by ROY MITCHELL
This work of 1923 was published by the Blavatsky Institute of Canada as a memorial to Mr. Roy Mitchell who was the Founder and guiding genius of the Institute.
Theosophy in Action deals with problems with which Theosophical students are particularly concerned and for this reason it may have a more limited appeal than the two books of Mr. Roy Mitchell which were published earlier by the Blavatsky Institute. The Exile of the Soul presented an ancient, but now seldom discussed, approach to the mystery of the duality of man's being. The far-reaching implications of the ideas presented there by Mr. Michell have not as yet been fully explored but later psychologists may acknowledge that in The Exile, Mr. Mitchell had anticipated some of their fondest theories and had suggested a basic clue to the understanding of the dichotomy of man's nature. Through Temple Doors :Studies in Occult Masonry was, as the title implies, an approach to Masonic symbolism in terms of the universal language of symbolism. Both these books have interested many readers who have little or no concern in Theosophy or the Theosophical Society.
In Studies Mr. Mitchell sets forth the original idea behind the founding of the Theosophical Society in 1875. Its work was to be that of an 'interpreter'; it was not to impose any new creed or dogma upon mankind; its members were to be students who were concerned with 'studying and explaining with sympathy, with kindliness and with insight' those basic ideas which they had found had survived through the ages and which were of the essence of world religions and philosophies. Mr. Mitchell indicated also the inherent difficulty of maintaining the ideal of the original program in view of the very human tendency to shrink away from the position of detachment and independence, and to sink into the safe certainty of dogma, even though intellectually one may acknowledge that any formulation of Truth is merely an expression of our understanding of any fragment of Truth as seen at that time.
Theosophical students will find in this book the marks of a trailblazer - now or in the future when in their own lives and work they come upon the problems discussed by Mr. Mitchell, they will remember that a former student had walked the same path and like a pioneer explorer of strange lands,had left behind him directions for those who would engage upon the same quest. It goes without saying that these 'directions' were not explicit instructions to do thus and so, but were in the nature of 'recalling to memory' certain basic principles in order that the student might accomplish his own reorientation.
Mr. Mitchell was one who stirred up many to take their first step toward the ancient path, 'stretching far away', the path to the recovery of conscious awareness of one's own divinity. His sudden death in July 1944 removed one who in addition to his rare genius as a teacher,had the rarer faculty of awakening deep and abiding friendships with thousands who met him in his Theosophical activities and in his position of Professor of Dramatic Art in the New York University.
It would seem unnecessary at this late date to have to remind members of the Theosophical Society that the Theosophical Movement and the Society are not one and the same thing.
The Theosophical Movement of our time arises primarily out of the reaction from the materialism of the last century, when both religion and science had reached the outermost points of their swing from idealism. Religion posited a restless and whimsical Deity who plunged a new-made soul into a welter of evil, of good, or of mixed environment, and at the end of a few years drew it out and arraigned it for judgement on the one issue of its tenacity of belief in a dogma of redemption,condemning or beatifying therefor. Science, no better, posited a God called nature which for some obscure purpose of its own bred human beings into misery; pitted done against another in order to perpetuate the species of the victor; plunged souls into appalling misery, not for any benefit to themselves, but for the sake of souls and intelligence to be born aeons hence.
It was into this deadlock of opinion that the Theosophical Society came, the herald of a movement, to proclaim the immortality of the souls of all created things, to restate the law of the cyclic return of souls and of the effects of the deeds of souls, to enunciate the doctrine that all religions, philosophy and science at their highest emanated from a body of custodians of the wisdom of the race, and to offer a common meeting ground for religion and science. It said to dogmatic religion: "There is no quarrel with your Scriptures if you will read them in terms of your immortal soul returning again and again to earth". To science it said: "There is no quarrel with your observed facts if you will interpret them in terms of the same evolving entities returning again and again to earth".
This was the original position of the Society, one of of explanation and adjustment for the great wave of opinion then setting in against the positions of religious and scientific dogma. That reaction was found to take a host of forms, for the reason, more than any other, that the world stood upon the verge of a return of the souls who had made the last great wave of preoccupation with occult things. When they came they would inevitably bring with them all their schisms, hatreds, fanaticisms, and their cults. For all our talk of reincarnation, we do not lay stress enough on this view of life. We still talk of spiritual movements as energizing one from another, as if the soul of the father created the soul of the son, instead of thinking of the soul of the son as another person who modifies or breaks from the forms which the soul of the father has projected for it the body in which the functions, the house in which he lives, the clothes he wears, the school in which he was educated, the religious system in which he was reared. We are not the products of our predecessors. We are other people than those who believed in infant damnation, and other than those who urged the survival of the fittest.
The great Theosophical Movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then, is itself less an evolution of ideas than of old cults each born with the motive force of centuries behind it, and each with the genius of ignorance and selfishness in it which will destroy it again as they have destroyed it before. One of them is spiritualism, destined from its very birth to degenerate into necromancy; another is that Pharisaism of Jesus Christ's time which laid stress upon spiritual healing and worldly prosperity and denied the existence of evil - the cult whose members Jesus described as whitewashing the sepulchre instead of cleansing it - born again in the multitudes of faith-healing sects; another is Adventism, that world-old hope which becomes father to the thought that an avatar is at hand; another, ceremonial magic; another, the scientifically garbed wonder-seeking called psychical research; another, mystical ritualism; another, the development of the lower powers by psychic processes; another, the enquiry into hypnotism and its effect upon neurosis. These on the more perilous side; on its nobler side, mystical Christianity, internationalism, and humanitarian and transcendental movements.
In the beginning the Theosophical Society as custodian of the most ancient and the most complete philosophy,held a central position among them all, to guide, to amplify, to warn, and to answer. Its work was one of explaining the rationale of the movements round it - even the maddest - with sympathy and understanding; to provide a literature, to trace ideas to their origins, to restate the ancient doctrines of the soul of man which have survived the ages, to teach those things which are basic in all great religions and philosophies, and to round out the path of which each of the cults is a fragment.
It is a precarious position and one easily lost. Its most striking analogy is that of centrifugal action in water, where the most buoyant thing can stay at the centre of the swirl, the least buoyant swings out to the circumference. As long as the Theosophist can maintain his place at the centre of the great vortex of cults he will serve the purpose of the Society, studying and explaining with sympathy, with kindliness and with insight. The moment he identifies himself with any of the incomplete and fragmentary cults around him he has done less than the task he has assumed. The moment he seeks to drag the Society into a special cult he has struck a blow at its usefulness. If he should succeed and persuade the Society as a body into one or other of the lesser vehicles he would destroy its purpose utterly.
It would then cease to be the explainer. It would become itself only one of the explained.
It is inevitable that in a body of so great extent and with so wide a platform as the Theosophical Society there will be those incapable of staying thus at the centre, who, because they are not trained to study or because they are bored, will find Theosophy insufficient for their needs and seek a more exciting orbit. It is inevitable, also, that from time to time they will draw the Society or parts of it into their eccentricities (in its strict sense). Such things are inseparable from the task it has set itself.
The remedy is that the Society shall apply itself with more devotion and industry to its original work.
The nature of that work and the practical means towards it whereby the lodges of the Theosophical Society in Canada may become more vital factors in the intellectual as well as the spiritual life of their communities I shall discuss in succeeding pages.
The preliminary step to any real efficiency on the part of a Theosophical unit must be an intimate realization of the meaning of the declared objects of the Society.
Let me restate them:
(1) To form a nucleus for the universal brotherhood of mankind without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour;
(2) To encourage the study of comparative religion, philosophy, and science;
(3) To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man.
As stated, they constitute a general description of the aims of the Society and a declaration to the world at large. Beneath this generalization they state the threefold means of all occult research - the trinity of essentials without which no Theosophical work can thrive. Neglecting any of them our work inevitably falls below the measure of balance and symmetry which entitles it to the name of Theosophy. I would beg my readers to remember that Theosophy is highest and most inclusive word which we possess to describe the aspirations of man. All other words we use describe only parts of it. It is all the wisdom there is, and when we start in quest of it we are assuming something which will require all our powers.
The initial means in the quest is the pledge of Brotherhood,the first necessity in all white magic. It is not a sentimental consideration for the student of Theosophy. It is a stern and uncompromising fact, the denial of which is deadly peril. The whole fabric of true religion is based on it, occult instruction is only possible when one realizes the law, and instruction can continue only when one embodies the ideal of Brotherhood in his daily life. Denial of Brotherhood in thought or in act checks the vital currents in the body at once, insistence in the denial renders right-hand occultism impossible. The first practice of all occult students must be, as soon as they find their stream of force running low, to trace back to the immediate offence against Brotherhood which has checked the stream. Rarely is it further back than a day, often not more than a few minutes.
The second means is study in the field outside of us. The field designated in the phrase "comparative religion, philosophy and science", is so comprehensive as to include all the symbolic, written and oral traditions of human learning. The Theosophical requirement is that we shall study and that our study shall be comparative, not what is modernly known as comparative religion merely, but comparative philosophy, comparative science, the comparisons of religions with philosophies, of religions with sciences, of philosophies with sciences. It is in comparison that we get fertility. There can be no exoteric religion, philosophy or science in the world complete. Human handling will defile it within the first hour. But by comparison we can arrive at the completeness of which each is a part. In the article on Study I shall have more to say on this point. For the moment it will suffice us to remember that study by comparison is not optional with the Theosophist. It is an obligation put upon him because it is his source of supply of the elements needed to round out his knowledge of the God within as well as the God without. Living in the world as Theosophists are required to do, because Theosophy exists for the world and not for its devotees, comparative study is the means whereby he elicits intuitions.
The third is lead understood of all, we have looked on it so often as providing for psychic research, the more phenomenal forms of yoga and recondite science. As a matter of fact it is a covering phrase for the third essential in Theosophical work - the process of testing for verity. It is the means whereby we discriminate between true and false in what we gather by our second means. Without this constant testing in ourselves and by examination of our own latent powers our study goes for naught. What is written in religion, philosophy and science can only have one value for us, its application to our problem of consciousness, and only by our own experience can we know if anything be true. No fact in the universe possesses the slightest value for us unless it is a statement for us in terms of a great cycle of a fact which is true in our smaller cycle. Theosophy which will not test within the cosmos of a man is no Theosophy at all, and by every warrant in the ancient tradition we are authorized to cast it out.
Thus we have in Theosophy three obligations- three because we are threefold, compounded of spirit, soul and lower self - and no Theosophist can be complete without using all three, the field, the aim, and the test. Neglecting any, he is less than a Theosophists, however fine he may be in every other regard. It is not a question of how high he stands. Our question is of balance and even development which alone can give us steadiness. Are we going then to make a Theosophical Society out of individuals who are, each of them, less than Theosophists? People try quite gravely to do so. They say, "I will devote myself to Brotherhood and to development of powers, and leave comparative study to the intellectual people"; or "I will devote myself to Brotherhood and comparative religion and leave tests to those more daring than I"; or some, most foolhardy of all, who say, "my interest is in study and latent powers. I shall leave sentimental considerations of Brotherhood to those who like them".
The means to Theosophical progress cannot be so delegated. Lacking Brotherhood the student cannot go beyond the Eye Doctrine. Lacking comparative study he will starve for the fragments of truth needed to evoke the powers of his soul. Lacking the third means of personal test he will have to rely upon the reputed vision of some other. He will read of hierarchies and Logoi and great time cycles as if they mattered in themselves , or as if salvation lay through them instead of through his Divine Self. To such a one, "As above, so below", might as well never have been written.
The health of the Theosophical Society and its efficiency in the tremendous task that it has essayed will be the measure of its even development along these three lines, not development in the aggregate, but development in each individual .Neither the altitude of its thought nor the magnitude of its operations will matter so much. The Lords of Life can endow us with high thought if that would serve, and we only need to cheapen our method to get magnitude. Neither will serve. Adherence to the long-tested balance of our three objects has served before and will again.
Let us assume two things arising out of the previous chapters. The first is that The Theosophical Society holds towards all other occult movements of its time the position of explainer, and in order to do so must maintain a stand central to them. The second is that having accepted such a task the Society must perform it upon the threefold bases of brotherhood, study, and personal test, which alone can make it secure, fertile and honest.
It is evident therefore that because of human shortcomings The Theosophical Society is a precarious structure. It is open to attack from a host of subtle agencies, none of which is more deadly than a misconception of the basic theory of its own existence.
So fragile a growth is a Theosophical Society fulfilling the requirements I have indicated that we have no record of one having persisted,at least since the time of Christ, for more than a few decades. H.P.Blavatsky says that an effort has been made in the last quarter of every century of the Christian era to establish a body which would preserve through a hundred years of life, and that none has succeeded. It is possible for a student of history to discern about the year seventy-five of each hundred years the formation of a body closely akin to our own, and to trace its rise until the turn of the next century. Therefore all such movements have become diffuse, have forsaken Theurgy for thaumaturgy, have developed schisms and sects, and have at last disappeared altogether.
I can recommend no better corrective for misapprehension of the basic terms of our work than an examination of these earlier societies,each with a high hope swinging into the new century,and each defeated by its failure to realize the theory of its own existence.
Why defeat? Are the custodians of the Wisdom Tradition not capable of renewing the impulse in each of these Societies whenever it runs low? Can They not take executive control in a crisis? Can They not issue books and manifestos of such power and clarity as to prevail over error each time it arises? Can They not rouse the torpid, curb the unbrotherly, strengthen the weakling, and chide the fool? If telling mankind these truths we hold so precious be the thing which matters, can They not of Their own number put powerful Teachers at the places where They are needed most? If the truth matter so much, why project it through the distortions of a Theosophical Society at all? Can They not light the world of Their own power? Can They who created not recreate every moment if need be?
Seemingly not. They obey cosmic law, and in Their obedience They assume limitations we have not learned to assume. They assume this limitation, that a Theosophical Society in order best to serve mankind must be a native human growth. They assume that it shall have a seeding time, that the placental period must cease, and that thereafter it must survive of its force and by virtue of conditions within its own body in being or to be.
This was made clear in our Theosophical Society at its inception. In the preface to the private instructions which students were required to study for weeks and virtually to memorize, they were expressly warned that such instruction would cease on December 31st, 1899. The actual words are too well-known to need repetition here. They were accepted as a condition of pupilage and were signed by all members of that original school.
What then is to be derived from the repeated failures in the past, and from our own solemn declaration that esoteric instruction must end with the first twenty-five years of the life of the Society? Clearly it is that a Theosophical Society can be nursed by special revelation only during a definite period in its infancy and that for the remaining seventy-five years of its life it must walk unaided as far as direct contacts are concerned.
The whole thing is a magical operation. The work is to project along the face of the earth for a century - itself a significant cycle in the history of man - a stream of effort to keep unsullied in the world certain age-old truths, and the prime essential of the magic is that it be done by men themselves, striving alone with no other assurance than that of their Divine Selves, and not by the intervention of Beings who could save us if They cared to.
Such a theory is cold comfort to those who have hoped to find the God somewhere outside of themselves, who think Theosophy is something to be read in a book or heard in a lecture,instead of something to be created in the fastnesses of their own souls.
Colder comfort still for those who by obliquity, or for lack of vision, have professed to prolong the period of received revelation past its due term. I have no special reference to any esoteric school. There are now to my knowledge operating in America, six separate and distinct schools, all arising directly out of the messengership of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, presenting equally valid professions of authenticity, all professing to be successors of H.P.B., all acknowledging her authority,all ignoring her explicit statement about the termination of special revelation, and none speaking of another except do disparage it. The students who form the outer organization of which these schools purport to be the inner bodies are in complete amity, and tomorrow could be welded into a body of incalculable power for the enlightenment of mankind. The barrier to such a welding is in these levels which claim to be the inner and higher. Surely the law of brotherhood is turned upside down!
Why further revelation? We are not using one-thousandth part of what we had when the nineteenth century, ended twenty-three years ago.(This document being of 1923) Powerful,dynamic books,not yet outbidden by any in their field, are neglected, out of print, forgotten- forgotten most, perhaps, because they demanded that the student create Theosophy instead of merely that he receive it ready made. How we love to have things given to us?
Is this the flaw? Is it possible that this is what happened to those earlier societies whose wreckage is strewn through the centuries? That when the time came for them to cast off from special contacts, keeping their torch alight by secret prayer until the next cycle when it could be renewed, they rushed hither and thither, seeking some other light than their own, uncertain, broken and divided?
The Theosophical Society is ours now, for better or worse, to carry on to its goal and provide a great and enduring culture for the next seeding in 1975, or to lose in a morass of our own self-seeking, our quarrelling over personalities, and our infidelity to the powers of the Indwelling God. We have to walk alone in order that the magic of a Theosophical Society native among men be brought to pass upon earth . If this be not so none of the earlier Societies need have failed. Adepts could have carried them down the ages in unbroken line, gathering power as they came, until in our day Theosophy would have been carried by a populous triumphant host, instead of the sparse band of strugglers who now represent it.
Have the Masters failed? I rather suspect that those who were to have walked alone failed. And unless we can so walk, we shall fail.
If there be in our Theosophical Society the defect of which I have spoken as destroying the earlier societies,this wonder-seeking (which is inevitably self seeking) on inner planes for contacts with the Great Ones, for initiations, for scraps of information of events outside of us instead of earnest search for processes inside of us, such a defect will show in our work. Most of all, it will show in our literature, because literature is the flower of our work.
There are ample indications that the new or revealed material for our renaissance completes itself within the first quarter century, and that thereafter the task of the Society is to make a revaluation of life,of letters, of arts, of science, of religion, in terms of that revelation. Mere conservation of forces would require as much. If the unveiling of esoteric truth be accompanied by the dangers of which we have been told so often, why should that process of unveiling be continued long after we have ceased to be able to use what we already possess?
We have not used it. For twenty-five years now scarcely a wheel has turned in thousands of the departments in which The Secret Doctrine has made it possible for us to revalue life. Here and there an isolated worker, deriving directly from the origins of the Society, has produced a revaluation of moment, but in the main stream of the Society we have made nothing that deserves a place beside those works of the first quarter. I shall receive fierce denials of this, but I shall require of the denier not only that he shall have read those first books, but that he shall have worked and taught in the Society for at least a decade, and not have been caught up in an emotional wave three or four years ago.
Perhaps it is a condition of growth. Perhaps under cycle law we must be fed for a quarter century, perhaps we spend a quarter century in the effervescent follies of adolescence, perhaps then a quarter century of robust maturity, perhaps at last a quarter century of conservation and contemplative old age, awaiting the birth of the new impulse.
In such case we are coming now to our fulness of strength, having done all the silly things our ineptitude dictated, and steadying down into a powerful stride. It is so I prefer to think of it, not to think of the misspent days but of the rectification of our misspending, not to bring accusations of negligence or obliquity but to remedy them.
If, then, we are to grow up into potent manhood there are some errors we must mend. It will not be enough to trifle with lesser magic, to lose ourselves in pools of sentimentality, to claim to be the initiates of this or the channels of force of that, to purport to record the past of inconsequential people - of great people, for the matter of that - to retail small gossip ten times removed from the first teller,who himself knew nothing about it. We shall have to address ourselves seriously to those revaluations which were set us twenty-five years ago and which we have yet scarcely touched.
We have no book on Buddhism. A.P.Sinnett's misspelling of "Buddhism" might lead people to suppose we have, but when we have to study Buddhism, after exhausting a few elementary and not very fertile lectures in printed form, we must go to Edkins, Oldenburg, Carus, Schlagintweit, Eakins, Beal and Rhys Davids. Here in a field from which we draw chiefly, we have no authoritative work. Neither have we any on Hinduism. Again we have a few lectures, a class-book for Hindu boys, and one or two works around the fringe of the subject,but no work which challenges scholarship. Srinavasa Iyengar's book has disappeared. We have a lecture or two on Zoroastrianisim and there we stop. In spite of all we claim to know, we have left the field to Martin Haug and one or two others. We have nothing in Egyptian religion,good, bad or indifferent. With all our professed sources of information, we have nothing on Chaldea, nothing on Babylonia, Assyria,Troja. There are books, but none of ours. We can dig up unprovable details about Peru scores of millennia age, but the world has only five Etruscan words and we cannot add a single one to the number. We might as well not know there is such a place as China since H.P.Blavatsky died. We have left that immense and intriguing field to all but Theosophists. Taoism is almost untouched.
We might have made an authoritative survey of Norse myth, but we have not. Neither have we done anything with the Finnish Kalevala, the Nibelungen Ring, the Holy Grail, the Romance of the Rose. We have talked about, but we have not made a book about the alchemists, nor the Troubadours. Dante is our kind and we have left him to the Roman Catholic polemists.
We have no books on Mohammedanism, none on the Sufis,none on Mithraism (since Mead's) none on Mani,and none on either Talmud or Kabbalah (since Wynn Westcott's booklets). The rich field of animism and fetishism, embodying as they do the fragments of great religions, have been beneath our notice. Maya and Aztec civilization and religion we have left to others,we who lay such stress upon them. The myths of North America are gathered by everybody but Theosophists.
Plato: nothing but some of heroic old Alexander Wilder's essays,never reprinted. Plotinus: a translation by Mead, but no thorough study. Iamblichus: nothing. The Homeric epic: nothing, nor anything on Greek religion, that vast and fascinating field so akin in culture to our own and on which our world of scholarship reads everything printed. On Keltic religion we have no book for all the magic it yields.
Where is our big text on Masonry? Wilmshurst's lectures, but nothing more. Where is our word on occult geography and the Platonic solids? The Great canon of proportion? The magical symbolism of The The Thousand Nights and One Night? Aeneid Book VI? The Mahabharata? The Ramayana? What have we on the mediaeval Theosophists? Bruno? Nicholas of Basle? Nicholas Flamel? Gemistus Pletho? The Fugers? Trithemius? The Comacine Masters? Or on Cagliostro? Or Mesmer? We have a book on St.Germain, not a very good book. These are some of the things the world looks for from us, and we expect from ourselves. The clues are al there in The Secret Doctrine,and thousands more, but we are so busy about something else.
We write primers as fast as other and better primers go out of print. We are always striving for a lower doorstep when our house on the inside is stark and naked of the things it should contain. We have even lost what we had. We have let Jerome Anderson's books books go out of print, and "Man: Fragments of Forgotten History", and Ralston Skinner's "Source of Measures", and Claude Wright's "Modern Theosophy", and Willson's "Ancient and Modern Physics", and The Dreamer's "Studies in Bhagavad Gita" and most of Tukaram Tatya's reprints of Hindu Scriptures, and Dvivedi's books. Until a year or so ago H.P.B.'s Glossary was out of print when private persons revived it.
These are some of the lacunae we must fill, and on the side of scholarship alone. In science, in art, in service, in life, in politics, we have done scarcely so well.
Perhaps it is the mark of our failure. Perhaps it is only the sign of our youth. Theosophists now growing up and to come may be less charitable about it all. At least I think they will try to bridge some of these gaps.
Now, fixing our minds on the things which require to be done and looking back only to avoid repeating the mistakes of our past, I think we will find nothing wrong in the Theosophical Society which cannot be mended with a few years of right effort. The membership of the Society changes with great rapidity - far greater than persons unacquainted with its records would suppose - and a very short time is enough to recreate the spirit of any group, If, then, we assume our tasks , not as an end in themselves, but as laying down a charge and a culture for incoming members,the whole Society can be remade nearer to that first mood in which the work was begun.
The primary requirement will be to create fertile methods of study. Our greatest present disability is our shameful ignorance of the elements of occultism Our people are not without the wish to know, but they come into the Society with a grave misapprehension of the nature of occult literature - the idea that somebody is going to tell them truth.
The Theosophical Society is not the custodian of truth,but of certain age-old means to the attainment of truth, and when we lose sight of this distinction and proffer to outsiders things we cannot give them, the best outsiders suspect us and refuse to come in, while those less than the best, who come in on such a promise, create so great a disturbance arguing about the right book and the right teacher,that we are in a constant turmoil - a turmoil in which study is extremely difficult.
It will be the duty of those who have found it out to make it clear to those who have not - inside as well as outside the Society - that esoteric truth is never written down exactly in any book. If it were it would cease to be esoteric. The great books in Theosophy are never explicit about anything except the moral steps to the attainment of truth. Regarding matters of fact they are evocative of truth in the reader, not by a process of telling untruth, but by a method of presenting truth in a fragmentary form. A great Theosophical book is not solid nutriment to be broken off and carried away piecemeal, but a mesh requiring to be filled.
For years now we have had study groups engaged in poring over a single book, trying by intense scrutiny to acquire its treasure. If it has been a foolish book which professed to be explicit the effort has been vain, because the book has contained little truth. If it has been a great book the effort has been almost as vain , because the wealth of a great occult book is derived in exactly the same measure that the student takes something to it.
If we bolt an idea entire from a book we have not gained an idea. We have merely entertained an alien But if the borrowed idea, obeying the same law of polarity as manifests here on the physical plane as sex, unites with one in our own minds,we have gained an idea. Ideas are not born outside of us, but inside of us, and our native-born will be the only ones we can use in the quest of truth.
The single-book Theosophists have given us a great deal of trouble and have seriously impaired our efficiency. If they have eaten a great book they mouth recondite phrases. They are not unlike the old-line Christians who bang the Bible with a positive fist and say, "All any man needs to know is in that Book!" Of course it is, but it will never give up its all until the student brings some wealth of his own with which to elicit it. The truth is all in a tree if we know how to read it. But these single-book and single-author people, when their attenuated arguments run out, fall back on issues of loyalty which have nothing to do with the matter. Then the pot boils again. For all they are getting out of their respective treasuries of truth they might trade books and be no better nor any worse off, as long as they think a single book can yield truth.
The solution is in that word I dwelt on in the second of these chapters. Comparative study alone will nourish The fool cleaves to a single exposition of truth, and is starved. The wise man reads two books and is fed. He knows neither book can be complete and exact. He triangulates on his subject. Each book gives its own bearing and a parallax is established by which values can be measured. Once having learned the process, the wise man will go on taking new bearings on his problem until sees it in the round. Then he possesses the factors out of which he can make truth in his own soul, and such truth is Theosophy.
The Masters Themselves do not offer truth gratuitously. When a disciple has pondered and comes to Them with his solution, asking if it be true,They are bound to answer "Yes" or "No".
That is what the books They have inspired will do. Students say they find The Secret Doctrine a hard book. For the person who comes to it empty-handed, expecting to be given something, it is the hardest book in the world, double-locked and bolted at every page. For the seeker who has gone as far as he can with his problem, and comes with a question , the Doctrine will fall open at the page he needs. My reader must not take this on any word of mine. Let him try it. It is a Master book, and it is bound to say "Yes" or "No".
So with all great books - ours and before our time. They elicit truth from the student. The silly books inform him, and when he gets something for nothing that way,he can take the testimony of the centuries that it is wrong. If it were right, it could not so be told. Exact truth on this plane is Maya. Even 2 x2= 4 is not quite right. It is the dim symbolic formula for something only the soul can know.
We will have to set up our study classes with these things in mind, and instead of a somnolent group listening to the drowning voice of a reader, we will demand of each student that he carry on a research parallel to the subject in hand, and bring his gleanings to the class for the filling of the text. One will follow parallel indications in Buddhist, one in Hindu, one in Egyptian, another in Greek and another in Chinese tradition. One may have a scientific, one a philosophic, one a mystical inquiry , and so on. The text itself will suggest search, and the material will be turned into the general store. So we will find out what texts paralyse study, and what ones energize it. Instead of having to fall back upon the bona fides of the writer of the book in hand, and argue about his authority, the students will know him by his fruits.
We will learn also that the sources of Theosophia is in the soul, and we will develop by practice the faculty of eliciting it. We will learn how to ask ourselves a question again and again until the Ego creates the answer from the treasure house of his own high origin. Then we shall have an end, perhaps of this nonsense about the evolution of the soul, and find out by definite experiment that the soul does not evolve, but, as the early books had it, it emanates.
Our real Theosophists will find such a method as fascinating as it is enduring. Our weaker students will not like it because they do not want work. They want alms, or at least a bargain. And since, as our records show, whatever they may do for the Theosophical movement, they are not long for the Theosophical Society anyway, we will be less upset when their karma runs out and they leave. The work firmly built on Theosophical principles can go on.
In its capacity of answerer, two great modes of expression are open to the Theosophical Society. One is of speaking, the other of writing. These are its direct means of contact with its generation and require to be used in their highest efficiency - an efficiency for the attainment of which we cannot take too great pains.
The first and readiest, that of speaking, is one which, for insufficient reasons, we have erected into a fetish. Speaking is a great and unusual gift, we say. If we only had speakers how much we could accomplish! And the speech we might use for the carrying on of Theosophical work we waste in regretting the lack of it.
If we are to carry on speaking in terms of true Theosophy, it will be binding upon every chairman to say that the words of the speaker represent his own views and are not to be taken as the voice of the Society. It is then binding on every speaker to go ahead and state those views without fear or favour, erring, for choice - and he must err - on the side of independence of what has already been said on the subject, and great dependence on his own intuitions. He must make up his mind at the beginning that he cannot attain absolute accuracy in his statements. If he did attain complete accuracy he would not be allowed to make the statements, and if he were allowed they would not be understood.
Absolute truth is
in another dimension than this; only to be stated in symbol and understood in
What, therefore, remains for him to do? Better sit down again? No, he is required to say what he thinks and believes about the problems of life in so fertile and sincere a way as to evoke thought and possibly a measure of illumination in his listeners. He is not there to inform them; he is there to initiate them.
This would seem a very high office for the speaker to aspire to. A fine office, but not out of reach. Trees can initiate us, and flowers and all living things, because of their intense preoccupation with the specific thing they are doing. So if our speaker will say his own thought with anything like the simplicity and earnestness with which a tree breathes or a flower turns to the sun, he too can initiate.
The first thing then a speaker must do is go inside to his intuitions for his material. If Theosophy means anything it means that the God manifests Himself in man and that every man is potential God; that the God will yield whatever one prays for, and that the man who is blessed is the man who prays for worthy things.
Thus assured he should sit down and turn his subject over in his mind, asking questions about it. It will not matter very much what the subject is, the God is unbelievably powerful in answering questions if He is intensely asked. The speaker may, if he choose, write down his questions,moving round and round his subject, asking the things he needs to know. He must not pray, "Give me things and I will tell them to these people", but "In behalf of these people I ask these things". This is the difference between a not very good speaker and a fine one. The inferior speaker informs his audience; the great one places himself at the head of them as a pathfinder might, and leads them into a country where, in their behalf, he has ventured a little. The audience may admire the first; it will love the second, and with the play of its love initiation begins.
As he goes on eliciting what he requires from his own inner self the speaker will find his information leap in to dress his ideas. This is what reading is for. It is not that we should sop up a book or an article and retail it, preoccupied always of the next step, but to read many books,letting them lie in the mind until they become a rich culture from which his new-born idea can choose the elements of its body and come forth sheated in fact, illuminated by analogy and vivified by the sincerity of the speaker.
It is ironical that we who of all people should believe in the power of the God to instruct us for speech should be anything but successful in producing speakers. Partly it is that in dealing with so great things we think that unless we can say them greatly we should remain silent. Partly also we are troubled by that diffidence which makes us unwilling that others should find out how little we know, and the fault is more marked in those people who give more worship to their earthly heroes than they do to the inner God - the people who feel that liberation is to be attained by outside interference. They think that theosophic enrichment requires some person, when what it really needs is some thing. They are our dwellers in Macedonia.
The first thing speaking needs then is that the speaker shall regard himself not as the deputy of some person in authority but of a Divine Presence which he shares with his listeners, and having elicited his material in the manner I have indicated he is required to project it vocally through the mechanism of the personality. Here is where his early troubles become most acute, and to save him as much suffering as possible I offer him some suggestions to quiet the emotions and to uplift the man. They are old and tried rules:
(1) Let him say his prayers just before he begins. Let him also breathe deeply. This is like prayer, because every time we breathe on the physical plane the impulse runs through all planes, right up to the God.
(2) Let him speak: not read. Reading, except with a great reader, does not initiate. Often it scarcely informs.
(3) Let him stand firmly on his feet, resting at ay given time more on one than the other, and in the early stages of all lectures and in most stages of early lectures let him tighten all muscles from the waist down. The room will then vibrate with the speaker as the table does with a grounded tuning fork, and his voice will be a part of him instead of seeming a separate entity.
(4) Let him think of his audience as just being contained in a great egg-form, the smaller end of which is at his mouth. If he feels he just filling this he will be distinctly heard by all his listeners.
(5) Let him remember that his relation to his audience is not as of one against many but as one containing many.
(6) Let him never under any circumstances ask to be allowed to speak, nor under any refuse to speak when he is asked, if it is humanly possible for him to do so.
(7) Let him, whatever goes amiss in his lecture, keep on speaking. The fluent speaker will achieve a rich texture; the speaker who halts and hesitates for the right word will never get fluency- and rarely the right word. All we ar required to do is to provide a vahan of what words we can for spiritual things. The flow of spiritual things will make perfect words.
When I turn to writers I may be looked upon as addressing a much smaller section of the Theosophical Society than when I deal with speakers. As a fact it is so, but it need not be so. Like speaking, writing is not nearly the elaborate miracle we make of it. The ability to write,like the ability to speak or to draw, is the common heritage of all of us, and the barrier which separates us from it is a technical training the greater part of which we received in school, and the remainder of which can be easily possessed if we have the perseverance to possess it.
To which we must add the element of reincarnation and of powers now dormant, which we have all undoubtedly possessed in the past, and without having possessed which we should not now be interested in Theosophy, which is essentially a preoccupation of the creative warrior caste. It is amusing also, in a sad sort of way, that for all our belief in reincarnation, our people should proceed in their daily affairs as if they had never head of such a thing. They will speculate about past incarnations and future ones, when they only possible merit of former lives consists in the ability to summon the powers of those lives into the present.
If those of our people, therefore, who have the occultist's point of view about life, and are more interested in the present implications of the doctrine of reincarnation, than they are in the mere fact of it, will set to work on a task of writing they will be amazed to find how soon by creative effort they can bring the powers of the past into play, and how they can make long past apprenticeships serve the living Now.
If my reader will proceed as I have indicated in the articles on speaking by writing down the central idea around which he wishes to build an article, and, by the process of asking the Self questions about it, will write down notes about the idea, he will find presently that the memoranda he is making will almost write themselves. Such notes must be frankly notes and not finished sentences. When they are thought of as finished sentences the mind will run next to the finished article, which at this stage is no business of the writer. He must exist in the ideas he is eliciting from the Self and not in the faults he foresees in the completed work, nor yet in the praise the completed work will bring him. The moment he runs on ahead he has broken the first rule of creative art, which is also the first rule of occultism, that he must live in the present instant.
Gradually his idea will take form. It will become round and clearly marked with the elaborations necessary to explain and amplify it. So as the writer goes on developing the idea he will feel within him a growing desire to begin the actual work of writing. Such desire will increase directly in the measure of the denial of it, until at last the writer, feeling secure in the value of his notes and feeling that they really represent something of value, will find that the task of writing them down as finished copy will be a pleasure rather than a labour because he has enlisted desire instead of having to fight it step by step.
So handled in logical steps it becomes a fascinating process, as all creative processes are. He will find as he goes on assembling his material that arising in and through his conscious thought there will be others of which he has not been conscious before, tricks of expressions, of presentation of thought, of vivid analogy, of figures of speech, ghostly visitors from an unplumbed world of his own great past. This is the artist's consciousness of past incarnations and this it is which reinforces in him in practical use his belief of having lived before.
No words of mine can convince my reader of the authenticity of all this He must test it, bearing ever in mind that the benefit of the creative arts is greatly to the artist and little after all to the reader, listener or spectator The experimenter will come upon arid intervals - many at first - when nothing will come to him, when his words seem trite or clumsy or empty, but gradually the intervals will shorten and become fewer if his purpose be strong.
Of what will he write? If he follow religiously the process of which I have spoken it will not matter much, because any subject intensely examined by the process of eliciting truth from the soul will yield great values. And also,working so he will probably be too proud - and this concerns us more - to write about so many of things people do write about. He will adhere to truths and their manifestations in life around him; he will build upon fertile things he has read that energize him to more active thought. When he attests his loyalty it will be to ideas and not to persons. When he thinks of his past or of his future it will be in its bearing upon the one moment in which each of us lives. He will write most about things which stir his mind and least about things which merely stir his feelings. He will, I think, make very few indignant retorts, because this kind of commerce with the Self makes them seem so unnecessary. He will be more interested in fertile suggestions and projections of ideas. He will see the macrocosm as the great index of his own microcosm and hierarchies only as the outer projections of his own powers. He will worship less and wonder more.
He will cease to label what he writes with the labels of the present Theosophical Society and will label it more with the universal labels of life. He will probably realize that our work is not one hundredth so much to promulgate technical Theosophy as it is to combat materialism, whether outside the Society or inside it. After he has found a few times that a clever and glittering unbrotherly saying which he knows in his soul is neither kind, true nor necessary, will dry up his sources of inspiration and make it impossible to go on in a fine vein,he will learn a practical brotherhood which is the brotherhood of the truth-speaker and the artist.
For what publications will he write? For any, if he makes up his mind to it. Outside of our own journals, which are very few now, nobody wants labelled Theosophical articles. But all except a few publications want friendly articles that make people think, that are idealistic in their tendency, that are soundly informative, that satisfy souls and that bring in the pictureful past in which men are as intensely interested as if they knew they have lived in it.
It is with our writing as it is with our speaking. Our work is for the world, and when we labour for the world we achieve our great end.
If we are to succeed in making this Theosophical Society nearer to that first heartening ideal in which it was begun, one of the things we must do is to restore intellect to its place. Not to the highest place, because it is implicit in Theosophy that there are realms into which intellect of itself may not go. There are none, however, from which it may not draw. We will be careful to correct that inferior and popularity-seeking mood in which it has become the fashion to offer new students a bargain route to the Supreme without traversing the realm of mind.
Least of all will we acquiesce in the cheap habit dismissing mental effort as being mere intellectualism and consequently privative of the things of the spirit, especially when such dismissal comes from those who have neither the courage nor the endurance to essay the necessary initiations of mind.
It is so great a temptation for a Theosophical student to try to cover up mental failure by saying "My Dharma is not of the mind. Mine is a spiritual path", and thereby exalt his shortcomings into a specious semblance of virtue. His chief difficulty will not deceive anybody long, and this for the best occult reasons.
There is one sovereign test for whether he is living in the world of spirit or in the world of emotion. Focus of consciousness in the spiritual realm will fecundate mind. Focus of consciousness in the emotional realm will not. Spirit vivifies mind; emotion dulls it. Spirit focuses mind; emotion disperses it. If mind will not work freely and connectedly it is because the focus of consciousness is not interior to mind, but exterior to it.
If my reader will find himself in any doubt about this and be not merely of the type that persists in mistaking a brown study for a spiritual experience, he will do well to test it for himself. If an exercise be genuinely spiritual and in even the slightest measure achieve its object, mind will race eagerly along its line of enquiry; it will capture clear analogy from within; it will refine worlds into clear and enlightening use; it will make vivid and flashing revaluations of life; it will endow its participants with a power of tongue. If he has penetrated for an instant into his spiritual being he will show it in thought, in speech which is the firstborn of thought, in movement and in love. These things he will find in himself and these things he is entitled to expect of spiritual devotees wherever he find them.
If it be that he mistakes the full reflection of Buddhi turned upside down in Kama for the pure light of Buddhi itself, he may easily know it. He will have peace of a drugged sort, not an elated peace; he will be turgid and heavy or sounding and empty; he will parrot phrases he has heard instead of making them; he will re-say reams he has read, and utter formulae he does not understand; he will feel far from the centre of life out at the edge of the disc as it spins - and will cling to things; he will be easily made apprehensive of evil, will react easily to anger. If his fear persist he will become fanatic.
Before any man has the right to condemn mind he must satisfy us that he has transcended it, that he is so fully master of mind that he can create momentarily the radiant and golden fruit that is born of the meeting of mind and spirit. As well talk of going through to spirit without taking the initiations of mind as to talk of a diameter that does not pass through the centre of the circle, or of a road from two to four that does not pass through three.
Mind is not an end, nor must it ever be considered an end. It is nonetheless a means,and even the Bhakti, most pledged to devotion, considers it so. There comes a time at last for the sacrifice of mind to spirit, but it will profit us little to offer to sacrifice something we have not attained. Since few of us have mental powers worth any great stir in Heaven when we sacrifice them, least of all those among us who talk most of that sacrifice, will do well to tarry a while with mind until we have something worth offering.
So tarrying, we may learn that mind will open many spiritual doors nothing else can. We will find, as so few of our people give signs of having found, that the real problem of attaining to the siddhis of mind is the ability to control the lower self. That it is not an intellectual task nearly so much as a moral one. That when one's mind is clumsy and inept and his memory bad, rather than making a virtue of it and pluming himself on being a Bhakti,he had better be about the world of quelling the lower self which renders his mind inefficient.
We Theosophists have come on a bad muddle these later days about the nature and place of mind, and it will be salutary for us to spend more time with Patanjali as we used to do. Patanjali is a regimen and far more healthful than a nostrum. We will learn from him that to be able to follow a line of reasoning to its logical and honest conclusion is a great thing and requires control of the animal nature. That beyond this discursive power lies the power to hold a single image in mind, concentrating attention upon it to the exclusion of all others. That beyond that again lies the power to contemplate an abstract idea until it becomes a full and potent concept drawing magnetically from the past and clarified by the light of Buddhi - of Hermes the messenger of the God. That beyond that again lies the far harder tasks of pushing every image out to the circumference of conscious mind and remaining thus positively and definitely free from a spectacle, to let the cognitions of Buddhi mirror themselves in a crystal-clear pool of mind. This is meditation, the standing midway between the God and the lower self, the postulant of the spirit.
I think that realizing how hard the mount of vision is to climb and that these steps must be taken patiently in the order I have given we will learn to be honest with our newcomers and let waste as little time as possible with our present substitutes for this living proof of the truths of Theosophy. We may then find a more modest word than meditation for that quaint practice of recent years of sitting with palms on knees and feet on floor and thinking at random as at a seance. Even the position is merely funny. It closes no bodily circuits, as in the great postures of meditation, It is like trying to catch water in a bottomless bucket. If we must do it and in groups, another quaint practice against which Jesus earnestly entreated us, let us call it quiet thought or something like that and make it clear that meditation is a great exercise and follows only upon mastery over the mercuric tendencies of mind. That it is the sacramental crown and glory of an intellectual achievement so many of our people have hoped against hope they will not need to bother about. We must be honest above all things. The Masters would like that better than multitudes dishonestly attracted.
So when we hear talk about variety of mind let us remember that there is not nearly so much variety of mind as we think, but only variety of the distortions and disturbances of emotion through which it is projected.
The ability to think clearly and well, as to speak or write clearly and well, is wrested by toil and patience and repeated effort from the lower self, and anybody with the will to go into his closet and close the door and strive with a mental problem can solve it so. Mind will never defeat him. But laziness will and drowsiness will , and fear of failure and hope of success and doubt of the value of his work, and lack of fortitude, and habitual self-indulgence, restlessness of body and recent anger.
The phrase "Mind is the great slayer of the Real" must not be wrenched out of its true place in the Great Work. There is a phrase that demands attention far earlier on the path than that and with it we are more immediately concerned because so few of us have passed it. "Let not the senses make a playground of the mind". That will hold most of us this life. Any there be beyond that will reveal themselves by their fruits of spirit.
I have spoken of intellect as the reward of courage and as a finely wrought tool for the evocation of spirituality. Of what sort will spirituality be when we evoke it and how will it show itself?
Of a certainty, because it is life itself and in its very name the play of breath, spirituality will not be something we have never had. It may easily, however, be something we have never had enough of. It must be a current, an energy. It cannot be what we call Buddhi, because Buddhi is matter of subtle grade, and is on the form side of our world. Neither is Buddhi to be conceived as something within us as our charts are compelled to show it, but as something outside of us, a subtle body which we share with all mankind, and in which we as individuals are atoms, as the animal cells are atoms in us.
Spirituality, then, must represent a process by which the Divine Energy, which we are, breaks its bounds of the individual man, to play in the growing tendrils with which we contact those around us. Our means of increasing it will be to multiply and vivify our ties with mankind and, having thus enlarged our sense of a body of communion, we shall permit a fuller flow of the Spirit, Or, to say it another way, having increased our efflux, we shall have increased our influx from our own Indwelling God.
It is implicit in all religions that no one can increase spirituality in himself to himself, but only in himself for another. It would seem to live in the nexus between him and a a second person, in a mesh, as it were, of that great body which is of the whole race. In each added link with the rest of mankind the mesh grows, and with it the flow of spirituality. It is never in men, but between men. "For", says Jesus, speaking in his Buddhic office, "when two or three of you are gathering together in My Name, there am I in the midst".
We are prone to think of it as something in us which we can give, or refuse to give. No. It is something common to us all and we vitalize it by finding common ground with men. In the measure therefore that we fashion mind into a delicate instrument for the discernment of the things common to us and those about us, instead of occupying ourselves with differences; in the measure that we can make thought a quest of what we share and not of the things upon which we quarrel- in precisely that measure do we enlarge the body in which Atma can play.
So because an energy can only be answered by an energy it will come to pass that the play of spirit along the tendril of our contact will elicit a measure of spiritual flow in the one who has been contacted. This is the key to that spiritualized brooding of the Masters which is their most potent service to mankind. It is the clue also to the curious swirl or vortex we make among those around us when spirituality flows through us. We are not merely filling our own bodies with light but activating the spiritual bodies of all we contact.
Some may at first take it ill, but that will not matter. We can make our link with the highest in another and stir his Buddhic nature, and because his mind is not attuned to identifies but to disparities he may repudiate the bond. He may become frantic in his denial of the contact, and if the swirl be great enough he may crucify the very man who has roused him. Or, having recognized the swirl for a time, a pall may descend upon him, a pall of his Karma, an old habit of letting his mind feed his passional nature with differences. What shall I say of my brother if, having shown zest and enthusiasm with me because of That in the Midst, he become opposed to me? That he is wrong? Shall I too feed my passional nature with differences that will destroy the tendril between us, or upon our communities that will strengthen it? Shall I too draw down my blind of the spirit and fight him in the dark? Or shall I strive harder than ever to keep the bond, knowing that when my blind is down he will in his turn do the like for me? And he will. If I stay his brother in Buddhi the time must come when he will stay mine. The Masters play constantly at such a one-sided brotherhood.
We can posit it then of spirituality that it will live in community and die in separation; it will continued to flow when there is only conscious party to it, that it is fluent, of the nature of life itself, and that by the training of the mind to the creation of images of similarity we can evoke and radiate it. How then will it show itself?
First of all in a sense of abundance, because it is of its very nature an overflowing beyond separate entity - an enlargement of the ramifications of life and a flow of life into the enlarged network. Conversely it will show itself in the generosity which must arise out of realization that the current thus made to flow is as inexhaustible as the God Itself; that there is more force where the last came from and that the pouring out of whatever we have to give - of ideas, of good will,of material aid, of commendation, of precedence to others, of acknowledgement of benefits, of the energy that goes into work - will not beggar but enrich us as enriching that widening vehicle in which we learn more and more to focus life.
Spirituality will show itself also in a widened sense of space and time that will save its custodian from little flurries of immediacy and urgency, of righteous indignation, of feeling that the time has come to do something, or that it will soon be too late to do something else,the little precipitancies of life that betray us into treachery, meanness and sharp practice.
It will show itself in a deep unwillingness to break ties when once they are made - even in order to make new ties. That the man who cuts tendrils once formed is mutilating his body of the spirit as surely as he would mutilate his body of the flesh if he cuts off fingers. Not figuratively. Literally. It is a great light to us the day we find how many of our weaknesses and inhibitions are the direct result of broken courses of the spirit.
It will show itself in a growing realization that these tendrils of spirit are the enduring things in the world and they must remain when all else passes. They are our fruit at the end of life and our seed at the gate of birth.
Spirituality will also, I think, show itself as gaiety and high spirits, as the ability to make and take laughter. Every religious quest, including our own, has suffered at the hands of its humourless saints who have not learned that truth can be conveyed from man to man in a whimsy, in the odd consorting of incongruous ideas in reductions to absurdity, long after precise speech has failed to convey it. That higher than induction and deduction is analogy and a jeu d'esprit derives its life from analogy. The one thing hatred, fear, anger and malice and the enclosing passions cannot survive is laughter.
It will mean a great deal to us in our lodges if we can wrest this idea of spirituality clear of its later Christian ideas of austerity and piety, which are virtues of the separate man, and learn to identify it rather with the relations of one man with another. If we can think of it as zest, light-heartedness and vitality in personal contacts, more in a handshake than in a speech, as the ability to take adversity with a smile, the willingness to let things go by default, the willingness also to give odds, knowing there is more virtue in the effort than in the result, the instinct to proceed more upon bona fides than upon charters, constitutions, by-laws, resolutions and votes, and a confidence in the healing power of time, we will do vastly more for the world for which our Society exists.
Spirituality is the only true entrance to esotericism. Two persons who work together and are so bound can hold a closed meeting in the midst of a multitude. I sometimes think we hold no really closed meetings at all, but these communions of effort, endurance and sympathy. The others are merely symbols of something we must bring to pass.
In an earlier chapter I Have suggested that the work of our Theosophical Society is a magical one, that it is to lay down on the face of the earth the best projection we can make of such things as we believe to exist on the inner planes of being, and one thing above all others, an inner and compassionate Society pledged to the enlightenment of mankind. Primarily, then, we are incarnating in among men - giving such body as we can to - a process for the renewal of a wisdom tradition regarding man's origins, his nature and his destiny.
It is not enough that we enunciate that tradition. If mere enunciation were the purpose, the Masters who make up that Inner Society could do it far better than we. A few books of great power, some appearances in the flesh and a few simple and well attested miracles could convert the world in a year. This kind of conversion of the world is obviously not the immediate purpose of our effort. Not only must we enunciate the ancient tradition, but we must enact such things as we know to be inseparable from it in order that as men living among men, unaided save by that Divine Presence we share with all men, we may make the Theosophia a valid and convincing guide to life.
We must incarnate some measure of the brotherhood without which the Inner Society could not live for a moment. We have done rather badly here, perhaps no worse than was expected of us, perhaps somewhat better than night have been expected under the conditions any form of occultism will create in those new to it, or resuming it after a break. In any case there is vast room for betterment, and it is possible that the residuum of members, who, after they have passed through their baptism of fire, remain to be tolerant,instead of quitting, will increase to a point where a fine nucleus of brotherhood will inhere in the fabric of our Society. That is the hope of the next fifty years.
Next in importance in that Inner Society of Adepts, and the element in it that makes it enduring throughout the years is its strict observance of cyclic law, obedience of which is power and denial of which must end in impotence and futility. All Theosophy comes a last to be no more than a realization of the forces of cyclic recurrence. Some measure of this we must also incarnate and here, I think, we have failed worst of all.
For all our talk of the outbreathing and inbreathing, of periodicity in the making and dissipating of worlds, of chains, globes and rounds, of the rise and fall of races, of the descent and withdrawal of souls, the return of seed-time and harvest, of seasons, of nights and days, of the cyclic return of good and evil gifts to the giver, of the play of breath, of the systole and diastole of the heart, of the pulsations of life in the atoms, it has occurred rarely to us that any enduring incarnation of the Inner Society must be also in terms of this repetition of impact which is the all-inclusive law of life.
So we have gone blithely ahead starting with a brave enough step, assuming tasks we knew we could not maintain for long, tiring, stopping, starting again at our good pleasure, doing a few of this and half a dozen of the other, studying when the mood took us, starting a book with a great rush when it was new to us, and never getting beyond a few pages; lecturing a little, then not lecturing at all; setting a night for something, then changing it because somebody could not come that night; running a class for a few weeks at a certain time ,then changing to another time and wondering why the effort petered out; assuming that great movements could be initiated and brought to fruition overnight; spending all our energies on the visit of this or that popular speaker, and then with nothing but debris, a deficit and a corporal's guards of wobbly recruits as souvenirs of his visit, declaring that we lived in a poor town for Theosophy; thinking we could manifest a great and rhythmical power by shifty little expediencies, by votes and resolutions; discarding the cumulative power of old friendships and associations for the first glib stranger who came along; rushing into fads for the renovation of this or the Theosophization of that and wondering why our Theosophy seemed wan and peaked when we went back to it again.
We have been an unsteady flame for the lighting of a world, and if our ray has not carried as far as we think it should have, it is no fault of Theosophy but of our embodiment of it. If we are now to save the Society though the fifty years it has to go we must learn that our greatest force lies in the certainty and endurance of our stride.
We must learn, along with all its implications that the way to power is not in the intensity of effort, but in steadiness of stride; that power is cumulative, to be acquired by rhythmical and repeated use of it; and that rhythm once established is a precious instrument of work not to be carelessly thrown away.
That any activity, a meeting, a class or a group once allotted its measure of recurrence and allotted its day and hour,should never be disturbed for any but the gravest cause, and then never radically changed but only modified to suit pressing needs, and then allowed to continue its way gathering strength as it goes. Even though by adherence to rhythm it lose the fickle it will matter a great deal that it lay down in that place and at that time the record of its pulsation. To change it will probably not serve even information; to maintain it against odds will serve magic. It is in terms of magic that our results will be tested. Information is a trivial thing.
That the quest after truth, faithfully returned to at regular intervals and gathering power as it goes will do more for a community than a revival or a campaign, the advent of a practised speaker with a little vaudeville routine of lectures and a hobby to keep him from boredom. All he is likely to do is leave the group a bit worse off by contrast after he goes. We will learn that the business of a visiting lecturer should not be to recruit new members, but to renew the faith of old ones whose task it is to get their own accessions of strength from among those who discern what Theosophy has done for the lives of its exponents near at hand.
We may also be able to persuade our speakers that this conversation of their precious energies for sporadic platform masterpieces is the road to debility and not to power; that a lecture a month is easier and better than a lecture a year, and a lecture a week easier and better than a lecture a month; that each helps the next and each gathers force from the last; that one does not collect material for a lecture but gathers from lecture to lecture the power to prepare a lecture in fewer and fewer minutes until the time will come when he can prepare a lecture in a moment's converse with the God.
We may learn most of all that our duty as Theosophists is to perpetuate something, not merely as saying it but as setting up in akas a tradition for the generation that is to say it when we no longer can; that every effort must be for the increasingly forceful transmission of the first ideal.
So perhaps we will come to see ourselves as apprentices to a great Guild, little responsible for results, but greatly for method, which cannot fail of results in time if it be in terms of the whole World. I think the realization that we have to do something magical as laying down an ideal would save us a great deal of our present discouragement.
For the first time now I am at a loss to find kindly words for one of the distortions which is creeping into our Theosophical Society, a distortion which will sooner than any other reduce us to the level of a sect and destroy in us every vestige of that detachment which is the peculiar flower of true occultism.
There was a saying current in the early days that the moment the Society became a sect it would from that moment have failed of its high purpose. Our problem then is to avoid those things which would make it a sect. One of them would be the mood in which Theosophists would claim to be the vehicle of an exclusive revelation. A second arising out of this would be the feeling that the Theosophical Society had something which made it superior to all other occult systems. A third, the converse of the second , would inevitably be that those outside our Society were in some measure inferior,or were at least beyond the circle of the elect,and would not be allowed to participate in certain desirable things,as, for example, the welcoming of a World Saviour. Another potent means towards making a sect of the Society would be that mood in its leaders which would persuade them to compound an error in teaching on the ground that there would be more harm in acknowledging the error than there would be benefit in declaring the truth. There are many other and lesser things that would make us a sect: the development of a hierarchy, of presbyters and shepherds who for vanity or love of power or for any of the pretexts for which individuals vampirize upon a body, have clung to their offices beyond their term of usefulness.
All of these must be dealt with on principle as they may arise. We cannot successfully make rules of them. There is one growing tendency, however, of so gross a nature that it can be dealt with by rules as soon as were are clear-minded and courageous enough to deal with it. It is the offence that contributes most generously to all these others and decently free from which I think sectarianism could make little headway among us. It is the offence of degrading Theosophy into a means of livelihood.
It shows itself in various ways: in the fee taken by some of our speakers, in the custom of having salaried executives and officials, and in the more common custom of private subvention, by which a wealthy enthusiast pays a lecturer a stipend. Today in America it is the custom to ask a lecturer what fee he requires or what proportion of the collection he is accustomed to receive.
I am only slightly concerned here with what happens to the man who takes pay for his Theosophical work, except to record the inevitable deterioration of his spiritual powers that follows on any attempt to play his vision of truth against his daily necessities. Sooner or later he will learn,unless indeed he fall into left-hand magic, that to become a professional occultist in however small a measure does not set him free to devote himself to God, as the pious phase has it, but binds him all the more to see God through a fantastic lens of timidity, petty expediency,of ambition, of passion, of resentment of criticism and of fear of loss. He will learn that it is wise to keep these two elements of livelihood and of truth-telling separate lest his desires defile truth; lest he be tempted for too small cause to fulfil his ambitions or slake his lusts at the cost of the Theosophical Society.
I am much more immediately concerned with another aspect of it - ours as members of the Society. There is room for argument about the precise nature of the wrong he does himself and those about him. For us, pledged to make the best of this great inquiry after truth, it only means that the man who is incapable of earning his living and of finding time for the service of the Society is not a big enough man for any f the posts we have to fill He is a little one-track fellow who is practising the love of God for money, and for our purposes is no better than the woman who practices the love of man for the same commodity. For all his skill as lecturer or executive,he is none the less a cut lower on the moral side than those of our people who, whatever their capacity, earn their bread elsewhere and come clean to the Society with nothing to serve but its welfare and honesty.
Our Theosophical Society offers no career for a first-rate man. It is not a business. It is a philanthropy. The men who are good enough for our work will be beyond our power to pay. With all the fields of commerce, learning, the arts, government, the professions, open before him, the man of any stature will be the one who can make his way in one of them and,having achieved something, offer it to the Society as his gift, giving Theosophy the weight and distinction of his accomplishment, championing its principles in the minds of men.
There are things it is lawful for a worker to take when he is on actual service, and things he can take without hurt to himself or to us -his food, his bed and his journey money to the next town - and these only when he is on service. What, then, someone asks, if the give up his whole time to the work.? Is he not entitled to his whole support? I do not think he should give up his whole time to the work here in the Society, even if he can afford it. Sacerdotalism lies that way. We are a community of laymen and it is implicit in Theosophy that there is as much virtue in carrying its principles into our effort in the world as there is in carrying our efforts into Theosophy. We are at our highest efficiency when we carry both and certainly at our greatest dignity.
If we set it up as our minimum measure of a man that he be able to earn his bread and fulfils his office in the Society we might not get things so well done We might not get so much done, but after all so many of the things we now get done might as well go by default. I think we should get the essential things better done. There might be less of headquarters activity, but there would be for be that very reason a greater focus in the many centres in which Theosophy must grow. We might have fewer imprimaturs and nihil obstats to lean upon, but we might be compensated by a greater freedom of interpretation of the clues to truth we now have and a greater autonomy in our actions. Clinging to office might wane a little if it were recognized as a disgrace to live upon the Society or upon wealthy devotees, and freed of the burden of carrying holy men on their salary lists our affluent members might put their money into publishing, into building and the forms of Theosophic beneficence which stain nobody.
So we might come at last to slough off our rice-Christians and leave them to practice their trade of simony in little cults of their own where people do not value the nice distinction between the man who makes his livelihood work for Theosophy and the man who makes Theosophy work for his livelihood.
Then, taking our stand firmly as fine amateurs in religions, and satisfying the world that we have no other motive than the service of truth, we would possess a distinction that could transform all the grubby little upper rooms in which we meet into temples of the God. And we could convince men as Paul convinced them: 'Ye, yourselves, know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities ... For ye remember our labour and travail, labouring night and day because we would not be chargeable unto any of you."
So if we must entertain selfish and ambitious men- and we must - let us make it our business to see that they get the fullest exercise for their ambitions and selfishness in their private avocations; that they do not play these games of the desire nature without our principles for counters. It is hard to sit patiently by while a man uses his Chalice of Living Truth to give his dog a drink.
Throughout these essays I have urged that we of the Theosophical Society are required to be more concerned with method than with result. A high method must inevitably bring a wide result, and it will be none of our business if the result is not in our time. Knowing as we do the slow cyclic process by which Nature works from a cause to a visible effect, we of all people should learn to be patient in the knowledge that once the cause is laid down the effect will inevitably follow in its due course, whether we live to see it or not. When we drop to the materialistic mood in which we wait impatiently for results to follow at once upon the causes we have set up, we step into a region of Maya where we try to persuade ourselves - and succeed all too frequently - that we have brought about conditions which are in a reality the flowering of long antecedent causes. We do not create a Theosophical Society out of nothing; we draw to a focus long-gone students of the mysteries, united for the most part in one thing only, their preoccupation with the mysteries. They are hampered by all their individual karma, their racial and family limitations, and the one grave mistake they can make about themselves is that because they were persuaded to Theosophy in an hour they can, on grounds of reason alone, persuade others in an hour. We do not make a Theosophist as we so naively believe: we awaken one.
Nor do we awaken his theosophy alone. We rouse with it all this theosophic karma and the forms into which his theosophy has been cast in ages gone by. This one with his spiritism, that one with his magic, another with his love of cloistered community, a fourth with his sense of a need of personal teacher, a fifth with tatters of ritualism still flapping in his mind. One with pledges given to art, or one to social service, or one to scientific inquiry.
These are all as they should be. They are our filamentary ties with the life around us, ties through which our force may go and ties also through which we will draw our sympathy with the life of our generation. That theosophy should exist for itself or for its students is not enough. Every law requires of it that it should exist for the world and wax strong by its service of the world. If the Theosophical Society did not have them but lived to itself it might as well not exists. They are our great advantage.
None the less, they are also our great peril. While our big fellows can draw form Theosophy their refreshment and energy, and then going into the world can lavish it upon what they love best,the little, muddy-minded fellows - and it will not be unbrotherhly to admit that we have a few - must needs lug their dear desires into the Society itself and demand of us in the name of tolerance and brotherhood that we also love and feed them.
We have been told so often how hard it is to carry a Theosophical Society in the purity of its first ideals. This is the reason. Because we fail to discriminate between pure Theosophy and all its applications we are overborne by foreign growths, all perfectly valid in their own places and all ruinous in ours.
The churches have had to learn the lesson again and again. Just a few years ago some sentimentalist invented the idea of having a special Sunday, with a special collection for something or other. Then somebody added another, and presently another. But there are only fifty-two Sundays in a year, and when it began to tell on the revenue the amiable people who could not see it as a mistake in principle did see it as a mistake in finance, and I think they stopped it. We may have to run the same course, and when our Theosophical Society has been picked white by a host of affiliated movements, our sentimentalists may be able to descry in physical deficits a truth they could not understand in the realm of ideas.
Then we will know, widely enough for it to be of any practical use, that our Theosophical Society is at its greatest potency when we conceive it as a power house that makes energy for whatever purpose the user may have for it. He may use to give light, to give warmth, to turn a machine, to cook his food, to cure his diseases, to shock himself off this plane altogether if the insist upon it, but we will be at great pains to see that when he acquires the power he will carry it afield and make it his contribution to the world. It will be so much better than coming in taking up our good time with long arguments about the use to which the powers could be put. Mostly we have ideas of our own on that subject, and if we are too proud to beg the Theosophical Society for help with our hobbies, we should try to instil a similar pride in him. Failing that we should protect the Society against him.
Because I am of the theatre shall I make this Theosophical Society which has given me so much and which I love for it, a cockpit for all the quarrels, jealousies and frenzies of the theatre? Should I not rather carry my ideas of Theosophy into the theatre? Because I am a Mason shall I carry Masonry into Theosophy or Theosophy into Masonry? Shall I bring politics into Theosophy or take Theosophy into politics? There is surely no problem here if we stay with the principle involved; if we feel in our hearts what we say with our lips that Theosophy is a whole world and a whole culture and an ample field in which no fertile mind need fail for lack of work; if we decide that Theosophy is to be kept above our karma and the swirl of our desires; if we confine ourselves to pure Theosophy and leave the debatable and always difficult application of it to individuals working on other spheres than ours.
A simple and patient tree that stands by the road has a device by which it throws its seed far from it lest the seed grow up and choke it, and although in our sentimental moods we think it tragic that the tree should never be able to caress and encourage its little seedling, it achieves the Lord's work better that way. It lives longer and has more little seedlings.
I Think sometimes that if I were a Black Magician and wanted to destroy the Theosophical Society this would be the surest way, I should not fight it head on. That would make it flourish more. I should do everything I could to encourage its little cart-before-the-horse adherents to weave a myriad votive garlands of their hobbies and distantly-related enthusiasms and lay them reverently upon it until they had crushed it to death in the sacred name of Brotherhood.
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Kitabu hiki cha 1923 kilichapishwa na Taasisi ya Blavatsky ya Canada kama ukumbusho kwa Mheshimiwa Roy Mitchell ambaye alikuwa Mwanzilishi na kiongozi wa Taasisi. Theosophy in Action inashughulikia matatizo ambayo wanafunzi wa Theosophy wana wasiwasi hasa na kwa sababu hii inaweza kuwa na rufaa ndogo zaidi kuliko vitabu viwili vya Roy Mitchell ambavyo vilichapishwa mapema na Taasisi ya Blavatsky. The Exile of the Soul ilitoa njia ya kale, lakini sasa mara chache kujadiliwa, mbinu ya siri ya duality ya kuwa kwa mtu. "Mtazamo wa mawazo ya Bwana Mitchell bado haujagunduliwa kikamilifu, lakini wataalamu wa saikolojia wa baadaye wanaweza kukubali kwamba katika ""Uhamisho"" Bwana Mitchell alikuwa amewazia baadhi ya nadharia zao za kupendeza na alikuwa amependekeza kiashiria cha msingi cha kuelewa dichotomy ya asili ya mtu." "Kwa njia ya milango ya hekalu: Mafunzo katika Occult Masonry ilikuwa, kama jina linavyodokeza, mbinu ya masonic symbolism katika suala la lugha ya ulimwengu wa ishara.""" Vitabu vyote viwili vimewavutia wasomaji wengi ambao wana wasiwasi mdogo au hakuna wasiwasi katika Theosophy au Theosophical Society. Katika kitabu chake cha Studies, Mitchell alitoa wazo la awali la kuanzisha Theosophical Society mwaka 1875. Kazi yake ilikuwa ya'mtafsiri'; haikuwa ya kulazimisha imani au mafundisho yoyote mapya kwa wanadamu; wanachama wake walikuwa wanafunzi ambao walikuwa na wasiwasi na 'kujifunza na kuelezea kwa huruma, kwa fadhili na kwa ufahamu' mawazo hayo ya msingi ambayo walikuwa wamegundua yamedumu kwa muda mrefu na ambayo yalikuwa kiini cha dini na falsafa za ulimwengu. "Michel alionyesha pia ugumu wa kudumisha mpango wa awali, kwa kuzingatia mwelekeo wa kibinadamu wa kujiondoa katika msimamo wa kujitenga na kujitegemea, na kuzama katika uhakika salama wa dogma, hata ingawa kiakili mtu anaweza kukubali kwamba utoaji wowote wa ukweli ni tu usemi wa uelewa wetu wa sehemu yoyote ya ukweli kama inavyoonekana wakati huo. """ Wanafunzi wa Theosophical watapata katika kitabu hiki alama za trailblazer - sasa au katika siku zijazo wakati katika maisha yao na kazi wao wenyewe kuja juu ya matatizo kujadiliwa na Mheshimiwa Mitchell, watakumbuka kwamba mwanafunzi wa zamani alikuwa alitembea njia hiyo na kama mvumbuzi wa kwanza wa nchi za kigeni, alikuwa kushoto nyuma yake mwelekeo kwa wale ambao ingekuwa kushiriki katika utafutaji huo. Ni wazi kwamba'maelekezo' haya hayakuwa maagizo ya wazi ya kufanya hivyo na hivyo, lakini yalikuwa ya asili ya 'kukumbuka' kanuni fulani za msingi ili mwanafunzi aweze kutimiza mwelekeo wake mwenyewe. Mitchell alikuwa mmoja ambaye aliwashawishi wengi kuchukua hatua yao ya kwanza kuelekea njia ya kale, 'kuenea mbali mbali', njia ya kurejesha ufahamu wa ufahamu wa uungu wa mtu mwenyewe. Kifo chake cha ghafla mnamo Julai 1944 kilimtoa mtu ambaye, pamoja na kipaji chake cha ajabu kama mwalimu, alikuwa na uwezo wa ajabu wa kuamsha urafiki wa kina na wa kudumu na maelfu ya watu waliokutana naye katika shughuli zake za Theosophical na katika nafasi yake ya Profesa wa Sanaa ya Drama katika Chuo Kikuu cha New York. """Inaonekana kuwa haifai katika tarehe hii ya marehemu kuwa na kukumbusha wanachama wa Theosophical Society kwamba Theosophical Movement na Society si kitu kimoja na kitu kimoja." Harakati ya Theosophical ya wakati wetu inatokana hasa na athari kutoka kwa materialism ya karne iliyopita, wakati wote dini na sayansi walikuwa wamefikia pointi ya nje ya swing yao kutoka idealism. Dini ilidai kuwa Mungu mwenye wasiwasi na mwenye kukosa fahamu, ambaye aliingiza nafsi mpya katika mvurugo wa uovu, wema, au mazingira ya mchanganyiko, na baada ya miaka michache akaivuta nje na kuihukumu kwa sababu ya suala moja tu: ujasiri wake wa kuamini katika mafundisho ya ukombozi, kuihukumu au kuiheshimu kwa ajili yake. Sayansi, hata zaidi, ilidai kuwa kuna Mungu aitwaye asili, ambaye kwa kusudi fulani lisiloeleweka la nafsi yake, aliwatokeza wanadamu katika taabu; aliwafanya wapigane na wengine ili kuendeleza spishi ya mshindi; aliwaingiza nafsi katika taabu ya kutisha, si kwa faida yoyote kwao wenyewe, bali kwa ajili ya nafsi na akili kuzaliwa eons kwa hiyo. Katika hali hii ya kukosa maoni, Theosophical Society ilikuja, mtangazaji wa harakati, kutangaza kutokufa kwa roho za vitu vyote vilivyoundwa, kuelezea tena sheria ya kurudi kwa mzunguko wa roho na athari za matendo ya roho, kueleza mafundisho kwamba dini zote, falsafa na sayansi kwa kiwango cha juu zaidi zilitokana na mwili wa walinzi wa hekima ya jamii, na kutoa msingi wa kawaida wa mkutano kwa dini na sayansi. "Imesema hivi kwa dini ya kidogoma: ""Hakuna ubishi na Maandiko yako ikiwa utayasoma kwa maneno ya nafsi yako isiyoweza kufa ikirudi tena na tena duniani.""" "Kwa sayansi, ilisema: ""Hakuna ubishi na ukweli wako ulioonekana ikiwa utafafanua kwa maneno ya vitu sawa vinavyoendelea kurudi tena na tena duniani.""" Hii ilikuwa msimamo wa awali wa Sosaiti, moja ya ufafanuzi na marekebisho kwa wimbi kubwa la maoni wakati huo kuweka dhidi ya msimamo wa dini na sayansi dogma. "Hiyo ilionekana kuchukua aina nyingi, kwa sababu, zaidi ya sababu nyingine yoyote, kwamba ulimwengu ulikuwa ukisimama kwenye ukingo wa kurudi kwa roho ambazo zilikuwa zimefanya wimbi kubwa la mwisho la ""kujihusisha na mambo ya siri.""" Walipofika, bila shaka walileta migawanyiko yao yote, chuki, uchochezi, na madhehebu yao. Kwa sababu ya mazungumzo yetu yote juu ya kuzaliwa upya, hatukuzingatia vya kutosha maoni haya ya maisha. "Hata hivyo, tunazungumza juu ya harakati za kiroho kama nguvu kutoka kwa mwingine, kana kwamba roho ya baba iliunda roho ya mwana, badala ya kufikiria roho ya mwana kama mtu mwingine ambaye hubadilisha au kuvunja kutoka kwa fomu ambazo roho ya baba imepanga kwa ajili yake: mwili ambao kazi, nyumba ambayo anaishi, nguo anazovaa, shule ambayo alilelewa, mfumo wa kidini ambao alilelewa.""" Sisi si bidhaa za watangulizi wetu. """Sisi ni watu tofauti na wale waliomwamini Mungu katika kuangamizwa kwa watoto wachanga, na tofauti na wale waliotetea kuokoka kwa walio na uwezo mkubwa zaidi." Harakati kubwa ya Theosophical ya karne ya kumi na tisa na ishirini, basi, ni yenyewe si maendeleo ya mawazo, lakini ya ibada za zamani, kila moja kuzaliwa na nguvu ya kuendesha ya karne nyuma yake, na kila moja na genius ya ujinga na ubinafsi ndani yake, ambayo itaiharibu tena kama walivyoiharibu kabla. "Mmoja wao ni Uchawi, ambao tangu kuzaliwa kwake umepangwa kuharibika na kuwa uchawi; mwingine ni ule Ufarisayo wa wakati wa Yesu Kristo, ambao ulikazia uponyaji wa kiroho na ufanisi wa kidunia na ukakataa kuwepo kwa uovu; ibada ambayo Yesu alielezea kama ""kufagia kaburi badala ya kulisafisha"" - kuzaliwa tena katika makundi mengi ya uponyaji wa imani; mwingine ni Uadventisti, tumaini la zamani la ulimwengu ambalo linakuwa baba ya wazo kwamba avatar iko karibu; mwingine, uchawi wa sherehe; mwingine, utafutaji wa ajabu wa kisayansi unaoitwa utafiti wa kisaikolojia; mwingine, ibada ya siri." Hizi katika upande hatari zaidi; katika upande wake wa hali ya juu, Ukristo wa fumbo, utamaduni wa kimataifa, na harakati za kibinadamu na za juu. Mwanzoni, Theosophical Society, kama mlinzi wa falsafa ya kale zaidi na kamili zaidi, ilishikilia nafasi kuu kati yao wote, kuongoza, kupanua, kuonya, na kujibu. Kazi yake ilikuwa ni kueleza sababu za harakati zilizokuwa zikiizunguka - hata zile za kichaa zaidi - kwa huruma na uelewa; kutoa fasihi, kufuatilia mawazo hadi kwenye asili yake, kueleza tena mafundisho ya kale ya nafsi ya mwanadamu ambayo yameokoka nyakati, kufundisha mambo ambayo ni ya msingi katika dini zote kubwa na falsafa, na kukamilisha njia ambayo kila moja ya madhehebu ni kipande. Ni nafasi isiyo salama na moja ambayo hupotea kwa urahisi. Mfano wake wa kushangaza zaidi ni ule wa hatua ya centrifugal katika maji, ambapo kitu cha kuelea zaidi kinaweza kukaa katikati ya mzunguko, kitu cha kuelea kidogo kinapiga kwa mduara. """Maadamu Theosophist anaweza kudumisha nafasi yake katikati ya mzunguko mkubwa wa madhehebu, yeye atatumikia kusudi la Sosaiti, akijifunza na kueleza kwa huruma, kwa fadhili na kwa ufahamu." Wakati yeye anajitambulisha na yoyote ya ibada zisizo kamili na za vipande-vipande karibu naye amefanya chini ya kazi ambayo amechukua. Wakati anajaribu kuingiza Sosaiti katika ibada ya pekee ameshambulia manufaa yake. Kama angepata mafanikio na kuishawishi Sosaiti kama mwili katika moja au nyingine ya vyombo vya chini angeharibu kusudi lake kabisa. Kisha ingekoma kuwa mfafanuzi. Ingekuwa yenyewe tu moja ya kuelezwa. Ni lazima kwamba katika shirika kubwa na lenye jukwaa pana kama lile la Theosophical Society, kutakuwa na wale wasioweza kukaa katika kituo hicho, ambao, kwa sababu hawajazoezwa kusoma au kwa sababu wamechoka, watapata Theosophy haitoshi kwa mahitaji yao na kutafuta mzunguko wa kuvutia zaidi. Ni lazima pia kwamba mara kwa mara wataivuta Sosaiti au sehemu zake katika mambo yao ya ajabu (kwa maana yake halisi). Mambo hayo hayawezi kutenganishwa na kazi ambayo imejiwekea. Dawa ni kwamba Sosaiti itatumia yenyewe kwa kujitolea zaidi na bidii kwa kazi yake ya awali. Hali ya kazi hiyo na njia za vitendo za kuifikia, ambazo kwa njia yake nyumba za Theosophical Society katika Canada zinaweza kuwa mambo muhimu zaidi katika maisha ya kiakili na ya kiroho ya jamii zao, nitajadili katika kurasa zifuatazo. Hatua ya kwanza ya ufanisi wowote wa kweli kwa upande wa kitengo cha Theosophical lazima iwe utambuzi wa ndani wa maana ya malengo yaliyotangazwa ya Sosaiti. "Hii ndiyo maana ya ""kuunda kiini cha udugu wa ulimwengu wa wanadamu bila tofauti ya jamii, imani, jinsia, tabaka au rangi"" na ""kuchochea utafiti wa dini, falsafa na sayansi za kulinganisha"" na ""kuchunguza sheria zisizoelezwa za asili na nguvu zilizofichwa katika mwanadamu.""" Kama ilivyotajwa, hizo hufanyiza maelezo ya jumla ya malengo ya Sosaiti na tangazo kwa ulimwengu kwa ujumla. Chini ya ufupisho huu wao husema njia tatu za utafiti wote wa siri - utatu wa mambo muhimu ambayo bila hiyo hakuna kazi ya Theosophical inaweza kusitawi. "Kupuuza yoyote ya hayo kazi yetu bila shaka huanguka chini ya kipimo cha usawa na ulinganifu ambao unastahili jina la Theosophy. """ "Ningependa kuwaomba wasomaji wangu kukumbuka kwamba ""Theosophy"" ni neno la juu zaidi na lenye kujumuisha zaidi ambalo tunaliona kuwa linaelezea matarajio ya mwanadamu." Maneno mengine yote tunayotumia hufafanua sehemu tu za neno hilo. Huo ndio hekima yote iliyopo, na tunapoanza kuutafuta, tunafikiria kitu ambacho kitahitaji nguvu zetu zote. Njia ya kwanza katika utafutaji ni ahadi ya Udugu, uhitaji wa kwanza katika uchawi wote mweupe. Si jambo la kihisia-moyo kwa mwanafunzi wa Theosophy. Ni ukweli mkali na usio na ubishi, ambao kukataa ni hatari ya kifo. """Mfumo wote wa dini ya kweli unategemea sheria hii, mafundisho ya kichawi yanawezekana tu wakati mtu anafahamu sheria hii, na mafundisho yanaweza kuendelea tu wakati mtu anaweka ndani ya maisha yake ya kila siku wazo la udugu." Kukataa udugu katika mawazo au matendo huzuia mikondo muhimu katika mwili mara moja; kusisitiza katika kukataa hufanya uchawi wa mkono wa kulia usiwezekane. Mazoezi ya kwanza ya wanafunzi wote wa uchawi ni lazima, mara tu wanapopata mkondo wao wa nguvu ukiisha, kurudi nyuma kwa kosa la moja kwa moja dhidi ya Udugu ambalo limezuia mkondo. Ni mara chache sana kwamba ni zaidi ya siku moja, mara nyingi si zaidi ya dakika chache. Njia ya pili ni kujifunza katika uwanja nje yetu. "Utafiti wa ""dini, falsafa na sayansi"" ni muhimu sana kwa sababu inahusisha mapokeo yote ya maandishi, maandishi na mdomo ya elimu ya binadamu." "Tafsiri ya Theosophical inahitaji kwamba tufanye utafiti na kwamba utafiti wetu uwe wa kulinganisha, sio kile kinachojulikana kisasa kama ""dini ya kulinganisha"" tu, lakini falsafa ya kulinganisha, sayansi ya kulinganisha, kulinganisha dini na falsafa, dini na sayansi, falsafa na sayansi." Ni kwa kulinganisha kwamba tunapata uzazi. Hakuna dini, falsafa au sayansi ya nje ya ulimwengu inayoweza kuwa kamili. Kushughulika na binadamu kutaitia unajisi ndani ya saa ya kwanza. Lakini kwa kulinganisha tunaweza kufika kwenye ukamilifu ambao kila mmoja ni sehemu yake. Katika makala juu ya Utafiti nitakuwa na zaidi ya kusema juu ya jambo hili. Kwa sasa itatosha kukumbuka kwamba utafiti kwa kulinganisha si hiari kwa Theosophist. Ni wajibu uliowekwa juu yake kwa sababu ni chanzo chake cha ugavi wa vitu vinavyohitajika ili kukamilisha maarifa yake ya Mungu wa ndani na pia wa nje. Kwa kuwa Theosophists wanahitaji kufanya, kwa sababu Theosophy ipo kwa ajili ya ulimwengu na si kwa ajili ya wafuasi wake, utafiti wa kulinganisha ni njia ambayo yeye elicits intuitions. Tatu ni risasi, kama ilivyoeleweka na wote, ambayo tumekuwa tukitazama mara nyingi kama kutoa kwa ajili ya utafiti wa kiakili, aina za ajabu zaidi za yoga na sayansi ya siri. Kwa kweli, ni kifungu cha kufunika kwa ajili ya muhimu ya tatu katika kazi Theosophical - mchakato wa kupima kwa ajili ya ukweli. Ni njia ambayo sisi kutofautisha kati ya kweli na uongo katika kile sisi kukusanya kwa njia yetu ya pili. Bila majaribio haya ya daima ndani yetu na kwa kuchunguza nguvu zetu za siri, utafiti wetu ni bure. Kile kilichoandikwa katika dini, falsafa na sayansi kinaweza kuwa na thamani moja tu kwetu, matumizi yake kwa tatizo letu la ufahamu, na tu kwa uzoefu wetu wenyewe tunaweza kujua kama kitu chochote ni kweli. Hakuna ukweli katika ulimwengu una thamani kidogo kwetu isipokuwa ni taarifa kwa sisi katika suala la mzunguko mkubwa wa ukweli ambao ni kweli katika mzunguko wetu mdogo. Theosophy ambayo haijapima ndani ya cosmos ya mwanadamu sio Theosophy kabisa, na kwa kila hati katika mapokeo ya kale tuna mamlaka ya kuitupa nje. Hivyo, katika Theosophy tuna wajibu tatu - tatu kwa sababu sisi ni tatu, pamoja na roho, nafsi na chini ya nafsi - na hakuna Theosophist inaweza kuwa kamili bila kutumia wote watatu: uwanja, lengo, na mtihani. Kwa kupuuza yoyote, yeye ni chini ya Theosophists, hata hivyo nzuri anaweza kuwa katika kila jambo jingine. Si swali la jinsi anavyoinuka. Swali letu ni la usawa na hata maendeleo ambayo peke yake inaweza kutupa uthabiti. Je, sisi ni kwenda basi kufanya Theosophical Society nje ya watu ambao ni, kila mmoja wao, chini ya Theosophists? Watu hujaribu sana kufanya hivyo. "Wanasema: ""Nitajitolea kwa udugu na kuendeleza nguvu, na kuacha utafiti wa kulinganisha kwa watu wenye akili"" au ""Nitajitolea kwa udugu na dini ya kulinganisha na kuacha vipimo kwa wale wenye ujasiri zaidi kuliko mimi"" au wengine, wapumbavu zaidi ya wote, ambao wanasema: ""Huduma yangu ni katika utafiti na nguvu zilizofichwa.""" Nitawaacha watu wanaopenda mambo ya kihisia-moyo ya Udugu". Njia za maendeleo ya Theosophical haziwezi kupewa kwa njia hiyo. Akiwa hana Undugu mwanafunzi hawezi kupita Daktari wa Jicho. Kwa kukosa utafiti wa kulinganisha, atapata vipande vya ukweli vinavyohitajika kuamsha nguvu za nafsi yake. Kwa kukosa njia ya tatu ya mtihani wa kibinafsi atahitaji kutegemea maono ya mtu mwingine. "Atasoma juu ya ""mipangilio ya uongozi na Logos na mizunguko mikubwa ya wakati"" kama kwamba ni muhimu kwa wenyewe, au kama kwamba wokovu unapatikana kupitia wao badala ya kupitia nafsi yake ya kimungu." Kwa mtu kama huyo, "Kama juu, ndivyo chini", huenda ikawa haikuandikwa kamwe. Afya ya Theosophical Society na ufanisi wake katika kazi kubwa ambayo imefanya itakuwa kipimo cha maendeleo yake sawa pamoja na mistari hii mitatu, sio maendeleo katika jumla, lakini maendeleo katika kila mtu binafsi. Mabwana wa Maisha wanaweza kutupa mawazo ya juu ikiwa hiyo itatumika, na tunahitaji tu kupunguza njia yetu ili kupata ukubwa. Hakuna hata moja itakayotumika. Kufuata usawa wa muda mrefu-kupimwa wa vitu vyetu vitatu imekuwa kutumika kabla na itakuwa tena. Hebu tufikirie mambo mawili yanayotokana na sura zilizotangulia. Kwanza, Theosophical Society inashikilia kwa harakati nyingine zote za siri za wakati wake nafasi ya mfafanuzi, na ili kufanya hivyo lazima kudumisha msimamo wa msingi kwao. "Kwa sababu ya kazi hiyo, Sosaiti lazima ifanye kazi hiyo kwa misingi mitatu: ""ndugu, utafiti, na mtihani wa kibinafsi,"" ambayo ndiyo pekee inayoweza kuifanya iwe salama, yenye kuzaa, na ya uaminifu." Kwa hiyo ni dhahiri kwamba kwa sababu ya mapungufu ya kibinadamu Theosophical Society ni muundo dhaifu. Ni wazi kwa mashambulizi kutoka kwa majeshi ya mashirika ya kisasa, hakuna ambayo ni hatari zaidi kuliko dhana mbaya ya nadharia ya msingi ya kuwepo kwake mwenyewe. "Kuna ukuaji dhaifu sana katika Jumuiya ya Theosophical, ambayo inashikilia mahitaji niliyoonyesha, kwamba hatuna rekodi ya moja ambayo imeendelea, angalau tangu wakati wa Kristo, kwa zaidi ya miongo michache.""" "H.P. Blavatsky anasema kwamba ""jitihada imefanywa katika robo ya mwisho ya kila karne ya enzi ya Kikristo kuanzisha mwili ambao ungehifadhiwa kwa miaka mia moja ya maisha, na kwamba hakuna mmoja aliyefanikiwa.""" Ni jambo lawezekana kwa mwanafunzi wa historia kutambua karibu mwaka wa sabini na tano katika kila miaka mia moja, kuundwa kwa mwili uliofanana sana na wetu, na kufuatilia ukuaji wake hadi mwanzo wa karne ijayo. Kwa hiyo, harakati zote hizo zimetawanyika, zimeacha Theurgy kwa ajili ya Thaumaturgy, zimesababisha mgawanyiko na madhehebu, na hatimaye zimetoweka kabisa. "Hakuna suluhisho bora kwa kutokuelewa kwa maneno ya msingi ya kazi yetu kuliko uchunguzi wa jamii hizi za awali, kila moja na matumaini makubwa ya kuingilia karne mpya, na kila moja kushindwa na kushindwa kwake kutambua nadharia ya kuwepo kwake mwenyewe. """ Kwa nini ushindi? Je, walinzi wa mapokeo ya hekima hawawezi kuimarisha msukumo katika kila moja ya jamii hizi wakati wowote unapopungua? Je, hawawezi kuchukua udhibiti wa mtendaji katika mgogoro? Je, hawawezi kutoa vitabu na maandishi yenye nguvu na uwazi wa kushinda makosa kila wakati yanapoibuka? Je, hawawezi kuwaamsha wale walio na kiu, kuwazuia wale wasio na ndugu, kuwaimarisha wale walio dhaifu, na kuwaadhibu wapumbavu? Ikiwa kuwaambia wanadamu ukweli huu tunaouona kuwa wa thamani sana ndio jambo la muhimu, hawawezi wao wenyewe kuwaweka walimu wenye nguvu mahali wanapowahitaji zaidi? Kama ukweli ni muhimu sana, kwa nini kuupiga kupitia upotoshaji wa Jumuiya ya Theosophical? Je, hawawezi kuangaza ulimwengu kwa nguvu zao wenyewe? Je, wale waliouumba hawawezi kuunda upya kila wakati ikiwa ni lazima? Yaonekana sivyo. Wao hutii sheria za ulimwengu, na katika utii wao Wao huchukua mipaka ambayo hatujajifunza kuchukua. "Wanaamini kwamba ""Theosophical Society"" ili kuwahudumia wanadamu vizuri zaidi, lazima iwe na maendeleo ya asili ya kibinadamu." "Wanafikiri kwamba lazima iwe na wakati wa kupanda, kwamba kipindi cha placenta lazima kikome, na kwamba baada ya hapo lazima iendelee kuishi kwa nguvu zake na kwa sababu ya hali ndani ya mwili wake mwenyewe katika kuwa au kuwa. """ Hilo lilielezwa wazi katika Sosaiti yetu ya Theosophical mwanzoni mwake. Katika utangulizi wa maagizo ya kibinafsi ambayo wanafunzi walihitaji kujifunza kwa wiki na kwa kweli kukariri, walionywa wazi kwamba maagizo hayo yangekoma Desemba 31, 1899. Maneno halisi yanajulikana sana hivi kwamba hayahitaji kurudia-rudia hapa. Zilikubaliwa kuwa sharti la kuwa mwanafunzi na zilikubaliwa na washiriki wote wa shule hiyo ya awali. Basi, ni nini kinachopaswa kupatikana kutokana na kushindwa mara kwa mara katika siku za nyuma, na kutokana na tangazo letu wenyewe la sherehe kwamba mafundisho ya esoteric lazima kumalizika na miaka ishirini na tano ya kwanza ya maisha ya Sosaiti? Ni wazi kwamba Jumuiya ya Theosophical inaweza kulishwa na ufunuo maalum tu wakati wa kipindi maalum katika utotoni wake, na kwamba kwa miaka iliyobaki ya maisha yake, lazima iende bila msaada, kwa kadiri ya mawasiliano ya moja kwa moja. Jambo lote ni operesheni ya kichawi. Kazi ni kuelekeza juu ya uso wa dunia kwa karne moja - yenyewe ni mzunguko muhimu katika historia ya mwanadamu - mkondo wa juhudi za kuweka ukweli fulani wa kale katika ulimwengu, na muhimu ya kwanza ya uchawi ni kwamba inafanywa na watu wenyewe, wakijitahidi peke yao bila uhakika mwingine isipokuwa ule wa Uungu wao, na sio kwa uingiliaji wa Wanyama ambao wangeweza kutuokoa ikiwa wangependa. Nadharia kama hiyo ni faraja ya baridi kwa wale ambao wametumaini kupata Mungu mahali fulani nje yao wenyewe, ambao wanafikiri Theosophy ni kitu cha kusoma katika kitabu au kusikia katika hotuba, badala ya kitu cha kuundwa katika nguvu za roho zao wenyewe. Na ni faraja kali zaidi kwa wale ambao kwa udanganyifu au kwa kukosa maono wameahidi kupanua kipindi cha ufunuo waliopokea baada ya muda wake. Mimi sina kumbukumbu maalum kwa shule yoyote ya esoteric. """Kama ninavyojua, sasa kuna shule sita tofauti zinazofanya kazi nchini Marekani, zote zikitokana moja kwa moja na ujumbe wa Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, zinazotoa uthibitisho sawa wa uhalali, zote zinadai kuwa wafuasi wa H.P.B., zote zinakubali mamlaka yake, zote zinapuuza taarifa yake ya wazi kuhusu kukomeshwa kwa ufunuo maalum, na hakuna anayezungumza juu ya mwingine isipokuwa kuidharau." Wanafunzi wanaofanyiza shirika la nje ambalo shule hizi zinadai kuwa ni miili ya ndani, wako katika urafiki kamili, na kesho wanaweza kuunganishwa katika mwili wa nguvu isiyoweza kuhesabiwa kwa ajili ya uelewevu wa wanadamu. Kizuizi kwa ajili ya kulehemu kama ni katika ngazi hizi ambayo kudai kuwa ya ndani na ya juu. Bila shaka sheria ya udugu imebadilishwa kabisa! Kwa nini ufunuo zaidi? """Hatutumii hata sehemu moja ya elfu ya kile tulikuwa nacho wakati karne ya kumi na tisa ilipokwisha miaka ishirini na mitatu iliyopita." "Kama kitabu cha mwaka 1923, ""Vitabu vyenye nguvu, vyenye nguvu, ambavyo bado havijawahi kupinduliwa na mtu yeyote katika uwanja wao, vimeachwa, vimeondolewa, vimeisahaulika, vimeisahaulika zaidi, labda kwa sababu vilidai kwamba mwanafunzi afanye Theosophy badala ya kupokea tu tayari.""" Jinsi tunavyopenda kupokea vitu? Je, hilo ndilo kasoro? Je, inawezekana kwamba hilo ndilo lililotokea kwa jamii hizo za mapema ambazo mabaki yake yametawanyika kwa karne nyingi? Wakati wa kuacha uhusiano wa pekee ulipofika, na kuhifadhi mwangaza wao kwa sala ya siri hadi mzunguko ujao, wakati ambao ungeweza kufanywa upya, walikimbilia huku na huko, wakitafuta mwanga mwingine kuliko wao wenyewe, bila uhakika, waliovunjika na kugawanyika. "Sasa ni jukumu letu, kwa mema au mabaya, kuendelea na lengo lake na kutoa utamaduni mkubwa na wa kudumu kwa ajili ya kupanda kwa 1975 au kupoteza katika matope ya ubinafsi wetu, ugomvi wetu juu ya utu, na kutokuwa na uaminifu kwa nguvu za Mungu wa ndani. """ Ni lazima tuende peke yetu ili uchawi wa Jumuiya ya Theosophical ya asili ya wanadamu utokee duniani. Ikiwa sivyo, hakuna mojawapo ya Mashirika ya mapema ambayo yangeshindwa. "Wanafunzi wangeweza kuibeba katika vipindi vya enzi katika mstari usio na kuvunjika, wakikusanya nguvu walipokuja, mpaka siku zetu Theosophy ingekuwa imebebwa na jeshi kubwa la ushindi, badala ya kundi dogo la wapiganaji ambao sasa wanawakilisha. """ Je, Mabwana wameshindwa? Mimi badala ya tuhuma kwamba wale ambao walikuwa na kutembea peke yake alishindwa. Na isipokuwa tuweze kutembea hivyo, tutashindwa. Kama kuna katika Jumuiya yetu ya Theosophical kasoro ambayo nimezungumza juu yake kama kuharibu jamii za awali, hii ya ajabu-kutafuta (ambayo ni bila shaka kutafuta nafsi) katika ngazi za ndani kwa mawasiliano na Watu Wakubwa, kwa ajili ya initiations, kwa vipande vya habari za matukio ya nje yetu badala ya kutafuta kwa bidii kwa ajili ya mchakato ndani yetu, kasoro hiyo itaonekana katika kazi yetu. Zaidi ya yote, itaonekana katika fasihi yetu, kwa sababu fasihi ni ua la kazi yetu. Kuna dalili nyingi kwamba nyenzo mpya au iliyofunuliwa kwa ajili ya Renaissance yetu hujiandaa ndani ya robo ya karne ya kwanza, na kwamba baada ya hapo kazi ya Sosaiti ni kufanya tathmini mpya ya maisha, ya fasihi, ya sanaa, ya sayansi, ya dini, katika suala la ufunuo huo. Kuhifadhi tu nguvu kungehitaji kiasi hicho. Kama kufichuliwa kwa ukweli wa kiasili kunahusishwa na hatari ambazo tumesikia mara nyingi, kwa nini mchakato huo wa kufichuliwa uendelee muda mrefu baada ya sisi kuacha kuwa na uwezo wa kutumia kile tunacho tayari? Hatukuitumia. Kwa miaka ishirini na mitano sasa, ni vigumu gurudumu limezunguka katika maelfu ya idara ambazo The Secret Doctrine imefanya iwezekane kwetu kupima upya maisha. Hapa na pale, mfanyakazi mmoja-mmoja, aliyetokana moja kwa moja na asili ya Sosaiti, ametoa tathmini mpya ya wakati, lakini katika mkondo mkuu wa Sosaiti hatujafanya kitu chochote kinachostahili mahali kando ya kazi hizo za robo ya kwanza. "Nitapokea ukataaji mkali wa hili, lakini nitahitaji kutoka kwa mkanaji, si kwamba amesoma vitabu hivyo vya kwanza tu, lakini kwamba amefanya kazi na kufundisha katika Sosaiti kwa angalau miaka kumi, na hakuwa ameshikwa na wimbi la hisia miaka mitatu au minne iliyopita. """ Labda ni hali ya ukuzi. Labda chini ya sheria ya mzunguko lazima tulishwe kwa robo ya karne, labda tunatumia robo ya karne katika wazimu wa ujana, labda kisha robo ya karne ya ukomavu thabiti, labda mwishowe robo ya karne ya uhifadhi na uzee wa kutafakari, tukisubiri kuzaliwa kwa msukumo mpya. Katika hali kama hiyo, sasa tunakuja kwa nguvu zetu kamili, baada ya kufanya mambo yote ya kipumbavu ambayo ukosefu wetu wa uwezo ulitoa, na kuimarisha chini katika hatua ya nguvu. """Hivyo ndivyo ninavyopendelea kuiona, si kufikiria siku zilizotumika vibaya bali kurekebisha matumizi yetu mabaya, si kuleta mashtaka ya uzembe au upendeleo, bali kuirekebisha." Kwa hiyo, ikiwa tunataka kukua na kuwa wanaume wenye nguvu, kuna makosa fulani ambayo ni lazima tutayarishe. Haitakuwa vya kutosha kuchezea uchawi mdogo, kupotea katika vidimbwi vya hisia, kudai kuwa waanzilishi wa hii au njia za nguvu za hiyo, kudai kurekodi zamani za watu wasio na maana - wa watu wakubwa, kwa suala hilo - kwa masikio madogo madogo, mara kumi mbali na mwandishi wa kwanza, ambaye mwenyewe hakujua chochote juu yake. """Tunapaswa kujishughulisha na mabadiliko hayo ya thamani ambayo yalitukabili miaka ishirini na mitano iliyopita na ambayo bado hatujaigusa." Hatuna kitabu kuhusu Ubudha. "A.P.Sinnett, mwandishi wa ""Buddha,"" alitoa maoni ya kwamba ""Buddha"" ni neno la kawaida la Kiingereza, na baada ya kusoma masomo ya msingi ya lugha ya Kiingereza, lazima tuende kwa Edkins, Oldenburg, Carus, Schlagwitt, Eckhart, Beale, na Rhys Davids." Hapa katika uwanja ambao sisi huchora hasa, hatuna kazi yenye mamlaka. Wala hatuna habari yoyote juu ya Uhindu. Kwa hiyo, kwa kuwa kuna masomo kadhaa, kitabu cha shule kwa wavulana Wahindu, na kazi moja au mbili karibu na pembe ya somo, lakini hakuna kazi ambayo inashambulia elimu. Kitabu cha Srinavasa Iyengar kimetoweka. Kwa mfano, katika kipindi cha kwanza cha masomo ya Zoroastrianism, tulikuwa na mazungumzo na wanafunzi wa Biblia. Licha ya yote tunayosema tunajua, tumeiacha uwanja kwa Martin Haug na mmoja au wawili wengine. Hakuna kitu katika dini ya Misri, kizuri, kibaya au cha kutojali. Kwa sababu ya habari nyingi tulizopata, hatuna habari yoyote kuhusu Kaldayo, Babeli, Ashuru, au Troa. Kuna vitabu, lakini hakuna vyetu. "Tunaweza kuchimba maelezo yasiyoweza kuthibitishwa kuhusu Peru, lakini ulimwengu una maneno matano tu ya Kietruria, na hatuwezi kuongeza hata moja kwenye idadi hiyo.""" "Hata hivyo, ni vigumu kuamini kwamba kuna ""mwisho wa dunia"" kwa sababu H.P. Blavatsky alikufa." Tumeiacha uwanja huo mkubwa na wenye kuvutia kwa wote isipokuwa Theosophists. Dini ya Tao haijagunduliwa hata kidogo. Huenda tukafanya uchunguzi wenye mamlaka juu ya hekaya za Norse, lakini hatujafanya hivyo. "Hata hivyo, hakuna hata moja ya vitabu hivyo, kama vile ""Kalevala ya Finland,"" ""Pete ya Nibelungen,"" ""Graal Takatifu,"" au ""Romanesque ya Rose.""" """Hakuna kitu ambacho kimeweza kuonekana katika kitabu hiki, lakini ni kwamba alchemist na troubadour hawawezi kuonekana katika kitabu hiki." Dante ni wa aina yetu na tumemwacha kwa wapinzani wa Katoliki ya Kirumi. Hakuna kitabu kuhusu Uislamu, hakuna kitabu kuhusu Sufis, hakuna kitabu kuhusu Mithraism (kuanzia Mead), hakuna kitabu kuhusu Mani, na hakuna kitabu kuhusu Talmud au Kabbalah (kuanzia vitabu vya Wynn Westcott). """Ulimwengu wenye utajiri wa animism na fetishism, unaojumuisha vipande vya dini kubwa, umekuwa chini ya tahadhari yetu." Utamaduni wa Maya na Aztec ni wa kihistoria na wa kihistoria, na kwa hivyo ni muhimu sana kwa watu wa asili wa Aztec. Hadithi za Amerika Kaskazini hukusanywa na kila mtu isipokuwa Theosophists. Plato: kitu lakini baadhi ya hadithi za mashujaa wa zamani Alexander Wilder, kamwe kuchapishwa tena. Plotinus: tafsiri ya Mead, lakini hakuna utafiti wa kina. Iamblichus: Hakuna kitu. "Homero: ""Hakuna kitu, wala kitu chochote juu ya dini ya Kigiriki, uwanja huo mkubwa na wa kuvutia, unaofanana sana na utamaduni wetu, na ambao ulimwengu wetu wa wasomi husoma kila kitu kilichochapishwa.""" Katika dini ya Kelt hakuna kitabu kinachoeleza mambo yote ya kichawi ambayo dini hiyo hutoa. Ni wapi kitabu chetu kikubwa juu ya Masonry? Mwalimu Wilmshurst, lakini hakuna kitu zaidi. Neno letu juu ya jiografia ya siri na vitu vyenye nguvu vya Plato liko wapi? Kanuni Kubwa ya Uwiano? "Hii ni ishara ya kichawi ya ""The Thousand and One Nights.""" Aeneid, Kitabu cha 6 Mahabharata? Je, ni Ramayana? Ni nini tunacho juu ya Theosophists wa enzi za kati? Bruno? (Mwanamume mmoja mwenye umri wa miaka 18 na nusu) Nicholas wa Basel? Nicholas Flamel? Gemistus Pletho? Familia ya Fugers? Trithemius? The Comacine Masters? (Wanafunzi wa Comacine) Au juu ya Cagliostro? au Mesmer Kuna kitabu kuhusu St. Germain, si kitabu kizuri sana. Hizi ni baadhi ya mambo ambayo ulimwengu unatazamia kutoka kwetu, na sisi tunatarajia kutoka kwetu wenyewe. Vifaa vyote viko katika The Secret Doctrine, na maelfu zaidi, lakini tuna shughuli nyingi sana kuhusu kitu kingine. Tunaandika maandishi ya msingi haraka kama maandishi mengine na maandishi bora yanavyopitwa na wakati. Sisi daima tunatafuta mlango wa chini wakati nyumba yetu ndani ni wazi na tupu ya mambo ambayo inapaswa kuwa nayo. Hata tumepoteza kile tulikuwa nacho. "Jarim Anderson, ""Mtu: Vipande vya Historia iliyosahaulika,"" Ralston Skinner, ""Mwanzo wa Vipimo,"" Claude Wright, ""Theosophy ya Kisasa,"" Willson, ""Ancient and Modern Physics,"" na The Dreamer, ""Studies in Bhagavad Gita,"" na wengi wa Tukaram Tati's reprints ya Maandiko ya Kihindu, na vitabu vya Vivendi." Hata hivyo, hadi mwaka mmoja uliopita, H.P.B. Glossary ya 'ilikuwa nje ya kuchapishwa wakati watu binafsi kufufuliwa yake. Hizi ni baadhi ya mapungufu tunapaswa kujaza, na upande wa udhamini peke yake. Katika sayansi, katika sanaa, katika huduma, katika maisha, katika siasa, hatujafanya vizuri sana. Labda ni alama ya kushindwa kwetu. Labda ni ishara tu ya ujana wetu. Theosophists sasa kukua na kuja inaweza kuwa chini ya misaada kuhusu hayo yote. Angalau nadhani watajaribu kuziba baadhi ya mapungufu haya. Sasa, tukikaza akili zetu juu ya mambo yanayohitaji kufanywa na kuangalia nyuma tu ili kuepuka kurudia makosa ya zamani zetu, nadhani tutapata kitu kibaya katika Jumuiya ya Theosophical ambayo haiwezi kurekebishwa na miaka michache ya juhudi sahihi. Uanachama wa Sosaiti hubadilika haraka sana - zaidi sana kuliko watu wasiofahamu rekodi zake wangedhani - na muda mfupi sana ni wa kutosha kuunda upya roho ya kikundi chochote. - Kama, basi, tunashikilia kazi zetu, si kama mwisho wenyewe, lakini kama kuweka chini ya malipo na utamaduni kwa wanachama wanaokuja, Sosaiti nzima inaweza kufanywa karibu na hali hiyo ya kwanza ambayo kazi ilianza. Mahitaji ya msingi yatakuwa kuunda mbinu zenye kuzaa za kujifunza. """Ulemavu wetu mkubwa wa sasa ni ujinga wetu wa aibu wa mambo ya uchawi, watu wetu hawana tamaa ya kujua, lakini wanaingia katika Sosaiti na uelewa mbaya wa asili ya fasihi ya uchawi - wazo kwamba mtu fulani atawaambia ukweli." Theosophical Society si mlinzi wa ukweli, lakini wa njia fulani za kale za kufikia ukweli, na tunapopoteza mtazamo wa tofauti hii na kutoa kwa watu wa nje vitu ambavyo hatuwezi kuwapa, watu bora wa nje wanatuhofu na kukataa kuingia, wakati wale ambao ni wa chini kuliko bora, ambao huingia kwa ahadi kama hiyo, huunda usumbufu mkubwa sana, wakibishana juu ya kitabu sahihi na mwalimu sahihi, kwamba tuko katika msukosuko wa mara kwa mara. Ni wajibu wa wale ambao wameipata kuwafanya wazi kwa wale ambao hawajaipata - ndani na nje ya Sosaiti - kwamba ukweli wa esoteric haujaandikwa kamwe kwa usahihi katika kitabu chochote. Kama ingekuwa ingekoma kuwa ya kisayansi. Vitabu vikubwa vya Theosophy havionyeshi waziwazi chochote isipokuwa hatua za maadili za kufikia ukweli. Kuhusu mambo ya kweli, yanawakumbusha wasomaji ukweli, si kwa njia ya kusema uwongo, bali kwa njia ya kuelezea ukweli kwa njia ya vipande. Kitabu kikubwa cha Theosophical si chakula imara kuvunjwa mbali na kubeba mbali kipande, lakini mesh inahitaji kujazwa. Kwa miaka mingi sasa tumekuwa na vikundi vya kujifunza vilivyojitolea kuchunguza kwa makini kitabu kimoja, kujaribu kwa uchunguzi mkali kupata hazina yake. Kama kitabu hicho kilikuwa cha kipumbavu, ambacho kilijidai kuwa cha wazi, jitihada hiyo ilikuwa ya bure, kwa sababu kitabu hicho kilikuwa na ukweli mdogo. Kama kitabu hicho kilikuwa kikubwa, jitihada hiyo ilikuwa ya bure, kwa sababu utajiri wa kitabu kikubwa cha uchawi unatokana na kiasi ambacho mwanafunzi anachukua kitu kutoka kwake. Kama sisi bolt wazo nzima kutoka kitabu hatujapata wazo. """Tumemkaribisha tu mgeni, lakini ikiwa wazo lililokopwa, likiitii sheria ile ile ya polarity kama inavyoonekana hapa kwenye ndege ya kimwili kama ngono, linaungana na moja katika akili zetu, tumepata wazo.""" Mawazo hayazaliwi nje yetu, bali ndani yetu, na yale yaliyozaliwa ndani yetu ndiyo tu tutakayotumia katika kutafuta ukweli. Theosophists ya kitabu kimoja wametupa shida kubwa na wameharibu sana ufanisi wetu. Kama wamekula kitabu kikubwa wao kinywa misemo recondite. "Wanafanya hivyo kwa sababu Wakristo wa zamani wanashambulia Biblia kwa nguvu na kusema, ""Kila kitu ambacho mtu anahitaji kujua kiko katika kitabu hicho.""" Bila shaka ni hivyo, lakini haitakoma kamwe mpaka mwanafunzi atakapoleta utajiri wake mwenyewe ili kuufanya uwepo. Ukweli wote uko katika mti ikiwa tu tunajua jinsi ya kuusoma. Lakini watu hawa wa kitabu kimoja na mwandishi mmoja, wakati hoja zao za kupunguzwa zinapokwisha, huanguka nyuma kwenye masuala ya uaminifu ambayo hayana uhusiano wowote na jambo hilo. Kisha sufuria hiyo huchemka tena. Kwa yote wanayoyatoa katika hazina zao za kweli, wanaweza kubadilishana vitabu, na kuwa na hali mbaya au mbaya zaidi, maadamu wanafikiri kitabu kimoja tu kinaweza kutoa ukweli. Suluhisho liko katika neno hilo nililozungumzia katika sura ya pili ya sura hii. Utafiti wa kulinganisha peke yake utapanda. Mpumbavu anashikamana na ufafanuzi mmoja wa ukweli, na anakufa njaa. Mtu mwenye hekima husoma vitabu viwili na kula. Anajua kwamba hakuna kitabu kinachoweza kuwa kamili na sahihi. Yeye huchunguza kwa makini jambo alilojifunza. Kila kitabu hutoa mwelekeo wake mwenyewe na parallax imeanzishwa ambayo maadili yanaweza kupimwa. Mara baada ya kujifunza mchakato, mtu mwenye hekima ataendelea kuchukua mwelekeo mpya juu ya tatizo lake mpaka atakapoliona katika mzunguko. Kisha anamiliki mambo ambayo anaweza kutengeneza ukweli katika nafsi yake mwenyewe, na ukweli huo ni Theosophy. Mabwana Wenyewe hawapati ukweli bila malipo. Wakati mwanafunzi amefikiria na kuja kwao na suluhisho lake, akiuliza kama ni kweli, Wao ni wajibu wa kujibu "Ndiyo" au "Hapana". Ndivyo vitabu ambavyo wamechochea vitafanya. Wanafunzi wanasema kwamba kitabu The Secret Doctrine ni kigumu. Kwa mtu anayekuja nayo mikono tupu, akitarajia kupewa kitu, ni kitabu kigumu zaidi ulimwenguni, kilichofungwa mara mbili na kufungwa kwa bolti kwenye kila ukurasa. Kwa yule anayetafuta, ambaye amekwenda mbali kadiri awezavyo na tatizo lake, na anakuja na swali, mafundisho yatakuwa wazi kwenye ukurasa anaohitaji. Msomaji wangu hapaswi kuchukua hii kwa neno lolote langu. Acha ajaribu. Ni kitabu cha Mwalimu, na ni lazima kiseme "Ndiyo" au "Hapana". Ndivyo ilivyo na vitabu vyote vikubwa - vyetu na vya kabla ya wakati wetu. Wao huchochea ukweli kutoka kwa mwanafunzi. Vitabu vya kipumbavu humjulisha, na anapopata kitu bila malipo, anaweza kuchukua ushuhuda wa karne kwamba ni makosa. Kama ingekuwa sahihi, haingeweza kusemwa hivyo. Ukweli halisi juu ya ndege hii ni Maya. Hata 2x2=4 haifai kabisa. Ni fomula dhaifu ya ufananisho ya kitu ambacho nafsi tu ndiyo inayoweza kujua. """Tutahitaji kuanzisha madarasa yetu ya masomo na mambo haya akilini, na badala ya kundi la kulala, kusikiliza sauti ya kuogelea ya msomaji, tutataka kila mwanafunzi kufanya utafiti sambamba na mada iliyoko, na kuleta mapato yake kwa darasa kwa kujaza maandishi." "Mmoja atafuata maelekezo yanayofanana katika Kibuddha, mwingine katika Kihindu, mwingine katika Kimisri, mwingine katika Kigiriki na mwingine katika utamaduni wa Kichina.""" Mtu anaweza kuwa na uchunguzi wa kisayansi, mwingine wa kifalsafa, mwingine wa kichawi, na kadhalika. Maandishi yenyewe itapendekeza utafutaji, na nyenzo itakuwa akageuka katika duka la jumla. Kwa hiyo tutajua ni maandishi gani yanayofanya funzo liwe na ulemavu, na ni maandishi gani yanayotia nguvu funzo hilo. Badala ya kutegemea uaminifu wa mwandishi wa kitabu kilicho mkononi, na kubishana juu ya mamlaka yake, wanafunzi watamjua kwa matunda yake. Tutajifunza pia kwamba vyanzo vya Theosophy viko katika nafsi, na tutaendeleza kwa mazoezi uwezo wa kuivuta. Tutajifunza jinsi ya kujiuliza swali tena na tena mpaka Ego itakapounda jibu kutoka kwa hazina ya asili yake mwenyewe. Kisha, labda, tutakuwa na mwisho wa mambo haya yasiyo na maana kuhusu mageuzi ya nafsi, na kupata kwa majaribio dhahiri kwamba nafsi haibadiliki, lakini, kama vitabu vya mapema vilivyokuwa, inatokana. Theosophists wetu wa kweli watapata njia kama hiyo kuwa yenye kuvutia kama ilivyo ya kudumu. Wanafunzi wetu dhaifu hawatapenda kwa sababu hawataki kazi. Wanataka sadaka, au angalau mapatano. Na kwa kuwa, kama rekodi zetu zinavyoonyesha, chochote wanachoweza kufanya kwa harakati ya Theosophical, hawapendi sana kwa Theosophical Society, tutasumbuliwa kidogo wakati karma yao itakapokwisha na kuondoka. Kazi iliyojengwa kwa uthabiti juu ya kanuni za Theosophical yaweza kuendelea. Katika uwezo wake wa kujibu, njia mbili kubwa za kujieleza zimefunguliwa kwa Theosophical Society. Moja ni ya kusema, nyingine ni ya kuandika. Hizi ni njia zake za moja kwa moja za kuwasiliana na kizazi chake na zinahitaji kutumiwa kwa ufanisi wao wa juu zaidi - ufanisi ambao kwa kufikia hatuwezi kuchukua maumivu makubwa sana. Ya kwanza na ya haraka zaidi, ile ya kusema, ni moja ambayo, kwa sababu zisizofaa, tumeijenga kuwa fetish. "Kusema ni zawadi kubwa na isiyo ya kawaida, ""tunaambiwa." Kama tu tungekuwa na wasemaji tungelitimiza mengi kama nini! Na usemi ambao tunaweza kuutumia kwa ajili ya kufanya kazi ya Theosophical tunapoteza katika kujuta ukosefu wake. "Ikiwa tunataka kuendelea kusema katika maneno ya kweli ya Theosophy, itakuwa ni lazima kwa kila mwenyekiti kusema kwamba maneno ya msemaji yanawakilisha maoni yake mwenyewe na hayapaswi kuchukuliwa kama sauti ya Sosaiti.""" Kisha ni wajibu wa kila msemaji kuendelea na kueleza maoni hayo bila hofu au upendeleo, kwa sababu ya uchaguzi - na lazima apate makosa - upande wa kujitegemea kwa kile ambacho tayari kimesemwa juu ya mada hiyo, na kutegemea sana hisia zake mwenyewe. Ni lazima afanye uamuzi wa akili mwanzoni kwamba hawezi kufikia usahihi kamili katika taarifa zake. Kama angepata usahihi kamili, hangeweza kutoa taarifa hizo, na kama angeruhusiwa, hazingeeleweka. Ukweli kamili ni katika mwelekeo mwingine kuliko huu; ni lazima tu uelezewe kwa ishara na kueleweka katika: Kwa hiyo, ni nini kinachobaki kwa yeye kufanya? Afadhali kukaa chini tena? La, anahitaji kusema kile anachofikiri na kuamini kuhusu matatizo ya maisha kwa njia yenye kuzaa na ya kweli sana ili kuamsha mawazo na labda kiasi fulani cha mwangaza katika wasikilizaji wake. Yeye hayuko huko kuwajulisha; yuko huko kuwaanzisha. Hii ingeonekana kuwa ofisi ya juu sana kwa msemaji kutamani. Ofisi nzuri, lakini si nje ya uwezo. Miti inaweza kutupa, na maua na vitu vyote vinavyoishi, kwa sababu ya usumbufu wao mkubwa na kitu maalum wanachofanya. "Kwa hiyo, ikiwa msemaji wetu atasema mawazo yake mwenyewe kwa urahisi na kwa bidii kama vile mti unavyo pumua au ua linapoelekeza macho yake kwa jua, yeye pia anaweza kuanza.""" Jambo la kwanza ambalo msemaji lazima afanye ni kuingia ndani ya hisia zake kwa ajili ya nyenzo yake. "Kama Theosophy ina maana yoyote, inamaanisha kwamba Mungu anajidhihirisha katika mwanadamu na kwamba kila mtu ni Mungu wa uwezekano; kwamba Mungu atatoa chochote mtu anaomba, na kwamba mtu ambaye amebarikiwa ni mtu ambaye anaomba vitu vyenye thamani. """ Hivyo, akihakikishiwa kwamba anapaswa kuketi chini na kugeuza mada yake katika akili yake, kuuliza maswali kuhusu hilo. Haijalishi ni nini, Mungu ni mwenye nguvu sana katika kujibu maswali. Msemaji anaweza, kama yeye kuchagua, kuandika maswali yake, kusonga pande zote na pande zote ya mada yake, kuuliza mambo yeye anahitaji kujua. "Hapaswi kusali, ""Nipe mambo, nami nitawaambia watu hawa,"" bali, ""Kwa ajili ya watu hawa naomba mambo haya.""" Hii ni tofauti kati ya msemaji mbaya na msemaji mzuri. Msemaji wa chini anawajulisha wasikilizaji wake; yule mkuu anajiweka mwenyewe juu yao kama mvumbuzi, na kuwaongoza katika nchi ambayo, kwa niaba yao, amejitahidi kidogo. Watazamaji wanaweza kumsifu wa kwanza; atapenda wa pili, na na mchezo wa upendo wake kuanza. Anapoendelea kutoa kile anachohitaji kutoka kwa nafsi yake ya ndani, msemaji atapata habari yake ikiruka ndani ili kuvaa mawazo yake. Kusoma ni kwa ajili ya jambo hili. Si kwamba tunapaswa kuokota kitabu au makala na kuuza, daima wakishughulika na hatua inayofuata, lakini kusoma vitabu vingi, kuruhusu wao kukaa katika akili mpaka wao kuwa utamaduni tajiri ambayo wazo lake jipya kuzaliwa inaweza kuchagua vipengele vya mwili wake na kuja nje sheathed katika ukweli, kuangazwa na analogy na viviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviviv Ni jambo la kushangaza kwamba sisi ambao kati ya watu wote tunapaswa kuamini katika nguvu ya Mungu kutufundisha kwa ajili ya usemi tunapaswa kuwa chochote lakini mafanikio katika kuzalisha wasemaji. Kwa sehemu ni kwa sababu tunaposhughulika na mambo makubwa sana, tunafikiri kwamba isipokuwa tuweze kuyasema kwa ufasaha, tunapaswa kukaa kimya. Kwa sehemu pia tunafadhaika na kutokuwa na ujasiri ambao hutufanya tusitake wengine wajue ni kiasi gani tunavyojua, na kosa hilo ni kubwa zaidi katika watu hao ambao huabudu zaidi mashujaa wao wa dunia kuliko wanavyofanya kwa Mungu wa ndani - watu ambao wanahisi kwamba ukombozi unapaswa kupatikana kwa kuingiliwa nje. Wanafikiri kwamba utajiri wa theosophical unahitaji mtu fulani, wakati kile kinachohitajika kweli ni kitu fulani. Wao ni wakazi wetu katika Makedonia. "Kile kinachohitajika kwanza katika kusema ni kwamba msemaji asijione kama msaidizi wa mtu fulani mwenye mamlaka, bali kama msaidizi wa Uwepo wa Kimungu ambao yeye hushiriki na wasikilizaji wake, na baada ya kupata habari yake kwa njia niliyoonyesha, anahitaji kuipiga kwa sauti kupitia utaratibu wa utu.""" Hapa ndipo matatizo yake ya mapema yanapokuwa makali zaidi, na ili kumwokoa mateso mengi iwezekanavyo, ninampa mapendekezo ya kutuliza hisia na kumwinua mtu huyo. "Hizi ni sheria za zamani na zilizojaribiwa: (1) Acha aseme sala zake kabla tu ya kuanza.""" Acha yeye pia apumue kwa kina. Hii ni kama sala, kwa sababu kila wakati tunapopumua kwenye ndege ya kimwili, msukumo hupita katika ndege zote, hadi kwa Mungu. (2) Acha azungumze: si kusoma. Kusoma, isipokuwa na msomaji mkubwa, haisomi. Mara nyingi haifanyi habari nyingi. (3) Aimeni imara juu ya miguu yake, akipumzika wakati fulani zaidi juu ya moja kuliko nyingine, na katika hatua za mapema za hotuba zote na katika hatua nyingi za hotuba za mapema, amfunge misuli yote kutoka kiuno chini. Kisha chumba kitapiga kwa msemaji kama meza inavyofanya kwa forogo ya kusawazisha iliyowekwa ardhini, na sauti yake itakuwa sehemu yake badala ya kuonekana kama kitu tofauti. 4 Acha afikirie wasikilizaji wake kama kwamba wako ndani ya yai kubwa, na mwisho wake mdogo uko kinywani mwake. Kama yeye anahisi yeye tu kujaza hii yeye itakuwa wazi kusikia na wasikilizaji wake wote. 5 Aikumbuke kwamba uhusiano wake na wasikilizaji wake si kama wa mtu mmoja dhidi ya wengi, bali kama mmoja mwenye wengi. 6 Asisome kamwe, chini ya hali yoyote, kuomba kuruhusiwa kusema, wala chini ya hali yoyote kukataa kusema, anapokuwa ameulizwa, ikiwa ni jambo linalowezekana kwa binadamu kufanya hivyo. 7 Acha yeye, hata jambo gani litakaloenda vibaya katika hotuba yake, aendelee kusema. Msemaji mwenye ufasaha atafikia muundo tajiri; msemaji ambaye anasimama na kusita kwa neno sahihi kamwe hatapata ufasaha - na mara chache neno sahihi. Tunachohitaji kufanya ni kutoa vahan ya maneno tunayoweza kwa mambo ya kiroho. Mtiririko wa mambo ya kiroho utafanya maneno yawe kamilifu. "Ninapowasiliana na waandishi, huenda nikaonwa kuwa ninawasiliana na sehemu ndogo sana ya Jumuiya ya Theosophical kuliko ninaposhughulika na wasemaji.""" Kwa kweli ni hivyo, lakini si lazima iwe hivyo. Kama vile kuongea, kuandika si muujiza wa hali ya juu ambao sisi hufanya. Uwezo wa kuandika, kama vile uwezo wa kusema au kuchora, ni urithi wa kawaida wa sisi sote, na kizuizi kinachotutenganisha na hilo ni mafunzo ya kiufundi ambayo sehemu kubwa tumepokea shuleni, na ambayo inaweza kuwa na uwezo wa kuwa nayo kwa urahisi ikiwa tuna uvumilivu wa kuimiliki. "Hili ni jambo ambalo tunapaswa kuongeza kipengele cha kuzaliwa upya na nguvu ambazo sasa zimelala, ambazo bila shaka sisi sote tumekuwa nazo wakati uliopita, na bila kuwa nazo, ambazo sasa hatupaswi kupendezwa na Theosophy, ambayo kimsingi ni shughuli ya jamii ya wapiganaji wa ubunifu. """ Ni jambo la kusisimua pia, kwa namna ya kusikitisha, kwamba kwa imani yetu yote katika kuzaliwa upya, watu wetu wanapaswa kuendelea katika shughuli zao za kila siku kama kwamba hawajawahi kichwa cha kitu kama hicho. Wao itabidi kufikiri juu ya incarnations zamani na wale wa baadaye, wakati wao tu uwezekano sifa ya maisha ya zamani ni uwezo wa kuita nguvu ya maisha hayo katika sasa. Kwa hiyo, ikiwa wale wa watu wetu ambao wana mtazamo wa kichawi juu ya maisha, na wanavutiwa zaidi na athari za sasa za fundisho la kuzaliwa upya, kuliko kuwa katika ukweli tu wa hilo, wataanza kufanya kazi ya kuandika, watafurahi kuona jinsi haraka kwa juhudi za ubunifu wanaweza kuleta nguvu za zamani, na jinsi wanaweza kufanya mafunzo ya zamani kutumika sasa hai. "Ikiwa msomaji wangu ataendelea kama nilivyoonyesha katika makala juu ya kuzungumza kwa kuandika wazo kuu ambalo anataka kujenga makala, na kwa mchakato wa kuuliza ""Mimi"" maswali kuhusu hilo, ataandika maelezo kuhusu wazo hilo, atapata hivi karibuni kwamba kumbukumbu anazofanya karibu zitajiandika wenyewe." Maelezo hayo lazima yawe ya waziwazi na si sentensi zilizomalizika. Wakati wao ni mawazo ya sentensi kumaliza akili kukimbia karibu na makala kumaliza, ambayo katika hatua hii ni hakuna biashara ya mwandishi. Ni lazima awepo katika mawazo anayotoa kutoka kwa nafsi, wala si katika makosa anayotarajia katika kazi iliyokamilika, wala si katika sifa ambayo kazi iliyokamilika itamletea. "Mara anapokimbia mbele, amevunja sheria ya kwanza ya sanaa ya ubunifu, ambayo pia ni sheria ya kwanza ya uchawi, kwamba lazima aishi katika wakati wa sasa.""" Hatua kwa hatua wazo lake litakuwa na umbo. Itakuwa mviringo na imeonyeshwa waziwazi kwa maelezo muhimu ya kueleza na kuimarisha. Kwa hiyo, mwandishi anapoendelea kuendeleza wazo hilo, atahisi ndani yake tamaa inayoongezeka ya kuanza kazi halisi ya kuandika. Tamaa hiyo itazidi kuongezeka kadiri ya kukataa kwake, mpaka mwandishi, akihisi salama katika thamani ya maelezo yake na kuhisi kwamba yanawakilisha kitu cha thamani, atagundua kwamba kazi ya kuandika kama nakala iliyokamilika itakuwa furaha badala ya kazi, kwa sababu amejitolea tamaa badala ya kupambana nayo hatua kwa hatua. Kwa hiyo kushughulikiwa katika hatua za kimantiki inakuwa mchakato wa kuvutia, kama mchakato wote wa ubunifu ni. "Atakapoendelea kukusanya vitu vyake, ataona kwamba katika na kupitia mawazo yake ya fahamu kutakuwa na mengine ambayo hajawahi kuwa na ufahamu wa hapo awali, ""tricks of expressions, of presentation of thought, of vivid analogy, of figures of speech, ghostly visitors from an unplumbed world of his own great past.""" Hii ni ufahamu wa msanii wa incarnations zamani na hii ni ambayo inaimarisha ndani yake katika matumizi ya vitendo imani yake ya kuwa aliishi kabla. "Hakuna maneno yangu yanayoweza kumshawishi msomaji wangu juu ya uhalisi wa haya yote; lazima apime, akikumbuka daima kwamba faida ya sanaa ya ubunifu ni kubwa kwa msanii na kidogo baada ya yote kwa msomaji, msikilizaji au mtazamaji. ""Mtaalamu atakuja kwenye vipindi vya ukame - vingi mwanzoni - wakati hakuna kitu kitakachokuja kwake, wakati maneno yake yanaonekana kuwa ya kawaida au ya kawaida au tupu, lakini hatua kwa hatua vipindi vitapunguzwa na kuwa chache." Ataandika juu ya nini? Kama akifuata kwa dhati utaratibu niliosema, haitakua na maana kubwa, kwa sababu jambo lolote linalochunguzwa kwa bidii kwa njia ya kufunua ukweli kutoka kwa nafsi, litatoa thamani kubwa. Na pia, kufanya kazi hivyo yeye pengine kuwa kiburi sana - na hii inatuhangaisha zaidi - kuandika kuhusu mambo mengi ya watu kufanya kuandika kuhusu. Yeye atafuata ukweli na maonyesho yake katika maisha ya karibu naye; atajenga juu ya mambo yenye kuzaa ambayo amesoma ambayo humpa nguvu ya kufikiri kwa bidii zaidi. Atakapothibitisha uaminifu wake itakuwa kwa mawazo na si kwa watu. Anapofikiria juu ya wakati wake uliopita au wa siku zijazo, itakuwa katika uhusiano wake na wakati mmoja ambao kila mmoja wetu anaishi. Yeye ataandika zaidi juu ya mambo ambayo kuchochea akili yake na chini ya mambo ambayo tu kuchochea hisia zake. Yeye, nadhani, kufanya kidogo sana reproaches hasira, kwa sababu aina hii ya biashara na nafsi hufanya wao kuonekana hivyo unnecessary. Atapendezwa zaidi na madokezo yenye kuzaa na makadirio ya mawazo. Yeye ataona ulimwengu mzima kama kiashiria kikubwa cha ulimwengu wake mdogo na madhehebu kama makadirio ya nje ya nguvu zake mwenyewe. Atamwabudu kidogo na kujiuliza zaidi. "Atakoma kuashiria kile anachoandika kwa vitambulisho vya sasa vya Theosophical Society na ataiashiria zaidi kwa vitambulisho vya ulimwengu wa maisha. """ "Huenda akaona kwamba kazi yetu si kueneza theosophy ya kiufundi, bali ni kupambana na uhalisi, iwe nje au ndani ya Sosaiti.""" Baada ya yeye kugundua mara chache kwamba maneno ya kiakili na ya kiakili ambayo anajua katika nafsi yake si ya fadhili, ya kweli, wala ya lazima, yatakoma vyanzo vyake vya msukumo na kufanya iwezekane kuendelea katika njia nzuri, atajifunza udugu wa vitendo ambao ni udugu wa msemaji wa ukweli na msanii. Ataandika kwa ajili ya machapisho gani? Kwa yeyote, kama yeye hufanya akili yake kwa hilo. Nje ya majarida yetu wenyewe, ambayo ni machache sana sasa, hakuna mtu anataka makala labelled Theosophical. Lakini wote isipokuwa vichapo vichache wanataka makala zenye kupendeza ambazo huwafanya watu wafikirie, ambazo zina mwelekeo wa kuwa na mawazo ya kipekee, ambazo zina habari nzuri, ambazo zinatosheleza nafsi na ambazo huleta katika wakati uliopita wenye kuvutia ambao watu wanapendezwa sana kama kwamba wanajua wameishi ndani yake. Ni kwa maandishi yetu kama ilivyo kwa usemi wetu. Kazi yetu ni kwa ajili ya ulimwengu, na tunapofanya kazi kwa ajili ya ulimwengu tunapata mwisho wetu mkubwa. Kama tunataka kufanikiwa katika kufanya Theosophical Society karibu na kwamba kwanza kuchochea matumaini bora ambayo ilianza, moja ya mambo tunapaswa kufanya ni kurudisha akili katika nafasi yake. "Hakuna mahali pa juu zaidi, kwa sababu ni wazi katika Theosophy kwamba kuna maeneo ambayo akili yenyewe haiwezi kwenda.""" Hata hivyo, hakuna jambo ambalo haliwezi kulichukua. Tutajitahidi kurekebisha hali hiyo ya hali ya chini na ya kutafuta umaarufu, ambayo imekuwa mtindo wa kuwapa wanafunzi wapya njia ya mapatano ya kwenda kwa Mwenyezi bila kuvuka ulimwengu wa akili. Hatuwezi kukubali tabia ya kupuuza jitihada za kiakili kuwa ni akili tu na kwa hivyo ni kukosa vitu vya roho, haswa wakati kupuuza kama hiyo kunatoka kwa wale ambao hawana ujasiri wala uvumilivu wa kujaribu kuanzisha akili zinazohitajika. "Ni kishawishi kikubwa sana kwa mwanafunzi wa Theosophical kujaribu kuficha kushindwa kwa akili kwa kusema ""Dharma yangu si ya akili.""" Njia yangu ni ya kiroho, na hivyo kuinua mapungufu yake katika kuonekana kwa wema wa adili. Ugumu wake mkuu hautamdanganya mtu yeyote kwa muda mrefu, na hii kwa sababu bora za siri. Kuna mtihani mmoja tu wa juu zaidi wa kama anaishi katika ulimwengu wa roho au katika ulimwengu wa hisia. Kuzingatia fahamu katika ulimwengu wa kiroho kutazalisha akili. Focus ya ufahamu katika ulimwengu wa hisia haitafanya. Roho huhuisha akili; hisia huifanya iwe na uchovu. Roho huelekeza akili; hisia huitawanya. Kama akili haitafanya kazi kwa uhuru na kwa uhusiano, ni kwa sababu mwelekeo wa ufahamu si ndani ya akili, lakini nje yake. Ikiwa msomaji wangu atajikuta katika shaka yoyote juu ya hili na sio tu ya aina ambayo inaendelea kubishani utafiti wa kahawia kwa uzoefu wa kiroho, atafanya vizuri kuijaribu mwenyewe. Kama mazoezi ni kweli kiroho na hata katika kipimo kidogo kufikia lengo lake, akili mbio kwa hamu kando ya mstari wake wa uchunguzi; itakuwa kukamata analogy wazi kutoka ndani; itakuwa kusafisha ulimwengu katika matumizi ya wazi na enlightening; itakuwa kufanya vivid na flashing revaluations ya maisha; itakuwa endowed washiriki wake na nguvu ya ulimi. Kama yeye amevamia kwa muda mfupi katika roho yake, ataonyesha katika mawazo, katika hotuba ambayo ni mzaliwa wa kwanza wa mawazo, katika harakati na katika upendo. Hayo ni mambo atakayopata ndani yake mwenyewe, na haya ni mambo atakayotarajia kutoka kwa waabudu wa kiroho popote atakapowakuta. Kama yeye ni makosa ya kutafakari kamili ya Buddhi akageuka juu chini katika Kama kwa mwanga safi ya Buddhi yenyewe, anaweza kwa urahisi kujua. Atakuwa na amani ya aina ya dawa, sio amani ya furaha; atakuwa na wasiwasi na mzito au sauti na tupu; atarudia maneno ambayo amesikia badala ya kuyafanya; atasema tena maneno ambayo amesoma, na kusema formula ambazo haelewi; atahisi mbali na kituo cha maisha nje kwenye ukingo wa diski wakati inazunguka - na ataambatana na vitu; atafadhaishwa kwa urahisi na uovu, ataitikia kwa urahisi hasira. Ikiwa hofu yake itaendelea atakuwa mchoyo. Kabla mtu yeyote hana haki ya kulaani akili, ni lazima atuhakikishie kwamba amezidi akili, kwamba yeye ni bwana kamili wa akili, kwamba anaweza kuunda kwa muda matunda ya dhahabu na ya mwangaza ambayo huzaliwa kutokana na mkutano wa akili na roho. "Hata hivyo, ni sawa na kusema juu ya kwenda kwa Roho bila kuchukua initiations ya akili, kama kuzungumza juu ya kipenyo kwamba haina kupita kupitia kituo cha mduara, au njia kutoka mbili hadi nne kwamba haina kupita kupitia tatu. """ Akili si mwisho, wala haipaswi kamwe kuonwa kuwa mwisho. Hata hivyo ni njia, na hata Bhakti, zaidi ya ahadi ya kujitolea, inachukulia hivyo. Mwishowe wakati wa kutoa dhabihu ya akili kwa roho unakuja, lakini haitatufaidi sana kutoa dhabihu kitu ambacho hatujafikia. Kwa kuwa ni wachache wetu tunao uwezo wa kiakili unaostahili kuchochewa sana mbinguni tunapowatolea sadaka, hata wale ambao huzungumza zaidi juu ya sadaka hiyo, watafanya vizuri kukaa kwa muda na akili hadi tutakapokuwa na kitu cha thamani ya kutoa. Kwa hivyo, kwa kukaa, tunaweza kujifunza kwamba akili itafungua milango mingi ya kiroho ambayo hakuna kitu kingine kinachoweza. """Tutaona, kama watu wetu wachache sana wanavyoonyesha ishara za kugundua, kwamba tatizo halisi la kufikia siddhis ya akili ni uwezo wa kudhibiti nafsi ya chini." Hii sio kazi ya kiakili, lakini ni kazi ya kimaadili. """Mwanadamu ambaye akili yake ni mbaya na kumbukumbu yake ni mbaya, badala ya kufanya wema wake na kujivunia kuwa Bhakti, ni bora kuwa juu ya ulimwengu wa kukandamiza nafsi ya chini ambayo inafanya akili yake kuwa isiyo na ufanisi.""" Theosophists wamekuja juu ya mchanganyiko mbaya siku hizi za baadaye kuhusu asili na mahali pa akili, na itakuwa salty kwa ajili yetu kutumia muda zaidi na Patanjali kama tulivyokuwa kufanya. Patanjali ni dawa na ni yenye afya zaidi kuliko dawa ya nostrum. Tutajifunza kutoka kwake kwamba kuweza kufuata mstari wa kufikiri hadi hitimisho lake la mantiki na la uaminifu ni jambo kubwa na linahitaji udhibiti wa asili ya wanyama. """Baada ya uwezo huu wa kusema, kuna uwezo wa kukumbuka picha moja tu, na kukazia fikira juu yake, na kuondoa wengine wote.""" "Hiyo tena iko katika nguvu ya kutafakari wazo lisilo na maana mpaka liwe wazo kamili na lenye nguvu, likivuta kwa nguvu kutoka kwa zamani na kuelezwa na nuru ya Buddhi, ya Hermes, mjumbe wa Mungu.""" Zaidi ya hayo, tena, kuna kazi ngumu zaidi ya kusukuma kila picha nje ya mzunguko wa akili ya ufahamu na hivyo kubaki waziwazi na waziwazi huru kutoka kwa maonyesho, kuruhusu utambuzi wa Buddhi kujionyesha katika dimbwi la akili safi. Hii ni kutafakari, kusimama katikati kati ya Mungu na nafsi ya chini, postulant ya roho. Nadhani kwamba kwa kutambua jinsi ilivyo vigumu kupanda mlima wa maono na kwamba hatua hizi lazima zichukuliwe kwa subira katika utaratibu niliotoa, tutajifunza kuwa wanyoofu kwa wageni wetu na kuruhusu kupoteza muda mdogo iwezekanavyo na wale ambao sasa wanatuchukua nafasi ya ushahidi huu hai wa ukweli wa Theosophy. "Tunaweza kupata neno la kiasi zaidi kuliko ""kutafakari"" kwa zoea la miaka ya hivi karibuni la kukaa na mikono juu ya magoti na miguu chini na kufikiri kwa nasibu kama katika session." Hata msimamo ni tu funny. "Hakuna mzunguko wa mwili unaofungwa, kama katika nafasi kubwa za kutafakari, ni kama kujaribu kukamata maji katika ndoo isiyo na mwisho. """ Kama ni lazima tufanye hivyo, na kwa makundi, zoea jingine la kawaida ambalo Yesu alituomba kwa bidii, hebu liite mawazo ya utulivu au kitu kama hicho, na tuelewe wazi kwamba kutafakari ni zoezi kubwa na hufuata tu baada ya kufanikiwa juu ya mielekeo ya akili ya mercury. "Hiyo ni taji la sakramenti na utukufu wa mafanikio ya kiakili ambayo watu wetu wengi wametumaini dhidi ya matumaini kwamba hawatahitaji kuwa na wasiwasi juu yake. """ Ni lazima tuwe wanyoofu juu ya mambo yote. Mabwana wangependa hivyo kuliko umati wa watu kuvutiwa kwa njia isiyo ya uaminifu. Kwa hiyo tunaposikia kuhusu tofauti za akili, tukumbuke kwamba hakuna tofauti nyingi sana za akili kama tunavyofikiri, lakini ni tofauti tu za upotoshaji na usumbufu wa hisia ambazo zinaonyesha. Uwezo wa kufikiri wazi na vizuri, kama vile kusema au kuandika wazi na vizuri, ni wrested na kazi ngumu na uvumilivu na juhudi mara kwa mara kutoka kwa nafsi ya chini, na mtu yeyote na mapenzi ya kwenda ndani ya kabati lake na kufunga mlango na kujitahidi na tatizo la akili inaweza hivyo kutatua. Akili haitamshinda kamwe. Lakini uvivu na usingizi, na hofu ya kushindwa na matumaini ya mafanikio, na shaka ya thamani ya kazi yake, na ukosefu wa nguvu, na tabia ya kujivunia, ukosefu wa utulivu wa mwili na hasira ya hivi karibuni. "Kama maneno ""Moyo ni muuaji mkuu wa kweli"" lazima si kuondolewa mahali pake halisi katika kazi kubwa." Kuna maneno ambayo yanahitaji uangalifu mapema zaidi katika njia kuliko hiyo, na ambayo yanatuhangaisha zaidi kwa sababu ni wachache sana kati yetu ambao wamepita. "Usiache hisi zifanye uwanja wa kucheza wa akili". Hiyo itawakamata wengi wetu katika maisha haya. Kila kitu kilicho zaidi ya hayo kitajidhihirisha kwa matunda ya Roho. """Nimesema ya akili kama thawabu ya ujasiri na kama chombo cha kusindika kwa ujanja kwa ajili ya kuchochea kiroho." Utu wa kiroho utakuwa wa aina gani utakapoufanya uwepo na utajitokezaje? Kwa hakika, kwa sababu ni maisha yenyewe na katika jina lake tu ni mchezo wa pumzi, kiroho hakitakuwa kitu ambacho hatujawahi kuwa nacho. Hata hivyo, kwa urahisi huenda ikawa jambo ambalo hatujawahi kuliona kwa wingi. Ni lazima iwe mkondo, nishati. "Hatuwezi kuwa kile tunachokiita ""Buddhi"" kwa sababu Buddhi ni kitu cha kiwango cha hali ya chini, na iko upande wa fomu ya ulimwengu wetu." "Buddhi haipaswi kuwa kitu ndani yetu kama vile chati zetu zinavyoonyesha, bali kama kitu nje yetu, mwili wa hali ya chini ambao tunashirikiana na wanadamu wote, na ambao sisi kama watu ni atomu, kama vile chembe za wanyama ni atomu ndani yetu. """ "Kwa hiyo, lazima uungu uwakilishe mchakato ambao kwa njia yake Nishati ya Kimungu, ambayo sisi ni, huvunja mipaka yake ya mtu binafsi, kucheza katika ""vituo"" vinavyoongezeka ambavyo tunashirikiana na wale wanaotuzunguka." Njia yetu ya kuiongezea itakuwa kuzidisha na kuimarisha uhusiano wetu na wanadamu, na kwa hivyo, baada ya kupanua hisia zetu za mwili wa ushirika, tutaruhusu mtiririko kamili wa Roho, au kwa kusema kwa njia nyingine, baada ya kuongeza mtiririko wetu, tutakuwa tumeongeza mtiririko wetu kutoka kwa Mungu wetu wa ndani. "Imeelezwa wazi katika dini zote kwamba hakuna mtu anayeweza kuongeza kiroho ndani yake mwenyewe, lakini ndani yake mwenyewe kwa ajili ya mwingine.""" Inaonekana kama inaishi katika uhusiano kati yake na mtu wa pili, katika mtandao, kama ilivyo, wa mwili huo mkubwa ambao ni wa jamii nzima. Katika kila kiungo kilichoongezwa na wanadamu wengine, utando hukua, na pamoja nao mtiririko wa kiroho. Haiko kamwe katika watu, bali ni kati ya watu. "Yesu alisema hivi: ""Kwa maana, ikiwa wawili au watatu kati yenu wamekusanyika pamoja katika jina langu, mimi niko katikati yao.""" Tunapenda kuiona kama kitu ndani yetu ambacho tunaweza kutoa au kukataa kutoa. La, sivyo. Ni kitu cha kawaida kwetu sote na sisi vitalize ni kwa kupata ardhi ya kawaida na watu. Kwa hiyo, kadiri tunavyofanya akili kuwa chombo cha kupambanua mambo ya kawaida kwetu na kwa wale walio karibu nasi, badala ya kujishughulisha na tofauti; kadiri tunavyoweza kufanya mawazo kuwa utafutaji wa kile tunachoshiriki na sio vitu tunavyopigana juu yake, ndivyo tunavyoongeza mwili ambao Atma anaweza kucheza. Kwa hiyo kwa sababu nishati inaweza kujibu tu na nishati, itafika kwamba mchezo wa roho katika mstari wa mawasiliano yetu utazalisha kipimo cha mtiririko wa kiroho katika yule ambaye amewasiliana. Hii ni ufunguo wa kwamba spiritualized brooding ya Mabwana ambayo ni huduma yao nguvu zaidi kwa wanadamu. Ni ufunguo pia wa mzunguko wa ajabu au mzunguko tunaofanya kati ya wale wanaotuzunguka wakati kiroho kinatiririka kupitia sisi. Hatujajaza tu miili yetu na nuru, lakini tunafanya kazi miili ya kiroho ya wote tunaowasiliana nao. Huenda wengine wakaona vibaya mwanzoni, lakini hilo halitafanya jambo lolote. Tunaweza kuunganisha na juu zaidi katika mwingine na kuchochea asili yake ya Buddha, na kwa sababu akili yake haijulikani kwa utambulisho lakini kwa tofauti, anaweza kukataa uhusiano huo. Anaweza kuwa na hasira katika kukataa kwake kuwasiliana, na ikiwa mzunguko ni mkubwa wa kutosha anaweza kusulubiwa mtu huyo mwenyewe ambaye amemwamsha. Au, baada ya kutambua mzunguko kwa muda, kifuniko kinaweza kushuka juu yake, kifuniko cha Karma yake, tabia ya zamani ya kuruhusu akili yake kulisha asili yake ya shauku na tofauti. "Nitasema nini juu ya ndugu yangu, ikiwa, baada ya kuonyesha shauku na shauku pamoja nami kwa sababu ya ""Yeye aliye katikati,"" anakuwa mpinzani wangu?" Je, yeye ni makosa? Je, mimi pia nilishe asili yangu ya shauku na tofauti ambazo zitaharibu uhusiano kati yetu, au juu ya jamii zetu ambazo zitauimarisha? Je, mimi pia nimnyunyize kifuniko changu cha roho na kupigana naye gizani? Au nifanye bidii zaidi kuliko wakati mwingine wowote ili kudumisha kifungo, nikijua kwamba wakati kioo changu kitakapokuwa chini, yeye pia atanifanyia vivyo hivyo? Na atafanya hivyo. "Ikiwa nitamzuia ndugu yake katika Budhi, wakati utakuja ambapo yeye atakuwa wangu.""" Mabwana hucheza daima katika udugu huo wa upande mmoja. Tunaweza kusema kwamba kiroho kitaishi katika jamii na kufa katika kutengana; itaendelea kutiririka wakati kuna sehemu tu ya ufahamu, kwamba ina ufasaha wa asili ya maisha yenyewe, na kwamba kwa mafunzo ya akili ya kuunda picha za kufanana tunaweza kuibua na kuichanganya. Basi itadhihirikaje? Kwanza kabisa katika maana ya wingi, kwa sababu ni kwa asili yake ya kufurika zaidi ya kiumbe tofauti - upanuzi wa matawi ya maisha na mtiririko wa maisha katika mtandao ulioongezwa. Kwa upande mwingine, itadhihirika katika ukarimu ambao lazima uibuke kutokana na utambuzi kwamba mkondo unaosababishwa kwa njia hii ni wa kutoweka kama Mungu Mwenyewe; kwamba kuna nguvu zaidi ambapo mwisho ulikuja kutoka, na kwamba kumwagika kwa chochote tunachoweza kutoa - ya mawazo, ya mapenzi mazuri, ya msaada wa vifaa, ya sifa, ya kuwa na kipaumbele kwa wengine, ya kutambua faida, ya nishati inayotumiwa katika kazi - haitatupa maskini bali kutupa utajiri. Utu wa kiroho utajitokeza pia katika hali ya kupanuka ya nafasi na wakati, ambayo itamwokoa mlinzi wake kutokana na mafuriko madogo ya haraka na ya haraka, ya hasira ya haki, ya kuhisi kwamba wakati umefika wa kufanya kitu fulani, au kwamba hivi karibuni itakuwa kuchelewa sana kufanya kitu kingine, mafuriko madogo ya maisha ambayo hutukosea katika udanganyifu, ubaya na mazoezi makali. Itadhihirika katika kutotaka kabisa kuvunja mahusiano mara tu yanapofanywa - hata ili kuanzisha mahusiano mapya. Mtu anayekatisha vipepeo, mara tu vimekuwa vimefanyizwa, anaharibu mwili wake wa roho kama vile angaharibu mwili wake wa nyama kama angekatisha vidole vyake. Si kwa njia ya mfano. Kwa kweli. Ni nuru kubwa kwetu siku tutakayoona jinsi udhaifu wetu na vizuizi vyetu vingi vinavyotokana moja kwa moja na njia zilizovunjika za Roho. "Hiyo itaonekana katika utambuzi unaoongezeka kwamba ""vitu hivi vya roho"" ni vitu vya kudumu katika ulimwengu na vinapaswa kubaki wakati kila kitu kingine kinapita." Wao ni matunda yetu mwishoni mwa maisha na mbegu zetu kwenye lango la kuzaliwa. Nafikiri kwamba kiroho pia kitaonekana kuwa furaha na hali ya moyo, uwezo wa kucheka na kufurahisha. Kila jitihada ya kidini, ikiwa ni pamoja na yetu, imeteseka mikononi mwa watakatifu wake wasio na ucheshi ambao hawajajifunza kwamba ukweli unaweza kupitishwa kutoka kwa mtu hadi kwa mtu kwa njia ya kupendeza, katika mchanganyiko wa ajabu wa mawazo yasiyofaa katika kupunguzwa kwa upumbavu, muda mrefu baada ya usemi sahihi kushindwa kuipeleka. Hiyo ya juu kuliko induction na deduction ni analogy na jeu d'esprit inapata maisha yake kutoka analogy. Jambo moja chuki, hofu, hasira na uovu na shauku zinazozunguka haziwezi kuishi ni kicheko. "Itatusaidia sana katika makundi yetu ikiwa tutafanya wazo hili la kiroho kuwa wazi kutoka kwa mawazo yake ya baadaye ya Kikristo ya ukarimu na uaminifu, ambayo ni sifa za mtu aliyejitenga, na kujifunza kulifananisha na uhusiano wa mtu mmoja na mwingine. """ Kama tunaweza kufikiria kama shauku, furaha na nguvu katika mawasiliano ya kibinafsi, zaidi katika kushikana mkono kuliko katika hotuba, kama uwezo wa kuchukua shida na tabasamu, utayari wa kuruhusu mambo ya kwenda kwa default, utayari pia wa kutoa nafasi, kujua kuna wema zaidi katika juhudi kuliko katika matokeo, kichocheo cha kuendelea zaidi juu ya maadili bora kuliko juu ya mkataba, katiba, sheria, maazimio na kura, na imani katika nguvu ya uponyaji wa wakati. Utu wa kiroho ndio njia pekee ya kweli ya kuingia katika mambo ya siri. Watu wawili wanaofanya kazi pamoja na waliounganishwa kwa njia hiyo wanaweza kufanya mkutano uliofungwa katikati ya umati. """Nadhani wakati mwingine hatufanyi mikutano ya kufungwa kabisa, lakini ni ushirika huu wa juhudi, uvumilivu na huruma." Nyingine ni ishara tu za kitu ambacho ni lazima tufanye kitukie. Katika sura ya awali, nimedokeza kwamba kazi ya Jumuiya yetu ya Theosophical ni ya kichawi, kwamba ni kuweka juu ya uso wa dunia projection bora tunaweza kufanya ya mambo kama vile tunaamini kuwepo juu ya ngazi ya ndani ya kuwa, na kitu moja juu ya wengine wote, Jumuiya ya ndani na huruma, ahadi ya mwanga wa binadamu. Kwa hiyo, hasa, sisi ni incarnating katika kati ya watu - kutoa mwili kama tunaweza - mchakato wa upyaji wa utamaduni wa hekima kuhusu asili ya mtu, asili yake na hatima yake. Haitoshi tu kutangaza mapokeo hayo. Kama utangazaji tu ulikuwa kusudi, Mabwana ambao hufanyiza Jumuiya hiyo ya Ndani wangeweza kufanya hivyo vizuri zaidi kuliko sisi. Vitabu vichache vyenye nguvu kubwa, maonyesho machache ya mwili, na miujiza michache rahisi na iliyo na uthibitisho mzuri, ingeweza kugeuza ulimwengu katika mwaka mmoja. Kwa wazi, kugeuzwa imani kwa ulimwengu kwa njia hii si kusudi la haraka la jitihada zetu. "Hatuwezi tu kueleza mapokeo ya kale, lakini lazima tufanye mambo kama hayo, kama tunavyojua kuwa hayawezi kutenganishwa nayo, ili kwamba kama watu wanaoishi kati ya watu, bila msaada isipokuwa kwa uwepo wa kimungu tunaoshirikiana na watu wote, tunaweza kufanya Theosophy kuwa mwongozo halali na wa kusadikisha wa maisha.""" Ni lazima tufanye kiasi fulani cha udugu ambao bila hiyo Jumuiya ya Ndani haiwezi kuishi kwa dakika moja. """Tumefanya vibaya sana hapa, labda sio mbaya kuliko tulivyotarajiwa, labda ni bora zaidi kuliko tulivyotarajiwa usiku, chini ya hali yoyote ya uchawi itawaumba wale wapya, au kuirudia baada ya mapumziko." Kwa vyovyote vile kuna nafasi kubwa ya kuboresha, na inawezekana kwamba mabaki ya wanachama, ambao, baada ya kupita kupitia ubatizo wao wa moto, wanabaki kuwa wenye kuvumilia, badala ya kuacha, wataongezeka hadi hatua ambapo kiini kizuri cha udugu kitakuwa ndani ya muundo wa Sosaiti yetu. Hiyo ndiyo matumaini ya miaka hamsini ijayo. "Kitu cha pili katika umuhimu katika Jumuiya hiyo ya Ndani ya Adepts, na kipengele ndani yake ambacho hufanya iwe na kudumu kwa miaka yote, ni kufuata kwake kwa ukali sheria ya mzunguko, utii wake ni nguvu na kukataa kwake lazima kumalizike katika ukosefu wa nguvu na ubatili. """ Theosophy huja mwishowe kuwa si zaidi ya utambuzi wa nguvu za kurudia mzunguko. Baadhi ya kipimo cha hii lazima pia kuingizwa na hapa, nadhani, tumeshindwa mbaya zaidi ya wote. Kwa sababu ya mazungumzo yetu yote ya kupumua na kupumua, ya mzunguko katika kutengeneza na kupotea kwa ulimwengu, ya minyororo, ya pande zote, ya kuongezeka na kuanguka kwa jamii, ya kushuka na kuondoka kwa roho, ya kurudi kwa wakati wa kupanda na mavuno, ya majira, ya usiku na siku, ya kurudi kwa mzunguko wa zawadi nzuri na mbaya kwa mtoaji, ya kucheza kwa pumzi, ya systole na diastole ya moyo, ya pulsations ya maisha katika atomu, ni mara chache sana ambayo inakuja kwetu. """Tumeendelea kwa furaha, tukifanya kazi ambazo tulijua hatungeweza kufanya kwa muda mrefu, tukijitahidi, tukijaribu, tukijaribu, tukijaribu, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi, tukijitahidi.""" Tumekuwa moto usio na uthabiti wa kuangaza ulimwengu, na ikiwa mionzi yetu haijaendeshwa mbali kama tunavyofikiri inapaswa kuwa, sio kosa la Theosophy, lakini la uumbaji wetu. Kama sasa tunataka kuokoa Sosaiti katika miaka hamsini ambayo itabidi iende, ni lazima tujifunze kwamba nguvu yetu kubwa iko katika uhakika na uvumilivu wa hatua yetu. Ni lazima tujifunze, pamoja na maana zake zote, kwamba njia ya kupata nguvu si katika nguvu ya jitihada, bali katika uthabiti wa hatua; kwamba nguvu ni ya kukusanywa, inayopatikana kwa matumizi ya mara kwa mara na ya mara kwa mara; na kwamba rhythm mara moja imeanzishwa ni chombo cha thamani cha kazi ambayo haipaswi kutupwa bila kujali. """Kila shughuli, mkutano, darasa au kikundi, mara baada ya kugawanya kipimo chake cha kurudia na kugawanya siku na saa yake, haipaswi kamwe kusumbuliwa kwa sababu yoyote isipokuwa sababu kubwa zaidi, na kisha kamwe kubadilishwa kabisa, lakini kubadilishwa tu ili kukidhi mahitaji ya haraka, na kisha kuruhusiwa kuendelea na njia yake, kukusanya nguvu wakati inakwenda.""" Hata kama kwa kushikamana na rhythm itapoteza fickle itakuwa na maana kubwa kwamba ni kuweka chini katika mahali hapo na wakati huo rekodi ya pulsation yake. Kubadili hilo labda hakutasaidia hata habari; kulihifadhi licha ya hali mbaya kutasaidia uchawi. Ni katika suala la uchawi kwamba matokeo yetu yatakaguliwa. Habari ni jambo dogo sana. """Kutafuta ukweli, kurudi kwa uaminifu kwa vipindi vya kawaida na kukusanya nguvu wakati unaendelea, utafanya zaidi kwa jamii kuliko uamsho au kampeni, kuwasili kwa msemaji wa mazoezi na mtiririko mdogo wa hotuba za vaudeville na hobby ya kumzuia kutoka kwa uchovu.""" Inawezekana tu kwamba atawafanya watu wa kikundi hicho wawe na hali mbaya zaidi baada ya yeye kuondoka. """Tutajifunza kwamba kazi ya mhadhiri mgeni haipaswi kuwa kuajiri wanachama wapya, bali kuimarisha imani ya wale wa zamani ambao kazi yao ni kupata nguvu zao wenyewe kutoka kwa wale wanaotambua kile Theosophy imefanya kwa maisha ya wawakilishi wake karibu." "Tunaweza pia kuwa na uwezo wa kuwashawishi wasemaji wetu kwamba mazungumzo haya ya nishati zao za thamani kwa ajili ya maonyesho ya mara kwa mara ni njia ya udhaifu na si kwa nguvu; kwamba hotuba ya mwezi ni rahisi na bora kuliko hotuba ya mwaka, na hotuba ya wiki ni rahisi na bora kuliko hotuba ya mwezi; kwamba kila mmoja husaidia mwingine na kila mmoja hukusanya nguvu kutoka kwa mwingine; kwamba mtu hakusanya vifaa kwa ajili ya hotuba, lakini hukusanya kutoka hotuba hadi hotuba nguvu ya kuandaa hotuba katika dakika chache na chache. """ "Hata hivyo, tunaweza kujifunza zaidi ya yote kwamba wajibu wetu kama Theosophists ni kudumisha kitu, si tu kama kusema hivyo, lakini kama kuanzisha katika Akash, utamaduni kwa ajili ya kizazi, yaani, kusema wakati sisi tena hawawezi; kwamba kila juhudi lazima kuwa kwa ajili ya kupitishwa kwa nguvu zaidi ya ""wa kwanza"" bora." Hivyo labda tutafika kujiona kama wanafunzi wa Chama kikubwa, kidogo kuwajibika kwa matokeo, lakini sana kwa njia ambayo haiwezi kushindwa matokeo kwa wakati, kama ni katika suala la dunia nzima. """Nafikiri kutambua kwamba tunapaswa kufanya kitu cha kichawi kama kuweka chini ya ideal ingetuokoa kiasi kikubwa cha kukata tamaa yetu ya sasa." Kwa mara ya kwanza sasa, mimi ni katika hasara ya kupata maneno ya fadhili kwa moja ya distortions ambayo ni creeping katika Theosophical Society yetu, distortions ambayo mapema kuliko nyingine yoyote itaboresha sisi kwa kiwango cha madhehebu na kuharibu katika sisi kila mabaki ya detachment kwamba ni maua ya kipekee ya kweli occultism. "Kulikuwa na usemi wa kawaida katika siku za mapema kwamba wakati Sosaiti ikawa madhehebu, ingekuwa tangu wakati huo imeshindwa kusudi lake la juu. """ Tatizo letu basi ni kuepuka mambo hayo ambayo yangefanya kuwa madhehebu. Mojawapo ya mambo hayo ni hali ya moyo ambayo Theosophists wangedai kuwa chombo cha ufunuo wa kipekee. Jambo la pili linaloibuka kutokana na hili ni hisia ya kwamba Theosophical Society ilikuwa na kitu ambacho kilifanya iwe bora kuliko mifumo mingine yote ya siri. Tatu, kinyume cha pili, ingekuwa kuwa wale walio nje ya Jumuiya yetu walikuwa chini kwa kiasi fulani, au angalau walikuwa nje ya mzunguko wa wateule, na hawangeruhusiwa kushiriki katika mambo fulani ya kutamaniwa, kama, kwa mfano, kukaribisha Mwokozi wa Ulimwengu. Njia nyingine yenye nguvu ya kuunda madhehebu ya Sosaiti ingekuwa hali hiyo katika viongozi wake ambayo ingewashawishi kuunganisha kosa katika kufundisha kwa sababu kwamba kutakuwa na madhara zaidi katika kukiri kosa kuliko kutakuwa na faida katika kutangaza ukweli. Kuna mambo mengine mengi madogo ambayo yangetufanya tuwe madhehebu: maendeleo ya uongozi, ya makasisi na wachungaji ambao kwa ubatili au upendo wa nguvu au kwa sababu yoyote ambayo watu hujifanya kuwa vampires juu ya mwili, wamejifunga kwenye ofisi zao zaidi ya muda wao wa matumizi. Yote haya lazima kushughulikiwa kwa kanuni kama wanaweza kutokea. Hatuwezi kufanikiwa kufanya sheria za wao. Hata hivyo, kuna mwelekeo mmoja unaokua, wa asili mbaya sana kwamba unaweza kushughulikiwa na sheria mara tu ikiwa una akili safi na ujasiri wa kutosha kushughulika nayo. Ni kosa ambalo linachangia kwa ukarimu zaidi kwa wengine wote hawa na kwa heshima huru kutoka kwa ambayo nadhani madhehebu yanaweza kufanya maendeleo machache kati yetu. Ni kosa la kudhoofisha Theosophy kuwa njia ya kupata riziki. Hii inaonekana kwa njia mbalimbali: katika ada inayotolewa na baadhi ya wasemaji wetu, katika desturi ya kuwa na watendaji na maafisa waliolipwa mshahara, na katika desturi ya kawaida ya ruzuku ya kibinafsi, ambayo mshawishi tajiri hulipa mhadhiri mshahara. Leo katika Marekani ni desturi kuuliza mhadhiri ni ada gani anayoihitaji au ni kiasi gani cha mkusanyiko yeye ni kutumika kupokea. Mimi hapa nina wasiwasi kidogo tu na kile kinachompata mtu anayepokea malipo kwa kazi yake ya Theosophical, isipokuwa kurekodi uharibifu usioepukika wa nguvu zake za kiroho ambazo hufuata majaribio yoyote ya kucheza maono yake ya ukweli dhidi ya mahitaji yake ya kila siku. "Hata hivyo, mapema au baadaye atajifunza, isipokuwa kwa kweli ataanguka katika uchawi wa mkono wa kushoto, kwamba kuwa mtaalamu wa uchawi, hata kwa kiwango kidogo, hakumweka huru kujitolea kwa Mungu, kama ilivyo katika awamu ya uaminifu, lakini humfunga zaidi kumwona Mungu kupitia lensi ya ajabu ya ujasiri, faida ndogo, tamaa, shauku, chuki ya ukosoaji na hofu ya kupoteza. """ "Atajifunza kuwa ni jambo la hekima kuweka mambo haya mawili ya maisha na ya kusema ukweli tofauti, ili tamaa zake zisizitie uchafu ukweli; ili asiwe na jaribu kwa sababu ndogo sana kutimiza matarajio yake au kuzima tamaa zake kwa gharama ya Jumuiya ya Theosophical. """ Mimi ni zaidi ya mara moja wasiwasi na kipengele kingine cha hayo - yetu kama wanachama wa Sosaiti. Kuna nafasi ya kubishana juu ya asili halisi ya makosa anayojifanyia mwenyewe na wale walio karibu naye. Kwa sisi ambao tumeahidi kufanya bora zaidi katika utafiti huu mkubwa wa ukweli, inamaanisha tu kwamba mtu ambaye hawezi kupata riziki yake na kupata wakati wa huduma ya Sosaiti si mtu mkubwa wa kutosha kwa nafasi yoyote tunayo kujaza, ni mtu mdogo wa njia moja ambaye anafanya upendo wa Mungu kwa pesa, na kwa madhumuni yetu si bora kuliko mwanamke ambaye anafanya upendo wa mtu kwa bidhaa hiyo hiyo. Kwa ustadi wake wote kama mhadhiri au mtendaji, yeye ni hata kidogo chini ya kipimo cha maadili kuliko wale wa watu wetu ambao, bila kujali uwezo wao, kupata mkate wao mahali pengine na kuja wazi kwa Sosaiti na kitu cha kutumikia lakini ustawi wake na uaminifu. Theosophical Society haitoi kazi kwa mtu wa kiwango cha kwanza. Huo si biashara. Ni kazi ya kutoa misaada. Wanaume wanaostahili kazi yetu watakuwa zaidi ya uwezo wetu wa kulipa. Kwa kuwa mashamba yote ya biashara, elimu, sanaa, serikali, kazi, yamefunguliwa mbele yake, mtu wa cheo chochote atakuwa yule anayeweza kufanya njia yake katika mojawapo ya hayo, na, baada ya kufikia kitu, kutoa kwa Sosaiti kama zawadi yake, akitoa Theosophy uzito na tofauti ya mafanikio yake, akishinda kanuni zake katika akili za watu. """Kuna vitu ambavyo ni halali kwa mfanyakazi kuchukua wakati anafanya kazi, na vitu ambavyo anaweza kuchukua bila kujidhuru mwenyewe au sisi - chakula chake, kitanda chake na pesa za safari yake kwenda mji ulio karibu - na hizi ni wakati tu anapokuwa akifanya kazi.""" Nini, basi, mtu anauliza, kama kutoa wakati wake wote kwa kazi. Je, hana haki ya kuungwa mkono kikamili na Mungu? Sidhani kama anapaswa kutumia wakati wake wote katika kazi ya Sosaiti, hata kama anaweza kufanya hivyo. Utawa wa makuhani uko kwa njia hiyo. Sisi ni jamii ya watu wa kawaida, na ni wazi katika Theosophy kwamba kuna wema mwingi katika kubeba kanuni zake katika juhudi zetu duniani kama kuna katika kubeba juhudi zetu katika Theosophy. Sisi ni katika ufanisi wetu wa juu wakati sisi kubeba wote na hakika katika heshima yetu kubwa. Kama tukimweka kama kipimo cha chini cha mtu kwamba anaweza kupata mkate wake na kutimiza ofisi yake katika Sosaiti, huenda tusifanye mambo vizuri sana, huenda tusifanye mengi sana, lakini baada ya yote, mambo mengi sana ambayo sasa tunafanya yanaweza pia kwenda kwa default. Nadhani tunapaswa kufanya mambo muhimu vizuri zaidi. Huenda ikawa kulikuwa na shughuli chache za makao makuu, lakini kwa sababu hiyo hiyo kutakuwa na mwelekeo mkubwa zaidi katika vituo vingi ambavyo Theosophy lazima ikue. Tunaweza kuwa na imitators chache na nihil obstats kuegemea, lakini tunaweza kuwa fidia na uhuru mkubwa wa tafsiri ya clues kwa ukweli tuna sasa na uhuru mkubwa katika vitendo vyetu. "Kushikamana na ofisi yaweza kupungua kidogo kama ingekuwa ikitambuliwa kuwa aibu kuishi juu ya Sosaiti au juu ya waabudu matajiri, na kuachiliwa kutoka kwa mzigo wa kubeba watu watakatifu kwenye orodha zao za mshahara, wanachama wetu matajiri wangeweza kuweka pesa zao katika kuchapisha, katika ujenzi na aina za misaada ya Theosophical ambayo haifanyi mtu yeyote kuwa na uchafu. """ Hivyo, hatimaye, tunaweza kuwaachilia Wakristo wetu wa mchele na kuwaacha kufanya biashara yao ya simony katika madhehebu yao madogo ambapo watu hawajali tofauti nzuri kati ya mtu ambaye hufanya kazi yake ya kuishi kwa Theosophy na mtu ambaye hufanya kazi ya Theosophy kwa ajili ya maisha yake. "Basi, kwa kuchukua msimamo wetu kwa uthabiti kama waigizaji wa dini, na kuiridhisha ulimwengu kwamba hatuna nia nyingine isipokuwa huduma ya ukweli, tutakuwa na tofauti ambayo inaweza kubadilisha vyumba vyote vya juu vya uchafu ambavyo tunakutana katika mahekalu ya Mungu. """ "Tunaweza kuwaamini watu kama Paulo alivyowaamini: ""Mnajua ninyi wenyewe kwamba mikono hii imeniandalia mahitaji yangu; kwa maana mnakumbuka kazi yetu na taabu yetu, tuliyoifanya usiku na mchana, ili tusimshindie yeyote kati yenu.""" Kwa hiyo, ikiwa ni lazima tuwatembelee watu wenye ubinafsi na tamaa ya makuu, na ni lazima tufanye kazi yetu kuona kwamba wanapata mazoezi kamili kwa tamaa zao na ubinafsi katika shughuli zao za kibinafsi; kwamba hawachezi michezo hii ya asili ya tamaa bila kanuni zetu za kukabiliana. Ni vigumu kukaa kimya kwa subira wakati mtu anapotumia Kikombe chake cha Ukweli wa Uhai kumpa mbwa wake kinywaji. Katika makala hizi zote nimekuwa nikisisitiza kwamba sisi wa Theosophical Society tunahitajika kuwa na wasiwasi zaidi na mbinu kuliko na matokeo. Njia ya juu lazima iwe na matokeo makubwa, na haitakuwa kazi yetu ikiwa matokeo hayawezi kufanyika wakati wetu. Kwa kuwa tunajua jinsi asili inavyofanya kazi polepole kutoka kwa sababu hadi athari inayoonekana, sisi, kama watu wote, tunapaswa kujifunza kuwa na subira katika ufahamu kwamba mara tu sababu inapowekwa, athari itafuata kwa njia yake, iwe tunaishi kuiona au la. Tunaposhuka kwenye hali ya kimwili, tunaposubiri kwa hamu matokeo yafuatayo mara moja kwa sababu ambazo tumeweka, tunaingia katika eneo la Maya ambapo tunajaribu kujisadikisha - na kufanikiwa mara nyingi sana - kwamba tumeleta hali ambazo kwa kweli ni maua ya sababu za zamani. Sisi hatufanyi Jumuiya ya Theosophical kutoka kitu chochote; sisi huvutia kwa lengo wanafunzi wa zamani wa siri, waliounganishwa kwa sehemu kubwa katika kitu kimoja tu, wasiwasi wao na siri. Wao ni kuzuiwa na karma yao yote ya mtu binafsi, mipaka yao ya jamii na familia, na kosa moja kubwa wanaweza kufanya kuhusu wenyewe ni kwamba kwa sababu wao walikuwa kushawishiwa Theosophy katika saa moja wanaweza, kwa misingi ya sababu tu, kushawishi wengine katika saa moja. Sisi si kufanya Theosophist kama sisi hivyo naively kuamini: sisi kuamsha moja. Pia hatuamshi theosophy yake peke yake. "Tunaamsha karma hii yote ya theosophical na aina ambazo theosophy yake imepigwa katika enzi zilizopita. """ Mmoja kwa uchawi wake, mwingine kwa uchawi wake, mwingine kwa upendo wake kwa jamii ya watawa, wa nne kwa hisia yake ya uhitaji wa mwalimu binafsi, wa tano kwa vipande vya desturi bado flapping katika akili yake. Moja na ahadi zilizotolewa kwa sanaa, au moja kwa huduma ya kijamii, au moja kwa uchunguzi wa kisayansi. Hizi zote ni kama zinapaswa kuwa. Ni vifungo vyetu vya nyuzi na maisha yanayozunguka, vifungo ambavyo nguvu zetu zinaweza kupita, na vifungo ambavyo pia tutaweza kuvuta huruma zetu kwa maisha ya kizazi chetu. Kwamba theosophy inapaswa kuwepo kwa ajili yake mwenyewe au kwa wanafunzi wake haitoshi. Kila sheria inahitaji kwamba iwepo kwa ajili ya ulimwengu na iwe na nguvu kwa huduma yake kwa ulimwengu. Kama Theosophical Society haikuwa nao lakini aliishi kwa yenyewe inaweza pia kuwa haipo. Wao ni faida yetu kubwa. Hata hivyo, wao pia ni hatari yetu kubwa. Wakati wale watu wazima wanaweza kupata kutoka kwa Theosophy, nguvu zao na nguvu zao, na kisha kwenda ulimwenguni, wanaweza kuzitumia kwa kile wanachopenda zaidi, wale watu wadogo, wenye akili za matope - na haitawa ni unbrotherly kukubali kwamba tuna wachache - lazima wavute tamaa zao za upendo ndani ya Jumuiya yenyewe na kutuhitaji kwa jina la uvumilivu na udugu kwamba sisi pia kuwapenda na kuwalisha. """Tumekuwa tukisema mara nyingi jinsi ilivyo vigumu kuendesha Jumuiya ya Theosophical katika usafi wa maadili yake ya kwanza." Hii ndiyo sababu. Kwa sababu tunashindwa kutofautisha kati ya Theosophy safi na matumizi yake yote, tunaangamizwa na ukuaji wa kigeni, wote wenye halali kabisa katika maeneo yao wenyewe na wote wenye uharibifu katika yetu. Makanisa yamelazimika kujifunza somo hilo tena na tena. Miaka michache tu iliyopita, mtu fulani mwenye hisia-moyo alianzisha wazo la kuwa na Jumapili ya pekee, na kukusanya pesa kwa ajili ya jambo fulani au lingine. Kisha mtu akaongeza mwingine, na sasa mwingine. Lakini kuna Jumapili 52 tu kwa mwaka, na wakati ilipoanza kueleza mapato, watu wenye kupendeza ambao hawakuweza kuona kama kosa la kanuni waliona kama kosa la kifedha, na nadhani walilizuia. Huenda ikawa ni lazima tufanye vivyo hivyo, na wakati Shirika letu la Theosophical Society litakapokuwa limechaguliwa kuwa la kienyeji na kundi la harakati zilizounganishwa, huenda wasemaji wetu wa hisia wakapata ukweli ambao hawakuweza kuufahamu katika ulimwengu wa mawazo. "Tunajua, kwa kiasi cha kutosha kwa ajili ya matumizi yoyote ya vitendo, kwamba jamii yetu ya Theosophical ni katika nguvu yake kubwa wakati sisi kufikiri kama ""nchi ya nguvu"" ambayo hufanya nishati kwa ajili ya kusudi lolote mtumiaji inaweza kuwa nayo." Anaweza kutumia nguvu hiyo kutoa mwanga, kutoa joto, kuendesha mashine, kupika chakula, kutibu magonjwa, kujiangusha kabisa kwenye ndege hii, kama akisisitiza, lakini tutakuwa na shida kubwa kuona kwamba anapopata nguvu hiyo ataichukua mbali na kuifanya kuwa mchango wake kwa ulimwengu. Ni bora zaidi kuliko kuchukua muda wetu mzuri na hoja ndefu kuhusu matumizi ambayo nguvu zinaweza kutumiwa. Kwa kawaida sisi tuna mawazo yetu wenyewe juu ya jambo hilo, na ikiwa tunajivunia sana kuomba msaada wa Theosophical Society kwa ajili ya burudani zetu, tunapaswa kujaribu kumtia kiburi kama hicho. Ikiwa hatutakuwa na uwezo wa kufanya hivyo, ni lazima tulinde Sosaiti dhidi yake. Kwa sababu mimi ni wa ukumbi wa michezo, je, nifanye Jumuiya hii ya Theosophical, ambayo imenipa mengi na ambayo mimi upendo kwa ajili yake, cockpit kwa ajili ya mapigano yote, wivu na frenzy ya ukumbi wa michezo? Je, si afadhali niende na mawazo yangu ya Theosophy kwenye jumba la maonyesho? Kwa sababu mimi ni Mason je, mimi kubeba Masonry katika Theosophy au Theosophy katika Masonry? Je, nilete siasa katika Theosophy au kuchukua Theosophy katika siasa? """Hakuna tatizo hapa ikiwa tutashikilia kanuni inayohusika; ikiwa tutahisi moyoni mwetu kile tunachosema kwa midomo yetu, kwamba Theosophy ni ulimwengu mzima na utamaduni mzima na uwanja mkubwa ambao hakuna akili ya kuzaa ambayo inahitaji kushindwa kwa ukosefu wa kazi; ikiwa tutachagua kwamba Theosophy inapaswa kuhifadhiwa juu ya karma yetu na mzunguko wa tamaa zetu; ikiwa tujitegemeza kwa Theosophy safi na kuacha matumizi yake ya kujadiliwa na daima ngumu kwa watu binafsi." Mti wa kawaida na mvumilivu, ambao unasimama kando ya barabara, una kifaa cha kutupa mbegu zake mbali na njia yake, ili mbegu hiyo isikue na kuizungusha; na ingawa katika hali zetu za hisia tunahisi ni jambo la kusikitisha kwamba mti hauwezi kamwe kumkumbatia na kumtia moyo mbegu yake ndogo, hutimiza kazi ya Bwana vizuri zaidi kwa njia hiyo. Anaishi muda mrefu zaidi na ana miche midogo zaidi. """Ninafikiri wakati mwingine kwamba kama ningekuwa Mchawi mweusi na ningetaka kuharibu Jumuiya ya Theosophical, hii ingekuwa njia ya uhakika zaidi, nisingepigana nayo moja kwa moja." Hilo lingefanya ikue kwa wingi zaidi. Ningeweza kufanya kila kitu ili kuwachochea wafuasi wake wachache wa gari-kumbele-la-farasi kutengeneza shanga nyingi za mapenzi yao na shauku zinazohusiana mbali na kuziweka kwa heshima juu yake hadi walipokuwa wameipiga hadi kufa kwa jina takatifu la Udugu. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika ukurasa wa kwanza wa tovuti yetu, ""Theosophical Society of Canada"" ni shirika la kimataifa la Theosophical Society of Canada, ambalo lina makao makuu katika St. Lambert, QC, J.R.R. 1A.3, Toronto, Canada, na lina ofisi ya msingi katika Toronto, Ontario."