an extent as to defeat the aim, however altru- 
istic the professed motive? If there be the least taint of selfishness in 
the motive with which a man breaks through and steals the treasures 
of the kingdom of heaven, he will infallibly add to the intensity of 
"Mortal Mind" (whether he denies its existence or not, for his very 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 83 

denial strengthens it, as error adds to error), and this by the very 
concentrated devotion on the negative side of nature, by which he attains 
his object. If man tries to run away from the duties which he owes 
to nature, for his own pleasure, he betrays his trust in diverting to his 
own selfish use, spiritual powers to which he has rightful access only 
as the servant of all. The powers are real their exercise is magical in 
effects. The wrong motive in using them makes it "Black Magic." 

I think we should clearly realize this. By the sustained effort to 
"deny" the existence of "Mortal Mind," the Christian Scientist is con- 
tinually thinking about "Mortal Mind," i. e., his lower nature) and 
thus supplies it with a constant flow of mental energy and force; while 
denying its existence he is perpetually feeding it with currents of life 
force, energizing it anew. It is then more than ever bound to break 
out somewhere! It matters nothing whether we think about a thing 
as existent or non-existent. So long as we think about it at all, whether 
in positive or negative fashion, we give it new life: the difference in the 
fashion only denotes the nature of the force with which we keep it 
supplied. The negative modes of thought and force are those, precisely, 
which are most injurious to nature and to man. One trembles to think 
of the amount of potential mischief which is thus being stored up and 
with concentrated determination adding a deadly element. Having re-dis- 
covered the marvellous power of the individual creative will and the force 
of the imagination, which have their real place in nature on immaterial 
planes and work for good there, Christian Science drags them down 
on to material planes (while decrying the existence of the matter!) and 
makes them subservient to the procuration of material prosperity and 
happiness. Truly a wolf in sheep's clothing. From the point of view 
of life eternal, material well being is of no consequence at all, and 
Christian Science is thus beguiling man to sell his own birthright, his 
heavenly treasures for a mess of pottage. By betrayal of man's real 
life and desertion of his duty, Christian Science leads him away by a 
mirage of material prosperity, and by an appearance of vastly improved 
minds and characters on the surface of things. 

Motive is at the root of it all, and is the only touchstone by which 
a human being may examine Christian Science. Not its professed 
motives; for it cloaks itself carefully in an altruistic guise: with the 
apparent object of casting away the material, it rivets material chains 
more firmly on the victim by debasing the spiritual forces to material 
ends, enticing men to desert their posts and leave their duty. Verily a 
"d'evil" masquerading in most specious fashion as an angel of light. 

A. KEIGHTLEY. 



ELEMENTARY ARTICLES 



CYCLES. 

DEAR FRIEND : You will have noticed that the word "cycle" 
is quite frequently used by writers on Theosophical subjects, 
and it is very likely that you have been perplexed by its 
application to so many different things and in so many dif- 
ferent ways. That is exactly my experience, and it is my reason for 
writing this letter, for I want to help you out of the tangle and lead 
you into a study that is both helpful and interesting. I do not say this 
because I have come to a perfect understanding of the number and 
nature of cycles, far from it. I am but a student like yourself, although 
I may have gone one step farther, on this way that seems to have 
no end. 

The subject was one of great interest to the ancients, as it now is 
to some of our modern historians. It has been noticed that certain 
diseases reappear at regular intervals, and I recently read an able and 
interesting article which undertook to prove that this was true of great 
wars that they recur at stated times and come in waves. This seems 
also to be true of famines, and also of the duration of fevers. A few 
philosophical historians have gone further and assure us that the rise 
and fall of civilizations is governed by a law as sure and regular as that 
which governs the rise and fall of the ocean tides. 

This has led to the two sayings, "Cycle and Epicycle," and "History 
repeats itself." The word cycle means a ring, a wheel, or a turning round, 
that is, one periodical recurrence of events. 

In eastern books the word Yuga is synonymous with our word 
cycle, but the words Kalpa and Manvantara are sometimes used with 
that meaning. Some cycles *are greater and some are smaller, and 
as the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel says (Ez. I, 16) there is "a wheel within 
a wheel" cycles within cycles. Cycles physical, psychic, and spiritual, 
out of which comes individual, national, and race cycles. 

Our planets circle round the sun, and it is said that our sun and 
many other solar systems circle round the star Alcyone. It may be 
that many such systems circle around some point central to them all. 

84 



CYCLES 85 

The Secret Doctrine speaks of the seven "Imperishable Laya Centers" 
produced by Fohat. "The Great Breath digs through space seven holes 
into Laya to cause them to circumgirate during Manvantaras" (vol. I, p. 
147). And the idea is given that around these are other neutral centers, 
and around these yet others again and again. 

Each cycle, great or small, is an evolution complete in itself, but 
also forms a part of a larger evolution. The human body is a beauti- 
ful example of this. Each cell in the body has its cycle of birth, growth 
and decay ; but each cell is part of a tissue that is born, grows, matures, 
and dies; each tissue is part of an organ that also has its cycle of birth 
and death; and again, each organ helps to form a body that passes 
through all these stages. The idea may be carried further, for each 
individual forms part of a family, each family is part of a nation, while 
again, each nation is an organic part of a race, and all are subject to the 
same law of birth, growth and death. 

In I sis Unveiled (vol. I, 5) Madame Blavatsky says that the 
Chaldean philosophers "Divided the interminable periods of human 
existence into cycles, during each of which mankind gradually reached 
the culminating point of highest civilization, and gradually relapses 
into abject barbarism." 

Cyclic law seems to be universal, each planet, for instance, has its 
cycle. The moon has a cycle of nineteen years that is after a period 
of nineteen years the new and full moons return on the same days of 
the month. The sun's cycle is 28 years, at the end of which the days 
of the month fall again on the same days of the week. The cycle of 
Jupiter is thirty-six years. These astronomical cycles are not without 
effect on our race. 

The greatest cycle with which we are acquainted is the Brahmar- 
andeha, or complete life of Brahma. It is made up (according to eastern 
teachings) of four yugas or cycles, but the races of men are not all 
affected by the same yuga at the same time some races being in one 
cycle and some in another. 

The eastern books call these cycles Kvita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali 
(black). The last mentioned yuga Kali, or the black is the one 
which effects our mental and spiritual development most powerfully 
to-day. The first five-thousand years of this cycle ended with the close 
of the nineteenth century. 

A Krita yuga contains 1,728,000 of our years; a Treta yuga is 
made up of 1,296,000 of these years; a Dvapara yuga contains 864,000 
mortal years ; and a Kali yuga is the shortest and holds 432,000 of these 
years. These four yugas make up a Maha, or great yuga of 4,320,000 
years, and seventy-one of these make the reign of one Manu, or, 
306,720,000 years, and fourteen Manus make 4,294,080,000 years. If 
we add the dawns or twilights between each Manu we have 25,920,000 



86 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

years more. These reigns and dawns (of Manus) make a thousand 
Maha yugas, which is one Kalpa, or day of Brahma 4,320,000,000 
years. 

Brahma's nights equal his days, so a day and night of Brahma make 
8,640,000,000 years. Three hundred and sixty of these days make a 
year of Brahma, and one hundred of these years make a complete life 
of Brahma, that is, 311,040,000,000,000 years of our solar system. An 
enormous period that we can hardly form any conception of. 

If we think of it in another way we may get a glimpse of what it 
means. Our earth is now in a condition of molecular vibration, and this 
dominant vibration continues through one day of Brahma, or, 4,320 
millions of years. This is the time required for all the planets of our 
solar system to come into conjunction, an event that will surely make 
great changes in our planet, and we are told that at the beginning and 
end of these cycles great cataclysms occur floods, earthquakes, fire, etc. 

This cycle will comprise the duration of our world in its present 
state before it passes into pralaya, or changes its present rate of vibration 
for another. There are several smaller cycles that ended with the close 
of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth. I have al- 
ready noted that the first five thousand years of Kali yuga ended at 
that time. Madam Blavatsky says, "The Messianic cycle of the Sa- 
maritan Jesus, of man connected with Pisces" also ended then. 

She goes on to say that it is a cycle "Historic and not very long, 
but very occult, lasting about 2,155 s l ar years but having a true signifi- 
cance only when computed by lunar months. It occurred 2410 B. C. and 
255 B. C., or when the Equinox entered into the sign of the Ram, and 
again into that of Pisces." 

She further says that when it enters the sign Aquarius (which it 
did about the year 1900 )" Psychologists will have some extra work to 
do, and the psychic idiosyncrasies of humanity will enter on a great 
change" (Studies in Occultism, vol. V, note on page 233). 

There are two cycles that are of very great importance to us, and 
which it will greatly profit us to study. 

The first of these is the one hundred year cycle under which 
the Theosophical Society was born and lives. "A year of the gods" is 
a hundred years of mortals, and this year of the gods is the hundred 
year cycle under which all the work of the Theosophical Society is 
done. If we read carefully what H. P. Blavatsky, W. Q. Judge, and 
other theosophical writers have said on this topic it seems clear that 
a year of the gods is like any other year in that it has its times and 
seasons, such as seed time and harvest, and these seasons must be 
carefully observed by us if we would work successfully for Theosophy. 
For instance, during the last quarter of the century it is possible for the 
Masters to work with us and give us help from the material and psychic 



CYCLES 87 

sides of life. Physical and psychic phenomena are then possible and 
easy to produce, but at the close of the cycle, that ceases to be possible 
and we can only then come into contact with the Masters on their own 
spiritual plane. All teaching and influence from the Lodge during the 
first quarter of the century must come from the inside, and not from 
the outside. 

As at the beginning of the second half of the last century the 
thoughts of men began to change, and the scientific doctrine of evolu- 
tion, the appearance of spiritualism, and the study of Orientalism opened 
the way for the Messenger of the Lodge, so it will be at the half cycle 
in this century, the way will begin to open for the coming of the new 
Messenger who will appear about the year 1975 and will carry our 
movement upward and forward. This is a subject well worth careful 
study. 

The second cycle to which I desire to draw your attention is that 
of Reincarnation, for by it most important effects are produced on human 
life. The law is, that individuals and nations return to earth life in 
streams at regular recurring intervals of (roughly speaking) fifteen 
hundred years. "One generation cometh and another goeth/' but both 
have been before and will come again, producing new civilizations as 
the cycles sweep round. 

Each generation carries away with it experiences that in Devachan 
are worked up into faculty, and then returning with this increased 
power takes hold of civilization as it finds it and carries it forward 
another stage. In this way the old Aryan, Greek, and Roman civiliza- 
tions return, but each time on a higher plane. 

But with each century there are individuals reincarnating who by 
special work and training in a previous life gave special development 
to certain faculties, and so reappear as geniuses in that direction. Some- 
times they are soldiers like Napoleon ; or again they are artists, musicians, 
statesmen, mechanics, or inventors. 

A study of this cycle is most important in practical life. We are 
here to gather experience, to perform the duties that knowledge reveals 
to us, and to build up the future by our experience of the past. The 
thoughts we think now will form the world in which we shall have to 
live. Thoughts of selfishness make one kind of a world for us, while 
thoughts of unselfishness, compassion and aspiration will lift us into 
an entirely different world and finally set us free from this cycle of 
birth, death and rebirth. 

Fraternally yours 

JOHN SCHOFIELD. 




Labour and Capital* by Prof. Goldwin Smith. In the form of a letter addressed 
"To My Labour Friend" Professor Smith has written a very clear and impartial 
summary of the issues between Capital and Labour. It does not pretend to be any- 
thing more than this. He but touches upon the principal questions which are in the 
forefront of the political and economic arena, stating the points with his accustomed 
lucidity; mentioning the arguments of both sides; showing how these may often be 
reconciled, or how they depart from the facts of experience, and winds up by an 
appeal for mutual consideration and tolerance and effort at understanding. He 
points out that the existing system can only be changed by a violence that would do 
irremediable injury to both sides, or by a slow growth and evolution; and that 
understanding and patience are absolutely necessary to make the slower process 
successful. While not profound, the little book is so clearly written and has such 
a temperate and elevated spirit that we must welcome it as a valuable contribution 
to this great discussion. G. H. 

The Beloved Vagabond,^ by William J. Locke. This is a novel. It has no 
avowed aim except to entertain but occasionally we need entertainment. And in 
this novel we get ideal entertainment, in so far as that is ideal which exactly serves 
its purpose. The author has found himself. His earlier works were, for the most 
part, expressions of moods. This one shows artistic enlightenment. Note what Para- 
got, the Vagabond, says to his protege and pupil : "But you, my little Asticot, have 
the Great Responsibility before you. It is for you to uplift a corner of the veil of 
Life and show joy to men and women where they would not have sought it." Again: 
"Let me, he urges, be able to point to you as one 'who sees God beneath a leper's 
skin and proclaims Him bravely, who reveals the magical beauty of humanity and 
compels the fool and the knave and the man with the muck-rake and the harlot to 
see it, and sends them away with hope in their hearts, and faith in the destiny of 
the race and charity to one another' let me see this, my son, and, by heavens ! I 
shall have done more with my life than erect a temple made by hands and I shall 
have justified my existence." That is the aim the purely theosophical aim which 
William J. Locke has discovered and which unobtrusively (most requisite merit!) 
inspires his latest work. We wish that artists everywhere could be imbued with 
the same spirit. Their achievements might then more often be even as his : beyond 
praise. R. p. 



Persia, Past and Present,^ by A. V. Williams Jackson. In the preface to this 
record of an important if hurried trip to the holyland of Zoroastrianism, Professor 
Jackson says : "I was tempted at first to label some of the chapters with a warning, 
'This chapter is dedicated to the student,' and to prefix to others a prefatory line, 
'Dedicated to the general reader.'" At times, both the general reader and the 
student will regret that the author did not permit this intention to develop into two 
distinct books. To merge satisfactorily the discussion of the technical details 
involved in the identification of relics of a long-departed civilization and a now 
obscure religion with a graphic description of a country and people of which the 
Occident of to-day knows little, is a difficult task. That the author has succeeded 
as well as he has, is evidence both of his skill and his zeal. 

Published by The Macmillan Company, New York, 
tjphn Lane, London and New York. Price, $1.50. 
JThe Macmillan Company, New York, 1906. 



REVIEWS 89 

To the readers of the THEOSOPHJCAL QUARTERLY, as to Professor Jackson him- 
self, the chief interest of the trip lies in the light which it throws on the religion of 
Zoroaster and the present condition of his disciples. By dint of hard and incessant 
work the author traveled in something more than two months from Baku on the 
Caspian Sea through Azarbaijan, the reputed birthplace of Zoroaster, to Shiraz on 
the south, and thence northward again to Yezd, the stronghold to-day of the few 
remaining Zoroastrians, to Teheran, and so back to the Caspian. In the course of 
this vast loop, Professor Jackson examined a number of ruined fire temples, tombs 
and inscriptions of the Achaemenian and Sasanian dynasties, saw the ruins of Per- 
sepolis and Pasargadas, and at Yezd had an opportunity to study the life and cus- 
toms of the long-persecuted Zoroastrians. 

Despite his enthusiasm for his subject, the picture that Professor Jackson 
draws of the plateau of Iran is not an attractive one. The birthplace of a great 
religion, of advanced civilizations and mighty empires, the soil seems to have been 
exhausted by its labors in the past, and the country, once so pregnant with life and 
vigor, now lies like a colossal, cold hearth, a vast and empty expanse of mountain 
and desert. The altars of Zoroaster are deserted; the divine fire has gone from the 
dreary plateau. Here and there in this desolation Zoroastrianism still lingers, but, 
except at Yezd, even the eager search of Professor Jackson could discover only a 
stray straggler or two. In the latter city, however, there is a community of eight 
thousand. In the author's own words : 

"Situated amid a sea of sand which threatens to engulf it, Yezd is a symbolic 
home for the isolated band of Zoroastrians that still survives the surging waves of 
Islam that swept over Persia with the Mahommedan conquest twelve hundred years 
ago. Although exposed to persecution and often in danger from storms of fanati- 
cism, this isolated religious community, encouraged by the buoyant hope characteris- 
tic of its faith, has been able to keep the sacred flame of Ormazd alive and to pre- 
serve the ancient doctrines and religious rites of its creed. ... In a way, the 
Moslem creed was easy of acceptance for Persia, since Mohammed himself had 
adopted elements from Zoroastrianism to unite with Jewish and Christian tenets in 
making up his own religion." 

Those who refused to take advantage of this easy escape from persecution took 
refuge in India, where they became the ancestors of the Bombay Parsis, the real 
defenders to-day of the faith of Zoroaster, or found a remote and none too safe 
home in Yezd. But even in this citadel of the religion persecution has done its work, 
and though the ritual prescribed in the Avesta nearly three thousand years ago is 
still in the main observed, circumstances have compelled certain modifications. In 
particular, the authority of the priesthood is much diminished, since the unruly have 
always the option of conforming to the regulations of the Moslems around them. 
The temptation is considerable, for, although active persecution ceased some years 
ago, the Gabars, as they are generally called, are still subject to various restrictions 
and occasionally endangered by outbreaks of Moslem fanaticism. 

Nevertheless, Professor Jackson sees a bright future for the Gabars of Yezd. As 
his reputation had preceded him, he was welcomed with open arms. On one occa- 
sion he was escorted to the temple of Atash Bahram, and though he made no attempt 
to see the flame itself, was permitted to hear from the adjoining room the chants of 
the priest. "My ear caught at once," he says, "the voices of the white-robed priests 
who were chanting in the presence of the sacred element a hymn of praise sung by 
Zoroaster of old. It was a glorification of Verethragna, the Angel of Victory, in the 
Bahram Yasht, and I felt a thrill as I. heard the Avestan verses verethraghnem 
ahuradhatem yazamaide, 'we worship the Angel of Victory, created by Ahura' 
ring out from behind the walled recess where the fire was hidden." A survival 
of the ancient custom of animal sacrifice to be found in the "Sacrifice to Mithra," 
is, the author was informed, dying put and the Zoroastrians, both in Persia and in 
India, believe that the true sacrifice is bloodless, an offering of "good thoughts, good 
words, good deeds," accompanied by praise and thanksgiving. 

Space does not permit of any discussion of Professor Jackson's inspection of 
the tombs, inscriptions and sculptures of ancient Persia. Yet it is impossible not 
to make some comment, however brief, upon the remarkable zeal with which he 
pursued his researches at the cost of great personal fatigue and not a little danger. 
Thoroughly prepared for his trip by years of work, he was enabled to meet the 
relics of antiquity as old friends, and his book must be of value to all who are 
interested in the civilization of ancient Persia and the religion of Zoroaster. The 
little attention that these subjects receive from American scholars will make the- 
results of his second trip this spring the more valuable. E. B. M. 



90 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The Psychology of Religious Belief* by James Bissett Pratt. Professor Pratt 
has written a most interesting and readable book, to which we unhesitatingly com- 
mend our readers. His work is of value, because it brings science and religion 
one appreciable step nearer together, and because he shows that true religion is 
distinctly mystical in character. 

Approaching the subject of religious belief from a psychological standpoint, he 
divides it into three main categories: belief based upon authority; belief based 
upon reason; and belief based upon feeling. He shows that the belief of all chil- 
dren and of humanity, when in its primitive condition is based upon authority, 
and in his development of his theme he traces the religious concept through and 
out of this stage until we have religion of reason or of the understanding. But 
this type of religious belief has also proved unsatisfactory. There is not a single 
system of thought invented by the mind of man which does not break down upon 
analysis. Although a professor of philosophy himself, he says that the world has 
never been satisfied and never will be satisfied with any mind-made system of 
philosophy. "If you tell me that a man has been converted to Christianity, I know 
in a general way what you mean. If you should tell me he had been converted to 
Philosophy, would you be saying anything at all?" 

In an eloquent paragraph he points out the fading away of religions based upon 
both authority and reason, and being himself an essentially religious man, he fears 
for the welfare of the race, unless religion of the Feeling can be made to take the 
place of the two other dying forms. Of this he thinks there is distinct hope. He 
believes he sees, what so many other writers also see at the present time, numerous 
signs of a religious revival ; of a quickening of the spiritual life ; of increased inter- 
est in the Inner Life, of the things of Spirit. But this new interest in religion is 
purely individualistic in character. It springs from the heart of man, and has 
little or nothing to do with Ecclesiasticism or Theology. In a word, it is mystical 
in character. We believe that Professor Pratt's thesis is sound, and while some of 
his historical work is open to minor criticism, and while he does not seem to 
understand the deeper sides of mysticism, he has written a most interesting book 
that advances the scientific investigation of religious phenomena a distinct step 
forward in the right direction. C. A. G., JR. 

An Abridgement of the Secret Doctrine.^ Miss Hillard's abridgement of the 
Secret Doctrine was published too late to permit of an adequate review in this issue 
of the THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, but in order to give some idea of the character of 
the work, we quote the editor's preface: "The Editor of this Abridgment has long 
felt the need of a shorter, a simpler and a less expensive version of the Secret 
Doctrine. The wealth of material that embarrassed the author of the book or 
perhaps we should say the transcriber gave rise to endless digressions wherein the 
thread of the subject is often lost for whole chapters, while many quotations, com- 
prehensive only to special students, increase the bulk of the volumes, and add to the 
difficulty of understanding their contents. Many foreign idioms (notably the use of 
the word actual in the sense of present) and frequent misprints make the meaning 
of the text more obscure, and the many and complicated parentheses add to the 
labor of the reader. The enormous length of the book makes it so expensive that 
comparatively few students can afford to buy it, and the most valuable legacy of 
theosophic information yet given to the world is unavailable to many of those who 
most need it. 

Fifteen years' study of the Secret Doctrine, together with the help of many 
other students, has enabled the Editor to trace the thread of the argument far more 
clearly than at first, and the remorseless cutting out of what is now obsolete science, 
and of all controversial matter (while carefully retaining all ethical and spiritual 
teachings), together with occasional transpositions of sentences and paragraphs, 
have made the whole text very much simpler. All Sanskrit terms have been put into 
English, and the triune constitution of man (as body, soul and spirit) adopted 
wherever possible, instead of the more complicated seven-fold division. There has 
been nothing added to the text, except a few notes and one or two diagrams, all 
marked "Ed." and it is hoped that what is transposed and what is altogether omitted 
will render the book by reducing its difficulty as well as its cost more available 
to the general reader, and to the seeker after truth prove a guide and stimulus to 
the study of the original work." 

The Macmillan Company, New York. $i.5o. 

tMay be ordered from the Secretary of T. S. A., iSg Warren Street, Brooklyn. $2.00. Post- 
age, i 6 cents extra. 



REVIEWS 91 

MAGAZINE LITERATURE. 

International Journal of Ethics, Philadelphia. The April issue offers a wide 
variety of subjects. "The Ethics of the Gospel," by A. C. Pigon, considers the 
teachings of Jesus, regarding love in a somewhat unusual way; William M. Satter 
writes upon the Russian Revolution, and "Women and Democracy" are considered 
in a paper of interest and value by F. Melian Staevele, of London, and the "Eleva- 
tion of the College Woman's Ideal," by Amy E. Tamer, takes an encouraging view 
of woman's advance in ethical relations. This number also contains articles upon 
"The State Absorbing the Function of the Church," and "Student Self-Govern- 
ment in the University of California," the latter deriving much interest from the 
fact that it is the result of personal observation. The Book reviews are, as usual, 
interesting and important. 

The Annals of Psychical Science, London, mainains its high standard, giving 
definite accounts of the many activities now known as psychic per se, and thus 
bringing constantly before the public the latest opinions in regard to telepathy, 
animal magnetism and electricity. In the April issue M. Caesar de Vesme has an 
exhaustive article upon "Ordeals," in which he considers Trial by Fire and Water, 
and the subject of miraculous intervention, so called, in all its bearings. In con- 
clusion, he compares the experience of incombustibility among modern mediums 
with the results of historic ordeals as apparently of the same general character. 

Education. Perhaps the most important article in the March number of this 
periodical is that upon "The Teachings of English," by Lucy Hages MacQueen, 
a subject now much before the public. The number also contains papers upon 
"Plant Physiology" in secondary schools, and "Forensic Training in Colleges." 

The Open Court, Chicago, 111. The May number of the Open Court opens with 
an interesting contribution to higher criticism, by Philip Stafford Moxom, D.D., 
entitled "Jesus' View of Himself in the Fourth Gospel," and treats of the apparent 
difference in style and purpose between the Gospel of St. John and the records of 
the Synoptics. Dr. Carus adds a few words on the Fourth Gospel and related arti- 
cle upon the Messianic hope of the Samaritans, by Jacob, son of Aaron, High 
Priest of the Samaritans follows. 

The Monist, Chicago, 111., for April, devotes a large proportion of its space to a 
consideration of Christian Science in its various aspects. Henry White deals with 
it as Medievalism Redivious, showing the close analogies of its teachings to those 
of middle age mysticism; E. T. Brewster writes of the Evolution of Christian 
Science, and the Editor, of the reason of its strength, altogether a series of timely 
and enlightening articles upon a subject of much present interest. The Editor also 
contributes a paper upon Friedrich Nietsche, and the number also contains articles 
upon "Plant Breeding," by Hugo de Vries ; "Human Choice," by G. Gore ; and "A 
Few Historical Data of the Modern Science of Languages." The criticisms and 
discussions are of the usual interest. 

Of strictly Theosophical Periodicals we have to acknowledge : 

Theosophisches Leben, Paul Raatz, Berlin, which forwards with its magazine 
notice of the Theosophical Convention which will take place in May, unfortunately 
after we go to press, and also a catalogue of forthcoming publications, showing 
increasing interest in Theosophy and its activities. In the April issue we have 
articles by Charles Johnston, Jasper Niemand, and one by Paul Raatz upon Karma 
and The Self. Sandor Weiss writes upon Toleration, and Leo Schoch upon Free 
Will. 

Theosoihischer Wegweiser, for March, has as its opening article extracts from 
Herman Rudolph's lecture upon the "Suffering and Death of Christ," which gives 
in bold, plain and simple manner the mystic view of Christ within the heart. Fr. 
Marius under the form of an allegory sets forth "The Great Secret," and the first 
instalment of a series of questions and answers, based upon Franz Hartman's 
"White and Black Magic"' adds great interest to this issue. 

Neue Metaphysische Rundschau, Berlin, devotes considerable space to a 
consideration of the so-called Black Obelisk, of which plates have recently been 
published by Dr. 7. Lans Liebenfels, who thinks that in the curious animal forms 
portrayed in it he has found the "missing link" of Darwin, with proof that far from 
owning his being to animal descent man is of spiritual origin. This article will 
doubtless arouse discussion at a time when interest in Hseckel's views is so pro- 
nounced. The number contains also an interesting Psychological study, by Dr. 
Franz Hartman, and a critic of Harnach's Theology. 

The Herald of the Cross, Paynton, England, calls for our special notice for its 
high teachings and full interpretation of hidden truths. 



ANSWERS 




QUESTION 73. What is the best way of really helping others? 

This is one of those indefinite questions which would take two volumes to 
answer. The first to explain the question, the other to cover the details which 
might readily be exposed by any such attempt. Broadly speaking, however, we may 
venture to submit that if the "others" in question are starving on the physical 
plane the help they really need at the moment is that of the common, ordinary 
kind comprised in food, clothing, warmth, shelter, medical attendance, etc., and I 
regard as sophistical and far fetched the treatment that would ignore these factors 
upon the ground that the body and its concomitants are transitory or impermanent. 
We are here for a purpose; are provided with a physical nature for use on this 
plane and that physique should be fed, clothed and nurtured with due and appro- 
priate care. If our brother is lacking in means necessary to this end we should 
endeavor to share our supply with him in a discreet manner. 

The same is true as to his lower or psychical nature which should be taught 
and trained to discriminate between psychical foods and psychical poisons; to 
feed upon the former and eschew the latter. In this effort to be helpful a modicum 
of precept and a large amount of example make up best in a prescription. 

The real thing, however, is found in the case of one whose higher nature is 
awakening ; wherein the soul is beginning to arouse itself and demand its dominion. 
This is likely to be a period of great stress and racking trial. Ill health, depression 
of spirits, conflicting views, incongruous judgments, misdirected effort, disappoint- 
ing results, are among the various conditions, some or all of which seem to accom- 
pany the new birth. 

The help herein required is of the most subtile and refined character. Physical 
supplies obviously have no application to the case. Argument avails little. It is 
here that we perceive most convincingly the value of the so-called saintly qualities 
patience, charity, tolerance, endurance of rebuff or reproach, the watchfulness that 
is instant of attention, yet wary of offense in a word, shorn of all its coarseness, 
Love; as turns the mother tortured in her childpains to the strong yet gentle 
nurse, so clings the weary heart to him who thus can minister. ALEXIS. 

ANSWER. The first thing we have to look into is: What is the matter? Why 
should we need help, or need to help ? 

To understand this, we have to turn back to the time of the early morning 
when the great evolution of human life was started. The monads who were ready 
for evolution got an order from the gods "to commence to create." 

One part of the monads obey, the other part refuse the order and commence 
to work in their own way; and it is this part we will try to follow, because it is 
they who need help. 

Time passed on, and the will of the rebels was growing stronger and stronger, 
the personality of each one was the only ruler he would obey. The will of the gods 
and the laws of the Universe were more and more forgotten. 

Larger and larger were their mistakes against the divine laws, harder and 
harder came the Karmic effect; and when the personality was no longer able to 
stand the press of Karma, came despair and fear in their hearts, and a cry for help 
rose to their lips. 

The order of the gods was. given in the early morning of time, and the same 
order is still given to the same souls, go and fulfill that order and the struggle shall 
end. 

The fight we also have to make is against our personality the little idle god 
of our lower world, who likes to rest and dream, and the more of rest we give him 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 93 

the more he takes and the more he dreams, until he feels sick and lost, unable to 
help himself, unable to help others. 

Every situation on the path, however bad and however complicated it may be, 
has always a solution in obedience ; find this and we find the help. 

Only they who make opposition are suffering and need help. 

The daily duty our lives brings us to fulfill is the voice we have to follow ; it is 
;the fresh breath of our lost divine laws which is pushing us forward, homeward. 

The duty is twofold and we have to pay our tax to both sides, to the emperor 
and to the gods. The tax to the emperor is repeated to us every day and presses 
us until it is paid. The tax to the gods presses us just as hard, but it is harder to 
grasp, and we neglect to pay it. We neglect our natural way of life and we suffer. 

It is this duty we have to teach : "Commence to create." 

To create is to make and to give. To help is to give. To love is to give. 
To live is to give. Only from the fruit that is produced by pur tree of life can we 
find what help we can give. A dry branch without fruit, without originality, 
^an never help. 

He who is able to find the way and travel it is the real helper of others, be- 
cause he gives from his whole system help and peace to the whole creation. He 
gives himself for a sample, and that is the least we can do. 

"Go ahead and let the followers look for footprints," said the old Farao. 

B. E. 

ANSWER. Shankaracharya has a quaint aphorism : "I can ask you to dinner, 
but you must eat for yourself!" So we can only help people to help themselves. 
Individuality, individual freedom is sacred, and must never be invaded, for other- 
wise we shall have, at best, a race of lopsided archangels. We can help people 
to recognize their own divine powers, and that is the only help they either need 
or can receive. Our help must come to them through their own individuality, 
through the spirit in themselves. It may lawfully so come, since the Spirit is one, 
indivisible. C. J. 

ANSWER. What is the best way of really helping others? To help another 
in the best and only real sense is to show him the possibilities of his own being, and 
this is best done by endeavoring to live in the highest possibilities of our own nature, 
by having faith in the essential divinity of things, and by expressing that faith 
always, not in words only, but in life. 

Example is the best help a man can give to his fellows. It was the method 
(if such a term may be used) of Buddha, Jesus, Lao-tze and all the great teachers 
of mankind. What they believed, they were; and the very fact of their existence 
has helped and still helps mankind. When we live in our best and highest, we 
attract, by sympathy, the best and highest in others. No rules of help are necessary 
(history is full of the disastrous consequences following the enforcement of another's 
standard of right and wrong) ; but if the human heart be given up as a vehicle for 
the expression of the Divine will, help cannot fail to radiate from it. It is a blessed 
truth that man in striving upward cannot walk alone, but draws his fellows with 
him. NORA KENNEDY. 

ANSWER. The true way to help others seems to me to be in certain fundamental 
principles of thought and conduct. 

(1) Let us forget ourselves, and above all, our preconceived notions about 
others. 

(2) Let us study attentively, intelligently, and sympathetically the real needs 
of those we seek to aid. 

(3) Having discovered these, as we always can if we conduct our search in 
this manner, let us then determine to awaken these others to a sense of those needs, 
and inspire them with the understanding of them, which we ourselves have acquired, 
remembering that what we wish to do is not to give of our Light to another, but 
to illumine his own. We are not to serve as props for others to lean upon, but 
we must point out and make clear the path they themselves should tread. We 
should be the ladders by which others climb, the scaffolding by which others build; 
but we may not lose sight for one moment of the fact, our vanity would delude us 
into ignoring, that the important matters are that our brothers should climb; that 
the building should be erected. Only as we look always towards our brothers, and 
always away from ourselves, does this become possible : "The power which the 
disciple shall covet is that which shall make him appear as nothing." Few helpers 
are willing to occupy this humble place, and thus often half their labor is fruitless in 
any true sense, or even distinctly harmful, because of the taint of a personal grasp- 



94 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

ing for power, for influence or for appreciation. If we believe that the Light of 
the World lies hidden in every human breast, our work is plainly to discover and 
make clear that Light, that the whole world, now in so much darkness, may be 
illumined by it. Finally we must remember that the power to see, the power to 
hear, the power to understand, and the power to speak, being divine powers, can 
only be acquired by self-conquest. So that we must live ourselves the life we 
would show to others; be those things to which we would inspire them. Then 
we can cause the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and cast out devils, 
even raise the dead to life. We help others, therefore, each time we resist a temp- 
tation or conquer an evil inclination, the level of humanity is raised just so much; 
it will be just that much easier for anyone coming after us to do the same; it will 
give us the power directly to aid another to overcome in like manner. We shall 
realize as we pursue this course, how closely we are bound together, that where 
we faltered, others falter also; where we conquered, they, too, can achieve victory. 
From this will grow a sense of what is meant by a "united spirit of life." 

Any method of assistance planned on these lines cannot fail, I believe, in effec- 
tiveness. Temperament, circumstances, opportunities, must determine such details. 
But once the underlying principles of procedure are clear and are courageously and 
vigorously attempted, success is assured, since we are working in accordance with 
Divine Law, and have all the powers and might of that Law behind us. 

CAV6. 



QUESTION 74. Is it true that all things are absolutely for the best? 

ANSWER. Certainly ; otherwise they would be different. I cannot understand 
the mind that asks such a question. It is fundamentally illogical. If we believe 
that the universe is a mechanical contrivance, formed out of dust in accordance 
with a lot of laws, some of which we understand something about and most of 
which we do not even pretend to know, we must still believe that things as they are 
are for the best, and the best they can be, for are they not in accordance with the 
laws of the universe? How much more must we think so, therefore, if we believe 
that the universe is the manifestation of Divinity, the expression of God's will. 
And the more Deistic we are by belief, the closer and more personal is our concep- 
tion of God, the firmer must we hold to this belief in the eternal excellence of things 
as they are. To believe in any otherwise would be to stultify ourselves and to limit 
our conception of God. 

One of the great Teachers of Humanity told us that the very hairs of our head 
were numbered, and that our Father in Heaven knew the separate blades of grass. 
He also told us that this same Father which was in Heaven knew our wants and 
needs and would provide us with what it was good for us to have. How, then, can 
we doubt that all things are absolutely for the best? 

The crux of the matter is this. From our personal material point of view, in 
other words, from the usual point of view, is everything for the best? To this the 
materialist has a different answer from the religious man. The materialist says, 
"By no means. The world is obviously full of trouble and pain and suffering, and 
if all things were for the best, these defects in our system would be eliminated." A 
by no means uncommon view. A view, too, which is actually held by many whose 
religious opinions are directly contrary to it. The religious man, however, says, 
"Of course, but it is not easy for us to see it. We must put away the worldly point 
of view and look at the eternal verities. If we do this, then there is no doubt as 
to our answer. If the world was designed to give a man a field for his seventy 
years of life, then it is full of defects. From this aspect we can even understand the 
strictures of the atheist. But the world was not designed for any such temporary 
and evanescent object. We are here, not to enjoy ourselves, but to learn how to 
reach full self-conscious union with Divinity. And God, to bring about this 
end, may be depended upon to arrange circumstances down to the minutest detail 
to bring this about in the easiest and quickest manner. Hence all things must 
be absolutely for the best, and it does not take very much faith nor very much 
experience on the journey towards this reunion for us to be able to appreciate this, 
even when undergoing the greatest torments to which our poor human nature can 
be put. G. HIJO. 

ANSWER. Can any man believe in the immanence of God and doubt that every- 
thing is for the best ? Or can he believe in Divine Law and doubt it ? Let us realize 
our personal limitations somewhat better, and what these imply of blindness, igno- 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 95 

ranee, and, above all, lack of perspective. For are we not like the man in the story, 
who, holding his hand in front of his eyes, thought that the sun had disappeared? 
If he could see the entire plan of the universe as God must see it, he should be able 
to understand. But how tiny a portion have we even cognizance of, and of that 
portion how slight our knowledge! Little by little, slowly and painfully, we are 
learning, however. Let us have faith and patience, then, that what is obscure will 
in time be made plain, and trust in the Love, and Order, and Wisdom that, unseen 
(but not unfelt), directs us all. How could I trust an immortal soul through all 
Eternity to a Wisdom I, as I am, could comprehend! Therefore, I, being what I 
am, am thankful that I do not comprehend, but I look forward and strive forward 
to the day when I shall. CAVft. 

ANSWER. In the long run, yes ; though in the wider sense there is no "best" 
or "worst" all things simply are, and the attempt to class some as good and others 
as bad implies that we are limiting our range of vision to standards adapted to the 
plane of the lower nature only, and to the affairs of our mundane existence. 

Upon the assumption that the Universe exists for the benefit of the Soul, it is 
hard to see how any of the happenings in the universe can be other than finally 
beneficial to the permanent entity, however inconvenient some of these might appear 
to the lower self. Then, too, we are apt to approach this question merely from the 
viewpoint of mankind, forgetting that it is yet to be shown that man is the ultimate 
factor to be considered. Mankind may be and probably is but a feeder to some 
higher kind of being. ALEXIS. 

ANSWER. I sincerely hope the editor of the QUARTERLY has put his question 
to someone whose views on the subject are more firmly established than mine. 

When I look at the dark side of earth-life and see one portion of humanity 
struggling to keep want from the door, failing, for the most part, and falling into 
misery and degradation ; when I know that little innocent children are dying hourly 
for lack of a few pennies worth of nourishment, while another portion of humanity 
is spending its time devising ways and means of squandering its ill-gotten wealth, 
I feel that there is something rotten in the State of Denmark and that all things 
are not absolutely for the best. Then here are hints of more profound things: 
that we are, through somebody's fault, thousands of years behind in our evolution; 
that the great Kumaras refused to create when bidden, thereby precipitating a 
curse. And are we not called the "Sorrowful Star?" Looking at this side of 
the picture, I am disturbed, grieved, full of regret, even fear, so I turn me, for 
relief, to where another nature revels in bounteous harvest fields; to the woods 
full of the song of birds; to peaceful homes, where happy children play and good 
men and women are. Here the heaviness falls from the heart and the mist clears 
from the eyes, and I am able to discern somewhat of the meaning of the "pairs 
of opposites." I see that there could not be high noon without- its midnight counter- 
part; no cheering blossom of summer that has not lain earth-entombed through the 
winter; no spiritual outpouring from the gods without awakening the corresponding 
force of darkness; and I begin to wonder if, after all, a "Sorrowful Star" is not 
more desirable than a colorless, insipid earth. Also the winding in and out of the 
spiral through the dark and light spaces takes on a meaning; nothing less than the 
gaining of knowledge and strength the building of the individual, whether or not 
it is true that all things are absolutely for the best, he possesses greatest measure of 
calmness and strength who sees Ishvara everywhere equally dwelling. J. C. M. 




THIRTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL 
SOCIETY IN AMERICA. 

THE thirteenth annual Convention of the Theosophical Society in America 
was held on April 27, 1907, at the Brevoort Hotel, New York City, in 
pursuance of the following call. 
February 13, 1907. 
FELLOW MEMBER: 

The Convention of the Theosophical Society in America will be held this year 
at the Brevoort Hotel, Fifth Avenue and Eighth Street, New York, on Saturday, 
April 27th, at 10.30 A. M. 

Since the last Convention, we have added to our ranks a large number of 
members in England; the "Theosophical Society in Germany" has appointed a 
committee to take steps toward amalgamation with our Society, and the work of 
this committee is already far advanced; and we have also members in Canada and 
South America. 

It is evident that we have entered on a new and very promising epoch in the 
life of our Society, which once more possesses an international character. 

It is, therefore, anomalous to call the Society "The Theosophical Society in 
America" 

In view of these facts, the following Resolution, which has been approved by 
a majority of the Executive Committee, will be offered at the forthcoming Con- 
vention : 

Be it resolved that, in Article I, Sec. I, of the Constitution, the words "in 
America/' after "The Theosophical Society," be dropped from the name of the 
Society. Fraternally yours, 

(Signed) ADA GREGG, Secretary T. S. in A. 

MORNING SESSION. 

The Chairman of the Executive Committee, Mr. Charles Johnston, acted as 
Temporary Chairman, called the Convention to order at n A. M., and welcomed 
the delegates, saying : 

ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 

"Fellow-members, it is always a pleasure to come together for our annual Con- 
ventions, and this year I feel that we have quite exceptional cause for happiness 
and thankfulness. Many things are happening to make this so. 

"To begin with, we have a new wave of energy within the Society, with the 
enlistment of new members, the formation of new Branches, and, most important, 
the much more complete extension of our organization to other lands. Since we 
met in Convention a year ago, a large number of members have been added to our 
ranks in England, and a considerable number have more recently joined us in 
Germany. In these two countries we have now vigorous and harmonious Branches, 
and we can see that a complete international status, the natural one for a society 
designed to bring together those of differing nations, has once more been resumed. 
In this we have great cause for thankfulness and for hope. 

"The Society has grown here in America also. And this is in a considerable 
measure due to the condition of things restored by the last Convention, a condition 
under which the Society is once more, what it was for many years, "a federation of 
autonomous Branches." Within the Branch each individual member is wholly inde- 
pendent, and has the fullest liberty to hold and profess any belief or unbelief. The 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 97 

Branch is made up of individuals, enjoying the fullest religious liberty. In the 
same way, the Society is made up of Branches, each one enjoying the fullest local 
autonomy in organization and work alike; provided only that the individual Branch 
member shall show to all others the toleration he expects for himself; and that the 
Branch shall adhere to the principles expressed in the Constitution: the principles 
of brotherly love and tolerance for all differences of opinion and belief. 

"Certain members were apprehensive, a year ago, that the representation of 
Branches at the Convention might disfranchise members who did not then belong to 
Branches. It was pointed out, in reply to this, that all members were in a position 
to become Branch members, whether local or corresponding, so that every member 
who wished could thus secure voting power. And during the year since the last 
Convention every member not in a Branch has been invited to join a Branch, and a 
great many have complied. This invitation involved an immense amount of writ- 
ing, of a very laborious kind. The burden of this work was willingly undertaken 
and cheerfully and effectively performed by two of our Louisville members, Mr. 
F. H. Sharp and Mr. J. G. Sewell, to whom the Society is indebted for most effec- 
tual aid. As a result, two new Branches have already been chartered, and two or 
three more will, in all likelihood, be chartered in the next few weeks. Our new 
Branches in America are in Boston and Detroit, and we hope that both will bring 
valuable contributions to our common life. 

"The stress thus laid on Branch life was the result of a conviction that, as 
universal brotherhood is our basic principle, so Branch life is the field where that 
principle can best be brought into operation; the mutual tolerance, the cordial co- 
operation, the adherence to the open platform, the mutual help and brotherly love 
which are the heart of Branch life being, in fact, the first-fruits of universal brother- 
hood. But this stress on Branch life, and the representation of Branches at our 
Conventions, has had another result, which was not foreseen, and is, therefore, all 
the more reassuring. In the days of individual voting it was always extremely dif- 
ficult to get a wide expression of opinion from our members. Only a small per- 
centage ever voted or sent proxies to be cast for them. At the present Convention, 
however, we are much more largely represented : about twice as many members will 
cast votes this year as a result of Branch representation and voting. This, as I said, 
was not anticipated, and it is a strong additional argument in favor of representa- 
tion by Branches. 

'There is another matter, which has caused me personally, as it has caused 
others, great happiness. This is the coming of young members and young students 
to our movement. During the last dozen years we attracted almost no young 
people. The stress of weather kept them away. But now, it would seem, the spring- 
time is returning, and with it we have the joy of seeing young people once more 
drawn toward our work, and impelled to join with us in carrying it on. For us, 
who are growing old in harness, who have been working for twenty years and more 
for Theosophy and Theosophical principles, this accession of new recruits brings 
joy and reassurance. In the nature of things, we shall not go on forever; and it 
is fine and encouraging to see young people joining us, who will, in due time, take 
our places in the ranks. 

"Cheered and encouraged, therefore, by these happy auguries concerning past, 
present and future alike, it is with special thankfulness and happiness that I declare 
this Convention open." 

TEMPORARY ORGANIZATION. 

Upon motion, Mr. A. B. Russ, of Washington, was elected Temporary Secre- 
tary of the Convention. 

Upon motion, the Chair appointed a Committee on Credentials, consisting of 
Mrs. Ada Gregg, of Brooklyn (the retiring Secretary) ; Mr. H. B. Mitchell, of 
New York (the retiring Treasurer) ; Mr. H. Garst, of Dayton. 

Upon motion, an adjournment was taken to enable this Committee to examine 
the proxies and credentials submitted. 

PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 
On reconvening, Mrs. Ada Gregg, as Chairman, submitted the 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS. 
Branch Roll Place Votes Delegates or Proxies 



Aurora Oakland, Cal. 3 

Baltimore Baltimore, Md. I Mrs. Gregg 

Blavatsky Seattle, Wash. 2 Mr. Griscom 

Blavatsky Washington, D. C. 5 Mr. Russ 



9 8 



THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 



Branch Roll 

Boston 

British National 

Cincinnati 

Dayton 
Detroit 
Fort Wayne 
German National 

Indianapolis 
Los Angelinas 
Middletown 



New York 



Queen City 
San Pedro 
Toronto 
Virya 



Place 

Boston, Mass. 

Great Britain 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

Dayton, Ohio 

Detroit, Mich. 

Fort Wayne, Ind. 

Germany 

Indianapolis, Ind. 
Los Angeles, Cal. 
Middletown, Ohio 



New York, N. Y. 



Seattle, Wash. 

San Pedro, Cal. 

Toronto, Canada 

Denver, Col. 



Votes Delegates or Proxies 

i Mrs. Gregg 

15 Mr. Griscom 
7 (Mr. Hohnstedt 

(Miss Hohnstedt 

7 Mr. Garst 

1 Mr. Johnston 

2 Mrs. Gregg 

5 (Mr. Johnston 
(Mrs. Johnston 

6 Mr. Davis 

4 Mr. Mitchell 

2 Mrs. Gordon 

Mrs. Armstrong 
Mr. Griscom 
Miss Hascall 
Miss Hillard 
Mr. Mitchell 
2 Mr. Mitchell 

4 Mr. Johnston 

2 Mr. Smythe 

2 Mr. Johnston 



Number of Branches in the Society, 19; number of Branches represented by 
delegates or proxies, 18; number of votes represented, 73; number of members 
represented, 232. 

Upon motion, the Report was accepted, the Committee discharged with thanks. 

Upon motion, the President of the local Branch, Mr. H. B. Mitchell, was unani- 
mously elected Permanent Chairman of the Convention, Mr. Johnston resigning 
the chair to him. 

Upon motion, Mr. A. B. Russ was unanimously elected Permanent Secretary to 
the Convention. 

Upon motion, the Chair appointed as a Committee on Resolutions : Mr. Charles 
Johnston, Miss M. D. Hohnstedt and Miss K. Hillard; and, as a Committee on 
Nominations : Mr. H. E. Davis, Mr. Griscom and Mr. H. Hohnstedt. 

REPORTS OF OFFICERS. 

The Chairman pointed out that Mr. Johnston's address of welcome had been, 
in effect, a report from the Chairman of the Executive Committee. He therefore 
called upon Mrs. Gregg to present the Report of the Secretary. 

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY T. S. A. 
The work of the Secretary's office comprises : 

(1) The recording of new members and Branches. 

(2) The keeping of the membership and mailing lists of the Society. 

(3) Correspondence with members, inquirers, and those of allied interest. 

(4) The distribution and placing of the THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY. 

(5) The purchase, distribution and sale of books, pamphlets, etc., and the man- 
agement of the library. 

NEW MEMBERS AND BRANCHES. 

During the current year four new Branches have been chartered, viz. : 
The Detroit Branch, The British National Branch, 

The Boston Branch, The German National Branch. 

Ninety-five new members have been admitted, 35 being from America, 45 
from England and 15 from Germany. This gain in membership is very satisfac- 
tory, and the admission of the two National Branches from Great Britain and 
Germany tend to emphasize the international character of the Society, and, it is 
believed, inaugurates a large and very desirable growth. 

MEMBERSHIP AND MAILING LIST. 

The attention of members is again called to the need of notifying the Secre- 
tary of any change of address. Owing to carelessness in these matters letters are 
frequently returned by the Post Office marked "uncalled for" or "unknown," and 
when this happens the Secretary can only set the member's card aside until the cor- 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 99 

rect address is received. As it is, the majority of changes of address are reported 
by the Post Office rather than by the member. This, of necessity, prevents sending 
the THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY and other of the Society's papers. The prolonged 
silence of any member, together with the continued non-payment of dues, and dis- 
regard of letters sent, may be taken as equivalent to resignation, in removing the 
name from membership. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

The number of letters sent by the Secretary has been steadily increasing for 
some years and now compels such systematizing as is possible, through standard 
forms and circular letters. 

There is a need for more and better elementary literature descriptive of the 
Theosophical Society. The Secretary also respectfully recommends the reprinting 
of such pamphlets as "What is Theosophy." 

THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, 

The appreciative letters that have been received, regarding this magazine, have 
reflected an opinion which has also been shown both in the steadily increasing cir- 
culation and sale, and in the use made of it in individual and Branch work. The 
Secretary is in the habit of sending a sample copy and letter regarding it to each 
new inquirer or purchaser of Theosophical literature. Both new members and 
new subscribers have been received in this way. 

THE SALE OF BOOKS. 

The sale of books dealing with Theosophical topics is steady and reliable, and 
the use of the circulating library, particularly for books now out of print, justifies 
the Secretary in again calling the members attention to the value of this work and 
requesting that any duplicates or unwanted Theosophical books and magazines be 
forwarded to this office. In this connection I desire to acknowledge a donation of 
eight volumes of The Path from Mrs. Mary L. Sutton. 

A WORD PERSONAL. 

I wish to thank the Branches, and all my fellow-members, that I have been in 
correspondence with, for their patience, confidence and responsiveness. 

I also wish gratefully to acknowledge the help I have received from my brother 
officers, who have always so promptly responded to my call for advice when I did 
not care to trust to my own knowledge or judgment; for this help and their confi- 
dence and support thus so freely given, I most heartily thank them. 

Respectfully submitted, 

(Signed) ADA GREGG, 
Secretary T. S. A. 

Upon motion, unanimously carried, Mrs. Gregg was thanked for her devoted 
work in the Secretary's office and the Secretary's report was accepted. 

The report of the Treasurer, being next in order, Mr. Mitchell resigned the 
chair to Mr. Russ, and presented the Treasurer's Report. 

REPORT OF THE TREASURER T. S. A. 
April 23, 1906 April 26, 1907. 

RECEIPTS. DISBURSEMENTS. 

Dues $653-75 Convention Expenses, 1906 $20.00 

Donations 420.80 Secretary's Office 325.07 

THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 343-O5 Treasurer's Office 38.75 

THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 1,151.10 

$1,417.60 

Balance from last year 399-45 Balance on hand '282. 13 

$1,817.05 



Present assets, cash $282. 13 

Liabilities, April Issue THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 255.25 

Apparent Surplus, April 26, 1907 $26.88 

April 27, 1907. [SIGNED] H. B. MITCHELL, 

Treasurer T. S. A. 



ioo THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

In commenting upon this report, Mr. Mitchell said that it was another instance 
of what the Society's entire financial history had illustrated. There was always 
just enough money to meet the immediate need, whatever that need might be, but 
never any to spare; never anything beyond the present necessities. Sometimes, 
too frequently, indeed, he had had to remind forgetful members and call for further 
support. But this call had always met with generous and sufficient response and 
he believed so long as the Society's work was needed in the world this support 
would not fail. 

Upon motion, the Treasurer's Report was accepted with thanks, and Mr. 
Mitchell resumed the chair. 

LETTERS OF GREETING. 

The Chair then called for the Letters of Greeting sent the Convention. These 
were read by one or another of the members present and were received with the 
warmest welcome, in each case being followed by a motion instructing the Secretary 
to thank the sender and express the appreciation of the Convention for their fra- 
ternal greetings and good will. 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN GERMANY. 
To the Members of the Theosophical Society in America. 

Greeting: It gives me great pleasure to send all our brothers and sisters in 
Convention assembled the heartiest greetings and best wishes for successful work. 
The present Convention marks an important step in the history and evolution of 
the Theosophical Society. In all probability the Society as an organization will 
resume its international character, after passing through a period, since the death of 
W. Q. J., in which each country was individually active. 

Several years ago Dr. Hartmann wrote in his Lotusbliiten that H. P. B. once 
said she would return in 1906. This remark, if taken literally, would be meaningless 
for us, as no one of us believes that H. P. B. has ever left us. On the contrary, we 
feel quite sure that she has worked and still works on an inner plane for the Theo- 
sophical movement. But for those who believe that H. P. B. has really left us and 
who mourn her loss, the events now taking place in the Theosophical Society must 
be regarded as very momentous. Observing that the Theosophical Society is grad- 
ually returning to its original basis ; that a movement is afoot for uniting the Soci- 
eties of all lands into one Society, and that New York, the same city in which 
H. P. B. founded the Society in 1875, is to be the headquarters of the International 
Society, then one might easily believe that H. P. B. had really come back; and in 
the unification of all Theosophical Societies (a movement which is not the result of 
organized effort but simply of inner harmony) one might recognize the return 
and manifestation of the great soul and spirit of H. P. B. 

The evolution of the Theosophical Society up to the present time permits us 
to look forward with joy and faith, not only to a future pervaded with the spirit 
of H. P. B., but also to the period when the spirit of her teachers, the Masters, can 
be directly manifested through the Theosophical Society, the channel which they 
themselves brought into existence. We are all well aware that only the devotion 
and activity of the members can hasten the coming of this period in which the Inner 
and Innermost will be externally revealed. 

May the present Convention become a milestone on the way to a realization of 
the chief aim of the Theosophical Society, of Universal Brotherhood. This is the 
sincere wish of the members of the "Theosophical Society in Germany." 

Fraternally yours, 

[SIGNED] PAUL RAATZ. 

BERLIN BRANCH. 

BERLIN, SW., April 12, 1907. 
To the Members of the Theosophical Society in America, in Convention Assembled. 

Dear Comrades: On behalf of the members of the Theosophical Society, Berlin 
Branch, I send you the heartiest greeting to your Convention. 

As never before, our hearts and eyes are turned this year towards America and 
your Convention ; as never before we feel ourselves at one with our American 
brothers and sisters, and are taking, mentally, an active part in the deliberations 
which will take place. 

We are well conscious that the true Theosophical movement has its centre in 
your Society; for several years we have received a very great deal of advice and 
inspiration for our work from your Society. 

We shall, therefore, be with you in heart and mind at your Convention, wishing 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 101 

that the work done by you on this occasion may bring much help to the world at 
large, and that much enthusiasm for good work may flow over to all the Theo- 
sophical Societies allied with yours. 

Very fraternally yours, 

[SIGNED] LEO SCHOCH, 
Secretary T. S., Berlin Branch. 

WEST BERLIN BRANCH. 

SCHONEBERG, March 29, 1907. 
To the Secretary of the Theosophical Society in America. 

Dear Mrs. Gregg: The Theosophical Society, West Berlin Branch, sends to the 
forthcoming Convention sympathy and hearty greetings. 

May the sense of unity be more perfected, and good, useful steps taken in the 
cyclic evolution forwards and upwards. 

We welcome especially the proposed resolution for making the Theosophical 
Society international in character, in order to facilitate the amalgamation of other 
Theosophical centres with it. 

Fraternally yours, 

[SIGNED] W. BOLDT, 
President T. S., West Berlin Branch. 

NORTH BERLIN BRANCH. 

BERLIN N. 58, April 7, 1907. 

To the Members of the Theosophical Society in America, in Convention Assembled. 
Greeting: Our thoughts, abounding with hope and faith, are dwelling with you 
and your work, and we send you the best wishes for a successful disposition of all 
propositions and resolutions which await your consideration. 

We feel clearly that your Conventions are a necessity for enlivening and invig- 
orating the great international Theosophical movement in the world. We are firmly 
convinced that the spirit of true harmony will pervade and consecrate your meet- 
ings, and thus crown your work with wisdom and enlightenment for the benefit 
and progress of the great Theosophical Society and the entire human family. 

In this spirit the heartiest wishes are sent to all who take part in the Conven- 
tion from the members of Theosophical Society, North Berlin Branch. 

[SIGNED] ERNST JOHN, 

President. 
FLENSBURG BRANCH. 

FLENSBURG, GERMANY, April 14, 1907. 

Dear Friends: We send most sincere and cordial brotherly greetings to your 
Convention of the present year. May the blessing of the Masters rest on your 
activity, and give you the strength and endurance which are essential to the real- 
ization of our common ideals. Since we, like many of your friends and well- 
wishers, are not fated to be with you in person on this great day, we must limit 
ourselves to supporting your work in thought, and this we do with hearty sympathy 
and brotherly love. May these proofs of unity and spiritual harmony not fail of 
their helpful and beneficial effect, and may they bear testimony that, even in remote 
North Germany, hearts beat warmly for you and for the great work of human 
brotherhood. 

[Signed by E. Buhman and six other members of the T. S. in Flensburg.] 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN NORWAY. 

HARSTAD, NORWAY, March 10, 1907. 
To the Theosophical Society in America, in Convention Assembled. 

Fellow Members: The Convention has to vote over a question of seemingly 
little importance, viz. : the future name of the T. S. in America. To me this ques- 
tion seems, however, a very significant one ; in fact, the most significant you will 
have to discuss at the Convention. 

If the resolution about the name is carried, it means to me the dawn of a new 
era in the history of the Theosophical Society. 

Has, then, the time come to see our dearest ideal UNITY re-established? 
Have the trials of years gone by finally developed that right understanding of prin- 
ciples, of universal brotherly love that solidarity in the ranks of allied national 
Theosophical Societies ; that unity of heart which is the desirable rock- foundation, 
for a reconstruction of one Universal Theosophical Society? 

I hope so. 

I heartily wish so! 



102 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The Convention has to take a standpoint, as it were, to these questions when 
voting over the offered resolution about the name of the Theosophical Society in 
America. If the answer is affirmative, may it come true. 

A greeting from your co-workers in Norway. 

[SIGNED] T. H. KNOFF. 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN SWEDEN. 

STOCKHOLM, April 12, 1907. 

To the Members of the Theosophical Society in America, in Convention Assembled : 
The Theosophical Society in Sweden sends you the heartiest greetings and good 
wishes. 

As matters stand at present it is not very likely that our Society, whose meet- 
ing is held on May 2Oth, will resolve upon a unification with the T. S. in A. We 
must bide our time. 

Fraternally yours, 

[SIGNED] W. HARNQUIST. 

GREETINGS FROM THE BRANCHES. 

After the Letters of Greeting from foreign allied Societies, a letter was read 
from the Secretary of the British National Branch of the T. S. A. 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY BRITISH NATIONAL BRANCH. 

115 Ethel Street, NEW BENWELL, NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, 
April 19, 1907. 

Dear Mr. Griscom: As you represent the members of the British National 
Branch at the Annual Convention of the T. S. in A. this year, will you please con- 
vey to those assembled in Convention our very cordial good wishes and fraternal 
regards. We trust that this year's Convention, the first at which we have been 
privileged to be represented, will be in every way a successful one ; and we also 
hope that the already very tangible bond which lies between us will find increased 
strength as a result of your deliberations. 

As a Branch we are making good progress; our membership is steadily increas- 
ing, and the scope of our activities gradually widening. We hope to hold our first 
Convention at an early date, which, it is thought, will do much to enable us to 
complete all details of our organization. 

The London Lodge, as has already been notified to you, meets bi-weekly at 
46 Brook Street, W., and obtains good attendances. 

In connection with the Newcastle-on-Tyne Lodge, weekly meetings are held, at 
which very good attendances are secured. No syllabus has been issued for our meet- 
ings, each week's meeting advertising the next. We have devoted most of our meet- 
ings to the study of the Unity of religions, taking for consideration the teachings 
of Christ as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, and many valuable and helpful 
articles from the QUARTERLY. We are also starting a study class, to meet weekly 
for the special study of the Theosophical Philosophy, and have already over a dozen 
applicants for membership therein. 

Our members at South Shields continue to have very good weekly meetings, 
alternate weeks being given to the consideration of some paper or other written by 
a member, other meetings being devoted to the study of the Key to Theosophy and 
the Bhagavad Gita. Very good attendances are reported and some of our new 
members are connected with this Lodge. 

Also at Consett our members still continue to hold weekly meetings, which are 
devoted to the consideration of papers written by members. Consett, also, is respon- 
sible for some of our new members. 

I must not omit to mention the new centre which has been opened at Sunder- 
land, which is only a few miles from Newcastle-on-Tyne. Splendid attendances 
have been obtained at these meetings, of earnest and, in some cases, enthusiastic 
enquirers. The course adopted at Newcastle-on-Tyne is also being followed at the 
Sunderland meetings, namely: bi-weekly meetings devoted to the consideration and 
study of the Unity of Religions, with especial reference to the teachings of Christ 
and of Buddha; the other meetings being devoted to papers on various subjects writ- 
ten by members. Here, also, a weekly study class is held, with very good attend- 
ances. 

With very kind regards, believe me, 

Sincerely yours, 

[Signed] EDWARD H. WOOF, 
Secretary pro. tern. British National Branch. 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 103 

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN SOUTH AMERICA. 

CARACAS, March 21, 1907. 

Dear Mrs. Gregg: I have read with great pleasure your notification that the 
Theosophical Society may drop the words in America from its title, in recognition 
of the international character which it has attained. May the union of the Theoso- 
phical Society in Germany with our Society be fruitful in benefits for the brother- 
hood of mankind. 

Fraternally yours, 

[SIGNED] J. DOMINGUEZ ACOSTA. 

Miss Hohnstedt next read the greeting sent the Convention by the Cincinnati 
Branch. 

THE CINCINNATI BRANCH. 
To the Theosophical Society in America, in Convention Assembled. 

Greetings: The Cincinnati Branch are happy to report a prosperous year. 
While our active membership in good standing is only twenty-three, yet we have a 
large number of active well wishers who are with us in spirit and take part in our 
meetings. 

We meet each Tuesday evening in the Lecture Room of the Vine Street Con- 
gregational Church. Our public meetings have been well attended, averaging at 
least sixty at each meeting. In addition to our public meeting, a study class meets 
once each week. This year we have been studying the Secret Doctrine. We believe 
there has been more interest manifested in Theosophy this year in Cincinnati than 
ever before in the city's history. 

In regard to the proposed change of name. This Branch voted unanimously 
in favor of the change from "Theosophical Society in America" to "Theosophical 
Society." 

We believe that the friends of Theosophy everywhere should be encouraged 
over the outlook. The time seems to be at hand when people generally are beginning 
to take an active interest in this philosophy. 

In selecting a place of meeting for your next Convention we wish to urge the 
claims of Cincinnati. It's central location and ease of access stamp it as a desirable 
place in all respects. We can only assure you that we would all like to be with you 
in Convention, but as that cannot be, accept our good wishes. 

[SIGNED] MRS. A. OUTCALT, 
E. A. ALLEN. 

Committee. 

This was followed by greetings from the other delegates and proxies, on behalf 
of the Branches they represented, to each of which the Convention moved an 
expression of its appreciation and gratitude. When all had been heard from, upon 
motion made and seconded, the Convention adjourned until 3 P. M. 



AFTERNOON SESSION 

On reconvening, the Chair called for the 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. 

Mr. Johnston, as Chairman of this Committee, reported that they had had to 
consider but one resolution that of which notice had been given to all members 
in the call to the Convention, and which recommended that the words "in America" 
be omitted from the title of the Society. He continued as follows : 

"During the year just past we have more fully returned to our original status 
as an international Society, and we now have active Branches, not only in the 
United States, but also in Canada, Venezuela, England and Germany, as well as 
individual members in other lands. Two of our members independently suggested 
that, under these circumstances, our present title is somewhat misleading; that we 
are compelled to speak of members of 'the Theosophical Society in America in 
England/ and it was pointed out that, should students in India join the British 
Branch, we should have to speak of members of 'the Theosophical Society in Amer- 
ica in England in India/ and so on. It was, therefore, proposed that the geographi- 
cal limitation should be dropped from our title, as it no longer coincides with the 
fact. The Executive Committee considered the matter, and a majority of its mem- 
bers thought the suggestion a very good one. It was embodied in a resolution, and 
sent out to all members for full consideration. 

"Certain objections were raised, which may be stated somewhat as follows: 



104 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

First, it was said that we should be accused of appropriating the name of another 
Society, and complications might result. But the truth is, this accusation has been 
made long years ago. Our present title, 'The Theosophical Society in America,' 
originally belonged to the American Section of the T. S., and so appears on its 
Constitution as early as 1887. We therefore appropriated the title of the American 
Section twelve years ago, at the Boston Convention. And as for accusations, they 
were also made long years ago. We had a few members, who were also affiliated 
with Adyar, and we may read, in a Presidential Proclamation, issued at Adyar, that 
they were threatened with expulsion, for consorting with thieves and robbers, who 
had stolen the name "Theosophical." Some were actually expelled on that ground, 
with Jovian thunders; so that both complications and accusations have been in exist- 
ence for years. 

"Another class of objections seems to me to have been founded on a misappre- 
hension of facts. One Branch decided to vote against the resolution to drop the 
words 'in America,' on the ground that it was inexpedient to have an international 
Society, for the reason, amonj; others, that this opened the way for a central author- 
ity, which would dominate the Branches. To this it may be said that the question 
of international organization is not being voted on, as it was already settled at pre- 
vious Conventions, a provision therefore having long been in the By-laws ; and, 
further, 'the Theosophical Society in America' has always been an international So- 
ciety. In 1895, it was limited, in title, not to the United States, but to the New 
World; and in fact it has always had members in Europe, as well as in Canada, 
Central and South America, and has them to the present day. Therefore, our inter- 
national status has always existed, and recent events have only broadened what 
existed from the start. As to the 'central authority,' surely that is less to be appre- 
hended in an international Society where the Executive Committee is likely to be 
scattered over several different countries ; and, moreover, the Executive Committee is 
in no sense an 'authority,' except so far as authority is delegated to it between 
annual Conventions, which are the real 'authority,' so far as a Theosophical So- 
ciety can have any 'authority.' 

"Other objections arise rather from sentiment, from attachment to our present 
name, from apprehension of change, and so forth; with all of which one can fully 
sympathize, though they do not touch the real question at issue: the squaring of 
our title with the facts. 

"The facts as to the representation of Branches, and their wishes in this matter, 
are in the hands of the Committee on Credentials, which has already reported. And 
we have further heard letters from some of our strongest Branches in the Middle 
West. So that we have an accurate knowledge of the wishes of all parts of the 
Society in this matter, and it seems that the votes in favor of the resolution to 
omit the words 'in America' from our title are something like six or seven to one, 
whereas, only a two-thirds majority is required to pass an amendment to the Con- 
stitution." (The Chairman of the Committee on Credentials: "The actual figures 
are over seven to one.") Mr. Johnston continuing: "One may say, therefore, that 
there is an overwhelming sentiment in favor of the resolution ; that the number 
of those who wish to have the change made, constitutes an overwhelming majority. 

"Now I wish to make a proposal which may serve as a precedent. While we 
see that we have an overwhelming majority in favor of this Resolution, I think we 
shall all agree that the last thing we wish to do, the last thing we desire, as adher- 
ents of the great principle of tolerance, is to 'overwhelm' a minority of our mem- 
bers, or to coerce them by superior numbers. Therefore, as there are strong objec- 
tions to this resolution in the minds of some of our old and valued members, I ask 
you to allow me, on behalf of the Committee on Resolutions, to propose that this 
resolution be laid on the table." 

Mr. Johnston's motion was greeted with instant and enthusiastic applause, and 
upon the Chair putting the question it was unanimously carried. The Chair then 
declared the resolution to be laid upon the table. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF TOLERANCE AND UNITY. 

Mr. Griscom spoke upon the significance of the action that had just been taken. 
There was, so far as he knew, but one other religious body in the world which 
attempted to regulate its affairs upon the principles here exemplified. He referred 
to the Society of Friends, or Quakers. "It is their custom," he said, "to meet several 
times a year for the discussion of their affairs, and especially at their 'yearly meet- 
ing' do matters of government and business come before them. There is a full and 
free debate, everyone being welcome to speak. Then the clerk of the meeting puts 
into succinct form what he understands to be the voice of the meeting, and it is 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 105 

that which is voted upon. If there is any opposition whatever, the matter is allowed 
to go over for another period, as they believe that time will heal most differences of 
opinion, and that it is better that many things should not be done, than that there 
should be friction and dispute amongst the members. I think this is a spirit which 
all religious bodies would do well to emulate, and I am very glad to see that our 
little Society is willing to forego the usual insistence upon majority rule, and to 
express, in the practical management of its affairs, the same principles of tolerance, 
brotherliness and belief in unity, for which its name and teaching stand." 

Mr. Smythe, of Toronto, expressed his regret that the Parliamentary procedure 
had not permitted him to second the motion that had just been carried, so completely 
did it accord with his ideals of the spirit which should animate a Theosophical 
Convention. 

This opinion was echoed by many members, and it was pointed out that the 
principle of majority rule had not been violated, but that the majority, in exercising 
that rule, had willed to express a deeper principle the principle of regard for the 
wish and opinion of the minority. 

The Chair then called for the 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS. 

Mr. H. E. Davis, of Indianapolis, as Chairman of the Committee, reported the 
following nominations : 

For Members of the Executive Committee: 
DR. ARCHIBALD KEIGHTLEY, of London. 
DR. PAUL RAATZ, of Berlin. 
For Secretary, MRS. ADA GREGG, of Brooklyn. 
For Treasurer, MR. H. B. MITCHELL, of New York. 

Mr. Johnston asked the privilege of seconding the nominations of Dr. Keightley 
and Mr. Raatz. 

"We have already," he said, "many reasons for thankfulness; to them we may 
now add, as a special cause for congratulation, the fact that we are to have Dr. 
Keightley as a member of the Executive Committee of the Society. On this, we are 
all to be most sincerely congratulated. I can think of no member in the Society 
whose addition to the Executive Committee I would view with deeper satisfaction. 
Dr. Keightley was for years Mme. Blavatsky's closest and most trusted friend. He 
wrote out on the typewriter nearly the whole of the Secret Doctrine from Mme. 
Blavatsky's manuscript, and also took a large part in the establishment of the 
London headquarters and the foundation of Lucifer in 1887 ; and from that time 
to her death he was Mme. Blavatsky's most intimate and trusted friend. He was 
equally close to Mr. Judge, and, during the events of thirteen years ago, was Mr. 
Judge's strongest ally and support in Europe. In fact, there is no member in the 
Society of whom one could say in equal degree that his election to the administrative 
body gives cause for satisfaction and rejoicing. 

"Mr. Raatz has also a fine record, though he is, of course, a much younger mem- 
ber than Dr. Keightley. He is identified with the revival of Theosophical work on 
sound lines in Germany, and he has from small beginnings developed an excellent 
magazine, Theosophic Life, and has also published German versions of many of 
our books. Mr. Raatz was a prime mover in the more recent developments in Ger- 
many which have brought us a large membership in that country, so that in all ways 
we are to be congratulated on these two nominations to the Executive Committee 
in this new period of our development." 

There being no other nominations for the Executive Committee, the Chair put 
the nominations separately to the vote, and declared first Dr. Keightley and then 
Mr. Raatz unanimously elected. 

Upon motion, the Secretary was instructed to inform Dr. Keightley and Mr. 
Raatz of their election ; and, in doing so, to convey to them the pleasure and satis- 
faction it gave the Convention to welcome them to the Executive Committee. 

In commenting upon this, the Chairman said it was evident that Mr. Johnston 
had voiced the feeling of all present regarding Dr. Keightley and Mr. Raatz. He 
pointed out that the work of the latter had already been felt in this country, as 
there was to-day in Chicago a Branch of the "Theosophical Society in Germany" 
a group of German-born men and women who had been reached by Mr. Raatz's 
writing and publications where our English literature had been passed by unob- 
served. 

The vote was then taken on the nominations of Mrs. Ada Gregg, as Secretary, 
and Mr. H. B. Mitchell, as Treasurer, each being unanimously re-elected to their 
respective offices. 



io6 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

COMMUNICATIONS FROM BRANCH DELEGATES. 

The Chair then called upon the delegates present to speak of the work of 
their Branches. 

THE TORONTO BRANCH. 

Mr. A. E. S. Smythe, representing the Toronto Branch, gave a very interesting 
account of the work in Canada. He spoke first of what they were doing with the 
THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, than which, he thought, no more useful magazine had 
appeared since The Path and Lucifer. 

The plan adopted by the Branch was to supply all the public libraries in the 
Province of Ontario, so far as funds permitted, and he suggested that in each State 
the members locally interested might perform a similar service. In Toronto the 
QUARTERLY was also placed on sale in department and book stores with good 
results. 

The Branch had just completed a two years' study of the Key to Theosophy, a 
thorough knowledge of which was essential to the student. It was intended to fol- 
low this with The Ocean of Theosophy and the Secret Doctrine, taking Miss Hil- 
lard's new volume as a text-book. A New Testament class, conducted by Rev. Mr. 
Schofield, a member of the Branch, had been a feature of the year's work. 

The work of individual members had been regarded as of equal importance with 
that of the Branch collectively. Since Mr. Smythe introduced Theosophy into 
Canada, in 1889, he considered that it had played a not inconsiderable part upon the 
thought of the people. The public libraries were supplied with books on the sub- 
ject, which were widely read, and, in spite of themselves, church pastors were com- 
pelled to take account of the vital spiritual forces liberated by Theosophic thought. 

The great growth in tolerance was particularly noticeable. A few years ago 
Theosophy was scouted and its adherents considered of necessity witless cranks or 
dupes. This was no longer the case, as was instanced in a minor but rather strik- 
ing way by the recent election of the President of the Toronto Branch to the Presi- 
dency of the Press Club. 

As brotherhood was its basis, the church union movement in Canada was nota- 
ble, the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congregational Churches being now engaged 
in negotiations for organic union, common ground having been reached and the 
negotiations being in an advanced stage. One of the foremost advocates of this 
union, and himself a layman, though head of a theological college, had just been 
appointed president of the great Toronto University, the educational centre of the 
Dominion. The recent reorganization of the University, and the appointment of 
a president of great breadth of view, and of spiritual as well as intellectual purpose, 
indicated an era in the national life of Canada at a time when the growth of the 
country outrivaled that of the United States at a similar stage of their development. 
Directly and indirectly, much theosophical work had been done among the students 
and Mr. Smythe had, on several occasions, addressed meetings among them. 

In Canada, as elsewhere, the agitation caused by Rev. R. J. Campbell's pro- 
nouncements on The New Theology had afforded many openings for theosophical 
discussion. 

THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY. 

Mr. Griscom was then asked to speak of the distribution of THE THEOSOPHICAL 
QUARTERLY among libraries. He said that the idea had been suggested to him from 
Toronto, and that, in accordance with it, the magazine had been sent directly to 
some two hundred of the largest public and university libraries. Of these only six 
had refused to place it upon their reading tables, and in many cases requests had 
been received for the back numbers. The circulation of the magazine had steadily 
increased, as, it was believed, had its value and usefulness. Many Branches had 
seen to its placing on the news-stands and in book shops, and wherever this had 
been done interest had been awakened. 

The Chairman referred to the thought and devotion which had gone into the 
making of the magazine, and which would alone account for its success. He had 
himself been privileged to be closely associated with it since its inception and knew 
what a labor of love it had been to the man chiefly responsible both for its incep- 
tion and character. He only regretted that the Editor-in-Chief still desired not 
publicly to be known as such, and that so he was unable to thank him as he would 
like, but suspected that the members had already guessed to whom they were in- 
debted. 

Reference was also made to a criticism of the magazine by a prominent pub- 
lisher who had been asked his opinion of it. The critic was under the common mis- 
apprehension of the purposes of the Society, and so pointed out as faults precisely 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 107 

those characteristics which the editors had tried hardest to secure. He spoke or 
wrote of the QUARTERLY as "an agreeable miscellany, and perhaps of more general 
literary and philosophical interest than the title might indicate." He suggested that 
it needed vitalizing by "some strong and original mind," and continued : "The arti- 
cles seem to be the work, for the most part, of students rather than teachers. One 
misses the aggressive didactic note which one always welcomes, whether he agrees 
or not with the man by whom he is being lectured, and which always aroused me, 
for example, in reading a book by Brunetiere. I think the success of magazines 
depends generally upon the motive force imparted to them by such men as Brune- 
tiere. I confess myself surprised at the tolerant tone of the magazine which pre- 
tends to represent such a sect as Theosophy. You seem almost too willing to rep- 
resent all sides and to present your articles with an air of 'take it or leave it, as 
you like.' If it were not for the word Theosophical on the cover it would be almost 
difficult to decide that the editors were imbued with any particular strong convic- 
tion one way or the other, or possessed by anything more than, let us say, a taste 
for the theosophical interpretation of philosophical problems." 

The Chairman thought this a most gratifying testimony to the success of the 
magazine in genuinely exemplifying the open platform for which the Society alone 
stood. 

THE INDIANAPOLIS BRANCH. 

Mr. Davis, of Indianapolis, was then called upon. He bore to the Convention 
from his Branch, he said, both greetings and good wishes, formally voted and most 
deeply felt. The Branch had been unanimous in favor of the proposed change in 
title, but he was confident all would appreciate and welcome the deeper principle 
which caused the resolution to be laid upon the table. Regarding the work of the 
Branch since the last Convention, he spoke first of the "QUARTERLY extension." Ten 
of the best book-stands had been selected and subscriptions arranged for three 
copies to go to each stand. Of these approximately two-thirds were sold and the 
Branch was able to make good use of those returned. At the expiration of the 
year subscriptions were continued to five of these stands. In each case the subscrip- 
tions were paid by members of the Branch, thus allowing the dealers the full receipts 
for helping to advertise and push the magazine. Though this seems expensive, and 
perhaps extraordinary in a way, the advantages had proved great, in imparting a 
general acquaintance with the magazine, and in keeping open an excellent door to 
Theosophical studies. In addition to this, some hundred or so copies had been sent 
to the ministers and clergy in the city, and some three hundred copies sent to the 
newspapers and magazines throughout the State. In each case a covering letter had 
been sent inviting attention to the Society's objects and work. In all, some six 
hundred copies had been distributed during the year. The meetings of the Branch 
were interesting and generally well attended. One church had opened its doors to 
lectures on Theosophy by the Branch members (as mentioned in the last issue of 
the QUARTERLY) and a "New Thought" club of some prominence likewise welcomed 
their attendance. In conclusion, Mr. Davis wished to express their gratitude to the 
THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY Committee, and to the Secretary T. S. A., and the 
warmth of feeling and good will the Indianapolis Branch felt toward its fellow 
Branches and to the Theosophical Society as a whole. 

The Chairman thanked Mr. Davis for his admirable report and touched upon 
the particular gratitude that the Treasurer felt toward the Indianapolis Branch, and 
its President, both for their assumption of the full financial responsibility of this 
propagandi, and for their invariable promptness and business-like methods. 

THE CINCINNATI BRANCH. 

Mr. Hohnsted, of Cincinnati, was next asked to address the Convention. He 
said he had expected to leave the talking to his fellow-delegate, but since he had 
been called upon he would try to do his part. He paid a graceful compliment to the 
members from the East, who had attended the Convention at Cincinnati the year 
1>efore, humorously alluding to them as the "Three wise men from the East," and 
spoke of these annual gatherings as times of recharging our spiritual energies, as well 
as of considering the work to be done. With reference to the Cincinnati Branch he 
wished to express the gratitude and deep appreciation he felt and he believed the 
ntire Branch felt to Dr. Tenney, to whose labor and abilities the Branch success 
was chiefly due. He left it to his sister to explain the character of the Branch work. 

The Chairman in thanking Mr. Hohnstedt referred to the very pleasant mem- 
ories of the Cincinnati Convention, which remained in the minds of all who had 
attended it, and the high regard which Dr. Tenney seemed always to have com- 
manded. 



io8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Miss Hohnstedt, the second delegate from Cincinnati, was next asked to 
speak. She said that the Greeting to the Convention from her Branch had been 
given in the morning session and that she wished only to supplement that in one or 
two particulars. "We are," she said, "very fortunate in Cincinnati to have a 
church in our midst in which we can hold our meetings. These have been very 
encouraging during the past year; strangers seemed to be more numerous and dis- 
cussions livelier. We hold meetings every Tuesday evening, with an average attend- 
ance of sixty. The Secret Doctrine Class, of which Dr. Tenney is the Chairman, 
has also been very successful, having an average attendance of twelve. The minds 
of the inquirers seem to be leaning toward the more devotional side of Theosophy. 
Such books as Voice of the Silence, Bhagavad Gita, Light on the Path, etc., are 
more in demand. 

"Regarding the THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY, we cannot make as good a report as 
the Toronto or Indianapolis Branches, although we have succeeded in placing them 
in three of the libraries of our city, and persuaded two newsdealers to handle them. 
While the sales have not been very large, they seem to be read by the same people. 
Those copies in the public libraries are also read, judging from the report of the lady 
in charge, and from the condition of the magazine. All copies not sold are used for 
propaganda. Many examples of the liberality of the pastor and members of the 
church in which we hold our meetings might be given. They serve a lunch an 
hour or two before the evening service to which they invite a speaker. Three of 
our members, Mr. Allen, Dr. Tenney, and Mrs. Outcalt, have been asked to speak 
on Theosophical subjects, which they did. Mr. Allen, by request of the pastor, also 
had charge of a study class in which he was asked to give a Theosophical interpre- 
tation of the Bible." 

The Chair expressed the pleasure with which the Convention had listened to 
this report, and commented upon the hospitable and open mind which seemed char- 
acteristic of the great middle section of our country and from which so much good 
could flow. He called upon another delegate from that region, Mr. Garst, of 
Dayton, Ohio. 

THE DAYTON BRANCH. 

Mr. Garst spoke of their most fruitful activity as in connection with Unity 
League, which, indeed, differed little from their Branch in anything but name ; the 
spirit and attendance at both being almost identical. Strangers, perhaps, came more 
readily to Unity League than to the Branch, as the name "Theosophical" seemed to 
keep some away, who thought Theosophy another "ism." At Unity League, how- 
ever, they heard the same truths, and encountered the same open unsectarian spirit, 
which soon showed them that Theosophy was not what they had thought. Then 
they were ready to attend Branch meetings. The THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY had 
been used to send inquirers and several new members had joined them by this 
means. The Branch had been in favor of the change in title, but he knew they would 
be very pleased at the brotherly way in which the question had been treated. He 
brought to the Convention the greetings of all their members. 

The Chair thanked Mr. Garst and referred to the point his report raised, of its 
being often necessary to give the substance before the name. He then called upon 
Mr. Johnston to speak for the New York Branch. Mr. Johnston insisted that Mr. 
Mitchell, as President of the Branch, should himself give an account of its work. 
Mr. Mitchell complied, resigning the Chair to Mr. Russ, though saying that, as 
Mr. Johnston well knew, the position of President had little significance in New 
York as the work was so thoroughly democratic. 

THE NEW YORK BRANCH. 

Mr. Mitchell said that years ago the New York Branch had been forced to 
recognize the point which Mr. Garst had brought forward and of which he had just 
spoken that their true work lay with the essence of things rather than with their 
names. To dwell upon names was to dwell upon differences; to seek essences was 
to find unity. Names were both necessary and useful, but they were to be piven 
after, rather than before the substance. The chief aim of the work in New York 
was, therefore, to deal directly with spiritual truths, and to strengthen spiritual 
movements; seeking unity of essence behind differences of form and expression, 
and unity of heart and aspiration behind differences of opinion and methods. This 
ideal necessitated that much of their work should be unlabelled. Of labelled work 
they had fortnightly T. S. meetings, alternating with fortnightly study of the Secret 
Doctrine. To these all were welcome. The T. S. evenings had been devoted to a 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 109 

* 

study of the teachings of Jesus, and recently to a consideration of mysticism and 
the mystics. There was no leader or teacher at either of these series the meetings 
being a general symposium to which everyone contributed, the text itself furnishing 
the thread unifying the discussion. In addition to these there were public lectures, 
held once a month by some one or other of the Branch members, to which printed 
cards of invitation were widely distributed. These served the purpose of advertis- 
ing and making the Branch invitation as wide and open as possible. Beyond this, 
the work was chiefly unlabelled, done by the members as members, but without 
the use of the name and with, of course, as in all the work, a single eye to the relig- 
ious principles themselves. In this fashion the Branch members worked through 
church and scientific organizations, through universities, through the religious and 
secular magazines. Some of this was reflected from time to time in the THEOSOPHI- 
CAL QUARTERLY, some of it could not be reported upon at all, though it was none 
the less theosophic in spirit and effect. The necessary labor connected with the 
work of the parent Society, the publication of the magazine, the duties of member- 
ship on the Executive Committee and the conduct of the Secretary's and Treasurer's 
offices, while regarded as a high privilege, yet made many demands upon the time 
of certain of the New York members. Mr. Mitchell felt that the year past had 
been unusually fruitful, and had seen a long step forward taken. 

Mr. Mitchell then resumed the Chair, and Mr. Russ was asked to speak of the 
work in Washington. 

THE WASHINGTON BRANCH. 

Mr. Russ regretted that he had been called upon by the Convention, and had, 
indeed, asked the Chairman not to do so, for he was unable to give the report he 
would like of conditions in Washington. They seemed to have reached an impass, 
in which the older forms of work were losing their hold upon the members and 
public alike, and nothing new opened before them. There were probably many 
reasons to account for this he held himself to blame in that he had not taken advan- 
tage of the opportunities he had had. There was no reason, for example, why he 
should not have placed the QUARTERLY on sale. He was sorry to have to present 
a report so out of keeping with those to which he had listened, and so regrettable 
to all concerned. 

The Chairman thanked Mr. Russ for a contribution which he felt to be as 
valuable as any made to the Convention. It was one of the great merits of a 
brotherhood such as the T. S. that it could learn from its failures as well as from 
its successes. Constantly and continually we were all either blind to our oppor- 
tunities or wilfully negligent of them, fulfilling but a small fraction of what it was 
in our power to perform. Gradually, as time passed, we were seeing more clearly 
where our work lay, and rousing our sluggish wills to its accomplishment. Mr. 
Russ had brought us a note of warning to increased alertness and effort, and the 
Chairman was confident he voiced the feeling of all present in thanking him for it. 
With regard to the specific difficulty mentioned that the older forms of work 
were losing their attractiveness the Chairman pointed out that the methods must 
be suited to the conditions and people they were aimed to reach ; that they must be 
expected to change with the changing cycles. What was important was not that 
any given method or form of work should be continued, but that under old forms 
or new the work itself should be continued. 

THE MIDDLETOWN BRANCH. 

Mrs. Gordon, of Middletown, Ohio, was next asked to speak, and told of con- 
ditions that had left but few members able to meet together. She herself lived some 
twelve miles or more from Middletown, which made attendance difficult, but she 
spoke warmly of the devotion and efforts of the members, and of their greetings to 
the Convention. 

The Chair thanked Mrs. Gordon for her message, and asked Mr. Prater, a 
former member of the T. S. A., resident in New York, and now associated with 
another organization, to speak to them. 

THE WORK IN OTHER SOCIETIES. 

Mr. Prater chose for his theme the work in Germany, where he had traveled 
recently. He gave a most interesting account of the formation of new Branches 
through the methods adopted by the International Theosophical Brotherhood, whose 
headquarters are at Leipsic, Germany. A lecturer visits a town and gives one or 



no THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

more public lectures. The offer is made to leave with some one who is interested 
a small library of Theosophical literature, provided he will make it known that once 
a week he will read or study with those who care to join him. From such study 
centres Branches quickly grow. Mr. Prater expressed his pleasure at addressing 
the Convention, and the applause which greeted him spoke of its hearty reciproca- 
tion a feeling which the Chairman also voiced. 

THEOSOPHY AS PRESENT IN THE MOVEMENTS OF THE DAY. 

Mrs. Griscom referred to the difficulty which Mr. Russ had mentioned and 
which she believed pointed to a truth of far-reaching consequence. It seemed to 
her no longer possible for the T. S. to fulfill its mission without the careful study 
and analysis of the conditions which surround it of the religious, philosophic and 
scientific movements of the day. Our greatest opportunity lies in finding our prin- 
ciples in these movements, and in helping their expression and growth. On all 
sides there was evidence of the revivifying of spiritual truths and the reassertion of 
spiritual forces. It was for us to recognize this and act with them. They were the 
great levers ready to our hand, forged in large part by the thirty years of the Soci- 
ety's work. Where these were, there was already interest and the awakening of 
the religious consciousness. We had now only to study, as it were, the spiritual 
tides and act with them. We had not even to create an interest. If we only looked 
for it we would find it all about us. Mrs. Griscom asked if the Chairman would 
not supplement what she had said, as she knew, from frequent conversations to- 
gether, he shared the views she desired to express. 

The Chairman said he gladly complied with this request; not that he could 
make the point any clearer, but that, in restating it, she might be assured it had been 
understood. It seemed to him that the success of the Theosophical movement meant 
just this thing: that the spiritual principles for which the Society stood, and had 
so long labored, were now actually living, moving powers in the world. They 
were present in philosophy; witness James' Varieties of Religious Experience, or 
Pratt' s Psychology of Religious Belief, or a host of other books. They were pres- 
ent in science ; witness the way in which science was pushing its way into the 
unseen, abandoning its old materialism, and approaching as never before an almost 
verbal agreement with the teachings of Theosophy; as was shown, for example, in 
Duncan's New Knowledge, or, better still, in the agreement between true religion 
and science, upon which Sir Oliver Lodge was so insistent and which he was doing 
so much to make clear. In our literature and in our universities the spiritual and 
moral revival was now so obvious as to be a matter of common talk and it was 
expressing itself, the Chairman believed, throughout our entire civilization : in 
finance, in politics, in all departments of human life. He referred to the keenness 
of interest which religious subjects and principles now awakened among all thought- 
ful people, once the opportunity was given to discuss them impartially. The in- 
creased sale of religious books was instanced, and the great success of the Hibbert 
Journal, which stood, in literature, for precisely the open platform in all matters, 
religious, philosophic and scientific, which the T. S. aimed to furnish to both litera- 
ture and speech. 

But, above all, the Chairman thought the true movement of spiritual life was 
evident in the Christian Church, and this irrespective of denomination. It was 
showing itself in all lands. In France, in the purification of the Roman Church 
from its dream of temporal dominion and its absorbtion in politics; and no less 
markedly in French Protestantism in such books as August Sabatier's Religions of 
Authority and the Religion of the Spirit. In England, also, as witness that remark- 
able Theosophic interpretation of Christianity put forward by Campbell in his New 
Theology, or in the works of Archdeacon Wilberforce of the English Church. The 
Chairman thought it wr.s worthy of note in this connection that those Branches 
which had reported the greatest success, all united in speaking of their work through 
and with the Christian Church. 

All these evidences pointed to one great fact : that the seed had been sown and 
the crop was now springing up on all sides. It was for us to tend that crop; to 
seek our harvest of spiritual knowledge and power for the world, in these growing, 
living movements around us, not look in disheartenment at the unsown seed which 
still remains within our hand. We need to recognize how successfully those worked 
who went before us and we need to tend the fruits of their labors. 

Upon motion of Mr. Johnston, duly seconded and carried, the Convention sent 
to the Branches of the Society its thanks for their messages, for their delegates and 
their work, and to one and all its greetings and its good wishes. 

Upon motion made and seconded, the Convention then adjourned. 



T. S. ACTIVITIES in 

EVENING SESSION. 

The business of the Convention having been accomplished, the evening session 1 
was devoted to social intercouse and informal discussion. Later in the evening, 
following a light supper, there were some further speeches. One, by a New York 
member, was of particular interest and value. It spoke of the wide growth, not 
alone of Theosophic ideas, but also of Theosophic ideals ; of the deepening and 
broadening of human sympathy and sense of unity. The Theosophic teachings 
were abroad in the world; they were "in the air," in men's minds, in their books, 
and in their speech. The world was giving back what had been given it for thirty 
years. To some this spelled puzzlement and confusion and success had brought 
a discouragement which ill-fortune had failed to bring. But to others, of whom the 
speaker was one, this was recognized as a new and far greater opportunity. Our 
success did not mean that we were useless, but that a new and nobler work was 
ready to our hands. As, through the Society, knowledge of spiritual law had been 
given to the world, so now it remained to impart the power and will to live in 
accordance with it. No knowledge is of value until it is expressed in the life; and 
what the T. S. should sitand for, above all else, is a life; a life of tolerance, of 
brotherhood, and of the spiritual principles these express. 

Notice was given by the Chairman of a lecture by Mr. Charles Johnston upon 
"The Theosophical Movement,"* which was to be given the next day, under the 
auspices of the New York T. S., and to which all were invited. 

Before the Convention separated, Mr. Russ expressed, on behalf of the visiting 
delegates, their appreciation and thanks for the welcome accorded them by the New 
York members. This terminated the Convention proceedings. 

[SIGNED] A. B. RUSS, 

Secretary of Convention. 
H. B. MITCHELL, 

Chairman of Convention. 



REPORT OF THE XII CONVENTION OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 
IN GERMANY, HELD ON MAY IITH AND I2TH, 1907. 

Our Convention this year was not only an extremely joyful event, but also 
an important one, as the resolution for union with the Theosophical Society in 
America was passed almost unanimously. This fulfills a long felt desire, namely, 
the desire to give outward expression to the inner unity we sense. Outsiders have 
been inclined to raise the question: Why the Theosophical Societies, whose prin- 
ciples are based on universal brotherhood, do not unite in organization. Our action 
at the last Convention frees us from the reproach, which always accompanied this 
question. 

The resolution for union was passed by a vote of 99 to 3, and bore evidence 
of successful development of the Society's ideals and inner unity. A large share of 
the success was due to our friends in America and England, who have never failed 
to send encouraging greetings to all our Conventions. 

This year also we received from Mr. Johnston in America, Jasper Niemand 
and Mr. Woof in England, and Colonel Knoff in Norway, letters bearing messages 
of brotherhood and good will. Other friends in England, Germany, Switzerland, 
Austria and Hungary sent greetings of sympathy. We desire herewith to express 
to them our thanks. Other Societies, and members of other organizations, also 
sent greetings, proving that a period of unity and good will has begun. The first 
fruits of this feeling of unity were to be found in the action of the Theosophical 
Society in Flensburg, whose Convention took place on the same day as ours. A 
resolution was unanimously passed to join our Society. 

The attitude of our members towards the action of the Convention in America, 
which resulted in laying the resolution for changing the name on the table, in spite 
of an overwhelming majority in favor, was varied. The majority expressed a kind 
of pleasurable surprise at this form of brotherhood, but all were of the opinion that 
the present international aspect of the Society must lead to the change at the next 
Convention. 

Several members brought up the threadworn quesiion again: Why an effort 
was made to form a union with America and not with the other organizations in 
Germany. Our Secretary, Mr. Raatz, took this opportunity to explain the identity 

*A report of this lecture appears elsewhere in this issue. Editor. 



112 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of spirit and aim of the T. S. in America, and the T. S. in Germany, which he 
believed faithfully carried on the principles laid down by the founders of the So- 
ciety in 1875 in New York. Efforts to form a union with the other Societies in 
Germany had been made, but finding that the basic principles were not held by 
these Societies, we found our efforts of no avail. 

This Convention forms a turning point in the development of the Theosophical 
Society in Germany. Further interesting details from the Convention are as 
follows : 

The Secretary reported that we have now four Branches in Berlin, one each 
in Munich, Suhl, Breslau, Neusalz and Dresden. Branch members number 215, and 
members-at-large 38. The Theosophical Society in Flensburg, which joined us at 
the time of our Convention, adds 14 members to this list. 

In Chicago we have an active Branch, whose members oppose organization. 
They have Branch rooms, a large library and do good earnest work. 

All Branches in Germany have libraries, give public lectures and hold study 
classes. 

The Executive Committee was re-elected. Mr. Raatz as Secretary and Mr. 
John as Treasurer were re-elected. A resolution to fix the dues at 6 marks, 
entitling each member to the organ of the Society, Theosophical Life, was with- 
drawn before being submitted to a vote, as several members spoke against the 
resolution. The dues were fixed at 2 marks annually. The business meeting 
closed with a proclamation of sympathy towards all persons and organizations 
recognizing the chief aim of the Society : Universal Brotherhood. 

On May nth a public meeting was held with lectures by Mr. Uhlig (Dresden) 
on "Richard Wagner as Mystic," Mr. Ihrke (Sterberg) on "Theosophy and Science" 
and Mr. Stoll (Berlin) on "Theosophy and Christianity." On account of the very 
hot weather only 200 persons were present. On May I2th a very fine musical 
entertainment was given with the assistance of excellent artists: Miss Wyers, 
pianist; Miss Witt, soprano; Mr. Uhlig, flute. Mr. Otto Kohn recited several 
poems, and Mr. Weiss delivered a short lecture on the "Harmony of Souls." 

The proceedings of the Convention will be printed in full and can be had free 
of charge. 

SANDOR WEISS, 

Secretary of Convention. 



T. S. IN NORWAY. 

Just before going to press the Editors of THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY learn 
that at a Convention of the T. S. in Norway, held May 26, 1907, the question of 
uniting with the T. S. in A. was considered and finally referred to a Committee. 
It was said that if the T. S. in A. had changed its name, as proposed at its recent 
Convention, the members in Norway would have voted unanimously for union 
with it. 




The Theosophical Society in America, as such, is not responsible for 
any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, 
unless contained in an official document. 

LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE NEW THEOLOGY. 

A NOTEWORTHY milestone in the progress of the New The- 
ology is marked by the Summer School which met in the first 
week of August at Penmaenmawr in North Wales. Through the 
unfailing kindness and care of a friend who lives among the 
beautiful heather-clad Welsh mountains, we have received a report of 
this most interesting and important gathering, in the "Christian Common- 
weath" for August 15. Many tendencies of the highest value and in- 
terest declared themselves, and even more interesting in a certain sense 
were the personalities of the men who were gathered there ; some of them 
being among the most inspired and gifted leaders in the new spiritual 
awakening of to-day. Two continents were represented, and a great 
many shades of religious opinion had a hearing, though, indeed, it is 
characteristic of the new movement in religion, that the distinctions be- 
tween the sects have daily less and less meaning. 



As always, the most important and vital matter in any religious 
assembly is the view held of the nature of God. On this all else depends ; 
from this all else flows. At the Penmaenmawr Summer School, much 
was said of high interest on this theme. For example, Rev. J. Stitt 
Wilson, of Berkeley, California, speaking of the "Immanent God," 
declared himself as follows : "Theology for many a long century has been 
heavily laden by its inheritance from Judaism, so far as the conception 
of God is concerned. In order to declare the holiness and righteousness 
of God, and to show how transcendently beyond the average human 
life, and the prevailing conditions of human society, were the ways of 
the Lord of Hosts, the Hebrew mind placed God completely out of his 
world. God was a mighty monarch, ruling a distant and rebellious 
province, but making occasions against the unjust and impious, and 



II 4 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

coming at intervals to reveal himself in power on behalf of the faithful 
and devout. The truth behind this conception, however faulty the 
theological statement, can never be forfeited without incalculable loss 
to the spiritual life. But whether it has been the influence of our philo- 
sophical criticism and scientific investigation of the last century starting 
from and returning to the perception of unity; or whether it has been 
a truer interpretation of the meaning of the words of Jesus, and a deeper 
realization of His spirit, it has now fallen to us modern men in a special 
manner to perceive intellectually, and to seek to realize in our spiritual 
consciousness more fully the actual, ever-abiding, unescapable Presence 
of the Eternal Intelligence and Love, as the only Life and Power and 
Reality of all that is whether in nature, or history, or the individual 
soul. To be at all, we are compelled to have our being in the Father. 
In Him we have our being. In Him we have our life. In Him we move. 
More clear perception of this Truth, and more conscious realization of 
this Reality, and more perfect definition of it in the transparent words 
of the intellect, and more practical expression of it in our social and 
economic life, will be, no doubt, the supreme programme of religious 
thought and practice in the century upon which we have just entered. 
In the language of the Master of Balliol, in those wonderful Gif- 
ford lectures, such a religion must 'unite the immanence of pantheism 
with the transcendence of monotheism ;' it must 'rise to a divine principle 
of all things, and yet be able to conceive that principle as the living God, 
the inspiring source and eternal realization of the moral ideal of man. . . 
such a religion must see God at once without us and within us, yet it 
must be able to discriminate the higher sense in which He is within and 
not without. It must see God in nature, without losing Him in nature's 
manifoldness ; and in history without making outward success the cri- 
terion of His favor . . . ' " 



Even more significant is another phrase used by the same speaker: 
"our consideration of the Divine Presence, or I, to social evolution ..." 
This recognition of God as the Divine I, or Supreme Self of all beings, 
to use the superb phrase of the Upanishads, bring us a long way toward 
that fundamental truth which underlies all religions. It is used even 
more explicitly by another speaker, Rev. J. Bruce Wallace, who says: 
"Each one of us thinks and says : 'I me my. I know, or want to know. 
I dislike this, and want that. I will not put up with this. I choose. I 
do.' What is this T? this that is not a body but has a body? this 
that moves among things as a cause? The one eternal, infinite I Am is 
the basis and principle of every developing self-consciousness, however 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 115 

little this truth may be recognized in certain stages of a developing 
mind. Any intelligence in me or you, is something of the One Spirit. 
And this finite degree of intelligence is not something cut off from the 
Infinite Intelligence. All the rest of the Infinite Intelligence is coming 
along to give itself through the endless growth of this particular individ- 
ualization. We are, severally, causes by virtue of the nature of the 
Eternal Cause in us rby virtue of our being essentially children of God. 
All the power there is in the universe is on its way to expression through 
our endless progressive experience and career." All this is, of course, 
the purest Vedantism, as well as the newest theology; the great Shank-* 
aracharya, with endless beauty of imagery, with perfect purity and lucid- 
ity of thought, has laid down principle after principle concerning the 
oneness of the I in us with the ultimate divine I ; and Mr. Bruce Wallace 
is repeating not only Shankara's conclusions, but also his arguments and 
method. 



Some feeling of the antiquity of this doctrine is evident among the 
leaders of the New Theology. Thus we find Dr. Crapsey, whose name 
is familiar to us, as the central figure of a recent heresy trial, expressing 
himself thus: "We are in the midst of one of the greatest revolutions 
of human thought that has taken place since the advent of Christianity. 
As Mr. Campbell pointed out yesterday, his theology is not new it is 
the oldest in the world, and he might be called a pre-Platonist. When 
we were considering the question of the Christian conception of God, I 
was a little anxious that he should give us an historical outline of what 
that conception is in its component parts, I mean the conception of God 
that has prevailed in the Christian world since the formalization of 
Christian doctrine in the the forth century. The basic element of that 
conception of God is the conception of Plato. He reacted against the 
philosophy that preceded him, the philosophy of Heraclitus and others, 
which was the philosophy of perpetual flux. Those old philosophers 
thought there was only one thing, and that was change that all things 
were in the making, that there was nothing fixed anywhere. Now that 
thought is a very distressing one to the human mind, that there is no 
fixed point in the universe anywhere. To overcome that, Plato conceived 
the doctrine of the Absolute the absolute and the perfect existing in and 
of itself as boundless and unchangeable, and that notion of his took pos- 
session of the mind and became the basis of the greatest of the philos- 
ophies. First predicate your absolute unchangeable God, and you have 
a fixed point; He cannot change, He is always the same, He is perfectly 
happy in and of Himself. He needs nothing, there He is in His great 
consciousness, and He is Himself His own satisfaction. He is the abso- 
lute and the unchangeable." 



n6 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Dr. Crapsy goes on to say: "As soon as that conception was for- 
mulated it led to great difficulties. Here was a great changeable world. 
Of course the philosophers before had to base their reasoning upon the 
universe in which they found themselves. How is this unchangeable God 
to be brought into this changeable world? and what is his relation to it? 
God cannot do anything, because the instant He does He changes. He 
is imprisoned in his own perfections and He cannot get out. Therefore 
Plato had to find a means of getting God out of Himself, and he con- 
ceived the notion of Ideas that those Ideas which were in God proceeded 
forth from God. That took possession of the Greek mind, and the doc- 
trine of the Word of God, the thought of God coming out and taking 
upon itself a personal character, being of the nature of God and yet 
being separated from this absolute Being, and by means of the Word 
the absolute Being getting into the universe that is the doctrine that 
was prevalent at the time Christianity came into the world, and it was 
interpreted in terms of the doctrine of the Absolute, the unchangeable, 
and the doctrines that the Absolute and the unchangeable came into 
contact with the relative and the changeable through an emanation from 
Himself. They did not see that that gave their whole case away that 
when the unselfish God sent forth the emanation, He changed, He could 
not help it. The whole contradiction of the Nicene theology is repre- 
sented there the effort to harmonize an absolute unchangeable God 
with a changeable universe, where all things are in a flux. That thought 
was formalized and crystallized in the Christian conception of God. 
The Nicene Creed is simply that conception first the Absolute, and 
then the Absolute God sending out an emanation from Himself in order 
that he may come in contact with the universe." 



This is both interesting and instructive. We should add, however, 
that the doctrine of the Absolute and the creative Word was by no 
means conceived by Plato. It is ages older. It is found in the oldest 
parts of the Upanishads, and the famous hymn of Purusha, in the Rig 
Veda, is a beautiful expression of this self-same doctrine. Even in those 
days the doctrine had a vast antiquity, and many eloquent expressions 
of it are to be found in the ancient records of Egypt. In our view it is 
part of the Mystery teaching, and, as such, as old as mankind. But we 
owe Dr. Crapsey a debt of gratitude for demonstrating, what is undeni- 
ably true, that the substance of the Nicene Creed is the same as the 
fundamental doctrine of the Mystery teaching. Dr. Crapsey writes 
further : "How is the gulf to be bridged between this Absolute and these 
relative beings ? The answer is, the emanation from God. That thought 
was running all through the Eastern world at the time. It was the basis 
of Gnosticism. And the Church in fighting Gnosticism, adopted Gnostt- 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 117 

cism. It made Jesus the one emanation from God, begotten of His 
Father before all the worlds, a God out of a God. Being imprisoned 
in His own perfections, all things must be done by the Son, and you will 
find that thought expressed most powerfully and clearly in the prologue 
to John's Gospel. The doctrine of Ideas and of Emanation is there." 
We should be glad, if space permitted, to say something of the way in 
which Dr. Crapsey wishes to modify the Nicene doctrine. In truth, it 
seems to us, there is a deeper aspect of the matter than that which Dr. 
Crapsey criticises, and in which the seeming inconsistencies he suggests 
are harmonized. But the essential thing is the recognition of the funda- 
mental identity of the Christian teaching with that of the elder sages. 



Let us see how the followers of the New Theology apply this doc- 
trine to our personal lives. To begin with Rev. J. Stitt Wilson. We 
find him enunciating most valuable truths as to the Redemption of the 
Personality: "When Jesus said 'I and my Father are One/ and 'he that 
hath seen Me hath seen the Father' He was revealing not only what God 
is but what man is. . . At this hour of divine vision He perceived that 
what He was all men were. He was the first-born among many brethren. 
He was divine; they were divine. He was the Father incarnate; they 
were also. His vision and illumination under the power of the Holy 
Spirit was not particular, that is, for Himself alone; it was universal, 
that is, for all men. He perceived that the Father was no respecter of 
persons. This was the summit of His insight... Such a perception 
is a call to each of us to duplicate in our conscious religious experience 
the divine anointing of the Spirit which was the supreme initiatory 
fact in the life of Jesus. We are called to be anointed ones, Christed 
ones to our generation. We are to be saved only as we are saviors. We 
are to lay down our lives for the sheep, in the great needs of humanity 
of our day. Our mission is identical with the mission of Jesus. There 
is not one quality of life for the Master and another quality of life for 
the disciple. 'He that saith he abideth in Him, ought so to walk even as 
He walked/ Jesus said, 'They are not of the world, even as I am not of 
the world/ And as the Father hath sent Me even so send I you/ Nor 
is there one quality or condition of Salvation or union with God for the 
Master and another condition for us ..." 



Not less admirable are the words of another speaker, Dr. John 
Hunter, when considering Inspiration: "Man is not yet fully made, but 
his making is sustained and carried on through every phase of its devel- 
opment by the indwelling Deity. His history is a history of the progres- 
sive imparting of spiritual gifts, of a continuous and unceasing breathing 



u8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of the Divine Breath into his mind, heart and will. The flash of truth, 
the impulse of justice, the persuasion to right, the thought of kindness, 
the flame of love these are the inbreathing spirit, which is God Himself, 
just as man's spirit is man himself. God does not begin where nature 
and man leave off. We speak of the natural and the supernatural, the 
human and the Divine, and we may distinguish, but we must not separate ; 
fundamentally they are one. The Cambridge Platonists were fond of 
quoting the verse from proverbs which says, 'The spirit of man is the 
candle of the Lord,' lighting from God and lighting to God. There is, 
says one of them, something of the Deity in every rational soul ; and this 
is fundamental to all religion... It is the first doctrine of spiritual 
religion that man is a spirit, the second that God is spirit. There is no 
middle wall of partition between man and God. By our spiritual 
being we draw near to God, as we say in our figure of speech, and God 
draws near to us. It is the ladder on which the angels ascend and 
descend." 



This is as beautiful in thought as it is in expression. Not less 
admirable are the further thoughts of the same speaker, from whom we 
would willing quote even more abundantly. One or two passages must 
suffice, as for example, when he says: "Inspiration is something which 
we cannot attribute to ourselves, it is given to us; in it we rise above 
ourselves and lose sight of ourselves. While in that state, we are con- 
scious of a strangely vivid apprehension of what is true, what is right, 
what is just, what is beautiful, what is divine; a power not ourselves 
seems to take possession of us, and we seem to cease to originate our own 
thoughts. You remember the story of the great musician completely 
overwhelmed by his own work, and when the pleased multitude turned 
their applause to his face the blind man rose, and, lifting his hand toward 
heaven, protested, 'Not unto me, Not unto me!... And yet, para- 
doxical as it may appear, the moments of inspiration are the moments 
when a man is most surely himself moments which he describes as his 
highest and best moments. If, then, we wish to have a true idea of 
inspiration, we must keep in mind these two aspects of the fact. It is 
an experience which a man cannot refer to himself, something so dis- 
tinct from himself that he cannot claim it as his ; and yet it is an experi- 
ence in which he finds himself, his highest self, his best self, and in 
which, coming to himself, he comes to God ..." 



Dr. Hunter goes on to say: "The idea of inspiration we are con- 
sidering tends to make us take a very wide view of it. We no longer 
confine it to one class of men, saying, 'These particular men were 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 119 

inspired and no other men were/ We no longer confine it to men of the 
Church and deny it to men of the world, the men, that is, who carry on 
the more secular activities of life, the men who build our houses, write 
our books, frame our laws. There are diversities of operation, but the 
spirit is one, and to speak of some great triumph of human genius, some 
great invention or poem or painting or piece of music as inspired is 
wholly justified by the language of the bible itself..." 



Finally, we have Dr. Hunter courageously declaring that: "the idea 
of inspiration we are considering further widens our view of it, in that 
we no longer confine it to Jews and Christians, to the sacred literature 
of one religion, though we claim and justly claim for the scriptures 
of our religion an inspiration so different in degree, so distinctive in 
quality, that it practically amounts to a difference in kind; yet we can no 
longer allow ourselves to say that the Jewish nation was the only nation 
inspired by the Holy Spirit, and Jewish thinkers, poets, and preachers 
are the only inspired religious teachers of the race . . . Frankly was 
this wider inspiration confessed by St. Paul when he said to the Athen- 
ians, 'God is not far from any one of us, for in him we live and move 
and have our being'; by St. James, when he declares that every good 
gift cometh from the Father of Lights; by the author of the Fourth 
Gospel in that immortal sentence concerning the light which lighteneth 
every man that cometh into the world. The most enlightened and gener- 
ous Fathers of the Church gladly allowed a wider scope to Divine in- 
spiration than the limits of Judaism and Christianity. They did not deny 
the gift of the spirit to the best teachers of heathen people, to the wise 
thinkers and writers of Greece and Rome, to philosophers, prophets, 
poets who were neither of the seed of Abraham nor of the Christian name. 
Clement of Alexandria maintained that Greek philosophy contained a 
Divine revelation, that it was a stepping-stone to the philosophy which is 
according to Christ. Another Alexandrian divine describes Plato as Moses 
speaking in the Attic tongue, and Socrates has been looked up to as a 
saint ; Dante, too, you remember, ascribed to Virgil a half sacred character 
as a messenger of God. The inspiration which Jewish and Christian 
teachers had, they had not as Jews and Christians, but as men, as spirit- 
ual beings allied and open to God. It was a special exemplification of a 
fundamental human experience, not a strange and anomalous fact, but 
a manifestation of the proper law and order of the world." 



This is so liberal and true, and makes such handsome admissions, 
that we can well afford to forgive that phrase in parenthesis, concerning 
the just claim of superiority for the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. 



120 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Yet one cannot repress a gentle smile at the characterization of, let us 
say, the Buddha and the great Shankara, as "good teachers of the hea- 
then" ; and we are convinced that Jesus himself would consider the special 
claim set up for him in somewhat the same way. We have long been con- 
vinced that the real attitude of Jesus toward "the best teachers of the 
heathen" is expressed in his words to John, recorded at the close of the 
Apocalypse, "Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy 
fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which 
keep the sayings of this book: worship God." Even better proofs of 
Paul's belief in the inspiration of "the best teachers of the heathen," it 
seems to us, may be found in the second chapter of the Epistle to the 
Romans: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature 
the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto 
themselves : which show the work of the law written in their hearts. . ." 
Even more striking is that magnificent passage of Paul's, in that most 
mystical book, the Epistle to the Hebrews, concerning Melchisedec, "King 
of righteousness, and also King of peace ; without father, without mother, 
without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but 
made like unto the Son of God." And Paul makes a special point of 
the fact that Melchisedec's descent was not from Abraham, but that, 
nevertheless he was Abraham's spiritual superior, for Melchisedec 
blessed Abraham, "and without all contradiction the less is blessed of 
the better." It will be noted that we speak of John as the author of the 
Apocalypse, and of Paul as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. 
We shall return to this in a moment. 



There is another reason why the followers of the New Theology 
should hold very broad and liberal views as to the inspiration of non- 
Jewish scriptures. We -have already seen that the most striking thoughts 
of this new school are at the same time remarkable approaches to the 
Mystery teachings of the holy Aryans, and of the still older sages of 
Chaldea and Egypt. This will be so in an ever-increasing degree, as the 
New Theology gains in depths and light, and goes closer to the primal 
fountains. And indeed we should like to see a thorough study of some 
of the ancient Eastern scriptures made a part of the training of all 
interested in the new-old teachings. They would lose the eighteenth 
century point of view, that Plato and the Greeks were the beginnings 
of intellectual and philosophical thought. And they would soon come to 
see that not only are the highest and most spiritual teachings in the 
Bible paralleled in these older faiths, but that many teachings, especially 
in the New Testament, become for the first time intelligible, when read 
in the light of parallel passages in the older books. Many of the Parables 
of the Kingdom, for example, find their interpretation in the great 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 121 

Upanishads; and in like manner Paul's teaching concerning psychical 
and spiritual bodies is made far more clearer by the lofty and lucid 
psychology of the great Shankara. It is, therefore, in the highest degree 
satisfactory to find that the men of the New Theology have already gone 
so far toward accepting the inspiration of these older sacred books. 



Another speaker, Dr. K. C. Anderson, already sees where this ten- 
dency is certain to lead: "There are no signs that the millions of China 
are going to renounce their ancestral faith . . . The same thing is true 
of India. Like the Chinese, and for better reasons, the Hindus hold on 
to their traditions: they are not going to adopt any foreign faith: they 
feel that India is rich enough in religions of her own, much more 
venerable than ours . . . the religion of India is being touched with 
the modern spirit; it is gradually being purged of elements that will not 
harmonize with the modern knowledge and its spiritual elements set 
free for further growth. This reformation is already well under way, 
and an attempt is being made to harmonize its ideals with those of Jesus. 
There is a higher criticism in India just as there is a higher criticism 
here... The best type of man will wish his religion to grow out of 
and not be alien to, the nobler forms of the religion of his race or nation. 
He will not wish to break with this nobler tradition . . . Brought up 
a Jew, he will not wish to renounce his Judaism. Brought up a Buddhist, 
he will not wish to renounce Buddhism. Brought up a Confucian, he 
will not wish to renounce his Confucianism. He will not wish to turn 
his back upon the teachings of the saints of his national faith whatever 
it be. And the true missionary does not ask him to do this, but seeks 
to enlarge and illuminate his mind, not only without any attack on the 
native religion, but with a candid and glad recognition of its value." 
This is really splendid in its true liberalism ; it is a thousand years ahead 
of the ideas which were generally held, for example, when Max Miiller 
began to publish the Sacred Books of the East a generation ago. We 
can count on Dr. Anderson to support our proposal for a course in 
Eastern scriptures for students of religion. 



There is another side of this movement, or, we had rather say, an 
overgrowth of the movement, of which we must now say something. 
We find one of the speakers, whom we have already quoted with high 
admiration, expressing himself thus: "The land of the earth was given 
by the Father for the use and delight of all men not for the few, who, 
by any means, legal or illegal, may secure private possession thereof 
for their private profit. The Divine Presence did not store the cellars 
of the earth full of coal and oil and iron in order that when opened in 



122 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the twentieth century, coal barons, and steel magnates, and oil billion- 
aires should control these treasure vaults of the earth, enslaving the 
children of men in the mines, and then bleeding the nations by monopoly 
sale of these gifts of God in nature..." This is a note with which 
we are very familiar, but it is with peculiar concern that we find it in a 
spiritual movement, where it is so singularly out of place. We should 
be glad to regard this as only an isolated expression. Unhappily, how- 
ever, there is evidence that the speaker is not alone in coupling economic 
theory with the spiritual principles of the New Theology. Thus we find 
another speaker saying : "Be of those who in the name of God are casting 
down the mighty from their seats and freeing and lifting those who are 
'bound in affliction and iron.' This is the true religion of Jesus, and 
nothing less than this was ever worthy to be called by that sacred name." 
A third speaker follows in the same vein: "The wealth-producers of the 
twentieth century, with education widespread, with democracy envelop- 
ing the world, will not consent to go on quietly toiling for a pittance, 
or starving in idleness, for the entirely idiotic reason that when they work 
they produce too much. We are on the eve of some quite revolutionary 
changes in social, industrial, and commercial organization. The new 
order will have its quality determined by the quality of the social 
revolution ..." 

It is a common observation, that gifted men, who have genuine 
inspiration in some one direction, very often believe themselves equally 
inspired in some other field, where their faculty is quite commonplace 
and mediocre. In this way Goethe, who attained to lofty heights in his 
poems, affirmed that his true claim to fame lay in his upsetting the 
Newtonian theory of light. There have been gifted statesmen who have 
fancied themselves heaven-born poets. And so with many like examples. 
We see with regret that the wonderful men whose words we have quoted 
because they have reached genuine inspiration in religion, are tempted to 
claim something like infallibility in the wholly different field of economics. 
The least that can be said is, that Socialism is very questionable economics 
even if we gloss over the fact that it is far from easy to find any widely 
accepted view of what Socialism is. There is much evidence to show 
that in many directions Socialism and the theories of Socialism are being 
discredited; and we may say with confidence that the world's view of 
Socialism is certainly to be greatly modified in the next dozen years. 
Why then attempt to tie the New Theology to something so uncertain, 
so disputable, so contentious, as a particular economic theory? 

But our misgiving really goes much deeper. It seems to us that 
this destructive and highly wrought mood shows a complete misunder- 
standing of the teachings of Jesus ; and our doubts are greatly strength- 
ened, when we find one of these eloquent teachers speaking warmly 
about "the political economy of the Sermon on the Mount." If our 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 123 

view approaches the truth, the Sermon on the Mount has no more to 
do with economics than with astronomy. The matters with which Jesus 
was concerned go far deeper than economics. At best, an economic 
movement may have its aim, to supply our bodily personalities with a 
certain material environment; meat, clothes and fire, as Pope said. If we 
are right, the teaching of the Master has as its aim, not the well-being 
of the bodily personality, but its entire supersession and dissipation. 
There are natural bodies, and there are spiritual bodies ; there is the king- 
dom of this world, and there is the kingdom of the Father. And we 
find Jesus declaring himself in no uncertain words: "He that loveth his 
life shall lose it; he that hateth his life shall keep it unto life eternal." 
And again, "My kingdom is not of this world." And so on through a 
hundred texts. Jesus was concerned, not with the economic well-being 
of our personalities, but with a new birth, a birth from above, through 
which we enter a new life, a life with laws and conditions wholly 
different from those under which we have lived hitherto, and one wholly 
independent of economic well-being. "Foxes have holes and the birds 
of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his 
head." This saying has a far wider reach than mere reference to the 
fact that Jesus himself had no settled dwelling-place; nor does it apply 
exclusively to Jesus. It indicates a stage, a condition in the life of 
the disciple, when, detached from the bonds of earth, he is feeling his 
way toward that stage wherein he will recognize the whole universe, 
the spiritual universe, as his home, entering into the "house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." 

It will be said that this new life will undoubtedly imply a new 
relation toward the facts of this present world. Yes and no. It will 
certainly imply a new insight, a new understanding, a new view, of the 
facts of this present world. But it will as certainly not imply a revolu- 
tion in these facts, a forcible alteration of one's own conditions, much 
less the condition of others, and least of all a forcible rearrangement 
of the conditions of others, against their own wills, and by violence. The 
new insight gained as a result of the birth from above, the birth into 
the kingdom of the Father, will, in a sense, render the things of this 
world transparent. They will no longer seem brutish and opaque, mere 
conglomerations of dead matter, or of human greed and misery. All 
the facts of life, natural and human alike, will be seen as spiritual facts, 
and as working toward spiritual ends. Granted that we see misery and 
poverty around us. But if we taste that misery and poverty ourselves, 
as a part of our spiritual life, and in the light of the new insight which 
comes with spiritual rebirth, we shall learn that, like sickness and 
separation and death, misery and poverty are God's great trainers for 
human souls, which can in no other way learn certain essential lessons. 
And granted that Socialism might triumph, that collective envy and 



124 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

violence might gain the victory over individual envy and violence, so 
that poverty might be legislated out of existence, still the other teachers 
would remain. You cannot legislate death out of existence. But you 
can conquer death by rebirth, the new birth from above, which ushers 
you into a life above death. And those who overcome, are in no peril 
from the second death. 

If we must confess our true feeling concerning this confusion of 
the New Theology with doubtful economic theory, it is this: The con- 
fusion arises, not so much from faulty reasoning, but from a lack of 
faith. It is unconscious tribute paid to Mammon. It springs from the 
instinct which prompts us to "save our lives," in the words of Jesus, 
and so to lose them. If for ourselves we have broken the thraldom of 
Mammon; if, in our humble degree, we have seen offered to us the 
kingdoms of this world and the glory of them, and have conquered the 
temptation; if we have been genuinely reborn into that realm of the 
heavens announced by Jesus; if we have begun to build the house not 
made with hands, then we shall be able to understand the true nature 
of poverty and riches, which are, each in their way, but teachers of the 
soul; teachers each with his indispensable lesson; teachers who are 
at each moment guided by spiritual law, perfectly adapted to the lessons 
which each individual has to learn, bringing priceless lessons, or at least 
the opportunity to learn priceless lessons, in precisely the manner that 
the divine law sees to be best for each. Where these, by a turn of some 
magician's wand, to be wafted away, then would divine law be com- 
pelled to devise some other expedient, bringing on the one hand the 
opportunity for self-indulgence and for conquering self-indulgence, and 
on the other, misery and privation, and the opportunity for overcoming 
misery. To those who would promote spiritual life by social revolution, 
it may be said: Do you think the Father rules his kingdom so ill, that 
all these his children sin in vain or suffer in vain? Are you not uncon- 
scious followers of those who held that, in wide realms of life, the Devil 
veritably ruled? Think you there is any corner or crevice, where the 
Father's will is not instantly done? Increase your faith. Make your 
victory over Mammon a victory of the heart and not of the tongue. 
Lose your life, that you may keep it to life eternal. Then will you see 
these things in a new and clearer daylight. Then will you seek to 
increase love and aspiration and sacrifice. Then will you seek to minister 
to the well-being of souls, to the new birth from above, knowing cer- 
tainly that these earthly conditions are but shadows of the things that 
truly are; and no more seeking to deprive the "rich" of his wreath of 
mist than to give the "poor" a heritage of moonbeams. Cease to deal 
with shadows. Awake, arise, and deal with real life! 

There is another matter, and this time of a wholly different kind, 
in which we find ourselves not wholly at one with some of the speakers 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 125 

we have been quoting. Let us illustrate. We find Dr. Warschauer 
writing: "Now, so far as I can judge, this seems to mean that, from my 
questioner's own point of view, the credibility of the doctrine of Divine 
Immanence depends upon it being shown that it was explicitly held and 
taught by Jesus? Quite simply and frankly, I do not think anything of 
the kind can be shown the Fourth Gospel being ruled out of court as 
a source for our knowledge of the historical Jesus." And again : "While 
in the strictly historical sense, the Fourth Gospel is of much inferior 
value to the Synoptics ..." and so on. Again, we find Rev. G. T. 
Sadler saying: "The Fourth Gospel was probably produced by a school 
who went back to the Apostle John, or took his name, and wrote this 
Gospel about no A.D." Similarly, Dr. Anderson writes: "Harnack. . . 
does not take the Fourth Gospel as an historical authority" . . . and so 
forth. Now with this view we are by no means in sympathy. With all 
admiration for the great learning and real liberality of Harnack, and 
with all deference to all those who share his view on this point, we are, 
after many years study of the question, completely convinced that John 
himself, the "beloved disciple," whose head rested on the breast of the 
Master at the Last Supper, John who outran Peter, and came first to 
the sepulchre, is the veritable author of the Gospel which has ever 
born his name, and not only of this Gospel, but of all three of the 
Epistles, and also of the Apocalypse in its entirety, saving only a few 
sentences inserted in these writings in later ages, for controversial pur- 
poses, or by error. Leaving out the criticism of certain sentences, which 
may well be later glosses for non- Jewish students, the whole of the pre- 
sumption against the authorship of John rests, more or less unconsciously, 
on the doubt whether the fisherman of the Galilean lake could have 
written words so wise and full of divinity, and, perhaps, the further 
doubt whether Jesus himself could have spoken sentences so full of 
philosophy, so wide in reach, based on principles so fundamental. But 
surely this view rests on a very imperfect understanding both of Jesus 
and of the beloved disciple, a failure properly to grasp the mystical and 
spiritual side of the teaching of Jesus, and his inner relation with his 
disciples. But this is too large a matter to be treated in a note. We 
hope to return to it later, and do it more justice. Yet when these 
reservations are made, we feel that the New Theology has made a 
splendid record; that the Summer School, with its liberality, its depth, 
its high aspiration, its genuine brotherliness, marks a long stage in 
advance, along the road leading toward the Divine. 



SOME LETTERS OF "H. P. B." 



II. 

NEW YORK, July 19, 1877. 
Friend of my soul, Nadejinka! 

Do not wonder at this letter not being written on note paper. The 
fact is that I feel I must write to you seriously at great length. Ever 
since I received your letter for which may the powers of heaven send 
you happiness I thought, and I thought, and I thought, and now I have 
made up my mind I shall write you the truth as it is. Before your 
eyes I shall turn inside out all that is within me, my soul, my heart 
and my mind, and then come what may. If you understand, it will be 
God's mercy indeed, and it will make me truly happy. If you do not 
understand, if you get indignant with me, my unhappiness and grief 
will certainly be very great. 

In the other world, in our future life where we shall meet without 
fail, everything will become clear; it will become obvious to us who was 
right and who was wrong. In the meanwhile, as long as we are sincere, 
both of us, as long as we follow the voice of our conscience, as long 
as we do not deceive people either from cowardice or from a mean 
desire to please, we may live to be bitterly disappointed in our plans, 
expectations and beliefs, yet we shall remain honest. 

Were you Madame H., or a turkey hen like R., I would not even 
attempt to write to you about these things. But you know yourself that 
you are an extra-intelligent person, in reality a thousand times more 
learned than I, because your learning is a solid child of your own brain, 
whereas mine is my Master's. I am nothing but a reflector of someone's 
else luminous light. All the same I could not prevent myself from 
gradually absorbing this light nor it from permeating me through and 
through. These ideas have entered my brain, my very soul ; ergo I am 
sincere, though it is possible that I am mistaken. I am led to write this 
long introduction by the desire you express, you and uncle, to have two 
copies of my book, which shows your kind hearts and the good will you 
bear to one of your own blood. 

The first volume is written against exact science and will certainly 
interest you very much. But I fear the effect that will be made on you 
by the second volume, written against theology, though for religion. 
I know how religious you are, how holy and pure is your faith, and so 
all my trust is placed in the fact that my book is not directed against 
religion, that it is not against Christ, but against the cowardly hypocrisy 
of those who cut each other's throats, who burn and murder in the name 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 127 

of the greatest Son of God, ever since the moment He died on the cross 
for all humanity, and most particularly for sinners, for the heathen, for 
fallen women, for the misled and the erring. 

Where is truth ? Where are we to find it? We know of three great 
religions which are called Christian. In America, Germany, and other 
protestant countries there are two hundred and thirty-two sects; in 
America there are one hundred and seventy-six sects. Each of them 
demands respect, and wants it to be acknowledged that its doctrines and 
dogmas are true, and that the dogmas of its neighbors are false. 

Where is truth? what is it? "What is truth?" demanded Pilate of 
Christ nineteen centuries ago. Where is it? is also the question of sinful 
me, but I find it nowhere. Deceit everywhere, meanness and mon- 
strosity, and the sad inheritance of the Jewish Bible, with which the 
Christians have burdened themselves, and which, in half the Christian 
world, has smothered the very teaching of Christ. 

Understand, I leave our orthodoxy out of this. There's not a word 
about it in my whole book. I refuse point blank to analyze it, because 
I want to preserve one little corner, at least, in my heart where no mis- 
trust can crawl. Thence I chase mistrust away with all my strength. 
Our orthodox masses are sincere. Let their faith be blind and unreason- 
able; this faith leads them towards good. Let our priests be drunkards 
sometimes, or greedy, or even fools, the popular religion is pure, and 
cannot lead to anything but good. As to our higher classes let them 
go to the devil ! They are dissenters just as in any other country. They 
believe nothing at all, they have contracted nihilistic tendencies and ma- 
terialize everything in the world. 

But it is not this we are discussing now, it is universal religion. 

What is the essence of all religion ? Love your neighbor as yourself, 
and love God above everything else. Are these not the words of Jesus? 
Has He left us one single dogma? Did he teach one of the hundreds of 
articles of faith which the fathers of the church have thought out in 
later times? Not a word of them. He prayed for His enemies on His 
cross, and in His name from fifty to sixty-five million people were 
assassinated and cast into boiling water and flames, just as in the name 
of Moloch, the god of the heathen. He was against the Jewish Sabbath, 
He demonstrated His contempt for it, and here, in free America, a man 
gets imprisoned and fined for breaking the Sabbath, which, moreover, is 
called the Sabbath day, though it was carried over to Sunday. In reality 
what did people do ? They changed the day of Saturn for the. day of 
Sol, Dies Solis, that is a day of the sun and of Jupiter. We Russians 
call the seventh day Resurrection, reminding ourselves of the resurrection 
of Christ, but with the Protestants the seventh day is merely v9w-day. 
St. Paul says clearly that the choice of the day of worship does not 



128 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

matter. St. Justin the Martyr openly goes against the keeping of Sunday, 
as this was the day when the heathens feasted their Jupiter. And here 
people are put into jail for not observing it. 

If we are to believe the New Testament, it is impossible to believe 
the Old Testament. Jesus openly goes against the Old Testament and 
the Law. His Sermon on the Mount (see the gospel of St. Matthew) 
is a clear opposition to Moses. In the old days, in the Books of Moses, 
it is said thus and thus tooth for tooth, and the like and, I say unto 
you thus and thus. What is it if not a revolt against the old teaching 
of the synagogue? 

Let all the churches condemn me, let men curse me ; God, the Great 
Invisible God, sees why I rose against the church doctrine. I will never 
believe that the most holy, divine person of Jesus, could be the son of 
the Jewish Jehovah; of the cruel, treacherous Jehovah, who purposely 
hardens the heart of Pharaoh, and then strikes him for it ; who tempts, 
personally tempts the people and then throws stones on them for it from 
the clouds, like a Spanish Guerilla. Goodness, what blasphemy is the 
Old Testament! Just see Exodus xxxiii, 18-23. If Christ believed in 
Jehovah they would not have crucified Him. Does He ever mention Him 
at all? Jehovah is purely the national deity of the Jews. And they 
would not have allowed him to be the god of any but the chosen people. 
Chosen people indeed! Jehovah is no other than Bacchus, and this can 
be proven. One of the names of Bacchus was Sabbaoth. Bacchus was 
Dio-Nisus, the god of Nisi, alias Osiris, who was born on Mount Nisi, 
and Mount Nisi is Sini, because the Egyptians called Sinai, Nisi. And 
what do we find in the Bible? "And Moses built an altar and called the 
name of it Jehova-Nissi" (Exodus xvii, 15). All the names of Jehovah 
also belong to some heathen god, every one of them. Solomon has no 
idea of Jehovah ; David imported this name from Phoenicia. Jaho was 
one of the Kabeiri gods, secret ones which were part of all the mysteries. 
The Jewish "nationality" is nothing but an old woman's fable. There 
never was a Jewish nation until the second century B. C. Their Books 
are not authentic. Where is the historical proof that their sacred Books 
are the originals? What is the first sacred Book of the Jews? The 
Septuagint. In other words, the translation of seventy manuals made 
by order of Ptolemy. Who mentions it ? Josephus alone, a writer whose 
blind devotion to his Jewish nationality makes him commit no end of 
errors. Why is it that no Greek author, no archive could be found who 
would confirm the story of these seventy manuals? And who should 
know about the doings of Ptolemy if not the Greeks and the Romans? 
Yet if the savants of all the world were to unite in their efforts, they 
could not find either a literary work or a historian that would speak of 
the Jews as a nation. No one ever heard about it. Here is Herodotus, 
for instance, a most accurate writer, a traveller and a historian, whose 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 129 

every word and statement is daily finding confirmation, in our times, in 
archaeology, paleology, philology and other sciences. He was born in 
484 and died in 424 before Christ. He travelled in Assyria and the Baby- 
lonia of Cyrus. Hardly half a century before his day, the prophet 
Daniel turned Nebuchadnezzar into a beast ; during seven years this king 
bellowed after the manner of a beast; forty-two thousand Jews left 
captivity to build the temple in Jerusalem, under the leadership of 
Zerubbabel. Yet Herodotus, who spent several years amongst this people 
and whose accuracy is simply tedious in all he says about Nebuchadnezzar, 
after the fall of Jerusalem, about Xerxes, Darius and Artaxerxes, says 
nothing at all about the transformations, and mentions no prophets, no 
Jewish nation, not a single Jew, in fact. Not a word, except a cursory 
mention of the fact that the Syrians who live in Palestine learned circum- 
cision from the Egyptians. Is such a remissness possible on the part of 
Herodotus? Such an event as the head and chieftain of all the magi 
(Daniel) transforming a king into a beast, could not have been passed in 
silence by other historians, even if they merely took it for a legend. If 
Judea, with Solomon, David, Saul and tutti quanti, was a nation, how is 
it that in the whole world there does not exist one ancient coin with a 
Jewish inscription, that is, a Jewish coin, when there are any amount 
of Samaritan coins. As if the Jews, who hated the Samaritans, would 
ever consent to use the coins of their enemies without making some of 
their own ! Coins thousands of years- old are found ; graves are dis- 
covered in which people were buried who lived before Moses; an indi- 
cation that they have lived, at least, can always be found. But of the 
Jewish nation, not a trace ! No graves, no coins, nothing at all ! Every- 
thing evaporated and disappeared as if by magic. Nothing remains but 
books which the people, whose God was put to death by the Jews, must 
believe blindly. 

Out of seventy men brought by Jacob, hardly a hundred and fifty 
years previous to the Exodus, the Jews grew to be almost five millions 
before they left Egypt. Do take the trouble to calculate what this means 
if the laws of statisticsc count for anything: it would mean that the 
birth of the Jews at this period was more numerous than that of red 
herrings. And moreover, is it credible at all that an event like the simul- 
taneous departure of three million people should leave no trace in any 
monument, grave, or annal of antiquity? Yet there is no such trace. 
A dead silence; no answer to inquiries; no confirmation of any kind 
anywhere. Ah me! And what about the books themselves? Where 
are the historical data that would go to prove that they existed before 
150 or even 120 years before Christ? 

There never existed an original language which could be called 
ancient Hebrew. That which we call ancient Hebrew has not a single 
original root. It is a composite language, composed of bits of Greek, 



I 3 o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Arabian, and Chaldean. Take any Hebrew word you choose and I shall 
prove to you that its root is either Greek, Chaldean, or Arabian. It is 
a true harlequin's dress. In the Bible all the names are made up of foreign 
words and suggest the cause why they are so made up. It is a dialect 
of the Arabs and Ethiopians, with an admixture of Chaldean. 

There was a time when Babylon was a Brahmanical center, with a 
school for the study of the Sanskrit language. The Accadians, who 
were invented by our Assyriologists and who, according to Rawlinson, 
came from Armenia and taught the Magi the sacredotal, that is the 
sacred language, were simply Aryans, from whom came our Slavonic 
language, also. 

Here is an example for you pardon the digression a verse from 
the Rig Veda: "Dyauh vad pita prithivi mata somah bhrata, aditih 
svasa." This is out of the hymn to the Maruts, Mandala I, 191, 6. In 
translation: Sky is your father (Dyauh, sky, light, day, den in Russian; 
pita, father, pater), earth is your mother (mata, in Russian, mater, mat), 
soma is your brother, (Bhrata, brother, Brat in Russian), Aditi is your 
sister (svasa, sister, in Russian, sestra). 

To return to the subject, this is why it would be merely farcical to 
claim for the old Hebrew manuscripts the title of the revealed Word 
of God. Would God write or dictate, allowing at the same time the 
earth, the earthly humanity and earthly sciences to find out his mis- 
statements? To believe implicity in the Jewish Scriptures, believing at 
the same time in the Heavenly Father of Jesus, would be altogether 
inconsistent; worse than that it would be blasphemous. If our 
Heavenly Father, the Father of heaven and earth, the Father of the 
boundless universe, would deign to write, he would see to it that men 
were not forced to find out he was mistaken and contradicting himself all 
the time. Various learned investigators found sixty-four thousand mis- 
takes in the Bible, of late; and no sooner were the mistakes corrected 
than the people found just as many contradictions. 

This is the fault of the Jewish Massora. And in our days the learned 
Rabbis themselves have lost the key to their Books, and are at a loss 
to know what to do. It is a known fact that in Tiberia the Rabbis 
constantly made changes in their Bible to make it better, correcting 
words and dates. They either borrowed from the Fathers of the Church 
or acquired from them the bad habit of distorting both texts and chro- 
nology in order to be victorious over their opponents, whenever there 
was a public controversy. 

Consequently, distorted it is ! 

We do not know of an Old Testament manuscript older than the 
tenth century. The Code Bodleian is considered to be the oldest. But 
who can vouch for its authenticity? Tischendorf has succeeded in 
stirring up a great to-do, and made Europe believe that he had dis- 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 131 

covered the so-called Mount Sinai Code. And at present two other 
scientists (one of them a theosophist of ours), who have both spent 
several years in Palestine and have been on Mount Sinai, are about to 
prove that there never was such a manuscript in the library of Sinai 
Monastery. They made researches during two years and tried to get 
at every hole in the Sinai Monastery, helped by a monk, who had lived 
there for the last sixty years and knew Tischendorf personally. The 
monk says that he had been familiar with every book and every manu- 
script in the library for a very long time, but never heard of a book that 
Tischendorf discovered. The monk will be silenced, to be sure ! Tisch- 
endorf has simply deceived the Russian Government by a counterfeit. 

Out of six hundred and twenty manuscripts of the Old and New 
Testaments in the Greek, the Hebrew and other languages, there are 
not two that would read alike. And this is not to be wondered at. First, 
it is reported that the Books of Moses were lost during several cen- 
turies, and then found all of a sudden by Hilkiah six hundred years before 
the birth of Christ, when Solomon's Temple was pulled down and the 
Sodomites were persecuted, etc., etc. See II Kings, 22-23. 

After a while, they all were lost, every single one. And 422 B. C, 
Ezra writes them down by heart in forty days (forty books !) Then they 
are lost again: Antiochus Epiphanes is reported to have burned them 
all. One hundred and fifty years before the birth of Christ they miracu- 
lously appear again. But all this is merely tradition; not one historical 
fact. 

Then there comes the celebrated Massora. Jehovah is turned into 
Adonai, and, with the help of the Massorets and their complicated points, 
Adonai could be as easily turned into an old-fashioned Russian gentle- 
man called Ivan Petrovich. 

On the other hand, the Kabala (as well as Onkelos, the most 
renowned Babylonian Rabbi) teaches that Jehovah is not God by any 
means, but Memro, that is the Word, or Logos. . . . 

However we have had enough of Jewish fables for the present. 

So, this is how matters stand, dear friend. I am afraid you will 
cross me out of the number of your relations, a sorrow from which 
God preserve me! But whatever happens, I cannot change the facts. 
I believe, but in my own way. I believe firmly. I believe that since 
the creation of the world (creation is a wrong word, however. I ought 
to have said progressive emanation or evolution of the world and of its 
spiritual pattern), God incarnates in man, at intervals of a few thou- 
sand, or a few hundred years, as I already wrote to you before. The 
chosen man becomes the temple of God on earth. The pure and holy 
spirit dwells in him, and becomes united to his soul and body. The 
result is the Holy Trinity on earth. If the early Christians themselves 
did not believe in these periodical incarnations, they would not have 



I 3 a THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

sought safety for themselves in the theories of Antichrist and the Second 
Advent, in case such an incarnation came to pass again. 

I believe in the Invisible and Universal God; in an abstraction of 
the Spirit of God, not in an anthropomorphical deity. I believe in the 
immortality of the Divine Spirit in every man, but I do not believe in 
the immortality of every man. Because I believe too firmly in divine 
justice. We all must take the Kingdom of Heaven by force, that is, 
by good deeds and a pure life. Some godless blackguard and assassin 
may yell in a fit of fear at the last moment : "I believe that the Son of 
God shed his blood for me"; but / do not believe that this will entitle 
him to take his seat with good and virtuous people. This theory, as it 
is now accepted by Christians, is fatal to humanity. It is blasphemous 
to entertain the idea that we can pile all our dirty deeds, our murders, 
our cruelty to our brethren on the long suffering shoulders of Jesus 
Christ. And the result of it is that here there hardly ever passes a week 
without some criminal being executed for the most awful crimes, and 
a Protestant or a Roman Catholic pastor standing by his gallows and 
announcing to the public that this murderer, this monster of vice, was 
reconciled with God before his death and has nothing to fear in the 
afterlife. Therefore, go it; have a good time! He, who has no fear 
of death (and they are many), may steal and kill to his heart's content. 
He may even find an encouragement in the established practice; if he 
had committed no murder, there would be no occasion for him to be 
reconciled with God in so solemn a manner, and consequently he might 
have missed heaven. But what about the victim? And where is the 
justice of God in all this? If at the moment the criminal was reconciled 
with God, the forgiveness of his sins were confirmed by the return to 
life of the dead man, or at least, by the return of the stolen property to 
his orphans; in other words, if the equilibrium of good and evil were 
to be re-established in some visible way, I could believe. There would 
be some reason, some logic, but as things are at present, just imagine 
the consequences! 

Picture to yourself a lake, or rather a boundless sea. Its surface is 
mirror like. Naturally under the surface there are treacherous rocks, 
treacherous undercurrents, etc., but all this is in the right place and in 
order. This is humanity. It is born, it lives, it dies. The life of every 
separate drop (a man) in the sea depends greatly on exterior circum- 
stances, but mostly on itself. To complete the metaphor, let us endow 
every drop with free will and individuality. Now imagine further that 
I come to the brink of the sea, pick up a stone and throw it into the 
water. The stone produces a perturbation according to its size. One 
wave pushes another, the other pushes the next. Concentric circles 
chase each other, and the motion of the water is communicated to the 
atmosphere and also to the lower strata. From above and from below 



SOME LETTERS OF H. P. B." 133 

there arise hosts of dormant powers. The motion is imparted from one 
atom to the other, it spreads further from one layer to another, from 
one stratum to another, until it retires into boundless, endless space. 
Matter was put into motion. And as physicists know, the consequence of 
every initial movement are everlasting. 

This is the picture of every crime, of every evil deed, as of every 
good act. Would then Divinity consent, even if it could? I mean the 
God who establishd once for all the eternal and immutable law in both 
the physical and the moral worlds would Divinity consent to stop the 
progress of those laws and act as if an accomplished deed had not been 
accomplished ? 

Can a stone be returned out of the depth to the hand that threw it? 
Can the motion of water or the progress of either matter or spirit be 
stopped ? By the mercy of God the criminal is forgiven, but what about 
the victim? What about the endless victims who come as a consequence 
to the first f The victim of the first hour is of the least importance com- 
pared to the inevitable consequences. 

A man is killed and the work allotted to him is violently inter- 
rupted. However insignificant, every man in his place is a link which 
keeps the link next to it in its proper place. A link is torn asunder, and 
the whole structure is shaken there will not be one link that will not be 
affected. 

No ma'am ! forgiveness of sins before the consequences of the offense 
are smoothed out is no supreme justice. God is something so great, so 
unthinkable for us, worms of the earth, that we need waste no time in 
speculations concerning the divine essence. 

Lo and behold, there appears in the world a manifestation and 
expression of God in the flesh of man Ecce Homo: follow him, walk 
in His footsteps. As long as you live implore His help; in it I believe 
completely ; not in the help of Supreme Divinity, for what are you in its 
eyes ? but in the help of His Son, who represents humanity which is daily 
and hourly crucified by evil. He showed us the way. Not in the 
synagogues and the temples as the Pharisees, but in His own temple of 
God, in the depth of the heart of every man. "Know ye not that ye are 
the temple of God?" (Corinthians III, 16). Such is the question 
St. Paul addresses to all men. 

Try to redeem your sins by that which is good; not by vain repen- 
tance, but by your deeds, and the law of retribution will lose its hold on 
you. Try, while still in the midst of this corruptible existence, firmly to 
identify yourself with the God in you, with your divine spirit only then 
will your soul become immortal. But if you break your connection with 
it, if you turn away from God's envoy, the Chirst, He also will turn away 
from you. Your soul will perish, not in a hell where are burning bon- 



I 3 4 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

fires of oak and of pine, stalked by devils, with tails and horns, but in 
the eternal gehenna where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

This means that your soul, your ethereal alter ego, that which 
St. Paul calls the psychic body (I Corinthians xv, 44), which is only 
partly immortal, unless it is firmly joined to the spirit, will have to dis- 
integrate after the death of your physical body; to go back to the 
elements, to the parts of which consists all the universe, and the human 
soul, amongst other things. 

The subjective alone is immortal, but everything objective will come 
to an end. And as your spirit's covering, however ethereal, has in a 
way both color and shape, it cannot exist forever. This is hell for you ! 
Hell consists in being tormented by your conscience, and also in wan- 
derings on this earth, and in the very places where we committed some 
evil deed, either directly or indirectly. It also may consist in the 
complete disappearance of the individual. 

Concerning the white and black forces you are quite right. It 
could not be any other way. The world rests on the centrifugal and 
centripetal forces, right and left. From within without, and from without 
within. Were there no night, we could not see, we could not know day. 
Were there no evil, we would not know good. As to the personal devils, 
who are devils by birth and nature, there cannot be any. For this would 
mean giving to God a rival in creative power . . . The devil, or rather the 
idea of the opposing forces, is a kind of an Archimedean lever, around 
which goes the world. Or, rather, it is the field on which grows the good. 
For the best grain grows out of the most evil smelling and putrid 
manure. 

One cannot recall what is past, but one can endeavor to redeem it as 
best one can. If in the past I was not what I was, to my shame and 
sorrow, if I had not made a fool of myself in my youth, I could not 
have the strength to hoist now seven men onto the path of virtue. 

I shall try to come to you. But we must calculate well the time 
when you are alone in your study, or with auntie, because were the 
children to kick up a rumpus of any kind my body may be killed if I 
don't re-enter it in time. 

Once more you have guessed quite right. I am writing about 
Storojenko and trying to prove the existence of vampires. There are 
many similar stories in the book, and I give much information as to the 
how and the why. I am uneasy only with regard to two or three chap- 
ters in the Second Volume, in which I inveigh against the Roman 
Catholics and the Protestants, and their saints, living and dead, in 
defence of the philosophy of the Buddhists and ancient Brahmins. I do 
not say one word about the Russian Church. But all the same will they 
let the book in? What is the best way to send it to you? The cost and 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 135 

the trouble of sending it are a trifle. If only the book were not 
detained. 

However, perhaps after all I have written, you will refuse to accept 
it yourself? I am in a dead fright for fear I have made you angry! 
For I love you so much and all of you, too. Still I write but the truth. 

Pardon my chattering. 

May the Most High protect you. HELENA. 



THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH. 
(Motto of the Theosophical Society.) 

"Surely the truth must be that whatsoever in our daily life is law- 
ful and right for us to be engaged in, is in itself a part of our obedience 
to God; a part, that is, of our very religion. Whensoever we hear 
people complaining of obstructions and hindrances put by the duties of 
life in the way of devoting themselves to God we may be sure they are 
under some false view or other. They do not look upon their daily 
work as the task God has set them, and as obedience due to Him. We 
may go further and say not only that the duties of life, be they never 
so toilsome and distracting, are no obstructions to a life of any degree 
of inward holiness; but that they are even direct means, when rightly 
used, to promote our sanctincation" H. E. Manning. 



We should look upon the world as a monastery in which we live, 
and upon our daily tasks and occupations as does the monk upon his 
religious observations. Only so can we carry the spirit of the disciple 
into the details of our lives. 

OCCULT APHORISMS. 



TALKS ON RELIGION. 



IV. 

THE MATHEMATICIAN : It will be remembered that at our 
last meeting Professor D developed the theory that ethics 
and religion were, in fact, founded on biological principles, and 
could be viewed as evolutionary derivatives from the funda- 
mental laws of self-preservation and the perpetuation of the species. 
In this view, nature herself whether moral or immoral is seen as incul- 
cating morals and religion in her children, by the simple expedient of 
letting those die that are without them; so that the religious principles 
are the principles of effectiveness in life as it is; and the religious atti- 
tude, the attitude of acceptance of universal law. To this view Dr. 
I , our Social Philosopher, raised two objections: first, that self- 
preservation was by no means a fundamental law or tendency, and 
second, that the universe, as it is, is very far from acceptable. I have 

therefore asked Dr. I to start our talk this evening by a more 

detailed exposition of his views. 

The Social Philosopher: I am sorry, but I did not understand that 
you wished me to speak on any given point, and therefore I am afraid 
what I had intended to say bears very indirectly upon the question which 
was at issue in our last meeting. 

The Mathematician: I did not mean to limit you at all, and would 
much rather have a constructive exposition of your own opinions, than 
a criticism of what has been already said. You remember that at our 
first meeting you remained silent, so we have still to hear even your 
definition of religion. 

The Social Philosopher: It was that which I had meant to present 
to-night, so, if you are willing I would ask you to consider what we may 
call: 

A Definition of Religion, Based upon an Examination of the Various 
Forms of Religious Belief. 

We may construct a definition of a term such as religion in two 
ways : first, by introspective analysis of the experience to which we apply 
the term in our own life; secondly, by observation of the experiences 
and practices to which others have applied the term. 

Religion means to me something very simple it means the emo- 
tional attitude that results from a blending of the two feelings of depend- 
ence upon a higher power than my own, and respect for a higher worth 
than my own. These feelings of dependence and reverence, or of fear 
and admiration, can only be blended in one way, viz. : by being directed 



TALKS ON RELIGION 137 

toward a single object in which are united the attributes of superior power 
and of superior worth. I can think of the object of my religious attitude 
as a personal God or as something very different, but so long as the 
object, whatever else it may be, is an identity of a deeper reality and a 
higher or more perfect ideal, it inspires the religious emotion. 

If I should be led to believe that the universe, or any power in the 
universe, on which I am primarily dependent, should lack this superior 
worth or value, my attitude toward that object would cease at once to be 
religious, even though I might deem it necessary to pray or sacrifice to it 
or in other ways manifest my fear and sense of dependence. If, on the 
other hand, I should become convinced that my ideal of perfection was 
nothing more than an ideal, and was nowhere embodied or realized in 
the universe or in any existant power on which I depended, why then also 
the name religion would cease to be applicable to my attitude towards that 
ideal. In short, any doubt as to the identity of power and worth of the 
real and the ideal is a doubt of the objective truth of religion, and 
destructive of that subjective religious attitude in which the feelings of 
reverence and dependence are always blended. 

Turning now from this definition of religion, a definition based 
wholly upon introspection, let us examine the various types of religion 
that actually exist or have existed. And here a single meaning for the 
term seems hard to find. In the first place, we cannot say that religion 
is the belief in one God, because that would bar out the polytheistic reli- 
gions ; nor, secondly, can we say that it is a belief in a personal God, for 
that would bar out the great systems of pantheism, which have at least a 
de facto right to be called religions; nor, thirdly, may we even define 
religion as a belief in Gods, one or many, personal or impersonal, for 
that would bar out Buddhism, which is properly an atheistic religion, and 
in which the ideal condition of being, called Nirvana, is the object toward 
which the religious attitude is directed, thus taking the place of the God 
or Gods of the theistic and pantheistic religions. All these definitions 
seem indeed to be too narrow ; but if, on the other hand, we define religion 
as the "climbing instinct," as the "sense of aspiration," as the "recogni- 
tion of the supernatural or the unknowable," as the "feeling of obliga- 
tion," as "cosmic emotion" or as "sheer undifferentiated and hysterical 
emotion of any sort,," we make the definition so broad as to lack the 
specific qualities which mark it off from the merely ethical or sesthetical 
attitude. And yet, if we return for a moment to the five types of religion 
indicated above, I think we shall see that there is one and only one fun- 
damental characteristic common to all, which will, therefore, serve us as 
the meaning of the term religion. 

These religions were: first, Monotheism, the belief in one personal 
God ; second, Polytheism, the belief in several personal Gods ; third, Pan- 
theism, the belief in an impersonal God; fourth, Fetichism, the belief in 



I 3 8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

many impersonal Gods or rather forces ; and fifthly, Buddhism, the belief 
in a supremely real and perfect state or condition of being. Now all the 
theistic religions attribute to the being or beings called God not only 
superior power, but superior virtue. Even the Fetish is not, I suppose, a 
mere power, but possesses something that may inspire respect or admira- 
tion as well as fear. While in the case of Buddhism, Nirvana, although 
not an entity or God, is a mode or condition of existence that possesses 
the distinctly Godlike duality of aspect in being at once more real and 
more perfect than what we know in nature. Is it, then, too much to say 
that an examination of religions leads us to the same conception as that 
which resulted from introspection, namely, the conception of religion as 
a blend of the feelings of reverence and dependence directed to an object 
in which, whatever its particular nature may be, worth and power are 
blended? We may note, parenthetically, in justification of this view, that 
there are two distinct types of the ceremonial expressions of the religious 
attitude that correspond perfectly to the duality of that attitude and of 
its object, that is, praise and prayer. In praise we direct our attention to 
the ideal or value aspect of the divine, while in prayer the feeling of 
dependence upon a superior power is predominant. 

I suppose it is true that in the more primitive religions, as typified 
by Fetichism and the lower forms of ordinary Polytheism, the element 
of respect is overwhelmingly dominated by the sense of fear and the 
desire of gain. Perhaps it may be held that in some cases the objects 
of the religious attitude are in no sense superior, but even inferior in 
moral worth, to the men who worship them, and that consequently the 
definition that I have proposed would be inapplicable. And I should 
admit that many features of primitive religion would better deserve the 
name either of demon-worship or mere supernaturalism, and that it is 
very probable that religion has originated from a sort of pseudo-science 
or magic, in which various esoteric rites are performed with a view to 
controlling in that way those natural forces which men have not yet 
learned to understand and control by ordinary methods. What seems 
to me certain, however, is the fact that as religion develops from this 
pre-religious stage to higher and higher forms, there is a steady increase 
in the ethical element. The Gods become with increasing distinctness 
the depositories of tribal or racial ideals. And by this I do not mean 
merely that the morality ascribed to the Gods becomes more perfect as 
their human worshippers become more perfect, a truth which everybody 
will admit, but that the moral side of their nature becomes more nearly 
equal in importance to their physical side; the advocates of religion 
appeal less and less to man's fear of supernatural powers and more and 
more to his reverence for superhuman worth and perfection. 

It is customary to testify to this view by pointing to the Hebrew 
religion as being superior, not only to the other Semitic cults, but even 



TALKS ON RELIGION 139 

to the religion of the Greeks, in that Jehovah was recognized as being 
primarily a God of righteousness; and this of course is true, though it 
is only fair to remember that the Greeks in ascribing to their Gods a 
lack of enthusiasm for bourgeois standards of morality by no means 
meant to imply that they were seriously lacking in aesthetical or even 
in ethical attributes. 

Now the highest point to which a religion could develop would be, 
I suppose, the belief in one infinite and omnipresent Reality, that pos- 
sessed or embodied at the same time the ideal of infinite perfection. 
The two essential aspects of deity, that is, power and worth, would then 
be of quite co-ordinate importance, and each would be at a maximum. And 
if we disregard the question of the actual truth or falsity of such a belief, 
I suppose that most of us would agree that it is only this monotheistic 
type of religion that we should care for. Nevertheless it is worth point- 
ing out that the development of religion did not cease when it attained 
to its highest perfection (that is, the recognition of the equal importance 
of the ethical and metaphysical aspects of deity), but passed over 
on the other side, so that we now have in several quarters the curious 
conception of God as an ideal being lacking, however, all objective 
reality. 

This view of God, or the object of religious emotion, as not of 
necessity real, but only ideally perfect, dates from Kant's somewhat am- 
biguous system of Practical Reason. In the early nineteenth century, the 
French philosopher, Vacherot, explicitly states that perfection and exist- 
ence are incompatible, and that religion must content itself with a God 
that is unreal. Professor Santayana, of Harvard, who is at present the 
chief exponent of this view, goes further and maintains that it is not 
only a necessity but a positive benefit for religion to divorce itself from 
ontology altogether. Just as our appreciation of the character of Ham- 
let is hampered by an irrelevant curiosity as to whether any such person 
really existed, so Santayana tells us, religion is vulgarized and destroyed 
by demanding that its ideals be embodied in the realm of existence. 
This sharp severance of the ideal from the real, and the consequent ban- 
ishment of the objects of reverence from the world of actualities, seems 
to me to characterize the religious attitude of a steadily growing class 
of thoughtful men and women. And for this reason I believe Professor 
Santayana's writings upon religion deserve a more critical consideration 
than they are at present generally receiving. 

Note that this final stage of religion is in exact logical antithesis to 
its first stage. In the first stage the gods exist as powers, but they are 
lacking in worth religion is identified with propitiatory rites or magic. 
In the last stage, the gods possess perfection, and ideal significance, but 
lack existence. Religion is identified with poetry. And between the 
magic from which religion springs and the poetry and symbolism in 



I 4 o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

which it has here culminated, there is room for all the stages that may 
be found in its development. Both of these extremes are equally far 
from the ideal craved by the religious consciousness. For mere rev- 
erence for ideals without an accompanying feeling of dependence upon 
a power not ourselves, in which they are embodied, is as truly irreligion 
as is the feeling of dependence on supernatural powers which lack moral 
worth. But these two forms of irreligion seem to me to mark out quite 
perfectly, as I have said, the opposite limits between which all religions 
may and must be placed. And it is because they illustrate and approx- 
imately verify the conception of religion embodied in my definition, as 
well as for the intrinsic significance I believe them to possess, that I 
have spoken of them here. 

The Mathematician: As I understand your thesis you begin by 
defining religion as a sense of dependence and reverence upon that which 
has power and worth. You substantiate this, first, by introspection and 
then by an examination of known religidns. In the historical sequence of 
these latter you find an evolution through three broad divisions. In 
the first, exemplified by Fetichism, the aspect of power is predominant 
and the aspect of worth is negligible. In the second, exemplified by 
Monism, the two aspects have become equal in the concept of an omnipo- 
tent power of infinite worth. In the third, put forward by Santayana 
and certain modern idealists, you find the aspect of worth still perfect, 
but the aspect of power non-existant as the object of reverence has 
become purely an ideal, toward which you cannot feel a sense of depend- 
ence. The result of this evolution of religion is that you feel all that 
is best in you to be severed from the universe at large and your own 
life to be left without support precisely where you most desire it. 

Now in this, the crux of the matter is the denial of reality to the 
ideal. 

I have never been able to appreciate the philosophic anxiety as to the 
reality of a given object. Everything that is, is real. A reflection is a 
real reflection, a lie is a real lie, a*ny concept a real concept. The 
trouble arises when we try to classify our perfectly real concepts, and 
in particular when we try to ascribe physical existence to that whose 
existence is not physical. I confess it seems to me as though much 
thought was very loose in this matter, and as though there was a 
tendency to confuse physical existence with reality, or at least to view 
the former as a necessary attribute of the latter, while in fact it is no 
such thing. I do not question the reality of my keys because they are 
not in the pocket where I first searched for them. Neither should I 
question the reality of any object because I find it in the realm of the 
heart and the mind rather than of the body. If one is to discuss reality 
at all one must adopt some other criterion than the department of life 



TALKS ON RELIGION 141 

in which a thing is found. It seems to me that the most useful test is 
that of effectiveness the pragmatic test, if you like: what does this 
object effect? what difference does it make? 

Judged by this, or it seems to me by any other test, our ideals are 
both real and effective, the most dynamic of all forces. Ideals are not 
static pictures which we gaze upon unmoved; but powers which pos- 
sess us, compel our acts and mould our lives. Honor, Loyalty, Patriotism, 
these are ideals, yet what is more real, what more dynamic, more 
compelling? What stronger incentive have we than our ideals? What 
is there for which men lay down their lives so readily, or which has 
made such history? Surely patriotism is more effective as a spur, more 
sure as a support, than dollars or whips, or any material agency could 
ever be. 

The Social Philosopher: Ideals are real as ideals, but only as 
ideals. We crave something more than this and would see them embodied 
in the external universe. A man thirsting in the desert would have 
the ideal of water, which would certainly be real as an ideal, and 
which would be effective in shaping his action. But what he wants 
is water real water which can assuage his thirst. 

The Mathematician: You make there several points, all of which 
show themselves to my mind with a little different coloring. I hardly 
think we can regard our ideals as made by ourselves, but rather as 
chosen by ourselves a selection from powers already in life and in the 
universe, which we choose to light and guide our personal existence, and 
by so doing we augment what we have chosen. It would seem to me 
that the inner world, of ideals and aspirations and religious feeling, 
existed as independently of our personalities as does the outer physical 
world the difference between them being one of dimensionality, so 
that in the physical world a thing is either in or without our bodies, 
but in the spiritual world it is both in and without at the same time. 
We live in an atmosphere of ideals as truly as in an atmosphere of air. 
Each is impalpable and invisible, yet each supports and nourishes, the 
one the inner man and the other the outer. Only in the former there 
is a greater selective action of what we shall take and what we shall 
reject, and we grow into the likeness of what we take. 

You have contrasted the ideal of water, with the reality which the 
thirsty man craves. In this case the craving is for physical nourish- 
ment, and physical reality is demanded of that which would fulfill it. 
But the religious craving is for spiritual nourishment, and spiritual 
reality is what is demanded in its object. There it is that the ideals we 
hold to can support and strengthen us. Strengthening the spirit they 
strengthen the whole man, leading him through pain and privation and 
hardship, under which he would otherwise sink. This is not some 
idealistic theory, but a fact to which the history of every great struggle 



I 4 2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

bears witness. It therefore seems to me but a half truth to view ideals 
as a craving, and not recognize that they are also the fulfillment of 
that craving. 

Again you demand the embodiment in the external universe of 
the object of religious feeling. In one way I do so also, in that I 
believe there is the hunger in every man's heart to embody and express 
the ideal he loves, or the Will of the Father to whom he turns; to 
express it and to make it, through himself, a living power in the physi- 
cal world as it is in the spiritual world. To the extent to which they 
have been embodied in the great teachers of the race, ideals have been 
objective physical realities but beyond that it seems to me unreasonable 
to go. Why should we demand of an ideal the same type of reality and 
existence as that of a stone wall? 

The Social Philosopher: It may be unreasonable, but I am quite 
sure it is the fact that we crave other types of reality in the object of 
religious feeling, the stone wall reality, as well as the reality of our 
ideals. And when either of these types of reality is absent or obscured, 
then our religious faith suffers. Take Huxley as an illustration, and 
recall what he said as to the loss of religion through an acquaintance 
with science, which shows us nature as immoral. Remember his state- 
ment that there could be no such thing as a "natural religion" and 
that there was nothing in nature which jibed with our own ideals. 
Huxley lost his religion as soon as he felt that the world of space and 
time showed no power making for righteousness, or gave no echo back 
of his own ideals. He did not therefore abandon his ideals. On the 
contrary he held to them the more firmly, and felt it the more incum- 
bent upon him to champion them with all*his strength. But he ceased 
to be religious. 

The Oxonian: Huxley claimed to have lost what he all the time had 
in his breast pocket. I say advisedly his breast pocket. 

The Author: I think the objects of religion actually possess both 
types of reality, and that the deeper we look into life the more convinced 
we are of this. It seems to me that it is a very one-sided science which 
sees nature as immoral, one-sided, short-sighted and illogical. Indeed, 
is not the man holding Santayana's view in the position of one moved by 
patriotism, after deciding that he has no country? 

The Logician: It is just that sense of having a country, of being 
part of a larger whole, that seems to me the essence of religion, in contra- 
distinction to morality. 

The Editor: I know that it is the fashion nowadays for you phil- 
osophers to insist upon a divorce between ethics and religion, and you 
are all up in arms at once when the two are considered identical or coter- 
minous. Yet I wish you would explain to me how you ever would have 
known anything of ethics or morals except through religion. There never 



TALKS ON RELIGION 143 

would have been any such things. The human race must have had some 
idea of God before ethics, which are the laws governing one's relations 
to God, and the way one must act to reach God, could ever have been 
established. Once in existence as a part of the world's heritage of ideals, 
it seems to me you seize upon them and coldly show the door to religion 
which gave them birth. 

The Logician: I understand that the Zoologist took up that point at 
your last meeting and endeavored to show that religion was a later devel- 
opment than ethics, the latter being directly founded in biology. But is 
it not also true that we find all sorts of moral ideas associated with differ- 
ent religions? And that this diversity is so wide that it is almost neces- 
sary to conclude that religion has nothing to do with morality? 

The Mathematician: I think the Editor's point is not that religion 
precedes ethics, but that the two are, in reality, always tied together; 
religion, let us say, as a sense of a relation between man and what is 
beyond him, ethics as the working out, or expression of that relation, in 
his life and acts. This in no way contradicts the Zoologist's view of 
ethics as biological efficiency, if we think of the end of the evolutionary 
process as union with God. But it shows us, what I think was in the 
Editor's mind, that it may be quite misleading to divorce, in thought, 
what in experience are so closely united. 

The Editor: That was exactly my point. But I did not mean to 
divert the conversation and would like to return. 

I understood you to say, Dr. I , that the evolution of religion 

has followed the line of development you so clearly described, with the 
result that we have reached the impasse set forth by Santayana. Do you 
mean that the main current of religious evolution has, in your judgment, 
itself reached this hopeless point, or do you think Santayana represents 
simply an offshoot, an eddy, leading to some stagnant backwater ? 

The Social Philosopher: I would like to believe the latter. Upon 
the surface of things, with such knowledge as I now possess, I am forced 
to give partial assent to Santayana's view, in that I do not see any other 
support for my aspirations than that which my ideals themselves furnish. 
But I am always hoping to come to some deeper insight ; that the develop- 
ment of science, or the later evolution of religious thought, will bring to 
the surface some hitherto unnoticed facts; will put the whole external 
universe in some new and more moral light; and that the reality and 
power our hearts crave will be restored to the objects of our worship. 

The Editor: Dr. I , if you will pardon a personal question, I 

should like very much to know whether you do not really have two the- 
ories about religion; one, a very interesting hypothesis, which you put 
forth for argumentative purposes when discussing these things with your 
friends ; and another very different theory which is the working hypoth- 
esis, upon which you base your conduct and your life. I suspect we 



144 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

would not differ very much from this "private view," which seems to 
shine out almost unconsciously from much that you say. 

The Social Philosopher: No, I hardly think I am guilty of that 
charge, though probably I have a vague faith that things are better than 
they appear on the surface to be. 

The Author: It seems to me there is a fundamental fallacy in the 
thought that religions evolve. It is quite true that we see in the world 
the three broad divisions of religious feeling which Dr. I has de- 
scribed, but nowhere do we see the evolution of a religion from a lower 
to a higher form ; as, for example, we can trace the evolution of biological 
organisms. Is it not now generally recognized that the doctrine of evo- 
lution has been too broadly stated and too indiscriminately applied? 
Undoubtedly there are wide fields in which the law of evolution is 
supreme, and where it is the key to any intelligent view of the facts. But 
I believe there are other fields where there is no such gradual unfoldment ; 
indeed many classes of phenomena which remain forever unchanged; 
which are to-day as they have always been, and always will be, as long 
as there are phenomena at all. True religion seems to me to belong to 
this latter class. 

The Social Philosopher: I don't understand you. The religions of 
man are the most varied phenomena he presents. 

The Author: Yes, but I was speaking of true religion, religion as 
a fact in life, as the relation of man to the Divine. The external expres- 
sions of this in the formal religious systems of history have indeed been 
very diverse. But they have not evolved one into the other, nor do I see 
any evidences of that life in external religions which would cause them to 
evolve from lower to higher. Rather do I think they have all been dif- 
ferent expressions of the same spiritual facts; given to the different 
races of mankind by those whose genius enabled them to see those facts. 
Consider the religions of China, of Egypt, of Chaldea, and of India. 
Widely different as are their external forms, and the symbols which they 
use, it still requires but a very little knowledge of them to see the under- 
lying unity they all possess, the constant reference back to the same spir- 
itual facts. 

The Social Philosopher: This may be quite true of the world's 
great religions, but it certainly is not true when we consider the whole 
range of religious expression from primitive Fetichism to the present 
day. 

The Mathematician: As I understand the Author's thought, he is 
now viewing religion as "that small old Path that leads to the Eternal" ; 
itself endless and eternal, stretching from the infinite past, to the infinite 
future, always present and always the same. As always there have been 
those upon each stage of this path, there has always been in the world, 



TALKS ON RELIGION 145 

every shade of religious truth. But one could not say that the expres- 
sions of these evolved one into the other. 

The Social Philosopher: How about the evolution of the Jewish 
Faith? 

The Author: That was by borrowing; first from the Egyptians, 
then from the Chaldeans. 

The Mathematician: It would seem to me that the faith of any 
given people might well be considered to have evolved, just as one 
would move from one part of a path to another. Borrowing might well 
be an instrument in evolution. 

The Author: Yes, but that is different. External religions them- 
selves don't grow purer and higher. Rather do they degenerate from 
their initial revelation with the lapse of time. So that the further back 
toward its source we go in any religion, the purer and more spiritual 
does it become. 

The Editor: What better example is there of this than Christianity? 

The Author: Yes, it is an admirable illustration. There is first the 
purely spiritual teaching of Jesus the description of the laws of spirit- 
ual life recorded from direct experience. Then there is the step down 
to the teaching of his disciples purest in John and in Paul, who were in 
a sense independent witnesses, with first hand experience of their own in 
at least part of the teaching. From there on, down through the Church 
Fathers to the present day, we have a gradual decadence both in under- 
standing and in expression. 

The Mathematician: But now there is again an upward swing of 
the pendulum. Did we not agree that we were nearer now to an under- 
standing of Christ's teaching than ever before ? 

The Author: Yes, but that is because there is to-day a new reve- 
lation. Only it is manifesting now all over the world, in many individ- 
uals and in many ways, rather than in one supreme exponent. In Sci- 
ence, in Literature, in Art, above all in Christianity itself, this new spirit 
breathes this new divine revelation, this new feeling of spiritual law. 
The very fact that we are gathered here this evening is evidence of it 
and, however imperfectly we sense or express it, our own hearts and 
minds are illumined by this new light. 

The Mathematician: That is a matter upon which the Clergyman 

should have something to say. Mr. F , we have heard nothing from 

you all the evening. 

The Clergyman: Well, I hardly know just what to say. As I lis- 
tened to our friend, Dr. I , I was inclined to agree with each point as 

he made it, because each was so beautifully presented and was made to 
seem so logical and simple. But the end wasn't pleasing. Was it? And 
left a rather bad taste in one's mouth. It made me think of a Hegelean 
looking out of the window into the night and finding no other thing to 



I 4 6 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

say than "I am God." That seems, well, let us say, inadequate, doesn't 
it, and not very appreciative of either the beauty and majesty of exist- 
ence, or of that sense of proportion science claims to give us. To pick 

out just one point to emphasize, is not the difficulty Dr. I presents 

to us the old one between transcendence and immanence? I think that 
this disappears as soon as we take a psychological rather than a meta- 
physical point of view. 

The Oxonian: Hear! Hear! 

The Social Philosopher: You know I have been immensely inter- 
ested in these discussions because it is the first time in my experience 
that a thing, which was perfectly patent and obvious to my mind, is 
objected to and denied by others, in possession of the same facts as 
myself, and of equally trained perceptions. It is such a plain matter 
of fact that we do not find what we reverence in external life, but in 
our own ideals. It is equally evident that we crave external and objective 
power in the objects of our religious faith but that this craving is not 
satisfied. I would like to believe in such a power in the universe, but, 
where is it? How can I believe in its objective existence? 

The Clergyman: Why how can you help believing in it, when its 
presence is thrust at you in every moment of life ? You see the evidence 
everywhere and in everybody. Human life, even the most degraded, 
is a living testimonial to it. You cannot look into the heart of anyone, 
even those you think the most wicked and depraved, without seeing 
deep within, strange, gleams of light and life and force, which sparkle 
like the facets of a gem. It is not perhaps a gem of the most perfect 
water; we can recognize its flaws, its irregularities, its lack of polish. 
But still it is a jewel, and he knows little of men's hearts who does not 
see it. And it is as much a force as it is a light a force needing only to 
be set free, already struggling for expression, and making for the 
fulfillment of those ideals which are its light, and of which you speak 
so much. 

Whence come these? To me they are unmistakable evidences of the 
existence of God as a spiritual yet objective power. The very fact that 
we have ideals is evidence of God, and if I remember rightly, you 
yourself so implied when asked, some meetings since, of the origin of 
your soul's standards. 

Human life, however, seems to me only one evidence among many. 
Everywhere in nature the same lesson is taught. We only need to stop 
reasoning about it, stop all our metaphysical hair-splitting and look at 
life and nature as they are. We will indeed be dull if we cannot then see 
their beauty and their worth, as well as their power. 

Why is it that you think these attributes belong only to your ideals ? 
Let us remember that the universe is considerably older than we are; 
that before man's mind assumed the responsibility of running the whole 



TALKS ON RELIGION 147 

universe it had been in existence for some time, and that a good deal 
had been accomplished. This should really be considered, and for my 
own part, I know that it fills me not only with respect and reverence, 
but with a deep and abiding sense of power. 

What of this power? What is it that made life grow, and kept 
the stars in their appointed course? What is it that put the light of 
your ideals within your heart and makes them fruitful? Whence comes 
this power over you? Whence your aspiration? Whence, indeed, your 
craving that power be possessed by worth? Why it seems to me the 
whole of nature is an open book, in whose pages we may find endless 
proofs of what you seek endless evidence of the one great central 
fact of God's existence, of His power, and of His worth. 

The Oxonian: The great importance of what Mr. F has just 

said is that it changes our whole attitude toward religion and religious 
controversy. We no longer think of the essentials of religion as things 
we should like to have, but possibly, for reasons of the intellect, have no 
right to. We no longer think of them as in the region of possible doubt. 
Their sphere becomes the sphere of our actual experience, which we 
cannot doubt. Professor Huxley, for instance, imagined that he had 
lost religion, but he had it all the while in the very facts of his nature. 

Our ideals are facts. Our inspirations are facts. Take, for example, 
a college student, loafing across the campus, hands in pockets, a cigarette 
hanging from nerveless lips. Yet two months later he leads a gallant 
fight and meets an heroic death in the war in Cuba. Where was this 
heroism? Where, in the first case, the ideals and moral power which 
supported him in the second ? Or, again, take a fellow coming up the stairs 
to such a meeting as this ; and let him be stopped by some inspector of 
mental luggage, some custom house official of reason's domain, who 
examines what he has with him. How easily we would all have been 
passed through ! "Nothing to declare." Dr. I - would doubtless have 
been made to pay duty on his thesis but which of the rest of 
us had with him then the ideas he has since expressed. No cross section 
of the mind would have shown them. In this I do not mean to point 
to any subconscious self; but only to the bare fact of inspiration, the 
fact that ideals and ideas that were not in us, now are. 

We find these things within us, yet they do not come from our con- 
scious selves, they come from a source, let us call it the undersoul, and 
as we reverence our ideals we must reverence the source thereof. 

As I remember the discussion between the Mathematician and our 
Social Philosopher, this also gives us a resolution of their differences. 
For it may be said that every ideal is not only an existence, but has a 
real power behind it. 

There is a power that makes for the fulfillment of the ideal. By this 
I merely mean that in ourselves and in nature there are many tendencies 



I 4 8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

in that direction, alongside of others, which, no doubt, are in a contrary 
direction. Moral and religious life consists in identifying ourselves 
with the one sort and, so far as in us lies, in vanquishing the other. For 
in the religious sense all the tendencies that make for the good are united 
into a single conception, a single principle of good. 

In ourselves, these tendencies are not wholly to be identified with 
our own deliberate will. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit approves itself 
as essentially true in experience. There is a power not ourselves within 
ourselves, what St. Paul calls the power that worketh in us. We can only 
invite its presence, assume toward it a receptive attitude, welcome it when 
it comes. This is essentially the attitude of prayer. 

All this may be quite conformable to psychology and physiology, but 
it is none the less the essential fact upon which spiritual religion rests. 
Whether the power that makes for the ideal, what we may call the living 
ideal, is literally personal, or whether personality is only a symbol for it, 
is a question that need not disturb the spiritual attitude in question. The 
gist of the matter is that, both in the world without and in the world 
within, there is undeniable power making for good, calling on us to unite 
ourselves with it, to be its instrument. No doubt this leaves weighty 
problems still to be solved, but it puts the fundaments of religion beyond 
the shadow of doubt. 

This view makes experience supreme. But meanwhile it admits the 
fitness of symbolism as a means of interpreting for the spirit the facts of 
its life. 

The Clergyman: I think that Mr. M has just expressed the 

attitude toward religion and the existence of God in which the clergy 
find themselves. So often they are asked the reason for their belief and 
are almost puzzled what answer to make, the fact itself is so obvious. 
Indeed, so plain a matter of experience is it with us, that one could almost 
bring against our attitude the charge that it had ceased to be religion in 
that it required no faith. 

The Oxonian: I remember a conversation some years ago with 

Mr. F , in which the question arose whether we must not say that the 

treasures of reason and conscience that now exist must have come from 
a source that possessed reason and conscience ; whether it was not impos- 
sible that the river could rise higher than its source. At that time I 
questioned the conclusion; but afterwards reflected that the prime fact 
was that there actually was in the process of the universe the tendency 
that has wrought these results and still is working them, a true fountain 
of good. That fact calls for our co-operation and devotion, and makes 
all differences on other items secondary. 

The Mathematician: I most heartily agree to the view Mr. M 

has so illumined for us, and which seems to me to take us far toward a 
solution of our difficulties. Not only do I believe there is a power which 



TALKS ON RELIGION 149 

makes for the fulfillment of the ideal, but I believe this power is the most 
real and vital thing in life is, in fact, the great flow of existence, the 
evolutionary stream itself, or the power behind that stream, as the 
attraction of the earth is behind the flow of water. It seems to me that 
it is our ideals which cause our growth, and as we grow our ideals grow 
also always beyond and above us, always lighting for us the next step 
on our path. 

Another thought that comes to me is this. Parallel to the evolution 

of religion which Dr. I traced, consider the evolution of man. At 

first we find him little better than the animals, living, as they do, in 
direct contact and dependence upon external nature. His struggles, his 
satisfactions, his pains and his pleasures, alike come to him from the 
physical world. His thoughts, his emotions, his hopes, and his fears alike 
have their origin there, and are circumscribed thereby. His existence 
is almost completely wrapped up in external physical nature, and there 
it is that he feels the reality of his God. This is the period of Fetichism 
or of nature worship. 

But though the power of the object of his worship is thus felt to 
lie in the physical world, upon which he depends, the nature of his God 
transcends the physical, in that it possesses worth which is not physical. 
This worth is in a certain sense the image of man's next step, the proto- 
type of those virtues toward which his heart is already turning and 
which he is, in time, himself to embody. 

Consider now the present stage of our evolution. No longer are we 
in close and direct contact with the powers of external nature. Truly 
we depend upon them, but our dependence is remote and seldom in our 
consciousness. The center and circumference of our lives have alike 
passed inwards from the external physical world to the inner mental and 
emotional world. It is there that we now depend for our existence. 
It is there that we labor, there that we enjoy and suffer. Indeed, the 
outer world is only of value to us as it affects this inner world; as it 
reacts upon our inner life which now is the seat of reality. Just as, 
when man centers his life in the physical world, he finds there the reality 
of his worship ; so we, whose lives are centered in the mental world, find 
in that the keenest sense of the 'reality of that which we worship. In 
each case we ascribe the power of our God to that realm of 1'ife upon 
which we most closely depend. And in each case the worth of our 
worship is something which transcends our world and leads us on; 
as our ideals now lead us beyond the mental to the spiritual world, 
unlocking for us ever higher realms of life, ever deepening realities. 

The Social Philosopher: Almost you convince me. And yet Why, 
man, think of the cruelty of life! Think of the misery and pain and 
death ! Think of child labor and the death rate among the children, and 
think of those child slaves in the Southern mills. 



1 50 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The Clergyman: I suppose it isn't a particularly clerical attitude 
but it seems to me there are two sides to that child labor question. We 
hear much of the evils of child labor, but I am not sure but that the 
results of child idleness are worse. It is certainly idleness and not 
labor that fills our children's courts and houses of correction and pro- 
duces our criminals. Did you ever visit those mills? Weil, I have. I 
worked for seven years among the mill hands, in Fall River, and I have 
also visited the South. For the most part the work of the children is 
very light, requiring their presence only at intervals; between which 
times they are usually playing in the yard, and there is one man whose 
special duty it is to call them in when they are required. 

But what I think must be particularly considered is the previous 
condition of these children. From years end to years end the greater 
part of them had never got enough to eat. They belonged to poor 
families living back in the mountains, with practically no means of sup- 
port. The coming of the mills was a God-send to them. Whole families 
packed up and moved into the mill town, where they could now, for the 
first time, get employment, and where they could get food. The father 
and mother would both work, and the older children help. Perhaps it 
is hard on these children, but it is no harder than was their previous 
life. And by their work the family could save a little money often 
enough to send the younger children to school and, in more than one case 
that I know of, to college. 

I think that even in such cases as this, if we are fair, and look at 
things broadly as they really are, we will see the action of bettering 
forces, a gradual but sure improvement. 

The Social Philosopher: But you certainly cannot call the high 
death rate among these children a good thing. I do not see that the 
statistics jibe with your theory. It seems to me little short of murder. 

The Clergyman: During the entire seven years I was in Fall River 
I do not recall one fatal accident to any child. 

The Social Philosopher: Yet the statistics show the death rate far 
higher among these children than the normal, far higher than among 
the adult workers. Surely even your optimism cannot defend such a 
condition as that, or see in it anything but the cruel evil it is. 

The Banker: I should imagine, from what Mr. F has told us 

of the antecedents of these children, that the death rate among them 
would naturally be higher than among those who were better nourished. 
But are we warranted in this constant assumption that death is cruel? 
Let us for a moment postulate immortality. Is there then any necessary 
evil in death? We must know more of what lies either side of death 
before we can speak of a high death rate as an evil thing. 

THE SCRIBE. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OP THE 
MIDDLE AGES. 



IV. 

THE SPANISH MYSTICS. 

The only country in Europe where the Reformation gained no 
foothold was in Spain. Instead, there was apparently a vigorous attempt 
to reform the Church from within, but this attempt, brilliant as it was, 
and conducted by several of the greatest Saints in the calendar, was 
ruined by the terrible Inquisition, which achieved a greater dominion 
in Spain than in any other country. Against its malign influence no 
spirit of devotion could prevail and the work of Alcantara, of St. John 
of the Cross, and above all, of St. Theresa and her followers, had a 
brief and wonderful flower and then passed into the limbo of forgotten 
things, engulfed by the cruelty, bigotry, intolerance and dogmatism of 
the prevailing party. But no, it did not wholly die, for have we not 
the records of these saints, the example of their lives, as well as the 
written accounts of their inner experiences. 

There would appear to be little doubt that the mystical movement 
of the 1 6th century was in Spain, for it was here, and here only in the 
western world that we find a full expression of the mystical ideal; that 
we find, not one, but several exemplars of the inner life of the Soul; 
that we can recognize once again the periodic outcropping of the world 
spirit which ever seeks the spiritual enlightenment of man. 

This movement is notable for another reason. St. Theresa and 
her companions were the last of the great saints. She is nearer to us 
in point of time than any of the others who attained' her rank in the 
Church calendar and consequently we have a more complete record of 
her life and works than is usually the case. St. Francis, St. Catherine 
and the other lights of the inner life, who stand out from the history of 
Christianity like beaconfires on a mountain top, lived so long ago that 
most of their writings have perished and there have survived only the 
scantiest records of them. But with the Spanish mystics it is different. 
They lived and worked in the last half of the i6th century, St. Theresa 
beginning her active mission in about 1565 and John taking up her work 
after her death in 1582. Her books, and she wrote many, and those 
of St. John, have come down to us complete and unmutilated. In fact 
the manuscript of her principal work, her autobiography, may still be 
seen in the royal library in Spain. 



I 5 2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Like most mystical revivals, this one seemed to rise spontaneously, 
out of the soil and the time. The usual effort has been made to trace 
its origin to Germany and to the German movement of the previous 
century, but as a matter of fact no such influence can be found. Theresa 
was an ignorant woman. Her system was her own. St. John, who 
had education and an intellect of no mean order, followed her to some 
extent, but added elements all his own. But it does not matter. As 
an inquiry it is more or less idle once we realize that the force which 
they both expressed was the same force which all mystics of all ages 
have eternally expressed. There are differences more or less formal and 
superficial in each person's system. Indeed it is more or less of a 
by-word that there are as many roads to Heaven as there are travelers 
thither. Such special features as exist in Spanish mysticism owe their 
presence to the character and tendency of the place and time and are 
easily discernable. 

Theresa and John with their followers had watched and been horri- 
fied by the gradual spread of heresy over the whole of northern Europe. 
The Inquisition, and perhaps the temperament of the Spanish people, 
made an effectual barrier to its taking root in their country, but they 
were keen enough to see the reasons for its tremendous success in other 
lands ; they realized that it was the inevitable reaction against the materi- 
alism and abuses of the Church which were as widespread in their own 
country as in any other. So they set themselves strenuously to combat 
the growing decadence of the religious spirit, cherishing the dream that 
if they could but vitalize time-worn ceremonies and beliefs with the 
magnetism of their own lofty idealism, Catholicism might not only main- 
tain her ground against her enemies, but regain what she had lost. 
Ignatius Loyala, who was another of the marvellous products of this 
century, cast off his armour and hung up his arms to enter the Church 
and fight the battles of the Lord instead of his foretime earthly master. 
Carrying into the religious field the precepts and ideals of militarianism, 
he formed a company to fight for Jesus whose by-word should be that 
perfect obedience which is the keystone of military discipline. A superb 
ideal, which did superb work, until weak human nature corrupted his 
organization into what history knows as the Society of the Jesuits. 

But in their several ways this inspired and intrepid handful of 
devout souls, with a courage and persistence which is beyond all praise; 
against odds which seemed more than hopeless; without money, without 
power, without knowledge, without influence, without any of the weapons 
which are deemed necessary for such a campaign, almost reconverted 
Spain, reinvigorated the religious life of the people, kept back heresy, 
and founded societies and institutions which have a vigorous life to this 
day. Indeed, I think the chief lesson of their lives is the wonderful 
work that may be done by single individuals armed with nothing what- 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 155 

ever but a depth of devotion that is never dismayed, never discouraged, 
never cast down. 

Of Alcantara I shall not say much, but to give a picture of the 
man, I quote from St. Theresa's Autobiography, "...For forty years 
(he told me) he had slept but one hour in the twenty- four, and that the 
worst penence he had suffered in the beginning was to conquer sleep, for 
which purpose he always remained standing or on his knees. When he 
slept it was in a sitting posture, his head against a wooden board fixed 
in the wall; his cell, which was not, as it known, more than four and 

a half feet long, not admitting of his lying down He very often ate 

only once in three days. And he asked me why I was astonished? 
saying that it was very possible for one accustomed to it. His companion 
told me that it happened to him sometimes to go without food for eight 
days. It must have been when he was absorbed in prayer, for he was 
wrapped away in great ecstacies and impetuosities of love of God, of 
which I myself was once a witness. His poverty was extreme, during 
his youth, such his mortification that he told me had been three years 
in a house of his Order, and only knew the friars by their voice; for 
he never raised his eyes, and he did not know the way to the places where 

he was obliged to go, but followed the friars. The same on journeys 

He was very old when first I knew him, and so extreme his weakness, 
that he seemed made of the roots of trees, more than anything else. 
With all his sanctity he was very kind although of few words unless 
he was questioned. And these were very delightful, for his under- 
standing was very fine. And thus I leave him, for his end was like 
his life, he died kneeling." 

Even as we express our disapproval of his austerities we cannot 
fail but admire the qualities possessed by such a man, so far removed 
from our modern spirit. He was a natural leader, one of the highest 
and most influential officers of his Order, into which he breathed some 
of his own fine spirit of self-sacrifice and self-surrender. His physical 
penances, dreadful as they may seem to us now, did not prevent his 
living a life full of useful work for others; indeed, if we can believe 
his biographers, they served to refresh his flagging energies when fatigue 
or any kind of inertia tended to lessen his ability to serve. It was he, 
and others like him, who helped St. Theresa with advice and experience 
during the years when she was finding herself in her convent, and after- 
wards when she was fighting for permission to found her first institution. 

St. Theresa was born March 28, 1515, at Avila, Castile, Spain. 
Her parents belonged to the untitled nobility and were related to most 
of the prominent families of the place. She was her father's favorite 
child, though one of a large family. Her childhood was without incident, 
although her religious biographers try to discover strange and wonderful 
portents in some infantile escapades. Much, for instance, is made of the 



I 5 4 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

fact that she is said to have started off for Africa in order to be mar- 
tyred, when six years of age. Her uncle discovered her trudging vali- 
antly along a few miles from home and brought her back. As a matter 
of fact she seems to have lived the ordinary life of a young Spanish 
girl of good family until her fifteenth year when she was sent to a con- 
vent for protection, her mother having died. She remained there for 
several years and grew fond of the life. The convent itself was lax, 
while she, not being a nun, had much more liberty than when at home. 
She saw her friends, joined in all sorts of gaities, would appear to have 
had an innocent love affair, until about 17, when she had a very severe 
illness, during which her life was several times despaired of. She left 
the convent and spent most of the next year searching health. 

The idea that she should devote herself to a religious life would 
appear to have entered her mind for the first time when on a journey to a 
health resort. She broke her journey at the home of her uncle, a very 
religious man, who lent her some books of devotion which made a great 
impressed upon her. Shortly after this she announced to her father her 
determination to enter a convent. He positively refused his consent. 
It is now for the first time that we get a taste of the quality of the 
woman, for in a matter-of-fact way she adds, in her biography, that 
this did not worry her over much, for she had never in her whole life 
failed to carry out any matter that involved herself, and upon which 
she had once made up her mind. This is the sort of stuff of which 
saints are made. One of her most marked characteristics was her 
indomitable will. It conquered her own nature just as it conquered all 
her relatives and friends, and all her ecclesiastical superiors. There is 
no evidence that she ever met anybody whom she did not shortly dom- 
inate by sheer strength of will. Naturally this made her relations 
with her confessors and spiritual directors exceedingly complicated and 
at times almost comical, for most of them were very much afraid of 
her and did not dare tell her things they thought she would not want 
them to say. 

She took the veil when 18 years old, in 1533. She had another ill- 
ness shortly afterwards, which finally became so serious that she left 
the convent for her father's house, where she remained for over a year. 
Then she returned to the convent and was there continuously for 25 years, 
during which there were no external happenings in her life worth chron- 
icalling. But it was the period of her interior growth, and as she has 
left us a full account of it, there is much that could be said. 

Theresa was in certain respects unlike the proverbial poet; she was 
not a born mystic, but made herself one. It is a most illuminating 
study to trace out the slow development of her inner nature during her 
25 years of training. It is also a matter of great encouragement to 
others who are trying to tread in her footsteps to know that she started 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 15$ 

the battle with less rather than more of the qualifications which make 
for success. She had no education. She had read but few books. The 
life in her little mountain town was narrow and circumscribed and 
contact with it could not give her any of the culture or training which 
comes from rubbing against the world. Indeed one could hardly im- 
agine a subject less likely to attain success in the most difficult of all 
pursuits than this little Spanish nun, shut in by the four walls of her 
narrow convent, and with no opportunities to learn the lessons of life 
either from books or her fellow beings. 

So it is absorbingly interesting to watch the slow and sure de- 
velopment of her character; how she took up and conquered first one 
fault and then another; how she dominated her lower nature by rig- 
orous discipline, by persistence, by courage, by indomitable will. 
Nothing discouraged her. The years passed by, and still she kept at 
the work of self -conquest. Middle age came and went, but the final 
battle was still to be won. She conquered her pride; she conquered her 
vanity, she conquered her lower will; she learned obedience, humility 
and some measure of meekness and self-surrender. She learned how to 
pray; she practiced meditation: not the prayer and meditation of theo- 
logical routine, but the real and very practical inner gifts which also go 
by those names. 

Then, when almost in despair, because of the contradictory advice 
given her by her spiritual directors, while engaged in the deepest medi- 
tation, she heard a voice which was not a voice, and which said, "I 
no longer wish thee to converse with men, but with angels." She speaks 
of "being seized with a rapture so sudden that it almost carried me 
beyond myself." This was the first of the divine "locutions" which from 
this period were frequently to recur and which hereafter were the 
guide of her life. No mystic has left so complete and subtile an analysis 
of "interior hearing" as St. Theresa and it is worth quoting her own 
words to get her impressions at first hand. 

She describes them as "words very clearly formed, not heard by the 
bodily hearing, but impressed on the understanding much more clearly 
than if they were so heard, in spite of all resistance it is impossible 
to fail to understand them." She is careful to distinguish between 
what we would call activity of the psychic faculties and true spiritual 
communication. She also mentions a third kind of "hearing" wherein 
the soul is both agent and recipient, speaking to itself, as it were; 
and she says that experience alone can distinguish between the different 
kinds. With the lower varieties of inner hearing the words are muffled and 
indistinct, entirely devoid of the clearness which belongs alone to those 
of a supernatural and divine origin. "The operation of the latter on 
the soul is instantaneous : they prepare, redress, soften, give light, rejoice, 
and soothe; it seems as if her dryness, fear and restlessness were dissi- 



156 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

pated by an invisible hand. In this case they are no longer mere words, 
but operate with the potentiality of action. Between them and the illu- 
sions of the imagination there is the same difference as between hearing 
and speaking. In the latter the understanding is actively engaged arrang- 
ing what it is going to say whilst in the former she is inactive and 
absorbed in listening. The one is like a vague conversation heard in 
sleep. The other is a voice so clear that it is 'impossible to lose a syllable 
it utters, and it comes at times when the understanding and the soul 
are so restless and distraught that it would be impossible for them to 
succeed in concocting a single good idea.' "* 

When these interior experiences first began she told of them at once 
to her confessor. He promptly informed her that they were sent by the 
devil and that she should make the sign of the cross and exorcise him. 
She obeyed as she obeyed always all the commands of her ecclesiastical 
superiors and one of the greatest griefs of her after life was to think 
how she had acted towards the Master who was helping her, treating him 
as if he were the evil one. Perhaps one of the most interesting things 
in her whole history is that when the inner guide told her to do some- 
thing which was countermanded by her spiritual director the voice within 
invariably told her to obey, for that was her duty, and that it would 
all come out right, as he would see to it that her orders were counter- 
manded. And so, sooner or later, her confessor would have a change 
of heart and would raise his interdiction. This happened many times. 

She had a very difficult situation to meet, however, and for a time 
there was actual danger that the Inquisition might discipline her. There 
had been a number of cases of fraud in the Church, people who 
pretended to visions and spiritual experiences, when, as a matter of fact, 
they had none, and the powers in the Church were very chary in giving 
countenance to such happenings. It was not until several of the leading 
lights in the Church had visited Avila, and after meeting and talking 
with Theresa had given her their support, that her immediate superiors 
found courage to accept her visions and experiences as real. 

Her life is divisible into four periods. Her childhood ; the 25 years 
of preparation in the convent ; before the beginning of her inner life ; the 
next seven years, also passed in the convent during which she was absorb- 
ing the rich life of the spirit as it was revealed to her by her visions; and 
then the 15 years of her active ministry in the world, when she accom- 
plished her practical work of founding and managing convents and mon- 
asteries and reforming her Order. Her first definite interior communica- 
tion was received when she was 42, and it was not until she was nearly 
50 that she started her active outer work. This period of seven years, 
which is the most instructive part of her life to us, was an almost 
constant battle with her confessors, but it ended in their becoming one 

*Lifc of St. Theresa of Jesus: by G. C. Graham. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 157 

and all her devoted admirers and followers. Her own description of 
this period is intensely vivid and is well worth the most careful perusal 
by anyone interested in the inner life, for no one has left so careful and 
so full an analysis of these rare experiences. She had an unusual 
gift for discriptive writing of this character; no mood or activity of the 
soul being too subtile for her powers of analysis. 

Many of her own devotional writings are very valuable, as they 
should be if we accept her own testimony as to their real author, and I see 
much intrinsic evidence that she told the truth. There is said to be a 
peculiar rhythm to all communications which really do come from the inner 
spiritual plane. If this be so, I will let my readers be the judge of the 
source of the following. "Have no fear, daughter, for it is I, and I 
will not desert thee; fear not." "Already have I told thee to enter as 
thou canst. Oh, ambition of humanity, that thinkest that even earth shall 
be wanting, how many times have I slept under the dew of heaven, 
because I had no where to lay my head." 

G. C. Graham, who has written one of the best recent biographies 
of St. Theresa, speaks thus of her Treatise of Prayer: "Perhaps no 
stranger or more wonderful book has even been penned than this guide 
to prayer of the Castilian nun, who bares her breast and lays open the 
secrets of her soul in the hushed silence of the confessional. For, what- 
ever she thought afterwards, when she had become great and famous, she 
never dreamed that she was writing a world-famous book, or that her 
words would ever be seen by any other eyes than those of her confessor, or 
perhaps of that little body of persons immediately around her, who had 
bound themselves to love each other in Christ. 

"With wonderful power, force of imagery, and fervour, she explores 
the hidden recesses of her soul, and follows the subtle workings of com- 
plex moods and sentiments whose origin and nature she may often have 
misunderstood and misinterpreted in the interests of the supernatural, but 
which she has defined and analysed with rare skill." 

But to turn to the book itself. Who has ever described the workings 
of Kundalini, the spiritual force of aspiration, more clearly and more 
beautifully. "The flight of the spirit is something (I know not what to 
call it) which rises up from the interior of the soul. It seems to me that 
the soul and the spirit are one and the same thing; like a fire, which, 
burning quickly, throws up a flame which ascends on high, although it 
is the same fire which burns beneath, and although the flame leaps up, 
the fire below ceases not to burn. So the soul seems to generate from 
within itself, a thing so volatile and delicate, which leaps above with 
a movement so rapid, going wither the Lord wills, that I know not 
better how to compare it than to flight." 

She does not disguise the difficulties which confront one who would 
learn the interior way, and she insists many times upon the necessity for 



i$8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

complete self -surrender. "A pleasant way indeed to seek the love of God 
(and immediately we would have it poured out on us without stint, and 
at once, so to speak), to keep out affections even though we do not 
endeavor to gratify our desires ; and longing at the same time to receive 
many spiritual consolations, never to succeed in raising them above the 
earth. The two cannot be reconciled. In the same way as we cannot 
make up our minds to give ourselves entirely, so neither is this treasure 

given us in all its fullness If the beginner perseveres in his struggle 

towards the summit of perfection, he never travels the road to heaven 
alone, but like a good captain he bears along many others in his company. 
The difficulties to be faced are so great that it needs not a little courage 
to persevere, and much and great help from God. It is Calvary from 
the beginning. Christ himself pointed out the road of perfection, when 
he said, "Take thy cross and follow me !" 

She likens the soul to a garden and our efforts to eradicate faults 
and acquire virtues to the weeding, watering and cultivation of the 
ground. There are four ways of watering it; to draw it ourselves 
from the well, the most laborious of all; or by means of a water-wheel 
which draws more water with less labor than the other way; or by 
means of a stream running through the garden; or, finally, by the rain 
which falls from Heaven itself and waters the ground without any 
effort at all upon the part of the husbandman. She compares these to 
the four methods of prayer and as she develops her allegory she 
describes these four methods in graphic and yet simple words which 
drive home her meaning in the clearest manner. 

In the first state of prayer the beginner draws the water from the 
well with labor and trouble, struggling to recall and collect contumacious 
senses and thoughts accustomed to wander. "If we go to the well and 
find it dry, we must still struggle on and do our best, leaving it to God 
to preserve the flowers and increase the growth of our virtues without 
water. What shall he do who sees his effort end in aridity, distaste, 
despair? who feels such reluctance to go to the well, that if it were not 
for the thought of the service and pleasure he is doing thereby to the 
owner of the garden, together with what he himself hopes to gain by his 
wearisome labor of lowering the bucket to draw it up empty, he would 
abandon it in despair? who very often is unable even to do this, so 
powerless his arms to raise it, so helpless his understanding to think 
one good thought? What then must he do? Shall he give way to 
discouragement? No! he will rather be joyful and comforted, for 
his purpose is not to please himself. Let him please the great Emperor 
of the garden, who sees how, without payment, he is careful of his 
trust, and resolutely determine, although the dryness be lifelong, not 
to leave Christ to fall down under the Cross alone." 

In the succeeding grades of prayer the labor of the gardener (the 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 159 

Soul) is gradually lessened until it ceases altogether. In the second 
state of prayer when the water is drawn up by means of the Moorish 
water-wheel, the gardener with less labor draws up a greater quantity 
and thus, freed from the necessity of continuous toil, finds time to rest. 
This is the prayer of quiet. 

"Here the soul begins to retire within herself, here she already 
touches something supernatural, for in no way can she herself acquire it, 
however great her effort. It is true that for some time it seems that she 
has been tired with turning round the wheel and working with the 
understanding, until the jars were full; but in this state the water 
is higher and the labor much less than when she drew it from the 
well; I mean that the water is nearer for the soul has a clearer per- 
ception of grace. This is a gathering of the faculties within themselves 
so as to more thoroughly to enjoy that great content, although they are 
neither lost (suspended) nor do they sleep; the will alone is occupied 

in such a way that, without knowing how, she is taken captive The 

other two powers (the understanding or imagination and memory) aid 
the will to become better able to enjoy so much wealth; yet sometimes 
it happens that even though the will be united, they hinder her; but 
when this happens let her not pay any attention to them, but remain in 
her joy and quiet." 

In this state, prayer becomes easy and ceases to tire. The soul 
loses its longing for earthly things, which is small credit to it, for it 
ceases to value them once it is able to compare them with interior 
delights. 

The third way the garden is watered is by the running stream. 
Here the Master comes himself and does the gardening whilst the 
Soul stands by: The will consents to the favors it enjoys and must 
resign itself to all that Divine Wisdom desires for it; and for this 
courage is needed. All effort of the understanding ceases. "It is a 
sleep of the faculties, which are not entirely suspended, nor yet 
do they understand how they work. The delight, sweetness and joy 
are incomparably greater than in the last state; it is as if the water 
of grace was poured down the soul's throat, so that she cannot go 
forward nor turn back, but rejoices in unspeakable glory." It is 
not yet a complete union of all the faculties with God, but is more 
complete than in the former states. 

In the first state the will alone is bound and in a condition of 
bliss, whilst the understanding and memory are left free to occupy 
themselves with the ordinary affairs of life. In the second state both 
will and understanding are bound and only memory is free to disturb 
their union; deprived of the help of the understanding, memory cannot 
remain quiet, but flits about like a moth of the night, restless and impor- 
tunate. She advises that no more attention should be paid to it than 



160 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

to a madman, but like him, it must be left to pursue its theme. 
In the third state the memory too is quieted and bound, and the soul 
is left entirely free to enjoy divine communion. In this the glory and 
peace enjoyed by the soul are so great that the body shares in the 
delights and the growth in virtue is very great. All sensation is lost 
in a joy which the soul is not able to understand, all faculties are so 
occupied in this joy that none remain free to busy itself with any exterior 
thing. 

The fourth state of prayer beggars description. It is a complete 
union with and absorption in God that cannot be described in words, but 
the significant effect of such union, as pictured by Theresa is that the 
Soul returns filled with a longing for service and the dlesire to repay 
some of the wealth of love and help which has been lavished upon it. 
"The soul has now become strong and is chosen by God to benefit others. 
Little by little the Lord communicates very great secrets to it." 

This very inadequate account of her Method of Prayer, almost in 
Tier own words, even when not quoted, may give some idea of her 
peculiar style, as well as the general character of her teaching. It does 
not differ materially from other mystical processes except in the figures 
of speech which she employs, and even the water symbol is not original 
with her, for it was used as far back as the time of St. Augustine. But 
what is marked is her sureness of touch. She is obviously writing about 
things which she knows well from personal experience, and it is that 
confidence and surety which gives the greatest value to her teaching. 
We feel that we may follow her without fear because she has traveled the 
road herself and knew the way. 

Her Autobiography and other books were nearly all written during 
the seven years period already referedi to, for at its close she was too 
l)usy with outer work to have much time for composition. Into this 
fourth period we shall not attempt to follow her. She spent 
the last fifteen years of her life in almost incessant travel, from one con- 
vent to another, founding or reforming as the case might be. She 
died on the 4th of October, 1582, and was beatified by Paul V in 1614. 
Her body was cut into small pieces and distributed all over the Catholic 
world to be venerated to this day by the faithful. She became the 
patron saint of Spain and by many is considered to have been the 
greatest light in the Church after the immediate followers of Christ 
and the early Fathers. 

There remains one more figure to sketch into our picture before 
we can have an outline of the Spanish mystics, St. John of the Cross. 
Born in 1533, he was 18 years younger than Theresa, and lived nine 
years after her. He carried on the spirit of her work more completely 
than anyone else, and lived to accomplish several of the things which 
death prevented her from finishing. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 161 

John seemed to have been born without the usual faults and weak- 
nesses of human nature. Serene and passionless, gentle and high-souled, 
he moves forward to his appointed destiny unmoved by the glamour and 
allurements of the world against which his less fortunate brothers must 
fight so hard a battle. He was one of the most able and successful 
of all teachers of Novices and, in his The Dark Night of the Soul and 
other books he has left us a complete account of his method. It is too 
flowery for our modern taste; his figures of speech, his metaphors and 
allegories, almost conceal the depth of spiritual wisdom which, never- 
theless, gleams like a hidden diamond from the midst of his verbiage. 

He had a hard time of it. Most saints did. Twice imprisoned for 
his too faithful adherence to St. Theresa's principles, when his fatal 
illness overtook him, he was given permission to go and die in either 
of two monasteries. True even at the point of death to his ideals, he 
unhesitatingly chose the monastery which had for its prior his most 
inveterate enemy, and he died after meekly suffering the most cruel 
and ignominious treatment from him. As he lay on his deathbed, the 
bells rang out for matins. He asked what it was and when they told 
him, he said, "I am going to sing mine in Heaven." And then adding, 
"Into Thy Hands, oh Lord, I commend my spirit," he sank back and 
died. 

JOHN BLAKE. 



"We cannot have happiness until we forget to seek for it; we can- 
not find peace until we enter the path of self-sacrificing usefulness." 

HENRY VAN DYKE. 



Put the same spirit into every homely duty that you put into your 
meditations. 

OCCULT APHORISMS. 



You are your own worst enemy. When you learn that you live 
day by day and hour by hour with the ivorst enemy you will ever have 
to face, you will no longer fear. 

OCCULT APHORISMS. 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE. 



I. 

One of the purposes of the Theosophical Society is to pursue the 
comparative study of religions, with a view to making clear the inherent 
spiritual truths which underlie all religions. Few books offer a more 
promising field for this method than does the Apocalypse, known in 
English as "The Revelation of Saint John the Divine." Taken alone, 
this book is an almost insoluble enigma, so much so that it has been 
more than once proposed that it should be excluded from the canon 
of scripture. But taken together with other works of the same class, 
of which there are some in every religion, its enigmas are found to 
resolve themselves, yielding clear and valuable spiritual truths. 

The first motive of the Apocalypse is John's vision of the Logos. 
And we shall do well to keep in mind that "the Logos" is peculiarly 
John's expression for the Divine Man. Not only is this so in the open- 
ing passage of the Gospel: "In the beginning was the Logos, and the 
Logos was with God, and the Logos was God . . . And the Logos was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory 
as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and peace;" but 
John uses the same phrase in the Epistles : "That which was in the begin- 
ning...^ Logos of Life; and the Life was manifested, and we have 
seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal Life, which 
was with the Father, and was manifested unto us ;" and we find the same 
expression in the Apocalypse: "And he was clothed with a vesture 
dipped in blood : and his name is called The Logos of God." This bears 
out, what we have ample reason for believing, that the Gospel, the 
Epistles and the Apocalypse are all the work of the same seer, the 
"beloved disciple" John. 

John was not the originator of this expression: the Logos. It is 
generally admitted that he took it from Philo Judaeus (circa B. C. 20 
A. D. 50) of Alexandria, who in turn found it used by the Stoics and 
Plato. Philo was one of those who, like Plutarch, Synesius and lambli- 
chus, was strongly tinged with the Egyptian spirit; and John's 
use of this expression, the Logos, brings him into touch with the 
mystical life of Egypt. In his philosophical, and we may add eminently 
theosophical writings, Philo develops the teaching of Plato, that all 
manifested things have their divine originals, their prototypes, which 
Plato called Ideas. Philo called these same divine originals, or prin- 
ciples, Logoi, and taught, with Plato, that the world-process consists 
162 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 163 

in the orderly manifestation of these Logoi, under the forms of created 
things with which we are familiar. Philo further taught that these 
Logoi were summed up in a single collective Life, the host of the Logoi, 
to which, as a unity, he gave the name Logos. This collective Logos, 
Host of the divine Thought, stands above the manifested world, and 
through the Logos the eternal Deity works and becomes manifest. 

John teaches exactly the same thing: "The Logos was in the begin- 
ning with God; all things came into being through the Logos." And 
John further recognizes his Master, Jesus, as being the incarnation of 
the Logos, the manifestation of the divine Man in human form. This 
teaching of the incarnation of the divine Man is as old as our knowl- 
edge. There is no period of which we have a record, where we do not 
find exactly the same doctrine, in almost identical terms. It was taught 
in Egypt long before the time of the First Dynasty. It was taught in 
the Euphrates valley, among the Sumerians, whom we may call the 
ancient Chaldeans. It was taught in the hymns of the Rig Veda, and 
in all later periods of Indian religion. The Logos became incarnate in 
two ways : primordially, in the divine manifestation which we call the 
world; and subsequently, in certain divine personages, who bore the 
message of Divinity to the world. 

We therefore find that the main theme of the Apocalypse is this 
world-old doctrine of the Logos, the divine Thought, the divine Man, 
both as the collective Spirit above life, and as specially made manifest 
in the incarnation of the Master, Jesus. Further, the theme of the 
Apocalypse is John's own vision of the Logos; a divine event, or series 
of events, through which he entered into the consciousness of the Logos, 
or became conscious of the Logos; and the Apocalypse is the record of 
the truths which were thus made known to him. John's own words are : 

"I, John, who also am your brother . . . was in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day, and heard behind me a great Voice, as of a trumpet, saying, 
I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, 
write in a book . . . And I turned to see the Voice that spake with me. 
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst 
of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a 
garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his 
eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if 
they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 
And he had in his right hand seven stars : and out of his mouth went a 
sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in 
his strength. 

"And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his 
right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the 
last : I am he that Hveth, and was dead ; and behold, I am alive for ever- 



164 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things 
which thou hast seen..." 

John is further told that the "seven stars" are the spirits of the 
seven churches, and that the "seven candlesticks" are the seven churches ; 
or, as we may say, the "seven stars" are seven powers or principles 
of the Logos, and the "seven candlesticks" or "seven churches" are the 
embodied or manifested forms of these principles. This symbolism is 
carried out with great beauty and consistency, in the addresses to the 
seven churches. In each case, one title or attribute of the Logos is 
mentioned, and with it is associated a certain spiritual power to be 
gained by overcoming a defined barrier or obstacle. 

Thus we have, first, the aspect of the Logos as "he that holdeth 
the seven stars in his right hand." With this is associated the virtue, 
patience, and the sin, inconstancy; and finally the reward of victory: 
"to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is 
in the midst of the paradise of God." 

The second aspect of the Logos is, "the first and the last, which 
was dead and is alive;" the virtue, endurance of tribulation; the sin, 
blasphemy; the reward: "be thou faithful unto death, and I will give 
thee a crown of life." And there follows a noteworthy phrase, to which 
we shall return: "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second 
death." 

The third aspect of the Logos is, "he that hath the sharp sword with 
two edges;" the virtue is "fidelity even in Satan's seat;" the sin is false 
understanding, "which thing I hate;" the reward is: "to him that over- 
cometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white 
stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth 
saving he that receiveth it." 

The fourth aspect of the Logos is, "the son of God, who hath his 
eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;" the 
virtue is charity, pure love; the sin is lust; the reward, "he that over- 
cometh, to him will I give power over the nations." 

The fifth aspect of the Logos is, "he that hath the seven Spirits 
of God and the seven stars;" the virtue is purity; the sin, defilement, 
a false life "thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead;" the 
reward is: "he that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment, and 
I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess 
his name before my Father, and before his angels." 

The sixth aspect of the Logos is, "he that is holy, he that is true, 
he that hath the key of David ('the beloved'), he that openeth, and no 
man shutteth ; and that shutteth, and no man openeth" ; the virtue is 
fidelity, "thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name" "hold 
that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown"; the sin is 
lying and deceit ; the reward, "him that overcometh will I make a pillar 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 165 

in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write 
upon him the name of my God, and my new name." 

The seventh aspect of the Logos is, "the Amen, the faithful and 
true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;" the virtue is ear- 
nest repentance, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man 
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup 
with him, and he with me." The renewal of life, the transformation, the 
transfer of allegiance called "repentance," is further symbolized thus: 
"thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of 
nothing; and knowest not that thou are wretched, and miserable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in 
the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest 
be clothed, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." 
It is impossible not to be struck with the resemblance to the more 
familiar passage, in the Sermon on the Mount: "lay not up for your- 
selves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves 
treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves do not break through nor steal." 

Following this suggestion, it will be profitable to compare in detail 
the sevenfold regeneration above associated with the seven aspects of 
the Logos, not only with the Sermon on the Mount, but also with other 
tracts of regeneration, such as the Seven Portals, in The Voice of the 
Silence. Enough has been said to make it clear that we are con- 
cerned with a new birth from above, which brings immortality, initiat- 
ing the new-born into a spiritual life, where he is spoken of as "clad in 
white raiment," and having a "new name," whereby he i-s made known 
to "the Father and his angels." 

Let us for a moment draw a comparison with the teaching of Paul, 
who says: "I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew 
a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I can- 
not tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) ; such 
an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man (whether 
in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth) ; how that 
he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it 
is not lawful for a man to utter." 

No doubt it was in the light of the spiritual experience here 
referred to, that Paul was able to describe the great regeneration, in 
the well-known passage: "There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial 
bodies : ... So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in cor- 
ruption; it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour; it is raised 
in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a 
psychic body ; it is raised a spiritual body . . . the first man is of the 



166 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

earth, earthy : the second man is the Lord from heaven . . . Behold I shew 
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." 

In the Apocalypse, John is writing of the same transformation from 
the psychical body to the spiritual body, "the new man, the Lord from 
heaven." John considers this transformation as accomplished in seven 
degrees, which he associates with seven powers of the Logos. The fruit 
of victory is immortality, in a spiritual realm, which he, like Paul, speaks 
of as paradise. 

II. 

After the "Address to the seven churches," John records a further 
vision of the Logos: 

"After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: 
and the first Voice which I heard was as it were a trumpet talking with 
me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which 
must be hereafter. 

"And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was 
set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look 
upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round 
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. 

"And round about the throne were four and twenty seats : and upon 
the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment; 
and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne 
proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven 
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the Seven Spirits 
of God. 

"And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: 
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four 

Lives, full of eyes before and behind And the first Life was like a 

lion, and the second Life was like a calf, and the third Life had a face 
as a man, and the fourth Life was like a flying eagle. And the four 
Lives had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of 
eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, 
Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. 

"And when those Lives give glory and honour and thanks to him 
that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the four and 
twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship 
him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the 
throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour 
and power; For thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they 
are and were created." 

These last words show that John's teaching of the creative Logos 
is exactly that of the mystical religions of Egypt and the East. 

One cannot fail to be struck with the recurrence of the number 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 167 

seven: the seven stars, seven lamps, seven spirits, seven seals. It is 
interesting to note that the attendants of the Logos, the Four Lives, 
and four and twenty elders, again make four groups of seven. It is 
further said that the four angels stand "on the four corners of the earth," 
thus associating the Four Lives with the four cardinal points, like the 
Four Maharajas, in Eastern mysticism. We shall, therefore, have, as 
the divine hierarchy around and beneath the Logos, four groups of 
seven, associated with north, south, east and west; one of the Four 
Lives being the regent of each group. This vision of the divine hierarchy 
in seven ascending degrees, up to the Logos, is in complete harmony 
with Eastern teachings. 

A later chapter beautifully supplements this description of the 
divine hierarchy: 

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could 
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood 
before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation 
to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 

"And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the 
elders and the Four Lives, and fell before the throne on their faces, 
and worshipped God, saying: 

"Amen : Blessing, and Glory, and Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, and 
Honour, and Power, and Might, be unto our God for ever and ever, 
Amen. 

"And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these 
which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said 
unto him, Master, thou knowest. 

"And he said to me, These are they which have come out of great 
tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the 
blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the 
throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For 
the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall 
lead them unto living fountains 'of waters : and God shall wipe away 
all tears from their eyes." 

John is evidently here describing the assembly of those who have 
passed through the great transformation; who have been reborn from 
above ; who have passed from the psychical to the spiritual body ; purify- 
ing the psychic body, and thus "washing their robes in the blood of the 
Lamb," the spiritual power and life of the Logos, "for the blood is the 
life." This is the same symbolism as that of certain Buddhist ascetics, 
who wear red robes "of the color of the sunset." 

We can clearly see, therefore, that the main theme of the Apocalypse 



168 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

is the great life of the Logos, in its sevenfold glory, typified by the 
seven powers above enumerated between the two Amens; and John is 
primarily concerned with a description of regeneration, initiation into 
the life of the Logos, and consequent admission into the company of 
the divine hierarchy, in its seven degrees, under the Four Lives. Those 
who are thus admitted wear "white robes," they are immortal, and "go 
no more out"; and all tears are wiped away from their eyes. We can- 
not fail to recall the words: "Before the eyes can see, they must be 
incapable of tears:" strongly suggested also by the words recorded by 
John : "Anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see." 

There is also a close analogy between the words: "Before the soul 
can stand in the presence of the Masters, its feet must be washed in 
the blood of the heart," and the regenerate whose robes have been 
washed in the blood of the Lamb, and who stand before the throne, in 
the presence of the elders. 

III. 

The symbolism used by John in describing the sevenfold Logos and 
the Four Lives was not created by him. We find it used some centuries 
before our era by Ezekiel. And in Ezekiel we also have a noteworthy 
suggestion as to the source from which he in his turn drew it: "in the 
land of the Chaldeans, by the river of Chebar, the heavens were opened, 
and I saw visions of God." This carries us back to the region described 
in Genesis: "Babylon, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, and Shinar," 
names well known in the ancient history of the Euphrates and Tigris 
valleys. 

Ezekiel thus describes his vision: 

"I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great 
cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out 
of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the 
fire. Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living 
creatures. And this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a 
man. And everyone had four faces, and everyone had four wings . . . 
their wings were joined one to another... as for the likeness of their 
faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right 
side: and they four had the faces of an ox on the left side; they four 
also had the face of an eagle... and as for the likeness of the living 
creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the 
appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures, 
and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went lightning. And the 
living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of light- 
ning . . . 

"And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living; 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 169 

creatures was as the color of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over 
their heads above . . . 

"And above the firmament that was over their heads was the like- 
ness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the 
likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above 
upon it. And I saw the color of amber, as the appearance of fire round 
about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and 
from the appearance of his loins even downward. I saw as it were the 
appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 

"And as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day 
of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This 
was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. 

"And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of 
one that spake. And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, 
and I will speak unto thee. And the spirit entered into me when he 
spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spake 
unto me." 

Here again we are reminded of the words: "Before the soul can 
stand..." 

IV. 

In the book of Daniel, we have yet another description of the same 
vision. Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel, and like him shared 
the captivity "in the land of the Chaldeans." We are further told that 
Daniel was chosen, as a child "in whom was no blemish, but well 
favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and 
understanding science," to be taught "the learning and the tongue of 
the Chaldeans." 

We find Daniel's vision thus described: "In the first year of Bel- 
shazzar, king of Babylon (circa B. C. 555), Daniel saw a dream and 
visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the 
sum of the words. Daniel spake and said: 

"I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the 
heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up 
from the sea, diverse one from another. . . 

"And I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of 
days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his 
head like pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels 
as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him : 
thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten 
thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were 
opened . . . 

"I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and 
given to the burning flame . . . 

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man 



i;o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and 
they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, 
and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should 
serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not 
pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 

"And I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body 
(or, sheath), and the visions of my head troubled me. I came near 
unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. 
So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things ..." 

Some twenty years later, "in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia" 
(circa B. C. 534), Daniel saw another vision, as he was "by the side 
of the great river, which is Hiddekel (Tigris)": 

"I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed 
in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz : his body also 
was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his 
eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to 
polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. . . 
When I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my 
face, and my face was toward the ground. And behold, an hand touched 
me . . . and he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, under- 
stand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright . . . and, 
behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips : then 
I opened my mouth and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, 
O my Master, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I 
have retained no strength. For how can this servant of my Master 
talk with this my Master ? . . . then there came again and touched me one 
like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and he said, O 
man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be 
strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and 
said, Let my Master speak; for thou hast strengthened me." 

One cannot fail to be struck with the likeness of this vision to 
that which John records perhaps six centuries later: "one like unto 
the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the front, and girt 
about the paps with a golden girdle..." And John's vision of him 
whose "hairs were white like wool, as white of snow," is evidently one 
with Daniel's vision of "the Ancient of days, whose garment was white 
as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool." 

This title, the Ancient, is also well known in the Indian books of 
wisdom : "the immemorial Ancient," "the Ancient, the Seer," are phrases 
used for the Logos in the Bhagavad Gita. 

V. 

There is yet another source of the same symbolism: the Book of 
Enoch. That this book was familiar to the disciples of Jesus, we learn 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 171 

from the epistle which immediately precedes the Apocalypse, the Epistle 
of Jude, the brother of James. Jude writes: 

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, 
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to 
execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among 
them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and 
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against 
him." 

The Zohar also, one of the ancient books of the Kabbala of the 
Hebrews, speaks of the Book of Enoch, considering it a genuine mystical 
book of high antiquity. 

The name of Enoch is known to us primarily from the early chapters 
of Genesis, where we are told that Enoch lived "three hundred sixty and 
five years, and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took 
him." This mystical personage, who is evidently connected with the 
cycle of the solar year, belongs to the period before the Deluge; and as 
the story of the Deluge is admittedly Chaldean in origin, we may well 
hold that Enoch also takes us back to ancient Chaldea. 

For centuries, the Book of Enoch was missing. Nothing was 
known of it beyond the mention by Jude, the references in ancient Kab- 
balistic works, and somewhat more recent quotations by Irenaeus, 
Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, and a few other early eccles- 
iastical writers. 

In the year 1773, however, the book of Enoch was rediscovered 
by the traveller Bruce, in the ancient Christian kingdom of Abyssinia, 
which was converted in the fourth century, and retains many Egyptian 
and Coptic traditions. The Abyssinians claim to be the descendants 
of Hebrews who emigrated in the days of Solomon, and at the fall 
of Jerusalem, and they have undoubtedly a very ancient literary and 
religious tradition. The book of Enoch thus recovered contains the 
passage quoted by Jude, practically word for word as he gives it; and 
also many passages quoted, or alluded to, by the ecclesiastical writers 
just mentioned. It is, therefore, undoubtedly the genuine ancient script- 
ure, which was in the hands of the disciples of Jesus : The name "Enoch" 
in Hebrew means "Initiation," and the masters of the Kabbala always 
regarded the book of Enoch as a genuine book of the mysteries. In 
1821 a translation of the book of Enoch was made by Archbishop 
Laurence. In Chapter XIV, we read: 

"A vision thus appeared to me. Behold, in that vision clouds and 
a mist invited me; agitated stars and flashes of lightning impelled and 
pressed me forwards, while winds in the vision assisted my flight, 
accelerating my progress. They elevated me aloft to heaven. I pro- 
ceeded, until I arrived at a wall built with stones of crystal. A vibrating 
flame surrounded it, which began to strike me with terror. Into this 



i;2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

vibrating flame I entered; and drew nigh to a spacious habitation built 
also with stones of crystal. Its walls too, as well as pavement, were 
formed with stones of crystal, and crystal likewise was the ground. Its 
roof had the appearance of agitated stars and flashes of lightning; and 
among them were cherubim of fire in a stormy sky. A flame burned 
around its walls; and its portal blazed with fire. When I entered into 
this dwelling, it was hot as fire and cold as ice. No trace of delight or 
of life was there. Terror overwhelmed me, and a fearful shaking 
seized me. Violently agitated and trembling, I fell upon my face. 

"In the vision I looked, and behold there was another habitation 
more spacious than the former, every entrance to which was open 
before me, erected in the midst of a vibrating flame. So greatly did it 
excel in all points, in glory, in magnificence, and in magnitude, that it 
is impossible to describe to you either the splendor or the extent of it 
Its floor was on fire; above were lightnings and agitated stars, while 
its roof exhibited a blazing fire. 

"Attentively I surveyed it, and saw that it contained an exalted 
throne; the appearance of which was like that of frost; while its cir- 
cumference resembled the orb of the brilliant sun; and there was the 
voice of the cherubim. From underneath this mighty throne rivers of 
flame issued. To look upon it was impossible. 

"One great in glory sat upon it: whose robe was brighter than 
the sun, and whiter than snow. No angel was capable of penetrating 
to view the face of Him, the Glorious and the Effulgent; nor could any 
mortal behold Him. A fire was flaming around Him. A fire also of 
great extent continued to rise up before Him; so that not one of those 
who surrounded Him was capable of approaching Him, among the ten 
thousands and ten thousands who were before Him. And He required 
not holy counsel. Yet did not the sanctified, who were near Him, depart 
far from Him either by night or by day; nor were they removed from 
Him. 

"I also was so far advanced, with a veil on my face, and trembling. 
Then the Lord with his own mouth called me, saying, Approach hither, 
Enoch, at my holy word. And He raised me up, making me draw near 
even to the entrance ..." 

We cannot fail to recall the words of John: "Therefore are they 
before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple." 
Equally close to the words of John is Enoch's description of the tree of 
life: "the fruit of this tree shall be given to the elect. . ." 

Very wonderful also is Enoch's vision of the habitation of the 
saints, who, with the angels, and the holy ones, "were entreating, sup- 
plicating, and praying for the sons of men; while righteousness like 
water flowed before them, and mercy like dew was scattered over the 
earth. And thus shall it be with them for ever and ever. 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 173 

"And at that time my eyes beheld the dwelling of the elect, of 
truth, faith and righteousness. Countless shall be the number of the 
holy and the elect, in the presence of God for ever and for ever. Their 
residence I beheld under the wings of the Lord of spirits. All the holy 
and the elect sang before him, in appearance like a blaze of fire; their 
mouths being full of blessings, and their lips glorifying the name of 
the Lord of spirits. And righteousness incessantly dwelt before him. 

"There was I desirous of remaining, and my soul longed for that 
habitation. There was my portion before; for thus had I prevailed 
before the Lord of spirits. At that time I glorified and extolled the 
name of the Lord of spirits with blessings and with praise; for he has 
established it with blessing, and with praise, according to the will of 
the Lord of spirits. That place long did my eyes contemplate. I blessed 
and said, Blessed be he, blessed from the beginning for ever. In the 
beginning, before the world was created, and without end is his knowl- 
edge. 

"What is this world? Of every existing generation those shall 
bless thee who do not sleep in the dust, but stand before thy glory, bless- 
ing, glorifying, exalting thee, and saying, The holy, holy, Lord of 
Spirits, fills the whole world of spirits. 

"There my eyes beheld all who, without sleeping, stand before him 
and bless him, saying, Blessed be thou, and blessed be the name of 
God for ever and ever. Then my countenance became changed, until 
I was incapable of seeing. 

"After this I beheld thousands of thousands, and ten thousands 
of ten thousands, and an infinite number of people, standing before the 
Lord of spirits. 

"On the four wings likewise of the Lord of spirits, on the four 
-sides, I perceived others, besides those who were standing before 
him. Their names, too, I know; because the angel who proceeded with 
me, declared them to me, discovering to me every secret thing. 

"Then I heard the voices of those upon the four sides magnifying 
the Lord of glory. 

"The first voice blessed the Lord of spirits for ever and ever. 

"The second voice I heard blessing the Elect One, and the elect 
who suffer on account of the Lord of spirits. 

"The third voice I heard petitioning and praying for those who 
dwell upon earth, and supplicate the name of the Lord of spirits. 

"The fourth voice I heard expelling the impious angels, and pro- 
hibiting them from entering into the presence of the Lord of spirits, 
to prefer accusations against the inhabitants of the earth. 

"After this I besought the angel of peace, who proceeded with me, 
to explain all that was concealed ..." 



174 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

One more passage from the book of Enoch, which closely resembles 
the passage quoted from Daniel: 

"There I beheld the Ancient of days, whose head was like white 
wool, and with him another, whose countenance resembled that of man. 
His countenance was full of grace, like one of the holy angels. Then I 
inquired of one of the angels who went with me, and who showed 
every secret thing, concerning this Son of man ; who he was ; whence he 
was; and why he accompanied the Ancient of days. 

"He answered and said to me, This is the Son of man, to whom 
righteousness belongs; with whom righteousness has dwelt; and who 
will reveal all the treasures of that which is concealed: for the Lord of 
spirits has chosen him; and his portion has surpassed all before the 
Lord of spirits. . . 

"And I beheld the Ancient of days, while he sat on the throne of 
his glory, while the book of the living was opened in his presence, and 
while all the powers which were above the heavens stood around and 
before him ..." 

This is exactly like the passage quoted from Daniel; and it is 
difficult to resist the conclusion that the book of Enoch, as it is very 
much fuller and more complete, is the source of the imagery of Daniel, 
and the older of the two. It has the same strong Chaldean color which 
we have already noted in Ezekiel and Daniel, and we are justified in 
saying that all the substance of these books came from the same ancient 
Chaldean source. Behind Chaldea stands yet more ancient Egypt. 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 
(To be continued.) 



"Self-rule is necessary for every religious man. A constant and 
fallacious excuse for sin is, 'It is natural/ There is much that is 'natural/ 
which has to be put aside or treated with great restraint. Nature in its 
'natural' state produces weeds. Man untrained, undisciplined, is over- 
whelmed with sin." W. J. KNOX LITTLE. 



LESSONS IN DAILY LIFE. 



THIS topic seems naturally to divide itself into three parts or 
subjects, viz.: What are these "lessons"? By whom or what 
are they given? Who or what is it that we call "we" that is 
supposed to receive them? 

The broadest and most satisfying scheme of human existence or 
reason for our being here at all, is that compressed in the general propo- 
sition that there is a universal homogeneous "Being" or "It" which some 
call God, others the Absolute, the Infinite, etc.; that for reasons of its 
own, which are in no wise necessary to exploit, or to seek to explain, 
"It" has seen fit to differentiate itself into millions of varied forms, 
states and conditions, one of which is "Man" as we know him. Intelli- 
gence of some quality whether crude or refined probably permeates all 
these manifestations of "It" from Man up and down, but no-one nor 
no-thing can comprehend the intelligence or the office of those whose 
scale of intelligence or greatness is above that of its own, though it may 
understand much or all of that which is below it. 

Confining our study, however, strictly to Man himself and to Man 
within the limits wherein we may modestly claim to Know him; just to 
commonplace us and our friends, what does each of us mean when he 
uses the first personal pronoun "I"? Does he mean on the one hand the 
great all pervading, all comprehensive Infinite, Absolute, God? Does 
he mean on the other hand his head or hand or foot or other member 
or organ or even all of these which together constitute his fleshly body? 
Does he mean the congeries of emotions, virtues, vices, opinions, etc., 
the sum of which go to make what is called his character? It cannot 
be any of these latter or all of them put together, because he always 
refers to them as his possessions, thus implying an "I" who is conscious 
of the sense of possession and of his separateness from the things pos- 
sessed. This "I," this individualized unit of consciousness then, must be 
the real man who, if any, is that which should be regarded as the 
recipient of those so-called "lessons'" of daily life. Let us, then, say that 
"We" are "Souls." We are aware of the Infinite, conscious that we are 
each a part of it, knowing the Father as little children among us know 
their fathers, loyal, trustful, obedient, never even thinking to question 
his wisdom or authority, or enquiring why he is their father or what his 
objects are or wherefore he created them. We are also aware that we 
are functioning in physical bodies and enduring for a few years the ex- 
periences of so-called daily life. These vicissitudes of joy and sorrow, 
of labor and of rest, whence come they and by whom? Need we look 
for their authorship outside of ourselves? 



175 



176 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The first and fundamental lesson of life is that we ourselves, in some 
way, direct or indirect, lay the foundation of every happening of what- 
ever nature that occurs in our life or series of lives. This law is so 
plainly and so frequently set before us that he who runs may read it, 
and only those who are mentally nearsighted can fail to perceive and be 
impressed by its presence. To the souls who have learned this great 
lesson, the series of occurrences which go to make up the panorama of 
daily life are merely detail, and to enumerate and seek to draw illustra- 
tions from these would be but platitude. 

But the mass of the brothers have not yet learned this fundamental 
lesson; they catalogue their aches and pains and sorrows, physical, 
mental, social, financial, usually omit all reference to their joys and 
blessings, and pester themselves and their friends with a continuous 
wail as to why they are thus annoyed. 

It is said that all of our vicious or nasty qualities, such as envy, 
jealousy, hatred, contempt, hypercriticism, etc., are the offspring of one 
or both of two primary moral elements, viz., Anger and Fear; and it 
would equally appear that our virtues, such as honesty, gentleness, cour- 
tesy, chivalry, self-restraint, etc., have for their parents the -elements of 
Love and Confidence (faith). All the proceedings and experiences of 
our daily lives bear upon or are colored by one or another of the varia- 
tions of these two pairs of primary moral elements, the one representing 
the good, the progressive, the constructive, the other standing for the 
bad, the retrogressive, the destructive. These lessons of daily life come 
to us every hour, every minute, they are legion in number and infinite 
in divergence; our lives are filled with them; our lives are composed of 
them in a word they are our lives. And all these minor lessons but lead 
up to the great, the fundamental, the final lesson, the lesson of self 
dependence, Self control, and SELF consciousness. "We" then, each of 
us, having clothed himself in a physical body, itself provided with an 
emotional sounding board, as it were, and armed ourselves with a mental 
interpreter; having duly matriculated in this school of life and adopted 
its curriculum, let us accept its lessons gracefully, earnestly, scrutinizing 
each to cull the essence of its meaning, repeating and repeating those 
whose significance does not at once reveal itself, nor wasting the time 
of our school term by fatuous complaint or captious criticism ; never 
worrying as to why the school was founded or why we must attend. 

With our books under our arms like young children, for most of 
us are but very young children, let us cheerfully enter upon each daily 
session of the school of life, expecting difficulties, trials, failures and 
successes, sustained as children are by the confident belief that some- 
where, somehow in the present or in the future, in this state or in an- 
other, the value of these lessons will accrue to that in which each 
recognizes his Ego sum. A. H. SPENCER. 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND 
MYSTICISM/ 



This volume of the Paddock Lectures, delivered by Dr. Inge, last 
winter at the General Seminary in New York, is one of the most inter- 
esting and suggestive, as well as one of the most luminous, of the recent 
studies of Christianity. As both the title and preface indicate, the author 
defends Christian Mysticism, or Christian Platonism, against the "per- 
sonal idealism" of the modern "Pragmatists." But the treatment is so 
broad and constructive that the text itself never degenerates into barren 
controversy, nor is the reader teazed by the uncouth technical jargon 
which disfigures much current philosophy. Dr. Inge has the unusual 
ability to make subtile things clear, without hardening or materializing 
them, and this work is, in consequence, an unusually simple and direct 
exposition of the religious attitude of the Neoplatonists and Christian 
Mystics. 

To members of the Theosophical Society the book is important, 
not only as a further valuable contribution to the literature of a subject 
that has long occupied their attention, but also as showing the trend 
of the more liberal thought among the clergy. We cannot but feel that 
ten years ago such a series of lectures could not have been given at a 
Theological seminary, and it is a cause for deep congratulation that 
it is possible to-day. 

Dr. Inge begins with a chapter on Our Knowledge of God. "Such 

as men themselves are, such will God appear to them to be Our 

religion must be based upon our own experience, and it ought to be so. 
Although God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor His ways as 
our ways, we are made in His image, and no higher category than our 
own rational and spiritual life is open to us in which we could place 

Him Man is a microcosm, with affinities to every grade of God's 

creation In the nine months before we see the light, we pass 

through stages of evolution which in the race were spread over tens 
of millions of years, and in our upward progress may there not be 
some dim anticipations of another long period of growth which the 
mills of God are grinding out without haste and without rest? Can 
we set any limit to the achievement of our human nature? We can 



*Bv THE REV. WILLIAM RALPH INGE, M.A., D.D., Vicar of All Saints, Knightsbridge, 
London; and examining chaplain to the Bishop of Lichfield. Longmans, Green & Co., New 
York. $1.00. 

ia 177 



i;8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

know only what is akin to ourselves, but there is that in us which is akin 
to God Himself. Is this mysterious centre of our being, this sacrect 
hearth where the divine fire glows ever unextinguished, this eye which 
'is the same eye with which God sees us/ to be regarded as a special 
organ or faculty of spiritual vision, apart from those faculties of which 
psychology takes cognizance intellect, will and feeling? This does not 
seem to be the truth. There is no separate organ for the apprehension 
of divine truth independent of will, feeling, and thought. Our knowl- 
edge of God comes to us in the interplay of those faculties. . . . Our 
nature is not tripartite. It is everywhere the whole mind at once think- 
ing, feeling, and passing judgments.. . .We are thus united to God by all 
parts of our psychological nature a threefold cord which is not quickly 
broken. There is a trinity within us which nevertheless refuses to be 
wholly simplified, and which in our imperfect experience often appears 
as a concordia discors. For our nature is not fully attained ; there are 
contradictions, discords, strifes within and without, and these are reflected 
in the image which we are able to form of God. That is why so many 
who crave for peace, certainty, and definiteness, instead of accepting 
our appointed lot of struggle, faith, and hope, grasp at some delusive 
promise of a revelation communicated purely from without, as if such 
a revelation would carry with it some surer pledge of truth than the 
assent of our reason. But no such revelation could ever be made; for 
what part of ourselves could receive it?... In proportion as a truth is 

external it is either not revealed or not spiritual There are three 

avenues to the knowledge of God purposive action, seasoning thought, 
and loving affection,. . .but love in its divine fulness is the unity of 
will and reason in the highest power of each." 

In the resolution of this internal discord, the unification of our 
multiple but not divided nature, lies the secret of the knowledge of God. 
But to attain internal harmony requires also that we shall reach 
to a harmony with all that is. It is not to be found by any process 
of exclusion either from a part of our own nature or from the 
universal life that surrounds us. As is written in Light on the Path, 
"all steps are necessary to make up the ladder. . . . The whole nature of 
man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way." 
Dr. Inge has much to say upon this fundamental principle of occultism 
in later chapters, but turns first to an analysis of the historic doctrines 
of the Neoplatonists, and pleads, as the Theosophical Society has done 
for thirty years, for a more intelligent study of their teaching. 

"It is, I think, a strange thing," Dr. Inge says, "that the religious 
psychology of the Neoplatonists, which through Augustine and others 
had such an immense influence upon Christian theology, should be so 
much neglected in our time. It is often supposed that Plotinus is only 
the chief European representative of a dreamy and impractical type of 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 179 

philosophy which may be studied in its purest form in the Indian religions. 
But Neoplatonism is in the line of Greek, not Oriental, thought; and 
Plotinus is the last great figure in the magnificent series of Greek 
philosophers which spans the longest period of unfettered thought that 
the human race has ever been permitted to enjoy. The last word in 
philosophy of the old civilization is not, as our English students are 
almost encouraged to believe, the proud and melancholy moralism of the 
later stoics. The real conclusion of that long travail of thought was 
a system which expounds the philosophy of the soul's journey to God, 
as traversed in the normal religious experience. We find much the 
same chart in all the Christian mystics, not, for the most part, because 
they have read Plotinus, but because they have made the voyage for 
themselves. Such is, in point of fact, the road along which the soul 
must take its solitary journey. The map of the country is, as we might 
expect, drawn very much alike by all who have travelled through it." 

The complete unanimity of testimony given by the mystics of all 
times and races has been the theme of too many articles in the 
THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY to require further comment here. But it 
remains too little known; and its significance is most ignored precisely 
where it is most needed among the clergy of Protestant Christianity. 
We may, however, note Dr. Inge's reference to the Hellenic element 
in Christianity. Until recent years we have sought the genesis or 
evolution of the spiritual attitude taught by Jesus, through the Hebrew 
prophets, and have bound together the books of the Old and New 
Testament as though they represented an ordered growth or sequence. 
It is true that these books do represent the religious evolution of the 
Hebrew race. It is equally true that Jesus was born into this race 
and that, as His teaching was given to them, He constantly 
referred to the sayings of their prophets. But the teaching itself is 
not Hebraic, nor is its spirit. Both are far closer to the Greek than to 
the Hebrew; closest of all, to the Upanishads, to that ancient mystery 
teaching of Egypt and India which so much of the Greek philosophy 
reflects and to which the Neoplatonists returned. As Inge says of the 
Christian mystics, not because they had read of it, but because it ex- 
presses the eternal way of the soul.' 

In the next few pages Dr. Inge sketches the principles of "Intelli- 
gence" of Plotinus the Divine thought revealing itself in the manifested 
world, which is thus at once one and many. Here he draws a distinction, 
insisted upon again and again in the Secret Doctrine, but not so often 
emphasized in Theology. "Our knowledge must be of the God, not of 
the Godhead, and the God of religion is not the Absolute, but the highest 
form under which the Absolute can manifest Himself to finite creatures 
in various stages of imperfection." Dr. Inge agrees with Tyrrell that 
"the fiction of God's finitude and relativity is a necessity of man's religious 



i8o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

life, but that the interests both of intellectual truth and of religion 
require us to recognize this fiction as such, under pain of mental inco- 
herence on one side and of superstition and idolatry on the other." 

The question as to whether the ascent to God is purely and exclu- 
sively ethical received from Dr. Inge the same answer as from Light 
on the Path. "We may be content to follow Plotinus in using 'the Good' 
as another name for the supreme category which he calls the One, though 
strictly speaking the Absolute must be beyond the Good which we con- 
trast with the Bad [above the pairs of oppositesl. But, though it perhaps 
requires some courage to say so I do not think that we have any right 
to assume that God is a purely ethical Being. The True and the Beauti- 
ful seem also to be roads up the hill of the Lord, as well as the Good; 
and though we are fully convinced that they all meet at the top, we are 
doing considerable violence to parts of our experience if we determine 
rigorously that God can have no other motive in His creation except a 

purely ethical one It seems to me that Truth and Beauty are ideals 

too august to be ever regarded as means only The kind of ethical 

obscession which dominate many religious thinkers is, in my opinion, the 
cause of errors and defects in their view of life." 

Though, as Hesiod says, "the toil and sweat of virtue, the immortal 
gods have set at the beginning of the journey," it may be because other- 
wise we could not reconcile and unify the True and the Beautiful. Dr. 
Inge has, on an earlier page, given us a picture of the results of the 
ethical system prerequisite to mysticism. First come the civic virtues, 
then those which purify our natures. "When a man has advanced as far 
as this he is an efficient and useful member of society, and he has acquired 
self-control. Intellectually, his discipline has impressed upon him just 
those facts about God which those who aspire to be mystics without going 
through it never perceive. He has learned that God is not 'the infinite' 
that, on the contrary, He is known to us as the Principle of order and 
limitation. He has learned that 'all's Law/ as he will some day learn that 
'all's Love.' His experience so far has been quite definite and concrete. 
He has learned quid possit oriri, quid nequeat; he has no love for the 'loose 
types of things through all degrees' which fascinates the shallow pseudo- 
mystic; he knows the value of sharp outlines, and the importance of 
exact information. He has also learned the great lesson that illumination 
is not granted to the mere thinker, but to him who acts while he thinks, 
and thinks while he acts. Lastly, he knows the meaning of sin. No one 
can try to purify himself even as God is pure, without knowing the 
meaning and power of sin. But this severe mental and moral discipline 
brings its reward in its own partial supersession. Dualism is, after all, 
appearance and not reality. . . . And so the inner discord of flesh and spirit 
is attuned.. . .The will, no longer divided against itself, passes into intelli- 
gence; we become fellow-workers with God, rather than day laborers in 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 181 

His service. The broken images of order and beauty, which we have 
trained ourselves to observe and reverence in the world, begin to form 
themselves into a glorious universe of gracious design through which the 
Divine Wisdom passes and penetrates, mightily and sweetly ordering all 
things." 

But if the training of the moral will is fundamental, only less 
important is the cultivation of sound judgment and exact knowledge. 
"It is our duty to study reverently that most wonderful mechanism, that 
complex yet harmonious wisdom which is manifested alike in the infi- 
nitely great and the infinitesimally small, and we shall recognize cheer- 
fully that scientific ignorance, as well as moral turpitude, deserves and 
will suffer God's displeasure. It is also clear, that if we are right, the 
scientific investigator should be given an honored place among the 
priests and prophets. He should work as a servant of God, and should 
be recognized as such." 

The body of the book is chiefly an elaboration and defense of the 
altitude sketched in this opening lecture. The next two chapters are 
devoted, the one to the "Sources and Growth of the Logos-Christology," 
and the other to the "Development and Permanent Value" of the same. 
Here the treatment is as Theosophic as was the introduction, and we are 
led through the history of the Logos doctrine from Heraclitus to the 
present day, and the identification of the Christ therewith as a universal 
principle. But what will surprise most readers, accustomed to speak of 
this as the Johannine philosophy, is the amount of evidence in its support 
which Dr. Inge draws from Paul. "I wish," he says, "to lay special 
emphasis on this point because none of the commentators on St. Paul, 
so far as I know, do full justice to it. I am convinced that the conception 
of Christ as a cosmic principle that conception which is enunciated in 
St. John's prologue holds a more important place in St. Paul's theology 
than in that of St. John, and that it may be proved, not only from his 
later epistles, which some critics, partly on this account, consider spuri- 
ous, but from those which are not disputed." And when one leaves this 
chapter and the many citations there given it is with the conviction 
that Dr. Inge has proved his case. 

Having commented upon the conspicuous absence from Paul's writ- 
ings of reference to the incidents of Jesus' life, or quotations from his 
discourses, Dr. Inge continues: "We are [therefore] driven to the con- 
clusion that St. Paul was content with the most general information 
as to the main heads of our Lord's teaching and the impression which 
His character made on those who had known Him, and that He was 
content to rest His own religion and theology entirely on the inner 
light vouchsafed to Him, and on the bare facts of the death and resur- 
rection of the Son of God. And what especially interested him about 



182 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the death and resurrection was the light which they throw on the 
spiritual life of human beings. The life and death and rising again 
of Christ are to him a kind of dramatization of the normal physiological 
experience. We, too, must die to sin and rise again to righteousness; 
nay, we must die daily, crucifying the old man and putting on the 
new man the true likeness of Him who created us. And this is why 
the identification of Christ with the world principle was so essential for 
him. The whole 'process of Christ' was thus proved to be the great 
spiritual law under which we all live." 

John and Paul, Dr. Inge tells us, "lay hold of the Gospel message 
from different sides. Instead of 'Christ who died, nay rather is risen 
again,' the central doctrine for St. John is 'The Word was made flesh 
and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory.' . . . But both alike 
lay the greatest possible stress on the mystical union between the risen 

Christ and His members St. John sees in Christ the Light that 

lighteth every man, to know whom is eternal life 'I have written/ 

he says, 'that ye may know the Christ and have life through His 
name.' [where "name" seems to be used as was "word" in the begin- 
ning].... But this 'getting to know' is a gradual process, a progressive 
inner experience. God reveals himself within us as we are able to 
receive Him, and at each stage the figure of the historical Christ becomes 
clearer and more intelligible to us. In this way the faith that began as 
an experiment ends as an experience; the body of teaching which we 
at first received from outside becomes part of our very selves . . . What 
the Logos is, that He was two thousand years ago. What He is, we 
may in some sort hope to know even better than those who then heard 
Him, for the Spirit of Truth cannot have been teaching mankind for 
two thousand years entirely in vain. And the way to know Him as 
He is is always the same, to keep His commandments." 

Once the view of the Christ as typifying and expressing the Logos 
is accepted, the remaining tenets of the Christian mystics follow as 
inevitable consequences. Thus we find Origin quoted to the effect that 
"He [the Christ] was not begotten once for all ; he is always being begot- 
ten"; as in every man who comes to illumination the Logos comes to 
birth. Christ is born again of the Father in the soul of the disciple. As 
Eckhart says "The Father speaks the Word into the soul, and when the 
Son is born, every soul becomes Mary" ; and, as Dr. Inge continues, 
"the whole object of our life here is to make this 'spark' [indwelling in 
the soul of the disciple and imparted from the Father] extend its light 
over the whole man, expelling and destroying that selfishness and isola- 
tion which is the principle of our false 'self.' " 

It is through this spark of the indwelling Logos that immortality 
is obtained "the distinctive prerogative of the Divine nature."... 
"So we get three dogmas, closely interconnected. The Logos is God; 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 183 

redemption consists in the bestowal of immortality; and immortality is 

participation in the Divine nature Union with the glorified Christ is 

the essence of Christianity. The belief that the Word of God becomes 
incarnate in the hearts of the faithful is the very centre of Christian phi- 
losophy." 

This mystic union of the soul with Christ, the sharing and blending 
of the consciousness of Master and disciple, is clearly incompatible with 
the maintenance of an impervious and isolated personality. Mysticism 
is therefore in practical opposition to all that tends to separateness and 
isolation, and in philosophic antithesis to the doctrine of "personal ideal- 
ism" of Mr. Shiller and certain other modern thinkers to whose defense 
Professor James has recently come. The problem of personality is, in the 
West, the crux both of the mystic life and the mystic philosophy. So 
that it is this which Dr. Inge next considers. He begins by reminding 
us that no word corresponding to "personality" was either used or con- 
sciously missed by ancient thought. Neither the Greek uTtocrraais 
nor Ttpoa-wTCov is equivalent to the Latin persona. The conception 
of both God and man, which in the early church sought expression 
through these terms, is quite misrepresented and hardened in the Latin; 
and equally so in the English "person," if personality be taken to mean 
something isolated and impervious to other selves. "Unless we are willing," 
Dr. Inge says, "to sacrifice the whole of the deepest and most spiritual 
teaching of St. Paul and St. John, unless we are prepared to treat all the 
solemn language of the New Testament about the solidarity of the vine 
and its branches, as phantastic and misleading metaphor, we must assert 
roundly that this notion of "impervious" spiritual atoms is flatly contra- 
dictory to Christianity. The result of holding such a view is the mutila- 
tion and distortion of the whole body of Christian theology. It involves 
the strangest and most unethical theories about the atonement. Doctrines 
of forensic transactions between the Persons of the Trinity, of vicarious 
punishments inflicted or accepted by God, of fictitious imputation of 
merit, all come from attempting to reconcile the theory of impervious 
atoms with a tradition which knows nothing of them." 

The Christian view of life, as the Greek, regards the individual not 
as sacrificed to but rather as realizing himself in the whole. This is the 
paradox that Jesus stated : "he that loseth his life for my sake shall find 
it." The true life and self of man is the life of the Logos. "To be 
willing to lose our life ( ^uxrf ) must mean to forget ourselves en- 
tirely, to cease to revolve round our own selfish interests, to pass out 
freely into the great life of the world, constructing our universe on a 
Christocentric or cosmocentric basis, not a self-centred one. To do this 
is to lose and then find ourselves. 'Know thyself is a great maxim, but 
he who would know himself must know himself in God. To attempt 



1 84 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

to find self (the individual) without God (the universal), says Prof. 
Ritchie, is to find the devil. The individual assumed by the psychologist, 
and by the common political and ethical theories, is a half-way abstrac- 
tion of the ordinary understanding, a bastard product of bad metaphysics 
and bad science. Christianity, as we have seen, from the very first 
rejected it."... 

In this contention of Mysticism there is no denial of the sacrednes.s 
and value of the individual. Dr. Inge insists upon this point in many 
passages. He argues only that true individuality is not to be found in 
the isolated and self-centred life of the personality, which consists so 
largely of a shifting phantasmagora of reflections from the external 
show of things; but rather in the core of our own natures, in the Logos 
which is One in us and in all that is. 

"This law of growth through the clash and union of opposites runs 
all through the Christian experience. There is no self-expenditure with- 
out self-restraint, no self-enrichment without self-expenditure ; the ideals 
of self-culture and of self-sacrifice, so far from being hopelessly contra- 
dictory, as even such acute thinkers as Bradley and A. E. Taylor have 
supposed, are inseparable, and unrealizable except as two aspects of the 
same process. Any one who tries to attain complete self-expression to 
build his pyramid of existence, as Goethe put it, as an isolated individual, 
is certain to fail ignominiously. The self that he is trying to bring to per- 
fection is a mere abstraction, a figment of his imagination, and, con- 
versely, any one who lived a purely external life, with no inner soul- 
centre to which all experiences must be related, would be nothing either. 
Our unifying consciousness is the type and copy of the all unifying con- 
sciousness of God. Our individuality is a shadow of His." 

And again: "This conception of a soul-centre, through which we 
are in contact with God Himself, though in an unspeakable dim remote 
and faint degree, seems to me a valuable one because it safeguards what 
is true in our aspirations after separate individuality, and asserts the 
fundamental teleological character of these aspirations. The practical 
difficulty in grasping the conception is due to the fact that spiritual things 
are not outside or inside each other. The inevitable spatial symbols are 
very troublesome. But we should try to make it our own, for it is the 
true philosophy of the Christian religion. 'Christ, in all, the whole/ sup- 
plies the necessary corrective of the 'whole and part' metaphor and also 
of the 'organic' metaphor. The gifts of the spirit are divided but Christ 
is not divided." 

It is peculiarly difficult to the Western mind to grasp and act upon 
this conception of individuality. Our whole training is against it. The 
Anglo-Saxon "has been brought up to think that his main business is to 
assert himself, to make his fortune in this world, or the next, or in both. 
He likes to believe in a God who is an individual like himself, and who 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 185 

like himself can be a partner in a transaction. Justice for him, means 
equitable and kindly treatment of individuals, and can have no other mean- 
ing. The constitution of the world is [to him] the product of acts of will, 
not a system of laws to be discovered and obeyed.. . .The difficulties which 
this introduces into the region of Christian faith are enormous. For in- 
stance, the doctrine of the Trinity becomes an incomprehensible and mani- 
festly self-contradictory piece of word- jugglery, because a person is by 
definition one who cannot share his being with another." 

"When our Lord said, 'Believe Me that I am in My Father, and ye in 
Me/ He was, on this theory, either using an extravagant oriental meta- 
phor or saying nothing. And as regards the relation of human beings 
to each other this theory of impervious personal identity destroys the basis 
on which Christian love is supported. We are bidden to love our 
neighbors as ourselves, because we are all one in Christ. Is this also a 
metaphor, an example of oriental hyperbole? It was not intended to be 
so taken. It was the good news of the Gospel that those barriers, which 
are now solemnly declared to be forever insurmountable, are non-ex- 
istent. Christian love is not sentimental philanthropy; it is the practical 
recognition of a natural and positive fact namely, that we are all so 
bound up together, as sharers in the same life and members of the same 
body, that selfishness is a disease and a blunder which can only result 
in mortal injury both to the offending limb and to the whole body." 

This is the Universal Brotherhood, to furnish a nucleus for which 
the Theosophical Society was founded. 

Dr. Inge devotes his next chapter to a plea for the better adjust- 
ment of the claims of Thought and Will. As Emerson said: "All goes 
to show that the soul in man is not the intellect, nor the will, but the 
master of the intellect and the will, is the background of our being in 
which they lie. When the soul, whose organ he is, breathes through his 
intellect, it is genius ; when it breathes through his will, it is virtue ; when 
it flows through his affection it is love. The blindness of the intellect 
begins when it would be something of itself. The weakness of the 
will begins when the individual would be something of himself." 

This tendency of the will and intellect to act independently sets them 
often at war not alone with the soul of man, but with each other. At the 
close of an age marked by its great intellectual accomplishments we are 
experiencing a reaction toward the deification of the will. This both was 
to be expected and is a sign of healthful progress. But, as always, the 
pendulum swings too far, and the over emphasis upon individual will is 
pernicious in the extreme, if it be interpreted as the "right to be wilful/ 
Perhaps because of the intellectual materialism of a half century ago, 
the modern revival of religious and mystic thought is dominated by this 
conception of the will, and marked by a neglect or belittling of the claims 



186 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of reason. Not only does this appear in reactionary theology, where it is 
used as an argument for a literal and wilful acceptance of what the 
reason rejects; but it is also made the basis of an important modern move- 
ment in psychology and philosophy, of which Prof. James' "Will to Be- 
lieve" and lectures on Pragmatism may serve as examples, as well as 
Mr. Shiller's "Personal Idealism," and which in its implications is dis- 
tinctly anthropocentric. 

Against this Dr. Inge contends with force and acumen. " 'No age of 
the world was ever strong except when faith and reason went hand in 
hand, and when man's practical ideals were also his surest truths.' Faith 
and reason both claim jurisdiction over man's whole nature, and there- 
fore no delimitation of territory between them is possible. The present 
distrust of thought as a way to religious truth must be a transitory phase. 
The spirit of the age, as I have said, is against it. This is a positive 
constructive age; we are in earnest about our religion, but we are in 
earnest about our science, too. We are not likely to abandon the right 
to seek God's truth in external nature, nor our hope of finding it. We 
are not likely to abandon the great discovery of the nineteenth century, 
the close relationship of human life with all other life in the universe, 
and the resulting cosmocentric view of reality. We are not likely to rest 
content with Lotze's theory of a world of human spirits, independent 
enough to produce even "surprises for God," as Prof. James suggests, 
in the midst of a world that has no real existence and no real significance. 
Of all ways of "cutting the world in two with a hatchet" this attempt 
to separate man from his environment is surely the most unsatisfactory. 
It only seems possible because we have not yet fully realized all the im- 
plications of the great scientific discoveries in the last century. It takes a 
very long time for a great discovery to produce all the readjustments 
which it ultimately makes inevitable. It may be doubted whether even 
Galileo's discovery has yet been fully assimilated in popular theology or 

in ordinary thought For my own part I cannot see that Christianity, 

or any spiritual religion, is threatened by the adoption of a cosmocentric 
view of reality." 

Not only is science not a foe to mysticism, it is its best ally. As in 
the Renaisance, so to-day it is science that is ushering in the revival of 
mysticism. The more clear-cut and precise our knowledge, the more 
clearly is the underlying unity and mystery of life revealed. It is because 
the drawing is so perfect, so exact in line and measurement, that the smile 
of da Vinci's John the Baptist is so full of wonder and significance. The 
power of mysticism is lost as soon as we blur the outlines of the intel- 
ligible. 

"Religion," Dr. Inge insists, "cannot accept as absolutely true any 
system in which the demands of the moral consciousness remain unsat- 
isfied, and it has a right to point out that this or that generalization based 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 187 

on scientific knowledge does not satisfy the moral sense. But to do this 
is to state a problem, not to solve it. The business of religion is, as I 
have said, not with values apart from facts, nor with facts apart from 
values, but with the relation between them ; and it proceeds on the con- 
viction that whatever is real is rational and good. The critical under- 
standing cannot invalidate values, but only the forms in which they are 
enshrined, compelling a fresh presentation of them. When religious 
values are stated and interpreted in terms of fact, the critical under- 
standing has the right to be heard, and similarly the moral sense has the 
right to overhaul naturalistic ethics though not naturalistic physics. It 
is plain, therefore, that no critical results can touch religious values, but 
only the casket in which they are enshrined. Whatever has value in 
God's sight is safe for evermore; and we are safe so far as we attach 
ourselves to what is precious in His eyes." 

And here are the sane words with which he sums his position : "If 
in our teaching we make the truth of Christianity depend upon a view of 
reality which satisfies the claims of Praxis (the will), but leave the claims 
of Gnosis (the reason) the best Gnosis available in our generation 
utterly disregarded, we cannot expect, and we ought not to wish, that 
our message will be welcomed. Christianity has been a philosophical 
religion from the time when it first began to have a sacred literature. It 
claims to be the one explanation to which heart and head will all con- 
tribute. In order to understand it, we must act out our thoughts, and 
think out our acts; we must know ourselves, and we must know the 
world around us if we wish to know God who made both, and in whom 
both have their being. It is in the interplay and frequent collision of 
Gnosis and Praxis that sparks are struck out which illuminate the dark 
places of reality. The problems are difficult. Of course they are! Do 
they not range over earth and heaven and hell? But assuredly those 
who, in the vigorous phrase of one of the Cambridge Platonists, have 
made their intellectual faculties "Gibeonites," hewers of wood and draw- 
ers of water those who have made no effort to "add to their faith 
knowledge," will never reach the perfection to which God called them 
nor know Him quern nosse v'were, cui servire regnare est." 

The final lecture of the series is devoted to the Problem of Sin, and 
nowhere is Dr. Inge in closer accord with the Theosophic interpretation 
of Hie than in his discussion of this theme, brief as he was compelled 
to be. He begins by asking why the life of man is in such contrast to 
that of the bee or ant, whose individual activities are so adjusted to the 
life of the community of which they are a part. "Apparently," he 
answers his own question, "because from a very early date man began to 
use his wits, to evade or lighten his labors, to aggrandise himself, and in 
one way or another to alter his condition to what seems to him a better. 



188 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The possibility of progress and of retrogression came to him together. 
He chose to place himself on an inclined plane, with almost infinite possi- 
bilities of improvement and of degradation. And all through his life 
if he attempts to rise, he has to resist the dragging force of the old ani- 
mal nature, in which his ancestors lived so long. He has risen above 
himself, though without leaving himself. And he has lost forever the 
ability to lead the purely animal life. That stage he has cast behind him, 
though the desire for it is not dead. If he gives up the struggle to be a 
man and tries to live as an animal, his doom is to become not an animal, 
but an idiot or a devil. There is no problem of evil here. We cannot 

eat our cake and have it We must accept our lot for better or for 

worse." 

Neither is there any problem of evil for the moralist. Morality tries 
to destroy evil, not to account for it. But morality is not the whole of 
religion; and for religion there is a problem of sin. "There must be a 
problem, because for religion the 'ought to be' both is and is not. God 
is not God unless he is all in all, but the God of religion is not all 
in all...." 

"The most real thing within our experience is what is sometimes 
called the kingdom of values but as I should prefer to say, of laws, which 
make up the content of the mind of God. These laws are reality. In time 
and place this means that they energize and fulfill themselves. Among 
these laws or values is the law which binds us to a life-long struggle 
with what in the time-series appears as evil. This law of struggle for 
the good constitutes the chief value of life in this world. As Plotinus 
says : 'Our striving is after good, and our turning away is from evil : and 
purposive thought is of good and evil, and this is a good.' Undoubtedly 
moral goodness implies a turning away from evil as well as a striving 
after good, and therefore (to quote Plotinus again) if any one were to 
say that evil has absolutely no existence, he must do away with good 
at the same time and leave us with no object to strive after. The 
conflict between good and evil belongs to life in time." 

But Dr. Inge has already pointed out to us that the Godhead, the abso- 
lute is above space and time, beyond the duality of the pairs of oppo- 
sites and of good and evil. He is reflected to our finite intelligences and 
space and time as the God of Religion. If there be a way to Him, there 
must be a way which conceals Him, and if the one be good the other must 
be evil. Both disappear when we have reached our goal. 

"Christ Himself hardly mentions sin, except in connection with 
repentance and forgiveness. He never encourages either brooding over 
our past sins or self-imposed expiatory suffering. We hear nothing of 
the sense of alienation from God in His teaching, though it appears that 
He passed through this terrible experience for a brief moment on the 
Cross. Our Lord's teaching is very severe and exacting, but fundamen- 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 189 

tally happy and joyous. The world' human society as it organizes itself 
apart from God is to be renounced inwardly, but no war is declared 
against the ordinary sources of human happiness. On the contrary, the 
sufficiency of these simple natural joys, when consecrated by love and 
obedience to God, to make life happy, was part of His good news. But 
it seems to be the fate of great discoveries or revelations that the recon- 
ciliation which they announce is too profound to be understood, and they 
fall apart into dualism. Plato's ideas met with this fate, and so, in a 
measure, did the greater teaching of Jesus Christ." 

Dr. Inge has earlier said that "a horror of sin is at the root of every 
vigorous religion," and that "the most serious charge which can be 
brought against any religion is that it promotes moral indifference." He 
can, therefore, afford to point out an opposite error in the following pas- 
sage : "I believe that if we took our tone more from our Lord's own words 
and from the proportion observed in His teaching, we should get rid of 
certain exaggerations which, to some, appear distressing and to others 
unreal. I will even go so far as to say that we should sometimes resist 
and check by our reason those fits of intense self-reproach which are a 
common experience of the devotional life. These feelings move in great 
rhythms persons of a nervous and emotional temperament are now 
exalted to heaven and now thrust down to hell. . . . There is a 
tendency of Christian moralists to fix their attention too much on the 
avoidance of sin and too little on the production of moral values." 

If "Christian theology has not been able to make up its mind 
whether sin is a defect, or a transgression, or a rebellion, or a constitu- 
tional taint, or whether it is all these combined," an equal degree of 
uncertainty is shown when the question has to be answered: What is 
the characteristic form of sin? "What is the root-principle to which all 
sin may be reduced ?" To this question at least three answers have been 
given. The root of sin is sensuality is pride is selfishness. To the 
Greeks, indeed, none of these answers seemed so satisfactory as the 
theory that the source of sin is delusion or disease a perverted condition 
of the mind. This answer, which brings one aspect of the truth into 
prominence, has been unduly neglected in Christian theology. 

Though the theory that the root of sin is sensuality is favored by 
St. Paul in some passages, and though pride is certainly the most naked 
form of sin (for pride is self deification), yet, Dr. Inge thinks, "those 
who have found the root of sin in selfishness or self-will have best under- 
stood both the teaching of Christ and the nature of sin. We find this 
theory clearly stated in Plato's Laws: The truth is that the cause of all 
sins in every person and every instance is excessive self-love.' Philo 
finds the root of sin in selfishness, and when we turn to the New Testa- 
ment we can hardly fail to see that this is the leading conception. In the 
deeply significant parable of the Prodigal Son, the beginning of the 



190 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

prodigal's downfall is his request, 'Give me the portion of goods that fall- 
eth to me ?' Again and again our Lord declares that His Divine mission 
consists in this, that He is not come to do His own will, but the will 
of Him that sent Him. Again and again, both in the Gospels and in the 
Epistles the truth is inculcated that we must die completely to self, forget, 

and starve and crucify self, before we can enter the kingdom of God It 

would be impossible to find stronger words (than those which Jesus uses) 
to express that self-consciousness, self-seeking, self-indulgence, selfishness 
in all its forms, is the root of sin." 

The mystics, as we might expect, accept this teaching with their 
whole hearts. But elsewhere it has fallen into the background. The 
reason for this Dr. Inge finds in 'the influence of modern individualism 
of which our so-called socialism is only a frantic variety" and continues 
with a most interesting comparison of the civic results flowing from the 
two theories of self-assertion and self-surrender. 

"The gospel of self-abjugation has not been much favored by the 
European races in modern times, either in principle or practice. We 
have been wont to contrast complacently our own energetic self-assertion 
with what we call the dreamy pantheism of Asia, and have pointed to 
the subjugation of the contemplative Oriental by the vigorous European 
as a testimony to the superiority of our religion and philosophy. God, 
we like to say, helps those who help themselves. This Deuteronomic 
religion, which just now suits the temper of the Germans even better 
than that of the English, will perhaps soon cease to appear satisfactory 
to either nation, and may give way also on this side of the Atlantic. The 
time may be coming when we shall see a little more clearly the limitations 
of our favorite theories and practices. Civilization based on individ- 
ualism has defaced or destroyed much of the natural beauty of the 
globe ; it has made life more difficult than it ever was before, and it now 
shows signs of breaking up from within. The gigantic aggregations of 
capital on one side, and the growing hosts of unemployed and discon- 
tented on the other, are a reductio ad absurdum of the whole system 
which cannot be disregarded. Hardly less significant is the nervous 
overstrain caused by modern competitive business, which in the great 
centers of population, where the struggle is most intense, seems to be 
actually sterilizing many families, and leaving the world to be peopled 
by inferior stocks. And now, amid these disquieting symptoms, we see 
the emergence into power of the Japanese, whose whole morality is 
based on the self-sacrifice of the individual to his country, who live the 
simple life, and who set the smallest possible value on the preservation of 
their own personal existence. Those who have thought that Providence 
has definitely handed over the sceptre of the world to races of European 
descent, and especially to the representatives of robust Teutonic individ- 
ualism, are probably destined to a rude awakening. The late war in the 



PERSONAL IDEALISM AND MYSTICISM 191 

Far East is an object-lesson which can hardly be thrown away upon- 
Europe and America." 

"Sin, then, according to the view here adopted, shows itself in self- 
consciousness, self-will, and self-seeking. Self-consciousness, instead of 
being the proud privilege which gives us a special rank in the hierarchy 
of God's creatures, is the blot on our lives which spoils all we do." 

If modern sociological conditions drive home the lesson of the folly 
of selfish individualism, it is still more strongly inforced by the teaching 
of science. "Everywhere in nature we see the individual sacrificing him- 
self in the interests of the race. In many species of insects the act of 
procreation itself involves the immediate death of one of the parents, 
yet these duties are not shirked. That nature is careless of the single 
life was observed long ago by Tennyson ; and assuredly the sovereign 
rights of the individual are not contained in her charter. Schopenhauer 
saw clearly enough that nature's purpose is not the greatest happiness of 
the isolated individual and that all her baits and traps are designed to> 
induce the individual to sacrifice himself in one way or another." 

"The recognition must issue in pessimism just so long as we deter- 
mine to stick to our impervious monads, our self-existing individuals, 
the subject of indefeasible rights. But the true conclusion is not pes- 
simism. It is only the conviction that since there are in the nature of 
things no self -existing units with these rights and privileges, selfish- 
ness is a ruinous mistake, a blunder which leads to shipwreck in all parts 
of nature alike. For nature cannot be disobeyed and outwitted with, 
impunity. It is our wisdom to obey cheerfully with the clear conscious- 
ness that we are not allowed to work out our own salvation as isolated 
units, and that obedience will involve us in pain and loss, perhaps 
irremediable loss. For our obedience must be in will if not in deed, 
obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. Vicarious suffering 
which on the individualist theory seems so monstrous and unjust as to 
throw a shadow on the character of God is easy to understand if we give 
up our individualism. It is a necessity, for the sinner cannot suffer for 
his own healing, precisely because he is a sinner. The troubles which 
he brings on himself cannot heal his wounds. Redemption must be 
vicarious; it must be wrought by the suffering of the just for the 
unjust. And the redemption wrought by one is efficacious for many 
because we are united to Him by closer bonds than those of ethical 
harmony. Sin is that which cuts us off from all this. It erects an image 
of the false self, the isolated, empirical self, which has no existence, and 
makes this idol its god. The forms of worship which are offered to 
it differ greatly. The false self may be hampered and indulged, or 
it may be treated as a hard taskmaster and slaved for day and night. 
Huge quantities of gold and silver may be stored up for its future use, 
as if it was to live forever; or lastly, as savages break an idol to which; 



I 9 2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

they have prayed in vain, the false self may be punished by killing the 
body to which it is attached ; disappointed selfishness may end in suicide." 
"Here then is a view of sin which gives us a practical standard. 
It is in the I, Mine, Thou, and Thine that all evil has its source. Does 
this view demand an impossible detachment from personal, living inter- 
ests? It seems to me that it does just the opposite. We are what we are 
most deeply interested in. We are what we love. And what we love, 
because we love it, is not external or alien to ourselves. 'Amate quod 
eritis/ says St. Augustine. Outside interests are only outside because 
we make them so. In the spiritual world there is no outside or inside, 
no mine, and not mine; all is ours that we can make our own. All is 
ours if we are Christ's. For Christ, as the Logos, the Power of God, 
and the Wisdom of God, is the life of all that lives, and the light of 
all that shines." 

H. B. M. 



"All I have read is to lead me up to patience : patience under 

ignorance, patience under fear, patience under hope deferred, patience 
so long as free will entails the terrific possibility of self-destruction; 
patience until (please God) my will freely, finally, indefectibly, becomes 
one with the Divine Will" CHRISTINA ROSSETTI. 



On this plane the soul experiences nightmare. It dreams in our daily 
life. Awaken it: disentangle it. 

OCCULT APHORISMS. 



"Solomon's Proverbs, I think, have omitted to say, that as the sore 
palate findeth grit, so an uneasy conscience heareth innuendoes" 

GEORGE ELIOT. 



"The greatest kindness any teacher can do to those he teaches is to 
help them always to live a life of faith and courage, a victorious life." 

J. R. MILLER. 



BHAQAVAD QUA. 



INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XVI. 

Leaving for a time the threefold division of life according to the 
Three Powers, Book XVI approaches the moral problem in a more direct 
and simple way. The main theme of the book is exactly that of the 
Epistle of St. James : 

"The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, 
and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, 
and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace 
of them that make peace. 

"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, 
and lie not against truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is 
earthly, psychical, devilish." 

One may state the matter thus : The psychical nature lies between the 
animal in us and the divine. It is the essence of the psychical nature that 
it will reflect and mirror in its own substance whatever the attention and 
the will are set on. Therefore if the thoughts are fixed on the appetites 
of the body, the animal desires and passions, these will be reflected in the 
psychical nature. And reflected not in their simplicity, as they are in 
the wild animal life, but mirrored and broken into a thousand images, 
distorted, exaggerated out of all semblance of natural likeness or natural 
purpose. Thus the simple animal impulse of self-preservation will be- 
come ambition, selfishness, cruelty; in like manner the animal search for 
food and water will be mirrored and distorted into psychic gluttony, 
drunkenness, greed, and the pure animal power of reproduction into 
lust and passion. This is "the wisdom from beneath," as St. James 
calls it, the word "wisdom" translating "sophia," which means rather 
"executive force." This is the impulse which is "earthly, psychical, 
devilish," or demoniac, as the Bhagavad Gita puts it. 

But if the heart be set on the things of the Spirit, then the 
psychical nature will reflect and mirror into itself spiritual things. 
The eternal power of the Spirit will be mirrored as peace, stability; the 
oneness of the Spirit, in virtue of which the One Life stands at the heart 
of all living things, will mirror itself as gentle charity, as kindly affection 
one to another, with brotherly love. The ever-living joy of the Spirit 
will mirror itself as happiness and peace. Thus shall we have that wisdom 
from above, which is "first pure, then peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, 
without hypocrisy." 

'Copyrighted, 1907, by Charles Johnston. 
'3 193 



I 9 4 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Nor will the direction of thought and will affect the emotional 
nature only. The intellect will be similarly colored. If the heart 
be set on the things that are below, then the psychic nature, mirroring 
the things that are below, will build an intellectual image of a world, 
material, gross, not ruled by divine law, subject to chance, to death and 
dissolution. But if the heart be set on the things above, then the 
intellectual nature will build an image of the world in harmony with the 
things that are above, and will perceive the world as permeated by 
divinity, ruled by holy law, made out of the elements of the best in us, 
and akin to our hearts and souls, not merely to the grossness of our bodies. 
Thus does our intellectual view of the world depend not at all on logical 
deductions but on the purity or impurity of our moral natures. 

This materialistic mood of mind is dramatically expressed in the 
passage beginning, "This have I gained to-day ; this desire shall I obtain ; 
this much I have, and this shall I have of further wealth; this foe has 
been slain by me, and I shall slay yet others. . ." and ending "Thus they 
say, deluded. . .and fall into the impure pit of hell." 

We cannot fail to be reminded of a similar passage: 

"This will I do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater ; and 
there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my 
soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine 
ease, drink, be merry. But God said unto him, Fool, this night thy soul 
shall be required of thee ..." 



BOOK XVI. 
THE MASTER SAID: 

Valor, cleanness of heart, steadfast union with illumination, generous 
giving, control, sacrifice, study, fervor, righteousness, 

Gentleness, truth, freedom from anger, detachment, peace, loyalty, 
pity for all beings, an unlascivious mind, mildness, modesty, steadfast- 
ness, 

Fire, patience, firmness, purity, good-will, absence of conceit, these 
belong to him who is born to the godlike portion, O descendant of Bhar- 
ata! 

Hypocrisy, pride, vanity, anger, meanness, unwisdom, these, O son 
of Pritha, are his, who is born to the demoniac portion. 

The godlike portion makes for liberation, and the demoniac for 
bondage. But grieve not, son of Pandu! thou art born to the godlike 
portion. (5) 

There are two ways of beings in this world: the godlike and the 



BHAGAVAD GITA 195 

demoniac. The godlike, has been declared at length ; hear now from Me 
the demoniac, O son of Pritha. 

Those of demoniac nature know not right action nor right abstinence ; 
nor purity nor discipline nor truth are found in them. 

This world, say they, is without truth or firm foundation, without 
a Lord; not ruled by mutual law, driven only by wilfulness. 

Resting in this view, self-destroying, of little wisdom, they come 
forth violent and hostile, for the destruction of the world. 

Taking their refuge in desire insatiable, following after hypocrisy, 
vanity, madness, through delusion grasping after thoughts of evil, they 
follow unclean lives; (10) 

Given to limitless imaginings stopped only by death, they yield 
themselves up to the enjoyment of their desires, persuaded that there 
is nothing else; 

Bound by a hundred meshes of expectation, filled with lust and 
wrath, they seek, for the enjoyment of their desires, to heap up wealth 
unjustly: 

"This have I gained to-day; this desire shall I obtain; this much 
I have, and this shall I have of further wealth. 

"This foe has been slain by me, and I shall slay yet others. I am a 
lord, I am master of feasts, I have won success and might and happiness ; 

"I am wealthy and well-born, what other is like unto me? I shall 
sacrifice, I shall give gifts, I shall exult;" thus say they, deluded by 
unwisdom, (!5) 

Wandering in many imaginings, enmeshed by the nets of delusion, 
fastened to the feasts of their desires, they fall into the impure pit of hell. 

Puffed up with self-conceit, vain, following after wealth, fame, 
intoxication, their offerings are no true offerings, full of hypocrisy and 
lawlessness. 

Clinging to self-conceit, violence, pride, lust, wrath, hating Me in 
themselves and in others, and full of cavilling; 

Them, full of hate, cruel, basest of men in the world, I cast down 
quickly in their impurity into demoniac wombs. 

Entering demoniac birth, deluded in birth after birth, not finding 
Me, O son of Kunti, they go the lower way. (20) 

Threefold is this door of soul-destroying hell: lust, wrath, and 
greed are its doors; therefore let him shun these three. 

The man who gets free from these three doors of darkness, O son 
of Kunti, reaches happiness of soul, and thenceforth goes the higher way. 

He who, scorning the scriptural law, does according to his own 
lusts, reaches not perfection, nor happiness, nor the higher way. 

Therefore the scripture is thy rule, to establish what shall be done, 
what left undone. Knowing the work appointed to thee by the scripture, 
deign thou therefore to perform it. 



196 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XVII. 

The early verses of Book XVII may remind us of something we 
should never forget : that the speech of the Orient is always symbolical ; 
that, for the Eastern mind, the particular always represents the universal, 
so that each particular symbol stands for a universal truth. This is the 
principle on which the mystery language is based, in which all true 
Scriptures are written; for that alone is a true Scripture, whose writer 
has clear vision of the universal, the One Eternal, and beholds that 
Eternal in each individual form. 

Thus the words: "Those of Substance worship bright deities; those 
of Force worship deities greedy and passionate; the men of Darkness 
worship the hosts of darkness," means very much more than that the 
good worship the Devas, the passionate worship Titans, the sluggish 
worship ghosts. For we must remember that the Three Powers, Sub- 
stance, Force, Darkness express much the same truth as the Three 
Worlds of the Vedantins. So that "those of Substance" really means 
those whose consciousness has been raised to their spiritual nature, and 
dwells there. They whose consciousness has thus opened in the spiritual 
world will aspire toward the bright, divine powers of that world. They 
will "lay up treasure in heaven." And their thought of God will be in 
harmony with that spiritual world; they will conceive of the awful 
majesty of the Silent One as the heart of love, mightily working for 
the final good of all. The men of Force are those whose consciousness 
dwells in the psychic nature; the realm of emotionalism, of the argu- 
mentative mind, of ambition, strife, egotism, self-reference. These will 
worship all that makes for a like activity, a like vibration in themselves. 
For all these psychic activities are, in one sense, vibratory perturbations 
of the psychic body, psychic stimulants, for the -obtaining of which 
physical stimulants are taken. These are the "deities greedy and pas- 
sionate," worshipped by the "men of Force"; and, in another sense, 
those who dwell in the psychic realm will picture to themselves deities 
greedy and passionate, gods jealous and destructive. This is the impulse 
which leads men to think that their gods will be served by fierce contro- 
versies about the gods of others, by campaigns of persecution, whether 
bodily or mental, in favor of orthodoxy of whatever color; by attempts 
to force their views of God down the throats of others; in a word, by 
every sin against the great law of tolerance. Again, the cause is not 
mental limitation so much as moral perversity; the consciousness being 
centered in the psychical nature, which is separatist, self-assertive, prone 
to hostility and hate. 

Then we have, in the enumeration of the Three Foods, another 
instance of Eastern symbolism. For Food, in the mystery language, is 
a general name for all experience that is wrought into the nature, food 
of body, food of mind, food of heart and soul. Those who take into 



BHAGAVAD GITA 197 

uemselves spiritual power, drawing into their hearts the divine life 
above them, eat spiritual food, the mystical "body of the Lord." This 
is the symbol on which rests the sacrifice of bread and wine, which was 
first associated with the death and resurrection of Osiris, and was for 
ages a mystical rite of Egypt. The body of the sacrificed god is the 
divine Logos, entered into incarnation, and offering itself inwardly to 
our souls, in sustenance and support. 

This symbolic meaning of food is found in the oldest Upanishads. 
Thus, in the teaching of the father of Shvetaketu, we read : 

"Learn from me, dear, the meaning of hunger and thirst. When a 
man hungers, as they say, the Waters guide what he eats. And as there 
are guides of cows, guides of horses, guides of men, so they call the 
Waters the guides of what is eaten. Thus you must know, dear, that 
what he eats grows and sprouts forth; and it cannot grow without a 
root. And where can the root of what he eats be? Where but in the 
world- food, Earth? And through the world-food, Earth, that has 
sprouted forth, you must seek the root, the Waters. And through the 
Waters that have sprouted forth, you must seek the root. Radiance. And 
through Radiance that has sprouted forth, you must seek the root, the 
Real. For all these beings, dear, are rooted in the Real, resting in the 
Real, abiding in the Real." 

Here, it is evident, we have the exact equivalent of the teaching 
of Spirit and the Three Powers. The Real of the Upanishad is Spirit. 
Radiance is the same as Substance; the Waters are the same as Force; 
Earth, the world-food, is the same as Darkness. From the Real, the 
Higher Self, are emanated the spiritual, psychical and animal natures. 
Or, as the Upanishad says, from the Real the Radiance sprouts forth; 
from the Radiance the Waters sprout forth ; from the Waters the world- 
food, Earth, sprouts forth. And each realm of our being is ruled by 
the realm above it. The experience of the bodily nature is guided and 
ruled by the powers next above, the psychical or astral powers, while the 
experience of the psychical nature is ruled by the spiritual powers. Or, 
as the symbolic language of the Upanishad says : 

"When a man hungers, as they say, the Waters guide what he eats. 
And when a man thirsts, as they say, the Radiance guides what he drinks. 
And as there are guides of cows, guides of horses, guides of men, so, 
they say, the Radiance guides the Waters. Thus you must know, dear, 
that what he drinks grows and sprouts forth ; and it cannot grow without 
a root. And where can the root of what he drinks be? Where, but in 
the Waters? And through the Waters that sprout forth, you must seek 
their root, the Radiance. And through the Radiance, dear, that sprouts 
forth, you must seek its root, the Real. For all these beings, dear, are 
rooted in the Real, resting in the Real, abiding in tke Real. And how 



I 9 8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

these three: the world-food, Earth, the Waters, Radiance, coming to 
a man, become each threefold, threefold, this has been taught already. 

"And of a man who goes forth in death, formative Voice sinks 
back into Mind; Mind sinks back into vital Breath, vital Breath to 
Radiance, and Radiance to the higher Divinity. This is the soul, the 
Self of all that is, this is the Real, this is the Self, That Thou Art, O 
Shvetaketu." 

Thus hunger and thirst mean the impulses of bodily and psychical 
experience. When all experience has been consecrated by sacrifice, so 
that we see in all things the life of the higher Divinity, then food and 
drink are also consecrated; all experience becomes divine, and we par- 
take of the mystical bread and wine. 

The same spirit of symbolism underlies what is further said of gifts, 
penance and sacrifice: exactly the same spirit that finds expression in 
the words: ~i 

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wicked- 
ness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free ?" 

The teaching of the righteous gift, to one who will not return it, 
finds a parallel in the words: "But when thou makest a feast, call the 
poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for 
they cannot recompense thee ..." 



BOOK XVII. 
ARJUNA SAID: 

They who, neglecting the scripture ordinance, nevertheless sacrifice 
full of faith, what is their basis, is it Substance, Force or Darkness? 

THE MASTER SAID: 

Faith is of three kinds; it is according to the innate character of 
embodied beings, either of Substance, or of Force, or of Darkness. Hear 
it thus : 

Everyone is according to the nature of his faith, descendant of 
Bharata. For man is formed of faith; what his faith is, that verily is 
he. 

Those of Substance worship bright deities; those of Force, deities 
greedy and passionate; the others, the men of Darkness, worship the 
hosts of darkness, the spirits of night. 

They who submit themselves to penance not appointed by scripture> 
and terrible, their hearts full of hypocrisy and vanity, following after 
lust, rage, violence, (5) 

Foolishly afflicting the lives that dwell within their bodies, and Me 
also within their inner selves, know these to be of demoniac mind. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 199 

And the favorite food of each is also divided threefold, and likewise 
the sacrifice, penance, gifts. Learn the divisions of these: 

Foods that increase the life-force, power, strength, health, well- 
being, happiness, foods that are savory, mild, strengthening, vigorous, 
are dear to the men of Substance. 

Foods that are acrid, bitter, salt, over-hot, sharp, stinging and burn- 
ing, are the foods dear to the men of Force, and bring pain and sorrow 
and sickness. 

Foods that are stale, whose savor has departed, which are decayed 
and corrupt, things that are leavings and impure are the choice of the 
men of Darkness. (10) 

The sacrifice that is offered according to law, by those who are not 
seeking reward, but whose only thought is, that it is right to sacrifice, 
is the offering of the men of Substance. 

But what is offered through desire of reward, or through hypocrisy, 
know this, O best of the Bharatas, to be the sacrifice of Force. 

The sacrifice that is offered contrary to law, at which no food is 
distributed, where there are no chants nor gifts, the sacrifice that is 
without faith, is declared to be of Darkness. 

Reverence for divine beings, for the twice born, the spiritual teacher, 
the wise, purity, righteousness, chastity, gentleness, this is declared to 
be the true penance of the body. 

Speech that brings peace, true, friendly and kind, and assiduous 
study are declared to be the true penance of word. (15) 

Quietness of heart, amiability, silence, self-control, purity of nature, 
this is declared to be the true penance of the mind. 

This threefold penance, offered with perfect faith by men who seek 
no personal reward, who are joined in union, is declared to be the 
penance of Substance. 

But the penance that is offered to gain a name for piety, for fame 
or respect, and in hypocrisy, this is declared to be the penance of 
Force, unstable and infirm. 

The penance that is offered with a deluded heart, through suffer- 
ing self-inflicted, or in order to destroy another, this is declared to be 
the penance of Darkness. 

What gift is given because it ought to be given, to one who will not 
repay it, at the right time and place, to the right person, this is recorded 
to be the gift of Substance. (20) 

But the gift that is given for the sake of a benefit in return or for 
some personal reward, or by constraint, this is recorded to be the gift 
of Force. 

The gift given at the wrong place and time, to the wrong person, 
not through kindness, but haughtily, that is declared to be the gift of 
Darkness. 



200 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

"Om That True," this is recorded as the triple symbol of the 
Eternal; through this of old were Brahmans and Vedas and sacrifices 
ordained. 

Therefore reciting "Om" are sacrifices, gifts and penances per- 
formed, according to ordinance, by those who know the Eternal: 

With thought of "That" are the rites of sacrifices and penance 
and giving, in all their forms, performed by those who seek liberation. 

"True" is used to indicate the Real and the Good ; the word "True" 
is likewise used, O son of Pritha, for auspicious work. (26) 

Steadfastness in sacrifice, penance, gifts is declared to be "true"; 
and whatever work makes for these is also declared to be "true." 

Whatever sacrifice is offered, whatever gift is given, whatever 
penance is performed, whatever is done, without faith, that, O son of 
Pritha, is declared to be "untrue"; neither in the other world nor in 
this does it avail. 



INTRODUCTION TO BOOK XVIII. 

Though the longest in the poem, Book XVIII needs very little com- 
ment. It by no means follows that it needs little study, or that it will 
scantily repay study. On the contrary, no part of the poem is richer 
in immediately practical wisdom, in counsel applicable to the needs of 
daily life. But this counsel students must dig out for themselves, 
rather than receive it ready-made from a commentator. 

The beginning of Book XVIII contains the moral teaching which 
is most characteristic of the Bhagavad Gita, the teaching which has the 
distinctive note of Krishna as a spiritual leader. It is the teaching of 
Renunciation, or of genuine disinterestedness, to express the same thing 
in another way. The ideal of ancient India has ever been Liberation, 
whether we speak of the ancient Upanishads, or of the Buddhists, or of 
their close kinsmen the Jainas. The only question has been as to the 
way in which Liberation is to be gained. The extremists among the 
ascetics held that Liberation should be sought by giving up the world 
in the most literal way, by dwelling in the forest far from human habita- 
tions, by living on wild herbs and water, by cutting oneself loose from 
all intercourse with one's fellow-men. Thus and thus only, said the 
extremists, can one get free from the bondage of works, which we are 
ever suffering and ever renewing. In answer to these ascetics, the Buddha 
taught the doctrine of the Golden Mean, the path of righteousness, 
gentleness, humanity. To the same problem Krishna had already given 
an answer equally valid, and with a marked individual coloring. The 
true way of Liberation, he said, is disinterestedness. Work for the 
love of the work, and not that you may gain a reward. Work is 



BHAGAVAD GITA 201 

imperative and not to be escaped; what should be escaped is bondage 
to work. And it is to be escaped, not by selfish calculations, whether 
called ascetic or ritual, but by a clear and selfless spirit, by self-forget- 
fulness, by doing all work as to the Most High, and thus ridding 
oneself of the heresy of separateness, self-centered vanity and egotism. 
It may be thought that, when this is done, the individuality becomes pale 
and diaphanous. The truth is just the contrary. When this is done, 
the individuality for the first time has real being, for the first time 
emerges clearly into the light of day. Genuine happiness, genuine cheer- 
fulness, genuine mirth come first with this clear and disinterested spirit, 
when all work is done as to the Master, when all self-reference is left 
behind. This teaching of work with disinterestedness is the first theme 
of Book XVIII, and the most characteristic moral feature of the 
Bhagavad Gita. 

Then comes a further exposition of the Three Powers, and their 
application to different phases of life. Here again is most fruitful mate- 
rial for study. The clue already given should be used, it being held in 
mind that the Three Powers correspond to the Three Bodies, or the 
Three Worlds of the Vedanta, as set forth, for example, in the Man- 
dukya Upanishad. Students should make the application for themselves. 
Thus, verse 20 tells us that, when the consciousness has been raised to 
the spiritual body, as St. Paul calls it, then "one eternal nature will be 
perceived in all beings, undivided, though beings are divided." In like 
manner, when the consciousness is centered in the psychic body, one 
will see "in all beings various natures according to their variety." In 
other words, the psychic nature sees diversity where the spiritual nature 
sees unity. The one divides where the other unites. In the same way 
should be worked out the threefold divisions of work, doer, firmness and 
happiness set forth in the verses that follow. 

Then comes the close of the poem, with its blessing to all who 
hear and further the same teaching, a blessing which we, as hearers of 
it, hope to share. 



BOOK XVIII. 
ARJUNA SAID: 

The truth of Renunciation, O mighty-armed one, I would learn of 
Thee, and of Resignation, with their difference, O Thou demon-slayer 
of flowing locks! 

THE MASTER SAID: 

The renouncing of works done through desire, sages have called 
Renunciation; and the wise have declared that ceasing from all desire 
of personal reward for one's work is Resignation. 



202 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Some of those who follow after knowledge have declared that every 
-work is to be abandoned, as being faulty; but others say that works 
of sacrifice, gifts and penance are not to be abandoned. 

Learn therefore from Me the certain truth concerning Resigna- 
tion, O best descendant of Bharata ; for Resignation, O tiger of men, 
is declared to be of three kinds. 

Works of sacrifice, gifts and penance are not to be abandoned, but 
.are to be performed ; for sacrifice, gifts and penance are the purifiers of 
those who seek wisdom. (5) 

But even these works are to be performed with abandonment of 
attachment and the desire of reward; this, O son of Pritha, is My sure 
.and excellent decision. 

But the renunciation of necessary work is not right; the ceasing 
from such work comes of delusion, and is declared to be the fruit of 
Darkness. 

Whoever ceases from any work through fear of bodily weariness, 
and saying: "it is painful," he, making the renunciation of Force, does 
not gain the fruit of renunciation. 

Whatever necessary work is done, O Arjuna, from the thought 
that it ought to be done, without attachment or desire of reward, this 
is held to be the renunciation of Substance. 

He hates not unhappy work, nor is attached to happy work, the 
wise renouncer, who is pervaded by Substance, whose doubts are cut. (10) 

For it is impossible for an embodied being to abandon all work 
without exception; but he who has given up the love of reward, he 
indeed has made the true renunciation. 

The fruit of works is threefold, desirable, or undesirable, or mixed ; 
it follows those who have not abandoned desire, but not those who 
have made renunciation. 

Learn from Me, O mighty-armed one, these five causes, which are 
-declared in the Sankhya teaching, for the accomplishment of all works: 

They are: the material instrument, the doer, the organ of whatever 
kind, the different impulses, and, fifthly, Destiny. 

Whatever work a man initiates, by body, speech or mind, whether 
it be righteous or the contrary, these are its five causes. (15) 

As this is so, whoever views the Self, the lonely one, as the doer, 
he, confused in thought, sees not rightly through defect of under- 
standing. 

Whose nature is not selfish, whose vision is not stained, even though 
he slays the whole world, such a one kills not, nor is he subject to 
bondage. 

The knowing, the thing to be known, the knower, make the three- 
fold driving-power of works; the organ, the thing done, the doer, make 
the threefold content of works. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 203 

The knowing, the thing done, and the doer, divided threefold 
according to the powers, are declared according to the enumeration of 
the powers. Hear thou rightly these: 

The knowledge whereby one eternal nature is perceived in all 
beings, undivided though beings are divided, know that knowledge to 
be of Substance. (20) 

But the knowledge which sees in all beings various natures accord- 
ing to their variety, know that knowledge to be of Force. 

But the knowledge which attaches itself to one thing, as though 
that were the whole, lacking the right motive, without true perception, 
narrow, know that to be of Darkness. 

The work that is done because it is necessary, without attachment, 
without lust or hate, by one who seeks no reward, is declared to be 
the work of Substance. 

But work done by one seeking his desire, and selfishly, and with 
abundant toil, is declared to be the work of Force. 

What work is begun without regard for consequences for the loss 
it may cause, or injury to others, or waste of power, through delusion, 
this is declared to be of Darkness. (25) 

The doer who is free from attachment, without vanity, who has 
firmness and will, who is not changed by success or failure, such a 
one is declared to be of Substance. 

The doer who is full of desire, who seeks the reward of his works, 
who is greedy, who harms others and is impure, who falls into exulta- 
tion or sorrow, is famed to be of Force. 

The doer who is without union, brutish, conceited, malignant, un- 
fair, slothful, despondent, temporising, is declared to be of Darkness. 

Hear thou the division of understanding and of firmness, three- 
fold according to the powers, declared completely according to their 
differences, O conqueror of wealth. 

The understanding which knows action and abstention, what is 
to be done, what left undone, what is to be feared and what not, and 
also bondage and freedom, that, O son of Pritha, is of Substance. (30) 

The understanding which distinguishes not truly between law and 
lawlessness, what should and should not be done is of Force, O son of 
Pritha. 

The understanding which, enwrapped in darkness, sees the unlawful 
as lawful, and all things as opposite to their true nature, that, O son 
of Pritha, is of Darkness. 

The firmness whereby one firmly holds the emotional nature, and 
the actions of the life-powers, unwavering in union, that, O son of 
Pritha, is the firmness of Substance. 

But the firmness, O Arjuna, whereby one desiring reward holds 



204 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

firmly to duty, desire, riches, that, O son of Pritha is the firmness of 
Force. 

But the firmness through which one of foolish mind will not let 
go dreams, fears, grief, despondency, arrogance, that, O son of Pritha, 
is of Darkness. (35) 

Hear now from Me the three kinds of happiness, O bull of the 
Bharatas, through following which one finds delight, and makes an end 
of pain. 

That which at the beginning is as poison, but in the outcome is 
like nectar, that is the happiness of Substance, springing from clear 
vision of the Soul. 

The happiness which springs from the union of the senses with the 
objects of desire, in the beginning like nectar, but in the outcome like 
poison, that is declared to be the happiness of Force. 

The happiness which, in the beginning, and to the end, causes 
blindness to the Soul, springing from sleep, sloth, negligence, that is 
declared to be of Darkness. 

Neither on earth, nor in heaven, nor among the gods is there any 
being which is free from these three powers born of Nature. (40) 

The works of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra, O con- 
sumer of the foe, are apportioned according to the powers inherent in 
the character of each. 

Peace, control, penance, purity, patience, and also rectitude, wis- 
dom, knowledge, affirmative faith, are the Brahman's work, according 
to his nature. 

Heroism, fire, firmness, skill, and refusal to flee in battle, giving 
of gifts, governing, are the works of the Kshatriya, according to his 
nature. 

Ploughing, tending cattle, commerce, are the natural work of the 
Vaishya; work which consists in service is the natural work of the 
Shudra. (44) 

By devotion each to his own work, every man gains true success; 
how each finds success through devotion to his own work, learn thou: 

From Whom all beings come, by Whom all this is stretched forth, 
Him honoring, each by his own work, the son of man finds success. 

Better is one's own duty even without excellence than the duty of 
another well carried out; doing the work imposed by one's own nature, 
he incurs no sin. 

Let not a man withdraw from his natural work, O son of Kunti, 
even if it be faulty; for all initiatives are subject to fault, as fire is 
wrapped in smoke. 

With thought everywhere unattached, self-conquered, from long- 
ing free, through renunciation he gains supreme success, free from 
bondage to works. 



BHAGAVAD GITA 205 

And how, having gained success, he gains the Eternal, learn them 

of Me, hearing briefly, O son of Kunti, what is the supreme seat of 

wisdom. (50) 

With soul-vision kept pure, firmly self-controlled, detached from 

sounds and other sense-objects, and discarding lust and hate; 

Seeking solitude, eating little, with speech, body and mind con- 
trolled, given up to union through soul-vision, following ever after 
dispassion ; 

Getting free from vanity, violence, pride, lust, wrath, avarice, with- 
out desire of possessions, full of peace, he builds for union with the 
Eternal. 

Become one with the Eternal, with soul at peace, he grieves not 
nor desires; equal toward all beings, he gains highest love of Me. 

Through love he learns Me truly, how great and what I am; then 
knowing Me truly, he straightway enters that Supreme. (55) 

Even continuing to perform all works, taking refuge in Me, through 
My grace he gains that everlasting home. 

In heart renouncing all works in Me, devoted to Me, following 
after union through soul-vision, keep thy heart ever set on Me. 

With heart set on Me, through My grace thou shalt cross through 
all rough places. But if through vanity thou wilt not hearken to Me, 
thou shalt perish. 

When through self-assertion thou thinkest: "I will not fight!" thy 

determination is a delusion, for Nature will constrain thee. (59) 

Bound, O son of Kunti, by thine own natural work, what thou 

desirest not to do through thy delusion, thou shalt do against thy will. 

The Lord dwells in the heart of every creature, O Arjuna, through 

His divine power moving all beings, as though guided by mechanism. 

Take refuge in Him with thy whole heart, O descendant of Bharata ; 
through His grace thou shalt gain supreme peace, the everlasting rest- 
ing-place. 

Thus to thee that wisdom which is more secret than all secrets 
is declared by Me ; fully pondering on it, as thou desirest, so do ! 

Hear further My ultimate word, most secret of all; thou art 
exceeding dear to Me, therefore will I speak what is good for thee. 

Set thy heart on Me, full of love for Me, sacrificing to Me, make 

obeisance to Me, and thou shalt come to Me; this is truth I promise 

thee, for thou art dear to Me. (65) 

Putting aside all other duties, come for refuge to Me alone ; grieve 

not, for I shall set thee free from all sins. 

This is never to be told by thee to him who is without fervor, 
without love, to him who seeks not to hear it, or who cavils at Me. 
Whosoever shall declare this supreme secret in the company of 



206 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

those who love Me, showing the highest love for Me, he shall certainly 
come to Me. 

Nor does any among mankind do aught dearer to Me than he; nor 
shall any in the world be dearer to Me than he. 

And whosoever shall study this righteous converse of Me and 
thee, such a one sacrifices to Me the sacrifice of wisdom; such is My 
thought. 

And whosoever shall hear it, full of faith and without cavil, he 
also, set free, will gain the shining worlds of those of holy works. 

Say then, O son of Pritha, whether thou hast listened in singleness 
of heart; say whether thy delusion of unwisdom is destroyed, O con- 
querer of wealth! 

ARJUNA SAID: 

Gone is my delusion; I have come to right remembrance through 
Thy grace, O unfallen one ! I stand, with my doubts gone. I shall fulfil 
thy word! 

SANJAYA SAID: 

Thus did I hear the converse of the son of Vasudeva and the 
mighty-souled son of Pritha, marvelous, causing the hair to stand erect 
with wonder. 

Through Vyasa's grace I heard this supreme secret, this union, from 
the Lord of union, Krishna himself, relating it. (75) 

O king, ever and anon remembering this marvelous converse, this 
holy talk between him of the flowing locks and Arjuna, I exult again 
and again. 

And ever and anon remembering Lord Hari's marvelous form, great 
dismay comes on me, O king, and I exult again and again. 

Wherever are Krishna, Lord of union, and Pritha's son, bearer of 
the bow, there are fortune, victory, blessing and steadfast law; this I 
maintain. 

THUS THE BHAGAVAD GITA is COMPLETED. MAY IT BE WELL WITH 
ALL BEINGS! 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 



ELEMENTARY ARTICLES 



VII. 
EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC TEACHING. 

DEAR FRIEND : In my previous letters I have been giving you 
in a rudimentary way some of the teachings of Theosophy. 
In your reading of Theosophical books and papers you have 
often met with references to exoteric and esoteric teaching, and 
it is to this I wish to draw your attention in this letter. 

The question has no doubt suggested itself to you as it did to me, 
"What does it mean ?" "Is there some knowledge given only to an inner 
circle of disciples, and does that knowledge differ in kind or only in 
degree from the popular ideas on the same subject?" It means that 
some truths are adapted for popular instruction, being the easily under- 
stood principles of the philosophy or religion. But it also means that 
there is a deeper or higher meaning of these truths that can only be 
given to a select few. 

From the most ancient times philosophers and religious teachers 
have had a secret doctrine, a hidden teaching, which they gave only 
under the most strict and exacting conditions to approved candidates. 

These candidates for admission to the inner school had already 
passed through a course of strict preliminary training in which they 
developed and mastered the powers of the mind, the emotions, the 
moral sense, and in some measure the spiritual powers. 

On this "Probationary Path," which was one of discipline as well 
as one of instruction, they were supposed to become pure and holy that 
is, they reacned a high degree of moral, intellectual, and spiritual devel- 
opment. One reason for this great care in tfie selection and training 
of candidates for initiation was that the knowledge imparted might 
become a great curse. 

If the students, intellectually strong, were yet self-seeking and 
avaricious for power over their fellow men, they would be likely to 
use their knowledge as the Borgias and others used their knowledge 
of poisons in the middle ages. 

In the ancient schools of Egypt the greatest Greek philosophers 
were educated and initiated into the Greater Mysteries. Pythagoras, 



208 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the first Greek mathematician, studied in Thebes, and afterwards received 
a high initiation in India. Thales and Democritus both studied in 
Memphis. Solon, the great lawgiver, studied at Sais, the Oxford of 
Egypt, and Herodotus, the father of history, got his method from his 
teacher in the Temple of Hierapolis, where he received initiation. Plato 
went to Sais and to Thebes to be initiated into Egyptian wisdom. 

Persia had her Mithraic mysteries, and Greece her Orphic, Bacchic 
and other mysteries. 

Pythagoras, who had a school of pledged disciples, is said to have 
had such a knowledge of music that he could use it for the controlling 
of man's wildest passions, and the illuminating of their minds. G. R. S. 
Mead in his Orpheus gives some interesting details of the Pythagorean 
school, its discipline and studies. 

In the inner school there were three degrees. The first of Hearers, 
who studied two years in silence, doing their best to master the teaching ; 
the second degree was of Mathematici, including the study of geometry, 
music, and the nature of number, form, color, and sound; the third 
degree was of Physici, who mastered cosmogony and metaphysics. This 
led up to the true mysteries. The candidates for the school had to be 
of an unblemished character and of a contented^ disposition. In a 
general way all the schools of ancient nations were like the Pythagorean. 
The Hebrews had their schools of the prophets at Bethel, Gilgal, Ramah, 
Jericho and other places. The prophet Samuel was the head of these 
schools when we first heard of them (i Sam. 19:20), and later we find 
Elijah, and then Elisha filling this place. For more than fifty years Elisha 
was the honored head of these schools, his supremacy being as fully 
accepted in the Southern as in his native Northern Kingdom. 

The students lived an austere, retired life, depending largely upon the 
charity of the people for support. They studied music, poetry, Hebrew 
law, and were trained in prophetic duties. In later centuries the Bible 
became the chief study, and what is called the Kabala contains some of 
this ancient teaching. It declares that every text of the Bible is capable 
of a fourfold interpretation signified by four Hebrew words which mean 
Explanation, Hint, Homily, and Mystery. The Rabbis said the law was 
explainable in forty-nine different ways. Philo (who lived about the 
time of Jesus) had a large school in Alexandria, and he taught that the 
interpretation of the Bible should be literal for the unlearned, and 
allegorical for those who are mature enough in spirit to crave for the 
inner meaning of the words. 

Christianity had at first its "Mysteries of the Kingdom," and Jesus 
had a large number of outer disciples, an inner school, and also a group 
in that inner school who were favored by teaching that the rest of the 
school did not receive. 

When Jesus preached the great "Sermon on the Mount" he selected 



EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC TEACHING 209 

twelve out of a larger number who had been closely associated with him, 
and out of the twelve he took Peter, James, and John as an inner group. 
These three were close to him on special occasions, such as the raising 
of a little maid (Mark v. 37), on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 
9:28). After speaking the parable of the seed and the soil (Matt. 13, 
Luke 8, Mark 4) he sent the multitude away and the twelve asked 
him about the parable. He replied, "Unto you it is given to know the 
mystery of the Kingdom of God, but unto them that are without all 
these things are done in parables." And Mark says that "When they 
were alone he expounded all these things to his disciples." 

The teaching of St. Paul is even more explicit than that of the 
Master. In his first epistle to the Corinthians he speaks of a "hidden 
wisdom"; the "Wisdom of God in a mystery"; and of this wisdom as 
revealed to him by the spirit, but not known even by princes. He 
speaks of himself as a "wise master builder," and the "steward of the 
mysteries of God." He tells the Ephesians that "by revelation had been 
made known to him the mystery." Writing to Timothy, he tells him 
to select his deacons from those who "hold the mystery of the faith 
in a pure conscience." 

In his second epistle to the Thessalonians (II, 15; III, 6) he 
teaches that those who have not spiritual discernment "should walk 
after the traditions." That is, they should accept the teaching of those 
who have spiritual discernment. Some of these traditions were written 
and some were spoken. The writings of St. Peter and St. John are 
in perfect harmony with those of Paul and with the synoptic Gospels. 
It has been asserted that this esoteric teaching committed by Paul to 
Timothy and others was handed down from one disciple to another 
during the early centuries of our era. 

From A. D. 189 to A. D. 220 Clement was the head of a Catecheti- 
cal School at Alexandria said to have been founded by St. Mark. 
Clement was a pupil of Pantaenus, and he speaks of him and two 
others (supposed to be Tatian and Theodotus) as "preserving the tra- 
dition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, 
Peter, James, John, and Paul." He says that the wisdom imparted and 
revealed by the Son of God has decended by transmision to a few, 
having been imparted unwritten by the apostles. In his Miscellanies 
he says : "The Lord allowed us to communicate of those divine myster- 
ies, and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive them. He 
did not certainly disclose to the many what did not belong to the many; 
but to the few to whom he knew that they belonged, who were capable 
of receiving and being moulded according to them. But secret things 
are entrusted to speech and not to writing, as is the case with God." 
He says further that this knowledge is withheld, "not because he grudged 
for that would be wrong but fearing for my readers, lest they 
should stumble by taking them in a wrong sense, and so as the proverb 



210 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

says, we should be found reaching a sword to a child." Chapter XII 
of Book I is headed "The Mysteries of the faith not to be divulged to 
all," and in it he gives reasons for esoteric teaching. 

Origen, his pupil, born about 185 A. D., taught that as man 
consists of body and soul, so the words of Scripture relate to the visible, 
and -to the invisible, but that the esoteric meaning, or spirit of the 
words could not be discovered unless the interpretation was made three- 
fold historical, moral, and mystical. 

In the Fourth Book of De Principiis, he says further, that, what 
he calls the "body" of scripture is the common and historical sense; 
the "soul" is a figurative meaning to be discovered by the exercise of 
the intellect; and the "spirit" is an inner and divine sense, to be known 
only by those who have "the mind of Christ." 

He says that wisdom will not enter into the soul of a base man, nor 
dwell in a body that is involved in sin, and that these higher teachings 
are only given to those who are strong in virtue and piety. He also 
says that sinners were taken into the church because the church has 
medicine for the sick, but it had also the study and knowledge of 
divine things for those who are in health. Sinners are first taught 
not to sin, and only when it was seen that progress had been made, 
and men were purified by the word, "then, and not before, do we invite 
them to participation in our Mysteries, for we speak wisdom among 
them that are perfect." 

Clement and Origen were two of the greatest of the Christian 
Fathers of the second and third centuries. It is the opinion of those 
who have given careful attention to the subject that the "Mysteries of 
the Kingdom" taught by Jesus and his apostles, and by the Christian 
Fathers were essentially the same as the Mysteries taught in the ancient 
schools of Egypt and India, and later by Pythagoras and other great 
teachers. 

Is this knowledge lost? or are there still on earth those to whom 
have been revealed the Mysteries of the Kingdom? Is it yet possible, 
for the devout, sincere, and earnest student to find a competent teacher? 
Theosophy supplies an answer to these questions : To the first question 
it answers, No, it is not lost. The other two questions it answers in the 
affirmative. It says distinctly, nothing has been lost, there are still 
with us men to whom these mysteries have been revealed and when 
the pupil is ready he will find the teacher he needs. 

The teaching is that the Brotherhood of the White Lodge, the 
Hierarchy of Adepts have watched over and guided the evolution of 
humanity, and have preserved all this knowledge unimpaired. 

Ages ago they sent their teachers to the schools of Egypt, India, 
and other ancient nations. They still exist, and still they may be found 
by those who seek, for still they teach eager pupils, unveiling the 
ancient mysteries to those who are worthy. 



EXOTERIC AND ESOTERIC TEACHING 211 

The great teachers of the past have all been sent out by this Lodge. 
Theosophists generally believe that Madame H. P. Blavatsky was a 
pupil of these Masters, or elder Brothers, and that she was initiated 
into some of these ancient mysteries. They also believe that she was 
used by the Masters to reveal to the Western world some of these 
hidden truths through books like the Secret Doctrine, and also by verbal 
teachings. The Theosophical Society is the child of these Masters and 
through it they are trying to give to us the ancient wisdom. 

The first truths revealed were stepping stones to higher ones. So 
after a few pupils had been prepared Madame Blavatsky established an 
inner, or esoteric section in which she gave more advanced instruction 
to those who were ready for it. 

Some of this instruction given then to pledged disciples only has 
since been made public and is now open to all. Indeed the lesser 
mysteries have in large measure been given to the Theosophical Society, 
but the Greater Mysteries have not, and cannot be written ; for spiritual 
things cannot be expressed in words, any more than you can explain by 
words the taste of water. 

I know there are those who question the existence of these Masters, 
but there are some who know, and they assure us that they are real 
living men and not myths. They are not supernatural beings, but men 
whose knowledge of the universe is great, but whose work is limited 
by great cyclic laws, the law of Karma, and by magnetic, auric and other 
conditions. So there are periods altogether unfavorable to the spread 
of the knowledge they are possessed of. 

We are fortunate enough to live in a period when it is possible 
for them to manifest their powers and impart their knowledge to men 
more freely than for many centuries. 

The rise and spreading of this great wave of Theosophical thought 
is a manifestation of the Masters who are once more lifting the veil 
and revealing the Mysteries to earnest spiritual seekers. 

But in addition to this most valuable knowledge of the universe, 
of the nature, origin and destiny of man, it is still possible to get 
that training by which latent spiritual powers are developed and one 
may be fitted for chelaship, and prepared to receive those greater Mys- 
teries that in the past only a few have been favored with. 

These higher things can only be known by us as we develop the 
power to know them. Jesus said to his disciples the night before he 
was crucified, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot 
hear them now." (Jno. 16:12). The promise is still true, "seek and ye 
shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you," and the time will come 
when we need not depend on assertion, or the testimony of others, 
but "we shall know even as we are known." 

Fraternally yours, 

JOHN SCHOFIELD. 




The New Knowledge, by Robert Kennedy Duncan, Professor of Chemistry in 
Washington and Jefferson College, is an attempt to present the latest scientific 
theories so clearly and so simply that they may be understood by the lay reader. 
Professor Duncan seems admirably fitted for the task. His style is vital and his 
explanations are, in the main, both logical and direct. In regard to the positive ion 
he seems to have forgotten for the moment how much the average reader does not 
Icnow and there are gaps in his theory which can only be supplied by turning to 
other authors ; but, on the whole, the book is remarkably clear. Starting with the 
ordinary scientific theories he leads us, step by step, through the wonderland of 
discovery and research till we find ourselves at the end with a new heaven and a 
new earth facing the illimitable possibilities of an infinite future. 

Professor Duncan does not claim undue authority for his conclusions. In the 
preface he says : "These theories cannot be said to rest upon any definite consensus 
of scientific opinion. Each is rather the work of some one man who is the authority 
paramount on that particular subject"; and again, in speaking of scientific specula- 
tion : "The little systems have their day and cease to be. But out of each system 
rises another. The second system takes in all the 'facts' of the first, accounts for 
its inconsistencies and embraces a wider scope. Hence the evolution of systems is 
like a series of concentric, ever-widening circles. The new Knowledge is simply the 
outermost circle. It is the truest expression of the truth attainable at this time." 

What is this "truest truth"? 

Mainly it is a new theory of the nature of matter. Starting with our old friend, 
the atom, the scientists have so metamorphosed the concept that it is in great danger 
of disappearing altogether. In the first place the atom, whose one known quality 
was its indestructibility, has been broken up ; and we find it to be composed of 
thousands of tiny sub-atoms, all dashing about in the maddest motion. Later these 
sub-atoms, the basis of all matter, were found to be not matter at all but force, tiny 
centres of electrical energy, and with this discovery, presto, change! the atom, like 
the conjuror's ball, vanishes before our very eyes. But like the conjurer's ball it 
vanishes only to reappear under another form. For we still have our ultimate^ par- 
ticles out of which the universe is built; only, instead of little chunks of "dead 
matter" we now have tiny whirlpools of ether formed by the electric centers. 

Let us examine these "electrons," as the new ultimates are called. 

Sir Oliver Lodge describes an atom of hydrogen, the lightest of the atoms, in 
this way : "If we imagine an ordinary church to be an atom of hydrogen, the elec- 
trons constituting it will be represented by about 1,000 grains of sand, each the size 
of a period, dashing in all directions or rotating with inconceivable^ velocity, and 
filling the whole interior of the church with their tumultuous motion." 

This description is hardly exact, for a grain of sand or a period has size, and 
it is probable that the force centers have neither size nor weight in any exact sense, 
since their mass is wholly dependent upon the amount of ether which they entrain 
and carry with them and that, in its turn, is dependent on the rapidity of the motion. 

Some of the free electrons that have been studied move fast enough to travel 
five times around the world in a second; but even this speed is only about half that 
of light, and it has been calculated that if an electron could move with the rapidity 
of a light-wave its mass would be infinite. Hence it follows that there is an absolute 
limit to the possible speed of an electron; and, also, since mass is dependent on 
velocity, the theory of the conservation of mass, one of the main dogmas of science, 
is no longer beyond question. 

There have been two sources from which we have gathered our knowledge of 
the electron. In the first place, it was discovered that certain agencies would break 
up or "ionize" the atoms of a gas, setting free some of the electrons; and, sec- 



REVIEWS 213 

ondly, since the discovery of radium and the radio-active elements, it has been 
found that the atoms of these substances break up spontaneously at certain intervals 
with a sort of an internal explosion. There are 225,000 electrons in one of the 
radium atoms, all revolving at an immense rate of speed on the surface of concentric 
spheres. The electrons are centres of negative electricity and the theory is that they 
are held together by an enclosing sphere of positive electricity. Now, it has been 
found by actual experiment that electrified points arrange themselves in regular 
geometrical forms under the influence of magnetic attraction, and it is supposed 
that this arrangement alters somewhat as the speed alters with which the points 
revolve. Therefore, it is thought that when the tremendous internal energy of the 
heavy radium atom falls below a certain critical point, the electrons suddenly form 
new combinations, with the result that the equilibrium of the atom is upset and 
various groups fly off to form new atoms. 

Through this loop-hole we have been enabled to get a peep into nature's labora- 
tory and to see the great alchemist at work. Here, at last, is a veritable transmuta- 
tion of the elements, and while most of the disintegration products are in such 
minute quantities that we cannot analyze them, still in one case we have been 
able actually to watch the birth of an element; for helium is one of the products 
formed from the breaking up of the radium atom. 

There are many minor points of interest in Professor Duncan's book, such as 
the pressure of sunlight and the explanation of clouds and comets ; and there are 
some tilings to question : for instance, such an important element as positive elec- 
tricity is absolutely unexplained and there is much confusion caused by a lack of 
any clear conception of the nature of the ether, but as these are lacks in the scientific 
theory itself, Professor Duncan can hardly be held responsible for them, and it 
is ungracious to pick flaws where so much is admirable. Let us, rather, see what 
we have gained from The New Knowledge. 

In the first place, with the discovery of the intense internal heat of the atom 
and its constant emission in the case of the radio-active elements, all calculations 
as to the size of the world have been upset, and we now find ourselves in a uni- 
verse with practically unlimited time for growth. The stars are both evolving and 
disintegrating and it is at least possible that the process may continue indefinitely. 
Moreover, the extent of the evolutionary field has widened till it now includes all 
forms of manifestations. 

Professor Duncan says: "The evidence for an inorganic evolution seems every 
whit as conclusive as the evidence for an organic evolution. . . . The great law 
of continuity forbids us to assume that life suddenly made its appearance out of 
nothing, and tells us that we must look for the elements of life in the very elements 
of matter, for the potentiality of life should exist in every atom. More and'more 
do we see that we are the last result of a series of consecutive changes running back 
to a time when the stars were young. . . . Untold millions of years ago the 
tiny particles of the Materia Prima began the mazy configurations which evolved 
into the atoms. . . . What a phantasmagoric dance it is, this dance of the 
atoms ! They come together, vibrating, clustering, interlocking, combining, and 
there results a woman, a flower, a blackbird or a locust as the case may be. But 
to-morrow the dance is ended, the atoms are far away, * * * for one thing 
after another, 

"Like snow upon the Desert's dusty Face 
Lighting a little hour or two is gone, 
And the eternal, ever-changing dance goes on." 

As to the outlook for the future we now have the legitimate hope that some 
day we may be able to realize the wildest dreams of the alchemist and disintegrate 
and recombine the atoms at will. When that day dawns we shall be as Gods, for 
we shall have mastered the forces of nature. 

As Professor Duncan says: "Man will some day tap the vast stores of inter- 
elemental energy, a store so great that every breath we draw has within it sufficient 
power to drive the workshops of the world. 

"Now that we know of this infinite treasure-house, it is neither difficult nor 
fanatical to believe that 'beings who are latent in our thoughts and hidden in our 
lives shall stand upon this earth as one stands upon a foot-stool and shall laugh and 
reach out their hands amidst the stars/ " 



Dr. William Hanna Thomson has written a volume on Brain and Personality: 
or the Physical Relations of the Brain to the Mind. The book has attracted atten- 



214 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

tion in England and is a distinct step in advance in its abandonment of the old 
materialistic position. Dr. Thomson says, for example, "Considering that it is 
not brain which makes man, but man who makes one of his brain hemispheres 
human in mental faculties, we might even say that if a human personality would 
enter a young chimpanzee's brain, where it would find all the required cerebral 
convolutions, that ape could then grow into a true inventor or philosopher." Here 
Dr. Thomson is close on the trail of the "missing link." It is strange if he has 
not read the Secret Doctrine. In Vol. II, page 760 (720 o.e.) one reads, "The 
secret could soon be told. . . . It is expected to be discovered in the physical 
remains of man * * instead of looking for that specialization in the super- 
physical essence of his inner astral constitution, which can hardly be excavated from 
any geological strata." "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. On the other hand, the pithecoids, the 
orang-outang, the gorilla, and the chimpanzee can, and as the Occult Sciences teach, 
do, descend from the animalized Fourth Human Root-race, being the product of 
man and an extinct species of mammal whose remote ancestors were themselves 
the product of Lemurian bestiality which lived in the Miocene age." Dr. Thomson 
has grasped the potentiality of the force behind the brain. Having overcome that 
initial difficulty, the next step is to realize that "Collectively, men are the handiwork 
of hosts of various spirits ; distributively, the tabernacles of those hosts ; and occa- 
sionally and singly, the vehicle of some of them." (S. D., Vol. I, 245.) 



Luke, the Physician* by Adolf Harnack. This latest contribution to Biblical 
criticism, from the pen of the greatest living authority, is really a work for the 
expert, but it is written with such simplicity and directness that the lay-reader can 
not only understand and follow the argument, but is very likely to underestimate 
the vast erudition and brilliant analytical power that went to the making of the 
book. Dr. Harnack's theme is to prove what a whole school of Biblical scholars 
deny : that such a man as Luke lived ; that he was a physician ; a companion of St. 
Paul, and that he wrote the third Gospel and other so-called Lukian writings. Not 
only this, but he wrote the famous "we" sections, which many who think he wrote 
the rest of works traditionally attributed to him, are disposed to refer to some other 
and unknown source. To a lay mind, Dr. Harnack amply and convincingly proves 
his points, and he does it in such a thorough manner that we look to see this work 
re-establish the diminishing repute of Luke, and go far to settle the disputed author- 
ship of the writings which are properly called by his name. 



Transactions of the Second Annual Congress of the European Sections of the 
Theosophical Society. This is a record of the second annual Congress of the Adyar 
Society, which took place in July, 1905. Excluding the official business and the 
addresses by the officers, the whole book is rilled with the papers read before 
the Congress. On the whole they disappoint us. Most of them are repetitions of 
work done better in other places 

The chief lack is of articles of a practical value. We do not need a scientific 
explanation of Karma, or advice for the would-be clairvoyant, so much as a guide 
how to put our knowledge into use for the improvement of mankind and our daily 
lives. Happily there are some papers which bring out points which all Theosophists 
should take to heart. In an article entitled, "Some Danger-points in the 'New- 
Thought' Movement," we are all warned once more against tampering with and 
misusing psychic forces which we know little or nothing about. The author of 
"The Relation of the Theosophical Society to the Theosophical Movement" com- 
plains that Theosophists "are in need of an increasing breadth of view and a 
greater reverence for religious faiths as exemplified in individuals," and he also 
gives us valuable hints how we can work as individuals for the Theosophical Move- 
ment. Another article warns us that we cannot attempt to scale the Theosophical 
heights and reach the Eternal without due preliminary training on all planes, and 
that the training should be applied to the awakening of the Intuition. 

Among the scientific papers, two stand out prominently, showing study and 
some originality. "Some notes on the Fourth Dimension" and "Vibratory Capacity, 
the Key to Personality." 

Besides this, the book is well and clearly printed on good paper, and the get-up 
reflects great credit on the editor. L. G. 

*New Testament Series. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York. 



REVIEWS 215 

MAGAZINE REVIEWS. 

International Journal of Ethics, Philadelphia. The July number opens with an 
article by O. A. Shrubsole, Reading, England, upon the "Relation of Theological 
Dogma to Religion," which leads to the conclusion that "religion can have no 
quarrel with theology, as such, and can do either with or without it." The theme 
is important and timely and many valuable comparisons are given, but the argument 
seems sometimes loose and the later pages fail to sustain the interest of the opening 
paragraphs. Mr. M. A. Shaw, writing from the University of Missouri, contributes 
a very clearly reasoned and interesting essay entitled "Some facts of the Practical 
Life and Their Satisfaction." Man's chief concern, Mr. Shaw holds, has always 
been "to do" rather than "to know." This "doing" constitutes the practical life, 
and its failure to express the ideal we will is the need which requires satisfaction. 
Through religion, particularly through faith, this striving for the ideal suffers a 
transformation, and becomes the problem of Self-expression just so far as we have 
faith in our oneness with The Spirit. Faith brings the ideal from the future and 
the beyond to the present and the here, and makes us for the time, at least, one with 
it. Yet the struggle endures, for we stand always between the "not yet revealed" 
and the "not yet expressed." The article will well repay close reading. Mr. W. R. 
Sorley, of the University of Cambridge, continues his series, "Ethical Aspects of 
Economics," treating of the effect of economic conditions upon ethical development. 
The Socialistic dictum that "To the Socialist labor is an evil to be minimized to the 
utmost, and the man who works at his trade or avocation more than necessity com- 
pels ... is a fool from the Socialist's standpoint" is contrasted with the view of 
labor as "an element of duty and spiritual well being," and as "a healthy foundation 
of the spiritual life." 

Under the title "The Ought and Reality" Mr. John E. Boodin gives us a resume 
of past philosophic attitudes toward a problem of ever present interest. But his 
article is far more than historical and retrospective, and in his own championship 
of "the Ought" as a dynamic factor in life, compelling our service and guiding us 
to itself by its incarnation in Reality, particularly in our hearts and in history, 
we find both eloquent and persuasive pleading. Other articles are "Some Essentials 
of Moral Education," by Harrold Johnson; "Self Realization as the Moral End," 
by Herbert L. Stewart; and "The Psychology of Prejudice," by Josiah Morse. 
The book reviews are, as always with this Journal, both valuable and entertaining 
a combination difficult to secure. 



The Hibbert Journal is such a mine of valuable information that the reviewer 
is in despair. He must either write an essay about each one of the many interesting 
contributions in the magazine, or his review becomes merely a list of the articles 
published. How could it be otherwise when almost everything in the magazine 
bears directly upon the subjects which are most before our own readers, upon which 
our minds are continually dwelling, and which are the objects of our own work and 
efforts. Furthermore, the Hibbert Journal commands the very best talent in the 
world to-day in its various specialties. Sometimes the point of view of the writers 
differs from our Theosophical point of view, but usually not so much as one might 
expect, and even when this is so, it makes the articles even more interesting to us, 
who aim at a knowledge of and sympathy with all points of view. What we may 
always be sure of in the Hibbert is that we shall find a lucid statement of a liberal 
point of view towards matters of religion and philosophy, be it Christian or pagan, 
Eastern or Western. 

From the last two or three numbers of the Journal we would call special atten- 
tion to the following articles : "The Religious Crisis in France and Italy," by Paul 
Sabatier; "The Failure of the Friars," by G. G. Coulton; "The Aim of the New 
Theology Movement," by Rev. R. J. Campbell, about whom so much has recently 
been written in our own, as well as in many other magazines and newspapers ; "The 
Aim of the New Catholic Movement," by Latinus ; "Divine Immanence," by Henry 
Jones, one of the most lucid and delightful of writers on abstruse subjects. These 
are but some of the many papers which make this Journal the most interesting and 
valuable of the many periodicals dealing with religious subjects. 



The Monist for July is a valuable number for specialists who are interested in 
various branches of comparative religion and philosophy. Professor Mills, of 
Oxford, contributes a study of the similarities between the Books of Daniel and 
Revelation and the Zend Avesta. Dr. Carus has a highly technical article on some 



216 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

obscure definitions in Old Testament nomenclature. An Eastern sinilogue, Suzuki, 
commences a study of "Early Chinese Philosophy," which should be unusually 
interesting and informing, coming as it does from a native of the East, and yet one 
familiar with our Western systems of thought. This first number deals with the 
Third Century B. C. This number also contains the translations of all known frag- 
ments of Empedocles' verses. 

The Open Court for June, July and August. The Editor's series of articles dis- 
cussing various phases of Goethe's religious beliefs are continued and are particu- 
larly interesting in view of the increased attention which is now being given to every- 
thing connected with the great German philosopher, poet and writer. Another arti- 
cle which attracts our notice is by Charles Kassel, whose theme is that science in 
its successive triumphs has been realizing one by one the fancies of fairy lore and 
magic. Indeed, there is little of the marvellous that cannot be matched by modern 
discovery. The illustrations are a feature of this magazine, not only because of the 
excellence of the reproductive process, but by reason of the special interest and odd- 
ness of the subjects chosen. 

Another copy of Bibby's Annual, which, the Editor explains, comes out when- 
ever he has anything to say, has reached us and, as usual, has pleased with its 
delightful colored illustrations. It was a queer idea for a business man to advertise 
his trade by publishing a mystical, elaborately illustrated magazine, and yet, judging 
from the extensive notice which this journal receives, it must pay as a business 
investment, while it undoubtedly carries Theosophical and mystical ideas to large 
numbers of people who otherwise would never hear of them. 

Theosophlsches Leben for June and July goes on its steady and interesting 
way, usually making a feature of some translation from the QUARTERLY. K. S. 
Ullig contributes an article on the Mysticism of Richard Wagner. A specially inter- 
esting article is by the Editor, entitled, "The Esoteric Meaning of the Life of Jesus." 
A large part of the July number is filled with an account of the Convention of the 
Society held in Berlin in May. 

Sonnen-Strahlen for June and July continues its excellent work of putting 
Theosophy in the simple form suitable to childish readers. As the future members 
of the Society are now children, the importance of their being properly trained in the 
fundamentals of Theosophical principles cannot be overstated. 

The Annals of Psychic Science. Reading this journal we are once more im- 
pressed with the feeling that there are a number of able and conscientious men who 
do not know what they are doing, but who grope and flounder in the waste places 
of psychism, with a great air of being scientists and using scientific methods, hoping 
to discover something which, if they were only not so obstinate, they could find 
all about in our literature. They do much harm, to themselves and to the mediums 
they employ, and but very little good that any one can discover by a reading of 
their publications. They have been doing the same thing for thirty years and will 
go on doing it for thirty centuries without getting anywhere or learning anything, 
unless they discover first the principles which underlie the astral realms which they 
are investigating. 

We have also received a huge number of so-called New Thought magazines. 
Some, a few, show signs of having been published for altruistic reasons, but the 
greatest number are either schemes to get money out of the unwary, or are for the 
obvious purpose of furnishing some medium for the peculiar views of the Editor. 
Out of some 25 or 30 such periodicals which we have just looked through, we have 
failed to find a single thing which seemed to us worth publication. Perhaps there 
are people in the world who like this sort of thing, but we have never met any. 



QUESTIONS 



ANSWERS 




QUESTION 75. / have heard it declared to the contrary, but I should like to 
know why Theosophy is so generally believed to be antagonistic to Christianity, 
or at least to the Christian churches. 

ANSWER. Theosophy is not antagonistic to Christianity, nor to the Christian 
churches. The teaching of Jesus is Theosophy, "DivineWisdom," pure and simple ; 
and as that teaching is the real life of the Christian churches otherwise they are 
neither Christian nor churches Theosophy must be, in essence, the life of all 
churches. How could anything but Divine Wisdom be the heart of any church? 

There is more than heart in many churches, however. There are many over- 
growths, some fine and subtle ; others rank and grpss. This has always been so, 
ever since there were churches for the multitude, and will in some degree be so 
until mankind is wholly regenerated. Against these overgrowths Divine Wisdom, 
at each new apparition of its message on earth, sternly protests, always has pro- 
tested and always will protest. Humanly speaking, it was such a protest that 
caused the crucifixion of Jesus, as it had caused the exiling of the followers of the 
Buddha, the death of Osiris. And those who are devoted to the husk always 
think that any attempt to remove it is an attack on the church, whereas it is 
really the way of life and regeneration for the church. Theosophy has always 
said : "I am come that ye might have Life, and that ye might have it more 
abundantly." 

We have passed the era of protest, always a difficult duty, and safe only in 
the hands of the wisest; we have entered the era of interpretation, of conciliation, 
of unity of heart. Let us then apply our hearts to Divine Wisdom, letting its light 
shine in our hearts, and declare itself not only on our lips but in our lives, and 
then those who seek will not be slow to recognize the Light their hearts so greatly 
desire. C. J. 

ANSWER. To trace the genesis of an error were an Augean task ! Who can 
say how, or why, an erroneous idea has arisen? There can, we think, be no doubt 
that there are individual theosophists who antagonise the Christian Churches, and 
that there are others, in smaller number, who antagonise "Christianity" : we hope 
that their number, grows less every year. Even of these, very few will be found 
to object to the Teaching of the great Founder of Christianity. The root of their 
objection seems to lie in the dogmas, creeds and systems put forward as hard and 
fast facts by some Churches, all of which appear to them to obscure often to 
deride the real "Christian" Teachings, as these are found in the New Testament. 
Madame Blavatsky was_ the most brilliant of these objectors. The careful reader 
will find that it was neither the Churches nor Christianity to which she took ex- 
ception, but rather to certain abuses and misconceptions which she believed to have 
crept within both, and which would not bear comparison with the recorded Teach- 
ings of the Christian Founder. All that she wrote and said can be viewed as a 
vehement plea for the restoration of the Teachings of Jesus in their original purity. 
A candid survey of the theosophical field does not show that there is any appre- 
ciable number of theosophists so unwise and so intolerant as to "antagonise" any 
formula of Religion. It may well be that there is a somewhat larger number who 
compare latter day "Christianity" with the original Teachings, and for the purpose 
of inviting a change, a movement towards the obliteration of all the accretions of 
dogma, in order once again to set free the vital spirit of the original Teachings, 
and to perpetuate and revivify the love of the Teacher. Thus far for theosophists. 

The question, strictly speaking, however, does not concern theosophists,_ but 
"Theosophy." It seemed desirable to deal first with the matter of individual 



218 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

members of the Theosophical Society, in so far as their actions might have seemed 
to compromise or to obscure Theosophy itself. For Theosophy speaks with no 
uncertain voice. There is no accent of hesitancy in her definition of Truth. Theos- 
ophy is everywhere found to declare the universality of Religions; the Unity of 
the religious nature 9f Man. While it deprecates all rigidity of tenet, all crystal- 
isation in Religion, in Science, and in the human mind, it invites examination, 
study, research in an impartial and a courteous spirit, for the purpose of proving 
the existence of the Unity lying behind or within all Manifestation. Theosophy 
may thus be said to antagonise nothing but finality, the parti pris, error, dogma; in 
a word, ignorance wherever found. Theosophy invites all men to be free, and to 
use their freedom of will and choice in a sincere, broad-minded investigation, 
without prejudice as without antagonistic bitterness, of the Truth, which alone 
can wholly "make alive." J. K. 

ANSWER. The Theosophical Society is composed of men who are not restricted 
by the society as to what they shall or shall not believe. They may be members 
of any church and hold to any form of religious belief they may choose, without 
prejudice to their membership in the society; and many of our members are also 
members in good standing of Christian churches. Each member of the Theosoph- 
ical Society has the right to express his opinion upon the subjects considered, always 
respecting the right of others to hold to differing opinions. Under these condi- 
tions naturally members do not hesitate to avow their personal disbelief in this 
or that dogma or article of faith as laid down by the Christian churches or other 
so-called authorities. 

But no member's utterances in any way commit the Theosophical Society to 
the views expressed. Although continually stated, this position of the society is 
difficult for most non-members to understand, for the mind of the mass is sub- 
consciously influenced by the shadow of centuries of theological training in the 
sacredness of ecclesiastic authority as expressed in church dogmas and creeds. 
So that most people, lacking the interest or the courage to study Theosophy for 
themselves, are inclined to measure the Theosophical Society by the utterances of 
this or that member, and either to contemptuously class it among the warring 
"isms" of the world or to see in it an active propaganda of the antichrist. 

That Theosophy is not antagonistic to Christianity every student in the 
Society knows. In fact, Theosophy being itself simply universal Truth, merges 
into and is identified with all truths, no matter where or under what name they 
find expression. Theosophy itself can have no quarrel with Christianity or any 
other particular religion, for its effect is to illumine and revivify every system of 
faith into which it enters. A. J. M. 

ANSWER. Where this belief exists both the churches and Theosophy are to 
blame. The founder of the society was an iconoclast and used strong language 
about churches in order to make men think, and some of her followers speak almost 
with ridicule of churches and their objects and methods. On the other hand 
churches know little of Theosophy and look upon Theosophists as faddists who 
are harmless and will soon pass away. In some cities where Theosophists are few 
they are divided into three hostile camps and say the hardest things about each 
other. This leads the members of churches to conclude that there is nothing 
Christian about a Theosophical Society. Some of the members of our Theosophical 
societies were formerly bitter opponents of churches and retain a good deal of that 
spirit after becoming Theosophists. This was a stumbling block to me. 

When we become real Theosophists and the churches come to know us, Theos- 
ophy will no longer be considered antagonistic to Christianity. J. S. 

ANSWER. If it be generally believed that Theosophy is opposed to the 
Christian churches, I, for one, could only account for so extraordinary and con- 
tradictory a state of affairs, by falling back on the ancient doctrine of the innate 
depravity of human nature expressed by outsiders, in their unwillingness and 
indeed obstinate refusal to listen to our explanations, though meanwhile criticising 
and condemning us ; and by such of our own members, who far more culpably, 
fail to comprehend the a. b, c of the philosophy they pretend to advocate, and in 
the name of Theosophy, "Divine Wisdom," are guilty of views and actions belong- 
ing to codes the reverse of spiritual or divine. The Theosophical Society, more 
than anybody I know, has had reason to pray to be delivered from its "friends," 
for from these "friends" it has suffered most. The stirring lesson conveyed 
by such a situation lies in the inspiration it gives to all earnest lovers of the 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 219 

Society, to obtain and disseminate truer and saner views of what we really 
are, and what we are striving to do. So that neither the outsider, nor by any 
possible chance, a member, can posses or spread abroad an idea so false as this. 
When we become partisan we cease to be theosophists, is an essential point for 
us to bear in mind. CAV . 

QUESTION 76. How can we best strengthen the will? 

ANSWER. You might as well try to strengthen the law of gravity. There is 
only one Will: the Will of God, and as it is already omnipotent, it cannot be 
strengthened. 

But this Will is delegated to God's creatures. It holds the worlds in place. 
It gives the metals their strength. It blossoms forth in the flowers. It glows 
in the heart of man. 

The questioner really wishes to know how we can increase that part of God's 
Will which is delegated to us. The ^answer is simple : By being worthy of a 
greater trust. Be faithful in a few things, and you will be made lord over many 
things. But you are always a trustee, and the Will is always God's. C. J. 

ANSWER. Will is energy or force. Will is the power of the Soul or Mind. 
It is a spiritual power or attribute everywhere and constantly present; it is neither 
good nor bad, but may be used for either good or bad purposes. H. P. B. has 
said in the Secret Doctrine that "faith without Will is like a windmill without 
wind barren of results." Will is desire, though the latter is often considered 
inferior to Will, as in the aphorism, "Will and Desire are the higher and lower 
aspects of one and the same thing." We are told in the Secret Doctrine that 
"Desire first arose in It." Desire being really identical with Will, we can ask, 
How can we best strengthen the Desire our Desire? The answer is, as everyone 
knows, by fixing our whole attention with intense longing and yearning upon the 
object or result desired. If we would strengthen then our desire or will-power, 
which is the highest power and in fact all power, we should make a practice of 
doing this whenever we desire or will. We should do all in our power, always, 
to gain or achieve what we wish. Of course, we should always try to have right 
and pure or unselfish desires. The intensity of the effort counts most for success. 
The answer may be given to the question in the words, by practicing concentration 
and meditation, for how can we will or desire with intensity or produce a great 
result without concentration and thought? Imagination and faith are essential 
in all operations of the Will. Paracelsus has said that "it is because men do not 
perfectly imagine and believe the result, that the (occult) arts are so uncertain, 
while they might be perfectly certain." "Concentrated attention is the expression 
of the Will, and Wjll is the central animating force proceeding from the Ego." 
"Nothing so surely strengthens the Will as does invariable realization of thought 
in act, and each act makes a foundation for a new and wiser thought." 

M. W. D. 

ANSWER. The question might be answered in one word : Act. 

Ho.wever, such an answer should not be allowed to pass without an attempt 
to explain, partially at least, what constitutes action and the conditions under 
which the Will may consciously act in man. 

Pervading all manifestation is a potent essence that is the Universal Will. It 
is that which acts in the formation of systems of worlds and impels the blossom to 
unfold its delicate beauty. It is the mighty, impersonal Life-Energy "in which 
we live and move and have our being." 

In man we find this Power manifesting as the Individual Will, its ^ highest 
aspect gleaming forth in the undeniable consciousness of "I am," which is in itself 
the assertion of divine power and equivalent to "I Will." By attaining to fuller 
and clearer consciousness of this spiritual center, the mind of man becomes enlight- 
ened so that he may take more abundantly from the exhaustless source and cause 
it to act, unsoiled, in his life. Some might call such training "strengthening the 
Will"; perhaps it can better be called "discovering the Will," for until the mind has 
been cleansed, at least partially, from selfish ignorance, man can know but little of 
the majesty of that Will which is the conscious power of the immortal man. 

Will is everywhere present in the universe; therefore it must be also present 
on the lower planes of nature. And on these planes, when not disturbed by the 
selfish desires of man, it finds harmonious expression. In the ordinary man, how- 
ever, the mind is confused because the action of Will appears to it distorted and 
reversed by reflection in the lower desires and passions. The mind is thereby 



220 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

enabled to partake of the intoxicating sensations and to merge itself in the 
emotions created on those lower planes. The majority of mankind, eager for 
self-aggrandisement because of their ignorance of their real Self, and craving 
continual emotional stimulus to satisfy themselves of their own existence, try in 
every way they know to develop to its utmost this faculty of inverted reflection, 
and call the effort "strengthening the will." Such prostitution of the mind to the 
selfish ambitions and base desires of the lower nature develops that personal will 
which is "always at enmity with God," and its attainments can be but the piling 
of illusion upon illusion, so that when death has dissolved the structures of its 
deceptive creations it is left with nothing substantial in which it may know itself. 

Now it is plain that if the mind be enslaved to the desires the Divine Will is 
not free to manifest in the life. It follows, then, that the first stdp in the practical 
work of "strengthening the Will" is to dispel ignorance from the mind not by the 
acquirement of mere intellectual learning, but by compelling the mind to listen to 
the teachings of the heart. Soon the student begins to realize that a large part 
of his most cherished mental possessions are but intellectual rubbish, and that 
most of the remainder is useless because he does not know how to apply it. Yet 
even in this first effort he has earned a glimpse of a great truth : that the desires 
of the lower nature can be modified or controlled by the condition of the mind ; 
and more he has already begun to act from the plane of the real master, his true 
Self. As this real knowledge unfolds by the gradual elimination from the mind 
of its habit of dependence upon the lower nature, the Immortal Will finds freer 
expression in the life, and its every act is to further illumine the mind as the 
channel of its conscious operation until the personal will shall be completely 
absorbed in the self-conscious individualized Will that is knowingly at one with the 
Will of Deity. A. J. M. 

QUESTION 77. What is Evil? 

ANSWER. Evil is a relative term. That which appears as evil in one circum- 
stance may appear as good in another or even from a different aspect. Evil, it 
appears to me, is any action or thought which tends to separate our consciousness 
from the Immortal, though to the outer it may appear pleasant and good. 

A. J. H. 

ANWSER. Evil is often called the opposite of Good. "Good and Evil are rela- 
tive, and are intensified or lessened according to the conditions by which man is 
surrounded." There is nothing that is absolutely Evil, nor is there anything that 
is absolutely Good or perfect. This is the same as saying that there is nothing so 
Evil but it contains a grain of Good, and nothing so Good that it does not contain 
a grain of Evil. Everything proceeds from No-thing, so also does Evil. Evil is the 
result of unwisdom or ignorance. Evil is the result of doing a wrong act, or any 
act at a wrong time or in a wrong place. "The philosophical view of Indian meta- 
physics places the Root of Evil in the differentiation of the Homogeneous into the 
Heterogeneous, of the Unit into Plurality." "Evil is a necessity in, and one of 
the supporters of the Manifested Universe. It is a necessity for progress and evo- 
lution, as night is necessary for the production of day, and death for that of life 
that man may live forever." "There is nothing in the whole Universe that has not 
two sides the reverses of the same medal." "Shadow is that which enables Light 
to manifest itself, and gives it objective reality. Therefore it is held that this 
Shadow is not Evil, but the necessary and indispensable corallary which completes 
Light or Good. According to the views of the Gnostics, these two principles, Light 
and Shadow, are immutable ; Good and Evil being virtually one and having existed 
through all eternity, as they will ever continue to exist so long as there are mani- 
fested worlds. "Esoteric Philosophy admits neither Good nor Evil per se, as exist- 
ing independently in Nature. The cause for both is found, as regards the Kosmos 
in the necessity of contraries or contrasts, and with respect to man, in his human 
nature, his ignorance and passions. There are no Devils or the utterly depraved, 
as there are no Angels absolutely perfect, though there may be Spirits of Light and 
of Darkness. Evil Spirits are the Elementals generated or begotten by ignorance 
cosmic and human passions or Chaos." M. W. D. 



1 T-S-ACIWITES 



THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA. 
BRITISH NATIONAL BRANCH. 

THE First Annual Convention of our Society was held in the Temperance 
Institute, Newcastle-on-Tyne, on Sunday, July 7th, and consisted of 
two sessions, one in the afternoon for the consideration and settlement 
of details of organization and work for the coming year, and one in 
the evening at which Doctor Keightley lectured. 

The afternoon meeting was very well attended, more strangers being present 
than actual members, the latter, through various adverse causes, only numbering 
nineteen. Notwithstanding this small attendance of members, however, the Con- 
vention was in every way a successful one, firstly from the fact that its proceedings 
were inspired by true harmony and complete unanimity, and secondly in that it 
accomplished something of what it was intended it should do. 

This meeting was called to order at twenty minutes past three and Mr. Wilkin- 
son of South Shields was asked to accept the office of Temporary Chairman which 
he held until Doctor Keightley, being proposed and seconded, was unanimously 
elected Permanent Chairman of the Convention. The undersigned was appointed 
Secretary to the Convention. The meeting then proceeded to the business detailed 
in the Agenda, the following officers being elected for the forthcoming year : 
Executive Committee, 

Mrs. Binks 
Miss I. W. Short 
Doctor Keightley 
Mr. J. W. G. Kennedy 
Mr. J. H. Hardy 
Mr. J. J. Carrick 
Mr. W. H. Bartlett 
Secretary, Mr. E. H. Woof 
Treasurer, Mr. E. H. Lincoln 

The question of the date of the next convention was considered, and it was 
thought that some date earlier in the year than July would be more suitable, and 
would give more members an opportunity of attending. Whit Sunday, 1908, was 
suggested, and on a vote the meeting unanimously agreed to this date. 

It is important to note that the By-Laws, which were provisionally approved 
some months ago, were officially ratified. Printed copies are, I think, in the hands 
of all members ; if not, copies will be supplied on application to the Secretary. 
These By-Laws were also published at the time of provisional adoption in the 
"Theosophical Quarterly." 

The meeting was greatly assisted in its work by the Greetings which were 
addressed to the members in Convention, and which were read by the Chairman. 
I give below the text of two from Continental Societies, and one from the London 
Lodge. Others were received from Mrs. Keightley and Mr. Basil Cuddon. 
A letter from Miss Hargrove, to which reference is made later, was also received 
and read to the meeting. 

Berlin, June 30, 1907. 
To the Members of the T. S. f British Branch, in Convention Assembled: 

Dear Brothers and Sisters: I was glad to hear of your Convention, and I 
would like to send you the heartiest greetings from myself and from the members 
of the Theosophical Society in Germany. 



South Shields 

South Shields 

London 

London 

Newcastle-on-Tyne 

Consett 

Sunderland 



222 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Perhaps your Convention will not be so large as in years before, but it will be 
all the more harmonious, which is, as we think, the first condition without which no 
power, no wisdom, no help from the Masters can reach us. Harmony among mem- 
bers, combined with aspiration to the Divine, seems to me the most excellent thing 
and may manifest heaven on earth. H. P. B. once wrote that if ten members work 
and aspire in harmony, each one of them could do in one year ten times more 
progress than one member could do in ten years if standing alone or not in harmony. 
("The Path," Vol. IV.) 

So it makes little difference if we are many or only few in number ; if harmony 
prevails amongst us, we can nevertheless become the saviours of our country, of 
course not we, but the Masters, the Elder Brothers, through us. 

As you will have heard from your Secretary, Mr. Woof, we had a very 
good Convention in Germany some months ago. The best thing was that with 99 
votes against 3 a resolution was passed to unite with the T. S. in America. As you 
also are united with that T. S. we don't feel any separation from you. We are 
not now allied Societies, but members of one and the same great Theosophical 
Society, which has become once more an international one. It gives much strength 
to forget for a time our little Societies and to feel the identity with the one 
original Theosophical Society. 

Hoping that you may have a good and harmonious Convention and that all 
members may feel the presence of spiritual powers. 

I remain, with brotherly greetings. 

Yours very truly, 

PAUL RAATZ, 

Secretary of the T. S. in Germany. 
Stockholm. 

To Mr. E. H. Woof. Newcastle-on-Tyne: 

The Theosophical Society in Sweden sends the most hearty greetings to our 
Brothers and Sisters in Great Britain and wishes them good fortune in their work 
and aspirations. Fraternally, 

WILHELM HARNQUIST, 

President. 
46 Brook Street, 

Grosvenor Square, W., 

July 6, 1907. 
Dear Fellow Members: 

We the undersigned are deputed by The London Lodge to offer to the members 
in Convention assembled, hearty greetings and good wishes. They only wish they 
could offer them in person, but a variety of circumstances has prevented them from 
being present. 

Your deliberations are the more serious in that you have to ratify the rules and 
By-Laws temporarily adopted last year. You Kave also to discuss the programme 
of work and we trust that your efforts will be successful in devising conditions 
which all members can adopt. 

The suggestion made a long time ago by William Q. Judge, is, we think, the 
keynote of our future work, that is that we should follow the broadest principle of 
toleration and apply it in all directions. Further that each member should strive 
with the utmost of his power to become an actual centre from which may radiate 
Theosophical thought and the influence of a life led according to the true principles 
of Theosophy. Yours fraternally, 

ARCHIBALD KEIGHTLEY, 

President London Lodge. 
ARTHUR D. CLARKE, 

Hon. Secretary London Lodge. 

The Convention Secretary was instructed to reply to the letters from abroad. 
The Secretary's statement of account showed a balance in hand of 6-6-6^. 

After the settlement of details of organization, the meeting then entered upon a 
discussion as to the programme of work which should be attempted during the 
coming year, and the deliberations of the members upon this subject may be said to 
have been fruitful. Mrs. Binks, Mr. Carrick, Mr. Hardy, Doctor Keightley, Mr. 
Wilkinson and Mr. Woof took part in the discussion, as a result of which the fol- 
lowing resolutions were proposed, seconded and carried unanimously: 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 223 

1. That each Lodge appoint a Corresponding Secretary, who shall enter into 
communication with all enquirers in its locality, and shall also keep up a regular 
correspondence with the other Corresponding Secretaries who may be appointed. 

2. That the activity which has to some extent been considered in the various 
Lodges in the Country, whereby suitable pamphlets upon Theosophical subjects shall 
be written, printed and distributed, shall be taken in hand forthwith. 

3. That one or more members shall undertake to carry on an activity which 
shall have for its object the dissemination through the medium of the press of 
Theosophical light on current events, such an activity to be carried on by means of 
letters to Editors, articles to magazines not necessarily of a Theosophical nature, 
and such other means as may commend themselves to those undertaking the duty. 

Regarding the first resolution, this arose out of a letter from Miss Hargrove, of 
which the following is a copy: 

London, S. W., July 3, 1907. 
Dear Mr. Woof: 

I very deeply regret my inability to be present at Convention. I send my best 
greetings and shall be there in thought most surely, for I have, as we all have, 
this Convention very deeply at heart. I have given Doctor Keightley my proxy and 
have asked him to vote for me on all the points raised. But on the discussion of 
work for the coming year I would like to say a few words, as well as having asked 
Doctor Keightley to vote for me. 

As you know, I hold the Office of Corresponding Secretary to the London 
Lodge. This office seems to me to offer great possibilities of work. I am wonder- 
ing if other Lodges would not like each to start a Corresponding Secretary, top? 
We could then communicate with each other and evolve plans, perhaps write 
monthly letters to be read at the different Lodges. 

I also have it greatly at heart, if my fellow-members approve and will signify 
their approval in Convention, to suggest to the various Continental Branches each 
to appoint some member to correspond with us ; the idea being, of course, to tighten 
the bonds of sympathy and interest, and interchange ideas about our work. 

I know well that the Lodge Secretaries have enough work on their hands, and I 
am strongly of opinion that each member should be responsible for some particular 
line of work; one having charge of the Library, one of the distribution of the 
"Quarterly," etc. And so I suggest the establishment in each Lodge of the Office 
of Corresponding Secretary, which office can become in each case what each one 
chooses to make it as an instrument for work. 

May I make one other suggestion, as I am not present in person to talk these 
things over with you? I have undertaken to get the QUARTERLY accepted by the 
Librarians of the various Public Libraries in London. In most cases I find the gift 
is accepted with thanks. In each copy given I fasten a slip of paper on which is 
typed my address as Corresponding Secretary of the London Lodge, an address 
kindly lent me by a fellow-member. I enclose a sample of this slip. Doubtless 
other members are doing the same in other towns. Will they write me if they feel 
inclined, and tell me what success they find? 

Again I wish I were with you to talk over all these matters. 

With renewed most earnest and heartfelt wishes, 

Fraternally yours, 

CONSTANCE HARGROVE. 

The slip in question reads as follows : 

Anyone desiring to communicate with English members of the 
Theosophical Society may do so by writing to the Corresponding " 
Secretary, 

Flat No. 6, 

Marlborough House, 
21 High Street, 

Manchester Sq., 
London, W. 

The^idea was expressed in the discussion that much valuable work could be done 
by appointing in each Lodge an Officer who would undertake to correspond with 
enquirers and those known to be interested in the aims of the Society, and to enter 
into communication with the Corresponding Secretaries of other Lodges. This 
would first of all give to the members of each Lodge the opportunity of getting en- 



224 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

quirers into touch with someone more or less able to answer any questions which 
they might raise : and it would also have the very desirable result of bringing to the 
notice of each Lodge not only the current work of other Branches, but would also 
probably suggest to each, changes in methods of work which might with advantage 
be adopted. This was felt to be an important aspect of the work to be carried out 
by this means, in that it would, at least, provide an opportunity for the various 
Branches to escape from the not altogether good effects which come from too long 
adhering to one method of work getting into a groove, so to say. It was also felt 
that the suggestion to extend this activity to Branches outside this country was an 
excellent one, and that the many Lodges in America, and those in .Germany, Norway 
and Sweden, all of which latter Societies have members capable of corresponding in 
English, might with great advantage be invited to co-operate. 

Regarding the second resolution, little need be said to point out the great work 
which could be done in this way. It wants setting on foot, however, and much 
depends upon the initiative of the members. Success in an activity of this nature 
depends upon organization, upon co-operative effort, and upon the willingness of a 
number each to undertake some part of the work. Though no settlement beyond 
the bare resolution was arrived at in Convention, maybe a suggestion that each 
Branch appoint two members to act on a Committee to organize this activity will 
not be judged to be out of place. 

The third resolution also needs definitely taking up in the various centres. 
The idea was expressed by a member that not all were able to write suitable letters 
or articles for possible publication: but it was also pointed out that this need not 
deter anyone from keeping a careful watch upon the press, and communicating with 
some member who has undertaken to carry out part of the work indicated in the 
resolution, and who might be better able to write suitable letters. Again, in this 
case also, each Lodge might take the necessary first step and appoint one of their 
members to represent them. 

After this discussion the Convention was adjourned until the evening meeting, 
at which Doctor Keightley lectured on : "Theosophy and Its Influence in Life." 

Without wishing to overstep the duties of Convention Secretary, I would like 
to express the hope that Doctor Keightley will consent to a condensation of his 
lecture forming the first of our new pamphlets : it would fittingly memorialize our 
first Convention, besides providing what the resolution is intended to provide, Theos- 
ophy in relation to current thought and ideas. The evening meeting was exception- 
ally well attended, nearly one hundred and fifty being present. Attached hereto is 
a newspaper synopsis of the lecture. 

Yours fraternally, 

EDWARD H. WOOF, 

115 Ethel Street, Convention Secretary. 

New Benwell, 

Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

NOW READY PRICE 20 CENTS 

HENRY BEDINQER MITCHELL'S 



ADMIRABLE ESSAY ON 

MEDITATION 



Pocket Edition, Finely Printed by the De Vinne Press, with a 
Symbolic Cover Designed by Birger Elwing 

Order from the Secretary T. S. A., 159 Warren Street, Brooklyn, New York. 




The Theosophical Society in America, as such, is not responsible for 
any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, 
unless contained in an official document. 

THE NEW CATHOLIC MOVEMENT IN ITALY. 

TWO years ago the attention of the world was drawn to Italy 
by the appearance of a very remarkable book. It was called 
// Santo, "The Saint," and was written by the veteran senator 
Antonio Fogazzaro, whose earlier works had already won for 
him the highest esteem and consideration. The success of The Saint was 
immediate. Here was something hardly less perfect artistically than 
D'Annunzio's finest work, and far above D'Annunzio in sincerity and moral 
worth. Like D'Annunzio's best-known book, The Triumph of Death, The 
Saint was concerned with the condition of the mass of Italian Catholics, 
and the spirit, whether devout or superstitious, which inspires them and 
colors their lives. But unlike The Triumph of Death, the new book 
offered some kind of solution for the grave evils to which it drew atten- 
tion. The result was, that The Saint instantly found tens and even 
hundreds of thousands of readers. It soon found its way across the 
Alps, a French translation appearing in the best of the French magazines, 
another translation coming out in Germany, and yet a third version 
making its appearance in English. This was not the only quarter in 
which it attracted attention. That famous body which, during centuries, 
has condemned some of the greatest and noblest works, as well as 
some of the worst, and which records its condemnations in the Index 
Expurgatorius, also studied the new Italian masterpiece, with the result 
that it also was condemned and inscribed in the lists of works forbidden 
to the faithful. The result might have been foreseen. Already a success, 
The Saint now secured a triumph. Its readers multiplied marvelously; 
and it was presently recognized that a new movement within the Church 
in Italy had found a prophet and a worthy expression. 

Perhaps we can best gain an understanding of the ideals of this new 
movement, at the time when they were beginning to be formulated, 



226 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

by a quotation from one of the characters in The Saint: "We are, in a 
manner, the prophets of this saint, of this Messiah, preparing the way 
for him, which simply means that we point out the necessity of a renova- 
tion of all that, in our religion, is outward clothing, and not the body of 
truth, even should such a renovation cause suffering to many consciences. 
Ingemiscit et parturit! (Creation groans and travails). We must point 
out this necessity, standing the while on absolutely Catholic ground, 
looking for the new laws from the old authorities, bringing proofs that 
if these garments which have been worn so long and in such stormy times, 
be not changed, no decent person will come near us, and God forbid that 
some among us should be driven to cast them off without permission, 
out of a loathing not to be borne. I wish, furthermore, to say that we 
have very few human fears." 

To this another speaker replies : "That is true ! We have no human 
fears. We are striving for things too great, and we desire them too 
intensely, to feel human fears! We wish to be united in the living 
Christ, all among us who feel that the understanding of the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life is growing yes, is growing in our hearts! in our 
minds ! And this understanding bursts so many what shall I call them ? 
so many bonds of ancient formulas which weigh on us, which suffocate 
us; which would suffocate the Church, were the Church mortal! We 
wish to be united in the living Christ, all among us who thirst who 
thirst! who thirst! thirst! that our faith, if it lose in extent, may gain 
in intensity gain a hundredfold for God's glory! And may we glow 
with it, and may it, I say, be as a purifying fire, purifying first Catholic 
thought and then Catholic action! We wish to be united in the living 
Christ, all among us who feel that He is preparing a slow but tremendous 
reformation, through the prophets and saints, a transformation to be 
accomplished by sacrifice, by sorrow, by the severing of affections; all 
of us know that the prophets are consecrated to suffering, and that these 
things are revealed to us not by flesh and blood, but by God Himself, 
dwelling in our souls. We wish to be united, all of us, from many lands, 
and to regulate our course of action. You are afraid? You fear that 
many heads will fall at one blow? I answer, Where is the sword 
mighty enough for such a blow? One at a time, all in turn may be 
struck. But you must pardon me if I ask you, and other prudent per- 
sons like you, where is your faith? Would you hesitate to serve Christ 
from fear of Peter ? Let us band ourselves against the fanaticism which 
crucified Him and which is now poisoning His Church; and if suffering 
be our reward, let us give thinks to the Father : Beati estis cum persecuti 
vos fuerint et dixerint omne malum adversum vos, mentientes, propter 
me. (Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and 
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.") 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 227 

It is, perhaps, to be regretted that Fogazzaro does not continue 
to develop the thoughts of the group of men from whom these two 
speeches are taken, showing us the gradual working of the leaven, the 
slow unfolding of the flower of spiritual growth in each of them, but 
rather chooses to concentrate his whole attention on the Saint from whom 
the story is named. This remarkable person has great elements of beauty 
and devotion in his heart, mixed with much that is emotional and rather 
hectic, but some of his discourses most faithfully reflect the thoughts of 
the leaders in the New Catholic movement in Italy. Thus we have the 
Saint saying to a crowd of villagers, who had asked him to preach to 
them: "Are you fit to enter the church? Are you at peace with your 
neighbor? Do you know what the Lord Jesus means, when He says to 
you that no man may approach the altar if he be not at peace with his 
neighbor? Do you know that you may not enter the church if you have 
sinned against charity or justice, and have not made amends, or have 
not repented, when it was not possible to make amends? Do you know 
that you may not enter the church, not only if you bear ill-will against 
your neighbor, but also if you have injured him in any manner whatso- 
ever, either in your dealings with him, or in his honor, or if you have 
slandered him, or harbor in your heart wicked desires against his body or 
his soul? Do you know that all the Masses, all the Benedictions, all the 
Rosaries and all the Litanies, count for less than nothing, if you do not 
first purify your hearts, according to the word of Jesus?" 

The issue is even more directly stated, further on in the book, where 
the views which Fogazzaro wishes to emphasize are put forward in the 
guise of a letter: "We were educated in the Catholic faith, and on 
attaining manhood we by an act of our own free will accepted its 
most arduous mysteries ; we have labored in the faith, both in the admin- 
istrative and social field; but now another mystery rises in our way, 
and our faith falters before it. The Catholic Church, calling herself the 
fountain of truth, to-day opposes the search after truth when her founda- 
tions, the sacred books, the formulae of her dogmas, her alleged infal- 
libility, become objects of research. To us this signifies that she no 
longer has faith in herself. The Catholic Church, which proclaims her- 
self the channel of life, to-day fetters and stifles all that is youthful 
within her, to-day seeks to prop up all that is tottering and aged within 
her. To us these things mean death, distant but inevitable death. The 
Catholic Church, claiming to wish to renew all things through Christ, 
is hostile to us, who strive to wrest the direction of social progress from 
the enemies of Christ. This fact, with many others, signifies to us that 
she has Christ on her lips but not in her heart. Such is the Catholic 
Church to-day. Can God desire our obedience to her to continue? We 
come to you with this question. What shall we do?" 



228 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

On this letter, another personage in the story comments : "I answer 
those who wrote me thus: Tell me, why have you appealed to me who 
profess to be a Catholic? Do you perhaps think me a superior of the 
superiors in the Church ? Will you, perhaps for that reason, rest in peace 
upon my word, if my word be different from what you call the word 
of the Church? You have appealed to me because you unconsciously 
recognize that the Church is not the hierarchy alone, but the universal 
assemblage of the faithful, gens sancta; that from the bottom of any 
Christian heart the living waters of the spring itself, of truth itself, may 
rush forth. Unconscious recognition, for were it not unconscious, you 
would not say, the Church opposes this, the Church stifles that, the 
Church is growing old, the Church has Christ on her lips and not in her 
heart. 

"Understand me well. I do not pass judgment on the hierarchy; I 
respect the authority of the hierarchy ; I simply say that the Church does 
not consist of the hierarchy alone. Listen to another instance. In the 
thoughts of every man there is a species of hierarchy. Take the upright 
man. With him certain ideas, certain aims, are dominant thoughts, and 
control his actions. They are these to fulfil his religious, moral and 
civil duties. To these various duties he gives the traditional interpreta- 
tions which he has been taught. Yet this hierarchy of firmly grounded 
opinions does not constitute the whole man. Below it there are in him 
a multitude of other thoughts, a multitude of other ideas, which are 
continually being changed and modified by the impressions and experi- 
ences of life. And below these thoughts there is another region of soul, 
there is the subconsciousness, where occult faculties work at an occult 
task, where the mysterious contact with God comes to pass. The dominant 
ideas exercise authority over the will of the upright man, but all that other 
world of thought is of vast importance as well, because it is continually 
deriving truth from the experience of what is real without, and from the 
experience of what is Divine within, and therefore acts as a corrective 
of the superior ideas, the dominant ideas, in that in which their traditional 
element is not in perfect harmony with truth. And to them it is a peren- 
nial refreshing fountain of new life, a source of legitimate authority, 
derived rather from the nature of things, from the true value of ideas, 
than from the decree of men. The Church is the whole of mankind, not 
one separate group of exalted and dominant ideas; the Church is the 
hierarchy, with its traditional views, and the laity, with its continual 
experience of reality, its continual reaction upon tradition; the Church 
is official theology, and she is the inexhaustible treasure house of Divine 
truth, which reacts upon official theology; the Church does not die; the 
Church does not grow old; the Church has the living Christ in her 
heart rather than on her lips ; the Church is a laboratory of truth, which 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 229 

is continually at work, and God commands you to remain in the Church, 
to become in the Church fountains of living water." 

One could hardly wish for a better expression of the ideals of the 
Young Catholics in Italy. On the one hand, they vividly realize the 
new understanding of the world and of life that we have gained from the 
progress of science; and as vividly realize that the materialistic view 
of the world is incomplete, and must be supplemented by the equally true 
and equally scientific experience of spiritual life, which they feel welling 
up within their hearts. And, on the other, to balance and unify this 
new spiritual experience, they feel that there should be the greater body 
of spiritual experience, the experience of long centuries in many lands, 
which constitutes the soul of the Church, in the true sense. The indi- 
vidual must have scope ; the universal must also have scope. Thus admit- 
ting the imperative need both of individual spiritual and mental life, 
and of the vast collective spiritual and mental life which embraces all 
individuals, they further find, in the Catholic Church, an expression of 
the collective spiritual life which appeals to them as nothing else does. 
There is the age-long spirit of prayer, of sacrifice, of devotion, which 
has built up a mountain of spiritual power, whose might and majesty 
they feel. And there are the sacred traditions, carrying the Church 
back to the holy days of Galilee. But they find the governing body of 
this Church setting its face like flint against many of the ideals which 
are springing up in their hearts. They find this governing body, the 
hierarchy, despotically insisting on entire submission; despotically con- 
demning every effort to spiritualize tradition, or to square religious 
experience with the new vistas of life opened up by scientific progress. 
On the contrary, the ruling body of the Church deliberately ignores the 
scientific progress of the last half-dozen centuries; absolutely refuses to 
recognize the fact that, within the last fifty years, all our views have been 
transformed by the splendid teaching of evolution; and wholly forbids 
any attempt to take account of these new ideas and this new light in the 
statement of religious life. Further, they find the governing body of 
the Church absolutely denying to the lay members of the Church the 
vast majority of the faithful the right to think for themselves, and 
proclaiming that the decisions of the hierarchy are binding on the 
consciences of all the faithful, and must be accepted, on pain of excom- 
munication. This is the struggle, these are the opposing elements, which 
Fogazzaro presents in his great novel; and he is, in reality, mirroring 
the soul-growth of a whole generation, and putting on record the 
thoughts, aspirations, hopes and fears of the most enlightened and 
spiritual of his Catholic fellow-countrymen. 

The finest thing in The Saint is the appeal made to the Pope, under 



230 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the guise of a most dramatic incident, where the Saint makes his way 
into the inner courts of the Vatican, and confronts the Pope in person. 
With passionate devotion, the Saint thus makes his appeal: "Holy 
Father, the Church is grievously sick. Four evil spirits have entered her 
body, to wage war against the Holy Spirit. One is the spirit of false- 
hood. It has assumed the shape of an angel of light, and many shepherds, 
many teachers in the Church, many pious and virtuous ones among the 
faithful, listen devoutly to this spirit of falsehood, believing they listen 
to an angel. Christ said : 'I am the Truth.' But many in the Church, even 
good and pious souls, divide the Truth in their hearts, have no reverence 
for that truth which they do not call 'religious/ fearing that truth will 
destroy truth; they oppose God to God, prefer darkness to light, and 
thus also do they train men. They call themselves the 'faithful/ and do 
not understand how weak, how cowardly is their faith, how foreign to 
them is the spirit of the apostle, which probes all things. Worshippers 
of the letter, they wish to force grown men to exist upon a diet fit for 
infants, which diet grown men refuse. They do not understand that 
although God is infinite and unchangeable, man's conception of Him 
becomes ever greater from century to century, and that the same may 
be said of all Divine Truth. They are responsible for a fatal perversion 
of the Faith which corrupts the entire religious life; for the Christian, 
who by an effort has bent his will to accept what they accept, to refuse 
what they refuse, believes he has done his utmost in God's service, 
whereas he has done less than nothing, and it remains for him to live 
his faith in the word of Christ, in the teachings of Christ, to live the 
'fiat voluntas tua' ('thy will be done') which is everything. Holy Father, 
to-day few Christians know that religion does not consist chiefly in 
intellectual adhesion to formulas of truth, but rather in action, and life 
in conformity with the truth, and that the fulfilment of negative religious 
duties, and the recognition of obligations towards the ecclesiastical 
authority, do not alone constitute true Faith. And those who know this, 
those who do not separate Truth in their hearts, who worship the God 
of Truth, those are striven against with acrimony, are branded as heretics 
and reduced to silence all through the spirit of falsehood, which for 
centuries has been weaving in the Church a web of traditional deceit, 
by means of which those who to-day are its servants believe they are 
serving God, as did those who first persecuted the Christians." 

The Truth for which the Saint here so eloquently pleads is, first, 
that enlightened view of life which has come with the scientific under- 
standing of the immensity of the Cosmos, as revealed by astronomy, and 
the vast periods of the cosmic processes, as revealed by geology, and 
illumined by Evolution; and, secondly, that enlightened view of religion 
which springs from an understanding of the life and workings of the 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 231 

human spirit in touch with the divine spirit, and also from an intelligent 
view of history, and of the sacred books as well of Christianity as of 
other faiths. 

The Saint comes to his second indictment: "If the clergy neglect 
to teach the people to pray inwardly and this is as salutary to the soul 
as certain superstitions are contaminating to it it is the work of the 
second evil spirit which infests the Church, disguised as an angel of 
light. This is the spirit of domination of the clergy. Those priests who 
have the spirit of domination are ill-pleased when souls communicate 
directly and in the natural way with God, going to Him for counsel and 
direction. The end they have in view is righteous ! Thus does the evil 
one deceive their conscience, the end is righteous ! But they themselves 
wish to direct these souls, in the character of mediators, and thereby 
those souls grow weary, timid and servile. Perhaps there are not many 
such; the worst crimes of the spirit of domination are of a different 
nature. It has suppressed the ancient, sacred Catholic liberty. It seeks 
to place obedience first among the virtues, even when it is not enacted 
by the laws. It desires to impose submission, even where it is not obli- 
gatory, retractions where the individual conscience does not approve; 
wherever a group of men unite for good works, it wishes to take direction, 
and if they decline to submit to this direction, all support is withdrawn 
from them. It even strives to carry religious authority outside the 
sphere of religion. Holy Father, Italy knows this! But what is Italy? 
It is not for her I speak, but for the whole Catholic world." 

The third evil spirit which is corrupting the Church, says the Saint, 
is the spirit of avarice. The fourth is the spirit of immovability. This is 
disguised as an angel of light. "Catholics, both ecclesiastics and laymen, 
who are dominated by the spirit of immovability, believe they are pleasing 
God, as did those zealous Jews who caused Christ to be crucified. All 
the clericals, Your Holiness, all the religious men even, who to-day 
oppose progressive Catholicism, would, in all good faith, have caused 
Christ to be crucified." 

The reply of the Vatican to this passionate appeal was direct and 
incisive. The Saint was put on the Index Expurgatorius, in spite of the 
high reputation for virtue and piety which Senator Fogazzaro had long 
enjoyed; and all the faithful were forbidden to read it. The result was 
not that which the Vatican expected. The book at once leaped into 
universal fame, and sold in Italy by the hundred thousand, translations 
also appearing in the chief languages of Europe. 

It will be remembered that we quoted, from one of the characters in 
The Saint, the words : "we point out the necessity of a renovation of all 
that, in our religion, is outward clothing, and not the body of truth, 



232 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

even should such a renovation cause suffering to many consciences." In 
the spirit of that sentence a journal was presently founded at Milan, 
with the title "// Rinnovamento" "The Renovation," to embody the 
new ideals and tendencies. The editorial Words of Introduction, announc- 
ing the policy of this new magazine, are well worth quoting. The editors 
declare their firm conviction that "the best way to help humanity, is to 
do lasting good to individuals, and that in virtue of the incalculable 
diffusive power of thought, he who brings ideas to a few attentive minds, 
through them reaches multitudes." They affirm their faith "that if an 
intellectual movement contains a single living spark, this will become a 
torch and a flame. No spark which deserved to live has ever died. But 
through this faith of ours precisely, we give to the word Renovation a 
meaning more humble, more intimate, more profoundly spiritual, than 
echoes from the old and new declarations a hundred times repeated as 
a promise of external reforms. In our thought, it indicates solely a 
desire to renew ourselves, and those who are bound to us by a common 
ideal, in the search for truth. We are not preachers of social rebirth; 
we have no promises of happiness to distribute, and we speak only the 
severe language of facts and ideas. But we are questioners of souls, 
and we wish to awaken the sleeping, inciting them to an interior work 
of which they are ignorant, addressing to them continual demands, 
obliging them to lay aside as old masks the forms of prejudice, dashing 
to pieces the enchanted links of the formulas in which they have found 
a peace which is lethargy, compelling them to form that enclosed world 
in which the point of departure and the point of arrival of the truth 
which they believe and seek conveniently coincide. To reform the con- 
sciences of a country, we must begin by reforming consciences, or, to 
speak more truly, we must lead them to the point in which the truth 
itself, which is deep in the heart of each, shall set them free; to return 
laboriously within themselves, through everything they possess by hered- 
ity, to the primal origins and fountains, to the direct light; through the 
pallid reflections of faith handed down to them to return from myths 
to Divinity. 

"The chief difficulty is for us to take up a sincere position in the 
judgment of the public in what concerns religious experience, which is 
the center and the soul of our activity. To explain to Italian readers 
how a lay review, which is not ecclesiastical, undertakes to work at a 
general elevation of life in the spirit of Christianity, is no easy thing. 
The more so, that careless critics may attach us to this or that school, 
to one or another group of those who are contending for the field to-day. 
Now we can conscientiously affirm that we are outside all disputes and 
polemics. Men, even the dearest, are rather indifferent to us, in compari- 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 233 

son with ideas; and our religious conception will not bind itself to any 
partisan dogmatism. 

"For us, Christianity is Life : it is inexhaustible aspiration, it is hope, 
it is the panting of the whole being toward that in life which partakes of 
the eternal; it is the progressive raising of ourselves in a passionate re- 
search and ardent struggle after truth; it is a straining forward and a 
living of the soul in the future. It is vain to confine Christianity in any 
intellectual systems as definitive expressions of its development; it is, 
by its very nature, a continual becoming, which bursts the old vestures 
to re-create ever new ones, which moulds and remoulds the forms through 
which it communicates itself to the mind of man ; in a perennial movement 
of renovation, as though a divine potter were seeking ceaselessly and ever 
unsatisfied to express in pliant clay his ineffable ideal. Every religious 
conception which pretends in the name of faith to bind the intellect to 
determinate philosophical or social doctrines, and believes in the possibility 
of a specifically orthodox science, art or polity, would be false in its very 
root. And if we believe possible a new Christian civilization, it is only 
on one condition : that the spirit of Christ signifies the spirit of liberation, 
and that no one shall bend it to his own theories, hypotheses, or systems, 
each one feeling it in his heart as an immanent command to upraise his 
life in all its activities." 

These are noble and eloquent words, full of high sincerity and 
aspiration. The editors continue: "By an analogous conception, we shall 
refuse to attempt artificial harmonizing of theology and positive science 
and special apologies for religion. We believe that the one apology 
possible to-day is the search itself. The truth has not need of us, but 
we have need of the truth sought without limitations, without theological 
preoccupations, without fear of dualisms which only exist as inter- 
mediate stages toward a definitive unity of the human consciousness. 
Subjectively the truth has in us its development, from lower to higher 
forms, from twilight to high noon, through which it dwells in part in 
all minds which do not wilfully banish it, in all efforts made to reunite 
it, in many initial faiths, in some forms of negation, and in many souls 
that doubt. And we are not always joined to God by official philosophies 
or by well-constructed chains of syllogisms; but because He is in us, by 
the thousand roads of our minds, by the thousand tortuous paths of our 
hearts, living and thinking Him, suffering and renewing our life in the 
fire of great longings, erring and correcting our errors, climbing and 
descending to climb again the sacred mount on whose summit no mortal 
man has ever rested. 

"On the other hand, we do not wish that this love of truth in 



234 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

liberty should arouse in any the doubt that we are alienated from tradi- 
tional religion. So we hasten to declare that Catholicism is the natural 
basis of our researches ; that we feel it as the point of departure of our 
investigation; and that we need the bounds of its dogma as the age-old 
foundation of our spiritual life." So far the Declaration of Faith of the 
editors of // Rinnovamento, as it appeared in the first number, dated 
January, 1907. We see at once that it is directly in the line of the great 
spiritual awakening foreshadowed and reflected in Fogazzaro's novel, 
and that this new magazine is an attempt to put into practical effect the 
ideals there depicted. We are, therefore, prepared to find Fogazzaro 
among its most respected contributors, side by side with men like Romolo 
Murri, Tommaso Scotti, Angelo Crespi, and other leaders of the Young 
Catholic party in Italy. 

The magazine reached its fourth number, still inspired by the hope 
that it might carry on its work without direct opposition from the 
governing powers of the Church, but that hope was presently shattered. 
The authorities at Rome, speaking through the lips of Cardinal Stein- 
huber, expressed their condemnation of the magazine, in a letter addressed 
to the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, and dated April 29, 1907. The 
numbers already published were put on the Index, and the Eminent 
Fathers expressed "the disgust which they felt, at seeing published by 
self-styled Catholics a magazine notably opposed to the spirit and 
teaching of Catholicism. The Eminent Fathers deplore especially the 
disturbance which such writers bring about in the consciences of their 
readers, and the haughtiness with which they set themselves up as the 
masters and teachers of the Church. And it is grievous that, among those 
who seem to wish to assume authority in the Church, and to read a 
lesson even to the Pope himself, are found names already known for 
other writings dictated by the same spirit, such as Fogazzaro, Tyrrell, 
Von Huegel, Murri and others. ... In sum it cannot be doubted 
that this magazine was founded with the purpose of cultivating a most 
dangerous spirit of independence of the ruling power of the Church, 
and the dominance of private judgment over that of the Church itself, 
and of erecting itself into a school which shall prepare an Anti-Catholic 
renovation of minds and hearts." 

The editors were thereupon called by the Cardinal Archbishop of 
Milan to desist from their errors and evil ways. They replied, gently 
but firmly: "We cannot renounce the right to think and to express our 
thoughts; we cannot cut short our work at its inception, before having 
given authority itself and the public of honest critics sufficient material 
to judge of us and of our intentions with justice. Perhaps this attitude 
through which, without pride, but without weakness, we claim for 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 235 

ourselves and for others the right to think and to study with more confi- 
dence in the Catholic Church, may cause grief to some timid consciences, 
and may supply weapons to our adversaries. But we are disposed to 
see in this a loyal action, all whose possible consequences we have long 
pondered over, without any personal apprehensions, yet to bear witness 
that the charity which wishes obedience can also impose humble but 
firm resistance to measures the acceptance of which we could not justify 
to our own consciences nor to others." So // Rinnovamento continues 
its work, under the ban of the Congregation of the Index. 

Just about the same time, namely, on April 17, 1907, came another 
notable declaration of principles from the supreme authorities at Rome. 
This time, it took form in the discourse of Pope Pius X, "on the occasion 
of conferring the Cardinal's hat on those recently promoted to the pur- 
ple." In congratulating the new cardinals, the Pope took occasion to 
lament "the very serious conditions of the time in which we are living, 
and the continual assaults to which the Church is exposed on the part 
of her enemies." These enemies are those who are guilty of intellectual 
aberrations, in virtue of which the doctrines of the Church are despised 
"and there rings through the world that cry of revolt for which the rebel 
hosts were driven from heaven. And rebels, indeed, they are, those who 
profess and spread abroad under artful forms monstrous errors on the 
evolution of dogma ; on the return to the Gospel the Gospel, that is to 
say, stripped, as they put it, of the explanations of theology, of the 
definitions of Councils, of the maxims of asceticism ; on the emancipation 
of the Church, but conceived after a new fashion an emancipation which 
will enable them not to revolt, so that they may not be cut off, and yet 
not to submit, so that they need not abandon their own convictions ; and, 
finally, on adaptation to the times in everything in speech, in writing, 
even in the preaching of a charity without faith which, while extremely 
tender to the unbeliever, is opening up the path to eternal ruin for all. 

"You see clearly, Venerable Brethren," the Pope continued, "whether 
we, who must defend with all our force the deposit which has been 
entrusted to us, have not reason -to be in anguish in presence of this 
attack, which is not a heresy, but the compendium and poisonous essence 
of all heresies, which aims at undermining the foundations of the Faith 
and annihilating Christianity. Yes, at annihilating Christianity, for the 
Holy Scripture is no longer for these critics the trustworthy source of 
all the truths which pertain to the Faith, but a common book. For them 
inspiration is confined to its dogmatic teachings, and those understood 
after their fashion ; is, indeed, but slightly distinguished from the poetical 
inspiration of ^Eschylus and Homer. The Church is the legitimate 
interpreter of the Bible, but only if she submits her interpretation to 



236 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the rules of so-called critical science, which imposes itself upon theology 
and makes it its slave. As for tradition, finally, everything is relative 
and subject to change, and so the authority of the holy Fathers is reduced 
to nothing. All these and a thousand other heresies they publish in 
pamphlets, in reviews, in ascetic treatises, even in novels, and they wrap 
them up in certain ambiguous terms, in certain nebulous forms, so that 
when put on their defence they may always keep open a way of escape 
without incurring open condemnation, and thus catch the unwary in 
their nets." 

To this very eloquent indictment, a group of Italian priests shortly 
made answer. "For us, profoundly Christian souls," they say, "religion, 
far from being a vague, mystical feeling which soothes the spirit and 
isolates it in a barren egoism, is a Divine reality, which enkindles into 
life and exalts the souls of men, and, knitting them together in a bond 
of brotherhood, directs their life towards a supreme and common goal. 
For us Christianity is the highest expression of religion thus conceived, 
and of Christianity in its turn we consider Roman Catholicism to be the 
amplest realization. With the affirmation of Christianity as life, we affirm 
also that it cannot be a mere intellectual abstraction, and, therefore, 'the 
pure Gospel' of which you speak, 'stripped of the explanations of 
theology,' is not for us a reality, since, if it wishes to be reality and life, 
it must become externalized in forms derived from similar expressions 
of ordinary human activity. As Christians, we accept the authority of 
the Church, as the careful dispenser of the deposit of eternal truth 
inherited from Christ, to regulate and govern our religious life, and to 
interpret and supply its living needs and claims. We accept, further, 
the dogmas and rites by which all souls, in the communion of faith, 
hope, and charity, may participate in the life of the living Christ. 'God 
in Christ, and Christ in the Church' that is the profound conviction by 
which all our actions are inspired. That we should be accused of being 
insubordinate to the authority of the Church and theology, and of turn- 
ing to the 'pure Gospel,' proves that you do not know our works. . . . 
And it shows even more clearly that authority, incapable of entering into 
the spirit and understanding the writings of its faithful and deserving 
servants, does not confute, does not discuss, but condemns, and con- 
demns because it does not understand." 

A word of explanation may here be fitting, as regards the "accusa- 
tion of turning to the pure Gospel," and the rebuttal of that "accusation." 
We must remember that expressions carry different meanings to dif- 
ferent people ; and, while we may feel somewhat shocked at the readiness 
with which these Italian priests rebut the "accusation of turning to the 
pure Gospel," we must hold in mind that what they seemingly mean, is, 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 237 

that they wish to understand the message and life of Jesus in the light of 
the spiritual experience of ages of Christians, and do not wish to turn 
their backs on that age-long experience, in order to extract a new system 
of theology from the texts of the Evangelists. We may well think 
that they would be wise to "return to the pure Gospel," but at the same 
time we must do justice to their point of view, their deep feeling for 
that atmosphere of prayer, of devotion, of sacrifice, which myriads of 
believers have created, by the profound devotion of their hearts and 
souls. With touching pathos, these Italian priests continue: "Holy 
Father, when you were raised to the throne you appealed to all men 
of goodwill to rally round you and co-operate with you in the Christian 
restoration of Society. Society, indeed, stood in much need of such a 
service, seeing that it has for so many years been alienated from the 
Church, which it looks upon as an ancient and intractable foe. Not 
only are the ancient cathedrals, which the piety of free and faithful 
peoples in the Middle Ages raised to the Blessed Virgin and to sainted 
patrons, deserted; not only do men no longer care to resort to religion 
for strength and light for their souls, when harassed by everyday fatigues 
and struggles ; not only have respect and veneration for the sacred things 
which men learned to love from their cradle disappeared ; but the Church 
is regarded as an obstacle to the freedom and happiness of peoples, the 
priest is insulted in the street as a vulgar and obscurantist parasite, the 
Gospel and Christianity are regarded as expressions of a civilization 
which has become obsolete, because of its incompetence to answer to 
the high ideals of liberty, justice, and knowledge, which are agitating 
and inspiring the masses. This state of mind is ever gaining ground, 
and has spread from the University chair to the workshop, from the 
populous city quarter to the open fields. . . . 

"We, who still feel all the riches and the inexhaustible power of 
Christianity in virtue of an intimate experience which overcomes every 
human argument to the contrary, have, in answer to your paternal call, 
girt ourselves with confidence to the task of imparting to the minds of 
others, and helping them to feel, this ineffable experience. But to-day 
men exhibit a spirit of distrust and suspicion with regard to us. They 
are inclined beforehand to reject our invitation." Then these devout 
priests make a long and impassioned appeal for Light, more Light, as 
the only thing that can save the Church. They demand liberty of 
thought, liberty of speech, liberty of judgment, affirming that only through 
the free use of these can religion be once more made acceptable and use- 
ful to enlightened mankind. And finally they add, with prophetic insight : 
"We know well that our word will have no weight with you; and to- 
morrow, we are certain, espionage, censure, calumny, will be renewed 
against us with redoubled vigor. Everything will be done to make us 



238 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

apostates. But we will stand firm at our post, prepared to endure every- 
thing, to sacrifice everything except the truth. Our voice, reverent 
indeed, but frank, unambiguous, sincere, will be ready to expose every 
action of yours which is not inspired by wisdom and equity. We mean 
to be, not rebels, but sincere Catholics, to the salvation of Christianity. 
Our rebellion will be, at the most, the violence which a loving son ought 
to exercise to a sick mother, that he may induce her to observe the 
orders of the doctor which are indispensable to her recovery. . . . From 
our hearts we implore you to show wisdom, sincerity, equity, clemency !" 

The reply of the Pope was incisive. The "rebellious" Italian priests 
were excommunicated, and further against their teachings and such 
teachings as theirs were launched the recent Syllabus and Encyclical. 
In reply to these Vatican thunderbolts, the Italian priests reply, through 
their spokesman: "Pius X has flung down the gage of battle, and it 
will not be declined. The men whom he has condemned are, on his own 
showing, men filled with an apostolic zeal and fervor. They are a 
handful among the millions of Catholicism, but they are its intellectual 
and spiritual elite. . . . The Inquisition is to be established in every 
diocese. But the intended victims will reck little of these terrors. For 
they have an unhesitating faith that Catholicism is the fullest and most 
vital expression of Christianity and a clear insight into the conditions 
on which alone Catholicism can continue to flourish in the modern world. 
They see clearly that if the policy of Pius X is to prevail Rome must 
shrink into a sect gradually dying of intellectual and spiritual inanition. 
It is that faith and that vision which will nerve them to fight for their 
right still to live in their Church and to permeate it with the leaven of new 
spiritual life and power." 

We have, in this Young Catholic movement, whose activity in Italy 
we have set forth, one of the most vital and virile spiritual movements 
in the world to-day ; one which contains promise of new moral and mental 
life for untold millions. We clearly see that the struggle of these valiant 
seekers after light, these valiant worshippers of truth, will be a hard one, 
and many hearts will be broken, before they see victory resting on their 
standards. But we have an unquenchable faith in the Light, in the power 
of the Divine to conquer the darkness ; and we have the warmest admira- 
tion for the spirit of courage, of self-sacrifice, of gentleness mingled 
with strength, which has marked every act of these Young Catholics; 
and sincerely and with confidence we wish them all success and every 
blessing in their hard task, which, though hard, and perhaps because it 
is so hard, is a part of that great work which has been carried out by 
the just made perfect throughout the long history of man. 



SOME LETTERS OF "H. P. B." 



III. 

NEW YORK, December u, 1877. 

From your letters I see that you did not receive some of mine, and 
that I also did not get all of yours. It is most unpleasant. For instance 
you write that one of these days you told all about Sasha's wound I 
never got that. And now you say that you do not know whether I re- 
ceived Laughter and Sorrow, when I wrote to you long ago that not 
only did I receive the book, but that I also read it in Odessa, soon after 
the corporal punishments on the public square. Don't you remember 
that even I thought of translating it, but auntie objected out of patriotism. 

You are right, let us drop theology, as neither of us is likely to 
convince the other, and we shall probably lose time for nothing. But 
one thing you must give me leave to reply. In spite of the fact that 
India is really no terra incognita though very incognita in some respects 
Russian missionaries know hardly anything about it, and the Protes- 
tant and the Roman Catholic missionaries tell lies to their hearts' con- 
tent. Read any work on India of any learned and dispassionate person, 
of any of the officers who have spent years in that country, even the state- 
ments of the enemies of India, and you will find everywhere that a Hindu 
never takes either liquor or wine, that he eats no flesh, and that it is 
difficult to find anyone more honest, more truthful and more gentle. I 
am speaking about the real Hindu, followers of Brahminism, not the 
cowards who become Musulmans, or drop all religion, becoming thugs 
and brigands. Please do read what the missionary Dubois says about 
it. Also read St. Francois Xavier, who spent years in Japan and says 
that the scrupulous honesty of the Japanese could give lessons to the 
Christians. 

Buddhism (not the idol worship, of course) is the purest and the 
highest of Asiatic religions. In Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam, monogamy 
is the rule, having two wives is considered very immoral and is punished 
severely. It is possible that the Samoyeds, Tunguzes and Buriats and 
other nomads have learned to drink vodka, but believe me that nowhere 
in Southern India or Ceylon could you find a member of the priest- 
hood who either drinks or is immoral. 

Do not be guilty of injustice, Nadejinka, but remember the 
great rule of the Buddhist religion, a rule which, in spite of the 
embodiment of gentleness, charity and justice in Christ, and in spite of 



THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

his precept, has never as yet become a rule amongst the Christians or 
their clergy. Here are the words Gautama Buddha spoke, before his 
last words: "Hold fast to your faith, honor it above everything else, 
but also respect the faiths of other people." And his last words were: 
"All form (compose) is finite, and doomed to destruction. The spirit 
of man alone is immortal, without beginning, as without end. I am 
going to Nirvana." 

Now I shall answer all your questions, and will try to explain what 
you do not understand. 

NIRVANA is a word which none of our Orientalists have as yet 
rendered with any degree of accuracy. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, 
Burnouf, and Max Miiller (the latter twenty years ago, for of late he 
has changed his opinion for another, which is just as inaccurate) have dis- 
cussed the question, and tried to prove that Nirvana means the ultimate, 
the complete destruction of the human individual. Other Sanskrit 
scholars maintained that Nirvana meant something quite different. 
Think of the absurdity of the idea that over 400,000,000 people, for the 
Brahmanists also believe in Nirvana, calling it Moksha, pray all their 
lives, mortifying themselves with fasting, self-abnegation and renuncia- 
tion of all physical and moral comforts, all in the hope of obtaining 
Nirvana or "annihilation," when this annihilation is to overtake them, 
in any case, upon the death of their bodies, so long as they do not 
believe in the immortality of the soul. Yet the absurdity of this did not 
prevent the Orientalists from preaching their theories. 

Their argument was founded on the etymology of the technical term. 
In Sanskrit, Nirvana means the "blowing out" of fire or flame, the 
destruction of the spark, and is composed of two words: "Nir" and 
"Vana," that is, "extinguish" and "light." "Moksha" also means "libera- 
tion," in Sanskrit "Nirvritti," "end to everything," or the "ultimate 
cessation." They found the explanation of the word in the Mahabharata, 
which claims that Nirvritti means "the extinguishing of life in the fire, 
as well as in the wise man." But as I proved to the Philological Society 
of New York, in the Amara Kosha, a philosopher of antiquity interprets 
the term "Nirvana," "flameless," in "Nirvana," as the perfect stillness, 
a state of windlessness, in which the spirit of man (the symbol of which, 
with the Christians, is a fiery tongue), as a spark of the eternal, invisible 
hearth (foyer), of the Great Spirit, or Anima Mundi, is for ever freed 
from all accidents. The question is, to understand correctly the meta- 
physical concepts of the early Aryan races, the Vedas, and also the "Four 
Truths" of Gautama Buddha, Siddhartha. Their philosophy does not 
admit the idea that the Matter in anything composite or concrete can 
count for anything. Matter, even sublimated, that is, invisible, as even 
all our moral functions, thought, the affection of one person for 
another, as desire, in fact, all the attributes of the living, thinking man, 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 241 

which are Matter, as is now proven by Tyndall, who stole his idea from 
Schopenhauer and Van Helmont, who borrowed it from the Neo-Platon- 
ists, who inherited it from the Hindu Kapila, the greatest philosopher of 
prehistoric times. In fact, everything that has shape or color, or can be 
formulated by the tongue of man, or perceived by the thought, does not 
exist (in eternity), but is merely a meteor which, lightning-like, flashes 
out and is lost at the moment of its birth and being. All this is Maya, 
an illusion of the objective perception, ergo it is finite, having a beginning 
and an end, the interval between which is not worth noticing, as even 
many thousand years are but an instant in eternity. Time, and the dis- 
tribution thereof, are the creations of human fancy, and as the begin- 
ningless and the endless can not be created by the finite and the short- 
lived, such as is man, time itself is but an illusion of our senses, which 
also are an illusion, like everything else. Only that actually exists in 
eternity which is subjective, in the spiritual world, the Subjective of the 
very highest grade, in which there is no more any trace of human think- 
ing, but everything is divine and pure : it is without beginning, as without 
end, it always was. This is Nirvana, the spiritual plane, the reflections 
of which light up all the worlds of the boundless universe, and as soon 
as these reflections reach the bounds of the subjective, they immediately 
become "breaths," "spirits," and "sparks," or the souls of Humanity. 
Which means that Nirvana is God. Not the anthropomorphic God capa- 
ble of taking definite shape in the mind of man, but the All-containing, 
the Omnipresent, the Life-giving Spirit of God. After every Pralaya, 
or temporary disappearance of the Universe from the region of the 
Objective, this Spirit of God broods over the watery abyss, that is, 
Chaos, once more imparting life to every atom of this Abyss, which 
sweeps the atoms towards the whirlpools (so to speak), of self-creation, 
and a new appearance in the region of the objective but not real. 

Next. Now I shall explain what Pralaya is. The atoms of which 
Matter is composed, are in themselves eternal and indestructible, which 
is proved, or rather half-proved, by modern Science; because it is not 
Matter itself, but only its essence, the atoms, that are indestructible and 
eternal. And this is why the Svabhavikas, a school of the highest 
Buddhistic philosophy in Nepal, claim that nothing exists in Nature but 
Nature itself, or the Substance, and that this substance (to use the 
right Russian word) has its existence in itself, is Svabhavat, without any 
Creator or Ruler; for which the Svabhavikas are called, very unjustly, 
Pantheists, and even Atheists. This injustice I also proved in my article. 

This self-existing Matter (perhaps better, Substance) or Svabha- 
vat, they teach, exists in eternity, and from all eternity, in two forms: 
in the state of Pravritti, or activity, and in the state of Nirvritti (Nir- 
vana), or passivity. When it is in the state of activity, it is the ever- 
busy, ever-transforming Nature, or the Spirit of God itself, which 



242 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

animates every atom, and is crystallized in it. And so, though at first 
sight it may seem absurd, or even blasphemous, in my understanding 
it is the highest conception of the reflection of the Godhead, which is 
everpresent everywhere. 

And when this Svabhavat is in its passive state (N. B. in the human 
sense of the term), or in Nirvritti, it does not exist for man, because 
the latter will never be able to define, or to understand, what God is. 

The Buddhists of all schools believe in Nirvana; they believe in 
God ; but they will never consent to belittle this Something unimaginable 
by lowering it to the level of human ideas. That is all. 

This is proved by the profound remark of Gautama, which was 
translated only recently, and is preserved in the original, in the Bodleian 
Library: "Sadasad vikaram na sahate," which means that "ideas of 
Being and non-Being do not admit of discussion." And so our learned 
sillies promoted Buddha to the rank of an atheist. 

Human beings who, in the physical sense, also self-create them- 
selves like the rest, under the law of Nature, ought to do all they can 
to assimilate in this life the state of Nirvana as much as possible, that 
is to say, they ought to keep in mind that everything earthly whether 
physical or moral, is but an illusion, a vanity of vanities, and to aspire 
with all their moral and spiritual being to life eternal, or that state which 
for the present is but subjective for us, yet nevertheless is the only 
objective state in reality. In other words, we must love our neighbor, 
and honor our father and our mother, and feel joy and sorrow, and give 
ourselves to every emotion, only in so far as we have failed to conquer 
that emotion, even to destroy it in ourselves, but not any more. We must 
do good, yet not for our own sakes, but for the sake of our duty to 
Humanity. We must love and respect our parents, our children, our 
husbands and wives, but only with the object of making them happy. 
And as to ourselves, our physical selves, our husks, we must disregard 
them, aspiring with all our hearts to Nirvana, to that state after death in 
which the flame of our spiritual individuality is liberated from all the 
functions and attributes even of our spiritual man, whilst he is in the 
body, in which the flame is extinguished, as a separate thinking, and 
therefore imperfect personality, and is merged (though not lost) in the 
divine essence of Nirvana, or, speaking more clearly, it lives in God, and 
God lives in it. 

Here is Buddhistic "atheism" in a nutshell. 

Christian theologians, and especially missionaries, turn up their noses 
at Nirvana, abusing it, and getting perfectly shocked by this doctrine, 
and say: "Buddha teaches us to despise Humanity and ourselves. He 
teaches egotism, maintaining that filial and parental affection, these most 
sacred things in all creation, are nothing but vanity, that man must aspire 
to Nirvana alone, to complete annihilation." And all this is nonsense, 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 243 

sometimes even intentional nonsense, with full knowledge of the opposite 
side. Does not Christ teach just the same ? Did He not go on the path of 
self-denial and renunciation of everything earthly, even farther than 
Buddha? "He that does not leave father and mother, and follow me, is 
not worthy of me." And has not Saint Jerome made of this highly philo- 
sophical attitude toward life a monstrous fanatical doctrine, when he 
taught : "if thy father prevents thee from becoming one with the Church, 
go kill thy father; if thy mother prostrates herself across the threshold 
to hold thee, trample with thy feet the breast that suckled thee, and 
run ; unite thyself to God and to his Church which is calling thee." Here 
is a proof that scholars and theologians, since the very first centuries, 
have not understood either Buddha or Christ, did not understand them 
at any time, and still do not understand them. 

That which seems to us non-existent is alone, in the eyes of the 
Buddhists, worth the effort; the complete annihilation of everything 
objective, which exists in this temporary world, and therefore is temporary 
itself, is the beginning of life eternal, which is subjective for us, and there- 
fore is called unreal, nihti. 

I know that uncle will understand the idea, though for me it is 
awfully difficult to explain it in Russian, without any knowledge of the 
accepted philosophical and metaphysical terms. 

Next. Why does the Hindu (do you mean my Master?) have little 
love for the "spirits" (of the mediums) ? Well, exactly because of that 
same Nirvana, and Metempsychosis. I do not mean human souls enter- 
ing dogs, pigs and vultures, because all this is nothing but a religious 
metaphor. I mean the transmigration of the second principle of man, 
according to its deserts, and not of his highest immortal spirit, into wicked 
pig-like creatures into "spooks," which bark like chained dogs. Good, 
pure spirits will not, I can assure you, throw about tambourines in dark 
seances; they will not talk nonsense and entice people to sin, just like 
devils. 

"Spirits" of this kind disjointed from their bodies after death, if they 
were exceptionally material, drunkards and immoral, are so strongly at- 
tracted by everything earthly, that they will not go far from the atmo- 
sphere of the earth. They may roam about the wide world, trying to 
take possession of mediumistic people, living once more a factitious life 
through their organs, a temporal life, instead of attempting by repentance 
to reach Nirvana, and the final purification of everything fleshy. Or else, 
if they are altogether done for, these "spirits" or rather "peresprits" may 
disappear altogether, and their immortal souls, their guardian angels, 
will return to Nirvana. 

The Ego within us is also Matter, sublimated and invisible to the 
eye as it is. If a pure spirit, once having broken through the prison of 
the living body, is still willing to come into contact wth objective Matter, 



244 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

it proves that it can stand such a pollution, and if so, it shows that it is 
not altogether pure itself. 

"The Hindu" does not despise the spirits which inspire the medium 
spiritually, nor those who influence people to speak, write or act under 
inspiration, nor those who are seen by clairvoyants, but only those who 
crowd into materialization, who clothe themselves with the effluvia of the 
medium and those present, with their magnetic sweat and other fluids, who 
lower the dignity of the immortal by giving themselves out to be 
immortal, and even by manufacturing out of the sweat and effluvia visible 
bodies which resemble the departed relations of the spiritualists. Of 
course these are also human souls, but as one soul is different from 
another, some, as I said, progress, and reach Nirvana; others disappear. 
The latter are no better than devils, save for the horns and tails, perhaps. 

Through long habit, you mix up the human spirit with the human 
soul. They are two entirely different things. The one is identical with 
Deity, the other is merely the etherial man; for the most part invisible 
but in some cases capable of assuming a visible form. 

As to how the body becomes a harmless idiot, when the soul (per- 
esprit) gets out, it is easy to explain. The functions of life, or vital 
principles, have nothing to do, with the true soul, or the Ego of man. 
Consider insanity. People become insane, just because, whilst the fit lasts, 
the soul is away from the body, of which the insane is entirely unconscious. 
And in cases of incurable insanity, the soul has left the body altogether, 
promenading somewhere else, and pretending it does not know its body, 
though so long as the body lives, it is tied to it by a thin thread. And in 
cases where the body has become vacant, either through illness, or because 
the man has been convulsed by sudden despair, or because he has been 
intensely thinking of some person or some object, which magnetically 
drew his soul, together with his thought, out of his body, and toward that 
person or that object, in all such cases, it sometimes happens that the 
vacant body is taken possession of by another soul, a "spook," whose 
kind are forever roaming about the earth, and who establish themselves 
very comfortably in the deserted body, controlling the functions of its 
physical brain, and impressing it to think that "I am, let us say, Caesar, 
or Alexander the Great, or even Christ himself." Such things do hap- 
pen. The demoniacs of the New Testament tell you clearly that it is so. 

The evil spirit is not the devil of popular fancy; it is the malicious, 
wicked soul of any sinner who has died without repentance, and who will 
go on existing until it is dissipated into the dust of the elements. This is 
why they are called Elementaries by Paracelsus, and all the other mystics 
who have studied Cabalistic sciences. There are also elementary spirits, 
but these are not the souls of men, but merely forces of nature, like Sala- 
manders, Undines, Sylphs and Gnomes, of which there are hundreds of 
subdivisions. 



SOME LETTERS OF " H. P. B." 245 

Next. If I go to India, it will be because all our Society goes, I 
shall not go alone, and the mail goes to India, as to anywhere else. 

Then how can you think that the Society will be destroyed? We 
simply transfer the Society to Madras, or to Ceylon, to be nearer to the 
Yogis, and thaumaturgists, the wonder-workers of India. 

Next. When the soul gets out of the body, and is seized or suddenly 
frightened (I mean people who have but little experience, like myself), 
the peresprit may bound into space from fright, instantaneously breaking 
the thread which joins it to the body; then the body will die. 

Well, I suppose I have tired you out. Good-bye ! May the Superior 
Authorities take care of you all. I kiss everybody. Have you received 
my MS. for "Pravda" and my letter to the Editor? Please let me know. 

HELENA. 



P. S. I thought I had done, when look what happened in London : 
Three learned gentlemen were investigating Monck, the medium; they 
held him, in a lighted room, by his hands and feet, he being in a dead 
trance. And lo and behold, a light, white cloud-like vapor began to pierce 
through his coat and waistcoat, from the region of his heart. It began 
to rotate. It grew. It increased, and formed into the white shape of a 
woman, which moved away from the medium, and walked about the room, 
still remaining tied to him by a thread which was also vapory. Then she 
dwindled, grew vague, until, losing all outline, she became a cloud again, 
which was, so to speak, sucked back into the medium through his heart. 
Then it came out again, but as a tall man this time, evidently belonging 
to a different race. Same process. When the cloud came out for the 
third time, they all recognized the double of the medium. All three 
figures walked as if on springs, automatically, as if moved by some 
outside power. This outside power is nothing but some "spook," con- 
trolling the medium and his peresprit, endowing it, like a sculptor with 
Protean shapes. 

So you see that what I have written to you about is beginning to 
take place in the sight of men, and learned sceptics at that. Unless the 
medium is a man of perfect moral purity, he will be controlled by "spooks." 
As to the Adepts, like my "Master," they will not let the spooks come near 
them, getting out of their own shells at will, moving perfectly freely, and 
working various wonders. And this is because their life is the life of 
virtue, of holiness, of self-abnegation and purity. 

Devils have controlled me quite long enough, until my old age ! Now 
I am rid of them, for Master is on my side ! 



246 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Good-bye. Perhaps we shall see each other. In spring, I may have 
to go to London. Won't you come too ? 

I have read about Sasha (Major Witte) ; he is a fine fellow. God 
keep him! 

All London is bubbling and chattering over this wonderful (?) 
occurrence ; yet it is quite ordinary. Send me, oh my friend and my soul, 
a dictionary, and also see that, if I am to write for "Pravda," I should be 
legally made their correspondent, with all due forms. 



Down the dim pathway of Time there glides a Memory, serene and 
sweet. "Unveil thy face" I cry, rising to grasp her to me. But Memory 
vanishes. 

Then one quiet night I pace that path of Time, seeking the place 
I tremble: and Memory sighs, and sighs herself away. 

Then one quiet night I pace that path of Time, seeking the place 
where Memory dwells. The darkness aids me, and I wander beyond, 
to the centre silent, vibrant from which Time and the Ages radiate. 
No thought of Memory there! But vision. Then, turning outwards 
careless where Time may lead since wind it must to Timelessness 
Memory once more draws near. And now I tremble not, for I know; 
now I grasp not, for I have; now I care not, for I am. So Memory 
unveils her face, and in her eyes I see my soul, and in her heart, Eternity. 
"Stay and serve me," I command: and she obeys. For she knows that 
if I use her for myself she will die. R. B. 



THE RELIGION OF THE WILL. 



THE WILL IN THE BODY. 
I. THE SEARCH FOR FOOD. 

WHAT is the Will ? Lay your book down for a moment on the 
table, and consider. You see the book lying before you. Now 
stretch forth your hand, close your fingers on the book, and 
lift it. Let your conscious thought follow every stage of 
your act. Feel for a moment the effort of raising your hand, stretching 
it out, closing your fingers, lifting your book. Now you have it once 
more open in your hands. And you know more about the Will than a 
thousand treatises could teach you. You really know what the Will is, 
at the moment you are exerting it, and not when you are quiescently 
thinking about it. 

Now see where this simple experience will take you. You have 
just verified the fact that you can really exert your will; that you can 
stretch your hand out and lift the book from the table. You can exert 
your will just as easily in a thousand other ways. For instance, you 
can rise, stretch yourself, and walk round the table, returning to your 
seat. Try it, again letting your conscious thought dwell on each stage 
of effort and motion, and you will once more realize a miracle. Simple 
as it is to walk round the table, simple as it is to lift your book, time was 
when you could do neither. We grown folk do not like to dwell on the 
fact that we were babies not so long ago. We are too used to these 
mature and wise personalities of ours, and have come to think them 
permanent. Yet babies we were. And in those days, when we had 
funny little pudgy fists, with small pink fingers, the lifting of this book 
would have been not only a miracle, but a miracle wholly beyond our 
powers. 

When we pass similar small mortals in their perambulators, we are 
inclined either to patronize them, or to be disdainful and superior. We 
ought really to reverence them as embodiments of faith. For faith 
is the driving power at that age, more than at any other; not because 
we grown up folk do not need faith, but because, needing it boundlessly, 
we lack it. But we had faith, and full faith, in our baby days. Though 
those pudgy little fists of ours, which we hardly like to think of, now 
we are big, could not pick up a book from the table, they were always 
trying to. We had a firm faith that it was in us to do this, and a great 



'Copyright 1908 by CHARLES JOHNSTON. 247 



24 8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

deal more ; and we kept straining and stretching those small pink hands, 
winding away ceaselessly with our fingers, opening and closing, grasping 
and loosening, until at last we gained some grip, and could lay hold on 
things. And then, if there was a conscious spark of immortality in us, 
we tried to grasp the sun and moon. 

We had implicit faith in the power of our wills in those days, and 
through that faith we finally developed our wills, and gain practical use 
of our hands. The faith came first; the practical power grew out of it. 
It was just the same with another wonderful power. We came to the 
use of our voices through faith put into exercise. And just as we kept 
our fingers busily stirring till we could grasp with them, so we played 
with our voices, trying all kinds of cooing notes, or cries of the heart, 
until we gained a fair command. Then, once we had got the power 
under some control, we took to imitating the sounds we heard around 
us; the words queer people said; the voices of birds and beasts. But 
we had gained a secure power on our own accounts, before we tried 
to imitate our big neighbors. 

So with that other miracle, our walking round the table. We crept 
before we walked, and we squirmed before we crept. But we had 
implicit faith in our squirming power from the outset. And we kept at 
it unceasingly till we could crawl, then walk, then run. A thousand falls 
and bumps never daunted us, for our faith was firm. Then, if we were 
fortunate, some wise person taught us that not less essential use of the 
will, involved in sitting quiet and making stillness rule over the rest- 
less motions of hands and feet and body. 

But there was something that came earlier than the use of hands 
and feet, or the modulated exercise of voice. There was the very serious 
matter of food. And we set about it seriously, with the grim faith so 
serious a matter demands ; and, unlike Osric in Hamlet, without 
philosophizing. How far we were conscious of it is another matter, 
but we set to work with a confident faith beyond all praise, a faith the 
more admirable, because it came before all experience. It was the most 
miraculous adventure for us, almost as miraculous as being born, and 
we undertook it with high hope and confident belief. 

That is about as far as we can trace the matter in this direction, 
and we have really learned little more than we knew at first. When we 
stretched out a hand, and lifted the book from the table, we already 
experienced the power of will, and the faith, the confident belief that 
we could exercise the will, which is the driving-power in the child. 
Our conscious use of will, and our confident belief, before each act, 
that we can exercise our wills, are all we really know of the matter, 
and we really know these only while we are actually using them. The 
thing is an absolute mystery and miracle, yet a miracle which perpetually 
occurs. You may analyze a thousand times, according to all kinds of 



THE RELIGION OF THE WILL 249 

tricks, physical, metaphysical, psychological, but the more you analyze, 
the less you know. You may even succeed in persuading yourself that 
you do not know at all. 

The remedy is action. Actually put your will in force; rise and 
lift your book, and, while you are doing it, you are in possession of real 
knowledge. You know what Will really is. So dwell on that knowledge 
and make it a secure possession, not to be clouded by ever so much 
analysis. 

But, it will be said, the matter is simple. The will you exercise is 
but the development of the will in the babe. And that comes by inheri- 
tance, from a million ancestors, human and other. This is one of those 
explanations which have the air of explaining, yet which really explain 
nothing. When we have made it, and pushed the mystery off a million 
generations, we really know much less than we did at the outset, while 
we were in the act of lifting the book. It is as some one has said. A 
man is a mystery, in action like an angel; and when confronted with 
him, face to face at close quarters, we know him to be a mystery. But 
let us push him back, mile after mile, till he is a mere dot on the rim 
of the sky. The mystery has dwindled to a speck, but is it the less a 
mystery, because we have pushed it away? Might we not have had a 
better chance of solving that mysterious man if, instead of pushing the 
mystery back, we had drawn it nearer, looking at home, within our own 
hearts, for the word of the enigma, and knowing him as of like nature 
with ourselves? We should then have founded ourselves on some- 
thing we really knew. So with the Will. We really know what Will 
is, not when we push it back to the Moneron, but when we are in act 
of using it in ourselves. The Will is the Will; and each one of us 
knows perfectly well what it is, while we are using it. 

But let us, for argument's sake, push back the mystery of the will, 
till it dwells in a mere speck on the rim of the horizon ; and let us see if 
we can learn anything. Take the moneron, that speck of animate jelly, 
a life complete in a single cell, spinning and whirling through the 
ocean, in the ceaseless movement of an endless life. If you watch one 
of these minute jelly-specks, almost on the horizon of vision, you will 
see in it the same power of action, the same cheerful confidence in its 
power to act, that we admired in the baby; just as defined, and no whit 
less a mystery. A single cell of life cannot do much, but the little it 
can do, it does with vigor and firm faith. You see it steering itself 
about ceaselessly, coming close to hardly visible specks of food, wrapping 
itself upon them, and absorbing them into itself. If you put a little 
coloring matter in the water, you may trace it right into the transparent 
body of the little creature, till it is actually built into its structure. 

The driving power in that spinning speck of jelly is exactly the 
same as the driving power in the baby moving with firm faith to its 



250 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

first drink of milk. There is, in both, the power to move, with the 
antecedent faith that movement is possible, and the further faith that 
there is an outward something to move to. So that now we have pushed 
our mystery back to the very beginning of physical evolution, it remains 
just as much a mystery as before. 

When we thus go back to the physical beginnings of things, it is 
hard to draw the line between animal and vegetable. But for our 
purpose this does not matter, nor are we concerned to show that vege- 
tables have neither will nor consciousness. They must, indeed, have 
both, or the equivalent of both. Let us again go back to the cell. Take 
an experiment we all have made, though it is something better than 
an experiment: a geranium cutting. We pick a plump green branch, 
cut it off obliquely through the joint, leaving a smooth green oval 
section; then we trim off superfluous leaves and buds, so as not to 
divert the life, and then we set the cutting in good damp soil. After 
a few days, if we are curious, we may make investigations, and we 
shall find one of those miracles by which we are encompassed. From the 
erstwhile smooth green oval, little white rootlets have sprouted forth, 
little pearl-strings of single cells, and these are now busy drawing 
nutriment into the body of the new plant. They are just the same sort 
of cells that formed the plump green stem, with the slightest modifica- 
tion to fit them for their new work. 

At the present moment, there is not a speck of red anywhere about 
the little new plant, even if we cut and mutilate in our search for it. Yet 
in due time some of those once green cells will become red, building up 
the bright mystery of the flower. Does anyone know how this takes 
place, and through what occult law? No one knows any more of it 
than you do, or can tell you by what hidden power this wonderful thing 
has come to pass. We may push a little toward an understanding of the 
how, but the why remains as much a secret as ever. We are still face 
to face with the questions: how did the cells of the green oval section 
know that a new work was required of them? How did they come to 
set about that work ? How, unless they have both consciousness and will, 
or something very like these? 

Here is another experience that greatly appealed to me. A few 
years ago, I had a nursery for little trees, and very amenable babies they 
proved. I found the small seedlings, two or three inches high, in the 
woods, each one the robust survivor of many seeds that had failed. 
There were little oaks, beeches, horse-chestnuts, silver firs, maples and 
some others. And one learned that, in their babyhood, trees have wonder- 
fully symmetrical forms, almost as regular as crystals. Look at a baby 
chestnut, or a baby maple from immediately above, and you will see how 
the branchlets are set directly opposite each other, the small leaves per- 
fectly corresponding. And there is a different symmetry for every 



THE RELIGION OF THE WILL 251 

kind of tree. Take the silver fir, for example. Looked at from above, 
it is a green, six-pointed star, the angles as perfectly regular as in a 
six-pointed snow-crystal. And from the center of the star rises a seventh 
branchlet, quite upright, the leading shoot of the tree. In a well-grown 
baby fir, these branchlets are about as long as your finger. 

At the end of each of the six star-point branches you will find three 
little brown buds. When spring conies, each of these buds will push out 
and become a new branchlet, so that each little finger branch is now a 
green trident. And the leading shoot, which had a crown of seven buds 
six set star-fashion, and one above becomes the center of a new six- 
pointed star, with a new leading shoot. And in the autumn of the 
second year, all the fir-needles of the first year will grow orange, and 
then brown, and finally fall off. For evergreens lose their leaves too, 
only the leaves of one year overlap into the next. 

Now for the consciousness and will. In my double row of little 
silver-firs, it happened occasionally that the leading shoot of one of them 
got cut or broken off, perhaps bitten by insects, perhaps idly plucked by 
some passing human creature. What was the tree to do now? How 
could it get on in the world, now its leading shoot was gone ? And indeed 
how was it to know that anything untoward had happened? How it 
knew, I know not, but know it certainly did. For within a few days one 
could note that, among the six branchlets that radiated from the base 
of the leading shoot the six star-points the longest and most robust 
had begun to bend its end upward; and day after day this went on, 
until it pointed straight up toward the sky, making itself a perfectly 
effective leading shoot. And what is even more wonderful, while for- 
merly it had only three buds at its tip, it will now put forth four 
more, so that the young tree can go on with all advantages, ready to 
form a new six-pointed star of branchlets, with a new leading shoot, 
when the spring comes round again. And sometimes when the first 
leading shoot is lost, as I have described, there are two fairly equal com- 
petitors for its place among the six star-point branches. In that case, 
both turn their points upward, and gradually bend themselves up sky- 
wards. And in time, the fir tree will have two upright stems, instead 
of one. We have all seen those twin-stemmed firs in the woods, but 
we have not always realized what a romance of competing twin-brothers 
stands there revealed. 

So we are confronted with the questions: how did the silver fir 
baby learn that its leading shoot was gone? And how did it know what 
to do about it? How, unless it has both consciousness and will, though 
not in exactly our sense? Plants, indeed, are like babies in many ways, 
and almost as restless. And on the other hand, as we saw, they grow 
very much as crystals do ; so that we have no warrant for denying con- 
sciousness and will to the diamond and the emerald. Perhaps they also 



252 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

in their motions like an angel sing, still choiring to the young-eyed 
cherubim. 

But when I speak of the will in the body, I mean rather that quite 
defined something which we experience, when we stretch forth a hand 
and lift a book, or when we rise, stretch ourselves, and walk round the 
table. And to that kind of will, that perfectly defined and familiar 
miracle, we shall now turn our attention. 

The driving power of the will, in this defined sense, is everywhere 
evident through the animal world, and especially in those higher animals 
which more closely resemble ourselves in bodily form. Indeed, all the 
vertebrates, and especially the mammalian vertebrates, have exactly the 
same type of skeleton as we have, though modified this way or that. 
The human skeleton seems to be the norm, from which these other 
skeletons of creatures that run on all fours seem to be deflected in one 
direction or another. But in the skeleton the unity of plan is manifest; 
and the same thing is true of the organs. 

So we may for the present take all these animals together, and 
consider them as a whole. They are all impelled by a like driving- 
power, and they are impelled by it all their lives. This driving-power 
is twofold. For the present, we shall consider only that branch of 
it which impels the search for food, leaving the other branch for future 
study. 

We saw the impulse to seek food already at work in the baby, which 
sets confidently to work, impelled by firm faith, a faith that antecedes 
all experience. The baby is firmly confident in its power to seek food, 
and equally confident that there is food to be sought. But for that 
effective faith, it would die. Each one of us had just that effective faith 
before our first experience, else none of us had lived to tell the tale. And 
if we consider the one-celled moneron to be the earliest form of life, 
we must believe that the same driving-power, incited by the same faith, 
was present in it; otherwise life would have come to a stop there and 
then. 

You can see the same driving-power all through the manifold, 
beautiful animal world to-day. Take a heard of cattle in a meadow. 
You see them all grazing there busily, headed in a single direction ; crop- 
ping tuft after tuft of juicy grass, and then taking a step forward; then 
again cropping the grass, and again stepping forward. And if you 
listen, you can hear the rhythmically musical cropping of those blameless 
ruminants, as they march softly forward on the most important business 
in the world. If you note their movements for a whole day, as they 
spread out in a line or in irregular groups, or as they lie meditative, 
chewing the cud, and whisking off impertinent flies with their tails, you 
will find that, by the evening, they have worked over nearly the whole 



THE RELIGION OF THE WILL 253 

field, moved forward from one end to the other by the impulse of the 
search for food. 

Or take the flock of crows in the next field. Go as close as their 
alert sentinels posted in the trees will let you; and you will see that in 
their black serried rows they are working over the ploughed land as 
regularly, as thoroughly, as tirelessly as the cattle, seeking their food 
under a steady impelling force. And from day to day the rooks, being 
masters of their own movements, change the field of their activities, 
until they have systematically scoured the whole country round their 
ancestral rookery among the tree-tops. 

It is just the same thing in wilder nature, with a herd of deer on 
the African veldt, or a flock of white egrets in the Indian rice-lands. 
The same steady, methodical movement; the same systematic covering 
of large spaces of country, under the steady impulsion of the search for 
food. And if we could imagine any individual animal multiplied endlessly, 
we may well believe that the host of him, so to say, would in time cover 
the whole surface of the earth, and occupy the entire land space, in the 
ceaseless, restless, truceless business of food-seeking. That is where 
the driving-power of the will would lead him; for we must remember 
that each step of the way, each bite of food, would represent a conscious 
effort of will, just such an effort as we make when we stretch out a 
hand to grasp a book, or when we rise and walk round the table. 

And those who have followed the fascinating study of the dis- 
tribution of plants and animals know that very many living things have 
thus practically taken possession of the whole globe, or all of it that was 
accessible to their very considerable means of locomotion. Take the 
foxes, for example. You can find them barking at the moon on tropical 
plains; you can find them slipping over polar ice, under the gleam of 
the aurora. And the bears are their companions in both, from the 
equatorial line on the Malay peninsula to still unmapped headlands in 
the white north. Cattle too are everywhere. Under the polar sky, 
musk oxen live their cheerful, meditative days, not less pleased with life 
than the bare buffaloes of some Javan marsh. East and west they range ; 
and north and south. The impulse is imperative, incessant. Every 
form, if given free scope, would 'occupy the whole world, driven cease- 
lessly forward under the impulse of that single power. 

And those who have traced back the parentage of these bears and 
foxes, these musk oxen and buffaloes, and all their fellows, tell us that 
this same imperious impulse was the driving-power from the beginning; 
that the pressure of the search for food drove them both outwards and 
upwards ; from land to land, from stage to stage of animate life. 

I know no more touching example of that ceaseless driving-power 
than the history of the mole, which, it seems, started from some Eastern, 
perhaps Asian land, and has gradually been burrowing underground, 



254 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

along the path of empire. It reached the north of France, still by 
devious subways, before the Straits of Dover had stretched their blue 
line from sea to sea; and, digging under the carpet of the chalk hills, 
found its way to the future England. Then from south to north, from 
Kent to Wales, it worked its way, but reached the coast too late. The 
Irish sea was already formed, and the mole never arrived in the Isle 
of Saints. But look how much he had accomplished already, by little 
and little, though never opening his eyes to the sunlight. Around moun- 
tain-chains and across rivers he moved, resistless in his helplessness; 
crossing the rivers one knows not how, or, perhaps, going around them ; 
and now covering an immense territory to the very shore of the ocean. 
There, pensive and prone, he may ask, like Walt Whitman looking west 
from California's shores: "Where is what I sought so long ago? and 
why is it yet unfound?" 

The driving-power of the will, therefore, expressing itself in the 
search for food, has spread all creatures all over the earth. The search 
for food is the great business of life for them all, and is their business 
all their lives. It is a pressure that never relaxes, and, by its very 
persistence, has worked many miracles. That same pressure of the will, 
consciously exerted in the search for food, has not only carried all these 
creatures to the uttermost parts of the earth ; it has carried them through 
the far longer journey, up from the spinning jelly-speck of the moneron, 
to the perfect organic form, with its fine beauty, its vigor, its grace, 
its majesty. If we except man, and the exception is only a partial one, 
the exertion of the will in the search for food has given the direction 
to the development of every member, every organ, every muscle, every 
nerve, throughout the animate world. The whole wonderful growth 
is due to the steady pressure of that single force, through ages of ages. 
And when we see this quite miraculous development, this marvelous 
distribution, we are fain to bow in reverence to divine Hunger, which 
through long ages has wrought endless creative wonders. 

Whether it be the artisan who, in the still darkling hours, rises 
from hard couch to meet the shrilling of the factory whistle, or the 
gazelle, scampering forth in the Indian morning twilight, or the wolf, 
under some ledge of rock, stretching himself and going forth at moon- 
rise, there is always a definite effort, a sacrifice of comfort, of cosy 
lethargy. There is the impulse to awake from sleep into action, from 
death into life. And I think that this same impulse, which we ourselves 
feel and obey with the coming of each new morn, is the power that 
stirred the worlds into being, in the far-off dawn of time. In every 
waking and going forth after food, there is the necessity of sacrifice, 
there is the sacrifice, and, in due time, there is the reward of sacrifice, 
extended life. So we may well say, with the venerable Indian hymn: 
"The Lord of beings put forth beings accompanied by sacrifice." 



THE RELIGION OF THE WILL 255 

We spoke of man as a partial exception. But even among mankind 
the search for food is still a universal business. It keeps us all whole 
and sane and vigorous. And even the most easeful and laziest must 
do their own eating still, and so come within the scope of the universal 
law. So we have here our first great driving-power, which works in 
every case, through a conscious effort, a conscious exertion of the will; 
just such an effort of the will as we must make, to take our book from 
the table; to rise and walk across the room. While exerting the will, 
in any such way as this, we really know, by direct experience, what the 
will is ; and from this sound foundation of real knowledge we may safely 
build upward and outward, to some kind of conception of the whole. 

Individuals may come to no common understanding, each living 
his own life, using his own individual will. But there is that in the 
individuals which does come to an understanding. The will, consciously 
possessed and used by each one, rests on a common force, and works to 
a general end. The moles have never concerted together, nor come to 
an agreement; yet their work, the work of countless numbers through 
countless years, is well concerted and held together. It forms a unity, 
and is visible to us as a unity, and we can divine the single force working 
through the consciously exerted wills of a wilderness of moles. So 
with all animate beings. We can see numberless acts of will, each per- 
fect and spontaneous in itself, yet all working to a common miraculous 
end: the perfect development and distribution of conscious animate life. 
One may say that, under this driving power of the will in the body, which 
each one of us ceaselessly uses, every creature is impelled to conquer the 
whole world and possess it. Every creature is impelled to gain the 
mastery over space. 

And we can see, in our own experience, and in every part of it, 
that behind this conscious exertion of the will there are two principles : 
there is the confident faith that effort can be made; and there is the 
confident faith that effort will bear fruit, that there is something without 
us, which will respond to effort and repay effort. Within, we touch the 
will. Without, we touch the beautiful world, upheld by the miraculous 
web of natural forces, upon which our wills can so marvelously work. 
There is our great twofold truth; the basis, not so much of philosophy, 
as of our life itself. 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 
(To be continued.) 



"THE WELLS OF PEACE." 



WHEN William Sharp died, in December, 1905, one of the great 
literary puzzles of the age was solved, and that utterly un- 
known quantity called "Fiona Macleod," the most elusive of 
authoresses, turned out to be the alter ego of the well-known 
critic and Shakespearian scholar whom all the world knew. Never was 
there such an instance of a double (literary) personality. Not one trace 
of "Fiona Macleod," the perfect essence of Celtic poetry and legend, in 
the calm, severe, critical writing of William Sharp, not a touch that was 
not exquisitely feminine in the poetic prose of "Fiona." One of the most 
beautiful of the shorter stories in the Dominion of Dreams is called 
"The Wells of Peace," and was originally laid to rest in the pages of 
Good Words for September, 1898. I have ventured to shorten it a little, 
for space in the QUARTERLY is precious. 

"THE WELLS OF PEACE/' 

"When Ian Mor was a man in the midway of life, he sought the 
Wells of Peace. 

All his life long he had desired other things. But when a man has 
lived deeply he comes at last to long for rest. Beauty, joy, life, these 
may be his desire: but soon or late he will seek the Wells of Peace. 

I do not remember when it was that Ian Mor went forth upon his 
quest. He was in the midway of life, that I know ; and he arose one day 
from where he lay upon the hillside, dreaming an old, sweet, impossible 
dream. It is enough. 

He went down the hillside of Ben Maiseach, through the still 
purpled heather and the goldening bracken. * * * A quiet region; 
few crofts lightened the hillsides. Scanty pastures twisted this way and 
that among the granite boulders and endless green surf of fern. On 
that solitary way Ian Mor met no one, but in the Glen of the Willows 
he passed a tinker's wife, dishevelled, with sullen eyes and ignoble mien 
carrying wearily a sleeping child. He spoke, but she gave no other 
answer than a dull stare. 

He passed her, dreaming his dream. Suddenly he turned, and 
moved swiftly back, and though the woman cursed him because he had 
no money to give her, he carried the child for her, and sang it to sleep. 
The poor, uncomely wench, he thought; for sure, for sure, Mary, the 
Mother of All, called to her from afar off, with sister-sweet whispering, 
and deep compassionate love. When they came to the little inn at the 

256 



THE WELLS OF PEACE 257 

far end of the Glen of Willows, the man there knew Ian Mor, and so 
promised readily to give the woman shelter and food for that day, and 
the morrow, which was the Sabbath. 

As Ian left the last birches of the Glen of the Willows, and heard 
the vague inland murmur of the sea echoing through a gully in the shore- 
ward hills, another wayfarer joined him. It was Art, the son of Mary 
Gilchrist. For a brief while they spoke of one another. Then Ian told 
Art, his friend, that his weariness had become a burden too great to be 
borne; and that, tired of all things tired of living most of all, tired 
even of hope, he had come forth to seek the Wells of Peace. 

'And Art/ he added, 'if you will tell me where I may find these, you 
will have all the healing love which is in my heart.' 

There are seven Wells of Peace, Ian Mor. Four you found long 
since, blind dreamer; and of one you had the sweet, cool water a brief 
while ago ; and the other is where your hour* waits ; and the seventh is 
tinder the rainbow/ 

Ian Mor turned his eager, weary eyes upon the speaker. 

'The Wells of Peace/ he muttered, 'which I have dreamed of through 
tears and longing, and old, familiar pain, and sorrow too deep for words.' 

'Even so, Ian. Poet and dreamer, you too have been blind, for all 
your seeing eyes and wonder-woven brain and passionate dream/ 

'Tell me ! What are the four Wells of Peace I have already passed, 
and drunken of, and not known?' 

'They are called "Love," "Beauty," "Dream," and "Endurance." ' 

Ian bowed his head. Tears dimmed his eyes. 'Art/ he whispered, 
^Art, bitter, bitter waters were those that I drank in that fourth Well of 
Peace. For I knew not the waters were sweet, then. And even now, 
even now, my heart faints at that shadowy Well/ 

'It is the Well of Strength, Ian, and its waters rise out of that of 
Love, which you found so passing sweet/ 

'And what is that of which I drank a brief while ago ?' 

'It was in the Glen of the Willows. You felt its cool breath when 
you turned and went back to that poor outcast woman, and saw her sor- 
row, and looked into the eyes of the little one. And you drank of it, when 
you gave the woman peace. It is the well where the Son of God sits 
forever, dreaming His dream. It is called "Compassion." 

And so, Ian thought, he had been at the Well of Peace that is called 
Compassion, and not known it. 

'Tell me, Art, what are the sixth and seventh?' 

'The sixth is where your hour waits. It is the Well of Rest; deep, 
deep sleep; deep, deep rest; balm for the weary brain, the weary heart, 
the spirit that hath weariness for comrade, and loneliness as a bride. It 
is a small well that, and shunned of men, for its portals are those of the 



* 1. 1. the hour of your death. 
17 



258 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

grave, and the soft breath of it steals up through brown earth and the 
ancient, dreadful quiet of the underworld.' 

'And the seventh? That which is under the rainbow in the West?' 

'Ian, you know the old, ancient tales. Once, years ago, I heard you 
tell that of Ulad the Lonely. Do you remember what was the word on 
the lips of his dream when, after long years, he saw her again when both 
met at last under the rainbow ?' 

'Ay, for sure. It was the word of triumph, of joy, the whisper of 
peace : "There is but one love." 

'When you hear that, Ian, and from the lips of her whom you have 
loved and love, then you shall be standing by the Seventh Well/ 

They spoke no more, but moved slowly onward through the dusk. 
The sound of the sea deepened. lan's quest was over. Not beyond those 
crested hills, nor by the running wave on the shore, whose voice filled the 
night as though it were the dark whorl of a mighty shell; not there, 
or in this or that far place, were the Wells of Peace. 

Love, Beauty, Dream, Endurance, Compassion, Rest, Love Fulfilled ; 
for sure the Wells of Peace were not far from home. 

So Ian Mor went back to his loneliness and his pain and his longing ! 

K. 



The hours are the jewels of the day, offered thee by the Master. 
Each by itself is faintly illuminative; but string them upon the thread 
of meditation and they will shine. OCCULT APHORISMS. 



TALKS ON RELIGION. 



V. 

THE MATHEMATICIAN : I am sorry to say that neither the 
Historian nor the Social Philosopher can be with us to-night, 
and indeed I have small hope of seeing our Biologist. For, 
though he promised to come if he could, I know he is pre- 
senting a paper before the Society for Experimental Biology As he 
deals with no less a subject than the discovery of the cancer germ, 
there is little chance of his being let off in time to join us. Therefore we 
had best wait no longer. 

You remember that, at our last meeting, the Social Philosopher 
defined religion as a commingled sense of dependence and reverence 
directed toward that which had both power and worth. This he sup- 
ported by an appeal to introspection, as well as by an examination of 
historic systems. It appeared that the evolution of religion had been 
away from the sense of power, while the sense of worth had augmented, 
so that in certain quarters to-day religion was identified with poetry and 
considered purely a question of ideals. This led to a good deal of dis- 
cussion of the reality and power of the ideal its independence of us 
and its power over us. The opinion was expressed that man found the 
power of his religion in that department of life where his own existence 
was centered. As in his evolution the centre of his life had passed from 
the physical to the mental and emotional worlds, so had his religion 
become more subjective, more a matter of the inner life than the outer; 
but it was none the less real, none the less powerful, and none the 
less a universal fact in the latter case than in the former. 

In the course of this discussion, the Oxonian ably defended the 
existence of inspiration as a fact of experience, and of a power, not our- 
selves, which makes for righteousness. 

I have asked him to open our 'discussion for us this evening. 

The Oxonian: The Mathematician truly asked me to give you a 
lead, but he did not tell me upon what to speak. As I have been privileged 
to attend but one other meeting I find myself in something of a quandary. 
There are four subjects into any one of which I might plunge; which I 
shall choose I leave to you. For you can judge which fits best with 
your previous discussions. These are : first, The Nature of the Religious 
Sentiment ; second, The Problem of Evil, to which the Social Philosopher 
referred last time that is, the fact, so baffling to anyone who would 
worship the supreme power in the universe, that to it is due pain and sin 

"59 



2 <5o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

and hideousness quite as truly as good. The third subject is Mysticism; 
and the fourth is The Place of the Church in this Age. 

The Mathematician: They all four fit in admirably. The central 
purpose of all these meetings is to arrive at some clearer idea of the 
nature of the religious sentiment. The apparent evil in the world is 
a difficulty which has constantly been voiced, notably by the Social 
Philosopher, and, though Mysticism itself has received no direct dis- 
cussion, the mystic point of view is one that has very frequently been 
adopted and I know appeals strongly to more than one of us. Your fourth 
subject, the function of the church in the present age, has also been 
touched upon. Indeed it was a discussion of this which led to the wider 
inquiries we have since pursued. It is therefore plain that you cannot 
choose one, and reject the other three; for whichever you selected 
you would leave unsaid the greater part of what we wish to hear. 
Obviously you must speak to us upon all four. 

The Oxonian: Any one of them is an ambitious undertaking for 
a single evening. 

The Mathematician: The night is young. 

The Oxonian: Well, as you will. There is a certain unity among 
the four and it may be of interest to present them in sequence. 

If I am asked what is the nature of the religious sentiment, my 
answer would turn on the words Spirit and Faith. Faith is a need of 
the spirit. "The Spirit" and "Spiritual" are terms constantly used, but 
we should, most of us, be puzzled to say exactly what they mean. I 
should not attempt to give a complete definition, but would like to begin 
with those facts of human nature which form the basis or rudiments 
of what we call Spirit. 

Unlike the brutes, a man thinks and feels when he doesn't have to. 
To use the language we have all learned by heart, we live by responding 
to our environment. The brute responds to the particular exigency of 
the environment, its particular action upon him, and then he is, as it were, 
released until the next call comes. The dog is hungry and searches 
for food. But when he has eaten he curls himself up and sleeps, for- 
getful of his past hunger, of all his past activity. The brute's actions 
are complete in themselves. There is no aftermath. Of course there 
are instincts that act persistently, making birds migrate, and the like, but 
at least we may say that the animal's emotional nature responds to 
particular calls and then relapses into a neutral and colorless state. 

It is man in whose nature chords of feeling are struck that continue 
to sound when the environment speaks to him no longer. So subtle and 
enduring are our moods that they continue beyond our memory of their 
origin. Indeed we sometimes stop and ask ourselves, Why is it that I 
am depressed; what is the thought or sight that cast me down or that 
elated me? Not infrequently when we have found it, it is quite trivial, 



TALKS ON RELIGION 261 

out of all proportion to the effect which it produced, so insignificant 
that it is set aside as soon as recognized. Yet the mood has endured. 
Human nature has an extraordinary susceptibility to these prolonged 
reverberations of feeling. 

Now this is what creates the need for religion. A man can see, 
or the hemispheres of his brain enable him to imagine, wide stretches 
of environment, destined it may be to affect him in the future, filled to 
his imagination with vague portent, but to which he does not know how 
to make present response. This leaves him in some degree of that 
disturbing uncertainty that seizes us when we feel environing forces 
but no not know what "reaction" to make. The cause of his depres- 
sion was trivial, yet he is still cast down where can he look for com- 
fort? The barren spaces of existence absorb his imaginings and make 
his loneliness known to him. Where can he find companionship? The 
power of nature, its vastness and impersonality, fill him with terror; 
where can he turn for support, where win faith and trust with which to 
stand against these? 

The representative faculty must solve the problem it has created. 
It must enable him to represent the fateful potentialities, which for the 
first time he has become aware of, in such form that he can at once 
react appropriately to them and not be left wholly at a loss. If we never 
had time to muse, religion would not arise. If we never had time to 
look about us, to grow conscious of our weakness in the presence of 
complex circumstance and doubtful futurity, we should never want to 
know the character, the spirit of those forces and futures, that we might 
propitiate, or trust, or rejoice in them. In other words, the imagination 
must condense or epitomise in one object all the thousand and one facts 
of life and the world ; it must conceive a government of these facts, so that 
the spirit can thereafter treat with the government and so save itself 
from the desolate perplexity of having to deal in imagination and feeling 
with the myriad facts themselves. It must synthesize the larger environ- 
ment which looms so portentously in man's consciousness, yet of which 
the brute seems unaware. 

When we have such a unified object of the religious sense, we 
have something to which we can, as it were, "react." Now if we dis- 
cover that in the nature of things there is such a central fact which the 
spirit may confront, then this is a world in which the religious need is met. 
To this we can take our joy and our sorrow. In this we can place our 
faith, and find in this synthesizing representative power the basis for 
a trust which will still the reverberations of our fears. 

This brings me to my second topic. The trouble is that the govern- 
ment of the world seems not wholly beneficent. Evil flows from it as 
well as good. The thought that good and evil are indifferent to this 
central power is intolerable to the religious sense. Nor will our need 



262 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

admit a power greater than that in which we trust, capable of overruling 
its decrees, thwarting its will. Our faith must be justified, our trust 
complete. 

I need not enter here upon a prolonged discussion of the ancient 
problem of evil. It is enough to say that even from a naturalistic point 
of view, making no doubtful assumptions in metaphysics or in history, 
we can answer the problem so far as the religious sense presses for an 
answer. Good flows from the nature of things, and evil flows from the 
nature of things ; but what it concerns us to note is that superiority flows 
from the nature of things the fact that the good is better than the evil. 
The nature of things fixes both human need and the conditions of its 
fulfilment, and so decrees the moral law and paints the ideal. Our 
natures flow from the nature of things. So Goethe was right in saying 
that virtue proceeded from the heart of nature. And so it is fitting that 
in the tragedy of ^schylus that which is known as Earth has also the 
name of Righteousness. The ideal itself is a product of the universe, 
as is the heart of man and all that yearns and aspires therein. To follow 
nature is to assert our own. 

Therefore we can rest in this that though both good and evil are 
present in the universe, the universe is not indifferent to them; that the 
good is better than the evil is also in the universe, a force making for 
righteousness. 

I said that the essentials for a religion were Spirit and Faith. Faith 
is simply trust, trust in the supreme power, trust in the central fact. Now 
the mystical mood of mind is simply faith or trust in its utter complete- 
ness. Mysticism is essentially a moral and spiritual phenomenon. We 
are no longer perplexed or made desolate by the need of responding in 
spirit to the thousand-fold intricate and dubious facts of the inner 
world. We have seen the guiding thread, recognized the law, conformed 
to the Governance. The One delivers us from the many. To the One, 
in scientific parlance, the spirit can "react." That reaction is the self- 
abandonment of mysticism, the union with that which is supreme. All 
religion is a quest for the One in the many. Therefore the mystic atti- 
tude is the consummation of religion. 

This consummation is wrought in the human spirit by Faith and 
by Love. In the early stages of religious feeling man turns to the 
supreme for the benefits he can receive; as a dog turns to his master 
for food or for safety. Later this attitude changes. The thought of 
self lessens. We seek this central power of life not with the hope of 
the benefactions that flow therefrorn, but as we seek one we love, for 
companionship and for itself. We learn first to depend, then to reverence, 
and then to love. With love comes the desire for union, and from the 
desire is born the fact and the experience the mystic union with the 
core of things. 



TALKS ON RELIGION 263 

I would be very glad to hear what you think of these views. 

The Mathematician: But you have not yet spoken on your fourth 
topic. Will you not continue? 

The Oxonian: This was to be an evening of talk, not of monologue. 
I think you must let me postpone my remaining subject. 

The Mathematician: If we are sure it is only a postponement, let 
it be as you wish. You certainly have given us ample matter for con- 
sideration; and sometimes it is true that if we have too broad a field, 
discussion falters from the very richness of possibility. I am very glad, 
however, that we made you present these three subjects as a single 
sequence, for I think they tend to clarify one another. In particular it 
seems to me we must view the religious need in the light of its satis- 
faction. We frequently hear arguments for the existence of a supreme 
power of good drawn from the craving of the human heart, and I con- 
fess that these arguments in a way impress me. I suppose, for example, 
it could be assumed that if water had never existed no form of life 
could ever have developed which would need water, and that thus the 
thirst is evidence of the existence of that which will satisfy it. Yet 
this argument from our necessities involves so many doubtful factors 
that it is far from conclusive. We must demonstrate that this is indeed 
a necessity of our being, not some dreamed-of luxury, and even when 
we have done this it remains to find the satisfaction we have shown 
needful. Therefore no reasoning from our needs, however valid, can 
be either so convincing or so desirable as the direct satisfaction of those 
needs in experience. This is what mysticism does for its followers. In 
the inner union with the heart of things, the satisfaction of the religious 
craving becomes a fact of immediate experience. So though the craving 
of the heart may be the origin of religion, the experience of the mystic 
is its justification. 

Do you not think with me that, taken alone, your first argument 
is rather cold? 

The Oxonian: It is purely psychological; yes. 

The Editor: But few have the experience you tell us characterizes 
the mystic. Until this comes have 'we not the need for such arguments 
as Mr. M. has given? The early stage of mysticism, as of all religion, 
must be a matter of Faith, and does not Faith largely consist in trusting 
these cravings of the heart? In the belief that if we persist we will 
experience their satisfaction? 

The Philosopher: We are getting down to some very fundamental 
thinking, and I am finding my own views much clearer than they were. 
One thing that struck me particularly is the parallel between this thesis 

of M 's and that which the Zoologist gave us two meetings ago. I 

don't know whether it was as noticeable to the rest of you as it was to 



264 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

me, but I found myself thinking of it continually as the Oxonian was 
talking. 

The Oxonian: That is very interesting. I wish I had heard the 
Zoologist. 

The Philosopher: Approaching religion from a purely biological 
point of view, his presentation was from the scientific standpoint, while 
yours was from that of the psychologist and the mystic. Yet the thread 
of the two discourses seemed to me the same, and still more marked was 
the similarity of the general conclusions reached : that our chief good lay 
in an acceptance of the universe as it is ; in as close a union with its spirit 
and its laws as we can compass. As I said before, we find the attainment 
of our desires hedged around by certain restrictions, not of our own 
making but inherent in life itself. Let us accept them joyfully, enthu- 
siastically and in obedience to them let us become one with them. Let 
us unite ourselves to Life. 

All this is clearer to me than it was, and seems more fundamental, 
more truly the basis of a religious attitude. But there are certain prob- 
lems which it does not solve. We need either a wider basis or to build 
further upon what we have. For certain facts of experience, certain 
common phenomena of religious feeling are co-ordinated and organized 
in neither science nor ethics, nor do I see how they are correlated with 
the basic principles we are considering. I mean such a desire as that 
which we all have to play providence to those we love ; to our children, 
to our wives and even to our friends. We long to stand between them 
and life, to shield and guard them, to keep them from the rigor of these 
restrictions, even from the very union which we are now viewing as an 
ultimate satisfaction of our hearts' craving. How are we to explain and 
organize such desires as these ? Or again, when we have done our utmost, 
or when in advance we get some heartsick perception of how impotent 
we are in the face of nature, of how life sweeps away the safeguards 
which we try to rear, and how light and permeable the shield our love 
and thought at best can furnish, what a longing there is then to take all 
this, all our fears and premonitions, our love and our loved ones, and 
lay them all in the hands of God. We call upon Him to do what we 
can not. Yet what is it we are asking? For God to shield from God? 
For Life whose heart we seek, to keep us from Itself? What is the 
organization of this? 

The Mathematician: You ask the explanation of human pain and 
fear ; of the tragedy and pathos of love. It would need a far wiser man 
than I to answer you, and yet I think the secret lies in that reproach of 
Jesus to his disciples, when terrified by the storm they called upon him 
to awake and save "Oh, ye of little faith." Even when we have 
learned to trust ourselves to Fate, to see that it is in our power to gain 



TALKS ON RELIGION 26$ 

from all that can come to us, whether of joy or sorrow, even then we 
fear to trust those we love to the same great current. 

The Editor: Here you touch upon an element which I brought 
up before, and which it seems to me we will have sooner or later to 
consider in a manner more commensurate with its importance; that is, 
the element of Faith. I believe the Oxonian defined mysticism as Faith 
in its utter completeness, or perhaps as the consciousness following this 
act of Faith. But whatever words were used, he certainly meant that 
Faith was a prerequisite, and I believe it to be a prerequisite in all 
religions. All religious teaching that I know anything about requires us 
to transfer the basis of our lives from dependence upon external things 
to dependence upon spiritual law, or upon some form of Providence. 
Spiritual experience, the illumination of the Saint, the sense of union 
with God to which the mystic attains, all these are the results of such a 
reversal of basis. And for this, faith, and great faith, is indisputably 
needed. Indeed I think faith is not only the first factor in the religious 
life, but one which is constantly required; which, in fact, underlies all 
progress ; for every step in advance is away from the known and into the 
unknown. 

The Zoologist: I must hold that, so far as we have any record, 
faith has not led to progress but to stagnation. Progress seems rather 
to have resulted from the restless seeking of those who were without 
faith, who did not believe, and so continued their search. 

The Mathematician: See how even the mighty fall! Is not this 
the fallacy of the undistributed middle in which we, logicians, theologians, 
and scientists alike are now snared? "There lies more faith in honest 
doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds." There is a faith in formulas, 
in common beliefs, in the fashions of the time ; but there is somethng far 
more fundamental than these, a fath in truth, in law, in the heart and 
essence of life. But for his faith in truth and in law no man would 
seek for truth, let alone being discontented with its popular counter- 
feits. The greater faith prevents the lesser. But it is the greater faith 
that is operative in true religion, so far as religion is lived ; as I believe it 
is in science, so far as science is 1 the search for truth. Popular science 
and popular religion alike present the static adherence to an external 
formula, which you justly say leads to stagnation, but which is rather too 
mean and poor a thing to designate as faith. 

The Editor: It is your "greater" faith to which I refer. 

The Zoologist: But must not science be the guide in this? I do 
not think we are compelled to grant your contention that faith in the 
existence of a solution underlies all our questioning. We may be 
prompted by sheer curiosity. But assuming that there always is such 
a faith, then I would say that it is valuable so far as it is scientific so- 



266 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

far, that is, as it is a faith based upon scientific observation and inference, 
so far as science is its guiding principle. 

A man on the edge of a precipice may, if he is sufficiently crazy, 
have the "faith" that he could throw himself over in safety. It would 
be a rank delusion, though his faith in it might be supreme. To act 
upon a faith like this would be simple suicide, and in general an unguided 
faith is a danger, both to the man holding it and to everyone in the 
neighborhood. The only safe guide for faith is science. Certainly the 
vague, hazy concepts of the mystic are no trustworthy substitute. 

The Mathematician: There I agree with you only in part. I grant 
you that faith must be guided. Indeed I suspect, in order properly to be 
called faith, it must both be guided by experience and rooted therein. 
But there is no particular reason why this experience should be in the 
history of the body rather than of the spirit. Just so far as science con- 
fines itself to the physical world its usefulness as a guide is limited to 
things physical. It is, as it were, the common organized experience of 
things physical, and, unless our individual experience is deeper than that 
of mankind at large, we would be very foolish to disregard this guide 
in the world where it operates in the world of precipices and falling 
bodies, and shock of contact. 

But the experiences of the spirit, modern science has not organized. 
So in the inner world physical science can help us only by correspondence 
and analogy. The guide to our faith must be direct experience, either 
of our own or of those who have entered there before us. And this is 
mysticism. Mysticism is the philosophy of direct experience immediate, 
individual, and incommunicable, save through experience. I quite agree 
with you that the "concepts" of the mystic are frequently vague and 
distorted. They are only the mental interpretation of something which 
is beyond the mind; the shadows thrown on the screen of the brain 
by the soul in the Light of the world. But the experience itself is not 
vague, nor is the faith it inculcates wandering and undirected. Let us 
remember also that science is only useful as it guides us to experience. 
The experience itself is what is of value, both in the outer and in the 
inner worlds. The description of that experience is of very secondary 
moment. 

The Zoologist: I am unconvinced. I think, with the Philosopher, 
that there is a certain parallel between the biological view of ethics, 

which I tried to present, and this which Mr. M has given us to-night. 

But, frankly, that parallel confirms me in the opinion that the former is 
adequate ; that there is no need to talk about mysticism ; that all that is 
of value here is science, or capable of explanation in scientific terms 
rather than in the vague nomenclature of mysticism and religion. 

The Oxonian: No, I could never agree to that. Science can never 
fulfil the function of religion. Its terms and methods can never replace 



TALKS ON RELIGION 267 

those of mysticism. They are opposite poles. Their ends are totally 
distinct. Science is always analytical, always dissecting; as a botanist 
pulls a rose to pieces to examine its petals and stamens under his 
microscope, and in the process the subtle beauty which kindles us is lost. 
I remember an aphorism of a friend of mine which is apposite here. 
He said: "Mechanics is the science of force, with the Force left out; 
Biology is the science of life, with the Life left out ; Ethics is the science 
of morality with the Morale left out." Religion, on the other hand, 
cares little for explanation, but is always kindling; always seeking and 
cherishing, in what it meets, that inner quickening spark which can 
kindle our hearts. The difference is well illustrated in two men : Carlyle 
and John Stuart Mill; Mill, a painstaking, conscientious, thorough 
analyst, longing to be kindled, loving a woman who could kindle him, 
and admiring Carlyle for his vivifying power, but withal himself "dry 
as dust"; Carlyle dramatic, living, kindling the imagination and the 
heart, but despising Mill's analytic power which he, Carlyle, had not. 

The Clergyman: The mystic sees with the closed eye. The scientist 
with the open. Science and analysis are constantly enriching the facts 
upon which the inner eye will now or later look. Religion means more 
to us the more we learn, and I believe we in the church should be very 
grateful to you men of science who have so broadened and clarified our 
outlook. 

The Mathematician: Surely both are necessary. I certainly would 
be the last to advocate either outer or inner blindness. I want the whole 
of life; vision wherever vision is possible, consciousness and experience 
on every plane of my being. Religion does not mean to me something 
which takes me away from life, but something which, as the Philosopher 
put it, unites me thereto, embracing and making its own all that is best, 
all that is quickening, wherever found. 

But we have heard nothing from the Author all the evening and I 
know he has ideas in plenty on this point. 

The Author: Let my contribution be the request to Mr. M 

to speak on his fourth topic, the position or function of the church to-day. 
It should be very pertinent to what the Clergyman was saying of the 
relation of the church to science. 

The Oxonian: You must really let me off from that this evening. 
The topic is too ambitious, and immense. The place of the church can 
not be settled at this eleventh hour or somewhat later, as I fear it now 
is. Let me, instead, buttress myself with Cardinal Newman and read 
to you an extract to which I referred last time, reprinted here from one 
of his essays, in the Development of Christian Doctrine. It bears more 
or less upon the theme the Mathematician has just advanced, the divine 
hospitality of religion, and particularly of Christianity. Here it is. 

"The phenomenon admitted on all hands, is this : That great portion 



268 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of what is generally received as Christian truth is, in its rudiments or in 
its separate parts, to be found in heathen philosophies and religions. For 
instance, the doctrine of a Trinity is found both in the East and in the 
West; so is the ceremony of washing; so is the rite of sacrifice. The 
doctrine of the Divine Word is Platonic; the doctrine of the Incarnation 
is Indian; of a divine kingdom is Judaic; of Angels and demons is 
Magian ; the connection of sin with the body is Gnostic ; celebacy is known 
to Bouze and Talapoin; a sacerdotal order is Egyptian; the idea of a 
new birth is Chinese and Eleusinian; belief in sacramental virtue is 
Pythagorean; and honours to the dead are a polytheism. Such is the 
general nature of the fact before us ; Mr. Milman argues from it These 
things are in heathenism, therefore they are not Christian': we, on the 
contrary, prefer to say These things are in Christianity, therefore they 
are not heathen.' That is, we prefer to say, and we think that Scripture 
bears us out in saying, that from the beginning the Moral Governor of 
the world has scattered the seeds of truth far and wide over its extent ; 
that these have variously taken root, and grown up as in the wilderness, 
wild plants indeed but living; and hence that, as the inferior animals 
have tokens of an immaterial principle in them, yet have not souls, so the 
philosophies and religions of men have their life in certain true ideas, 
though they are not directly divine. What man is amid the brute crea- 
tion, such is the Church among the schools of the world ; and as Adam 
gave names to the animals about him, so has the Church from the first 
looked round upon the earth, noting and visiting the doctrines she 
found there. She began in Chaldea, and then sojourned among the 
Canaanites, and went down into Egypt, and thence passed into Arabia, 
till she rested in her own land. Next she encountered the merchants of 
Tyre, and the wisdom of the East country, and the luxury of Sheba. 
Then she was carried away to Babylon, and wandered to the schools 
of Greece. And wherever she went, in trouble or in triumph, still she 
was a living spirit, the mind and voice of the Most High ; 'sitting in the 
midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions'; 
claiming to herself what they said rightly, correcting their errors, supply- 
ing their defects, completing their beginnings, expanding their surmises, 
and thus gradually by means of them enlarging the range and refining 
the sense of her own teaching. So far then from her being of doubt- 
ful credit because it resembles foreign theologies, we even hold that 
one special way in which Providence has imparted divine knowledge 
to us has been by enabling her to draw and collect it together out of the 
world, and, in this sense, as in others, to 'suck the milk of the Gentiles 
and to suck the breast of kings/ 

"How far in fact this process has gone, is a question of history; 
and we believe it has before now been grossly exaggerated and mis- 
represented by those who, like Mr. Milman, have thought that its exist- 



TALKS ON RELIGION 269 

ence told against Catholic doctrine; but so little antecedent difficulty 
have we in the matter, that we could readily grant, unless it were a 
question of fact not of theory, that Balaam was an Eastern sage, or a 
Sibyl was inspired, or Solomon learnt of the sons of Mahol, or Moses 
was a scholar of the Egyptian hierophants. We are not distressed to 
be told that the doctrine of the angelic host came from Babylon, while 
we know that they did sing at the Nativity; nor that the vision of a 
Mediator is in Philo, if in very deed He died for us on Calvary. Nor 
are we afraid to allow, that even after His coming the Church has been 
a treasure-house, giving forth things old and new, casting the gold of 
fresh tributaries into her refiner's fire, or stamping upon her own, as 
time required it, a deeper impress of her Master's image. 

"The distinction between these two theories is broad and obvious. 
The advocates of the one imply that Revelation was a single, entire, 
solitary act, or nearly so, introducing a certain message; whereas we, 
who maintain the other, consider that Divine teaching has been in fact, 
what the analogy of nature would lead us to expect, 'at sundry times and 
in divers manners/ various, complex, progressive, and supplemental of 
itself. We consider the Christian doctrine, when analyzed, to appear, 
like the human frame, 'fearfully and wonderfully made'; but they think 
it some one tenet or certain principles given out at one time in their 
fulness, without gradual enlargement before Christ's coming or elucida- 
tion afterwards. They cast off all that they also find in Pharisees or 
heathen; we conceive that the Church, like Aaron's rod, devours the 
serpents of the magicians. They are ever hunting for a fabulous prim- 
itive simplicity; we repose in Catholic fulness. They seek what never 
has been found; we accept and use what even they acknowledge to be 
a substance." 

This assimilative power of the Church, exercised upon the products 
of human thought in all their fulness and variety, is the natural pre- 
rogative of the Christian spirit. The Christian stress on sympathy should 
be interpreted as including intellectual sympathy, and imaginative sym- 
pathy. Just as Christ came to men "that they might have life and that 
they might have it more abundantly," so the Church should come to them 
at the present day. 

The Mathematician: You have voiced my own ideal of what a 
Church should be: not insisting upon any language of its own, but 
speaking the tongue of those whom it addresses ; not waiting for others 
to come to it, but in sympathy and brotherhood going out to them; not 
to convert, but to aid and to quicken that there may be more light. 
I was not familiar with that passage from Newman and it is of the 
greatest interest to me, for it puts forward an ideal which, as a member 
of the Theosophical Society, I have long held, but which one finds too 
seldom in the churches. I mean the universality of religious inspiration ; 



2 ;o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

that truth is to be found in all religions; the deepest truths in their 
common part. To find this common part both in historic systems of 
religion and in the individual aspiration of those around us, has been 
the object of the Theosophical Society's activities for many years. 
Naturally therefore your quotation interests me much, both on account 
of its content and its source. 

If I may be permitted, however, I would like to return to another 
point you made in your description of mysticism. You spoke of our 
turning to the Spirit, first, for the favors it could confer, for some 
material benefit or protection, but that later we learned a more selfless 
love, and sought union and companionship with the heart of life because 
of love rather than because of fear. The first of these two attitudes 
seems to me exactly illustrated in Christian Science, and in much of the 
so-called "New Thought," where health, happiness, and even success 
in business, are held out, not alone as rewards, but as primary induce- 
ments to religion. I would like to know whether you agree with me that 
these movements are typical of the most rudimentary religious instinct; 
in short, like a marriage solely for money, little above the prostitution 
of what is sacred to what is very low. 

The Oxonian: No, I don't agree with you at all. These move- 
ments contain elements that we can not afford to dispense with. As you 
yourself said, one's religion should unite one to life, make every part of 
existence better and sweeter, above all cleaner and more healthful. The 
care of the body is worthy and by no means to be neglected. There is 
good scriptural testimony to the fact that the body is the temple of the 
Holy Ghost and that the temple is to be kept worthy and reverenced. 
The ideal of beauty and symmetry of development, in the body as in the 
mind and spirit, is that which the world owes to the culture of the 
Greeks; and it is one of the things which I think Christianity should 
be hospitable towards should add to the long roll of sifted good in 
the treasure of her teaching. 

The Clergyman: Here! here! 

The Mathematician: Since you won't agree with me I will have 
to agree with you. Mens sana in corpore sano is to be aimed for by 
us all, and symmetry of development is infinitely to be desired. Never- 
theless do not let us seek to coin the Spirit into dollars, nor turn aspira- 
tion and prayer into fat. With your type of Christian Science I fancy 
I have no quarrel, but with the usual brand I have. I think with you 
there is deep truth in the promise of Jesus: "Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto 
you." But the kingdom of God was to be first. It is the reversal of 
emphasis which I object to in Christian Science. 

The Oxonian: But is it more than an appeal from a false self to 
a true one? We know that the real "I" is not ill, only this thing we 



TALKS ON RELIGION 271 

wrongly call ourselves. Just as ki speech, sometimes we are, let us say, 
guilty of some rudeness or absurdity, and then suddenly check ourselves 
with the remark, "Oh, I beg your pardon ! I didn't mean that. That is 
not at all my real opinion/' thus appealing from a false self to a real one, 
so I think the Christian scientist checks himself when falling into a 
like absurdity. 

The Mathematician: Note, however, that here we appeal to the 
better self to do the will of the better self, not to do the will of the lower 
self. We do not deny the absurdity, on the contrary we recognize it 
fully and seek to detach ourselves therefrom and to correct its cause. 

The Oxonian: That is true. 

The Mathematician: That is my twofold objection to Christian 
Science; first, that it falsifies the facts, and second that its prayer is, my 
will not Thine be done. Which one of us has not experienced the 
spiritual growth that comes from hardship, deprivation, struggle, and 
pain. And yet we continually treat these things as evils, and the 
instant they confront us we cringe and cower. The Christian Scientist 
invokes the soul to save his body, careless of the need of the soul, 
careless of the integrity of his fate. 

The Clergyman: I wish that idea of symmetry of development and 
the religious value of beauty and force could receive more attention in 
the church. This old notion that you must starve the body to be religious 
is utterly misleading. Your bodily vigor is one of your talents. One 
of the things you must make the most of, put out at usury and bring 
both principal and interest to the service of God. It is a trouble to 
have too much physical energy, your vitality tends to run away with you, 
but that is no reason why we should throw it away. Of course it is 
a trouble. Everything that is worth while, that has power and force 
and can work, has to be mastered and controlled. But it is none the 
less necessary to use it and to make is as strong and efficient as we can. 

But how infinitely broader and freer our concept of Christianity 
is to-day than it used to be. I remember the old slur that used to be 
brought against us of a narrow Christianity, a narrow, one-sided view 
of life. But now how much better we see. How we recognize that 
there is nothing good foreign to the. message of Jesus; that all the 
accumulated spiritual treasures of the world are truly our heritage; 
that there is no corner or cranny of life that cannot give to Christianity 
some new gem, and into which Christianity does not shed some new 
and beautifying light. Contrast the broad Christianity of to-day with 
the narrow theology of Robert Elsmere. 

The Editor: I quite agree with you, Mr. F , that genuine 

Christianity should be the teaching of the life of the soul, and that 
nothing foreign to the soul of man could be foreign to Christianity. 
Would it not be interesting in this connection to examine again the 



272 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

question of what are the essentials of Christianity? What is it that 
gives it its light and its power? As we look back upon the narrow 
Christianity of which you speak, and back of that upon the history of 
the Church through all the middle ages, there seems very little in the 
organization that is capable of illumination; or that could touch the 
soul in any way, unless it be with horror. And yet something of the 
kind must have been there. The flame must have been carried down 
unextinguished. I believe if we were really to study it we could trace 
an unbroken descent, a spiritual heritage throughout the centuries, the 
history of the "Church Invisible," the history of the Illuminati. What 
little reading I have been able to do has confirmed me in this opinion. 
But look at the time ! I must be off. 

THE SCRIBE. 



"/ had as it were a sudden and swift vision of an angel, bring- 
ing a sheaf of the flowers of Heaven: each -flower was an attribute of the 
soul. He said to me: Which flower wilt thou choose?' 

There was Courage a blood-red lily, with a rosy light at its heart: 
Purity a white star: Hope shining like an emerald in moonlight and 
many others. I said to him: 

'Of them all, give me Love.' 

He held the sheaf towards me, saying (and oh! his smile) : 'Thou 
.hast chosen them all. Love is all.'" 

BOOK OF ITEMS. 



THE HEART DOCTRINE. 



THE Voice of the Silence says that "The Dharma (or Doctrine)of 
the 'Heart' is the embodiment of Bodhi (true, divine Wisdom, 
Theo- Sophia), the Permanent and Everlasting." And also that 
"All is impermanent in man except the pure bright essence of 
Alaya," the Universal Soul. These two statements are the keynote of 
this brief study : everything we shall put forward, will be from this basis. 
As students of the Esoteric Philosophy we look upon every manifested 
thing as containing within itself an unconditioned reality and a conditional 
illusion: the former is the unseen the latter the seen. In man there- 
fore we have the impermanent illusory self, the man we think we know; 
and the immortal Real Self, the man we think we don't know ; the former 
essentially an aspect of the latter, though to our consciousness separate 
from it; the latter the source and root of the former. Throughout the 
Philosophy this point is shown in very many ways, that the Real mani- 
fests to itself the Unreal for its own evolutionary purposes: the lower 
impermanent man is therefore created, so to say, by the Higher Immortal 
Man, on lines exactly determined by His own prior Karmic impulses, 
to serve some aspect of the purpose which He, the Higher Man, has in 
view. 

It is vital to our subject that we should state what this Purpose is 
which the Higher Man has in view. "Everything is impermanent in 
Man except the pure bright essence of Alaya" the Universal Soul. The 
purpose of the Higher Man is the purpose of this Universal Soul; it is 
through Him that the Ray of the Universal Soul has to carry out its 
appointed task. The Universe like man is made up of the Real and 
the False, the Causal and the manifest, the unseen and the seen. The 
nature of the former is consciousness; that of the latter, substance. 
Consciousness and substance are not separate, they are one in essence, 
divided only in manifestation: consciousness, so to speak, manifests 
itself to itself as substance, its opposite pole. It perceives itself as sub- 
stance. Its object, the Universal Purpose, is to reach that point when 
it shall perceive Itself as Consciousness, when its opposite manifested 
aspect shall no longer appear to it as illusory substance, but by infinite 
gradations be transformed to its own Real nature, and thus be perceived 
as consciousness. Which is to say, that the Universal Soul manifests 
itself to itself as substance, so that in the end it shall perceive itself as 
consciousness, that is, become self consciousness. And it is through man 
that this task is carried out : in him we already have a point of self-con- 
sciousness on a lower plane : that point has to be raised until it is merged 

18 273 



274 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

into the Ray of Alaya, his only permanent principle. So that the pur- 
pose of the Higher Man is to raise the self-consciousness at present 
centered in the lower to a higher state when, instead of acting as an 
analytical observer of diversity, it will act synthetically as a perceiver 
and recorder of Unity the nature of the Universal Soul. 

Of the true nature of Unity, our minds, the utmost expression of 
diversity, can formulate no image. We have no terms in which we can 
present to ourselves the content of its true nature. At most we can 
only formulate mentally that which would correspond to conformity 
the true One-ness is an abstraction too utterly tenuous for our mentality 
to grasp. Plainly then we cannot rely on our mental processes to recog- 
nize or record the Unifying impulses of the Universal Soul: its nature 
cannot be presented to us truly by any illustration which our experience 
affords. We have to look in other directions if we would find and 
recognize these Impulses, these presentments of Its Real Nature: we 
may not find them in the mind as images, but we can find them in the 
Heart, as impulses or feelings. 

It is said that no two things in the Universe are entirely alike even 
each individual atom differs from its fellows. Nature is complementary 
always supplementary never! the laws of Evolution, through infinite 
Diversity to Unity, seem to demand the utmost possible diversity only 
the unnecessary is impossible in an orderly universe, and for diversity 
alone no duplicates are needed, be they atoms or men. Therefore, every 
man, as every atom, differs from his fellows. He has within him, how- 
ever, as we have seen, a causal, permanent, unchanging factor, the Ray 
of Alaya, the Universal Soul, which tends to express itself through his 
consciousness as impulse or feeling. And from the fact above mentioned, 
that no two men are exactly alike, it follows that these impulses or feelings 
which arise in men as the result of the permeation of the Universal Soul, 
will also differ with each, just as sunlight varies as the medium through 
which it has to penetrate. Whatever differences exist, however, in these 
Soul Impulses, this likeness is to be observed, that the essential Unity, 
from which they proceed, expresses itself in their tendency: they all tend 
towards unification in some form or another. 

The conception which I have of the Heart Doctrine is one which ap- 
pears to me entirely fluidic: I cannot think of it being bounded by this 
or that quality, or contained within any set of dogmas or teachings. To 
me, it is a vast, unmeasurable, fluidic body of living truth, the Truth 
which lives in our Soul Impulses, which inheres in the Immortal Self. 
It is in this respect that the Voice of the Silence would seem to refer to 
it as "the embodiment of Bodhi the permanent and everlasting," and it 
is in this sense that I would point to it in all who declare themselves 
for unification, no matter what their preconceptions, their peculiarities, 
or what appear as their limitations. From this conception of the Heart 



THE HEART DOCTRINE 275 

Doctrine, it seems only necessary that we shall find a tendency towards 
unification manifest in any man's declared intention, to understand that 
the Soul Impulse is at work. From a truly impersonal point of view, no 
other consideration should weigh, and this impersonal keynote must be 
adopted if we wish to participate consciously in the work and purpose of 
the Universal Soul. In such a task, all thought of self must eventually 
disappear, until there remains nothing but the continuous contemplation 
of the Work itself, and as we approximate towards this true imperson- 
ality, and find growing within us the one-pointed desire that the Work 
shall be done, then indeed will we welcome everyone who manifests, if 
only in an infinitesimal degree, the desire to co-operate in our task. And 
this without reference to his understanding of the matter; that is as 
nothing compared with the Soul Impulse manifest in his desire to co- 
operate to unify. 

If we are concerned with Occult matters, if pur wish is to give what 
help we can to the processes of evolution, then must we work on truly 
occult lines and in compliance with evolutionary law, and these lines and 
that law tend towards expansion, towards all-embracingness, towards 
expression from within outwards. Individually and collectively this 
holds : if we impose a mental barrier between ourself and another, then 
are we conforming to and strengthening the feeling of separateness our 
action has a contracting influence. But if we continually assert our 
impersonal desire, and endeavor in all cases to put ourselves in the place 
of that other, and look upon matters from his standpoint, then are we 
tending to eliminate the consciousness of separateness, to conform to the 
law of expansion. There is great truth, I believe, beneath this form of 
activity ; we commit an act of faith when we take our own Divine Nature 
for granted, and we extend equally to another the force of such an act 
in granting, even mentally, his innate goodness. And as with the indi- 
vidual, so collectively does this apply: we have to make the application 
of this idea to our collective work for the Universal Purpose; when one 
has declared his wish to help in our work, we have to take for granted 
the presence in him of all that is desirable, and all that is requisite in a 
fellow-worker. 

Thus the Heart Doctrine constrains us to Tolerance: only that 
separates us from our fellow men which we imagine to be our exclusive 
right, whether that right consists in material possessions or cherished 
opinions. A material equality is an impossibility and more so is it 
impossible to find exact mental agreement: but we can find an equality, 
if we wish it, in the idea that the only permanent possession, is the Light 
of the Soul the possibility of that, we can ascribe to all. Tolerance, then, 
is the instrument with which we can destroy the barriers of separateness. 
It is in itself the activity of a Spiritual force, dynamic and powerful. 
We do many things which are in reality one, when we assert this tolerant 



2 ;6 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

attitude ; we act from the standpoint of the Universal Soul, which knows 
only Unity : we eliminate from our nature some moiety of our self-seeking, 
we give to whomsoever our tolerance is extended a spiritual impetus to 
respond in kind to our activity, we tend to bring into active operation 
some of the Vital Truth which is waiting our liberation, and we raise in 
some degree our self-consciousness towards the impersonal state of the 
Universal Soul. And, moreover, we grow by this expression more and 
more into harmony with that which we try to express : in all spiritual 
growth, that quality and form of activity become part of our conscious- 
ness which we emphasize and carry out. We grow in tolerance as we 
are tolerant: our charity increases as we follow its dictates: our love 
for the Ideal becomes stronger as we embody the duties it implies. And 
our knowledge of the Heart Doctrine enters more and more as a living 
power into our lives as we observe and follow such impulses towards 
Unification as appear in our Hearts, as we emphasize and elevate to its 
place of paramount importance in our dealings with our fellows its 
earthly expression and vehicle Universal Brotherhood ; for as the Heart 
Doctrine is the embodiment of the Living Truth, which inheres in the 
Immortal Self, so is Universal Brotherhood the efflorescence on earth 
of the Doctrine of the Heart. 

E. H. WOOF. 



"In the way of Superior Man there are four things, not one of 
which have I as yet attained. 

To serve my father as I should require my son to serve me; to serve 
my prince as I would require my minister to serve me; to serve my elder 
brother as I would require my younger brother to serve me; to set the 
example in behaving to a friend as I would require him to behave to me." 

CONFUCIUS. 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE 
MIDDLE AGES. 



V. 
THE REVIVAL IN SPAIN IN THE iiTH CENTURY. 

The movement in the nth century would appear to have had its 
center in Spain where the Moors and the Jews were the exponents of 
the best learning and moral activity that existed in Europe. Much freer 
from the restraints of dogmatic theology than more northern races, 
they pushed their researches into philosophy and into religious specula- 
tion to a point that enabled them to make real contributions to the 
world's stock of knowledge. Indeed many authorities think that the 
work done in Spain in this century led the way to the Renaissance. 
The study of Greek philosophy was rebegun, after a lapse of some 
centuries; while the Arabians flooded Europe with their more spiritual 
ideas. Lewes, in his History of Philosophy, says : "Through their trans- 
lations, and through their original thinkers, such as Avicebron (Jehudah 
Ibn Gebirol, the author of the "Vons Vitse," b. 1021 ; d. 1070) and Moses 
Maimonides, the West became leavened with Greek and Oriental thought." 

One of this coterie was the Rabbi Bachye bar Joseph ibn Bakoda, 
who was a contemporary of the Poet-Philosopher Ibn Gebirol and who 
held the position of Dayan an office which is something like the Mohame- 
dan Mizra, who combines the functions of priest and judge. He had 
jurisdiction over civil, religious and matrimonial cases and was an official 
interpreter of the Bible and the Talmud. He is supposed to have lived 
in Saragossa and to have been born about the middle of the nth century. 
Unfortunately nothing is really known of his life. But some of his 
work has come down to us, and it is of such an exalted character that 
he must have been a man of very exceptional parts. His chief book 
was a systematic treatise on Ethics, called The Duties of the Heart. It 
might have been written yesterday by a member of the Theosophical 
Society, so far as its purpose and spirit are concerned. 

Edwin Collins, in his introduction to the translation of Rabbi 
Bachye's book, speaks thus of his philosophy: "By the Duties of the 
Heart Bachye understands the whole of conduct, and of thought in its 
ideal essence. For he holds that the outward act is, morally, of no 
significance, except in so far as it represents a manifestation of character 
and an expression of intention. The whole of conduct belongs to the 



2 ;8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

domain of ethics. Every act, and every abstention from action, is either 
right or wrong. Even the amount one eats, the wearing of certain 
clothes, the use of language, the simplest movements of the body, are, 
all of them, parts of conduct to be distinguished as either right or wrong. 
But what makes them so is not the act itself, but the intention with 
which it is done or left undone. And, since our intentions are conditioned 
by our state of mind and feeling, the first and the final duty, the founda- 
tion of ethics, is the perfection of our own souls. 

"The perfection of the human soul, however, from which all right 
conduct must result, and which every righteous act and every righteous 
thought tends to produce, is only attained by bringing it into complete 
unison with God, through such a perfect love of Him that His will is 
our will, and we have no desire that is out of harmony with His wisdom 
and His benevolence. 

"But Bachye's ethics is not theological in the sense of taking as its 
starting-point the Bible, or any other revelation or authoritative statement 
of the will of God, who can only be known through His works, the uni- 
verse and man, the latter being the world in miniature (the microcosm). 
* * * He then proceeds to demonstrate the duty of devoting the heart 
and mind to the study and contemplation of the works of God, whence 
conviction of the infinite goodness of the Creator, and of the infinite 
indebtedness, and obligation to gratitude of the creature, are borne in 
upon the mind. 

"Contemplation of the results of such study will lead to true humility 
and to perfect trust in God and resignation to His will, devotion to His 
service and the consecration (unification) of all works on His service. 
This service does not mean religious observance, * * * but means doing 
His will and ethical conduct. Asceticism is recommended as a means 
of removing hindrances to union with God. * * * 

"The ethical system of Bachye is distinctly oriental. All the impulse 
to virtuous conduct spring from the point of contact between the human 
soul and the unseen soul of the universe. It is the individual in com- 
munion with God, the creature bowed in awesome gratitude before the 
Creator, who recognizes the obligations of ethical conduct ; not the citizen 
seeking the best way to become a good citizen and preserve the State. 
Moreover, the development is not from the outer circle of sociological 
duties to the inner circle of the family, and the center, the individual 
soul, as in Greek ethics; not from the circumference of deeds to the 
center of ideals and soul perfection; but from the center, the soul, to 
the outward act. * * * The duties of the heart are more important than 
those of the body, because they are of universal application, and not 
limited by time, or place, or circumstance." 

Let us, however, turn to what Bachye says himself. The Duties of 
the Heart opens as follows : "The supreme benefit, and the highest good 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 279 

bestowed by the Creator on human beings is Wisdom. This indeed is 
the very life of their spirits. It is the lamp of their reason, which enables 
them to come to the will of God, and delivers them from all disasters 
in this world and in the world to come." This Wisdom is of three kinds : 
that dealing with the properties and accidents of Matter; that dealing 
with Number and Measurement, including Mathematics, Astronomy 
and Music; and Philosophy, which includes the knowledge of God and 
His Laws and the rest of the sciences that are concerned with life and 
mind and with human souls and spiritual beings. "It is our duty to 
study these sciences in order to attain to our religion, to morality and 
the laws of life that make for the health of our bodies and our souls." 

"But it is forbidden to us to study these for purposes of worldly 
advantage; but from the single motive of Love alone." 

There are seven Gates to this higher Wisdom and the rest of the 
little book is a description of these seven Gates and their meaning and 
application to daily life. They are: The Gate of Knowledge; the Gate 
of Unity; the Gate of Gratitude; the Gate of Humility; the Gate of 
Trust; the Gate of Meditation; and the Gate of Love. The complete 
observance of the duties which we owe under these several captions 
comprises The Duties of the Heart. He says of them : 

"The duties of the heart involve the formation of ideals of con- 
duct, love of man, faith, etc. ; the cultivation of right beliefs based upon 
reason; the conscious effort of the mind to realize the wonders of crea- 
tion, so that we may come to know of God ; truths which human language, 
that can only accurately tell of things material, can never adequately 
express. That trust in God which makes right conduct possible, even 
at the cost of personal risk and loss; the banishing of hatred, envy, 
scorn, all longing for revenge, and all desire for sin, are also obligations 
of the heart. * * * And chief among them is the attuning of the 
soul into such perfect harmony with God, that all right conduct and right 
thought must follow without effort on our part, because our will is one 
with His through love." 

Man is made up of body and soul, so we owe two duties to our 
Creator. The service of the body is fulfilled by the activities of man, 
but the service of the soul is a hidden service, and is the fulfilment of 
the duties of the heart to acknowledge the Unity of God in our hearts, 
to believe in Him, to love Him, resign our souls to Him, and make 
his name the unifying central thought of all our conduct. 

While some religious and moral duties are only obligatory at special 
times and in special circumstances, these duties of the heart are incumbent 
upon us continually, all the days of our life and at every moment. 

"Perfect recognition of the existence and unity of God forms the 
only sure basis for right thought and conduct." 

"The whole of human conduct may be divided into acts that are 



2 8o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

commanded and acts that are prohibited, and acts that are necessary to 
the maintenance of physical existence and that are just sufficient for 
human needs, such as eating, drinking, sufficient speech for the carrying 
on of worldly affairs, and so forth. * * * Behold, then, all the actions 
of mankind are, without exception, either good or bad: and the intelli- 
gent man is he who weighs all his actions, before he does them, in this 
balance, and tests them with his best thought and the whole strength 
of his intellect, and chooses the best of them and forsakes all others." 
A sentence which has quite the ring of the Bhagavad Gita. 

"Many whose intention is to do right and serve God are not on 
their guard against things that destroy this service, and the cause of 
destruction enters without their perceiving whence it comes. Thus, 
one of the Pious said to his pupils : 'If you had no iniquities, I should 
fear for you that which is greater than iniquities.' They said to him: 
What is greater than iniquities ?' He replied : 'Pride and Haughtiness.' " 

This anecdote introduces the reader to the dissertation on the Gate of 
Humility. "The man who does good works is more likely to be over- 
taken by pride in them than by any other moral mischance ; and its effect 
on conduct is injurious in the extreme. Therefore, among the most 
necessary virtues is that one which banishes pride ; and this is humility. 
Humility is lowliness of the soul; and it is a quality of the soul that, 
when established there, allows its signs to be evident in the bodily 
members. The voice, for instance, is softened, and so is the language it 
utters; and one is subdued in times of anger, and vengence is withheld 
when one has the power to avenge. There are three kinds of humility. 
One kind of humility is shared by man and by very many kinds of 
dumb animals; this is poverty of spirit and the sufferance of injuries that 
one has the power to avert. * * * We are accustomed to call this 
humility, but it is, in truth, merely poverty of the soul and blind stupidity. 

"The second kind of humility is humility towards men ; either on 
account of their having dominion over us, or on account of our being 
in need of their services. This is submission in the right direction, but, 
although proper, it is not of a lasting nature, nor is such humility proper 
at all times and in all places. 

"But the third kind of humility is humility before the Creator, and 
its obligation embraces all reasonable beings, and is incumbent upon 
them at every time and in every place. * * * Humility before the 
Creator obliges a man to behave meekly and unselfishly in all his trans- 
actions with his fellow-men, whether in matters of business or in any 
other relation of life. The truly humble man will mourn for all mistakes 
made by other men, and not triumph or rejoice over them. 

"He who has true humility will be free from all pride, conceit, self- 
praise and self-glorification, even in his secret thoughts, when he is 
occupied in works of charity or other virtuous or righteous acts, whether 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 281 

commanded or not ; and in his own soul he will account them as nothing 
in comparison to the greatness of his obligations to God. 

"He who is humble before God will not only do good to all men, 
but he will speak kindly to them and of them, and will never relate any- 
thing shameful about them, and will forgive them for any shameful 
things they may say about him, even if they are not worthy of such 
treatment. It is related of one of the Pious, that once when he was 
taking a walk with his disciples, they passed the carcass of a dog in an 
advanced stage of decomposition. His disciples exclaimed: 'Oh! how 
this carcass stinks!' He replied: 'Oh, how white its teeth are!' so as to 
counteract their remarks. 

"If it be wrong to speak disparagingly of a dead dog, how much 
more so of a living man; and if it be a merit to praise a dead dog for 
the whiteness of its teeth, how much more it is a duty to find out, and 
praise, the least merit in a human being? But it was also the intention 
of this pious man to teach his pupils to habituate themselves to speaking 
favorably, and to the avoidance of evil speaking. 

"In matters of religion, justice, and right and wrong, however, the 
meek will be high-spirited and fearless, punishing the wicked without 
fear or favor. * * * First among the signs by which the meek are 
known is that they forgive all injuries and subdue their anger against 
those that treat them with contempt, even when they have the opportunity 
of avenging or resenting what has been done to them. The second is, 
that when misfortunes come to them their endurance triumphs over their 
fear and grief, and they willingly submit to the decree of God, and own 
that His judgments are righteous." Then our author analyzes pride and 
shows that there are two kinds of pride ; one wholly represensible, having 
to do with bodily powers and material things. The other is the pride 
which a wise man has in the gifts of wisdom which God has given him, 
and which he makes good use of for the benefit of his fellows, and 
which he properly seeks to increase for their greater benefit. 

"Humility is profitable to man in this world because it makes him 
rejoice in his lot. For the whole world, and all it contains, is insufficient 
to satisfy the ambition of him into whom pride and a sense of greatness 
have entered, and he will look with contempt on whatever share of it 
falls to his lot; whereas, the humble man assigns no special rank to 
himself, but is content with whatever comes to him, and finds it sufficient. 
And this induces restfulness of soul, and minimizes anxiety. He will eat 
what comes his way, and dress in the raiment that is readily found; and 
a small share of the world satisfies him. The humble also bear troubles 
with greater fortitude than do the proud." 

He urges upon his disciples the advantages of studying themselves 
and mankind, promising them that much of the mystery of the universe 
and many of the secrets of the world will be made clear to them, "because 



282 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of the likeness of man to the world." Some further pithy sentences 
follow : 

"When you have studied all that can be known of the universe, do 
not think that you know all about the wisdom and power of God, for 
in the world we know, God has only manifested just so much of His 
wisdom and power as were necessary for the good of man. 

"Of all things the most necessary to him who would serve God, is 
trust in God. 

"The worldly advantages of trust in God include peace of mind from 
worldly anxieties, and rest for the soul from the disturbances of trouble 
caused by any want in the satisfaction of bodily appetites. 

Under the caption, "Keeping account with the soul," Bachye has 
much to say about the necessity for meditation and contemplation, which 
would be well worth reproducing, if we had the space. We have room 
for only one paragraph. 

"If the believer will constantly meditate on the fact that the Creator 
sees all his thoughts and deeds, and will think it over with his own soul, 
the Creator will be constantly with him, and he will see Him with his 
mind's eye, and be in constant awe and reverence of Him; and he will 
examine all his conduct. And when this has become a constant habit 
of his mind, he will, helped by God, have reached the highest degree of 
the pious ones and the most exalted rank of the righteous. He will 
not lack anything; nor will he choose anything more than the Creator 
has chosen for him. His will depends upon the will of the Creator, and 
his love on the love of the Creator; and that is loved by him which He 
loves, and that is contemned by him which is contemned by the Creator. 
A man should commune with himself in reference to the desires of his 
heart and his worldly tastes; and a careful consideration of the ends 
they serve will lead him to look with contempt on ephemeral possessions ; 
and his thoughts and desires will be fixed on the highest good, and 
on what is of eternal value to his mind and soul; and he will learn to 
strive only for what is barely necessary of the things of this world. He 
will desire to be kept from both poverty and riches, so that he may have 
enough for simple healthy life; and he will yearn after wisdom and 
spiritual possessions, of which no one can rob him. 

"The pure of heart will always love solitude. But here again the 
temptation to complete solitude must also be guarded against, for the 
society of philosophers, the pious, and of great men, is of great advan- 
tage." 

Finally, under the heading, The Gate of Love, there is this passage 
which again reminds us of the Gita. 

"They who love God will do all that is right, without the hope of 
reward, and will forsake all that is evil, without fear of punishment. 
They will also have no fear of anything, or of any person, in this or in 



MYSTICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES 283 

any other world, except of the Creator alone. And they will be indif- 
ferent to the praise and blame of men in doing the will of God. They will 
be pure in body, as well as in mind, and will fly from evil deeds of all 
kinds." 

SUMMARY. 

This series of sketches has reached a conclusion, at least for the 
time being. Indeed, when they were begun we had no idea that we 
would be able to find so many unmistakable evidences of previous 
mystical movements which would come within the limits of our require- 
ments. All history is full of accounts of mystics, for the mystical rela- 
tion to life is a fundamental one; but to be merely a mystic was by no 
means all that was required for the scope of these papers. Movements 
were sought which were well defined as to teaching and which took place 
at the last quarter of each century. If they also showed the essential 
characteristics of our own philosophy so much the better; but that was 
not considered a necessity. 

We have been able to present accounts, inadequate enough, as no one 
better than their author realizes, of such outpourings of spiritual energy 
in the nth, I2th, I4th, i$th, and i6th centuries; the foregoing account 
of the nth century; the Waldensians, who flourished from 1170 on; the 
Friends of God, led by the mysterious Nicholas of Ble, who ushered in 
the great mystical revival of the I4th century, which may well be called 
the most famous of all medieval mystical movements; the Spanish Illu- 
minati of the i6th century ; and finally the Quietists of the i/th century. 
All these comply fully with the bounds of our inquiry. 

In addition to these, we are familiar with the i8th century movement, 
which had its chief center of activity in France and with which are asso- 
ciated the names of Cagliostro, St. Germain, and St. Martin. It is our 
hope to write one or more papers about this movement which might well 
be considered a continuation of this series, but which could hardly be 
published under the caption, "Mystical Movements of the Middle Ages." 
Furthermore, the data are so abundant, and the field so large, and the 
importance of the theme so great, that the subject justifies the independent 
treatment which we hope to be able to accord to it. The world at 
large has never understood these three great men. Led astray in the 
first instance by the general tendency to impute bad motives to any 
person who is outside the common rut, as these men were, and being 
pointed in the wrong direction by pieces of special pleading, or grossly 
unfair attack, such as Carlyle's famous paper on Cagliostro, the world 
has never had either the time or the interest to change its mind and 
learn the truth. It is as if the people of the next century were to base 
their opinion of Madame Blavatsky upon the biased and untrue Report 
of the Psychical Research Society, or upon the dreary lucubrations of 
Solovieff or the Coulombs. To rehabilitate the reputations, or to do 



284 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

anything towards the rehabilitation of the reputations of St. Martin, St. 
Germain and Cagliostro, were a task well worth the doing, even if, in 
the process, we did not have the opportunity once more to state the funda- 
mental principles of the spiritual world which these men spent their lives 
in teaching. 

In the meantime there is something more to be said about the gaps 
in the series of mystical movements which we have attempted to describe. 
Why should there be gaps? Why should not the I3th and I5th centuries 
have produced revivals similar to those of the other centuries. We have 
been told that an attempt is always made. In the case of the I5th century 
we are inclined to adopt the opinion of Vaughan, who, in his well-known 
Hours with the Mystics, says that the world during the latter part of the 
1 5th century was too much occupied with the coming Reformation and 
with all the political and social disturbances which were its forerunners, 
to have time for interest in mysticism. Certainly the histories of that 
age devote themselves exclusively to the development of the forces 
which, in a few years, led to the Reformation. There was incessant 
wrangling and controversy; famous disputations, conferences, councils, 
parliaments; but the questions considered were purely theological and 
entirely outside the realm of our inquiry. It is quite possible that the 
activity of the Lodge during that century was concentrated upon the 
Reformation and that there was no regular attempt at a mystical revival, 
for it is obvious that anything so important as the Reformation must 
have engaged the Masters' deep attention; but be that as it may, we 
have been unable to find any evidences of a movement at that time; 
and so careful and competent an authority as Vaughan announces the 
same result. 

In the 1 3th century the case is different. Here we are inclined to 
attribute our failure to inadequate knowledge. The records are very 
meagre and such as exist are difficult of access. We have found traces 
of a sect called "Brethren of the Free Spirit," which looked very promis- 
ing at first, but upon more thorough investigation it developed that this 
sect had its origin in the very early part of the century and so must be 
ruled out of court. There was another class of religious enthusiasts, 
called the "Beghards," associated by some historians with the Brethren 
of the Free Spirit, but these also had their origin at a time that makes 
them inadmissible. Both these sects had a philosophy which could at 
least be called mystical in contrast with the narrow and dogmatic theology 
which was then orthodox. They taught, as the name of the former 
would indicate, that the Spirit of man, and not any church or external 
authority, should be the final criterion of conduct and morals. They 
persisted for several centuries in scattered and isolated localities, and 
were vigorously persecuted as particularly obnoxious heretics. 

JOHN BLAKE. 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE. 



II. 
THE SECOND DEATH. 

In the address to the Spirits of the Seven Churches, which was 
discussed at some length in the preceding paper of this series, there 
is one very perplexing expression which we had to pass lightly over 
at the time, promising to return to it. This expression is "the Second 
Death." It occurs in the address to the Spirit of the Church of Smyrna, 
"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He 
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; 
He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. ..." (ii, n.) 

The same phrase recurs toward the close of the Apocalypse, in a 
passage of sombre splendor: 

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from 
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no 
place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; 
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the 
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up 
the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead 
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their 
works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 
Second Death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of 
life was cast into the lake of fire." (xx, 11-15.) 

, This is recapitulated a little further on, where we are told that the 
wicked "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and 
brimstone: which is the Second Death." (xxi, 8.) But the central 
passage concerning the Second Death is undoubtedly the following: 

"And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of 
the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on 
the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound 
him up a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut 
him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no 
more till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must 
be loosed for a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon 
them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them 
that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, 
and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had 
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they 
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 

283 



286 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years 
were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he 
that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the Second Death hath 
no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall 
reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are 
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to 
deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth. ..." 

It happens that this striking expression, the "Second Death," is 
very familiar in another region of religious literature: that of the 
older Brahmanas, which correspond in character to parts of the greatest 
Upanishad, the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad. We shall not try to fix 
their date, further than to. say that they are centuries older than the 
Apocalypse from which we have been quoting. Here is a characteristic 
passage from the Shatapatha Brahmana: 

"Yonder burning Sun is, doubtless, no other than Death; and 
because he is Death, therefore the creatures that are on this side of 
him die. But those that are on the other side of him are the gods, and 
they are, therefore, immortal . . . whosoever goes to yonder world 
not having escaped that Death, him he causes to die again in yonder 
world. ... He who knows that release from Death in the Fire-sacri- 
fice, is freed from the Second Death." (SB ii, 3, 3, 7-9.) 

We can already see a close analogy with the passage of the 
Apocalypse. The Brahmana clearly implies that there is a spiritual regen- 
eration, which it speaks of as the Fire-sacrifice, and which makes men 
immortal, bringing them into the divine presence. This symbol strongly 
reminds us of the baptism "with the holy spirit and fire," or the Pente- 
costal tongues of flame. The Brahmana further teaches that those who 
have not passed through the Fire-sacrifice are subject not only to 
Death, but, later, to a Second Death. The Fire-sacrifice here parallels 
the "first resurrection" "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the 
first resurrection: on such the Second Death hath no power." 

A few more passages from the Brahmanas. For example, we find 
the question: "What is done here in the altar, whereby the sacrificer 
conquers the Second Death?" (SB x, i, 4, 14.) Or again: "Now hunger 
ceases through food, thirst through drink, evil through good, darkness 
through light, and death through immortality; and, in truth, whosoever 
knows this, from him all these pass away; he conquers the Second 
Death, and attains to perfect Life." (SB x, 2, 6, 19.) This picture of 
those from whom hunger and thirst and evil and darkness have passed 
away, and who have passed through the Fire-sacrifice into immortality, 
strongly reminds us of the passage of the Apocalypse, previously quoted : 
"They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. ..." 

We get further insight into the symbol of the Fire-sacrifice from 
such a passage as this: "The mystic import of this Fire-altar is Vach 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 287 

(Logos) ; for it is with Vach it is built. Now this Vach is yonder Sun, 
and this Fire-altar is Death: hence, whatsoever is on this side of the 
sun, all that is held by Death ; and he who builds it on this side thereof, 
builds it as one held by Death; and he surrenders his own self 
unto Death ; but he who builds it there above, conquers the Second 
Death. ..." (SB x, 5, I, 1-4.) 

Vach, it should be remembered, is the Logos, the divine Word. It 
has two symbols: the Sun in the heavens, and Fire on the altar. Both 
these symbols take us back to most ancient Chaldea, in the far Sumerian 
days. And this twofold representation of the Logos, the great creative 
Power, has its parallel in man. There is the divine, creative Power in 
our immortal nature; there is also the creative flame in our manifested, 
personal lives. He who builds the altar for the creative flame in the 
personal, mortal nature becomes subject to the Second Death. He who 
builds the altar for the creative Fire in his spiritual nature, conquers the 
Second Death, and becomes immortal. Or, to quote again from the 
Brahmana: "Whosoever knows this, conquers the Second Death, and 
Death has no more dominion over him ... he attains all Life, and 
becomes one of the divinities." (SB x, 16, 5, 8.) 

We are beginning to see that a very clear idea, and a very splendid 
one, is hidden in the quaint imagery of the Brahmana. We may raise 
the veil a little more, by bringing for comparison such a passage as 
this : "Those that are mortal, he causes to pass into birth again from 
out of the immortal womb ; and, verily, whosoever thus knows, or he for 
whom, knowing this, this sacrificial rite is performed, wards off the 
Second Death of the Fathers, and the sacrifice is not cut off for him." 
(SB xii, 9, 3, 12.) We shall return in a moment to this strange phrase, 
the "Second Death of the Fathers." Meanwhile, let us complete the 
subject by quoting two more sentences from the Brahmana. "He finds 
Mitra (the Solar Lord) and his is the kingdom, he conquers the Second 
Death and gains all life, whosoever, knowing this, performs this sacri- 
fice." (SB xi, 4, 3, 20.) "He is freed from the Second Death, and 
attains to community of being with the Eternal." (SB xi, 5, 6, 9.) 

The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad contains several passages of pre- 
cisely similar import. They do not, however, add anything to what we 
have already quoted. But there are other passages in this, the greatest 
of the Upanishads, which shed a flood of light on the whole subject. 
We noted the strange phrase: "the Second Death of the Fathers," and 
promised to return to it. This we shall now do. 

The phrase, "the Fathers," brings us to that celebrated passage in 
the Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad, which relates how the young Brahman 
Shvetaketu came to the Rajput king, Pravahana, who asked him a 
series of questions on the mystery of life and death. The boy could 
not answer, and returning, reproached his father for not instructing him. 



288 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

The father, hearing the questions, declared that he himself did not 
know the answers, but invited his son to go with him to the king, to 
learn. The son refused, but the father went. And to him the answers 
of the questions were revealed. From these answers, the following 
passage is taken : 

"The man is born. He lives as long as he lives. And so, when he 
dies, they take him to the Fire, and there the bright Powers offer the 
man as a sacrifice. From this sacrifice, the spirit of man is born of 
the color of the Sun. 

"They who know this thus, and they who, here in the forest, wor- 
ship faith and truth, are born into the flame; from the flame they go to 
the day, from the day to the bright fortnight, from the bright fortnight 
to the summer, from the summer to the world of the gods, from the 
world of the gods to the Sun, from the Sun to the lightning; them, 
become as the lightning, a Spirit, Mind-born, leads into the worlds of 
the Eternal. In these worlds of the Eternal they dwell supreme, and 
for them there is no return. 

"But they who, by sacrifice, gifts and penance, win their worlds, 
are born in the smoke; from the smoke to the night, from the night to 
the dark fortnight, from the dark fortnight to the winter, from the 
winter to the world of the Fathers, from the world of the Fathers to 
the lunar world. They, gaining the lunar world, become food; and 
just as the lunar lord waxes and wanes, so they are there consumed. 
And when the time has come round, they descend to the ether, from 
the ether to the air, from the air to rain, from rain to the earth, and 
so are born again of woman, and come forth into the world. Thus they 
return again." 

These are the two paths, Path of the Gods and Path of the Fathers. 
Those who, spiritually regenerate, full of aspiration and truth, have 
recognized the divine Spirit within themselves while yet in life, go by 
the Path of the Gods. They ascend through the flame, the day, the 
light, the Sun, to the world of the Eternal. And for them there is no 
return. But those who, self-seeking, barter with the gods by sacrifices, 
penances and gifts, seeking for selfish blessings in return, go by the 
Path of the Fathers, the lunar way. From the smoke of the pyre, they 
go to night and darkness, and thence to the lunar world. There they 
wax and wane, and in due time descend again to this world, re-entering 
it through the gates of birth. 

We should say, nowadays, that there are a series of ascending planes 
above the material; that these planes are twofold, or have each two 
poles, a positive and a negative. These are symbolized thus: of the 
first plane above the material, "flame" is the positive pole, "smoke" is 
the negative; of the next, "day" is the positive pole, "night" is the 
negative; of the next, the "bright fortnight" is the positive pole, the 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 289 

"dark fortnight" is the negative; of the next "summer" is the positive 
pole, "winter" is the negative; on the positive side, the culmination is 
the solar world, leading to the world of the Eternal; on the negative 
side, the culmination is the lunar world, from which the path leads 
back again, through the same planes, to this material world. 

This is, of course, in a sense symbolism; but it is very transparent 
symbolism. The Sun, as everywhere through the ancient books of the 
Mysteries, standing for the Logos, while the Moon stands for the 
psychic realm, which shines by reflected light, drawing all its glow from 
the Spiritual world above it. 

So that this archaic teaching tells us that those who have passed 
through the spiritual rebirth, and have risen from the Fire, in color 
like the Sun, ascend through plane after plane, always dwelling at the 
positive pole, until they are ushered into the world of the Eternal, and 
become one with the Logos, the Divine Life of the Eternal. For them 
there is no return. 

But those who have followed the psychic way, the way of selfish 
bartering with gods; who have not passed through the great self- 
sacrifice, ascend at death through the etheric planes, clinging always 
to the negative pole of each plane; and, reaching the psychic paradise, 
they wax and wane. The force of aspiration in them expands to 
enkindle their paradise. But when this force is exhausted, they must 
descend again, returning to this world to be born of an earthly mother, 
and so falling again under death's dominion. This is magnificently 
expressed by king Death himself, in another Upanishad : 

"Death said: The better is one thing, the dearer is another; these 
two bind a man in opposite ways. Of these two, it is well for him who 
takes the better; he fails of his object, who chooses the dearer. 

" ' The better and the dearer approach a man ; going round them, 
the sage discerns between them. The sage chooses the better rather 
than the dearer ; the fool chooses the dearer, through lust of possession. 

" ' Thou indeed, pondering on dear and dearly loved desires, O 
Nachiketas, hast passed them by. Not this way of wealth hast thou 
chosen, in which many men sink. 

" * Far apart are these two ways, unwisdom and what is known as 
wisdom. I esteem Nachiketas as one seeking wisdom, nor do manifold 
desires allure thee. 

" ' Others, turning about in unwisdom, self-wise and thinking they 
are learned, fools, stagger, lagging in the way, like the blind led by the 
blind. 

" 'The Great Beyond gleams not for the child, led away by the 
delusion of possessions. This is the world, there is no other, he thinks, 
and so falls again and again under my dominion/ " 

This strongly reminds us of the words of St. Paul : "Knowing that 

19 



2 9 o THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more: Death hath no more 
dominion over him." And perhaps at this point we may derive additional 
light from Paul, and from his teaching as to the psychic and spiritual 
bodies, as he explains the matter to the Corinthians. (I Cor. xv.) 

Paul is concerned with the new birth, the birth from above. He 
approaches the question by describing the psychic body the middle 
nature and its relation with the spiritual nature above it. For Paul, 
the psychic nature is the vehicle of egotism and passion; it is the field 
of what he calls "the mood of the flesh"; the desires of the flesh being 
mirrored in the mind, and setting up a series of passional reactions, 
which are foreign to natural, animal life. We may instance drunkenness 
as characteristically psychic in this sense; as being the pursuit of a 
sensation, a mode of feeling, which has no parallel in natural, animal 
life, and which cannot conceivably be considered an expression of natural 
animal life. Much of what passes for sex feeling is equally psychic, 
equally apart from natural animal life; and sex sensationalism of this 
type shows its true character by its voluntary sterility, something which 
has no existence in natural animal life. It is this perverted growth of 
the psychic body which is described as the Fall, and a fall from pure 
animal life it unquestionably is. St. James "the Lord's brother" expresses 
his opinion of this force reflected in the middle nature, when he denounces 
"the wisdom that is from beneath, earthly, psychical, devilish." 

Paul has said much of the psychic nature. He proceeds to describe 
the gradual undermining of the psychic nature, and its supersession by 
the spiritual : "It is sown in weakness, it is raised in strength ; it is sown 
in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown a psychic body, it 
is raised a spiritual body." And this new-born spiritual body he calls 
"the new man, the Lord from heaven." This is, of course, exactly the 
regeneration from above with which the Upanishads are perpetually 
occupied, and which we saw described as the Fire-sacrifice in the 
Brahmanas. This regeneration is precisely that Path of the Gods, which 
man mounts as "a spirit, of the color of the Sun," and at whose summit 
he becomes one with the Logos, and enters the Eternal. And such a 
one, the Upanishads tell us, "has conquered the Second Death." 

Now if we turn to the passages first quoted from the Apocalypse, 
I think we shall find ourselves driven irresistibly driven to the con- 
clusion that the Apocalypse and the Upanishads are talking about exactly 
the same thing, and mean exactly the same thing by the Second Death. 
Both depict a spiritual birth which endows him who has passed through 
it with present immortality, making of him a divine being, the conscious 
dweller in immortal worlds. The imagery is almost identical, and the 
teaching is perfectly clear and convincing. 

If we are right, it remains only to consider the condition of those 
who have not passed through the birth from above, who have not, in 



A PAGE OF THE APOCALYPSE 291 

the words of the Brahmana, offered the Fire-sacrifice. The Indian 
teaching is perfectly plain, and is set forth again and again, in the sacred 
books of all periods. Stated briefly, the teaching is, that the middle 
nature, which with St. Paul we may call the psychic body, gains a cer- 
tain spiritual light by reflection from above; and that, at death, it is 
drawn upwards by this spiritual force. It enters a dream-world which 
is sometimes called the "lunar paradise," and to which the Tibetan 
Buddhist books give the name of Devachan. In this dream-paradise it 
reaps a reward for all good deeds, its sum of aspiration acting as a 
force which builds up a dream-state of rest and refreshment; while, 
on the other hand, the strongly earthly part of the passional nature 
enters a latent condition, becoming for a long period quiescent. But 
in due time the force of aspiration, the sum of power it represented, 
becomes exhausted, and the psychic body sinks back towards material 
life. The passional energies, from being latent, become once more 
active, and a new bodily birth takes place. 

Is not this most probably the meaning of the passage of the 
Apocalypse, which describes the dead who have not been spiritually 
reborn, have not passed through "the first resurrection," and who are 
depicted as dwelling in some middle condition for "a thousand years"? 
And is not the latency of the passional nature, as taught in the Indian 
sacred books, exactly similar to the "binding of Satan for a thousand 
years"? the later reassertion of the passional nature on reincarnation 
further corresponding with the release of Satan for a season ? If we are 
right, and the weight of analogy at all points seems irresistible, then we 
are justified in saying that John, in what he says of the mysterious 
Second Death, is simply repeating the world-old teaching of the two 
paths, Path of the Gods and Path of the Fathers, which is the esoteric 
form of the teaching of Reincarnation, as it was handed down carefully 
veiled in the Mysteries. 

When we turn to the scene of Judgment described by the beloved 
disciple, we are reminded this time not of India so much as of Egypt. 
We are all familiar with the broad outlines of the Egyptian teaching; 
of Osiris represented as Judge of 'the Dead, seated with his assessors 
in the hidden world; of the Soul being brought before him, and its 
deeds being weighed in the immortal scales against the image of Truth. 
It is exactly in the spirit of John's description of the judgment. Further, 
we know that, where the soul was wholly pure and free from stain, it 
went at once to the happy solar divinities, corresponding to the "world 
of the Eternal," in the Indian Mystery Teaching. The soul which was 
part pure and part impure went to different regions of the hidden world, 
for further discipline and development. The soul that was wholly impure 
suffered miserably for a period, and was then annihilated. 

This third fate, of the soul found wholly impure, is also taught in 



292 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

the Indian books. If we translate into Paul's terminology of the spiritual 
and psychic bodies, we should have to say that, in such a case, the con- 
sciousness was concentrated wholly in the lower psychic nature, busied 
exclusively with sensual images and selfish ends, and reflecting nothing 
at all of the divine consciousness from above. In such a case, at death, 
there is no spiritual aspiration to draw the psychic life upward toward 
the spirit; it has voluntarily detached itself from the spirit. Yet there 
remain certain force elements in it, "the undying worm, the fire not 
quenched," and these must work themselves out to their conclusion in 
the desolate midworld of psychic life. This is that "outer darkness," 
that "sea of brimstone," in which the corrupt psychic body finally burns 
itself away. This is the Second Death in the full sense, and from it 
there is no resurrection. This terrible destruction only overtakes the 
psychic self, however, when there is not an atom of spirituality, of aspira- 
tion, left. So long as there is the faintest spark, it may one day be fanned 
into a strong and purifying flame, so that the soul may be saved as 
by fire. 

We hold, therefore, that we are justified in believing that John was 
completely conversant with this teaching of the Two Paths, as it was 
taught esoterically in the Mysteries of Egypt and India; and that he is 
exactly following the ancient mystical teaching, in the passages which 
we quoted at the outset, concerning the Second Death. This Second 
Death had two meanings; or rather, the same phrase was used to cover 
two truths, the whole being carefully veiled. The first truth was, that 
the partially pure soul, after having dwelt in a paradise of reward for 
a season, died again out of paradise, to be reborn in this material world. 
The other meaning of the Second Death is that to which we have 
referred above: it is the fate of the psychic self which is wholly impure 
and brutal; and which is slowly disintegrated in the lower astral world, 
returning as dust to dust, as ashes to ashes. But we shall be wise to 
turn our thought rather to the other path, the Path of the Gods, along 
which ascends the spirit in color like the sun, to enter the immortal world 
of the Eternal ; to reign, as John says, "a priest unto God." We may well 
conclude with a sentence or two of what Plutarch tells us of the 
Mysteries of Osiris, whom we have seen represented popularly as 
Judge of the Dead: 

"The vestments of Osiris are of one uniform shining color. For 
as He is a first Principle, prior to all other beings, and purely intelligent, 
he must ever remain wholly pure. . . . By Osiris we are to under- 
stand those faculties of the Universal Soul, such as intelligence and rea- 
son, which are, as it were, the supreme lords and directors of all good." 

CHARLES JOHNSTON. 



SILENCE. 



It has become a truism so universally has it been experienced 
that every advance in civilization, every forward step of progress, brings 
with it its own peculiar danger and difficulty. There can be no increased 
possibility of gain that is not accompanied by an increased possibility 
of loss. If this be true of each stage or step in civilization, it is equally 
true of civilization as a whole, of civilization itself. 

Some years ago it was my fortune to travel in the nearer East. 
I remember one long day journeying through a Turkish province, where 
I saw no house or village, no sign of man, save one shepherd seated 
motionless above his flock among the Bithynian Hills. So still he was, 
so vast and still the scene of which he was a part, that the memory of 
its silence and its peace has remained with me. Day after day, I fancy, 
he so sat or walked alone alone with his sheep on those wide sloping 
hills master of their movements and his own. 

This university is a monument to all which that shepherd had not. 
It is a monument to the belief that man gains by contact with his fellows, 
that we can do together what no one of us could accomplish alone, that 
we may build our lives upon the united achievement of the race. Here 
are stored the age-long accretions of human knowledge. Here the best 
of the past becomes the heritage of the present, and here our own 
thought is guided and molded by the thoughts of others. Here, also, 
we are at the center of the life of the western world. Around us, in 
this city alone, throb the hopes and fears, the loves and hates, the ideals 
and aspirations of three million people. These, too, must be our teachers 
and our instruments. From them are liberated the powers by which the 
race must rise or fall. No man can measure their potency nor the 
possibilities that, through them, are ours. 

But as we have gained so immeasurably in the possibilities for good, 
so also have we paid the price of greater risk. Here we are never alone. 
Here there is never silence. The voices of the past and of the present 
are ever speaking, ever flooding .our minds with thoughts, sometimes 
high and sometimes low, but always the thoughts of others. We do 
not act so much as we are acted on. In the midst of a myriad distrac- 
tions we have no time to be ourselves. We hurry ceaselessly from 
occupation to occupation, always absorbing, rarely giving. We live for 
and in reflections. We live in ceaseless turmoil a turmoil of the thoughts 
and emotions, the passions and desires, the ambitions and strivings, of 
others. They surge over and through us and sweep us along with them, 
to ends we never saw and never willed. Unconsciously we yield our wills 



*An address delivered by Professor Mitchell at St. Patil's Chapel, Columbia University, New 
York, November n, 1907. 

293 



294 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

to foreign motives and lose ourselves in the great currents of surround- 
ing life. 

Across the centuries that separate us from that silent shepherd, 
from hills like his and his own Eastern land, there comes to us the 
question: "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world 
and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul?" 

To none is this question more pertinent than to us. 

The great message of Christianity is the infinite sacredness of the 
individual, of your being and of mine, of just that inner meaning and 
will which is the self. It can profit us not at all to gain knowledge, or 
popularity with our fellows, or success of any kind, if we lose ourselves 
in the process if we become thereby the mere puppet or reflection of 
the life about us. Sacred to us beyond all else must be what we our- 
selves are. To voice this clearly and perfectly is genius; to abandon it 
is to abandon manhood itself. If civilization is to take it from us, then 
is civilization loss, not gain. 

Here is the danger which is the concomitant of our progress. Here 
lies the narrow way along which we must advance. We must learn 
from others, but remain ourselves. We must use the power of the 
world, not be used by it. We must guide our own lives by a will that 
is our own. We must be the master of our fate. 

We can do this only by constant vigilance; by deliberately forcing 
ourselves to look within, excluding for the time and by act of will all that 
comes to us from without. We must make for ourselves and within our- 
selves what we are denied in the outer world a place of stillness and 
of silence. There, in the silence, at the bar of our own judgment we 
should question all that comes to us. There, in the silence, the learn- 
ing of the past and the promptings of the present should be alike 
arraigned. 

This is needful in our studies as in all else. The great thoughts of 
the past are of little moment to us save as they awake to consciousness 
that which is great also in us, and are claimed by us as our own. Our 
reading is a constant search and sifting for our own. And if the 
search be through the thoughts of others, the final sifting must be in 
the silence where the soul alone can speak. 

But still more necessary is it in our leisure and our play. Here 
there rise around us the many-tongued, clamorous voices of the city ; the 
calls of our companions; the promptings of our appetites and passions. 
Take them one by one into the silence, and let the silence be their 
judge. Speak always, act always, from silence. Never agree to any- 
thing, never undertake anything, never speak and never act, until you 
have first taken both the motive and result into your inner silence, and 
seen whether it be indeed your own will that is urging you. 

Thus, and thus alone, will you be yourself. So, and so only, can 



SILENCE 295 

you gain from civilization, and not be lost in it. So only can you learn 
to express yourself, and give to the world the one gift that is worth the 
giving, the gift of yourself the gift of that unique spark of the Divine 
which you embody and which you alone can give. So only can you 
keep, or give, your own soul. 

This chapel is open from nine in the morning until six at night. 
Here, in such outer silence as this city affords, you may bring your 
doubt, your trouble, and your temptation; and, in the deeper and more 
sacred silence you make within yourselves, lay them before the Master 
of the Silence and your own soul. I think we will be wise so to do. 

HENRY BEDINGER MITCHELL. 



"It can hardly be doubted that new forms of worship, new epitomes 
of belief, new theories of theology, will spring up to comfort and 
strengthen the human heart as we advance farther and farther into the 
truth. Different summaries will appeal simultaneously to equally Christ- 
ian men and women. But so long as they conceive the Deity as fulfilling 
their highest ideal, and cleave to that ideal with their whole heart and 
mind and strength, they will fulfil the command of Christ. Which 
religious system is best? We must decide by results. There is no rule 
of thumb. By their fruits we shall know them. In which mountain 
shall we worship? Christ refused to consider such a question. It is 
this eternal element in Christ's teaching which explains the limitlessness 
of its moral demand. Had He not pushed, as He did push in the 
Sermon on the Mount, every virtue to the vanishing point, had H 
not demanded of His followers limitless forgiveness, untiring generosity, 
mercy without measure, truth without afterthought, faith to remove 
mountains, endurance till the end, He could not have called into play 
the whole moral and spiritual ambition, not only of the men to whom He 
spoke, but of all men forever. No system which absolves men from 
the duty of thinking can ever be profitable to them, can ever make them 
into full men. It may save them from much pain and so may paralysis. 
No doubt it satisfies a craving which exists in the human mind, but it is 
a craving for stupor like that which lends attraction to narcotics not 
the craving Christ sought to stimulate for more abundant life. It is self- 
control, not obedience, which is the moral goal of man. No teacher who 
tried to cross the purpose of evolution could ever be rightly regarded 
as divine. In Christ's renunciation of authority lies His divine authority. 
His spirit is the spirit which leads us to the light by the hard path of 
liberty, and to that spirit He sacrificed the exercise of a lordship such as 
He warned His disciples to avoid. The spirit of truth coming forth 
from God was, He said, alone sufficient to guide the world, and as He 
meditated upon that 'power from on high' He was able to say 'It is 
expedient for you that I go away.'" London Spectator, Nov. 9, 1907. 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE. 



CHARACTER BUILDING AS AN AID TO HEALTH. 

At the present day, if we are to believe the records, the general aver- 
age of health is less than it was, in spite of our boasted civilization and 
increased attention to hygiene. This does not refer to mere length of 
life in individual cases, for we are informed of a greater number of cen- 
tenarians than before. But it does mean that the general human average 
of the sense of well-being is less that in was. What, then, is at the root 
of the various causes which lead to lack of strength and to the sense of 
ill-health? 

Broadly speaking, we may say that the Rhythm of Life has altered, 
and that man has not moved with it. The conditions of modern life 
have greatly varied; they are at one and the same time more restless 
and more strenuous. Strenuous, rightly; for the aim of life, in any true 
sense, is the evolution of character. Restless, wrongly; for restlessness 
and superficiality, together with the worry which ensues, are wholly de- 
structive of strength of character. And if we study the matter deeply, 
we shall further find that character-building is the greatest possible aid 
to health, or well-being. 

As observers, we shall find that there is at all times active in the 
world, what is here termed, the Rhythm of Life. For as the conditions 
of life alter, we find that they really have done so in adjustment to the 
evolution and developments of the human race. But mankind does not 
always realize this does not realize it at all, as a whole, although there 
are, and always will be, individuals who have done so, and have lifted 
themselves higher in the scale of evolution in accordance with the am- 
plitude of their realization. The upward trend of life, its unfoldment 
of new and advanced conditions by means of which the human race has 
the opportunity of evolving this it is that we may term the Rhythm of 
Life. And it would appear that this rhythmic movement, this broaden- 
ing and uplifting of opportunity and of knowledge, has for its purpose 
the development of the human character and its approximation to the 
needs of the soul. 

Where the human being understands this basic factor of life, and 
tries to accommodate his thought and his actions to it, then he moves in 
accord with the Rhythm of the greater Life about him. But when he 
denies or is blind to its meaning and its existence, then the pages of 
his life spell confusion and discord of body and mind. And when, in 
addition, he refuses to attune himself to the rhythmic purpose of the 
Ages, he becomes he has become a "fallen" creature as well. 

In the past, and even now, we have been too ready to regard man as 

396 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE 297 

an animal, to insist that he should develop in accordance with the laws 
governing the animal kingdom. This were wise if the inhabitant of 
the body, the dweller in the tabernacle, is to remain an animal soul, or 
mind. But if this be not so, then, clearly, the body and the mind of man 
must be prepared to meet "the needs of an indwelling soul," as has been 
said. Looked at in this light, it is clear that we must prepare to revise our 
view of the human body, and, in part, our view of the human mind. If 
our life is to be lived from that standpoint, we must set about building 
character, and, incidentally to that, we shall increase the average of 
human health. 

If we examine man as he is placed in the midst of Nature, we find 
him to consist of a congeries of forces, cognized by a central or govern- 
ing mind. That the mind has in part abdicated its rightful control of 
the body, and also that it has rebelled as well against the command of the 
soul, does not alter the fact that man has at his disposal certain forces 
over which he has but incomplete control. He has "no supremacy over 
his accidents." His equilibrium is unstable. Accidents, fevers and surgical 
cases apart, nearly all the people who come to the physician are sufferers 
from one or another form of mental and nervous instability. Derange- 
ment of function is at the root of these disorders. From this results 
malnutrition in one or several of its forms. Improper food, improper 
exercise or insufficiency of exercise, play havoc with the nerves and 
with the mind which should control them. This nervous and mental 
instability reacts in its turn upon the organism, and the mischief spreads 
in many directions. The Rhythm of Life is lost in an insane functioning 
of body, mind and soul. 

We are at the moment in the presence of a great wave of reaction 
against medicine. Many people have come to realize something of the 
healing power that resides in mental equilibrium. The old saying of 
the "healthy mind in the healthy body," has come full cycle again. It 
is true, as well, that the reactionists overdo the matter, as reactionists 
always have, and always will. But the extremist serves the world after 
his own fashion, even if it be a lower mode of service ; he points out a 
danger, and he arouses attention by the very vehemence and extravagance 
of his action. He is more useful than the slumberer who will not waken, 
or the dreamer who delights in the visions of his fancy, and will not see 
the plainly menacing hand of Destiny poised above human life. That 
life is what we make of it, and we are the arbiters of its destiny ; what 
then, if we decide to abide in the darkness of the animal side of our lives 
instead of turning towards the light of the soul? 

Those who have in part recognized these facts, and who have 
reacted to a dangerous extreme, are dragging down the powers of the 
mind to stay the body. We hear much in these days of "Christian" heal- 
ing. But the man who would approach in the least the Divine mode of 



298 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

healing as exercised by Jesus, must first fulfil all the Beatitudes and 
in his degree and place all that the Sermon Paramount indicates. He 
should be of absolutely pure heart and life ; otherwise his healing is but 
self-hypnotism, sure to react somewhere, if only in the rigid and self-right- 
eous mind. The mind may be steadied by the use of a formula; it is 
also locked. 

The cure of many forms of ill-health may result from this grip 
of the mind (since so much nervous energy is saved for the use of the 
body), but the seat of the discord is only changed; the sufferer does not 
feel his original complaint, but he has transferred the seat of the discord- 
ant rhythm ; his mind is now out of touch with the evolutionary purpose ; 
instead of a mind obedient to the least change in the Rhythm of Life, 
he has only in his possession a mind stretched on the Procrustean bed of 
a formula, shaped to a codex, locked and barred to all else. This does not 
make for character-building. The mind must play freely over the condi- 
tions of Life, must study them, learn to use them rightly, experience the 
dangers of misuse and learn from the Rhythm of Life something of 
the unity and purpose of the soul, before he can build character. So 
that while our extremists have come to see the truth of what physicians 
have been trying to teach them, viz., that mental poise is the precursor 
of physical health, they go the wrong way about to obtain their results, 
and lock, instead of freeing and controlling the mind. 

Let me premise that by the term "mental poise" I do not mean mental 
rigidity. Still less do I mean that vice-like grip of the mind by which the 
extremist forces his mind to retain some one image or formula, and con- 
trols its activities by self-hypnotism, or by passive modes of consciousness. 
Over-activity of the mind is one extreme. The control of the mind by 
empiric affirmations and negations, is another extreme. The sane and 
healthy poise of a mind at one with its environment, attentive to the 
Rhythm of Life, and functioning in unity with the real position of man 
in the universe, is the hair line between these extremes. 

In considering this question of health, it is not necessary for the 
present purpose to try to deal with the results of accident, the acute 
fevers, the microbic invasions. It is with the lowered vital resistance 
of the individual man or woman that we are just now concerned. For 
it is this lessened resistance which prevents us from throwing off the 
effects of accidents and favors the invasion of microbes ; further, it low- 
ers the efficiency of our vital functions so that the tone of body and mind 
(and the control of body by mind) are on a generally lower level. What, 
then, is at the root of this lowered resistance-level of modern life? In 
what way are we of the present day say up to fifty years of age 
different from previous generations? 

At first sight, we are not different, save that with altered years 
have come altered customs and altered habits of life. These constitute 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE 299 

our surroundings, or environment. And since we find that our environ- 
ment has altered, we must ask ourselves, using the language of evolution, 
Have we adapted or adjusted ourselves to the changing conditions? 
Have we fallen in with the true Rhythm of Life ? 

I think that we have not done so. A very large number almost a 
majority of people at the present day are sufferers in one way or an- 
other from physical, nervous or mental instability. In the first place, they 
do not govern themselves and the environment. The circumstances of 
their lives, in one way or another, are too much for them. Apart from 
questions of the heredity with which they enter on life, they do not make 
a sufficient effort to control that which immediately surrounds them. In 
saying this, I do not ignore that we .have, of course, to deal with the 
pernicious effects, as a whole, of alcohol, in ourselves and in our pro- 
genitors, which I am convinced accounts for one-half the present ill- 
health; the excess of flesh-foods or their admixture in too great excess 
with other foods; and also those moral excesses which complete the 
main causes of modern ill-health. Nor do I ignore the fact that the 
use of flesh-foods, in large extent, and the moderate use of alcohol, have 
often restored the balance of physical health. For one reason among 
many, these methods lie along the line of least resistance. Like 
most common sayings, there is sense in the fabled prescription of 
"the hair of the dog that bit you"; our bodies have been built up 
upon, aye, and generated from bodies built up upon, these things, 
and when the physician is called upon to "cure" at all hazards, he must at 
times consider the heredity of the body, and ignore for the moment the 
wider and deeper question of the well-being of the race. 

Beyond these causes, which are obvious, we have superadded a novel 
condition of modern life. And this condition, similar to the last feather's 
weight, has disturbed the balance of the life-load which each one of us 
has to carry, and which we should adjust to the needs of the soul, the 
true nature of man, rather than to the requirements of the animal nature. 
I am speaking of this age of travel, of the incessant search for change 
of place, or, in one mode or another, of change of thought and conscious- 
ness. Beginning with travel by railways, and the ceaseless rush of 
motors, we seek inter-communication also by telegraph and telephone and 
marconigrams, until life has come to be spent in an incessant rush and 
overstrain, amid the endless bombardment of new sensations. All these 
inventions have their value. They have enlarged our knowledge of the 
universe : they exist for the use of man, not for his abuse. Their abuse 
has contributed not a little to the complexity and strain of modern condi- 
tions. And I hold that had we turned our attention towards the needs of 
our own natures, with the same pertinacity and ardor with which we 
have pursued the line of mechanical invention, we should have met with a 
reward of greater price. As it is, our bodies our instruments are worn 



300 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

out by a perpetual multiplication of things to do, without any ideal of 
perfection of performance, of value of work. We are thrust" on to the 
surface of life by the admixture of novel occupations and of intricate and 
interminable detail, and there ensues the inevitable reaction of the body 
to the need of a life simplified in all its details, and with the body, react the 
nerves, the brain, the mind and heart. Those who feel this reaction have 
caught, as it were, a faint strain from the Rhythm of Life, and amid their 
sufferings a diviner purpose shines. But the combination of the simpler 
life with the prevailing superficiality means mental malnutrition, just as 
the wrong admixture of food means physical malnutrition ; man is a com- 
posite of mind and body nay, more, for there is the soul which is the 
informing activity of which mind and body should be the docile represen- 
tatives; and the man in his entirety evolves along similar lines in each 
department of his being. Granting for the moment that this be so, super- 
ficiality then of necessity means that life is frittered away uselessly without 
that depth and freedom of interchange between mind and body which 
alone can prevent exhaustion. The soul must be fed, as the mind must be 
fed, and just as the body must be fed by the assimilation of food, so must 
the mind receive its pabulum of mental food and be active ; and the body 
and mind must give their quotum of effort towards the nourishment of 
the soul, by maintaining a healthy basis of action in the physical world on 
the one hand, and by the pursuit of those ideals and aspirations which 
constitute the practical development of the soul and manifest the char- 
acter of the individual man or woman. In such harmonious interchange 
alone can health and refreshment be found. 

What is the remedy for these circumstances of modern life? Ob- 
viously, to conquer and be master of circumstances ; to use them, and not to 
let them prey upon us; no longer to drift at the mercy of the varying 
tides of emotional, physical and mental life, but to have a firm purpose 
ever before one as the basis of act and thought, thus gaining the power 
to build one's character, and make that the basis of health. The Mind 
is the true builder : it has builded all Art, all Science, all of the modern and 
ancient life ; but it builds in vain, it builds upon the sands of Time unless 
it builds character and such building is the true basis of health. Adjuncts, 
helps there are, but this is the main factor human character. To this 
end did Jesus give us a perfect model after which to build. 

In the absence of such building of character, the human being is the 
slave of circumstances. There is no balance; no keynote which acts as 
a harmonizer of the opposing currents of action and thought. Life 
brings up to us a variety of conditions for our choice, and unless there 
be a basic arbiter in the action of the soul, we hesitate between right action 
and wrong action, drifting to and fro in vague and uncertain manner. 
Such indecision affects our physiological, nervous and digestive, as well 
as our mental powers. 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE 301 

Most of us know the effect on our digestion of the gradual impair- 
ment of our power through agitation and worry. In all things we seek 
variety ; we seek to please our various appetites, and, as the saying goes, 
we pander to the weakness of the stomach by a variety of fads and fancies. 
Here we have comparatively little decision, and the stomach (with other 
digestive organs) becomes the master. There is no unity or co-ordina- 
tion of function to a given end. In the great majority of instances, were 
we once to exercise a decided act of will, the stomach would do as it was 
ordered, and would digest any simple, properly prepared food. But 
we season our food with the salt of doubt and hesitation, and hence the 
confusion known as dyspepsia results. Repetition of these errors of un- 
certainty, creates by degrees the habit of indecision, and a more or less 
chronic state of ill-health is set up. We become the victims of what I 
may call to coin a phase functional worry, functional indecision. 

Consider, again, the very essential question of breathing. We 
know how very important is the position in which we sit. Nothing is 
more indicative of character, nothing more vital to the physical health 
as well. We know, too, the difference in chest capacity between the 
athlete and the sedentary man. The latter does not use half his lung 
capacity; his circulatory power and his breathing power (and therefore 
his power of refreshment) suffer thereby. So far, he is shallow and 
inefficient, and this is simply the result of carelessness and inattention. 
The work in life which he does would be better done if care and 
attention were given to proper respiratory development. His mental 
work would be of a better quality, too. Nature has given him the 
capacity; that he neglects it until right breathing is a lost art among 
us, is his own fault and his own responsibility. He will be compelled 
to take up much more time to recover the proper use of powers which 
he has neglected. And this is apart from the matter of his making the 
effort to secure the proper amount of fresh air which his lungs have the 
right to demand from him. We do not breathe deeply, we do not breathe 
rightly, we do not oxygenate all the interior surfaces which demand 
such baths of air. Above all, we do not breathe rhythmically; we do 
not walk in ordered rhythm at the conscious order of our wills; our 
movements, like our breathing, are hurried, uneven, shallow and wanting 
in harmonious co-ordination; we are out of tune, out of harmony with 
the Rhythm of Life. 

Exercise is also a point which we are apt to disregard. By exercise 
I mean movement. We drift into a lethargic habit unless we have some 
incentive to move with a view of obtaining something. The proper 
exercise of the human body is a matter which obtains more attention of 
recent years than it formerly did. Such measures are necessary to 
correct the lethargic habits induced by the rush of circumstances and 
the lack of time. But their main value lies in the definite acts of pur- 



302 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

posive will which are necessary in order to fitly and properly carry out 
the definite series of movements enjoined for a given purpose. One has 
but to refer to the Nauheim treatment for heart disease in order to 
show what may be effected by a carefully graduated series of exercises. 

Rest. Many people are hardly aware of what this word means. 
Usually they turn from one form of activity to another and seek rest 
in what is called a "change of occupation." But there are as many forms 
of rest as there are occupations. It is not activity in itself which does 
the mischief; it is disordered, casual activity. Purposive activity, with 
the concentration of purpose and will on the accomplishment of the task, 
is that which is not harmful. But to rush from task to task only leads 
to imperfect performance, to waste of effort, loss of time, and in the 
end to cessation of labor through lack of rest, recuperation and the 
power to continue. Although many people work, few know how to 
properly apply themselves; they drift aimlessly without power of con- 
centration on the given effort and fritter away their strength; fewer 
still know how to rest. 

For work and activity are not merely concerns of the physical body 
of man. They are of the mind also; and of the heart. These form 
the human personality of man; and beyond them and above, there is 
the Soul. This is the real consciousness where alone rest is to be found. 
But the rest desired can be found in the balanced activities of the 
external man and the consecration of these to the uses of the soul. 
Rhythm and systematized thinking, in place of chaotic and vague 
thoughts. The right use of thought is rhythmic, too. 

Religion tells us that man suffers because he sins. Our modern 
life has for some time past reacted against what is called "old-fashioned 
religion." But I venture to think that religion, as to this, is wiser than 
its critics. If we expand our idea of the meaning of the word "sin," 
we come to the root of the matter. Man, a spiritual being, is placed 
in the midst of a material universe ; he is "spiritual" because possessed of 
a soul, and he sins against the natural order and its sane and whole- 
some laws. He is placed in the midst of that material order, as Adam in 
the midst of the garden, and for much the same reason in order to 
develop, evolve, to learn and to use the powers of the soul, and to learn 
to use them rightly, conscious of their divine origin. But man instead 
of abiding by that order and its laws gradually subverts certain natural 
l aws the laws of health, sane and wholesome attempts to sequestrate 
these laws and draws them from their right purpose and use. In defy- 
ing the laws of right thought, right action, right food, right exercise, 
right breathing and in a word, right living man is really a rebel who 
attempts to live according to his own good pleasure in a universe governed 
by law, where every cause has its effect. He perverts or he defies the laws 
of well-being, and he suffers the inevitable consequences. And I boldly 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE 303 

aver that he suffers as a direct consequence of his subversion of that 
by which he should live namely, the divinely appointed order. Until 
we place ourselves in right relation to the law which makes for righteous- 
ness (and it makes for that in every department of our natural life) 
there is, and there will be no health in us. So that the great secrets 
of health are those of food food for the digestive organs, food for 
the nerves, food for the lungs in the form of air right breathing food 
for the mind, and most important, because the most basic of all, food 
for the soul. 

The building power of the body demands right food, and so does 
the building power resident in the right use of the mind. That mental 
power of building makes or unmakes nervous stability. The food the 
processes of digestion, whether normal or perverted has much to do 
with mental poise and balance. Mental equilibrium and mental instability 
react upon the nutritive processes. 

Thus apart from physical-physiological causes we fritter away our 
strength with a diversity of emotions and desires, and hence have no 
holding-ground on which to fulfil our real nature. We follow ambition 
and its like rather than follow principle arising from the deeper part of 
our nature. Hence we have the instability of mind and nerves, which 
is at the root of incoherence of nervous and physiological function. 

Disordered activity and lack of rest affect the mental poise. This 
operates by the ceaseless and undermining activity of anxiety and worry 
and needless hurry, too. The mental faculties are entangled in worry, 
for worry is a product of indecision and fear. The only way to escape 
it is by steadying the mind, by deliberately and of set purpose concen- 
trating its action on the acquisition of the positive faculties of hope, 
expectation and cheerfulness, unselfish motive being at the root of all. 
Such motive may be found in the devout wish to build the temple of 
the soul in right fashion. By this means the distinctive faculties and 
positive qualities of the heart will be attained, and the anxieties and 
worries of the selfish human personality will be flooded out by the higher 
qualities. Rest and peace will be attained amid the positive powers of 
Love, Faith, Obedience and Trust; by Sympathy, Gentleness and Pa- 
tience. All these are notes in the Rhythm of Life, melodiously hymning 
the Divine Will and Law. 

By these ordered and rhythmic acts we build the temple of the soul, 
the basis from which it acts in the material world; and the mind, that 
other basis of the soul on the plane of mental action, is also stilled and 
purified. By such means the real man is fed and- nourished. In his 
presence, you feel braced, hopeful, confident. You sense an atmosphere 
about him, as of a higher vital strain, a deeper restfulness. In some 
such way, his rhythm is communicated to his surroundings. Just as we 
sometimes feel, in some happy home, or some centre of unselfish work 



304 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

and noble thought, that we have touched a rarer air, a clearer, purer 
atmosphere, and entering in a quiet hour, you may feel the whole house 
softly breathing the rhythm of the life that is lived there. So it is with 
man. 

The secret of health would, then, seem to lie in the proper use of 
all things, in their use in the right way, to the right extent, and at the 
right time. Moderation is the law of the wise. In the ordered activity 
of the whole being in the co-ordination and united activity of all parts 
for a given purpose. That purpose is not the mere endurance of exist- 
ence, but is the fulfilment of being, the manifestation of the purposes of 
soul. The body, the lower emotions, the mind, the higher emotions 
may be healthy or the reverse, may be faulty or wise. But all depend 
in their degree of manifestation upon the absence or presence of the 
governing and unifying activities of the Soul. 

Those who live after this fashion do not drift through life amid 
successes and failures, trials and temptations, and the numberless oppor- 
tunities which life brings for our acceptance or our rejection. We 
obtain a purpose in life a purpose not connected with or tainted with 
selfishness. That purpose or motive is the fulfilment of the law of our 
being the activity of the man in obedience to the laws of the Soul and 
of nothing less than that immortal part of us in which we really live 
and move and have our being. In such obedience to a higher law, we 
can appreciate what Henley wrote: 

"I am the master of my fate; 
I am the Captain of my soul." 

But he who would govern fate must govern himself, and he who would 
serve his Soul as Captain must serve in patient trust. He must choose 
to be master, and not drift at the mercy of every circumstance of his 
physical, emotional and mental life. He must have an ideal, follow it, 
sacrifice to it. 

It is only with devout mind and reverent heart that any man may 
liopefully approach the subject of healing his fellow beings. He knows 
oh! how well he knows it! that however great may be his technical 
skill and knowledge, his experience of physiology and pathology, his 
healing is only on the surface an ill closed wound, if he be not able 
to sustain and inspire the heart of his patients. And this is rightly the 
case, inasmuch as all the acts of men their successes as well as their 
failures, their sins equally with their virtues well up processionally 
from that heart which dictates our course, and which must indeed be 
purified if we would "see God." He who is in complete possession of 
himself, he who is ruler of mind and body and "Captain" of the Soul, 
.is in health indeed. 



THE RHYTHM OF LIFE 305 

The heart which can truly turn towards simplicity and moderation 
in all things is sure to be ruler of body and mind. And although the 
physician is called upon to exercise such knowledge and skill as he may 
have attained in respect of the body and its pathological functioning, yet 
he will not have made many steps before his intuition becomes seized of 
the idea that his success in healing in curing, as we say will largely 
depend upon his power of inspiring the mind of his patient with expect- 
ant hope, to be followed later on by that inspirational tension of faith 
which attunes the whole nature to obedience and trust. 

But let us not do these things for any selfish reason. Let us do 
them faithfully because they are there to be done, are a part of our 
effective duty in life. Then whether or no we have health of the body, 
we shall have health of mind and heart. As we contemplate those 
mysterious processes which unite us harmoniously to Life, we shall 
realize that the universal Life has its Rhythm, its Song. With the 
realization comes the power of entering that wonderful rhythmic move- 
ment towards the unseen, the divine goal, and with that power comes 
peace. Peace, joy, and a harmonious relation between the human being 
and his life, aye, and the One Life, whose Rhythm envelops us all. Not 
one so weary, so desponding, so sin laden and in pain, but he may feel 
the Compassion and the Love radiating from the Rhythm of Life at the 
will of God, if he will but put himself in relation with it by the 
surrender of his unrest, and of the cause of unrest his discordant, 
ill-attuned body, mind, and heart. 

ARCHIBALD KEIGHTLEY, M.D. Cantab. 



"/ scy not that compromise is unnecessary, but it is an evil attendant 
on our imperfection; and I would pray every one to mark that, where 
compromise broadens, intellect and conscience are thrust into narrower 
room." GEORGE ELIOT. 



THE STORY OF JONAH. 



In 1892 Prof. Andre Lefevre, of Paris, published an exceedingly 
interesting book called La Religion. A brochure of some 570 pages, it 
covers a very wide field, and brings together a most valuable and varied 
fund of information. Were it not professedly written from a purely 
materialistic point of view, it would be even more valuable than it is, 
for the strong bias of the writer's mind occasionally blinds him to some 
point of great value. But as it is, Prof. Lefevre has assembled many facts 
of great importance to the student of religions, and everybody is free 
to follow the example of Moliere and take what belongs to him wherever 
he may find it. 

Among other interesting things Prof. Lefevre has discovered that 
there was a Hindu celestial monster named Ketu; that apparently Ketu 
was transformed into a Greek marine deity, a goddess named Keto, who 
espoused the Titan Phorkys, and made him the father of the Cetaceans, 
in our day, the order of whales and porpoises. Elsewhere Phorkys is 
called "the Old Man of the Sea," and is Darkness ; married to Keto "the 
Abyss," by whom he has three daughters, called Deino, Pephredo and 
Enyo. They were also called the Graiae, and were said to have in com- 
mon one eye and one tooth, which they used alternately, and to dwell at 
the uttermost end of the earth, where neither sun nor moon beheld them. 

It is in lower Chaldea, says Prof. Lefevre, that we must look for the 
true Cetacean, or fish-gods. The most important of them is Oan, or 
Cannes, whom Berosius described as being half fish, half man, with a 
human voice. This creature spent the whole of the day with men, teach- 
ing them letters, sciences of all sorts, geometry, and agriculture. At 
sunset he plunged into the sea again, and spent the night at the bottom of 
the ocean, "for he was amphibious," that is, he was capable of functioning 
on both the physical and astral planes. It is needless to say that Prof. 
Lefevre is not responsible for the clause in quotation marks. 

It would seem a far cry from lower Chaldea to Greenland, but among 
the Eskimo, ,or Innuits, as they call themselves, were many worshippers 
of a deity known as "the Great Whale." Prof. Lefevre does not give us 
the Innuit name for this god, but his description of the initiation of 
the Innuit priests or wizards, the Angakok, seems to throw much light 
upon the story of Jonah, and resembles in a striking manner the general 
outlines of all initiations. The Innuit neophytes wandered on the seashore, 
invoking the Great Whale, and gradually by their incantations attracted 
it towards the land. When they had at last drawn it upon the beach, 
they forced it to open its great jaws, into which they flung themselves. 
The whale carried them from island to island, and from shore to shore, 



THE STORY OF JONAH 307 

and finally into the gulf where the northern Paradise is hidden. Here 
we have a curious correspondence with the theosophic theory of the 
Sacred Imperishable Land at the north pole. In this northern paradise, 
the priests were gradually (a loisir) initiated, and became angakok, which 
is said to be a condition, rather than a thing, although a priest or wizard 
is called an Angakok. They acquired extraordinary faculties, and a 
transcendent intellect during this sojourn. "How long did they stay there ? 
They do not know, for the measure of time is one thing below, another 
above." Their novitiate completed, the Great Whale deposited them once 
again upon their native shore. There seems to be no doubt that the 
Eskimo came originally from Asia, via Behring's Straits. 

In the story of Jonah, the Greek word Keto, the root of our word 
cetacean, can be translated, according to some authorities, either as sea- 
monster or ship. In either case, much Biblical criticism founded upon 
the physical impossibility of a whale's swallowing a man, or a man's 
living several days inside a whale, falls to the ground. 

So much for the literal side of the story, but the mystical side, with 
its three days and three nights "in the heart of the sea," seems to estab- 
lish its kinship with the Angakok initiations, although the story of Jonah 
is overlaid with a number of conflicting details such as are apt to gather 
around all similar legends as time rolls on. 

An interesting paper read before the American Philosophical Asso- 
ciation by Mr. Paul Haupt, says that the Book of Jonah (which may have 
been composed about 100 B. C.) represents a Sadducean protest against 
the Pharisaic exclusiveness based upon the conviction that Divine Grace 
was reserved for the Jews and not for the Gentiles. And he quotes the 
author of a book on the Twelve Prophets as saying that "this is the tragedy 
of the Book of Jonah, that a book which is made the means of one of 
the most sublime revelations of truth in the Old Testament, should be 
known to most only for its connection with a whale." 

In the twelfth chapter of Matthew it says that when Jesus was asked 
by the Pharisees "for a sign," he said that they should have no sign but 
the sign of the prophet Jonah, "for as Jonah was three days and three 
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and 
three nights in the heart of the earth," again the place and period of 
initiation. The lesson that Jesus wished to convey was one of toleration. 
He told the Pharisees that the men of Nineveh would rise up in judgment 
against them, for the Ninevites repented when Jonah had preached to 
them, but a greater than Jonah had come to the Jews and they had not 
listened. And the Queen of the South had journeyed from the utter- 
most parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a 
greater than Solomon had come to them, and they had not listened. 
Jonah went among strangers in a foreign land, to deliver the message 



3 o8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

of the Lord, and the people of Nineveh repented, but Jesus came unto 
his own, and they received him not. 

To return to the story of Jonah. The word of the Lord came to him, 
bidding him go to Nineveh and rebuke it for its wickedness. In the 
second volume of Isis Unveiled, p. 258, there is a very interesting para- 
graph about Jonah, who is there identified with lona, or the dove sacred 
to Venus, or Astarte, whose bust was generally carved upon the prow of 
the Syrian vessels. Hence some commentators believe that Jonah was 
picked up by one of these ships. But the Kabalists say that Jonah was 
a runaway priest from the temple of Venus, and wished to abolish idolatry 
and institute the worship of the one God. That he was taken prisoner 
near Jaffa (our Joppa) and confined by the devotees of Dagon in one 
of the prison cells of their temple. In the middle of the temple stood 
an immense idol, the upper portion of whose body was human, and the 
lower fishlike. Between the belly and the tail Was an aperture which 
could be closed like the door of a closet, and in which offenders against 
the local deity could be imprisoned while awaiting sentence. However 
this may be, the Bible story goes on to say that Jonah was afraid to go 
to Nineveh, where the fish-god Dagon was worshipped, and seems to 
have thought he could get out of the Lord's jurisdiction by going to 
Tarshish, the great mining country of southern Spain, so he went down 
to Joppa, and finding a ship there going to Tarshish, he paid his fare and 
embarked. It was not long before a terrible storm arose, and the sailors 
were frightened, and every man cried to his own god, and as a further 
precaution, threw most of the cargo overboard. But Jonah had gone 
down "into the sides of the ship" which corresponds to the whale's 
belly and was fast asleep. The shipmaster woke him up, and begged him 
to intercede with his God, as theirs seemed unable to help them, and 
then some one suggested that they should draw lots, to find out whose 
fault it was that this storm had arisen. So they drew lots, and the lot 
fell upon Jonah. Then they asked a great many questions, as to his 
country, and his occupation, and his religion, and what he had done to 
be pursued by such a tempest (for he had told them he was trying to flee 
from the Lord), and what they should do to him to calm the terrible 
seas? And Jonah told them to throw him overboard, for he knew that 
once rid of him the tempest would subside. The sailors evidently thought 
this an extreme measure, and tried hard to row their vessel to shore, but 
the sea was too much for them. So after praying the Lord of Jonah 
not to blame them if an innocent life were lost, as they were doing this 
to please Him, they threw Jonah overboard, and the sea at once became 
calm. Here we have the scapegoat idea, that appears so often in the Old 
Testament. 

If we accept the word Keto as meaning ship, it would seem that 
Jonah was picked up by a passing vessel. It is a picturesque little story 



THE STORY OF JONAH 309 

as it stands, but the probability is that the whole account is more or less 
figurative, and symbolises the trials that precede the initiation of a prophet 
or divine teacher. In the prayer that Jonah addresses to the Lord as we 
have it in our Bibles, he calls the belly of the fish "the belly of hell," and 
we all know that there is no word answering to our conception of hell 
in the Bible. 

"Thou hast cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas," says 
Jonah ; Jesus said that the Son of man was to be for three days and three 
nights in the heart of the earth, and both expressions mean the place 
of invisible spirits, or Hades. 

The sea is constantly used in symbolism as an emblem of sorrow. 
"And there was no more sea," is one of the Apocalyptic promises (vide 
Rev. xxi, i). The expressions used by Jonah may all be applied to the 
severity of the trials which preceded his initiation. "The waters com- 
passed me about even to the soul," he says, "the weeds were wrapped about 
my head," a very curious and graphic expression; "I went down to 
the bottoms of the mountains ; the earth with her bars was about me for- 
ever, yet hast thou brought up my life from the pit" (or corruption). 

When Jonah had promised to pay that which he had vowed, the Lord 
spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. There 
is no idea given of the lapse of time between what we may consider to 
be the completion of Jonah's initiation, and his second mission to Nineveh. 
The little that we know of the prophet does not endear him to us, and 
the choice of him as a divine messenger, seems to be another instance 
of what we should consider the selection of a very indifferent tool. But 
"the gods see otherwise," nor can we tell what great purposes the very 
imperfections of their messenger may further. Jonah tried to run away 
when the Lord, whom he worshipped, ordered him to take the message 
of warning to the inhabitants of Nineveh, and when se'nt again, after 
having successfully gone through the severe trials figured by the tempest 
and the fish, he showed such arrogance and harshness that the Lord 
rebuked him by the parable of the gourd and the worm. And Jonah 
passes out of sight, angry and dissatisfied because the Lord had taken 
pity upon the inhabitants of Nineveh when they had repented of their 
evil ways, and refused to punish them further. 

KATHARINE HILLARD. 



MYSTICISM. 



The ordinary man of the world, immersed in the surging sea of 
material interests, impatiently brushes aside the word Mysticism as the 
synonym for nonsense. Not that he denies that there are mysteries in the 
universe ; but, as he does not see how they can affect market prices, they 
are no concern of his. He is no idle dreamer, he will tell you; his phi- 
losophy is built on experience "Facts," if you please ; "cold, hard facts." 

Let us also, then, build our philosophy upon facts, upon experience. 
But let us not begin by supposing that all of the facts and all of the 
experience in the universe are confined to the objective life. If we would 
build broadly, let us have all the facts, all the experience, that mankind 
has gained upon every plane. Facts are none the less facts because they 
are not such as are quoted in the market reports. Experience is none 
the less real because it may be evolved in the inner consciousness. 

In truth, what most men call facts are but the outward shadows of 
facts; the fleeting and often distorted images of the real things which 
stand behind, within. Yet these men of the world spend lifetimes in 
a pitiful struggle to grasp the shadows ; loudly proclaim themselves 
"practical," and look with contempt upon the mystic, who would pierce 
into the heart of life and expose the deception of its merely sensuous 
aspect. 

If life be real and if all men partake of it, why this blindness of the. 
majority to its greater truths ? Is it not because men depend so entirely 
upon the senses? Yet experience, upon which they would base their 
philosophy, teaches them the unreliability of the senses in matters of fact. 
Is it not true that most people would not know they are alive were it not 
for the continued stimulation of sensation? Yet experience teaches that 
sensation only feeds desire for more intense sensation, until the limit of 
endurance is reached upon the sensuous plane and the body breaks down, 
leaving nothing but the memory of desire unsatisfied. The struggle for 
wealth, the race for pleasure, the strife for temporal power these can 
not be the realities of life, for they bring no lasting satisfaction to those 
who acquire them. Where, then, shall we seek for the real life? 

Emerson tells the secret when he says : "Indeed, we are but shadows. 
We are not endowed with real life; and all that seems most real about 
us is but the thinnest substance of a dream, till the heart be touched. That 
touch creates us: then we begin to be, thereby we are beings of reality 
and inheritors of Eternity." So indeed. By this mysterious touch of 
the heart is awakened within us the germ of something new a something 
nobler, grander and more real than the sense-chained self of the cruder 
world. Of course we do not realize at once all that this divine touch means. 
The glamor of the senses is still strong about us, and the immortal soul 



310 



MYSTICISM 311 

that is ready to be born has yet to become a living power to guide our 
life. But through the eyes of that new self, though yet unborn, has come 
to us a glimpse of the eternal world and we can never be again the same 
we were before. The things of nature have assumed for us a new aspect 
and a new meaning. 

When from the shore of some great river we watch its troubled flood 
of waters, we see them hurrying here and eddying there, discolored with 
the slime of earth, but ever sweeping on, sometime to find their rest in 
the bosom of the mother sea ; and its purpose wakes response within our 
soul as we survey the surging stream of human lives, turbid from the 
mire of earthly passions and strewn with the drift of decaying super- 
stitions, but always moving onward in the mighty round of law. 

If we go into the deep forest, the silence is no longer empty, but 
vibrant with the thrill of life; and life shows forth no more as the irre- 
sponsible action of blind force within dead matter, but as the harmony of 
conscious power and law-abiding substance. 

When from some tall mountain top we look out upon the broad 
expanse of night, we no longer see a cold and lifeless void specked here 
and there with points of light to make a chance-born universe ; but now 
we sense in the unfathomed depths of space the living, breathing ocean 
of eternal being, whose crystaled drops are mighty suns and countless 
worlds, each sending forth in brotherly caress to all the others, rays of 
light and love. 

Thus everywhere the erstwhile common things of life become 
illumined with a mystic light in which we dimly feel and know the living 
oneness of the universe. 

Does it destroy the value of such experience to say that we see but 
dimly, that what we see is only a thinner veil which still must hide the 
naked truth? Is not the significant thing the fact that we can learn to 
discern the form of truth at all, though it still be veiled? 

It is sometimes said that the mystic is a mere dreamer of dreams 
and that his assumed knowledge of subtler things is of no practical value 
to the world. Yet every noble thought, every exalted motive, every high 
ambition, which has worked to the practical uplift of humanity, was first 
pictured forth in the realm of such misty dreams ; out of the unseen they 
were seized and given shapes wherein they might be realized by the world. 
The scientist who sees in the marvelous revelations of his laboratory the 
operation of deific law is a mystic: he dreams dreams of truth, and ever 
works to thin the veil that conceals while it reveals. The philosopher who 
hopes to help the race by his philosophy has dreamed a dream, and his 
lifework is an effort to interpret his dream. The religious teacher who 
seeks to elevate the standard of human righteousness has dreamed a 
dream of God, and yearns to wake all men to the wonders revealed in 
his vision. 



3 i2 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

Is it too much to say that all men are dreamers that unless we dream 
we have not reached the stage of man ? How can the Godlike mind create 
in earth except it first make shape and form of thought? The very 
existence of man is evidence that back of the ever-changing personal 
mask stands a reality, immutable and at one with the reality behind the 
phenomenal universe. Browning knew this fundamental fact when he 
wrote : 

"Truth is within us all; it takes no use 

From outward things, whate'er we may believe. 

There is an inmost center in us all 

Where truth abides in fullness; but around, 

Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems us in." 

Let us briefly examine philosophy to see what kinship it bears to 
mysticism. 

First, it is evident that true philosophy must take into consideration 
all of the facts. A system of speculative physics, dealing with but one 
aspect of universal nature, can not be properly called philosophy. The 
essential attribute of philosophy is freedom. It must be unfettered in 
its flights, whether to measure the shifting landmarks of the earth or to 
pierce the highest clouds of reason and soar in the calm sunlight of the 
loftier air. But if it be confined by bars of earth, it beats its mental 
wings in vain to reach the light, until its body dies, even as dies the free- 
born bird imprisoned in a cage. 

Given unlimited freedom of speculation, based on all the facts of 
human experience, philosophy shows forth as nothing less than a theory of 
being. Its ultimate concern is the relation of the individual with the 
Absolute. 

Now as the sensuous world is wholly inadequate to express even so 
much of being as is commonly known to the experience of man, and as 
the relation of the individual with the Absolute can be apprehended only 
by faculties able to deal with facts transcending the world of the senses, 
it is evident that true philosophy must find its infinitely larger field in 
supersensuous realms. So that we find philosophy to be essentially a 
student of mysticism,* whose achievements are gained by reaching forth 
through human experience and linking the facts of being, from the 
earth to highest heaven. 

Art, in which must be included painting, sculpture, music and poetry, 
is one of the broadest gates between the gross plane of our merely 
animal consciousness and the plane of finer things. By its wonderful 
power we may lift the conscious self above the tyranny of the physical 
senses and for a time at least live in a subtler world. It opens to us the 
realm of essential forms, wherein the mind may enter and clothe itself 
in the mystic vestures of the soul. 



MYSTICISM 313 

The painter who limns his ideal on his canvas, the sculptor who 
chisels forth his concept from the marble block, are seers. Their eyes are 
open to the inner world ; from there they take the models for their works. 
The poet ever speaks the tongue of mystery, and often have his words 
revealed such inspiration as could come from nothing less than a source 
divine. Music has mysterious power to touch the heart. It speaks a uni- 
versal language, for it speaks as soul to soul, and by its means the inner 
consciousness may reach to heights where all the seeming clash of earthly 
discords blend in one grand harmony of universal law. Cardinal Newman 
has expressed his conception of the exalted function of music in the 
following beautiful language: 

"Let us take another instance of an outward and earthly form, or 
economy, under which great wonders unknown seem to be typified; I 
mean musical sounds, as they are exhibited most perfectly in instrumental 
harmony. There are seven notes in the scale make them fourteen yet 
what a slender outfit for so vast an enterprise ! What science brings so 
much out of so little ? Out of what poor elements does some great master 
in it create his new world ! Shall we say that all this exuberant inventive- 
ness is a mere ingenuity or trick of art, like some game or fashion of the 
day, without reality and without meaning? We may do so. To many 
men the very names which the science employs are utterly incompre- 
hensible. To speak of an idea or a subject seems to be fanciful or trifling, 
to speak of the views which it opens upon us to be childish extravagance ; 
yet is it possible that that inexhaustible evolution and disposition of notes, 
so rich yet so simple, so intricate yet so regulated, so various yet so 
majestic, should be a mere sound, which is gone and perishes? Can it 
be that these mysterious stirrings of heart, and keen emotions, and strange 
yearnings after we know not what, and awful impressions from we know 
not whence, should be wrought in us by what is unsubstantial, and comes 
and goes, and begins and ends, in itself ? It is not so ; it cannot be. No, 
they have escaped from some higher sphere; they are the outpourings 
of eternal harmony in the medium of created sound; they are echoes 
from our home ; they are the voice of angels, or the Magnificat of saints, 
or the living laws of divine governance, or the divine attributes; some- 
thing they are besides themselves which we cannot compass, which we 
cannot utter." 

All art, then, whether its instrument be the brush, the chisel, the 
measured flow of language, or the skilful concord of sweet sounds, finds 
its inspiration and its final understanding in the conscious radiance which 
hides within the veil of mysticism, which shines serene beyond the 
limits of the earth-bound reason. Shall we not welcome every gleam of 
truth that thus may come to light the soul upon its upward journey, even 
though its clearness may be hindered by the crudity of outer life? If 



314 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

to seize such higher inspirations and to build them in our lives is "empty 
nonsense/' then indeed is mankind orphaned and existence void of method 
and of end. 

What of religion as a means whereby man may apprehend the 
mightier facts of being? What has religion accomplished to rend the 
coarser veils of life and show to man the purer symbols of his true 
existence ? 

The term religion has its different meaning for each one of us. 
For some it means compelled acceptance of a series of dogmatic articles 
of faith, a creed, a system of theology unalterably fixed by presupposed 
authority. Others hold that revelation is progressive, and that though 
they have a formal creed it may not, nay, it can not, be the final word 
of Deity to man. Still others, fearing lest a stated form of their beliefs 
should act to hinder inspiration, refrain from even temporary creeds, and, 
like the humble blossom in the sunlight, simply keep their soul's face 
turned toward the source of truth. 

Who shall determine what is the right or wrong for others, or dare 
to say that under all these various guises wisdom does not find its true 
response in the hearts of men? Surely no religion can be false which 
leads its earnest followers to seek that which wakens their immortal souls ; 
which leads men out of blindness into spiritual light. Such has been the 
primal purpose of religion through the ages, each differing form a 
mystic vehicle adapted to the time and place. Nor has it failed, in spite 
of the wreckage left upon the path of history, for those dissolving 
shapes are but the outgrown shells which once expressed as much of 
truth as men could take; and gleaming down through murky centuries 
of ecclesiastic ruins can be discerned the intermittent but guiding ray 
which shines forth like a beacon light from the eternal heart of life. 

Thus as we look beneath the forms in which we find religion clothed 
and seek the thing itself, we see it as the link that binds Deity and man 
not an outward function, but a mode of consciousness itself within 
the soul, and as such necessarily transcendent and entirely in the realm 
of mysticism. Its seat is not in the intellectual intricacies of theology, 
but in the inscrutable heart of man, wherein is erected its altar and 
wherein are offered up its sacrifices. Its symbols are not chosen by 
ecclesiastic tests, but are unnumbered as the things which make the 
universe; and he who can read these symbols is a mystic and a priest, 
and his service at the altar is the service of his daily life. 

In mysticism, then, whether its door be philosophy, or religion, or 
art, is opened for man the path which leads to a realization of larger 
being, the path which leads out of the phenomenal into the noumenal 
world. 

Its seeming shadows when illumined by the rays of higher reason 



MYSTICISM 315 

no longer mock us with their mystery, but stand revealed as eloquent 
interpreters of the Everlasting Yea. 

It is the field of man's interior evolution. If the soul shall grow 
it must have room beyond the narrow confines of its sensuous prison; 
must know its freedom, and must dare to wrest its mystic kingdom from 
the selfish habit of the senses and make it subject to the Godlike reign 
of conscious will. 

Let those whose eyes are blind to nature's hidden works, whose ears 
are deaf to life's grand symphonies, scoff at the claims of mysticism. 
Yet in the hidden light have thousands found the key that can unlock the 
door of life's profounder mysteries and disclose the secret pathway of 
the soul's long journey to self-conscious oneness with the Infinite. 

A. I. MENDENHALL. 



"Saints are made saints not by doing extraordinary or uncommon 
things, but by doing common things in an uncommon way, on uncom- 
monly high principles, in an uncommonly self-sacrificing spirit. Be sure 
that this is the only substantial thing. The bits of knowledge that we 
call our learning, the bits of property that we call our wealth, the momen- 
tary vanities of delight that we call the conquests of social life, how 
swiftly they hurry to their graves, or are lost in forgetfulness! Nothing, 
nothing else but character survives, and character is Christ formed within" 

F. D. HUNTING-TON. 



WORK FOR THEOSOPHISTS. 



THE Chairman has told us that the conclusion arrived at in the 
paper read at your last meeting was that what the world now 
needs is an Ideal. The nature of this ideal, as I understand, was 
not suggested. The problem for us to solve to-night, then, is 
What is the ideal that the world needs ? It seems to me that we as Theos- 
ophists should be able both to solve the problem and supply the need. 

What is it that distinguishes Theosophy, as taught in all ages, from 
other ways of belief, whether religious, philosophic, or scientific ? Surely 
it is that while other beliefs have held up ideals as separate from man; 
have held up Gods to be worshipped, knowledge to be acquired, and so 
forth Theosophy has always maintained that man's ideal exists within 
himself and in truth is himself. In other words it has taught : "Tat tvam 
asi," THAT thou art; it is Thou that art God. Progress, from this point 
of view, is not a process of accretion from without, nor is it a process 
of ladder-climbing from earth to Heaven : it is a process of self-realiza- 
tion. We must understand what we are in fact, in reality, instead of 
judging ourselves to be bodies, either possessed or not possessed of 
souls, as our particular line of materialism inclines us. 

In this, as I see it, lies our answer to the evening's question : the ideal 
of which the world needs to be reminded is this ancient doctrine of 
Theosophy. Man's greatest crime is his lack of faith in man. He must 
be brought to believe in himself because he is a man and because all men, 
including himself, are essentially divine. 

But must this conclusion remain merely a pious opinion, or can 
we as Theosophists hope to supply the world's need? I suggest that 
to supply it is the mission of the Theosophical Society. 

Now comes the question, how can this be done? 

It is clear that we, who propose to preach, must first believe. I do 
not mean believe intellectually. That is easy. I mean believe with our 
hearts, which is not easy. It is not easy because the devil in us fights 
for its life against our growing conviction. It uses nature's power of 
inertia, which is tremendous ; it then plays on our timidity, on our lack 
of self-confidence, on our egoism on everything that will blind us to 
the divine light in us and in others. But we must believe; we must be 
self-reliant; we must have confidence in the power and wisdom of the 
soul. 

Lack of self-confidence is always bad; in Theosophists it is almost 



*Extracts from a report of an address to the London T. S. 
3'6 



WORK FOR THEOSOPHISTS 317 

inexcusable. Bombast, brag, are its other pole. True self-confidence 
and true humility are practically synonymous. "I am the Ego, the Self, 
which is seated in the hearts of all beings," says Krishna. That is 
what we need to believe ; each one of us, of others, of ourselves. To the 
extent that we are able to realize it as true, shall we be able to revive 
the idea] of which the world stands so terribly in need. 

The doctrine in its nudity is "strong meat" much too strong for 
the majority of mankind. But each of the three objects of the Society 
expresses it in veiled form. By promoting those objects we cannot fail 
to spread a knowledge of the ideal which they veil; and we know that 
our propaganda works on the minds of men not directly only, but 
indirectly also, so that the effect of our work is almost infinitely more 
far-reaching than the size of the Society might lead us to infer. 

As to whether we should invite people who know nothing of Theos- 
ophy to lecture at meetings which have been advertised as "theosophi- 
cal": I suggest that if we invite inquirers to attend a meeting on 
Theosophy, we should tell them about Theosophy when they come. But 
there are, of course, different ways of doing this. Instead of dealing 
with the subject negatively, however, by saying what I would not do, I 
prefer to deal with it positively by saying what I would like to see done 
in some branches of the Society. I say "some" advisedly; for in my 
opinion it is better, when possible, to have two or three different groups 
in a large town such as London, so that different lines of work can be 
followed. Both members and inquirers will then gravitate naturally to 
the centre which attracts them. This, I understand, is the method 
followed by Free Masons, who, in matters of organization, have had a 
longer experience to guide them than ourselves. In any case it should 
be our aim to supply all needs, and to recognize and provide for all 
legitimate differences. 

It will be understood, then, that I am not recommending the follow- 
ing scheme as worthy of universal adoption. Quite the contrary. 

My fundamental propositions are that specialization of function 
should be used by us as it is used by Nature; and that the time has 
come for students of Theosophy to specialize. We have studied the 
Esoteric Philosophy for many years. Our duty is to pass our knowledge 
on to others. But to approach people with ideas which are more or less 
new to them, and to do this effectively, it is necessary to work along the 
line of least resistance. This line of least resistance, generally speaking, 
is the line of some subject in regard to which their interest or curiosity 
has already been aroused. 

Thus : someone has heard of the phenomena of Spiritualism and his 
mind is open to learn more about such things. He has perhaps witnessed 
effects which puzzle him, and he is on the look-out for causes. Or a 
mother is interested in the education of her children and is really anxious 



3 i8 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

to study the subject. Or an orthodox Church-goer has begun to think; 
he has picked up some such book as "Stories of the High Priest of Mem- 
phis," and is seeking an explanation of the parallels between the life of 
Si-Osiri and the Gospel narratives. 

In each case there exists a need which Theosophy can supply; an 
opening, a line of least resistance, along which Theosophy can pass. But 
who is there at this moment in the Society who could, for instance, 
survey intelligently the systems of Education propounded by Jacotot, 
Froebel, Bell and Lancaster, Spencer, and others the recognized author- 
ities and then point out the light which Theosophy throws upon their 
various views ? If there is anyone, in Heaven's name let him speak ! But 
is there no member who has a natural talent or inclination or need 
along this line of study? Surely there must be. Then why not apply 
what we have already learned about Theosophy (and what we should 
go on learning) to this or to some other branch of human knowledge 
which at the same time attracts us and interests a section of the general 
public ? 

It would take an hour to suggest the possible openings. There is 
Music and the science of sound ; Egyptology ; Assyriology ; Archaeology ; 
the Scandinavian or other mythologies; the lives of the Adepts; Soci- 
ology ; Art, and the meaning of color and form; Philosophy (which 
would mean mastering thoroughly at least two of the great systems 
with which the world is superficially familiar, such as those of Kant and 
Hegel) ; the Philosophy of History (I am not aware that this vitally 
important subject has at any time been treated by a Theosophist) and 
so on and so forth, almost without end! When making our choice, let 
us so far as our taste permits follow the advice of Madame Blavatsky 
to keep our Theosophy human. There are some subjects which, although 
very interesting, appeal chiefly to a small circle of scholars only. I do 
not mean to rule them out, but if we can find a wider opening, so much 
the better. 

The difficulty in these matters is to make a start. Suppose, then, 
that instead of informing a member that the Branch would be glad to 
hear him deliver an address on any given topic in six weeks from the 
time of notice, he were told that in a year from now he would be expected 
to deliver a series of three or more consecutive lectures on the subject 
of his choice: why not? He would have ample time for study, and, 
at the end of a year, should be really worth listening to, even by other 
experts, simply for the reason that he would have studied in the light 
of Theosophy and would expound his subject in the same light. 

And let me remark this in passing: the less time we devote to any 
subject, the more we find to criticize, the less to admire. If we really 
master our subject, we shall be able to present it in such a way, so 
sympathetically and fairly, that even though our conclusions differ from 



WORK FOR THEOSOPHISTS 319 

those that are generally accepted, we shall not offend other and more 
orthodox experts. 

But are we to take up these special lines of study merely to enable 
our Branch syllabus to shine with the glory of papers on "Theosophy and 
Schopenhauer," "Theosophy and Modern Sociology," "The Recent Dis- 
coveries at Karnak in the Light of Theosophy," and so forth? That 
is not my idea. It is that we should apply our knowledge of Theosophy 
to some world-problem or world-study, with a view to sharing with others 
the light we have found: and we can never do that until we recognize 
and justly appreciate the light which others already possess. 

Briefly, then, what I suggest is, not leaving our centre, but radiating 
from it ; not making the Society so*nondescript that it ceases to be a dis- 
tinguishable figure, but enlarging the field of our activity by enlarging 
the circle of our sympathy and interest. X. 



"Few things are more important than to keep the inner self calm. 
Then we can see in a clear light. Then when trouble comes it does not 
carry us off our feet, or whirl us away, helpless, before the storm. We 
may have to suffer; we may have to thread our way through perplex- 
ities; yet, the inner self may be still." W. J. KNOX LITTLE. 



ELEMENTARY ARTICLES 



I. 

THEOSOPHY IN EVERYDAY LIFE. 

DEAR FRIEND: I have written you seven letters on the prin- 
ciples and teachings of Theosophy and have endeavored to 
state these teachings in language as clear and concise as pos- 
sible. Of course, you will remember that I am only a student 
and not a professor, and so may have a very imperfect conception of 
some of these principles and teachings. All I desired was to get you 
interested so that you would earnestly study the standard works on the 
subject, such as The Secret Doctrine; The Key to Theosophy, and thus 
become a practical Theosophist yourself. 

Now you tell me that this is a practical age, and ask me of what 
real use are these teachings and whether they can be applied to the every- 
day life of common people. 

Let me say in reply, that I do not know of any philosophy or 
religion that is of greater practical value than Theosophy. 

The central truth of Theosophy is the Brotherhood of humanity, 
without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color. I do not know 
of any sect or organization that believes this as Theosophists do. 

There are those who profess to believe in universal brotherhood but 
are very far from really believing it. Quite recently a gentleman said 
to me, "I do not believe in churches because they do not live and preach 
the brotherhood of man." He then went on to speak fervently and 
eloquently about the blessings that would come to the country whenever 
this idea of brotherhood was put into practice. I told him I was glad 
to hear him talk that way, for those were entirely my sentiments. I 
then went on to say that if the men of his union had agreed with him 
we would not have had the cruel "slugging" that so disgraced us in 
the recent strike. 

Suddenly he turned in wrath and cursed the "scabs," saying they 
did not deserve anything better. I further learned that in his brother- 
hood he did not like to include a Catholic Frenchman. His idea of 
brotherhood was far from being "Universal." 

Now turn to our Christian churches and you will find thousands who 



THEOSOPHY IN EVERYDAY LIFE 321 

believe it is their duty to send missionaries to China, Japan, and India, 
but who are dreadfully shocked that these people are coming to us in 
such large numbers, and who cry out against the "yellow peril," and are 
ready to justify the riots that have occurred at San Francisco, Belling- 
ham, and Vancouver. The same is true of many who consider them- 
selves patriotic Americans. They speak with great enthusiasm of the two 
brothers the Cavalier and the Puritan who came to our shores, and 
of the wonderful way in which Divine Providence has led them and 
blessed them, but when you speak of the third brother the black brother 
they will not admit his brotherhood nor believe it was a Divine Provi- 
dence that sent him here, as the other two were sent! One must ride 
in Jim Crow cars, however cultured and refined he may be, while the 
other must have the Pullman parlor car. 

You will readily see that none of these people are applying this 
great central principle of Theosophy to everyday practical life. But is 
it not plain to you that there is large opportunity for so applying it? 

Not only could it be applied in dealing with these colored races, but 
also in the commonest details of our dealings with each other as families, 
neighbors, and fellow citizens. If this one principle of Theosophy were 
so applied it would bring to us as individuals and communities immeasur- 
able blessings. It can be so applied by every Theosophist. It would 
not always be easy to live the life, for it is contrary to the general cus- 
toms and habits of the majority of the men and women of to-day. 

The great mass of men regulate their lives by rules and do not 
concern themselves with the reasons for them, nor with the principles 
underlying them. There are certain things they may do, and certain 
other things they may not do. 

To these the Ten Commandments are all-important, and will forever 
remain so. This seems to indicate a low state of intellectual and moral 
development. The Theosophist should be far above these, and while 
not despising actions that are customary and conventional, he should 
know the reasons and causes of the rules. He should know why he 
does this, and does not do that. 

He should reach upward to a development that is even higher than 
this. He should so yield himself to this principle of brotherhood, and 
live so thoroughly by his higher nature that by intuition a prophetic 
flash he will know what is right and what is wrong. He will no longer 
need to ask the reason for this, or that, but will feel their harmony or 
discord with his own spiritual nature. The wild duck can walk on land, 
but is much more graceful in the water, but is grander still when sailing 
through the air across a continent. So a man can live by rules, or better 
still he can live by reason, but the highest and best way is to become 
so sensitively organized that he will know what is right or wrong by its 



322 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

harmony or discord with his feelings this is what Theosophy is leading 
men to. 

This method of living will lead those who are living by rule to look 
on us with suspicion, and perhaps with fear, because we seem to them 
to be throwing off all moral restraints, and even abandoning the right 
and becoming lawless. 

This will give us another opportunity to apply Theosophy to daily 
life. We can show charity and tolerance toward these when they mis- 
understand us and say bitter things about us, for we all believe that 
the strong should help the weak. If we have found spiritual liberty we 
should not show contempt of those who are still in bondage. Cultured 
people should be patient with the rude and vulgar. If we are Theoso- 
phists we are under the law of service, and as father and mother and 
the older children in the family instinctively serve the baby, so must we 
be ready to serve others. This is the point in life where it is difficult 
to live out our principles. It means a large measure of self control 
control of speech, conduct and carriage for the tongue must lose its 
power to wound. Words must cease to be poisoned arrows, and both 
speech and conduct must be free from selfishness and be used in the 
service of others. Selfishness sacrifices the interests of others for the 
self, or looks out for self and neglects others. 

It is easy to show our selfishness in a way that seems to us unselfish. 
For instance, we have become filled and fired with enthusiasm for 
Theosophy and we show an indiscreet urgency in pressing these truths 
upon others. We must consider times and seasons, as well as the moods, 
temperaments, feelings and dispositions of men. If we are wise we 
shall often remain silent, and never become so incisive and pertinacious 
as to annoy and vex people, even if they show this disposition in push- 
ing their beliefs, for we are under the law of love. 

The tendency thus to urge our beliefs springs from selfishness and 
the activity of the lower nature. To practise Theosophy means to control 
this lower nature by the great law of love, and to strive to live by our 
nobler, higher self. 

In every department of life and in every occupation there is an 
opportunity to live our Theosophy ; there is not a man who drives a nail, 
turns a screw, shoves a plane, or works in stone or plaster, who may 
not be a benefactor if he works with the right spirit. It is beggarly and 
degrading to work from sordid motives. A farmer works hard and 
produces five thousand bushels of wheat, and says, "Wheat is a dollar 
a bushel, that will give me $5,000. I will pay off my mortgage and 
have plenty of money left to invest at good interest." He gets excited 
with the thought that he will soon be a rich man. His whole thought 
and feeling is selfish. Another man in a similar situation thinks of how 
many mouths the wheat will feed, how many poor people and children 



THEOSOPHY IN EVERYDAY LIFE 323 

will grow strong on it, and pictures to himself many ways in which he 
will be able to bless men with the money he gets from the sale of it. 
He feels joy in his work, it will help to make others happy. This may 
be true for all kinds of work. 

We read the story of Father Damien and admire the heroism of 
a life given so nobly for the poor lepers. But if we are living our Theos- 
ophy, all our lives are noble and heroic, although they may seem com- 
monplace. 

There are some rich men who live in a magnificent selfishness, and 
also make everything serve them. They are honored in life and the 
papers trumpet their praises when they are dead, and people call them 
great men. Yet, from our standpoint they are not to be compared to 
the faithful watchman and the faithful policeman who guarded him and 
his property and lose their lives at the post of duty. How noble these 
honest and faithful servants of the public are compared with the selfish 
uselessness of the millionaire. 

The gentle nurse who gives herself to nurse the little children 
who are suffering from scarlatina and diphtheria; and the angel hands 
who go out under the red cross, not counting their lives dear to them 
far from home and among strangers, giving their lives for those who 
need them all are heroes and living nobly. 

But without giving up our lives we may use them for others. 
Devotion is the right performance of all our duties, however humble. 
Our Theosophy may show itself in and by our work. The humblest 
employments are so arranged that while they serve to support the worker 
they do far more for others than for them. We think and speak of a 
trade, or profession, or manual employment as a toil through which a 
man gets a living. It may be this, but it should be more. What a man 
gets from his craft is not nearly so important as what he gives by it. 
A carpenter builds a beautiful home and gets a few thousand dollars for 
it, and we say he earned his money and got it. Is that all? Has he not 
built a holy temple in which families will be sheltered perhaps for 
centuries ? 

Here the incense of joy and grief will ascend. Here the threads of 
life, bright and dark, will be wrought out and woven together. After 
the man is dead the home will remain to shelter, give peace and enjoy- 
ment to others. If he has only worked in a right spirit his goodness is 
incarnated in wood, stone, and metal, and he confers benefits, opportu- 
nities and influences on the community. The faithful smith who forges 
a cable and makes every link safe gives his work, but he does more. 
Out of the harbor sails the great ship with a thousand souls on board 
fathers, mothers, heroes, patriots and all depend on the faithfulness 
of this man's work. The storm rages with violence, but the cable holds 
and saves the ship. The anchor grapples the foundations of the earth 



324 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

and will not let go. Is not the life of the smith linked with others, and 
has it not a value far above his weekly wage? In the same way the 
merchant, the mechanic, and the day laborer may render great service 
to their fellow men, and are to be pitied if they do it only for selfish, 
miserable self, for they then limit their own happiness, and also that 
of others. There are men who by industry, skill, study and experience, 
gain great power to help their fellow men, but as they grow . wiser they 
begin to despise the vulgar and the ignorant. As they grow richer 
they separate themselves from their brethren. They are like worms 
that feed voraciously and then spin around themselves a silken cocoon 
and expect to pass into a butterfly existence. That which is good for 
a bug may be poor for a man. If we live our Theosophy we shall avoid 
these very serious mistakes and will find our joy in service and not 
in selfishness. In past ages men have died for their beliefs, and there 
may be those who are ready to die for Theosophy, but even that could 
not prove him to be unselfish. A man with a good deal of conceit and 
a fair share of obstinacy could die for his beliefs and still be quite 
selfish. One who knew said, "Though I give my body to be burned 
and have not love it profiteth me nothing." Selfishness is the great 
heresy. Is it not plain then that Theosophy is practical, and that if we 
lived out our Theosophy as parents and children, and in the common 
relationship of life, we would add greatly to the sum of human happiness? 

Yours fraternally, 

JOHN SCHOFIELD. 



"To have faults and not to reform them this, indeed, should be 
pronounced having faults" 

"The great man is he who does not lose his child's heart." 
"Deal with evil as if it were a sickness in your person" 

"To nourish the heart there is nothing better than to make the 
desires few." CONFUCIUS. 




Pragmatism, A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. Popular Lec- 
tures on Philosophy by William James. Longmans, Green & Co., $1.25. 

One of the most valuable features of Professor James's writings, as one of 
their greatest charms, is the breadth and depth of human sympathy which animates 
them. His Varieties of Religious Experience well deserved its subsidiary title of 
"A Study of Human Nature." Professor James was a psychologist before he was 
a philosopher, and his primary interest has remained with the individual. He is 
first a lover of man, and only secondarily of wisdom. It is, therefore, not surprising 
that in this latest series of popular lectures the metaphysical and philosophic system 
which he presents should be frankly humanistic and individualistic. These are 
good names. The quarrel which many laymen have with philosophy, as with 
science, is that it seems to deal only in abstractions. It reduces the world in 
which we live, which we feel vibrant and rich with possibility, with warmth and 
color and feeling and will, to a series of abstractions, a bare skeleton of a world 
in which all we value in life seems to have no place, and we ourselves to be 
squeezed out of reality. We are left chilled before its cold perfection. It seems 
to have no practical bearing on our every-day lives; it may all be so; but what 
of it? After all, is it not a mere matter of words and names? What difference 
does it make to you or me? 

When we approach philosophy or science, or anything whatsoever, in that 
attitude we are adopting the pragmatic method. The term "Pragmatism," Pro- 
fessor James tells us, is derived from the Greek word pragma, meaning action, 
from which our words "practice" and "practical" also come. It was introduced 
into philosophy by Mr. Charles Peirce in 1878. In an article entitled "How to 
Make Our Ideas Clear," Mr. Peirce, after pointing out that our ideas are really 
rules for action, said that to develop a thought's meaning we need only determine 
what conduct it is fitted to produce: that conduct is for us its sole significance. 
"To attain perfect clearness in our thoughts of an object," he maintained, "we 
need only consider what conceivable effects of a practical kind the object may 
involve what sensations we are to expect from it and what reactions we must 
prepare. Our conception of these effects, whether immediate or remote, is for 
us the whole of our conception of the object, as far as that conception has positive 
significance at all." Distinctions that make no practical difference are without 
meaning. 

This is the principle of pragmatism. It is the every-day attitude of most of 
us. It is not new in philosophy. As Professor James says, "Socrates was an adept 
at it. Aristotle used it methodically. Locke, Berkeley and Hume made momentous 
contributions to truth by its means. But these forerunners of pragmatism used 
it in fragments : they were a prelude only. Not until our own time has it gen- 
eralized itself, become conscious of a universal mission, pretended to a conquering 
destiny." For twenty years Peirce's article was left unnoticed. Then Professor 
James revived the term, and has now made its method the basis of his meta- 
physical system a system which numbers strong adherents and which pretends 
to "a universal mission and a conquering destiny." It is these pretensions which 
we are called upon to consider. 

From what has been already said it is clear that pragmatism has small respect 
for abstractions as such. To it they are man-made products, whose origin is in 
concrete experience, and whose function is to lead us back advantageously to 
further experience. They are fruitful ways of regarding reality. Just so far as 
they are advantageous and useful they are true; just so far and no further. This 
is much the attitude of science. The atomic theory of matter had its origin in 
experiments, in the behavior of concrete substances. Once furmulated it proved 



326 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

useful. Matter acted as though it were composed of these minute indivisible par- 
ticles, and the theory led us back again to further experience, to the discovery of 
new facts. To this extent the theory was true. But with the discovery of radium 
and its phenomena this theory ceased to be useful. It no longer led us back into 
experience such as we desired. To this extent it ceased to be true, and the ionic 
and electric theory of matter has taken its place, and that is now true. Pragmatism 
has made of this a definition of truth. Truth is a matter of correct leading. It is 
that which it is advantageous to believe. 

But pragmatism does not particularly like the term the Truth. "The Truth" 
is, to it, an abstraction ; on a par with "the Absolute" or "the All Knowing Intelli- 
gence," to be retained only if, as concepts, they prove useful. "The question 'What 
is the truth?'" Professor James says, "is no real question (being irrelative to all 
conditions). The whole notion of the truth is an abstraction from the fact of 
truths in the plural, a mere useful summarizing phrase like the Latin Language 
or the Law." 

This brings clearly into view the closeness with which pragmatism adheres to 
the concrete. Professor James continues (p. 240) : "Common-law judges some- 
times talk about the law, and schoolmasters talk about the Latin tongue in a way 
to make their hearers think they mean entities pre-existent to the decisions or 
the words and syntax determining them unequivocally and requiring them to obey. 
But the slightest exercise of reflexion makes us see that, instead of being prin- 
ciples of this kind, both law and Latin are results. Distinctions between the law- 
ful and unlawful in conduct, or between the correct and incorrect in speech, have 
grown up incidentally among the interactions of men's experiences in detail ; 
and in no other way do distinctions between the true and the false in belief ever 
grow up. Truth grafts itself on previous truth, modifying it in the process, just 
as idiom grafts itself on previous idiom, and law on previous law. . . . Pre- 
vious truth ; fresh facts : and our mind finds a new truth. All the while, how- 
ever, we pretend that the eternal is unrolling, that the one previous justice, gram- 
mar or truth are simply fulgurating and not being made. . . . These things 
make themselves as we go. Our rights, wrongs, prohibitions, penalties, words, 
forms, idioms, beliefs are so many new creations that add themselves as fast as 
history proceeds. Far from being antecedent principles that animate the process, 
law, language, truth are but abstract names for its results." 

This doctrine that truths are man-made products is the "Humanism" of which 
Mr. Shiller at Oxford is the foremost exponent, and which Professor James 
defends. In this system "the world is what we make it." [Professor James 
quotes from Mr. Shiller's Personal Idealism] : "It is fruitless to define it by what 
it originally was or by what it is apart from us ; it is what is made of it. Hence 
the world is plastic." "We can learn the limit of that plasticity only by trying, 
and we ought," he says, "to start as if it were wholly plastic, acting methodically 
on that assumption, and stopping only when decisively rebuked." 

We have now before us the essential doctrine of Pragmatism and Humanism. 
It expresses a frank contempt for intellectualism as such. It pleads that all opinion 
is to be judged by its fruits. It would, therefore, be of small use to dwell upon 
such intellectual inconsistency as it is not difficult to discover. Let us rather 
apply to it the criterion for which it asks. First, then, we see how it faces forward 
into reality, insisting that beliefs must be lived: that a belief is no belief unless 
it is acted upon, unless it makes a difference to our lives. It bids us stop 
all metaphysical hair-splitting and empty speculation. It teaches that the function 
of the mind is to guide the will; that not only our own life, but the whole world 
as well, is what we make it. Every fact, every belief, comes to us with a challenge : 
What are you going to do about me? And if we do nothing, then that fact 
or belief ceases to exist for us. Such an attitude must be continually stimulating, 
and it is a corrective to many harmful tendencies. 

But on the other hand, if the pragmatic attitude liberates the will, we cannot 
but feel that, in the extreme guise in which Professor James has presented it, it 
dwarfs and imprisons the spirit. It is not alone an anthropocentric philosophy, 
in which the whole universe it measured by man's needs, but it inculcates a very 
narrow view of man himself. Man's life is not bounded by the concrete. Nor 
are abstractions the crude averages Professor James depicts. The schoolmaster 
and young lawyer of whom Professor James makes such easy sport are not so 
distant from the truth. A people's tongue and a people's law are something more 
than the sum totals of words and rulings. They have a spirit and a genius of 
their own, which could not be other than it is. It is not by accident that our 
language is formed; its roots are in our blood and temper. Truly it grew, but 



REVIEWS 327 

equally there was that behind it which guided its growth and this racial genius is 
no small part of the individual. The reality of man's life, that which is most himself, 
is as far from concrete facts the accidents of his outer life as it is from the 
barren formularies of logic. He is himself a dweller in abstractions, and Truth, 
the Truth, may be more to him than all the plural truths and all the concrete facts 
the world can give. The deeper, truer part of man is not anthropocentric in any 
such sense as is this philosophy; and the cosmocentric "abstractions" of his 
reveries and worship may become for him the essential fact of his individual ex- 
istence. To the extent that pragmatism and humanism isolate man from the whole 
of which he is part cause him to view this Whole as a figment of his own 
separate thinking, or as a concept to be used for his own separate advantage 
to that extent pragmatism falsifies itself, for it leads us not back into reality but 
into the miasmic phantasmagoria of our own delusions. H. B. M. 



The Martyrdom of a Philosopher. By Paul Carus. Everything Dr. Carus 
writes or edits has a certain quality of sincerity in it ; he always has some idea, 
principle or movement, in which he genuinely believes, and whose ends he seeks 
to further. In the present book, he adds wit to sincerity, and gives us a satirical 
story, which makes very entertaining reading. The Philosopher, whose martyr- 
dom we are invited to witness, is a disciple of the English school of Utilitarians, 
whose prophets, like Jeremy Bentham, adhere to the principle of "the greatest 
happiness of the greatest number." Further, this philosopher is wedded to the 
Agnosticism of Herbert Spencer to such an extent that, heedless of Latin etymology, 
he changes his name from Mr. Green to Mr. Agnosco, in proof of his faith. He 
forms a Philosophical Society, in the Paris of Napoleon III, and we are intro- 
duced to a choice collection of cranks, including a tricky Spiritualist and a rascally 
little adherent of Socialism, who marries the heroine and, when the curtain falls, 
is busy plotting to get possession of her bonds. She, on her side, has decided that 
she will endure anything, even divorce, rather than be sundered from the said 
bonds, which, by the way, she seems to have sequestered from her uncle's desk, 
he being the Mr. Green who has become Mr. Agnosco. We are left in doubt as 
to who gets those bonds. As to Mr. Green, he is wrecked on a cannibal island, 
and ministers to the greatest happiness of the greatest number, at a cannibal 
banquet, at which he seems to have given universal satisfaction. The purpose of 
the satire is to show that utilitarianism, Socialism and similar schemes of col- 
lective enjoyment are at heart perfectly selfish, and that it is an abuse of the word 
morality to call them moral. Morality rests on the ideal of duty, not on any cal- 
culation of well-being. Those who are familiar with Carlyle will remember that 
he has pitched into the "greatest happiness" principle on exactly the same grounds. 

The Dharma. By Paul Carus (Open Court Publishing Co.) This is a new 
edition of one of the little manuals of Buddhism which Dr. Carus has published 
at intervals for several years, and of which his "Gospel of Buddha" is probably 
the best known. The Dharma, which means "The Law," is not a continuous nar- 
rative, but a selection of characteristic excerpts, such as the Noble Eightfold Path, 
the Four Noble Truths, and similar passages, many of which Dr. Carus has turned 
into verse. We confess, though perhaps ours is a minority view, that we prefer 
the most literal prose translation in all such works. But it seems that Dr. Carus 
has been somewhat oppressed with the baldness and dryness of the Pali Buddhist 
books. It has always seemed to us that most of these books should be compared, 
not with the books of the New Testament, but with the brain-spun treatises of 
the medieval Schoolmen ; they all show that they have passed through the minds 
of dried-up ecclesiastics, and we must seek for the source of the religious enthu- 
siasm which made Buddhism a great missionary religion, elsewhere than in these 
almost algebraic treatises. We are inclined to take exception to Dr. Carus' 
description of the Vedanta, and especially the Upanishads, as "Brahmanism." 
Real Brahmanism consisted of the Vedic sacrificial system, lined by ancestor- 
worship. The Upanishads, as they themselves tell us, convey the teaching, not 
of the Brahmans, but of the Rajputs, and sharply attack the Brahmanical system. 
So does the Bhagavad Gita, which declares itself to be the doctrine of "the Rajput 
sages." Buddhism is the third Rajput revelation, and only to be understood in 
connection with its two predecessors. After all, it seems to us that Edwin Arnold's 
"Light of Asia" remains far the truest Western presentation of the religion of 
"Siddhartha the Compassionate." C. J. 



3 28 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

MAGAZINE LITERATURE. 

The Open Court for October, November and December. Notable among the 
articles in the October number is the Rev. E. H. Rumball's study of "Sin in the 
Upanishads," wherein he shows that the root of sin from the Brahmanical stand- 
point is ignorance, while from the Christian standpoint it is selfishness. He believes 
the Brahmanical conception a valuable one, well worth serious consideration. 
Poultney Bigelow, writing on Japan, thinks Christian missionaries to Japan a 
political blunder, and indeed an insult to a friendly nation; for what it has of 
most value, it owes to just what the missionaries go there to combat, that is, the 
so-called worship of ancestors. Both this and the November number contain 
articles on the recent syllabus of Pius X, which is discussed at length in this issue 
of the QUARTERLY. There is also in the November number an interesting "Criti- 
cism of Modern Theology," by Herman F. Bell, of New York, which the editor 
of the Open Court thinks an evidence that the seed of progress is working most 
successfully in the heart of the growing generation. 

In December, Orlando J. Smith attacks the God-problem, and, like most of 
his other work, while containing nothing new, restates old ideas in such a modern 
and clear and forceful manner that we feel as we read that the work was well 
worth while. Mr. Smith is a firm convert to Reincarnation, and makes it the basis 
of a part of his argument. There is a brief article on Jacob Boehme, and the 
conclusion of Dr. Carus's article on "St. Catherine of Alexandria." Father Hya- 
cinthe Loyson's criticisms of the Syllabus are continued. 

The Theosophsches Leben for the current month contains the usual symposium 
of translations and original articles. In September Ernst John contributes the 
principal article on "Practical Theosophy." In October, the feature is a study 
of the Secret Doctrine, while the November number is chiefly composed of trans- 
lations of a "Fragment" by Cave, and an article on the "Mission of Jesus" by 
Charles Johnston. 

The Annals of Psychical Science for the quarter contain the usual discussion 
of spiritualistic phenomena from the scientific point of view. Professor Bozzano 
is collecting a large mass of testimony regarding the apparition of dying per- 
sons to distant friends, and is endeavoring to classify this type of phenomena. 

Dr. Henry Fotherby discusses the relations between emotions and color, a 
subject which has received considerable attention of late. He endeavors to give 
an evolutionary and purely materialistic explanation of the undoubted association 
between color and emotion, which exists in nearly all minds, but his theory, while 
ingenious, is entirely unconvincing. 

Professor Bottazzi, director of the Physiological Institute at the University 
of Naples, gives an account of his experiments with the famous Italian medium, 
Eusepia Paladino. He began as a complete skeptic and ended a contributor to 
The Annals! 

International Journal of Ethics presents the usual symposium of articles on 
its specialties by learned writers from all over the world. Justice Brewer dis- 
courses on "Law and Ethics," and combats the common opinion that all lawyers 
are rascals. Frank A. Freeman writes on the "Ethics of Gambling," and points 
out many of the evils of this almost universal curse. The book reviews, as usual, 
are excellent. 



QUESTIONS 



ANSWERS 







QUESTION 78. To what extent should one submit to social usage? 

ANSWER. Good manners alone, apart from good feeling (which is the model 
of good manners), would dictate conformance to the social usages of the place in 
which our lives are cast. The moment we pass beyond the limits of the unit life, 
we have laws of association; there are rules which govern every structure, and 
from which the social structure is by no means exempt. We see such rules every- 
where; in the workshop as on the playing field; in a home as in a Government. 
Roughly speaking, we call them the "rules of the game"; and we say of a man 
who regards all these rules, wherever he may be, that "he plays the game"; he 
accepts the conditions of association in any given set of conditions. Life itself sets 
the example. If a man does not regard the rules of Life, he is passed along to 
another place which we call Death; and here there are doubtless rules also, for no 
state of manifestation is without its laws. Hence the philosopher accepts the usages 
of the state in which he finds himself; he knows them to be the strict conditions of 
learning, of attrition, of association, and thus of Evolution. 

"But how," do you say, "if these usages be evil?" Let us discriminate. We 
shall not find "usages" evil; we may at times find evil customs prevailing here and 
there. But we shall not, I venture to think, find evil accepted as a social usage. 
There may be things which we may not hold wise, such as irreverence, the use 
of alcohol, the playing of games of chance, and so on. But these are customs, 
matters of the individual ; we need not do these things ourselves. Usages are dif- 
ferent, and these we should follow, or remain apart. , J. K. 

ANSWER. All depends upon one's aim in life, the philosophy, or lack of it. 
If a short life and a merry one be the standard ; if idle, careless drifting seems the 
greatest good, then accept and make the most possible of all social usages. If 
you belong by choice to the eminently respectable class, or the solid money power 
of the world, then by all means give sanction to all these helpful usages of society, 
all those usages which assist you to appear large in the eyes of others ; all those 
usages which build up your reputation and position in the social world. Why not? 

But if perchance you have paused sometime to look up into the dark mid- 
night sky, and down into your own heart. If you have realized that love is greater 
than knowledge; that the Divine law of life is unity and continuity. If you 
accept the woes of repeated births, and would follow "the small old path the Seers 
knew," striving to "keep the heart with all diligence, as out of it are the issues 
of liTe," realizing that only as you "point out the way" to another, will the light 
brighton for you then you will submit only to those usages of society which 
give th> opportunity to lift your other selves, and to broaden and brighten the real 
pathway of the soul. E. M. 

ANSWER. Social usages, in their true and original form, are intended to facili- 
tate soc al intercourse, and should be followed just so far as they make things 
pleasant* T for those around one. The purely arbitrary rules of social life, such 
as dressing for dinner, generally have some good reason behind them, but wherever 
they conflict with our spiritual growth, they should be promptly set aside, pro- 
vided 'aat in so doing we do not offend a friend, or mistake for a lofty disregard 
of rrl^es what is apt to be simple laziness. K. H. 

QUESTION 79. Can a man injure himself without injuring others ? 

ANSWER. Injury, in any sense, implies wilful harm. It is hardly to be sup- 

329 



330 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

posed that one would wilfully harm himself, or another; yet we know that the 
injuring of another is very frequently wilfully planned and carried out. 

Supposing, of course, that one would injure oneself, there are two things to be 
considered : The thinking and planning of the thing, and deliberately working 
out those plans. If the plan were carried out it would result in injury to another, 
as well as oneself, since it would necessitate concentration along a line of thought 
which is not of the best. This would attract to the thinker those forces which seem 
to be more active and powerful on this plane than the spiritual forces. These 
thoughts, unless they were at once checked, would create a habit which would be 
found very hard to break; the matter would take fixed shape in the brain and then 
the carrying out of the plan would be comparatively easy; just a little deadening 
of the conscience, or the voice of the Self, and it is so easy to work an injury. 

We are taught that all thought is creative; and in the perfecting of any plan, 
whether good or bad, the personality takes on an intensity which is manifest to 
others and which acts upon the mentality of those about us to a greater or less 
degree. In the case of one whose thought is bent in a certain direction, not of the 
best, the result is that other minds will receive impressions which are not good. 
The carrying out of an injurious idea results in an apparent change in the per- 
sonality. There is a shrinking within the self, a tendency to aloofness and a de- 
cided feeling of guilt. This change is noticeable to others of keen perceptions and 
in time we are tempted to take the man at his own rating, his very evident estimate 
of his own worth. 

We who know of the great law of Unity of Being cannot help but realize how 
this injury to oneself leaves its mark on others. We know that we are all members 
of one great family, children of the same Divine parent; we know that by injuring 
one member of that family, the whole suffers. It is just as if one were to injure 
a finger, and expect the hand or arm or brain to know nothing of it ; while in 
reality the reverse is true. The brain is very much concerned and telegraphs its 
sympathy; the mind is turned from its customary groove and must give more or 
less thought to the injury. 

In the case of an injury to oneself, the harmony of the Karmic law is broken, 
and the result is a conflicting element conies in ; and that which disturbs the center 
of the whole body, cannot help but disturb its members. B. L. G. 

ANSWER. No ! Certainly not. Being an individual associated with individuals 
under social and moral customs and laws, any injury, wilful or otherwise, done 
to him injures others, in the sense that it makes of him a center of attraction or 
attention of those around him, disturbing the tranquility and equilibrium of these 
same customs and laws which they are striving to live up to and maintain. G. M. 

ANSWER. This question takes us into the heart of the first fundamental prop- 
osition of the Divine Science the essential oneness of all living things. The great 
evolving of God's plan on our little mud ball may be likened to the unrolling of a 
vast fabric at which we all stand weaving, and no man can weave for himself alone. 
His place at the great loom may often be marred by tangled threads, knots, and 
sometimes rents, but the shuttle moves unceasingly, over and under, forward and 
back, while mighty Karma works undeviatingly towards smoothness and equi- 
librium. But the individual weaver breaks his thread (injures himself most) when 
he turns to wrong his fellow, for just as he can save for himself only that which 
he freely gives to others; so by guilty, inattentive weaving he injures and weakens 
the whole fabric. 

No, a man cannot injure himself without injury to others, for in the perfect 
pattern "there is no separateness at all." E. M. 

ANSWER. No. A man is not only himself, he is also "others." 

Whatever a man does to others will either react upon him directly or will 
do the same indirectly through other persons. 

There should be no doubt upon this point, and were it not for our western 
system of education and training there would be no question at all. As it is, how- 
ever, we develop in a conflict of imagined "rights" and "interests" which necessi- 
tates the adjustment called the law of the land, and under such conditions we 
readily acquire the notion that we are each ourselves and nobody else. 

Looking deeper into the question, there appears to be the implicit idea that we 
are possessed of elemental entities that belong to a lower order of evolution than 
ourselves, yet which together constitute much of what we take ourselves to be. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 331 

These tend to gravitate back to the condition from which they have been raised, 
and to carry with them the consciousness we have imparted to them. Our con- 
sciousness thus snared, we lose sight of the truth that we ourselves are Gods, 
proceeding from God and returning to God to a reunion of all things in the 
Divine, from which all things have come. If we realize the truth we will realize 
that in literal fact we are all one. Being here from God and for God's purposes, we 
therefore have no right to use the opportunities given us by Him, indifferently or 
improperly, as this will surely lead to injury, not only of ourselves, but to every 
one else. A. R. 

ANSWER. On this plane of illusion and separateness it would seem that one 
might be so destitute of human ties, so detached, that he could even destroy himself 
and injure no one; but one who believes in the Unity of Being knows well the 
fallacy of this. No prodigal can wander so far on the outskirts of being that 
the One Great Soul is not wounded by his hurt. God's children all ; and "no man 
lives unto himself and no man dies unto himself." J. C. M. 

QUESTION 80. What is the Theosophical teaching regarding Heredity? 

ANSWER According to the Dictionary, heredity means the tendency mani- 
fested by an organism to develop in the likeness of its progenitor, or the trans- 
mission of physical and mental characteristics from parent to offspring, regarded 
as the conservative factor in evolution, opposing the tendency to variation under 
conditions of environment. The Theosophical teaching is in accord with that of 
Prof. Weissmann who "shows one infinitesimal cell out of millions of others at 
work in the formation of an organism, alone and unaided determining, by means 
of constant segmentation and multiplication, the correct image of the future man, 
or animal, in its physical, mental and psychic characteristics. It is this cell which 
impresses on the face and form of the new individual the features of the parents 
or of some distant ancestor. It is this cell, again, which transmits to him the 
intellectual and mental idiosyncracies of his sires, and so on. This Plasm is 
the immortal portion of our bodies developing by means of a process of successive 
assimilations." Darwin's theory is incapable of accounting for hereditary trans- 
mission. "There are but two ways of explaining," says H. P. B., in the Secret 
Doctrine, "the mystery of Heredity: either the substance of the germinal cell is 
endowed with the faculty of crossing the whole cycle of transformations that lead 
to the construction of a separate organism, and then to the reproduction of iden- 
tical germinal cells; or, these germinal cells do not have their genesis at all in 
the body of the individual, but proceed directly from the ancestral germinal cell 
passed from father to son through long generations. * * * Complete the Physical 
Plasm mentioned above, the germinal cell of man with all its material potentiali- 
ties, with the Spiritual Plasm, so as to say. or the fluid that contains the five 
lower principles of the Six-principled Dhyani and you have the secret, if you 
are spiritual enough to understand it." (S. D. i, 244). 

"In the case of human incarnations, the law of Karma, racial or individual 
overrides the subordinate tendencies of Heredity, its servant." "Hereditary Karma 
can," we are told, "reach the child before the seventh year, but no individual 
Karma can come into play till Manas takes control." 

For further information on this subject, see references under "Heredity," in the 
Index of the Secret Doctrine, and Five Years of Theosophy. M. W. D. 

ANSWER. The theosophical teaching is against the ordinary doctrine of heredity, 
believing rather that the Ego at the moment of reincarnation selects that family 
for itself, in which it can find the best instrument for the uses of the soul about 
to return to life. Not the happiest surroundings and the most perfect physical 
body, but that body and those surroundings which the Ego, at that moment of clear 
sight, recognizes as best fitted to further its spiritual growth, and teach it what- 
ever lesson it needs to learn. As like naturally seeks like, the resemblances between 
child and parent are more a matter of coincidence than heredity, in the ordinary 
sense of the term, except in the case of purely physical heredity, which is one of 
the forces like the environment, climate, etc. which help to mould the physical 
body. K. H. 






m 



T-s-AcnvrriBs 



THE NEW YORK THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

In New York the winter season of outer work has opened most auspiciously. 
The membership of the local society has largely increased, and its meetings are 
being attended by a steadily widening circle of inquirers and students. 

For many years this Branch has endeavored to make its meetings genuinely 
representative of the open platform the Theosophical Society was intended to 
furnish. It has sought, by every means in its power, to eradicate the dogmatic 
and sectarian tendencies which are so contrary to the spirit of Theosophy, yet 
which so often cloak themselves in its name. It has striven to preserve that open- 
ness of mind which is as ready to listen and receive as it is to give; and it has 
welcomed others to its meetings, not as auditors to be instructed, but as fellow 
seekers for the truth and co-laborers in its service. 

One result of this persistent effort has been that the New York Branch has 
always been able to secure the co-operation of non-members of the Society, and 
much of the value and interest of its activities is due to this fact. Clergymen 
and scientists, professors of philosophy and of many different branches of learning, 
have found themselves in sympathy with the Society's ideals and have both ad- 
dressed its meetings and taken something of its spirit back into their own work. 
In like manner the members of the Society have entered into the religious, educa- 
tional, and philanthropic movements of the city, seeking to express in these the 
spirit of brotherhood for which the Society stands. By these means and others, 
the informal activities and influence of the Society have widely ramified. 

A second result has been to demonstrate the great efficiency of what may be 
called, for lack of a better name, the theosophic method of discussion and study. 
This method is founded upon the belief in universal brotherhood ; and the realiza- 
tion that one's own truth is not alone that fragment of the truth which is contained 
in one's own mind, but is the synthesis of this with the other fragments contained 
in all other minds or rather is the unity lying behind this synthesis. This implies 
that the views of others, whether ignorant or learned, are of vital meaning and 
importance to us as reflections of different and supplementary aspects of our own 
truth which, as is said in Light on the Path, "must be possessed therefore by all 
pure souls equally, and thus be the especial property of the whole only when 
united." This view of truth, and the synthetic method of discussion based upon 
it, render impossible the conflict of personal opinion and feeling which usually 
stultify collective inquiry. 

The Branch has continued all its activities of the past years, with the exception 
of the Secret Doctrine class, which has been replaced by meetings in another part 
of the city and reaching a different group of people. During October and November 
four important topics have been treated, each as introductory to a special line of 
study. 

i st. "The Parable of the Prodigal Son," as the key to all The Parables of 
the Kingdom, each of which is to be considered separately and in the light of the 
Mystery teaching of Egypt and India. 

2d. Mysticism in early American Philosophy. This was an address given 
before the Society by Prof. I. Woodbridge Riley (author of the History of Ameri- 
can Philosophy, recently published by Dodd, Mead & Co.), and is introductory 
to the study of Mysticism in America, particularly as exemplified by Emerson and 
the New England transcendentalists. 

3rd. The Theosophical Movement and the Theosophical Method. This was 
the first of a series to cover the main principles of theosophy, the second being 

332 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 



333 



upon the doctrine of reincarnation and the teaching regarding this doctrine in 
various religions. 

4th. The New Catholic Movement in Italy, being introductory to a study of 
the significance and meaning of contemporary religious movements. 

THE CINCINNATI THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 

In addition to the regular public meetings held weekly in the Vine Street 
Congregational Church, the Cincinnati Branch has inaugurated a study class, open 
only to members of the Society. The success which this class has met, and the 
admirable method by which it is conducted, make it well worthy of consideration 
by other Branches of the Society. 

The class lasts an hour beginning promptly and closing promptly so that 
there is none of the loss of time which too often taxes the patience of busy people. 
The meeting opens with the reading of some passage from Light on the Path or 
the Bhagavad Gita, and closes with one or two minutes' silence before the adjourn- 
ment. The position of chairman is held by each member in succession the term of 
office being for four consecutive meetings. This has the advantage of practising 
each member in conducting a meeting and synthesising the views expressed, while 
it avoids the discontinuity and inconsecutiveness that sometimes results from a 
weekly rotation of office. The class has the double object of drilling its members 
in public speaking, and of finding as concise answers as possible to the questions 
which arise in the public meetings. Each member is therefore required to speak, 
for from three to five minutes, upon the topic set for the meeting. These topics 
are of such character as: "What is Theosophy," "Why is There a Theosophical 
Society," "What a Theosophist ought not to do," "How can we help the T. S." 
The class has proved not only helpful and effective but thoroughly enjoyable. 

We append the Syllabus sent us by the Cincinnati Branch of its public lectures 
for the season : 

SYLLABUS. 



Oct. i Opening Address. 
8 The Great Teachers. 

" 15 The Message of Theosophy. 

" 22 Fundamental Laws. 

" 29 Happiness. 
Nov. 5 To be Announced. 

' 12 Give and Take. 

' 19 Bruno, His Life and Times. 

' 26 Theosophy and Nature. 
Dec. 3 Signs of the Times. 

r< 10 Science and Spiritual. 

' 17 The Impersonal. 
Jan. 2 Address. 

9 Christian Science. 

" 16 Practical View of Karma. 

" 23 Hodge-Podge. 

" 30 To be Announced. 



Feb. 6 Theory and Teachings of Christ. 

" 13 Paracelsus. 

" 20 Ethical Dreams and Dreamers. 

" 27 Post-Mortem Consciousness. 
Mar. 6 Wordsworth. 

" 13 To be Announced. 

" 20 Theosophical Symbols. 

" 27 Reading. 
Apr. 3 Telepathy. 

" 10 Compensation. 

tl 17 Cycles. 

" 24 Death and After. 
May i To be Announced. 
8 Lotus Day. 

" 15 Uses of Sorrow. 

" 22 Karma. 

" 29 Closing Exercises. 



Los ANGELENOS BRANCH. 

From Los Angeles we have received a very attractively printed folder setting 
forth the aims of the Branch and containing a syllabus of its public lectures. The 
cover page gives the name and objects of the Society, and on the back is printed 
a definition of Theosophy taken from the writings of Madame Blavatsky. We 
reproduce herewith as much of the inner pages as our space permits. 

"The Path is one for all, the means to reach the goal must vary with the Pilgrims." 
LOS ANGELENOS BRANCH 

ANNOUNCEMENT 

The Sunday evening talks and lectures announced on the following page are 
offered by members of the Los Angelenos Branch of the Theosophical Society in 
America as a contribution to the study and solution of life's problems. And, al- 



334 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

though one must needs strike deep when trying to probe the mysteries of human 
nature, these are not learned dissertations or profound discourses; they are but 
plain, outspoken utterances, the appeal of thinking men and women to thinking 
men and women. 

While accepting the broad general principles of brotherhood, held in common 
by all members, some believe in a greater divine unity; that ultimate spiritual per- 
fectibility and final freedom of soul are possible for the whole human race ; and 
that a better understanding of the deeper truths of religion and of the laws that 
govern the universe and man's being, together with the exercise of his soul powers, 
will hasten that end. 

Yet it should be clearly understood that members are not bound in any way 
by one another's beliefs ; whatever is said in these talks and lectures is the outcome 
of the individual thought and experience or personal convictions of those who take 
part. 

The Society is wholly unsectarian, it has neither creed, doctrine, dogma, nor 
personal authority whatsoever to impose; every member is free to believe or dis- 
believe in any religion or system of philosophy. It stands for free, tolerant, and 
brotherly enquiry; for perfect individual freedom of mind and conscience; for 
truth by whomsoever expressed and wherever it may be found. 

Applications for membership to the society should be addressed to the Secre- 
tary, T. S. A., 159 Warren Street, Brooklyn, New York, or to the Secretary, Los 
Angelenos Branch, T. S. A., 142 South Broadway. 

SUNDAY EVENING TALKS AND LECTURES 
Room 117 142 South Broadway 

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL 

Commencing at 8 
Subjects with no personal name attached 

are those of the General Talks. 
1907-8. 

Oct. 6 Theosophical Societies and Theosophy, Mr. Robert Crosbie. 
Oct. 13 The greater Theosophical Movement, active in all times and among all 

peoples. 

Oct. 20 Theosophy, a Scientific Basis for Ethics, Mr. Robert Crosbie. 
Oct. 17 Advantages and disadvantages in life of the rich and the poor. 
Nov. 3 The self-conscious Self, Mr. Alfred L. Leonard. 

Nov. 10 Man's pre-existence and re-birth and the eternal pilgrimage of the Soul. 
Nov. 17 Art and Life, Mrs. Jowett. 

Nov. 24 Our greater work in the world, and the place and powers assigned to us. 
Dec. i The true Atonement, Mrs. M. Ella Paterson. 
Dec. 8 The origin of religious worship, and the nature of the earliest aspirations 

of primitive mankind. 

Dec. 15 "As a man soweth, so shall he also reap," Miss Beth Cist. 
Dec. 22 The efforts of World-Saviors, and the power of Humanity to redeem 

itself. 

Dec. 29 The Science of Life, Mr. James A. Jowett. 
Jan. 5 Can sorrow and pain be avoided? 
Jan. 12 Live to learn to live, Mr. Alfred L. Leonard. 
Jan. 19 Is it the kind of food we eat or the tenor of our thoughts and lives that 

makes for progress? 

Jan. 26 Our knowledge and ignorance of divine law, William E. Routt. 
Feb. 2 Karma and Reincarnation, the scientific and self-impelling basis for right 

living and thinking. 
Feb. 9 The Theosophical Society from a member's point of view, 

Mrs. M. Ella Paterson. 
Feb. 16 A consideration of the physical, intellectual and spiritual natures of man, 

and the laws that govern their relation and being. 
Feb. 23 "Evolution" in pulpit and on platform, Mr. Walter H. Box. 
Mar. i Life after death ; do we reap in the next world the fruit of that which 

we have sown in this ? 

Mar. 8 Reincarnation as taught by the ancients, Miss Beth Cist. 
Mar. 15 The Solace of Religion, and the Sanctuary of man's own nature. 
Mar. 22 Theosophy, Mr. James A. Jowett. 
Mar. 29 The Work of the Theosophical Society in the 20th Century. 



T. S. ACTIVITIES 335 

Meetings are also held as follows : 

Wednesday evenings, from 8 to 9, studies from the "Secret Doctrine : the Syn- 
thesis of Science, Religion and Philosophy," by H. P. Blavatsky. These studies 
are of a deep and recondite character. The Secret Doctrine, from which the work 
derived its name, is claimed by the author to have been the universally diffused 
religion of the ancient and pre-historic world, the basis of the old-world philos- 
ophies, sciences and arts, and the essence out of which every religious mystery and 
dogma has grown. The work itself, she said, being a partial re-statement of the 
primeval truths first imparted to man. 

On Friday evenings, from 8 to 9, the Branch meets for the consecutive study 
of subjects similar to those of the general talks enumerated above. The meetings 
are now being devoted to talks on Theosophy and its application to every-day life, 
with introductory readings from standard theosophical works. All interested are 
cordially invited to take part. 

THE FORT WAYNE BRANCH. 

The Fort Wayne Branch has been passing through one of those discouraging 
periods with which most Branches are familiar in which its members are widely 
scattered and its meetings poorly attended. These periods are frequently prelimi- 
nary to a rebuilding on a broader and more unsectarian basis. When formal meet- 
ings fail, informal meetings of a more social character may succeed, and the 
nucleus of remaining members is usually driven to this expedient. If people do 
not wish to study theosophy, they may be asked to study Christianity. Each is 
equally the object of the Society's study, but this new appeal may be made to those 
who have misconceived the purposes of the Society, and perhaps would not have 
attended formal Branch meetings. In this way the Branch is gradually rebuilt 
with fresh material. 

Another result of these periods of "dryness" is that the Branch members are 
Ie4, through the slackening of their own activities, to take a greater interest in the 
organized activities of other religious or philanthropic bodies. This is a great 
gain, as no small part of the value of a Branch's work is the infusion of its spirit 
into other organizations. 

The letters we have received from Fort Wayne show that the members are 
anything but discouraged over their temporary difficulties, and are now devoting 
considerable attention both to the work of other religious bodies and to corre- 
spondence with different Branches of the T. S. A. 

THE DAYTON BRANCH. 

The Dayton Branch reports the admission of six new members since the 
beginning of the year, which is sufficient evidence of the accuracy of the further 
statement that the Branch is growing steadily and steadily increasing in interest. 
A study class meets weekly at different private houses. This class is open to 
non-members, and the fact of its being held in different parts of the city brings 
the Branch members in contact with many inquirers. The Branch continues its 
joint public meetings with the Unity League, and seems to possess much of the 
missionary and propagandising spirit. Each member is reported as "trying to 
teach," selecting his own subject for a public lecture. The earnestness and work 
of its members richly deserve the success that has rewarded their efforts, and upon 
which the Branch is heartily to be congratulated. That each success brings with 
it its own trial and difficulty has been proved so often in the Society's history 
as to become a commonplace. We are confident, however, that the Dayton Branch 
is fully alive to the dangers that are involved in the attitude of the teacher, and is 
no more desirous of imparting the truth that is its, than it is to receive the truths 
of others. 

THE INDIANAPOLIS BRANCH. 

Few Branches of the Society have been more active in the past year, or of 
more efficient service to the Society as a whole, than has the Indianapolis T. S. 
We have reported before the work of this Branch in circulating the THEOSOPHICAL 
QUARTERLY, and assuming the expense of placing it in many libraries and public 
institutions. We have now received a "partial list" of the subjects treated in 
public Lectures or Readings. This list shows that nearly a hundred meetings have 



336 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

been held by the Branch during the year. The Key to Theosophy has been studied 
consecutively, and the wide range of the other topics covered is indicated in the 
following syllabus for the past quarter: 

Oct 2 Reading: The Law of Sacrifice, Mrs. H. A. Elliott. 

Oct. 6 Lecture: Limitation, F. A. Bruce. 

Oct. 13 Lecture: Metaphysical Healing, F. A. Bruce. 

Oct. 15 General Talk: T. S. Work, Members. 

Oct. 20 Lecture: The Unity of Life, F. A. Bruce. 

Oct. 27 Lecture: Methuselah, Geo. E. Mills. 

Nov. 3 Lecture: The Theosophical Society, J. S. Moore. 

Nov. 10 Lecture: The Mystery of Man, Geo. E. Mills. 

Nov. 17 Lecture: Dream Consciousness, F. A. Bruce. 

Nov. 24 Lecture: Metaphysical Healing, H. E. Davis. 

Dec. i Lecture: Personal Devils, J. S. Moore. 

Dec. 8 Lecture: The Phenomenal World, Geo. E. Mills. 

Dec. 15 Lecture: Karma, Mrs. Elizabeth Kinne. 

Dec. 22 Lecture: The Re-incarnating Ego, H. E. Davis. 

Dec. 29 Lecture: Unity, Mrs. Harriett A. Elliott. 

THE SOUTHERN BRANCH. 

From Greensboro, North Carolina, comes the report of the most recent addi- 
tion to "the federation of autonomous Branches" which constitute the Theosophical 
Society in America. This Branch was chartered in November of the present year 
and has since held weekly meetings for the study of the Secret Doctrine, the Key to 
Theosophy, and the Ocean of Theosophy. If we understand their method correctly, 
some one of the members lectures each meeting upon a topic drawn from these 
works, comparing and explaining the different presentations of the theme therein 
given, after which the subject is open for general discussion. The Branch reports 
growing interest among the members, but that it is of too recent origin to have 
yet taken its full place in the life of the city. It invites the suggestions and cor- 
respondence of other Branches. 

It is with much pleasure that we record the formation and activity of this 
Branch, as it is an evidence of Ijow a member isolated from already organized 
theosophical activities, may interest those around him, and build up with them a 
theosophical platform and instrument for collective inquiry and mutual helpfulness. 

H. B. M. 



NOW READY PRICE 20 CENTS 

HENRY BEDINQER MITCHELL'S 

ADMIRABLE ESSAY ON 

MEDITATION 



Pocket Edition, Finely Printed by the De Vinne Press, with a 
Symbolic Cover Designed by Birger Elwing 

Order from the Secretary T. S. A., 159 Warren Street, Brooklyn, New York. 




The Theosophical Society in America, as such, is not responsible for 
any opinion or declaration in this magazine, by whomsoever expressed, 
unless contained in an official document. 

FROM time to time the QUARTERLY receives much useful advice 
and many valuable comments from its correspondents. One of 
the matters frequently written about is Socialism, and we are con- 
tinually asked why the magazine opposes a movement which, in 
the opinion of our querents, is so closely in accord with Theosophical 
principles. It is because of the great importance of the subject, and 
because what follows is such a lucid statement of its basic principles, 
that we have removed a "Question and Answer" from its regular depart- 
ment in the magazine, and print it here. Although not very long, we 
believe that the kernel of the whole question is contained in this "Answer," 
and we commend it to the serious and careful attention and study of our 
readers. 

QUESTION: I am unable to understand why the THEOSOPHICAL 
QUARTERLY takes the attitude it does towards Socialism. I am not a 
Socialist, though I am acquainted with many who so call themselves; 
but Socialism is a Brotherhood, and works specifically for the helping 
and uplifting of Humanity. Why then is not Theosophy, which has the 
same fundamental objects, in sympathy with it? Surely it cannot be 
because of different views regarding economic adjustments, as such 
details would hardly seem to come within the general scope of Theo- 
sophic teaching and practice. I would be glad of some definite points. 

P. K. S. 

ANSWER: The Editor of the QUARTERLY has sent this question to 
me for reply, knowing that I am in no sense a Socialist, but that I 
have been for many years a close student of it from various points of 
view. It is a large and complicated subject, an incoherent subject in 
its present stage of indefinite ideals and diverse conclusions and opinions 
and therefore one hardly to be dealt with in the contracted space of 
the "Questions and Answers/' I should think, furthermore, that so far 

12 337 



338 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

as essential points are concerned, the querent might have found many 
of these in the various articles on the subject which have appeared in this 
journal from time to time, and to which reference is made. I may, 
however, offer certain suggestions which to my mind are pertinent, and 
afford no escape from the conclusions that the two view-points Theo- 
sophy and Socialism are, and always must be, diametrically opposed. 
First on this matter of Brotherhood. Here Socialism builds a fence 
and says all who are within it are Brothers; all without, unless or 
until they can be brought within its limits, are enemies or at least 
outsiders. (Of course I do not speak of the bitter or aggressive forms 
of Socialism, as these could hardly enter into our discussion.) This 
is an immediate recognition of sect or caste or creed; call it as you 
will, the idea is the same. Theosophy says all men are Brothers, regard- 
less of race or sect or creed, or color, or any other distinction; regard- 
less of their goodness or evil; regardless of their recognition of the 
fact or their opposition to it; regardless of whether they are friends of 
society, or enemies of it. For this Brotherhood is not an organization, 
nor can it consist in organization, no matter how widespread or broad, 
but is in itself a fundamental fact in Nature, the oneness or identity of 
all souls with the Oversoul. This oneness of soul may and does 
co-exist with the utmost divergence of mind and emotion. Therefore 
Theosophy says that for the realization of this Brotherhood, man must 
become a more spiritual being, must grow into closer contact with the 
soul where this condition perpetually obtains, and that all which makes 
man more spiritual makes of necessity for Brotherhood, and all which 
tends to make him more material, makes against it. So much for theory 
the briefest possible indication, but careful study will demonstrate 
more and more the fundamental cleavage in the two conceptions. Then 
as to practice. Theosophy holds that Socialism makes not for but against 
Brotherhood in that it makes for material, not for spiritual aims. 
Theosophy holds that man makes environment, not environment the 
man, since the soul under propulsion of wisely directed Divine Law, is 
pushing forever and ceaselessly upward and outward. Theosophy holds 
that it is our inestimable privilege to aid this process ; first by full recog- 
nition of it; second by rigid self-purification, ("take first the beam from 
thine own eye, then shalt thou see clearly to take the mote from thy 
brother's eye"), and third by removing as far as possible all which 
impedes the full action of this Divine Law of Evolution in the Universe. 
In many a detail it could here join hands with Socialism in special acts 
of reform, but it sees, and sees clearly, that Socialism's material attitude 
towards reform is a far greater bar to genuine progress than the matters 
it seeks to redress, and therefore as turning men's minds towards the 
body and away from the soul, Socialism constitutes a barrier in itself 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 339 

to advance, as largely representative of the ignorance and blindness of 
the mind absorbed in matter, to its true and enduring interest. 

The ethics of Socialism preclude belief in the immortality of the 
soul. I know that this has been and will be vehemently denied; never- 
theless those to whom the immortality of the Soul is not an accepted 
theory but a living fact, can read my meaning. "According to your 
faith be it done unto you," said the Master. We need then above all 
things to widen and deepen our faith. In these days faith is being won- 
derfully broadened, but with a tendency to become shallower; the amount 
often being no greater, but merely distributed differently. Theosophy 
rests upon the soul and the soul alone. In its teaching the body is a 
shadow that comes and goes according as the Light is placed.. That 
which causes the shadow therefore is its concern the Light, and that 
which stands before it. D. R. T. 

This answer gains additional point from the announcement, made 
at the beginning of March, that Rev. R. J. Campbell is forming a Social- 
ist organization, which he considers an expression of the ideals of "the 
new theology." Mr. Campbell is reported as saying that the general 
attitude of the controlling or official element in the churches is now so 
plainly hostile to the movement expressed in "the new theology," that 
something will have to be done to safeguard the aspirations of those who 
profess adherence to it. We are further told that the central idea of 
this new movement is "the denial of the divine origin of Christ, who 
is considered merely as a social reformer." May we venture to under- 
line the connection between these two sentences, and to say that, in 
our belief, the hostility of the controlling element in the churches to 
Mr. Campbell's new movement is not only caused, but is also justified, 
by his identification of "the new theology" with Socialism ? In our view, 
the true "new theology" is simply the expression of spiritual truth in 
terms of modern thought; it is a movement for spiritual liberty, for a 
genuine expression of religious consciousness, unhampered by medieval 
formulas and limitations ; and we hold that, as an expression of spiritual 
truth, it has no more connection with a particular economic theory than 
it has with a particular fashion in hats ; the more so, as the newly restored 
religious consciousness seems to us to be eminently sound and true, 
while the economic theory with which it is sought to identify it, is just 
the reverse. Mr. Campbell is doing all in his power to retard the religious 
renewal by the essential materialism of his new ideas. He cannot fail 
to bring discredit on his admirable book The New Theology by the very 
unsound views of his later work, Christianity and the Social Order. 
In THE THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY for October, 1907, we gave our 
reasons for denying that Jesus ever countenanced Socialism or anything 
like Socialism; and to the "Notes and Comments" of that issue our 
readers are referred. 



340 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

We have spoken once and again of the wonderful renewal of 
thought in the last two or three years ; that the world at large seems 
touched with new inspiration, enkindled with new faith and hope. The 
high ideals for which Theosophists have striven for long years, in good 
report and evil report, are now on all lips, and presently they will be in 
all hearts. We hear on all sides of the Brotherhood of Man, of Uni- 
versal Brotherhood; and though there are some attempted applications 
of this supreme truth which seem to us quite mistaken, yet there can be 
no doubt that the zeal for brotherhood is abroad as a great enkindling 
force, which only needs right direction, to raise the whole of humanity. 
There are many other ways in which our ideals are being accepted broad- 
cast. One of vital import is the perception that the "heathen" religions 
are really religions, and not merely "forms of error," as the theologians 
used to say. Books like The Soul of a People and The Inward Light, 
which give us the heart of Buddhism, are signs of the times; and these 
are only two among many. So our first and second objects are receiving 
something of their due. 

The humor of the matter gleams out, when we come to our third 
object: the investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and the 
psychical powers latent in man. Some of us who have been in the Society 
and the Movement long enough to remember its early years of persecu- 
tion, are now finding our compensation. We have lived long enough to 
see some of the teachings, for which we were most persistently assailed 
a quarter of a century ago, not only accepted, but bruited abroad with 
all the enthusiasm of new discovery. We have lived long enough to 
see throbbed across the ocean by wireless telegraphy, as remarkable 
novelties, teachings which we have been repeating for twenty or thirty 
years. We have lived to see the news pages of our papers taken up 
with cablegrams detailing facts and laws that were set forth even more 
lucidly in Isis Unveiled, whither they were gathered together from the 
oldest books in the world. And we have lived long enough to accept 
with entire good nature this wholesale unacknowledged adoption of our 
thought, and to be heartily thankful that it has become a common posses- 
sion, whether acknowledged or not. 

These musings on old times are suggested by the recent declara- 
tions of Sir Oliver Lodge, who, at the end of January, told the Society 
for Psychical Research that he and his colleagues had obtained conclu- 
sive proof of the reality of communication with the dead. Like excava- 
tors engaged in boring a tunnel from opposite ends, amid the roar of 
water and other noises, said Sir Oliver, we are beginning to hear now 
and again the strokes of the pickaxes of our comrades on the other 
side. What do we find ? he continued. We find the late Edmund Gurney, 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 341 

and the late Richard Hodgson, and the late F. W. H. Myers, with some 
other less known names, constantly purporting to communicate with us, 
with the express purpose of patiently proving their identity. We also 
find them answering specific questions in the manner characteristic of 
their known personalities, and giving evidence of knowledge appropri- 
ate to them. 

Not easily or early, continues Sir Oliver, do we make this admission. 
In spite of long conversations with what purports to be the surviving 
intelligence of these friends and investigators, we were by no means con- 
vinced of their identity by mere general conversation, even of a friendly 
and intimate character such as in normal cases would be sufficient for 
the identification of friends, speaking, let us say, through a telephone or 
a typewriter. We required definite and crucial proof, a proof difficult 
even to imagine, as well as difficult to supply. The ostensible commu- 
nicators realize the need of such proof just as fully as we do, and have 
done their best to satisfy the rational demand. Some of us think they 
have succeeded, others are still doubtful. Cross-correspondence that 
is, the reception of part of a message through one medium and part 
through another, neither portion separately being understood by either 
is good evidence of one intelligence dominating both automatists. And 
if the message is characteristic of some one particular deceased person, 
and is received as such by people to whom he was most intimately known, 
then it is fair proof of the continued intellectual activity of that person. 
If, further, we get from him a piece of literary criticism which is emi- 
nently in his vein, and has not occurred to ordinary people, then I say 
the proof, already striking, is tending to become crucial. 

These are the kinds of proof, Sir Oliver goes on, which the Society 
has had communicated to it. The phenomenon of automatic writing 
strikes some of us as if it was in the direct line of evolutional advance; 
it seems like the beginning of a new human faculty. First of all, the 
evidence led us to realize the truth of telepathy, and that was the first 
chapter of the new volume we have set ourselves to explore. I am 
going to assume, in fact, that our bodies can under certain exceptional 
circumstances be controlled directly, or temporarily possessed, by another 
or foreign intelligence operating either on the whole or on some limited 
part of it. The question lying behind such a hypothesis, and justifying 
or negativing it, is the root question of identity the identity of the con- 
trol. Some control undoubtedly exists of that every one who knows 
anything about the matter is quite certain. This question of identity 
is, of course, a fundamental one. The controlling spirit proves his iden- 
tity mainly by reproducing in speech or writing facts which belong to 
his memory, and not to the automatist's memory. And notice that 



342 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

proof of identity will usually depend on the memory of trifles. The 
objection raised that communications too often relate to trivial subjects 
shows a lack of intelligence, or, at least, of due thought, on the part of 
the critic. Our object is to get not something dignified but something 
evidential. And what evidence of persistent memory can be better than 
the recollection of trifling incidents which, for some personal reason, 
happen to have made a permanent impression? 

Do we not ourselves, Sir Oliver asks, remember domestic trifles 
more vividly than things which to the outside world would seem impor- 
tant? Wars and coronations are affairs read of in newspapers they 
are usually far too public to be of use as evidence of persistent identity, 
but a broken toy or a family joke or a schoolboy adventure have a 
more personal flavor and are more likely to be remembered in dreams 
and second childishness, or when the major consciousness is suspended. 
In fiction this is illustrated continually. Take the case of identification 
of the dumb and broken savage, apparently an Afghan prowler, in The 
Man Who Was. What was it that opened the eyes of the regiment to 
which he had crawled back from Siberia to the fact that twenty years 
ago he was one of themselves? The knowledge of a trick catch in a 
regimental flower vase, the former position of a trophy on the wall, 
and the smashing of a wineglass after a loyal toast. That is true to life. 
It is probably true to death also. This is the kind of evidence which 
we ought to expect, and this is the kind of evidence which we not infre- 
quently get. How can we ever by any means hope to prove identity? I 
reply: In two ways. One is by correspondence, and the other by the 
receipt of information or criticism new to the world. The boundary 
between the two states, the present and the future, is still substantial, 
but it is wearing thin in places. 

So far Sir Oliver's most remarkable declaration. Let us now go 
back a little, and tell the history of the researches whose conclusions he 
has so brilliantly and eloquently summarized. It appears that the pre- 
liminary work of exploration was done by Dr. Hodgson himself, work- 
ing in Boston with the famous medium, Mrs. Piper, and in his first and 
second Reports of the Piper case and Further Records, he came out 
definitely in defence of the spiritualistic hypothesis, of communication 
through mediums with the spirits of the dead. His second report came 
out in 1898. Writing to a friend about this time, Dr. Hodgson said: 
"My interest in psychical research is greater than ever, and it seems to 
me highly probable that before many years have elapsed there will be 
much new and valuable testimony before the world as the result of the 
labors of our society, in favor of the spiritist claim that it is possible for 
our departed friends under special conditions to make their continued 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 343 

existence known to us. It is my own conviction that such communica- 
tion is possible, though I hold that it is not nearly so frequent as most 
spiritualists commonly suppose." 

Professor Hyslop summarizes Dr. Hodgson's later work as follows : 
"His patience and perseverance were finally rewarded. Though he had 
much material which had great significance in support of his suit he did 
not make up his mind until fortune favored him with a long series of 
investigations in a single group of the most interesting phenomena yet 
recorded those of the Piper case. He had been able to publish a part 
very small part of the concrete evidence gathered by his labors in 
support of survival of personal identity after death. This he regarded 
as the foundation of his work and he never wearied in his efforts to lay 
that foundation broad and deep. On this foundation it was his desire 
to build a structure which would equally explain the perplexities apparent 
in the problem and the limitations under which the revelations of another 
life were made. But I believe he had committed nothing to writing of 
the system he had in mind, save what he had stated briefly on the 
Piper case, when, on the 2Oth of December, 1905, he suddenly passed away 
and left some future successor to gather up the threads which his death 
so disappointingly severed." 

It would seem that, through Mrs. Piper, Dr. Hodgson came into 
contact with a group of controls, or "spirits," the chief of whom called 
himself Imperator, and who was familiar to spiritualists as the spirit guide 
of the late Stainton Moses. On this point, Dr. Hodgson himself wrote 
in 1901 : "I went through toils and turmoils and perplexities in '97 and 
'98 about the significance of this whole Imperator regime, but I have 
seemed to get on a rock after that I seem to understand clearly the 
reasons for incoherence and obscurity, and I think that if for the rest 
of my life from now I should never see another trance or have another 
word from Imperator or his group, it would make no difference to my 
knowledge that all is well, that Imperator and others are all they claim 
to be and are indeed messengers that we may call divine. Be of good 
courage whatever happens, and pray continually, and let peace come into 
your soul. Why should you be distraught and worried? Everything, 
absolutely everything from a spot of ink to all the stars every faintest 
thought we think up to the contemplation of the highest intelligences 
in the cosmos, are all in and part of the infinite Goodness. Rest in that 
Divine Love. All your trials are known better than you know them 
yourself. Do you think it is an idle word that the hairs of our heads are 
numbered? Have no dismay. Fear nothing and trust in God." 

This is what it came to. The man who, "self-wise and thinking 



344 THEOSOPHICAL QUARTERLY 

himself learned," as the Upanishad says, turned his back on the Masters 
of wisdom, and sneered at the wonderful powers of Mme. Blavatsky, 
ends by "finally surrendering his own life to the direction of Imperator" ; 
and pouring out his soul in second rate seance-room piety. Such are 
time's revenges. But to return to our story. It would seem that, 
besides Imperator and the old-time controls, Dr. Hodgson came into 
contact with another class of beings through Mrs. Piper; namely, the 
disembodied part of certain people recently dead. T