The degree of genius exhibited in works of fiction by the most renowned novelists, largely depends upon and is proportionate to the intensity and interest felt by them in their days of childhood for nursery tales. Also, the older a man becomes, the stronger he clings to and the clearer he seems to see the events of his early childhood. The Greeks of the days of Pericles — they who euhemerized a whole pantheon of gods and goddesses, and from whom Phidias had immortalized the Olympian Jupiter and Athena Promachos, could have no other descendants but those they actually have — the Virgin and Saint worshipping Hellenes. Thus we may believe that the form of worship depends more on the respective idiosyncrasies of races than on their powers of reasoning; and that the natural sympathies or antipathies of the forefathers will always be reflected more or less in the future generations. For it is but names and forms that change, ideas remain the same; and the older a faith, the stronger it clings to the relics of its youth.
True Buddhism is neither a sect nor a religion. It is rather a moral and intellectual reform, which excludes no belief, but adopts none. Yet the Buddhism of today is less a rather dogmatic religion, split into many and heterogeneous sects. Like true Buddhism, Theosophy asserts and maintains the truth common to all religions, pure truth undefiled by the concretions of ages of human passions and needs, and unveils Its majesty to all thinking men.
Oh, the unspeakable hypocrisy of our age! The age when everything under the Sun and Moon is for sale and bought! Though centuries lapse and decades of ages drop out of the lap of time, great reforms take place, empires rise and fall and rise again, and even whole races disappear before the triumphant march of civilization, in his terrific selfishness the “man” that was is the “man” that is. In their internal, or rather, essential constitution, both nature and man are at one, as their essence is identical. All grows and develops and strives towards perfection on the former planes of externality or, as well said by a philosopher, is “ever becoming”; but on the ultimate plane of the spiritual essence all is, and remains therefore immutable. It is towards this eternal Esse that everything, as every being, is gravitating gradually, almost imperceptibly, but as surely as the Universe of stars and worlds moves towards a mysterious point known to, yet still unnamed by, astronomy and called by the Occultists — the Central Spiritual Sun. Yet there are still men who, notwithstanding the present chaotic condition of the moral world and the sorry débris of the best human ideals, still persist in believing and teaching that the now ideal human perfection is no dream, but a law of divine nature; and that, had mankind to wait even millions of years, still it must someday reach it and rebecome a race of gods. For the loving essence cannot be extinguished but only perverted. Without this saving redemptive power, embodied in Satan, he simply appears as the nonsensical failure of omnipotent and omniscient imbecility which the opponents of theological Christianity sneeringly and very justly make him; with it, he becomes a thinkable Entity, the Asuras of the Puranic myths, the first breaths of Brahm?, who, after fighting the gods and defeating them, are finally themselves defeated and then hurled on to the earth where they incarnate in Humanity. Thus Satanic Humanity becomes comprehensible. After moving around his cycle of obstacles Satan may, with accumulated experiences, after all the throes of Humanity, emerge again into the light. The All-denying protestors, Atheists, Nihilists, and Anarchists men of Terror, they are just Satan himself; for he is the ideal synthesis of all discordant forces and each separate human vice or passion is but an atom of his totality. In the very depths of the heart of this Human Satanic totality burns the divine spark, all negations notwithstanding. It is called Love for Humanity, an ardent aspiration for a universal reign of Justice — hence a latent desire for light, harmony and goodness. Where do we find such a divine spark among the proud and the wealthy?
What the masses call gods, are simply the First Principles of a Divine Essence permeating the creative and intelligent forces of Nature, and being diffused throughout the universe which is infinite. Theosophy is the spiritual as well as the physical science of that Truth, the very essence of deistic and philosophical research. We point to new intellectual horizons; we outline unexplored routes leading to the amelioration of humanity; and we offer a word of consolation to all the disinherited of the earth, whether suffering from starvation of soul or from lack of physical necessities. If one does not work for others one has no right to be called a Theosophist. The strife will be terrible between brutal materialism and blind fanaticism on the one hand, and philosophy and mysticism on the other — mysticism, that veil of more or less translucency, which hides Eternal Truth.
These study notes are about a Fellow of the Theosophical Society in Paris, who asserted that Theosophy is a doctrine without proof, without authority, and without prestige in its origin; who accused Brother Theosophists of teaching pseudo-Theosophy and preaching annihilation of the spiritual ego; who talked about the yugas like a blind man about colours; who invented apocryphal Codes in order to discredit Oriental Theosophy; who was not aware of the relation between the sacred sound and the ether of space, or that the Yajur-Veda is “black” when recited by whose accent is impure.
The main cause of pain lies in our perpetually seeking the permanent in the impermanent, and the trouble that comes upon us is always just the one we feel to be the hardest that could possibly happen, the one thing we feel we cannot possibly bear. Evil is often the result of anxiety, in anticipation of recognition and personal reward. The mission of the Theosophical Society is to rekindle the torch of truth by the formation of a fraternal union of mankind, the only soil in which the good seed can grow. To those who are keen to acquire psychic powers for private advantage we have nothing to say. Beware of quick and easy ways of acquiring psychic “gifts.” If in each of our branches we were able to establish a homeopathic dispensary, with the addition of mesmeric healing, we might contribute towards putting the science of medicine in this country on a sounder basis, and be the means of incalculable benefit to the people at large.
Modern Science and Religions dissemble Truth. Only the Theogony of the Ancient Wisdom-Religion may afford a rare glimpse of Truth. And then Nature will give up her secrets to those who seek Truth for her own sake. And to those who are devoted to Truth, who disregard personal benefit, and who persevere and teach. Verily, that which is justice is truth. As a thing is not just because God wills it, but God wills it because it is just, so there can be no Religion more true or just, than to know the things that are, no Religion higher than Truth. Neither can happiness exist where Truth is absent and where intellectual progress refuses to be subordinated to ethical growth. If bereft of Truth, the whole world will turn upside down. That is why Philaletheia is every true Theosophist’s god and dogma.
In ancient times man stood in a far simpler position and more in harmony with nature, than he does at present in “civilized” life. Human thought, when written, is to a great extent ambiguous. The written symbol, without a constant living oral tradition to infuse into it energy, vitality, and give it concrete value, is absolutely dead. Mystery is not unrevealed knowledge; it is revealed only to those of sufficient intellect, purity, and discretion, who are devoted to the spirit of truth wholeheartedly and with undivided love. In ancient times the written word was only the symbol, the oral instruction transmitted from master to pupil, was the true secret treasure. The western approach to the study of eastern Secret Philosophy requires an impartial mind that can proceed without bigotry but with discrimination, both analytically and synthetically, discern similarities, make comparisons, and draw conclusions as to the merit or demerit of the eastern lore of Occult Knowledge.
